Pixelmon Gone!

by Zack Zombie

  “Nothin’, wassup with you?”

  “Nothin’, wassup with you?”

  “Err. . .nothing, how’s the new house coming?” I asked.

  “Good,” Steve said. “This time I’m building my house out of stone so those crazy kids can’t blow it up.”

  “Whoa, that’s cool.”

  “Yeah, my first house was made of dirt, and they blew that one up; my second house was built out of wood, and they blew that up so now I’m using stone.”

  “Good idea. Hey, why are those kids bothering you anyway?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. I found one of them a few weeks ago and I helped him out. He was a spider named Nate that had flipped over and couldn’t get back up. So, I helped him out and then he started following me around everywhere.”

  “Whoa.”

  “Next thing you know, his friends started following me around everywhere too. And there’s a bunch of them: there’s spiders, creepers, zombies, skeletons, endermen, shulkers, silverfish, slimes. . .and there’s even a human kid named Jeb.”

  “What do they want?”

  “I don’t know, they just kept following me around. Then they started sleeping next to my house. One day, I came home from mining Diamonds and I think I surprised them. Next thing you know, I had to build a new house.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, and while I was building the new house, they started gathering wood blocks for me and helping me out.”

  “That’s cool.”

  “Yeah, it was really cool, but I don’t know if anybody ever taught them how to build stuff. Because one of the creepers leaned against one of the walls and then the whole thing fell down. . . Then, it blew up. . .or was it the other way around? Heh, I forgot.”

  “Wow. Where are the kids now?”

  “I don’t know. They just stopped coming. I thought maybe they found a new home. But I kinda’ miss them you know. . . especially little Nate; he was cool.”

  “Yeah, I get that. . .sorry, bro.”

  “No worries. So, what’s up with you, Zombie? How’s life at the Zombie house? Your mom make any cake lately? I could really use a bite right now. Nobody makes cake like your mom does.”

  “Sorry, man, ate the last piece for breakfast,” I said.

  “Bummer. Man, it sure beats eating potatoes and mushroom stew. That’s all I ever eat around here.”

  “Stew? Yuck, I hate that stuff.”

  “Yeah, that’s all Villagers know how to make, so potatoes and stew for breakfast, potatoes and stew for lunch, they even make stewed potatoes for dinner,” Steve said.

  “Whoa. . .that’s cold, bro.”

  “Yeah, they serve it cold too. . .”

  Nasty. I thought.

  “So, you looked like you wanted to ask me something,” Steve said. “What’s up?”

  I totally forgot what I came to ask, Steve. All I kept thinking about was life without cake.

  The horror! I shuttered just thinking about it.

  “Forget it, man. It isn’t a big deal,” I said. “But I’ll see you later. Good luck on your new house.”

  So, as I was leaving, a bell rang from the village. I could tell from Steve’s long face that it was dinnertime.

  Potatoes and stew.

  Nasty.

  Wow. Life with no cake...

  Man, that must be rough.

  Monday

  At school today, all the kids were crowding around this one kid that had brought his pet to school for show and tell.

  Except it wasn’t a wolf or an ocelot or a squid, or anything like that.

  It was strange animal called a Pixelmon.

  “What is that?!!!” the kids started yelling.

  “Where did you get it?!!!!”

  “Hey, I want one!!!!”

  “Now, kids, settle down,” Ms. Bones said. “Let Ichabod tell you more about his pet.”

  The kid’s name was Ichabod. He was a Skeleton exchange student from some place called Woodland Manor. So he had a weird accent and drank a lot of tea.

  He was kind of a snob, too. It was just weird how he stuck out his pinky a lot.

  I met him once, on the first day of school. It was in the cafeteria while he was drinking tea.

  Me and the guys went over to him to introduce ourselves.

  “Hi, I’m Zack, but you can call me Zombie,” I said, reaching for a high-five.

  He just looked at me, then looked at my hand, then he looked at me again like I had eaten somebody’s brains or something.

