Pokémon TCG2: Doduo Adventures - Book One: TCG Island (In Progress)

133TFR33k · Aug 1, 2025

Introduction

The Pokemon Trading Card game for Gameboy color:

A classic game with a sequel as well!

Sadly, the sequel never had an official release outside of Japan.

Eventually, a fan-made English translation surfaced and now it is possible to experience the game even if one does not read Japanese! The game had a host of new cards and characters beyond the original game making it the best way to experience the card game in its original form.

The story was very simple: in the first game, which takes place on TCG Island, you compete with your rival, Ronald, to gather the eight master medals from various clubs like the water or fire clubs, and then compete against the grand-masters to earn their legendary Pokemon cards: Dragonite, Zapdos, Moltres, and Articuno.

Below is the map of the only island from the original game as it appears in the second game: TCG Island.

The sequel greatly expanded upon the first game by adding many more cards, locations, characters, music, and a continuation of the story from the original game which revolves around Team GR invading from a new island to steal the cards of everyone on TCG Island, and your journey to stop them. It also includes much more post game content allowing play against a variety of powerful card duelists known as ghostmasters.

Below is a map of the new land introduced in the second game: GR Island

Even with the sequel, the story is still very basic and much is left to the imagination of the player for how their world really works, hence the playground for writing fan fiction!

Our story follows the protagonist as he seeks to duel opponents with only common cards(aka no uncommon cards, rare cards, or promo cards!).

As an optional enhancement for the story, each number in parentheses is a clickable link to music on youtube or soundcloud which functions as a soundtrack for the story. Each track is intended to be played or repeated until you reach the next point in the story where a link for another track is included. Here is one as an example below!

(0.9)

Listed below are changes to the story of the original games and important context for our adaptation:

1. All duels mentioned in the fic were played by me in the actual game using the actual results. As such, the story doubles as a lets-play in written form. For some duels, I went back later and made up some details to add in without changing the end result of the duel. The level of details included for the various duels depends on the opponent and the stakes involved. The story generally focuses on the outcomes of the duels more than the duels themselves in order to appeal to a wider audience, but I am open to improving the details if any are especially bothersome.

2. Author's Notes hidden behind spoilers are included at various locations in the story which help describe TCG rules, mechanics, and general information pertaining to the TCG games for anyone who hasn't played the games or the Pokemon TCG, for anyone who is curious.

All forms of feedback are welcome, but with two stipulations:

1. For concrit, please try to balance it with non-concrit in reviews. I'm all about improving the fic, but 85% or more of a review being concrit is more discouraging to me than it is helpful.

2. For concrit regarding my current writing style, please try to provide examples. Saying something like: "This line is sloppy and needs to be tightened up.", doesn't help me figure out how to fix it unless it's a recurring thing that you already provided enough examples to me on.

Rating: T

Drinking. Drunkenness. Nudity. Mild physical violence. Effects of gambling addiction. Mind-replacement without consent. Abduction. Drug use to cause unconsciousness. AI death.

Content warnings currently pertain to the entire series.

Speaking of which, this is the first book of what will be a book series!

Updates:

As of 4/12/25, Chapter 12 now includes what used to be Chapter 13. The final regular chapters are now 13 and 14. Those chapters used to be 14 and 15.
As of 5/2/25, Chapter 2 is now split into 2 parts. With it being in two parts, picture space was freed up allowing for more pixel art from the game to be added to both parts.
As of 5/11/25, Chapter 1 is now split into 2 parts. With it being in two parts, picture space was freed up allowing for more pixel art from the game to be added to both parts.
As of 5/20/25, Chapter 5 is now split into 2 parts.
As of 8/1/25, the original prologue has been removed and is being replaced with a new arc. All of the chapter numbers will be updated accordingly. (Updates coming soon will post the chapters one at a time for the new arc and eventually the remaining chapters beyond.) Original prologue can be viewed here in the old/original version.
As of 8/8/25, I have decided to split the story into multiple books. This thread only will pertain to book one. Update's prior to 8/1/25 refer to the updates to the old version prior to posting this newer version.

133TFR33k · Aug 1, 2025

Prologue: Diary of a Gentleman

(1)

Diary:

April 3rd
After proving my worth as a card duelist on TCG Island by winning games against a slew of people who live on the island, I was able to gain a substantial amount of money and am now the rank of champion!

Apparently being this good at the Pokemon trading card game is not something that is easy to emulate! Perhaps graduating with highest honors from Pokemon Card Elite University gave me an edge? My deck packed full of strong rare and uncommon cards is a force to behold indeed!

For my 28th birthday this year, I was able to purchase a home in an upper class neighborhood with the money my dueling earned me! I also purchased this fancy red formal-wear suite. Of course I had to visit the barber to trim my hair, beard, and mustache! Seeing myself in the mirror, I think it all comes together quite nicely. My light skin contrasted with my brown hair, brown eyes, and my red suit. I'll need to look my best for the tutoring session with Billy, the 6 year old boy. His prestigious parents sought me out to help him with the most important part of growing up in our world: how to play the Pokemon Trading Card Game!

I believe my late grandfather would approve! He always did stress speaking well, dressing well, manners, and kindness. He may not have been the TCG Champion, but at least he was able to see me attain the rank. Making him proud has always been an aspiration of mine and I don't plan on failing the expectations he had for my life!

Speaking of expectations, this is my first time writing in this Diary. My grandfather had mentioned this is a family heirloom and that it is meant to be used. As it is now mine, I will carry on the tradition of writing in this diary until it is time for me to pass it to a future child or loved one. I shall keep it with me at all times! I even plan to include some pictures!

(2)

April 5th
Wanting to keep a record of my tutoring, I shall spare no detail in this section!

I arrived at the Mansion for Billy's parents and introduced myself. It seems my appearance was suitable as they made no mention of it. Good thing I always strive to look my best!

After being introduced to Billy, we relocated to the study where we began.

"Billy, do you know why I am here today?"

"Sure Mr! You're here to teach me Pokemon Cards!"

I nodded. "Do you know what it looks like to play the Pokemon Trading Card game?"

"OH! I know! You wear duel disks on your arms and call out these monsters that are holograms and play shadow duels!"

I shook my head, "Sorry, you must be thinking of some card game you saw on TV."

Billy looked profoundly disappointed. "Well there's still holograms in it right?!"

"There are no hologr-"

Billy leaped up from his seat and stamped his feet. "I WANT HOLOGRAMS! THAT'S HOW YOU PLAY CARDS!"

I had not anticipated teaching a child to be this difficult... Billy and I had to have a long chat about expectations but he eventually calmed down and understood the game is played with actual cards.

"Ok Billy, before I go over Pokemon cards, lets have a quick geography lesson!"

"Aww do we have to?"

I waggled my finger. "Now I'll have you know that geography is important! Its hard to understand the context of our world without it!"

Billy sighed. "Okaaaaay..."

I held up my finger as I closed my eyes to deliver a short speech: "Our world has 3 islands: TCG Island, where we are now; GR Island is to the east; and Neo Island, which is between the other two, but far north of them. The rest of our world is nothing but ocean."

Billy crossed his arms. "Doesn't our world seem kinda small to you?"

"Compared to what?"

"Like the TV show I watched with the Holograms!"

I smiled. "Ah, Billy, worlds that big are a fantasy! Giant islands called continents are a fun concept for a story, but I'm afraid our world is not that large. "

"Awww... I wanted continents," Billy then made an o-shape with his mouth as he remembered something, "hey Mr! How did you get good enough at Pokemon Cards to come teach em?"

I grinned. "Well Billy, I won duels with all the duelists on our island at each of the eight card clubs. After defeating the members of the clubs in at least one duel, it granted me the right to duel the club masters of those clubs. After winning against all of them, I earned the rank of champion!"

Billy brought a hand to his mouth. "Woah! That's so COOL! Did you have to beat the grandmasters too?"

I chuckled a bit. "I would if they were real, but you must be referring to one of our old legends. Who knows, maybe we will create a team of grandmasters one day?"

Billy frowned. "Well that sounds too easy to become a champion then!"

I looked up and to the right in thought. "You know... you might be right about that. Now that you mention it, it has been very easy for me to win games against the duelists here..."

"It must mean you ARE a champion though! If you beat everyone easily, that must mean you are amazing!" he said with eyes full of wonder.

Amazing? Is my skill at the game really that hard to attain? It's almost as if the other duelists are just there for kids to craft decks against and beat. They all seem to have at least a basic knowledge of the game, but their tactics are predicable and limited. They also don't seem to grasp the concept of optimizing their decks. Such a perplexing phenomenon...

Billy poked me to bring me out of my thoughts. "Hey Mr! I'm ready to learn Pokemon Cards Now! Make me the very best!"

I snapped out of it and grinned. "That's the spirit! So, you know how I said the game is played with cards?"

"You mean not-holograms?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, not-holograms! That's the same thing as cards."

"What about it?"

"There is one species of Pokemon that actually lives in our world with us instead only being in cards!"

"OOO! What is it? What is it???"

I replied with a confident grin, "That my boy, would be Doduo."

"Oh! I know those! The turkey birds that run around!"

"That's right, the turkey birds."

Billy was jumping back and forth from one leg to the next. "Oh! What about shiny ones??"

"Sorry, this isn't Neo Island, they might have shiny ones over there since I have heard they have shiny variants of cards, but we don't get those over here."

Billy stopped hoping back and forth and sighed. "Okaaaaay... well can Doduo at least evolve then?"

"Doduo can evolve in the card game, but the Doduo in our world can't seem to evolve into Dodrio."

"Why is that Mr?"

"Well, no one knows!"

Billy looked annoyed. "Then what good is Turkey-bird!"

I waggled my finger. "Turkey-bird doesn't have to evolve to be useful in the card game, its fighting resistance is powerful and it has no retreat cost!"

"Ooo! Those sound good! Tell me more!"

"If you have a Doduo companion and are using one in a duel, your real-life Doduo will take attacks from your opponents cards!"

Billy looked confused. "But how do card attacks hurt it? IS IT HOLOGRAMS?!"

I shook my head. "It is not holograms. The cards don't affect us or the world, but they do affect Doduo! Doduo can also feel its attacks upon Pokemon that would be from the cards! Its like Doduo has magic battles with Pokemon we can't see or touch!"

Billy looked up at me. "But why does that happen, Mr?"

I shrugged. "No one knows. By the way, Doduo are common enough, that all buildings are constructed to be Doduo-freindly with scratch-resistant flooring!"

Billy smiled. "That's why buildings have Doduo doors! Its for the turkey-birds!"

I nodded.

"Hey Mr. Why is everyone into the Pokemon Trading Card Game?"

I held up a finger. "Everyone important plays the Pokemon Trading Card Game. Do you know how you stop a bully from picking on you?"

Billy turned to the side in a direction away from me and threw out a punch like he was boxing against an invisible opponent. "Punch him in the nose!"

I was mortified. "Billy! No! We do not do that! You have to settle disputes with the Pokemon Trading Card Game! If a group of foreigners invaded our land, held our people hostage and stole most of our cards, the only way to stop them would be by playing the Pokemon Trading Card Game!"

Billy held his head in both his hands. "But that doesn't make any sense!"

I shrugged. "Maybe once you turn 7 you will be old enough to understand. Just trust me that the way you stop bad guys or make anything important happen is with duels."

As this is a diary entry, I am adding this line here to denote that the remainder of this entry pertains to mechanics of how to play the Pokemon Trading Card Game. If I do not want to read how to play it, I should simply skip to the next diary entry.

(2.5)

"Okaaaay. So Mr. Are you going to teach me how to play with not-holograms now with turkey-bird?"

I smiled. "I am indeed Billy! In the Pokemon TCG, you flip a coin to see who goes first."

Billy smiled. "Oh wow! That's exciting!"

