Incinerate

I just got Pokémon Black the other day! 'Bout time, too, I was tired of hearing all of my friends talk about it and rubbing it in my face. I'm gonna kick butt soon after I train them up a bit. I just got my second badge, too, which is fun. You know what else is awesome?

Liberty Pass!

Yep. 'Bout time on this thing, too. It took forever to figure out how to do the Wi-Fi on my DS, but I finally got it working. I don't recall much about the island where Victini is apparently dormant, but I do remember it being fairly weak, so I'll have to be careful. I think I can handle it, though.

After eating dinner, I quickly ran upstairs to catch my Victini. I booted up my DSi, then quickly skipped past the title screen so I could hurry to Liberty Pier. The sailor in front of the dock greeted me, then allowed me on board. As the boat drifted off screen, my heart began pounding in anticipation. I was finally going to catch Victini...!

Until I saw all of the Team Plasma members on the island. I groaned, knowing I would have to face every single one of these losers before I could get my Victini. Well, it would be worth pummeling them, I guess. Plus I could get some experience with my team from them.

I brushed them off quickly, not even having to use any other Pokémon besides my Dewott. His health did get pretty low in the health range from it, though, so I had I would be prepared for Victini to be throwing hits at him. I had to battle one more Team Plasma member, and then I saw the little Pokémon that would soon be mine."It wants to test your strength," the Team Plasma member commented. Well, it was gonna get a battle anyway, dude. Duh. I walked up to Victini, and a battle commenced.

I smiled widely at the screen as Victini's sprite appeared on screen, letting out a chirrup as its battle animation played. It wasn't as weak as I thought it would be, but it was still a pretty low level: fifteen, so I would have to be extra careful. Dewott was too strong, being a level twenty eight, so I sent out my level twenty Herdier.

From the swapping, Victini got the first hit. "Victini used Incinerate!" the game text said, and suddenly my Herdier was engulfed in flames, which did a whopping amount of damage, too my surprise. Luckily it had been holding an Oran Berry, so it healed a bit. I had my Herdier use Take Down, which lowered Victini's health to a dangerous level.

"Soon you'll be all mine!" I said aloud, grinning as I swapped Herdier out for my Dewott. Then, I began to throw Great Balls at it. It took forever, and Dewott's health was lowering, albeit slowly. When I reached my last Great Ball, I clutched the DSi tight as my trainer threw it.

It shook.

Once.

Twice.

Three times...

Click.

"Yes!" I cried, almost throwing my DSi across the room in sheer happiness as the victory music played. I smiled happily at the screen, clicking 'Yes' when the option to name came up. I typed: 'T-I-M-O-T-H-Y'. Timothy. Little tiny Tim. After leaving, a sailor, I think, came and talked to my trainer.

He told me that, apparently, a long time ago, some people had tried to steal and capture Victini, but some guy wouldn't allow it, so, for its safety, he felt it would be best to isolate Victini and seal it away. Well, it'll be safe now. It'll be strong traveling with me!

Upon leaving the island, I suddenly heard Timothy's cry play in an agitated manner, and a text box appeared on the bottom of the screen:

"Timothy doesn't like its Pokeball!" it read. That was weird, but maybe it was some special thing that came with the event. Well, whatever it was, Timothy's sprite was suddenly behind my trainer and, with a happy-sounding chirrup, now following me around.

I didn't really mind, though. I headed back to Route 3 to train a little. I was almost obsessed with the fact that Timothy was following me around and, whenever I turned around to talk to him, he chirruped happily and hopped a few times, a message always appearing that said stuff along the lines of, "Timothy loves Kaora!"

That gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

After awhile, I looked over at the clock on my nightstand, and almost flipped when it said 12:39. Holy crap, had I been playing that long?! I moved to save my game, but then stopped suddenly...what would I do about Timothy? He couldn't just stay that way, could he? And I couldn't just put him back in his Pokeball, since he doesn't like it...

Then I remembered the Daycare Center just above the current town I was in, and I headed off. I entered the building and talked to the old woman. I was given the options to either leave a Pokémon or take one back, so I chose to leave Timothy here. He would be okay until I could play again, I figured.

And then, Timothy's cry suddenly played out of nowhere, sounding distinctly sad, and I felt bad for it, even more so when a text box appeared on the bottom of the screen:

"Timothy doesn't want to leave you!" it read.

That tugged at my heart strings, but I didn't just want to leave it waiting for me with the game off. At least it could play with some other Pokémon while I was gone. "I'm sorry, baby, it's just a little while," I whispered to my DSi, despite knowing it was stupid to do so. It was just a game.

He let out the same cry in response, although it was more whiny this time, but he let the Daycare Lady take him back there nonetheless. I smiled, glad that he understood. When I exited the building to save outside, Timothy was on the other side of the fence, watching me closely. He let out a cry, as if trying to call me over, but I seriously needed to get some sleep.

I saved the game and turned it off.

I slept in the next day, waking up at about twelve in the afternoon, feeling pretty refreshed. I booted up Pokémon Black, then clicked Continue when I reached the screen. I smiled, ready to play my game again...

...and then I almost screamed at what I saw. The Daycare Center was gone, completely, in its place a file of still smoldering ashes. Disbelief left little room in me for fear of what had caused this, but I couldn't help but stare at the pile. Then, I noticed the Daycare Man was standing a little bit away.

I walked up and talked to him.