  “Humph! Well my name is Ichabod Percival Freely. I am of the Woodland Freely Royal Family, thirteenth generation on my mother’s side,” he said as he rolled his eyes. . .

  Yeah, I know. . .Skeleton’s don’t have eyes. But I if he did, I bet he was rolling them at me right then.

  “But my friends call me I.P.,” he said with a smug look. . .and with his pinky still sticking out.

  “PFFFTTT!” Skelee said as he burst out laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” Ichabod demanded.

  “Your name is I.P. Freely?” Skelee said.

  Then we all looked at each other and then we burst out laughing.

  Ichabod just looked at us like we spit in his lunch or something and stormed away.

  “What’s up with that guy?” Skelee asked.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Probably had to go to the bathroom.”

  Then, we all burst out laughing, again.

  “Yo, Zombie, you should probably put your hand down,” Skelee said.

  “Oh, yeah. . .”

  So much for being cool.

  But today, Ichabod was the most popular kid in school. All because he brought his Pixelmon pet to school.

  “WHERE CAN I GET ONE?!!!” the kids just kept screaming and yelling in excitement.

  “Unfortunately,” Ichabod said, “unless you have a lot of money like my family does, you cannot buy one. You will have to go out to the Forest Biome and catch one like the common folk do,” he said as he looked down on all of us. . . and I bet he rolled his eyes again.

  “Thank you, Ichabod,” Ms. Bones interrupted. “Please take your seat.”

  It seemed like Ichabod floated over to his seat with his Pixelmon around his shoulders and with his little pinky sticking out.

  “Don’t worry, kids,” Ms. Bones said. “I have a friend who is a professor, who studies Pixelmon. I’m sure he would be happy to let us visit his lab on a school field trip. Then we could learn more about Pixelmon up close.”

  “YEAHHHHHHH!!!!!” all the kids yelled.

  But I have to admit, I got really excited too. I wanted my own Pixelmon. I wanted a Pixelmon I could train and call my own.

  But I didn’t want to wait to go on the field trip to wait to see one.

  I need to go out to the forest and catch one myself. Or maybe two, or three, or twelve?!!!

  When I looked around, I could tell that all the other kids had the same idea.

  So, it would be a race to see who could catch the most Pixelmon.

  And at that moment, I decided to devote my life to being a Pixelmon Master.

  Pixelmon World, get ready cause I am going to become the greatest Pixelmon Master ever!

  Tuesday

  “AAAAAAAHH!!!”

  “Zombie, what is that?!!!” my mom yelled.

  “It’s a Pixelmon. I found it on my way home from visiting Dad at the Nuclear Waste Plant. It was just lying there in some green ooze in the swamp behind the plant.”

  “Are you sure that thing is okay?” my mom asked. “Why does it look so fleshy and pink?”

  My mom had a point. It didn’t look anything like the Pixelmon that Ichabod had brought to school. Th
is one had short stubby ears, a really weird tail, no hair, and it drooled a lot.

  . . .Looked kinda like one of Steve’s baby pictures.

  “Mom, he’s fine. And he’s gonna be my new pet,” I said.

  “Zombie, I’m worried,” my mom said. “That thing doesn’t look sanitary. I don’t know if I feel safe having that thing in the house.”

  “Please, Mom. I’ll take care of it. I promise!”

  Then, my Pixelmon jumped out of my arms and started to rub itself on my mom’s leg.

  “Eeeeewwww! Get it away from me. Get it away. Get it away!” Mom said, cringing.

  Then all of a sudden, ZZZZAAAPPPP!!!!!

  My mom started shining like a bright Christmas tree. Then everything smelled like rotten flesh.

  “Owwwww!” she yelled.

  Whoa, my Pixelmon can control lightning! That’s AWESOME!

  Except my mom didn’t think so. She started turning red and then it really started smelling like rotten flesh in the house.

