Tia and Aidan talk about Pokemon rumors and legends.
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
“So what do you do when you’re not exploring a ruin or investigating a rumor?” Tia asked, holding her Pokegear in one hand and a Repeat Ball in the other.
“Well, I do research,” Aidan answered, “There’s message boards all over the Internet talking about weird rumors and strange urban legends about places and Pokemon.”
“Anything besides the usual stories in Ecruteak about Ho-Oh and the Legendary Beasts, or in the Whirl Islands about Lugia and the Legendary Birds?” Tia elaborated, tossing a Repeat Ball at a Rattata that popped out of the grass.
“I’m surprised you know about those,” Aidan answered, impressed.
“Well, it’s hard not to know about them,” Tia put in, tossing another Repeat Ball at a Pidgey flying by. “The Sages in Ecruteak wouldn’t stop talking about Ho-Oh and the Beasts when I came through a few months ago. And the Lugia legend is the typical bogeyman children’s story in Olivine and Cianwood, from what I heard.” She spied a Sentret and threw a Repeat Ball that way.
“Definitely.”
“I think they’re interesting,” Tia added, throwing another Repeat Ball, “Part of the local flavor and all. One of my best friends used to be a Trainer as a kid, and she’s told me stories of some of the legends she heard along her journey. Ever heard about the Glitch?”
“The half-formed Pokemon that destroys your reality if you encounter it while surfing up and down Cinnabar Island?” Aidan asked, “That’s an old one.” There was a slight pause on his end, then he added, “Some people say it was MissingNo’s fault Cinnabar Island was destroyed in that volcanic eruption three years ago.”
“Really?” Tia asked. She tossed another Repeat Ball. “I’m just glad no one got hurt when it happened.”
There was silence on his end for a moment. Then he replied. “Yeah.”
“What are you investigating now?” Tia asked, not noticing his silence. Another Repeat Ball thrown.
“Something about Suicune, the third Legendary Beast in the Ho-Oh legend.” Aidan chuckled. “Did you know there’s this one guy who’s been chasing Suicune all his life, but he’s always failing to battle it because other Trainers keep getting in the way?”
“Wow. That’s a drag.”
“He was so bitter about it, and he refused to tell me about Suicune unless I promised not to go chasing after it too!”
“Did you?”
“No choice. Not that Suicune isn’t interesting – I just don’t want to put myself in that kind of situation.”
“I’ll bet.”
“So I’ve switched gears and now I’m investigating Lavender Town Syndrome.”
Tia frowned. “What’s that?”
“It’s a very old rumor, as old as the Glitch, but it never ceases to intrigue me.”
“Can you tell me about it – Huh?” Tia looked up from the Pokegear as a Youngster loudly challenged her to a battle. “Pardon? Battle? I’m on the phone!” The Youngster merely glared at her. “Oh, fine!” Tia turned back to the Pokegear. “Can I call you back, Aidan?”
“Trainer caught you?” he asked, laughing.
“Ugh.”
Later, Tia called back. “Man, I kinda feel bad for the Trainer. He challenged me, but I didn’t expect to wipe the floor with him!”
Aidan snorted. “You’re on Route 2. What do you expect?”
“Humph!” She activated the mini teleporters attached to her Repeat Balls, and 18 Balls came back. “Well, this run was successful. 18 Repeat Balls out of 20.” She plugged in one of the Balls for capture data.
Rattata
Level 3
Gender: Male
Data in Pokedex?: Yes
Capture Rate: 2.97
“So,” Tia said, packing up her workstation, “About Lavender Town Syndrome…”
“You still want to hear about it?”
“Sure! It sounds interesting, like a mysterious disease!”
“All right. Well, it all started with a piece of music...”
Yes, I did just write a Pokemon creepypasta into my stories' universe. They're real, and the subject of Aidan's research! And poor Eusine gets a cameo here as well.