I held up my finger as I lectured. "After that you have a hand of 7 cards. From this hand, you need to select at least 1 basic Pokemon. If you don't have a basic Pokemon, you shuffle and draw another 7 cards until you have at least 1. A basic Pokemon is an unevolved Pokemon. You cannot play evolved Pokemon by themselves. To play an evolved Pokemon card, you first must have had a basic Pokemon in play for 1 turn. When you play a basic Pokemon, you can put it in the active spot or the bench. Active is where a Pokemon can generally attack and receive attacks from the opponent in return."

Billy leaped a fair distance across the room. "Ooo! Attacks like from turkey-bird!"

"That's right Billy. Once a turn begins, the player whose turn it is draws 1 card from their deck. The main types of cards are: basic Pokemon, evolution cards (to evolve basic Pokemon with), energy cards, and trainer cards. Trainer cards are used for a 1-time effect and then are discarded. They can do a variety of powerful effects and any deck is improved by including at least some. You can have no more than 4 of any 1 kind of card or Pokemon. Example: if there are different versions of Ponyta, you can only include a total of 4 with as many of that 4 being whichever ones you choose. Most of the most powerful decks contain roughly half of the cards as trainer cards."

"Thanks Mr! Can you tell me what the best cards are?"

I nodded. "There are four different card rarities: Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Promo. Booster packs give primarily commons, some uncommons, and 1 rare. Promo cards do not come from booster packs and are the most difficult cards to obtain. You get them from special trades and events. Generally, the rarer a card is, the more effective it is."

"But how do I get booster packs?"

"To get those, you have to win duels! That's another reason you should build good decks and be good at the game!"

"Oh ok! So how do I make turkey-bird attack?!"

I held up my finger with my eyes closed as I explained. "Attacks require energy. To get energy, you have energy cards. To use the energy cards, you attach them to your Pokemon. Energy costs for attacks typically range from 1-4. You can only play 1 energy card per turn. Unless otherwise specified, energy you attach to your Pokemon stays attached to it so you can build it up over several turns to be able to attack. Each Pokemon has up to 2 attacks it can use, each with different energy requirements. Most attacks require at least some energy of that Pokemon's type."

"That's kind of confusing, can you give me an example Mr?"

"Sure Billy! A fire type might need 2 fire and 1 colorless for an attack for example."

Billy nodded.

I continued my explanation, "Any attack requiring colorless Energy can use colorless energy to satisfy the requirement or any other kind of energy. Pokemon have HP that is reduced by attacks. Attacking ends your turn. Attacks and evolution cannot be done on the first turn of the game for either yourself or your opponent regardless of who goes first. If you bring an opponent's Pokemon's HP to 0, it is knocked out. Once that happens, your opponent discards their Pokemon and all cards attached to it to their discard pile and then then move one Pokemon from their bench to their active position. You then pick up one of your prize cards."

"Ooo! I want prizes! What kind of prizes?"

"Prize cards are cards from your deck that are set aside in a separate area before the start of the game and determine how long the game will be. The more prize cards are used, the more opponent Pokemon you will need to knock out to win the game. The number of prize cards is determined by your opponent but stronger opponents will typically mean needing to pick up more prizes."

"Ok cool! So how do you win?"

"You can win in 1 of 3 ways: by claiming all prizes, by your opponent not having a Pokemon to place in the active position after one of their Pokemon was KOed, or by your opponent being unable to draw a card from their deck at the start of their turn if they already drew all the cards in their deck."

Billy raised his hand. "Mr! Where can I find opponents?"

"To find opponents, clubs are the easiest way and contain duelists that specialize in decks that their club pertains to. The grass club has decks with grass energy for example. Each club as a leader/master. Each club also has a lobby where you can talk to NPC's sometimes trade cards, and sometimes find opponents to duel. Clubs are located on TCG Island which is our island! GR Island has its own clubs which are called fortresses. Clubs only have 3 rooms and have fairly straightforward simple designs and decor while fortresses have several rooms and are more complex in design and decor comparatively."

"But Mr, how do you know about GR Island?"

"I read it in a magazine once!"

"Ok so whats the easiest way to make an opponent lose?"

"To do that, you should construct a good deck which uses types to target your opponent's weaknesses."

"How do I do that and what's a weakness?"

"Not to worry, Billy! I'll teach you both about weakness AND resistance!"

Billy clapped his hands excitedly.

"Most Pokemon have a weakness. Some Pokemon have no weakness. If a Ponyta which is a Fire type with a Water weakness takes an attack from a water type such as a squirtle attacking for 10 damage, weakness means that the opponent will take double the damage and the Ponyta would take 20 instead of 10. Exploiting weakness is one of the best ways to increase damage against opponents. Having a variety of decks to take advantage of this, is a good strategy for beating most opponents. Some Pokemon also have resistance. A Pokemon most commonly has no resistance, but some Pokemon have resistance to Lightning, Psychic, or Fighting. Resistance will always be -30 which means attacks that Pokemon takes from a Pokemon who's type they resist is reduced by 30. This means damage of 30 or less is ignored entirely. Resistance is a powerful defensive capability."

Billy gripped his arms. "But what if my opponent is targeting my weakness! What do I do!?"

"Ah, that would be a good time to swap your active Pokemon by retreating or switching your Pokemon! You can retreat your active Pokemon with another Pokemon from your bench after you pay the energy cost for retreating. The retreat cost can range from 0 to 4. Paying the energy cost means discarding a number of energy cards equal to the cost to retreat. Retreating can help to clear status effects and end some kinds of effects from attacks made by your opponent. You can also use some trainer cards or Pokemon powers to switch!"

"Thanks! So, what types are Charizard and Muk?"

"There are 7 Pokemon types: Grass, Fire, Water, Lightning, Fighting, Psychic, and Colorless. Charizard is a Fire type. Since there is no poison type, Muk is a Grass type."

"Ok! So, how do I play Charizard?"

"After evolving a Pokemon, you cannot evolve it again in the same turn. A Charmander cannot evolve into its stage 2 evolution Charizard but must first evolve into Charmeleon and then into Charizard after at least 1 turn has passed. Pokemon Breeder is a trainer card that allows you to bypass this restriction and evolve a Pokemon directly to stage 2."

After an in depth lesson on how to play the Pokemon Trading Card Game, I could tell the boy was spent, so I bid my farewell to Billy.

On my way out, I collected my fee from his parents.

(3)

April 15th
Unfortunately, I’m now so infamous on the island that no one will duel me anymore! Due to the sudden lack of income, I had to sell my vast collection of rare and uncommon cards! I would have had plenty of excess cash had I not recently paid my mortgage off! Unfortunately, I had not seen my current predicament coming...

Good thing paying off a home lets it permanently belong to you! Could you imagine having something like a real estate tax but having no money to pay the tax so the government just comes and steals your entire house away just from you failing to pay a tax that was only a small fraction of the total value? What a horrible world that would be to live in!

Running out of money would still be a problem though as there would be no more working utilities and then there is the matter of food... I will need to find a solution to this predicament!

May 1st
After pondering things for a while, I came up with a plan: from now on, I will only use common cards in my decks! No one will refuse to duel me if they know I am using all common cards! It was starting to get boring winning with fully powered decks anyway... This challenge should prove most stimulating!

May 2nd
I have constructed my very first all-common deck! The list is as follows:

FlashFire!

4 Voltorb Lv8
3 Ponyta Lv8
3 Dark Rapidash Lv24
3 Porygon Lv20
2 Doduo Lv10

4 Energy Removal
4 Energy Search
4 Pokemon Trader
4 Bill
4 Bill's Teleporter
3 Gambler
3 Gust of Wind
3 Switch
2 Nightly Garbage Run

7 Fire Energy
7 Lightning Energy

Voltorb. Thundershock: Flip a coin. If heads, the defending pokemon is now paralyzed. Group Spark: Does 20 damage plus 10 times the number of Voltorb in play. Retreat Cost: 0. Weakness: Fighting. Resist: none.

Ponyta. Kick. Fireworks: Flip a coin. If heads, discard 1 energy card attached to Ponyta. Retreat cost: 0. Weakness: Water. Resist: none.

In game, Pokemon Trader is a common card rather than a rare card as its real life counterpart is. No more card pictures can be posted due to a 10 file limit for images so they will have the effects listed as spoilers instead.

Draw 2 cards.

Flip a coin. If heads, draw 4 cards.

Shuffle your hand into your deck. Flip a coin. If heads, draw 8 cards. If tails, draw 1 card.

Choose 1 of your opponent's benched Pokemon and switch it with his or her active Pokemon.

Switch 1 of your benched Pokemon with your active Pokemon.

Choose up to 3 basic Pokemon cards, evolution cards, and/or basic energy cards from your discard pile. Show them to your opponent and shuffle them into your deck.

With this, I should be able to avoid being too weak to any one thing and I can dish out large amounts of damage with Voltorb! I can even boost damage further with Porygon!

Unfortunately, when constructing an all-common card deck, the best ways to acheive drawing more cards is to use 'Gambler' and 'Bill's Teleporter'. Both cards require a coin-flip to be successful.

They also happen to be the only cards tied to Bill Incorporated. Bill owns a Teleporter that is responsible for the activation of the card. Gambler is also tied to the gambling wing of Bill Inc at the local establishment. For gambling a coin-flip is understandable, but a monthly subscription for automatic heads from the teleporter is completely uncalled for! (I signed up for it anyway because I need my card-draw!)

May 3rd
I intend to take things slow, at least for now. As such, I plan to visit the various clubs and duel all their club members. If I can handle them, I will attempt to defeat the club masters as well!

Apparently it is possible that actual Pokemon roam the islands in the games but you never see any. I took this concept and applied it only to Doduo for the story.

FlashFire! uses Porygon to switch weaknesses of opponents Pokemon to increase damage done by Voltorb and Dark Rapidash. Porygon can then retreat on the following turn with its 0 retreat cost without paying energy to swap in the Pokemon the opponents Pokemon is now weak to. AI in game cannot perceive the threat of weakness being switched with Porygon, so your ability to retreat to attack the new weakness is not something the AI opponent will try to prevent by retreating their active Pokemon which would clear the effect of Porygon's Conversion attack. This makes Porygon great vs AI but not nearly as much vs human opponents. Doduo has fighting resistance which allows it to defeat a variety of opponents of that type. Porygon also has Psychic resistance. Lightning resistance would greatly diminish the value of Voltorb, but Porygon can make it so that a ground type like Diglet changes its weakness to lightning. Resistance applies after weakness, which allows Voltorb to defeat things that resist it.

The gameboy color games can save the game, but it calls the ability to do that the "diary". Thus when you save the game the game indicates that "Insert Protagonist Name" wrote in the diary.

Only the Prologue is written in a short diary format. All the remaining chapters will have much more details.

133TFR33k · Aug 1, 2025

Special thanks to the beta readers listed below who put in reviews via PM prior to posting!

K_S
candycanearter07
canisaries

Chapter 1: Beginnings

(4)

May 5th

The light of the day carried through the gaps in the blinds beckoning my mind to consciousness.

Today would be the day I would set out to turn things around.

I glanced at my clock and confirmed the time: 10:32am

I never was much of a morning person.

My best deck ideas had a tendency to come at night once all was quiet and the passage of time could escape my notice.

There, I could be fully immersed in honing my deck-building craft.

I had never used an all-common card deck before. Was it even possible to build a deck like that capable of holding its own?

Somberly, I considered that I may lose more duels than I would win. If that were the case, my plan to earn money dueling could be short-lived indeed.

After all, I would have to go without several powerful staple cards such as Professor Oak and Computer Search! Drawing additional cards would surely prove difficult.

One cannot know until they try though!

If it results in failure, hopefully my opponents would accept my use of a non-rare deck instead, which would at least have uncommon cards.

As I laid in bed, I considered the space of my new home. It certainly gave room to breathe, but had a certain... emptiness about it.