  I got my cue and ran out of the house with my Pixelmon. There was no way my mom was going to let me keep him now. So, I’m going to have to hide him, at least until the rotten flesh smell goes away.

  So, I ran to the shed and made a little bed for him out of newspaper.

  But, wow! My Pixelmon can generate electricity. I wonder what else he could do.

  A-chu, A-chu, A-chu!

  All of a sudden, my Pixelmon started sneezing. Guess he didn’t like the cold.

  So, I got an old blanket from the shed and wrapped him in it.

  So, what am I going to call you?

  I looked him over and tried think about a few names.

  How about Fleshy? Or Pinky? Or maybe Rigley?

  A-chu, A-chu, A-chu!

  Naaah! Those are lame.

  How about Bolt? It was so cool how you generated that lightning bolt!

  A-chu, A-chu, A-chu!

  Naah! Not cool enough.

  How about Steve?

  A-chu, A-chu, A-chu!

  Naah! Steve would probably get mad at me or something.

  I just sat there thinking. . .

  A-chu, A-chu, A-chu!

  “Man, you’re really cold.” So I wrapped him up a bit tighter in the blanket.

  Then it hit me. . .

  I got it! How about Pixel-chu!

  Next thing I know. . . ZZZZAAAAAAPPP!!!!

  Yeah. . .I think he likes it.

  So, there he is, my new Pixelmon. . . Pixelchu!

  I held him and I was so proud of my Pixelmon.

  “You and me are going to be best friends forever, Pixelchu!”

  I think he smiled because his little pink face got all wrinkly and then. . .

  ZZZZAAAAAAPPP!!!!

  Hey!

  ZZZZAAAAAAPPP!!!!

  Owww!

  ZZZZAAAAAAPPP!!!!

  Hey, stop that!

  ZZZZAAAAAAPPP!!!!

  ZZZZAAAAAAPPP!!!!

  ZZZZAAAAAAPPP!!!!

  Wednesday

  “Zombie, hurry up and get ready. The school bus is leaving in a few minutes,” my mom yelled from downstairs.

  So I ran downstairs, really excited to tell the guys at school about Pixelchu.

  I had hidden Pixelchu in my bag, and I was hoping to sneak out before my mom saw him.

  I was also really excited about our field trip to visit Ms. Bones’ Professor friend at the Pixelmon lab today. I wanted to learn everything there is to know about Pixelmon.

  “See you later, Mom,” I said, running out of the house.

  “Zombie, stop right there,” she said.

  Oh, man. . .I’m caught.

  What happened to you?” she asked. “You look a bit crispy this morning.”

  “Uuuhh. . .”

  “And have you been using your dad’s Rotten Flesh cologne again?” she asked. “Zombie, you know that cologne is very expensive. And I got it for your father to use for special occasions.”

  “Uh. . .Yeah, sorry, Mom. You see, there’s this girl at school, and. . .”

  “Ooooooh! Zombie, you have a new crush, hmmm?” she said with her mom face.

  I always know that if I ever need to distract my mom, I just have to bring up girls.

  “Yeah. . .but I gotta go!” I said running out of the house.

  Phew! Made it.

  That was so close.

  Pixelchu was moving around, so I thought maybe he was getting tired of being stuffed in my bag.

  So, I opened it up to give him some fresh air.

  ZZZZAAAAAAPPP!!!!

  Yeah. . .he didn’t like that.

  When we got to the Professor’s lab, it was a big building with huge antennas poking up from the top.

  Looked like the kinda place where they would do experiments on Humans and kick start the next Human Apocalypse.

  Yeah, they probably have a bunch of rotten flesh eating Humans in the basement, just waiting for an unsuspecting group of kids to come visit so they could have their next meal. . .

  Man, I think I’ve been playing too many video games.

  Anyway, we met the Zombie Professor, who was really nice. He said his name was Professor Spruce, like the tree.

  But we just couldn’t wait to see the Pixelmon.

  Then, he took us into a big room with small little red and white cubes.

  “Hey, Professor, where are the Pixelmon?!!” somebody yelled.