"The Daycare Center has been incinerated," he told me as the text box appeared at the bottom of the screen. "All of the Pokemon are gone." That right there made fear jolt through me. I don't know what caused this, but where was Timothy?!

I suddenly heard a happy chirrup, and saw my little Victini suddenly skipping over to me. I felt relief go through me, and I sighed a little. Timothy took his place behind me as we walked away from the remains of the building, and then, I noticed how giddy he seemed to be. I turned around and talked to him, and his chirrup came out like...like an amused giggle, almost.

"Timothy got away from the bad people!" the game said. That...disturbed me a bit. What bad people? He couldn't have meant the daycare people; they were so nice. I talked to him again, hoping maybe to get an answer to WHY he felt so accomplished by this.

"Timothy will never leave you again..." it read. That sent a chill down my spine, and suddenly, my mind flashed back to what the game had said last night: Timothy doesn't want to leave you!

No...no...it couldn't be. I'm just being paranoid; sweet little Timothy would never do something like that. I tried to forget it and just continue my game. Maybe I could train him a little; Timothy still had a few levels to go before he would be up to par with the rest of my team. I decided I would level grind on some of the Pokémon around here, so I walked back up to the next route, ignored the cinders of the Daycare Center as I past it, and then headed off to a patch of grass.

Immediately, a battle started. I grinned determinedly, ready to train my little guy until he could take on anything. "Wild Lillipup appeared!" the game said. Level eight, apparently, as it said beside the health bar.

Piece of cake. I thought to myself as I threw out Timothy. Oddly...the Lillipup seemed to shrink back a bit when I threw out Timothy, but I didn't pay it much mind. I clicked Fight out of the four options available, and chose the move Incinerate.

Timothy suddenly chirruped happily, and the text said, "Timothy will make you proud!" Then, the animation for the move Incinerate played, fire suddenly engulfing the Wild Lillipup.

I covered my ears as its agonized cry suddenly rang from the speakers. I blinked, keeping my eyes closed for longer than I should have, and looked back at the screen. There was no more Lillipup. Instead, in its place, a pile of ashes remained.

"Wild Lillipup was Incinerated!" the text at the bottom of the screen read. I shuddered in horror at that. What had Timothy just done. I couldn't erase the sound of Lillipup's dying cries from my mind.

As the battle screen faded, I jumped when I heard Timothy chirrup. "Timothy wants to know if he did a good job! YES/NO?" the game said. I hesitantly tapped 'Yes' with my stylus, afraid of what might happen if I said no. Timothy chirruped again, sounding like a giggle. "Timothy wants to make you happy!"

I shuddered, attempting to step out of the grass, but I was launched into another battle. "Wild Pidove appeared!" the game said. I winced, attempting to have him used Confusion instead. It wouldn't work, though. "Timothy wants your enemy to burn!" And, without even giving me the option, Timothy suddenly used Incinerate on the wild Pokémon, burning it instantly into a pile of ashes.

After the battle, I was asked once more if Timothy did a good job. I hesitantly tapped yes once more, still afraid of what he would do. This continued a few more times, Timothy still refusing to use any attack but Incinerate, always giving me the message, "Timothy wants your enemy to burn!" before suddenly burning the Wild Pokémon to ashes.

"They aren't my enemies!" I suddenly cried at the screen, unable to stop myself. "They're innocent Pokemon! Leave them alone! Why are you doing this?!" I was breathing heavily, and felt my anger rise when a text box appeared at the bottom of the screen that, apparently, was coming directly from Timothy himself:

"You aren't happy with me?" he asked, and I was given a YES/NO option. I can't tell you how quickly I hit no. "But...I did it all for you...t-to make you happy..."

His overworld sprite seemed to twitch as he continued talking. "Y-you left me with those p-people...y-you were going to leave me, weren't you? Just like before...just like before..." Suddenly, his cry played, sounding very angry. "But I escaped because I love you! I WANT TO BE WITH YOU ALWAYS! I'LL NEVER LET YOU LEAVE!"

Then, a battle started.

With Timothy on the opposing side.

I was struck with horror, partly because of the fact that I didn't want to fight my baby, but mostly because I knew what he could, and probably would, do to my Pokémon. Then I remembered my Dewott, knowing he would have a type-advantage to Timothy. But when my trainer raised her pokeball, Timothy's mouth suddenly curled into a cruel smirk, "I won't give you that chance."

Suddenly, my Pokeball burst into flames, and my trainer dropped it in horror, Timothy chirruping happily, mingling with the agonized cries of my Dewott. "Aren't the embers pretty?" Timothy asked me, although I really had no way to reply. Each one of my Pokémon were burned to a crisp inside their Pokeball, me having no way to stop it.

Then, my trainer appeared on screen. I was given the same options of a Pokémon, but right now, I had no intention of fighting him. I clicked run. The screen fading to black, and as soon as I could, I made my trainer belt it.

"You cannot escape!" a text box appeared. I didn't know whether it was the game or Timothy himself stating the obvious, but I was going to try, anyway. Timothy caught up quickly, though, jumping onto my trainer. From the looks of it, and from what the scene was now showing, he had her pinned.

His normally cute face was curled into a smirk that was completely horrifying to look at. "You're mine," he stated. "I won't let you leave me." I was suddenly given a Yes/No option, and, not knowing what to choose, I chose No.

In bold letters at the bottom of the screen, the text slowly spelled out, "Too bad."

"Timothy used Incinerate!"