Perhaps someday these halls would contain a family I would make? I certainly wasn't opposed to the idea, but alas, I had never had a girlfriend in my youth and found the concept of romance to be somewhat alien and inscrutable.

I hadn't the faintest clue of how one would go about meeting a woman to love, but I remembered my grandfather used to tell me that the love worth pursuing is the love you don't go looking for.

It was a paradoxical kind of wisdom, but he had always had my best interests at heart, so I would continue on in life, open to the possibilities of the unknown.

But to the matter at hand, my funds were low, and they certainly would not replenish on their own!

(5)

After a leisurely breakfast, proper grooming, and dressing in my usual red suit, it was time to set out on my newest escapade!

With fire being a prominent type in my deck, I concluded it best to test it against the members of the Grass Club first since it would give me the advantage. Fortunately, it was within walking distance of my new home!

The brisk morning air and glowing rays of the sun welcomed my immersion into the outdoors as I set about my tiny trek to the Grass Club.

A fine day for a new adventure!

As I strolled along the sidewalk, I enjoyed the various landscapes of the other properties in the neighborhood.

The tree's were somewhat disappointing considering how small they were. The neighborhood had only recently completed construction, so it couldn't be helped.

I soon arrived at the walking trail which also happened to be a shortcut to the Grass Club!

The trail was through a thick forest with grand proper trees, unlike the ones form my neighborhood.

Sunlight would occasionally filter down on spots along the path, ever changing with the slightest of wind pressure.

I suppose I did not get outdoors nearly as much as one should. Perhaps that was why I found these walks so splendid?

Speaking of walks, it was equally as rare for me to trek anywhere on foot! Such things are a product of the array of transportation options ever at the ready...

The others in the neighborhood presumably all had busy lives, jobs, and families to care for, which lead to the use of the trail being particularly sparse. That suited me just fine though. A quiet and peaceful excursion never hurt anyone. Sometimes it was good to get away from the hustle and bustle of being a prominent public figure such as myself.

As for the trail itself, it was just dirt, but there was the occasional creek with wooden plank bridges which added to the character of it.

Sometimes one would even catch wild Doduo cutting through!

After taking the right path of the fork in the trail, I was soon met with a break in the trees with a view of the side of the Grass Club!

I circled around to the front and took out a handkerchief to dust off my shoes from the small amount of dirt from all but the soles. Being dapper never hurt anyone, and I wasn't going to have the ladies in the club put up with anything less than my best.

Attire then in order, I crossed the threshold to enter the Grass Club.

(6)

In the lobby, I could see they had recently replanted the flowers in the flower-beds in the corners. The floor was still bare dirt with a brick path leading straight to the main chamber and off to the left to the lounge.

Would it not be better if they planted some grass in this dirt? Perhaps they did not want to maintain an indoor lawn in both this space and the main chamber...

Ignoring the brick path to the lounge, I forged ahead to the main chamber of the club where the usual duelists would no-doubt await me.

All was exactly as it always was.

A brick path leading to a large fountain in the middle. A grass path around the perimeter of it lined with fenced-off bushes. The path circled around to the back of the fountain where the brick path continued to meet the back wall. Along the back wall were small pine tree's behind more fencing. The ceiling was a glass dome to allow in natural light.

I began to glance about the room.

I first noticed Brittany.

She was wearing her usual green collared shirt and green hat with a pokeball symbol on it. Her hair was its usual neck-length. She was easily the most tom-boyish of the three girl members of the club. She is age twelve as I remembered.

I'm not sure why, but I've always had a keen eye for ages and for remembering and keeping track of them. Even when meeting new people, I seldom get an age wrong! (Come to think of it... I can't recall the last time I DID get one wrong!) I've never understood why I was so good at it, but it's become a bit of a game for me at this point. A little internal amusement that only I am aware of.

Brittany appeared to be busy laying down some mulch in the fenced-off bushes near the entrance.

I remembered during the last time I set foot here, Brittany was the first to boldly challenge me. That was back when I was still using my fully powered deck: 'Mystic Fire' on the road to becoming the TCG island champion where I had defeated all the members here including their leader, Nikki.

Unfortunately, my great success that day was where my trouble began with getting opponents to duel me...

Next, I noticed Kristin.

She was wearing the standard green Grass Club collared shirt and had her black hair in a ponytail with a green scrunchie. She should be age fourteen according to my memory.

Kirstin was taking a hose around to the various bushes to water them.

Last, I noticed Heather.

Easily the most feminine of the girls in the club. The spitting image of her mother Nikki, when Nikki was her age; nine.

She was sitting on the edge of the fountain reading a gardening book. I was taken back to days long-past when I saw her.

It's a curious thing. She brought so many feelings to the surface; adoration, nostalgia, hope... and deep regret.

(7)

I may not have had a girlfriend growing up, but I was not without the ability to have a crush. Nikki had filled that role for me, once...

Back in those days, I was so driven to become the very best duelist there ever was. I remembered the times her and my best friend at the time, Isaac, played the Pokemon TCG together.

Those were the best days of my life. So full of possibility and wonder, yet without the full weight of responsibility.

Nikki was only a grass club member back then and Isaac, a lightning club member.

My thinking back then was so narrow-minded; to have the life you want and the girl you want, you have to become the best at the Pokemon TCG!

I wanted to ask Nikki out back in those days, but how could I? Surely only the very best would do for such a lady, and, talented as I was, I had only attained the lowly rank of fire club member.

It was many years away from my graduation at the academy... let alone becoming the TCG Island champion!

As the years went on, I engrossed myself in my card journey.

Nikki and Isaac were talented in their own rights. They eventually became the club leaders of their respective clubs after all! I think the games we played together helped them grow.

But regardless of their prowess and aptitude, they were no match for the speed of my improvement...

(8)

Before I knew it, we were playing the Pokemon TCG with each other less and less.

I also noticed Nikki began to feel more distant. Had she hoped I would ask her out and been left disappointed?

Flash forward years later from those days and I learned a sobering truth: Nikki and Isaac... had been dating each other.

At that point, I knew our childhood days together had come to an end...

Nikki had moved on with her life and had chosen Isaac.

In my pursuit of her... I had left her behind.

With my only friends lost to the ravages of time and change, I plowed ahead full force, throwing myself into my studies and learning everything I could about the Pokemon TCG.

Years after that, I had learned yet another fact: Nikki and Isaac were getting married.

We hadn't spoken in years at that point, so the fact that I had received no invitation to their wedding was not unexpected, but it hurt in a way I hadn't felt since the day I learned they were dating.

I've often daydreamed what things could have been like had I just a bit more wisdom and courage back in those days...

In all my years, I had felt nothing for the other women of the island like I did for Nikki. They simply couldn't compare...

After the last vestiges of hope for a chance with Nikki had died, there was only the solitary road ahead leading to my recent title of champion.

And I'd be a Doduo's backside feather if I was going to let any duelist stop me.

Perhaps after becoming champion, women would approach me and the rest would fall into place?

Alas, if only it were that simple. If anything, my power at the game only served to alienate me further from the bulk of society. I was even approached by some women, but I could tell that what they wanted was the champion rather than the man inside.

My grandfather's words yet again rang true: That it is not the destination in life that is important... but the journey.

With my all-common deck, I was determined to dedicate myself back to that journey once again.

It didn't take long for the girls to notice me.

Heather was the first to notice me after looking up from her book.

She walked up to me.

"Um... Mr Gentleman, as we mentioned last time, we can't duel you anymore. None of us can win against you anymore..."

It was like looking at the embodied disappointment I imagined Nikki had for me all those years ago...

(9)

I'm here for a reason though! Dueling is how I make money, and this is the best place to test my new all-common deck.

Smiling was something I learned to do when upset, hurt, or scared. Confidence was its own sort of power.

I gave my best confident smile. "Heather! Today things are far different! I am not looking to become champion a second time! I already have the title! Today I am here to give your club the first crack at winning against my new all-common card deck; 'FlashFire!'

Upon hearing this, Heather immediately perked up.

She gazed at me with a hopeful expression. "All commons? You mean you have no rares or uncommons in your deck?"

Ah, what I wouldn't give to be in the past with Nikki looking at me that way again even once...

I nodded. "Correct! This will make me far weaker than I was the last time we dueled! Today I am looking to duel all three of you with my new common deck."

(10)

Heather asked me to hold on, while she walked over to Kristin and Brittany on the other side of the fountain with them having paused in their duties. They huddled together whispering.

Nikki was tending bushes at the far end of the room as she watched me discretely peering through the fence. As I took a quick glance, our eyes locked for but a moment.

Ah, Nikki always was a shy one. Perhaps that was part of what I had found so appealing about her. Even now she had a way of captivating me. But it was of no use... She was already light-years away now... bound to another man...

I examined the state of the room, the immaculately trimmed grass and bushes. The cleanliness of the fountain. She knew how to care well for the club and its members. No-doubt she made a great mother for Heather... and a great wife for Isaac...

Suddenly Brittany approached and held out her deck. "You're on Mister!"

Brittany used a deck with Beedril, Victreebel, and a variety of other grass types. My Dark Rapidash easily ruined her chances of victory. She wasn't able to fully evolve any of her mons, due to how fast I burned through them.

Not too shabby for an opening duel! At least my new deck seemed able to trounce things weak against it!

Brittany was upset after the duel.

"So I lost to a deck of all commons?! Are you here just to make fun of me?!"

I reassured her that I was certainly not here to hurt any feelings and that this test of my deck likely means it would do well against the other members of the club too.

That seemed to help her feel a little better at least. She then went to get my next opponent: Kristin!

"Even though you won against Brittany, its STILL a deck of just commons! I'm sure you just got lucky! Pretty soon, I'll be able to say I beat the champion!"

From my memory, Kristin used Ivysaur, Venomoth, Tangela, Scyther, and a slew of normal types in her deck. The duel with her went much the same as it had with Brittany! Dark Rapidash burned through her mons one at a time until the final prize against her was claimed!

It seemed anything weak to my new deck stood no chance against it! Quite promising indeed!

"What IS this?! How can I lose to a deck of ALL COMMONS!"

As she walked away, my final opponent here approached: Heather!

"Um, I know you might have beat the other two, but I still think I have a good chance to win!"

It was like a carbon copy of my other duels, except the mon I burned through were different. Her deck employed Vileplume, Parasect, and Weepinbell.

(11)

"Oh... ok... I had hoped I might win since you were so heavily restricted, but your fire types were too tough to beat with my grass types. Did I at least help you test your deck?"

It was like hurting Nikki from the past. It felt awful even though I had done nothing objectively wrong...

I replied back softly. "Of course. All three of you have been helpful! If all goes well, I'll also test my deck against your mother."

My time in the club was short indeed. All-commons or not, type advantage is type advantage. They were crushed by my Dark Rapidash, but not nearly as badly as when I had used my old unrestricted deck. They at least had a theoretical chance against me using 'FlashFire!', but not when I used to play with Mystic Fire.

Before I left the club, I caught sight of Nikki with a determined look upon her face. Now was not the time for our duel though...

I wouldn't be satisfied until I had first proven my deck's worth vs the members of all the other clubs.

My next destination would be the water club.

133TFR33k · Aug 2, 2025

Special thanks to the beta readers listed below who put in reviews via PM prior to posting!

K_S
candycanearter07
canisaries

Chapter 2: Wet & Wild

(12)

To arrive at my next destination, I found it easier to use the light rail public transit as the water club was in close proximity to one of its stops.

The water club bordered the great forest of our island on the southeastern corner of our island. Surrounding the Water Club on all but one side was one of only two curious bodies of water in our world: a lake! The other lake in our world was on Neo Island, as I recalled form my time at the academy.

The side not occupied by water was a natural bridge containing a long concrete path complete with rails on the sides. Every so often a pier would jut out.

The light rail had a stop next to the bridge, rather than the Water Club itself, but it was only about a ten minute walk to the destination. There was far more water stretching outward from the sides the bridge was not on.