  “YEAHHHH!!! WHERE ARE THE PIXELMON?!!! all the kids started yelling.

  “Don’t worry, they’ll be out soon,” the Professor said. But you could tell all the kids looked like they were about to tear the place apart unless they got to see the Pixelmon.

  “All right, everybody, come out!”

  Suddenly, there was a flash of light and all the Pixelmon got zapped out of the cubes!

  “WHOA!!!” all the kids yelled.

  There were all kind of Pixelmon jumping around in the room. There were red ones, and blue ones, and yellow ones, and purple ones, big ones and small ones. . .it was awesome!

  “YEAAHHHHHH!” the kids started yelling and screaming and losing all control.

  “I WANT IT! IT’S MINE! I SAW IT FIRST!”

  Next thing you know, all the kids started grabbing and pulling at all the Pixelmon.

  “SHHRRIIEEEK!!!”

  “HHHIIISSSSSS!!!”

  “SSNAAARRLLL!!!”

  “SCCRREECCHH!!”

  Then, suddenly, the Pixelmon started attacking the kids.

  The whole room went nuts.

  Next thing you know, the Pixelmon started shooting fire out of their mouths and lasers out of their eyes!

  “EVERYBODY RUN!” Ms. Bones yelled, right before a Pixelmon whipped its tail and clean knocked her head off. It must’ve flown into the other room because I could still hear her yelling from far away.

  A Zombie Pigman kid tried to hide under a table until a huge dragon looking Pixelmon blew fire out of his mouth and burned the whole table.

  It started to smell like the school cafeteria on a hot summer day. The smell of rotten flesh and bacon started filling the air.

  Me and the guys tried hiding behind a counter, but a huge snake looking Pixelmon hovered right above us and was about to chomp down on us with its giant sharp teeth.

  We all just grabbed each other and closed our eyes, when suddenly. . .

  “PIXELCHUUUUUUU!!!”

  ZZZZZAAAAAPPPP!!!!!

  Pixelchu blasted a lightning bolt at the snake and blew him half way across the room.

  That was enough to startle all the Pixelmon, and they stopped attacking for a moment.

  “EVER
YBODY GET OUT!!!” the Professor yelled.

  Then all the kids ran out carrying Ms. Bones’ headless body.

  “Is everybody out?” Ms. Bones asked. . . or I think she asked since her headless body was just waving its arms all around.

  “Has anyone seen Arnold the Creeper?”

  Next thing you know, we heard a big explosion behind us.

  I guess somebody forgot to tell Arnold we were leaving.

  “YEAAAAHH!!! PIXELMON ARE AWESOME!!!” the kids started yelling and screaming.

  All the kids would talk about on the way home was how many Pixelmon they were going to catch.

  But I was just happy that I already had my Pixelmon.

  I opened my bag, and Pixelchu was sleeping. I guess he was exhausted from all the craziness.

  Pixelchu, I thought, you’re my best friend.

  Then I patted him on the head. . .

  ZZZZAAAAAAPPP!!!!

  Thursday

  A lot of kids called in sick from school today.

  The whole school was like a ghost town.

  But I knew where they all went. . .

  They all went to the Forest Biome to try to find Pixelmon.

  Ms. Bones was out, too. The principal said it was for personal reasons.

  But I knew she was probably out looking for Pixelmon too.

  Anyway, the only kids who came to class were Skelee, Slimey, Creepy, Ichabod and me.

  Which is great because I wanted to show Pixelchu to all the guys at lunch.

  When lunch came, I sat at our table, but all the guys were sitting with Ichabod for some reason.

  When I got closer, I heard them talking about Pixelmon.

  “Well, my Pixelmon is called an Enderdragonite,” Ichabod said. “That’s a mini Ender dragon, you know.”

  “Whoa!” was all the guys could say as they wiped the drool off their chins.

  “Hey, guys, I got a Pixelmon too!” I said. “I found it in the swamp.”