The sky was partly cloudy today, but there was still plenty of opportunities for the sun to beam down.

The water of the lake glistened in the light. A hearty breeze was blowing today. Had I been wearing a hat, (not that I would be caught dead in one) it might have blown away!

As usual, there was the occasional fisherman angling for some fresh-water fish. Quite the rarity. Fishing was greatly limited on the lake to preserve the species of fish in it. If one was skilled, they could make quite a living that way, I heard. Hopefully I would not have to find out by experience...

I soon found myself entering the water club.

(13)

The lobby was just as I remembered, with teal polished porcelain square tiles and fish tanks with coral lining the walls. The fish inside leisurely swam about in them. They certainly did know how to set up an atmosphere in there.

As with all club layouts, the lounge would be to the left with the main room of the club directly ahead.

I proceeded further in.

I still marveled at how they had a full indoor beach and wave pool in here. The glass dome roof let all kinds of natural sunlight in as well. They even had palm trees and beach chairs!

It was the girls of this club that had wanted to 'date the champion'.

Each of them had amazing figures and their swimsuits left rather little to the imagination... I'm sure that just for that reason alone, most men would be ecstatic at the prospect of dating them. They all flirted quite well too...

But underneath, I could sense it. They only wanted prestige. No-doubt if I ever lost the title of champion, these 'amazing girls' would drop me like a bad card from their decks...

Was it bad that I often found myself confused at which girl was who? I suppose it isn't totally bad seeing as two of the club members are twin sisters...

A grim thought entered my mind. I may have the mental fortitude to hold off their flirtatious advances now, but what if that fortitude were to erode over the years? Would I let one of these prestige-diggers attach themselves to me? But that was a concern for another time... I still had much of my life yet ahead of me after all!

I cast my gaze to the various members:

Amanda,

She is the twin sister of the other girl member of the club, Sara and I believe is age 20 if I am remembering correctly.

She was wearing her white swim cap with her goggles resting on her forehead with her usual green one-peice bathing suit.

The moment she caught sight of me, her expression changed as she leaped from her reclined beach chair and ran over to greet me.

(14)

Why must these women be such eye-candy?! I found myself rather transfixed as she approached.

"Mr. Gentleman! Hi!" Amanda hopped as she greeted me to throw me further off balance.

She immediately grabbed my left arm with both of hers. "Did you come back here just to see little ~ ol ~ me?"

I was never great at handling these kinds of situations. What DOES someone do about this anyway?!

My eyes were closed as I smiled and rubbed the back of my head with my other hand. "Ah, Amanda I had contruct-"

Amanda made a shocked face. "Mr gentleman! I'm not Amanda, I'm S-A-R-A! Remember? I can't believe you forgot my name!"

Not good!

"Ah! Sara! Please don't be upset! You know I have a hard time telling you and Amanda apart!"

She sobbed. "I suppose you WANT me to be Amanda don't you?!"

What on earth is happening...

"Wait, no, that's not it!"

Just then the REAL Amanda approached.

Great, now BOTH my arms would be disabled!

Sure enough, Amanda was now clinging to my other arm!

"Oh my Mr. Gentleman, you always have such discerning taste when it comes to women. Look at these firm arms and hands of yours! The way you hold your cards is also so stable and manly..."

I didn't remember them being this pushy... What did they do, rehearse this?!

Am-SARA was pouting. "Aaaaamaaaandaaa! That's not fair! I was here first! I get dibs!"

Just then, the last of the terrible trio arrived!

The club leader, Amy!

She was wearing her usual purple one-peice bathing suit and I believe she is twenty-four years old.

"Enough you two! Go on and get off his arms! Have you no shame!?"

Amanda and Sara reluctantly let go as Amy took my left hand in both of hers.

"Mr Gentleman, I'm so sorry for the way my club members have harassed you, is there any way I can make it up to you?"

She looked up at me with big doe eyes.

Ok I would say that confirms that they rehearsed thi-

Now Amy grabbed my right arm as she spoke. "Oh I know! Why don't you come over to one of our recliner chairs in the back, I can give you a personal message..."

There was no way I could take much more of this. I had to act FAST while I still COULD!

I held my deck up in the air. "Duels! I am here for duels! I am testing an all-common deck that has FIRE types in it! I bet it would be SOOO weak against your water decks!"

All three simultaneously turned to look at me.

All three then called out a name at the same time: Joshua~!

(15)

Joshua was the only guy in the club. He was younger than them, barely eighteen with a small stature, waxed for extra mobility in the water, and clean-shaven. I imagine he thought the idea of this place was quite nice for a young guy like himself. The poor fool...

"Yes ladies!?" He froze on the diving board having been caught before he could make his escape.

Amanda grinned at him from across the room. "~Joshua, we have a new opponent for you!~"

His only escape having been thwarted, he dismounted the diving board. He was clearly wondering just what the three were about to get him into THIS time...

Sara called out next.

"~Joshua dear, you are always such a good little assistant!~"

He cringed as he spoke. "Wh-what can I help with this time? I just gave you a full-body massage ten minutes ago and I got all seven of the drinks you wanted!"

Amy spoke next.

"Joshua, what are we going to do with you? You need to be polite at all times, we ARE ladies you know! The better you treat us, the more we like you. You DO want us to like you... right?" She gave him a mischievous smile.

Amy pointed towards me as the others turned towards me.

"We would like you to duel Mr. Gentleman here."

Joshua looked mortified having seemingly remembered the LAST time they threw him under the bus to duel me first, so they could scope out my deck.

"The champion?! You can't be seriou-"

Amy crossed her arms and gave him a rather ominous look.

"I-I mean of COURSE I would like to duel him for you!"

Amy smiled again.

"That's our Joshua! You are so cute and dependable!~"

When the others weren't looking I could see Joshua's eye twitching. I gave him a small nod to acknowledge his predicament.

Joshua was unable to claim a single prize against me. My deck MAY have fire in it, but I neglected to mention the other half was lightning! My Voltorb ripped his mon to shreds in mere turns. I think maybe he had a Golduck and a Poliwag or something. They got KOed so fast that I hardly noticed them.

"I-I did my best!" Joshua looked up afraid to meet Amy's gaze.

"Yes you did, my little Joshiepoo! You did very well! You can go swim now!" Amy waved her hand dismissively.

Joshua bolted pretending to be excited and happy to swim. The giggling of the girls was a dead give away that they saw right through everything he tried. The poor fool...

(16)

Amy redirected her gaze to me with a mischievous smile on her face again. "Well! That sure was interesting. I've never seen someone win with an all-common deck before! Are you planning to take on the club leaders with it?"

I spoke as I picked up my cards. "Well, its largely untested, I am dueling the club members first to see if its plausible."

Amy nodded and sauntered towards her reclined beach chair in the back. Making calculated use of her curves as she walked, she called out to the others as she waved a hand dismissively.

"You girls duel him and tell me how it goes. I'm going to go catch some rays."

I wasn't about to fall prey to more tactics, so I demanded the two flip a coin to determine which one dueled me first.

It was Amanda! (The actual Amanda this time! It certainly didn't help matters that the two liked to swap hair dye with each other every now and then either!)

This duel went much as it had against Joashua, but I think maybe she had a Staryu and a Shelder or something. Again, they didn't last long enough to really make much of a memorable impact.

"Oh Mr. Gentleman, you meanie! I can't believe you would crush a young girls heart so mercilessly! Now SARA is going to win and keep you ALL to herself!"

What on earth were these women talking about?! I was not a prize to win! Though... it was nice they saw me as a prize I suppose... UGH what was I thinking! The sooner I got out of there the better!

Sara sat promptly down with a smile. "I know what you are doing Mr. Gentleman. You must have dueled hard to win so far because you wanted to lose to me, right? You must have decided to date me!"

The weapons these women wield are sharper than a Doduo's talons!

I coughed loudly. "I don't recall saying anything of that nature! I am simply here to duel!"

Sara gave me a knowing glance. "Well, we ALL know how good you are at the Pokemon TCG, so if you lose, a girl can only assume one thing..."

Yet another laughably simple duel. She only had a Squirtle out and I ended it with Voltorb on turn two.

"Oh I'm SO sad, Mr. Gentleman! You don't know how long my heart has YEARNED for you! I guess you must be after AMY then! Of course you would with her being the club leader! AAAAAMMMYYY!! You better treat him right once he dates you!"

I put both my hands on my head. "No one has agreed to date ANYONE!"

All three girls started to giggle.

I started to wonder how Joshua had survived here for so long. Then again, he was only a water club member. Probably not influential enough to catch the interest of these girls...

(17)

Just then, I started hearing... music? It sounded like it might be from a boom box or something.

The music was slowly growing louder. The rest of the ones in the club room started to hear it too. Suddenly a black carpet unrolled from somewhere in the lobby and reached all the way out to where I was standing!

I then saw... the super musical star Imakuni?!

What was someone like HIM doing here?

Wait... how old was he? He defied categorization! There was no way I could get a read on him!

The music was coming from a speaker embedded in his black fuzzy suit! He looked like he might be an animal character at an amusement park except his suit opened up to reveal only his face and hands!

A random Doduo also trotted along behind him. It appeared to be attempting to mimic Imakuni's dance moves throwing its feathers about everywhere as it danced!

After Imakuni had finished singing and dancing he challenged me to a duel!

His Snorlax was a fearsome foe but I had my Porygon and Voltorb team up to take him down! I would zap all I could away with Voltorb by itself and for bigger targets, I would first convert weakness to lightning with Porygon!

Once my duel with him was complete, he began to dance his way out picking up the throw rug as he went.

(18)

I turned to my left and noticed that his Doduo was just standing there.

It wasn't going to follow him? Rather odd. As I went to leave, I noticed the sounds of an extra pair of feet as I walked.

I paused. The feet stopped.

I started walking again. The feet resumed.

I then turned around and found the Doduo was following me! No matter. These birds are known to follow people on occasion after all. Perhaps it didn't even know Imakuni.

Little did I know, that Doduo was going to follow me the entire way home!

As I approached the door to my house, Doduo simply stood outside.

It wasn't going to attempt to follow me into my house?

Having had enough for one day, I didn't think too hard about it and left it outside. I was sure it would just go find someone else to follow.

Back in my house, I decided to bathe. Though I usually prefer to shower, today I decided to relax in my jetted tub. I hadn't tried it out yet, and found it to be quite nice.

The day had been taxing in several ways despite the duels themselves being simple, so I decided to take the next day off. Though I needed money in the long run, things in the short term could be flexible.

Imakuni?! is a joke duelest the game included with a weird battle track for any duels. He is one of the weakest duelists and plays badly. You can easily earn cards by defeating him, but he travels around the various clubs and fortresses so it can be hard to find him.

Astinus · Thursday at 1:16 AM

You have no idea how happy I was when I saw that you reposted this from the beginning.

As someone who loves the TCG and played a lot of the TCG for the GameBoy, it always disappointed me that the sequel was never released outside Japan. I'm also fascinated at the idea of how to write the matches of the TCG, especially in the case of a fic like this, where you're not just using the cards. There's other parts to the matches, like the Doduos.

So I'm a little disappointed that there hasn't been much to the matches yet. I figure that's going to change the more we get in to the story, since you don't want to describe every unimportant battle. You don't need that. But maybe a few more hints as to how some of the cards work? Not a complete breakdown of every turn, but something to help readers who don't remember what every card does, even though you have deck lists.

It took me a little bit to get used to the main character. What I do like is that he already has the history of being the champion. So he has to deal with that as he goes around challenging trainers. Everyone will have their preconceived notions about him, when all he wants to do is earn money with his Common cards. Also am looking forward to seeing what happens with the Doduo that decided to follow Gentleman to his house. Especially to see how Doduo gets affected in the matches.

K_S · Thursday at 1:42 AM

Astinus said:
. Especially to see how Doduo gets affected in the matches.

The doduo gets so affected by matches it gets a special companion that i nicknamed roomba in my review notes until i learned that companion's name...

133TFR33k · Thursday at 2:30 AM

Hi Astinus!

So, it looks like this review for you pertains to everything posted so far:
Into, Prologue, Chapter 1, and Chapter 2

Astinus said:
You have no idea how happy I was when I saw that you reposted this from the beginning.

This implies you have read some of the older version!

The original prologue, which was only one chapter in the old version of the fic, is being replaced by over 20 brand-new chapters to create the new arc. I have most of them already written and am working on finishing them. I'm posting the ones I wrote in here every now and then.

Once that is done, I'll be editing the remaining chapters from the old/original version to repost them here as the editing process is complete. The editing will primarily be to help it mesh better with the new prologue/TCG Island arc. (Like maybe the protagonist recalls events from the new arc or interacts with the characters on TCG island more. Things like that)

Astinus said:
As someone who loves the TCG and played a lot of the TCG for the GameBoy, it always disappointed me that the sequel was never released outside Japan.

It was a long time after I played the original that I stumbled across the English patch version and played it. Kind of like the game was sealed in a time capsule. Nothing like it will ever be created again... But hey, I can bring it to life in my fic!

Astinus said:
I'm also fascinated at the idea of how to write the matches of the TCG, especially in the case of a fic like this, where you're not just using the cards. There's other parts to the matches, like the Doduos.

The plot surrounding the matches is where the story shines. There will be much more to see regarding Doduo too.

Astinus said:
So I'm a little disappointed that there hasn't been much to the matches yet. I figure that's going to change the more we get in to the story, since you don't want to describe every unimportant battle. You don't need that. But maybe a few more hints as to how some of the cards work? Not a complete breakdown of every turn, but something to help readers who don't remember what every card does, even though you have deck lists.

As I go, I am needing to implement more and more details into the duels. It's a bit of a struggle, but It's been getting improvement on that front. I will say that some of the duels with higher stakes or against powerful foes get a lot more details.

I won't say all the duels have amazing quality and detail to them, but I think you will find some to really scratch that itch you have.

Astinus said:
It took me a little bit to get used to the main character. What I do like is that he already has the history of being the champion. So he has to deal with that as he goes around challenging trainers. Everyone will have their preconceived notions about him, when all he wants to do is earn money with his Common cards.

There is quite a bit regarding preconceived notions too. You're in for a real treat on that front!

Astinus said:
Also am looking forward to seeing what happens with the Doduo that decided to follow Gentleman to his house. Especially to see how Doduo gets affected in the matches.

Being curious what will happen. Looking forward to things. I think these are the things that make me most excited to read a review.

Above all, it has been an honest pleasure to receive some positive feedback.

Thank you so much!

I would be honored if you came back to review again as I post more chapters.

133TFR33k · 2025-08-10T07:07:57+0100

Special thanks to the beta readers listed below who put in reviews via PM prior to posting!

K_S
candycanearter07
canisaries

Chapter 3: Feathers

May 7th

(19)

After having taken a day off, I was feeling refreshed and ready to resume my challenge of the clubs!

As I stepped out of my front door, eyes landed on a particularly rotund Doduo. Clearly it was the one that had followed me home the day before yesterday!

It was asleep with both its heads!

But didn't Doudo sleep with only one head at a time?

Pah! No matter.

As I turned to close and lock my door I heard a sudden ruffling of feathers. Curious, I glanced over my shoulder to see Doduo had jerked awake.

(20)

It looked about frantically until one head noticed me. It then pecked the other head causing it to turn towards me too as the both sighed in a way that I thought might be relief!

I had barely even met the bird and it already seems inordinately concerned with following me!

I turned around and faced it.

It looked at me. Its eyes a vacant and its faces with rather dull expressions.

"I don't know why you are following me, bird, but I am not currently in the market for a pet, nor do I have the funds to spare on food for you!"

It simply continued to stare at me.

Rightfully so. I spoke to it in the same manner I do when I am alone: without expectation of a reply.

I glanced about the yard. I had been distracted before, but now that I had a moment, its feathers... They were EVERYWHERE!

In the bushes, in the newly planted yard tree, all over the lawn, and they spilled over into the neighbors lawns as well!

Its a good thing Doduo feathers are not on the list of prohibited yard debris for the homeowners association...

I recall their last visit to be particularly unpleasant. Apparently my Scyther-themed mailbox was not on the approved list of mons for the neighborhood! Now all I have is that dull Doduo mailbox in its place...

Shifting my focus back to the feathers, I was immensely relieved that I did not invite the bird inside the house.

Clearly the bird is so lazy that it rolled about my yard for an entire day! There were few other ways to explain the sheer volume of feathers I was seeing...

A fat, lazy, dumb bird...

If it causes people to take duels with me less seriously, I reasoned it would likely reduce the chance of opponents refusing to duel me...

Very well! Since I stand to benefit from this arrangement, I suppose I can tolerate it following me about if it chooses to do so.

(21)

Just then, I caught sight of what appeared to be collars on Doduo. One on its left neck and another on its right neck.

I brought a hand to my chin. "A collar? Could you perhaps belong to someone, bird?"

Doduo looked up in a way that displayed the collar more prominently.

Taking the opportunity, I knelt down to inspect the left one first.

Doduo appeared not to mind and stood there patiently.

The collar was old and worn. Dirt encrusted every inch of it. If it had a color before, it was certainly brown now. It had a dog-tag attached, and even though it was worn, I was able to make out letters on it: 'go'. Go? Go where? I turned it over to find a male symbol on it.

"Ah, it seems we share a gender, dear bird."

Out of the corner of my eye, Doduo appeared to have... grinned for a moment? Perhaps it was my imagination.

I next inspected the right one next and found it in similar condition to the first one. This one had the letters 'tan' on it. The back of this tag was empty.

Well, I supposed doduo is rather 'tan' in color as a whole and it's certainly a creature that 'goes' and quite fast, at that!

I then had an idea! If this bird should follow me about everywhere, I may as well give it a nickname!

I looked Doduo in the eyes and grinned confidently. "Very well, bird, I now know what I shall call you!"

Doduo looked at me with both heads wide-eyed and... eager?

"Gotan!" I smiled while crossing my arms proudly.

Gotan's heads tilted as its eyes seemed to squint for a moment with a flash of... bewilderment? -or at least I thought he might have, perhaps it was my imagination?

I tilted me head. "Can you... understand me, Gotan?"

Gotan simply stood there with a blank vacant stare.

Of course that bird couldn't understand me... What an absurd notion! I turned my thoughts to more productive matters.

If Gotan had an owner, it must have been from too long ago to expect to find them again. Judging from the collar's condition, the one who placed these collars on Gotan was not Imakuni.

"So, it seems like you have been without an owner for a long time, huh?"

Gotan's eyes began to shimmer slighty. Were its eyes... watering?

Before I could contemplate the matter further, Gotan suddenly broke into a roll in the grass sending feathers into the air as it went.

"Well, from now on, I'm going to call you Gotan. At least, until you get bored and find someone else to follow."

Gotan stopped rolling and I almost thought I caught him squinting at me, but on closer inspection, it was his usual dull vacant expression.

Wanting to waste no more time chasing idle flights of fancy, I looked over the yard again and thought about cleaning the feathers, but decided that would be a problem for future me instead.

My next destination would be the science club. After my suffering at the hands of the opposite gender, a currently all-male club would be a welcome reprieve.

I opted to take the bus to see how determined that bird was to follow me.

Sure enough, that bird followed me all the way to the science club!

He didn't even appear to have even ran close to it's top speed.

Clearly, that bird would be following me until it found someone more appealing.

I suppose I could attempt to sneak away when he slept, but that would only leave him in my yard and accrue even more feathers in it...

As I entered the science club, Gotan trotted right behind me. Feathers fell off the bird like the leaves of an autumnal tree.

I then I saw the sign.

(22)

There was one hanging in every club. It read: 'Doduo owners are responsible for the cleaning of any feathers left behind. Violators will be prosecuted.'

Obviously I was NOT this bird's owner, but with him following me around everywhere, who would believe me? Besides, I suppose I DID nickname him...

I lamented the fact that I would soon be routinely cleaning his feathers at any club I visited...

Had I the funds, I could pay a lawyer to fend off the lawsuits, but the problem would still remain that it would look like I disrespected the clubs by allowing my presumed Doudo to leave his feathers about. As a champion and a gentleman, I had to hold myself to higher standards than that!

At least I wasn't planing to visit the lounges, so the feathers could all be contained to the entrance and main room of each club...

The entrance of the club was unchanged from my last visit since clubs almost never redecorate.

The floor had a large square light purple tile in the middle with the TCG Island science symbol on it. The symbol itself looked rather strange now that I was looking at it closely. Almost like some kind of mechanized Mew.

The remainder of the floor was some sort of light green metal tiles. One would assume this building was brand-new with all the technology it contained, but these light-green metal floors were actually among the oldest structures on our island. They also seem to be impervious to all forms of damage. Perfect for an experimental building that may contain the occasional chemical explosion. I had the lectures from my academy days to thank for that information.

Blue diamond patterned rugs adorned the floors in the hallways leading to the other rooms.

The walls were all covered in light purple ceramic tiles.

In the far left corner of the lobby were two large cylinder objects with steps leading to frames on either of them that looked to be a sliding door of some sort. It seemed like something a person could crawl inside of.

In the far right corner was one of the science club's quantum computers. It may have been old technology, but few households had their own quantum computer due to their cost and bulk.

(23)

As Gotan and I entered the main section of the lab, I noticed the majority of the room was unlit, with only the separate room in the back with the light on. As I stepped into the room, the automatic lights kicked in, revealing the usual decor.

There were three large wooden tables in the main section of the room with laptops, beakers, flasks, and various notes scattered about.

The wall that formed the separate room towards the back left, was lined with two shelves with various chemistry supplies. Finally, there was a large hall off to the right leading to two more quantum computers at the back. Seeing no one in the main section, I made my way to the smaller room in the back.

I could hear a voice mumbling to itself in the back.

"...but what could I use for testing this? Our stock ran out just yesterday... If only we had some Doduo feathers laying about... They are getting so hard to come by these days... Another shipment of them went out to Neo just last week... I thought they hated those birds..."

I coughed loudly from the other room.

A head poked around the corner.

"Well! If it isn't the Gentleman!"

His gaze shifted to Gotan.

"Ah, very good of you to bring a present! Well, come on then! I have work to do!" He stuck a hand out around the corner beckoning with a wave.

I glanced at Gotan. He seemed to be... afraid? I didn't know he could be afraid of anything!

Rick always was an odd one. More interested in science than the Pokemon TCG. It was hard to believe that he was Nikki's brother. Even when we were kids, he was always holed away in his room working on Mew knew what.

Now that he was leader of the science club with tools and quantum computers at his disposal? I had even less of a clue what he was up to.

Since he appeared to be the only one here for the moment, I figured I may as well see where the club members were.

As I entered the back section, it was as I remembered: the two quantum computers in the right corner were lit up with a variety of flashing lights. The small workbench in the far left corner that Rick was standing at had a variety of flasks and notes strewn about. Two more cylinder objects like the ones from the entrance loomed in the left corner to my left.

It was a wonder that Gotan wasn't wrecking things in here or the previous room. If I didn't know better, I'd say he almost seemed respectful!

Speaking of the bird, Gotan followed, but was cautious. Using both heads, he eyed the surroundings and Rick carefully.

Rick was busy pouring some chemical into another flask with his back turned towards me. He was wearing a long white lab-coat.

"Well! Don't just stand there! Bring the bird over. Hurry!"

I approached and so did Gotan. Still cautious, but less so at this point.

Perhaps the bird found my presence comforting at an otherwise scary situation? Not that I could see what could be so scary about this room in particular.

Rick grabbed at Gotan's feathers and took a decent clump of them. "Ah! Excellent!"

Gotan had a stupid grin on his faces. Apparently he enjoyed having his feathers forcefully removed.

I held my chin with my right hand. "Do you always collect feathers that way? Were Gotan a woman, you would likely be missing your hand right about now..."

Rick chuckled. "Oh trust me, I've dealt with enough Doduo to understand they PREFER it that way! They also tend to yield more feathers with such an approach. I don't pretend to understand it, but it is an observable law of Doduo."

I chuckled a bit as I shook my head.

What is wrong with these birds?

He then placed the feathers on the workbench and pulled a single feather from them to drop into the chemical he was holding.

The feather rapidly dissolved with a hiss and some light smoke as Rick turned to face me.

"Unlike quantum phenomena, watching the feather dissolve does not change the behavior of the process. Curious things, Doduo are. Unless the old tales of the three legendary Pokemon gods are true, they are the only Pokemon to inhabit our world."

I nodded. "Correct by my understanding."

(24)

Rick held the flask up. "Mew of Neo island, Ho-oh of TCG Island, and Lugia of GR Island. I am not one to trust superstition though. If there are other Pokemon, we have yet to find any scientific evidence to support that hypothesis."

An odd diversion, but Rick was the type to be helpful after indulging him in conversation that interested him.

I crossed my arms. "Where would one find such evidence I wonder?"

Rick suddenly appeared more focused and confident. "For Ho-Oh, The Legendary Rainbow Palace may hold clues, but no one has seen it in over a century. Historical accounts from multiple eye-witnesses have been compiled on it. Is it truly a miraculous place, or does it simply involve technology beyond our current understanding? We know it employs anti-gravity to float in the sky. Anti-gravity is not new technology, GR Island's blimps use it, but we do not know the source or specific means that the palace utilizes."

My arms still crossed, I impatiently tapped my finger on my arm. "Yes, I too have heard of such a place. My late grandfather, Jack, had told me stories of it that he had heard from his grandfather."

Rick grinned. "Indeed! The eyewitnesses are numerous! Those accounts also refer to a temple dedicated to Ho-Oh within the palace. Perhaps it contains some artifact or clue on the matter. Unfortunately no one knows the current location of the palace or how to get it to appear again, if indeed it ever does!"

As interesting as this all was, it had nothing to do with what I was here for, so I swooped in to change the subject.

I waved my hand dismissively. "Perhaps if it appears again, you will find something interesting to study. For now, I am here seeking duelists to test my new all-common card deck against!"

Rick raised an eyebrow. "All-common? How fascinating! It's been a while since I've had the opportunity to collect duel data on such a unique concept! However, the club members are currently at the TCG Island science symposium and will be occupied for the next month... I could briefly recall them one at a time, but I would like something in exchange."

I tilted my head slightly. "Like what?"

(25)

Rick peered at Gotan intently. "Feathers. I need more of them! Your Doduo appears to produce them in abundance!"

I smiled. "Well, if that's all you want, I'll give you as many as I have! I have some at my home I can perhaps bring by tomorrow."

Rick frowned. "Tomorrow?! I need those feathers ASAP! Where are they at?"

I held my arms outward. "At my house! This bird has been camped out there for days! You wouldn't believe how many of them there are!"

Rick lit up. "Ah HA! That settles it then!"

I fully tilted my head this time. "What does?"

Rick grinned. "I shall come with you back to your house and gather the feathers myself! I have a method of procurement that ensures quality and freshness!"

Free lawn care? Did my ears deceive me?!

I nodded. "Very well, you may accompany me and I will permit you to gather them!"

Rick smiled broadly. "Excellent! Do you have a spare bedroom?"

I furrowed my brow. "Why do you ask?"

Rick rolled his eyes. "Well I'll need a place to crash for the night! Also, being around Gotan will give me the opportunity I need to collect the most fresh feather specimens! I do hate manual labor, but I can tolerate it... if you have some beer."

I laughed. "Well, yes I do. I don't find myself partaking it in much, but I keep a supply for guests."

Rick looked me in the eye. "Not bad, but do you have enough... for two?"

133TFR33k · 2025-08-10T20:00:36+0100

Special thanks to the beta readers listed below who put in reviews via PM prior to posting!

K_S
candycanearter07

Chapter 4: Confession

May 7th - Night

(26)

After poking around in the lawn for over an hour, Rick finally set his Feathermaster 5,000 near the door and slumped in my comfy recliner chair in the living room. The sun had almost completely gone down.

I raised an eyebrow. "Did you get a bountiful haul, my good man?"

Rick appeared to be barely holding back a laugh. "It sucked."

I rolled my eyes.

He now had a hand over his face. "The vacuum! You get it?!"

I rolled my eyes harder as he was now laughing.

He then squinted at me. "Heyyyy... you haven't had any BEER yet!"

I looked at him and considered the options.

Sit here and listen to him drunkenly ramble about things, or join him in the rambling...

One or the other.

Which should I choose?

Did it matter?

What did I WANT to do?

Decisions, decisions...

(27)

Rick was failing to laugh properly as he finished recounting what he had witnessed. "AND THEN! The instructor poured out the vial into the TRASH compactor!"

We were both laughing so hard that I somehow wound up on the floor.

I eventually picked myself up and got back to the couch, but it wasn't very comfortable.

"Dude. That's the table, man. Couch that way." Rick pointed before he started giggling.

No wonder it was so hard!

NOW I moved to the couch. "You know, I've only been drunk once before but I don't remember much about it! I always thought you were supposed to speak improperly when drunk with slurring of words and such, but look at me! I can speak perfectly normal! I must be special!"

Rick was smiling stupidly. "You ARE special, you idiot! You're the TCG Island Champion!"

Somehow, this was obscenely hilarious.

We were both full-on laughing before it became more painful than enjoyable to continue.

Rick then looked me in the eye still part smiling, but clearly trying not to. "What made you become champion anyway?"

I hadn't anticipated needing to watch my words, so I answered with the worst possible answer: the truth!

"Nikki. I did it all for Nikki."

Rick had a confused and unamused look. "My SISTER? Dude! Why?!"

"Just because she's your sister doesn't make her bad for others..."

Rick nodded as if he had just learned something profound. "Dude... your right! It's like when you look through a kaleidoscope or something!"

"Yeah... Nikki is so perfect. I had to become champion so I could be worthy of asking her out."

Rick acted like his hands were an explosion coming out from his brain. "DUDE! What the MEW! Nikki kept saying the SAME KIND OF CRAP!" he then started talking in a voice meant to poorly imitate his sister, "oh the gentleman is so amazing! He's so good at the Pokemon TCG! I need to get better at it so I can catch up to him or he won't want to ask me out!"

I looked at Rick. "What... are you talking about."

Rick held his head in his hands. "MY DUDE! YOU ARE THICK AS A TREEEEE! Nikki would NOT shut UP about you! Do you know how annoying it was?! I almost went and told you to date her and I was in the middle of my SCIENCE PROJECT!"

I started crying. Nothing to be done about it now. It had happened.

Rick was quiet for a moment. "Dude... that is SO messed up. Its like a sad drama or some crap... You want her, so you get better at cards. She wants YOU and chases you, but can't get there!"

I could feel the tears continue to flow. "Then why did she MARRY ISAAC?!"

Rick looked up at me over his glasses. "Dude, you serious? What have you been drinking?"

"Beer." I immediately started giggling as the tears kept falling.

Rick started laughing again too before regaining some semblance of composure. "DUDE SHE DIDN'T WANT TO MARRY HIM! She settled for him, man. But she was all upset she couldn't catch up to you! Isaac had a crush on her for years too. It's not like anyone else was knocking, man, so she opened the door, man, she OPENED THE DOOR!"

My tears still weren't letting up. "THEN WHY DOES SHE STAY?!"

"Dude. Nikki's always been traditional n crap, man. Ever since she was little, she said she would never divorce. She ain't going nowhere, man... Sorry, dude..."

I gripped the sides of my head. "Why am I even here?! I got this Champion title that was supposed to MEAN something but I have NOTHING!"

Rick was spacing out. "Dude, I don't know. That's pretty deep, man. Like, you can have all this stuff and title, but if it doesn't make you happy, like what's the point, man? I don't really what I'm doing either... I just research crap. It's cool figuring stuff out. Somehow I get money for it."

I was now feeling full-on sad and getting sleepy.

Rick stumbled over from the recliner and plopped down next to me on the couch while putting his arm on my shoulder. "You know, dude? You're alright. You did all that to try to make Nikki happy. Ima be your wing-man ok? I need more feathers from that crazy bird of yours, so Ima just follow you around and pick up feathers, but if there's a chick you dig, I use some science or crap to get her to notice you..."

I nodded as we both started getting sleepier...

(28)

My mind and surroundings were a fluffy white haze dancing and fleeting around anything I wasn't focusing on.

All of this was familiar.

Nikki was there with me as my wife. Had I been awake, that would be an obvious lie, but in the dream, it was a given fact.

I'm snuggled up to her in our bed while our kids were in the other room sleeping in.

It was everything I could ever want. If only Nikki could stop elbowing me in the gut...

Try as I might to enjoy our bliss, she just wouldn't stop with the jabbing!

"Nikki, please stop that! I love you!"

But now she was elbowing even harder.

I was starting to get nauseous.

May 8th

(29)

Suddenly I'm awakened to elbowing in my gut!

A voice called out. I recognized it as Rick. "OK! That's quite enough! I can't believe I passed out drunk on you! UGH this hangover is awful!"

Awareness seeped back into my mind. In the waking world, I realized to my horror that I was NOT spooning Nikki in bed... but RICK on my couch!

I quickly let go of him so he could get up as I made a silent vow NEVER to drink that much again!

I sat up wiping the drool from my cheek. It was all over the couch pillow. My hair was a mess, and my poor suit would need cleaning after sleeping in it. Luckily, I had spares. My side felt terrible from the awkward sleeping angle I had been in. To top it all off, I had a hangover of my own to deal with...

I heard rummaging in the kitchen. "UGH where is the coffee!"

I was stretching carefully to avoid more pain. "Hold on! I'll be in there in a moment! You DO know coffee does NOT cure a hangover right?!"

"Like MEW it doesn't! Get in here!"

After coffee, breakfast, letting Rick shower and then showering myself, I was back on my familiar couch with Rick on the recliner.

I looked at Rick. "I don't think I feel like going out today."

Rick looked back at me. I could tell he was beat. "Yeah, me neither. Want to just crash here for the day?"

We spent the rest of the day watching movies and relaxing. We even ordered delivery pizza.

May 9th

Rick had arranged via his phone for the first member of the science club, Erik, to return from the science symposium for one day to duel me.

I'm not sure why I assumed Gotan would still be outside after us being cooped up in the house for probably thirty-six hours, but my assumption proved correct!

Rick had used his back-pack style vacuum, the Feathermaster 5,000, to suck up the feathers outside earlier before we were ready to leave. Still wearing it, now he would only suck up the occasional feather as Gotan molted them.

I had no idea how that bird molted so frequently, but was pleased not to have to pick up feathers.

Rick also intended to record the data of my matches.

Back in the science club main room, Erik looked up from from some notes he was jotting at one of the large tables.

He had a frown as he placed his finger on the bridge of this glasses to push them up some. "Champion. I'm only here because of Rick's orders. I am MISSING part of the science symposium for this, but I heard you are supplying Doduo feathers and that Rick can collect data, so lets get this over with."

Straight to the point, as usual.

I took my seat and smiled. "Very well! Lets see if today is the day I lose with this all-common deck!"

His deck used Nidoran and its various evolutions as well as some normal types. Unfortunately for him, many of his attacks required successful coin-flips and this would prove to be his undoing, or at least make it much faster.

During the battle, I noticed something I had never seen before. The Doduo I played appeared connected to my real-life Doduo next to me! It was taking attacks by Erik's Pokemon cards! Each time he was hit, Gotan would smile as his feathers went everywhere. This crazy bird loves being attacked!

The feathers would cause Rick to make a gleeful noise as he swooped in with the feathermaster to suck them up, sometimes right out of the air before they could land!

Rick peered intently while scribbling notes down in a flurry. "Ah! Such an interesting phenomenon! I don't often witness this happening. In conjunction with your all-common deck performance, this is positively riveting!"

The duel soon ended in Erik's defeat.

Erik's frown was unchanged. "Yes, yes, you're amazing. Bravo. I'm glad Rick finds me losing duels to be riveting. I'm heading back to the symposium now. I'll be sure to tell David to head back here for tomorrow."

Since it takes a while to get out to the Science Club, I decided it was ok to just have one duel for the day. I returned to the house with both Gotan and Rick tagging along.

133TFR33k · 2025-08-10T22:02:25+0100

Special thanks to the beta readers listed below who put in reviews via PM prior to posting!

K_S
candycanearter07

Chapter 5: Science Fiction

May 10th

(30)

Today I traveled yet again with Rick and Doduo to the science club for my next opponent: David!

He was standing where I had met Erik before, but he looked like he had been patiently waiting for me with no distractions.

David peered confidently at me. "So, Mr. Gentleman. We meet again! I hear you are using an all-common deck that you even defeated Erik with! I'll be quite curious to see what you have managed to achieve with those common cards. In fact, I'd say this was WORTH missing a day of the symposium for!"

I smiled confidently in return. "Well, I would be more than happy to oblige!"

David was still using a variety of grass types such as Bulbasaur, Nidoran, Golbat, and Venonat. The duel against him felt similar to the one against Erik. David was unable to keep up with the damage output of my Voltorb. The duel ended in his defeat.

He held a fist with a furrowed brow. "Commons... I lost to a deck of all commons. You certainly are something, Mr. Gentleman. Well played."

I nodded respectfully towards him.

Rick smiled. "Fantastic duel data! Not a bad haul of feathers either! I'm fortunate that you run Doduo in your deck. Without it, I would not benefit from the additional feathers Gotan throws about when taking attacks from cards!"

Gotan seemed to wince upon hearing Rick call his name.

Probably just a coincidence.

At any rate, I was starting to get used to having that bird and my eccentric house-guest around!

May 11th

Back at the science club again, now for my final opponent here for now: Joseph!

"So, I've heard how both Erik AND David lost to you, but surely you just got lucky. It IS a deck full of just commons after all! I'm ready!"

I confidently crossed my arms. "Very well! I'm always eager for new opponents to test this on!"

Joseph's deck contained more evolutions than the other members. He had Arbok, Nidoking, and Weezing. I kept him locked down with Energy Removal and chipped away at his mon one by one with my Voltorb. Before long, he was defeated.

After the duel, I could hear him muttering. "Commons... The whole club... How?"

(30)

Rick chimed in with a smile. "How indeed! This is the kind of thing that's worth investigating! Joseph, I want you to run the club for a while. The other two can handle the symposium."

Rick took a large bag out of his Feathermaster 5,000 and held them out for Joseph. "Take these feathers and continue the research project involving them. This is an excellent chance to show me what you have learned recently. As for any botched experiments, you need not worry since I will be collecting more feathers."

Joseph nodded and accepted the feathers.

Rick turned to me with an eyebrow raised. "Took down all the members of my club! We may not be as serious as some of the other clubs about the TCG, but considering what you are working with, it's quite fascinating! I trust you have no objection with your 'wing man' joining you on your little expedition around the island?"

I chuckled. "Free feather clean-up and an entertaining house guest! Why not?"

Gotan made a clicking sound as he looked away.

Was it my imagination or did Gotan seem disappointed by this turn of events? I reasoned that would be ridiculous and that I read entirely too much into that dumb bird...

I decided I had been slacking too much lately and since the Fire Club wasn't terribly far away, I decided to pay my old stomping ground a visit.

133TFR33k · 2025-08-11T00:02:50+0100

Special thanks to the beta readers listed below who put in reviews via PM prior to posting!

K_S
candycanearter07

Chapter 6: Flames Past

(31)

Ah, the Fire Club. Much of my early days with the Pokemon TCG were spent here. Back then, "Mr. Gentleman" had been more like a way to appear more important than I was. Amusingly, it seems I grew into it rather well!

I stepped into the familiar lobby of the club. Everything was as I remembered except for a small vending machine in the corner full of small electric handheld, fans!

Peering through the glass, I could see they had two themes in stock, Doduo, and Scyther. There were considerably less Scyther fans remaining than there were Doduo.

I was tempted to buy a fan, but I figured I wouldn't need it. Just a few duels spent here and I would be on my way. Not enough time for the usual high temperature of the club to truly bother me.

With my curiosity satisfied, I took in the familiar decor of the club entrance room.

The floor was obsidian.

There were a couple of small fire bowls in both of the far corners with lit flames dancing and crackling.

A young boy nearby was about to reach out and touch the flame, but Gotan made a dash and touched the fire first with one of his heads! He then screeched, running around with his head on fire before beating it into the floor to put out the flame.

The kid started laughing and forgot all about wanting to touch the flame.

Gotan appeared happy. Was it from lighting his own head on fire or was it from potentially helping a child? Likely the former... Dumb bird...

I resumed my inspection of the room.

The rugs that connected to the lounge and main club rooms were red and orange with diamond-shaped patterns. There was a large square symbol for fire in the center of the lobby in the same way as the other clubs. The walls were dark orange at the bottom and gradually shifted to yellow towards the top.

Since the days from childhood, the club members had rotated out. Ken, my old rival, led the club now. His dedication to fire surpassed my own, but it came at the cost of overall effectiveness thanks to his stubborn reliance on it. I never HAD to use fire in my decks, but it was a familiar and fitting choice to utilize at least some.

Nowadays, our rivalry was one of mutual respect. I believe my tendency to use Fire in my decks helped.

I entered the main hall with my entourage of Gotan and Rick trailing behind me. Rick occasionally activated the Feathermaster 5,000 to pick up feathers along the way.

As I entered the main room of the club, Ken looked up near the back on the raised golden-colored stage reserved for the leader. He was wearing his usual purple suit.

The stage had four steps leading up to it and had four small fire bowls in the corners. On separate small platforms on both sides of the stage were a row of large torches. The first two had flames and the last one had a large glass orb with the TCG symbol for fire. Even further on each side past the torches were kind of like oversized shelves. You could fit two people standing on them, but since there was no easy way to get to them and nothing was displayed on them, they had always felt a bit tacked-on to me.

Leading to the stage was one long rug. It was the one that began in the hallway leading to the main club room.

Under the rug in the center of the room was a large flame-like icon that was symmetrical and almost too geometric to be recognized as flame.

Along the sides of the icon was a row of small fire bowls.

The roof was always interesting as it had been styled to resemble the inside of a volcano leading up and with a small round opening enclosed by glass.

The club was on one of the relative corners of our vaguely square shaped island. It was also attached to the side of an actual volcano, the only one on TCG island, in fact!

While the volcano always had lava inside and rings of smoke that would rise from it, there was no historical record of it ever having erupted. The same held true for the one on GR Island as well as the one on Neo Island.

According to deep sea scientific discoveries, only deep-sea volcanoes ever had any evidence of actual eruption.

Scattered about the club were all the various current members whom I had recently defeated in my run for Champion.

Ken, called out to me from the stage in a loud bold voice. "Mr. Gentleman! We meet again!" He leaped from the stage into a jog until he reached me.

I nodded. "Ken."

Ken looked at Rick and then back at me. "Why is Rick here? I don't think I've ever seen you go places with him before! It's just like this crazy tabloid!"

(32)

He held out the tabloid as I took a couple minutes to read it:

Sixth Sense
Sensational Secret Scoop

Broke Champion Takes Up Side-Gig of Doduo Feather-Collecting To Pay Bills!

The Champion was sighted on main-street with Science Leader Rick in a sad and desperate attempt to make ends meet!

Their plan? To shadow a random Doduo all day to collect feathers to sell!

Rick was hard at work with his vacuum trying to train the Champion on vacuum techniques!

Our Champion, full of despair that no one will duel him anymore, barely had his heart in trying to learn...

To donate to our champion relief fund, please contact our office. Operators are standing by.

Of course the stupid tabloid would include pictures to try to substantiate it out of probably hundreds taken...

Somehow, I imagined I would never see any of those 'relief funds'.

Whatever organization or person is behind this, they don't even TRY to get things correct! They just try to stir up the biggest scandals possible!

Rick hadn't a care in the world for his reputation and found it almost as funny as Ken did...

I sighed and explained the events that lead to Doduo and Rick accompanying me.

Ken laughed. "So now you have this guy following you around recording your matches and sucking up Doduo feathers?! That's hilarious! Well, if you are here to duel the club members, you might want to know that we've been training pretty hard lately. You might have some trouble with John and..."

His expression became intense as he leaned in closely and whispered, "I think Johnathan recently surpassed me. As leader I cannot let that become known, so I tell him that I go easy on him when we duel, but I need to knock him down a peg... Do an old buddy a favor?"

I laughed before whispering back. "Things sure do change don't they? I bet if you told the old you that you would be asking me for a favor, he would have set the whole club on fire! You're in luck though. I AM here to beat everyone without losing any games, if I can manage."

Ken's gaze softened. "Thanks, pal. I'll owe you one."

I smiled. "Well, I still have to duel them first. My deck is still in the early stages of testing, but it HAS gone undefeated against members of three clubs already, so I'm feeling optimistic."

Ken turned to the rest of the club.

(33)

"Listen up, club! Today we have the rare opportunity to duel the Champion using a deck of all-commons! He's taken down three clubs so far using it without a single loss and wants to do the same to us! Are you guys gonna take that?!"

Adam was the first to speak up. He was wearing the standard Fire Club reddish-orange tracksuit with a yellow zipper.

I remembered many days of my youth were in a tracksuit just like that.

He spoke in his usual nasally tone. "You may have beat us last time, Champion, but we've been training! I'm finally going to beat you!"

The next to speak was John.

He stared eagerly. "All-commons? Is that some kind of joke? No one can beat me with all commons. Not even a Champion! I look forward to seeing you try..."

Johnathan had waited to speak last.

He looked calm and collected. "This should be fun."

My first duel commenced against Adam. He used a deck that ran the same types as myself, with Pokemon like Ninetails, Raichu, Magneton, and Rapidash. And yet, despite him using an unrestricted deck, it paled in comparison to the speed and power of my own. It wasn't long before he was overwhelmed and defeated by attacks from my Voltorb.

Adam frowned. "I guess even if you are using all-commons you are still the Champion. You are also the most powerful fire duelist in apparent recorded history. I accept my defeat."

High praise! I tried to think of a way to humbly refute it, but everything he said was technically the truth!

I crossed my arms. "You had a good run and even knocked out a couple of my Voltorb in the process. Good game."

I held out my hand and Adam shook it.

The moment our shake ended, John spoke up. "I'm not surprised that you beat Adam. He's always been weak. Unlike me! All my training has paid off in spades and its time for me to end your all-common reign!"

I fought back the urge to roll my eyes. This guy is a bit too full of himself. Very well... let's get this done with...

John used Arcanine, Ninetales, Rapidash, and Magmar.

The setup of the game went poorly. I had no viable attack options and was left with only Doduo, Porygon, and one Voltorb to work with. My gambler card malfunctioned resulting in tails for the coin flip needed to make the card work so I was unable to draw enough cards. I eventually took down his Magmar, but he had built up too much momentum on his field by that point and I simply was not drawing enough cards to compensate for it. He whittled me down faster than I could do so to him and the game resulted in my first loss with the deck.

(34)

John smiled. "Hah! You SEE THAT! I'm the best!"

Jonathan chimed in. "I wouldn't get too full of yourself there, John. Do you really think that's what the Champion's deck is made of? I think it's pretty obvious how unlucky he was in that match. If you want to brag, do it after beating him two more times in a row."

John looked down with a serious expression. "Full of myself you say... fine then. I'll beat him as many times as it takes for you to understand my power."

That Jonathan fellow had a keen eye! The luck in the duel was absolutely dreadful! In any normal game John wouldn't have accomplished much against me with what he had.

Our next match did NOT have me running into such atrocious foul luck! I crushed John without him even claiming a single prize that time.

John was quiet. He simply shook his head and walked away after picking up his cards.

I would have said something, but I reasoned it would embarrass him and I am not one to steal away the dignity of others. So, I let him walk away in peace and silence. I was confident he learned his lesson on being cocky.

Jonathan now stood before me. He appeared unbothered by the losses of the other club members.

"So, Mr. Gentleman, looks like it's time. I've been watching how you play to get a feel for your deck. I look forward to our duel."

Something about his demeanor... it was kind of like me when I was that age. It was unsettling...

133TFR33k · 2025-08-11T02:24:41+0100

Special thanks to the beta readers listed below who put in reviews via PM prior to posting!

K_S
candycanearter07

Chapter 7: Fate

(35)

I smiled confidently. "Very well, Jonathan! Lets see how much you've improved!"

My opening hand only had one valid card to play, a lone Ponyta. To make matters worse, it had no energy, so I couldn't attack with it! Running out of mon would mean defeat!

I knew the solution to both my mon AND energy shortage would be to draw more cards. Luckily, I did have two Bill's Teleporter in hand which would have allowed me to draw four cards each, if only the coin-flip for each of them hadn't failed!

Cards that do nothing just for failing a coin-flip! My old unrestricted deck NEVER had to resort to relying on such inconsistent garbage to perform well!

The rest of my hand was two Pokemon Traders- useless on their own, one switch- also useless if I only have one mon in play, and a Nightly Garbage Run- ALSO useless early on in the duel!

Johnathan played a Charmander and went first, attacking me for 10 damage bringing Ponyta to 30/40HP. This particular Charmander with ONE more energy attached could attack with ember for 30 damage which would knock out my Ponyta.

I knew I only had ONE chance to turn this around and it all depended on my next card. I drew my card for the turn: Gust of Wind. Normally Gust of Wind could buy me time since it switches the opponents active mon to one of my choosing, but if the opponent only has one mon... it does NOTHING!

Now my only hope was that Johnathan had no energy.

He immediately played one and attacked KOing my Ponyta. With no mon in play on my side to replace it with, the duel was lost.

(36)

Rick frowned. "No feathers in this game, huh... What an abysmal performance too. If you hadn't won so many games with it already, I never would have guessed you were the champion..."

Glancing to my side, Gotan appeared to be spacing out. He looked terribly bored.

Johnathan winked at me. "Oh oops! Looks like you ran into some bad luck there huh?"

I raised my eyebrows with a somber look. "Some bad luck? I can hardly imagine it being worse!"

"Oh, can I take that to mean we can have a rematch then?"

I furrowed my brow. "Yes... But first I have a related phone call to make..."

Johnathan was now gathering his cards. "Cool with me. I'll be around."

I gathered my cards and took a look around.

Gotan was now sprawled on the floor fast asleep with both its heads yet again.

I wondered how that bird could fall asleep so easily and why he wouldn't sleep like a proper Doduo with one head at a time instead of both. I concluded the bird must be too dumb to understand the concept...

Looking around a little more, I caught Rick chatting with Ken. It was about Volcanoes from the sounds of it.

I stepped outside the club for my phone call.

'Bill Inc.' A mega-corporation with ties into just about every aspect of modern life. As of late, it had acquired gambling institutions on both TCG island and GR Island. It's only real competitor, 'Eyetech Inc.', in Neo Island, played a relatively minor role comparison.

For some reason, Bill Inc. is responsible for the results of coin flips for the Pokemon TCG cards: "Bill's Teleporter" and "Gambler". Without successful coin-flips, these cards fail to perform their effects. There are other cards that require coin-flips too, but only these are affected by Bill Inc.

As for the coins flipped, they are always performed with special official Pokemon TCG coins. These coins have a wireless internet link which serves to monitor coin-flips to prevent cheating and link to Bill Inc. for the cards I had already mentioned. Bill Inc sends a wireless signal to the coin to trigger the micro anti-gravity device in the coin to influence the way it lands when using "Bill's Teleporter" and "Gambler".

Bill Inc. offers a prepaid service that advertises 100% successful coin-flips on all uses of the "Bill's Teleporter" card. Clearly there must be some sort of issue with this 'service' as it failed twice in a row despite my monthly paid subscription!

There is a machine dubbed "Bill's Teleporter" that is responsible for the coin-flip results of the "Bill's Teleporter" card. Obviously teleportation was science fiction, but the machines effects on the card had been tested and proven.

Now it was time for perhaps the least fun aspect of being an adult... calling a business with phone prompts and hold times...

(37)

After being on hold for several hours with Bill’s company, I finally obtained an answer for my complaint. Despite a team of IT working around the clock, there is an on-going malfunction in the machine that was expected to continue with no current time-frame for it to be fixed. I also learned that dueling after 7:00pm was often met with more success for some reason. I imagined it may have been due to fewer users since it was later in the day.

When I inquired about a refund, the rep informed me it was handled by another department, had a required mail-in form that cannot be sent electronically, and had a turn-around time of three years!

Apparently once the process is started, the subscription itself is cancelled and cannot be activated again until the refund is paid out!

I wanted to take the matter up with a manager, but I knew enough about Bill Inc. at this point to know the futility of that action. Just like my faulty coffee-mug warmer, the rep would no doubt tell me they could only involve a manager by means of a call back. They would make it sound all promising and sincere. Maybe they even thought it would result in my problem being resolved. But inevitably, no one would ever call back.

Calling them back would only play out the same way, except then I would be required to repeat the entire problem to the next rep. It was a vicious never-ending circle of torment and not one I intended to experience again.

That coffee-mug warmer complaint was about the principle of trying to make that corporation take some responsibility. I even thought about taking my deck out to their HQ and dueling my way through their staff, but since they had hundreds of employees, I knew I would never make it to their senior management and CEO, Bill, before they would no-doubt evacuate to their rooftop corporate blimp.

Were Bill Inc. just a local company to our Island, it would have fallen under TCG Island law and I could have filed a lawsuit against them at the very least. But being a multi-island corporation, they have what's called 'corporate immunity'. While it IS theoretically possible to successfully prosecute them, the vast majority of cases are thrown out without even a second glance by most judges.

So here I was, champion of TCG Island, being tossed around again like trash from this overly-bloated scummy corporation. My disdain for large companies was profound indeed...

I took out my pocket-watch to check the time: 6:30pm. The sun had started to set, but thanks to my ruling as champion, clubs were open late and closed late too!

One of the perks of being Champion meant I got to set when the workday hours for the clubs were! As one who loves to sleep in, this was one of the best things about becoming champion.

Now the clubs opened at a reasonable 11:00am and closed at 8:00pm.

The former champion, Ronald, was my nemesis: a morning person. He would have clubs open at 5:00am! They would also close down at 2:00pm! As a recent academy graduate back then, trying to wake up before 2:00pm was sometimes a challenge...

Ronald and I may have been on good terms in general, but we would never see eye to eye on when to wake up.

Just as I was about to head back inside, Rick and Gotan approached!

(38)

Rick had a box of pizza, and two large soda drinks!

Rick smiled. "I thought you might be hungry, so I picked us up some grub!"

Rick set the drinks on the ground and opened the pizza box to reveal a deliciously cheesy, thin, and hot pepperoni pizza.

Now normally a gentleman of my caliber wouldn't do something so pedestrian as tear into the meal right then and there... but hunger is as hunger does... grandfather would understand.

Since we had extra, I offered a slice to Gotan.

I noticed his eyes started to water a little.

He brought his beaks closer to the slice and sniffed it. He scrunched his face as if lifting a heavy object and looked at the slice intently.

His demeanor then changed as he started dry heaving with his face scrunched in a way I would assume is normally associated with pain. I saw a few tears fall from his eyes as well. He then turned around and burred both his heads in his mass of feathers going completely silent.

I stood there and blinked for a moment wondering what just happened.

Rick stopped chewing his pizza and somehow spoke clearly with his mouth full. "How curious! Doduo hate human food, but I have never seen one act like that before. You have a really weird Doduo! Gotan looked to me like he wanted very badly to eat that pizza despite how he could clearly not even come close to tolerating it.

Rick swallowed his bite of food and took another, chewing as he spoke. "But why would a Doduo want to eat something they so clearly hate?"

I shook my head. "This bird is a mystery. He even sleeps with both heads at once instead of one at a time!"

Rick's jaw dropped. Thankfully, he had just finished swallowing his bite of food. "Such a unique specimen! I believe I will collect data from Gotan as well as his plentiful feathers!"

(39)

Feeling refreshed, I returned to the club for my rematch.

Gotan moved along beside me as Rick followed behind to suck up feathers with his glorified vacuum.

I glanced to my side to see Gotan had frowns on both faces. His eyes were half closed focused ahead without looking around at all as he slapped his talons haphazardly against the floor as he clawed his way forward.

If not for the Doduo-resistant flooring, he might have left scratches.

He appeared to be a fowl in quite a foul mood indeed.

As we approached Jonathan, his frowns slowly faded and his eyes opened just a little more. Once we reached Jonathan, he shook feathers from his body like a dog drying off, as he tilted his heads up with his eyes shut. The bird then lowered both heads in Jonathan's direction as he opened his eyes.

Jonathan cracked his knuckles while stretching. "So... I've already won a game. What would you say to a little wager... unless you are too worried you will lose?"

Worried? ME? I may have using a common deck... but to back down on a wager against the likes of that pompous little growlithe... No. I would certainly not back down.

I raised an eyebrow. "What did you have in mind?"

Jonathan smiled. "If you win either of the next two games against me, I'll throw in enough cash to be worth an extra two booster packs for each game you win. But if I win them both, you will sponsor my education at the TCG Elite Academy you attended."

The audacity and gall of such a request... The value he would gain far outweighed what I stood to gain, but the point is that he is cocky enough to bet his own money that he will win. This kid knew exactly how to get under my skin.

I smiled broadly. "You make this too easy! You should have asked for my house too! I accept!"

The next duel with Jonathan had him set up one of the most versatile fire Pokemon: Charmeleon. With it's slash attack for 30 damage, he KOed my Dark Rapidash in two hits and took down a Doduo with one with flamethrower! I was now down to my last mon, Voltorb. The only way out would be to draw more cards. I activated my gambler card... but the result was TAILS! Jonathan finished me off on his next turn and because I had no remaining Pokemon on the bench, I lost YET AGAIN!

(40)

This was EXACTLY why I loathed using cards with coin-flips! If I didn't NEED to include them in order to have enough ways to draw cards, I'd drop them in a heartbeat!

Johnathan winked again. "Oh no! More bad luck there! So unfortunate. You know, you really should probably not rely on coin flips too much. I've got to say, that Professor Oak I used to draw seven cards in our game was preeety nice considering I didn't have to flip a coin for it! Just let me know when you are ready to lose your final duel against me mkay?"

I knew exactly what he was doing. Trying to throw me off my game. Frankly, it was working, but I couldn't let him see it.

Rubbing it in my face how he doesn't have to resort to coin-flips to get his 'Professor Oak' cards to do what they are supposed to do! Yet, this pompous windbag would no-doubt join in with everyone else in refusing to duel me if I DIDN'T debilitate myself in this way!

If only I could duel him with my old unrestricted deck... He probably wouldn't even claim a single prize against me with THAT. But then he would just refuse to duel me and I would be getting nowhere...

But I had more to consider than that now... the funds it would take to sponsor an academy education... I shuddered to think of the price. Normally, education on our island is given to our citizens freely, but this was a special private academy with tuition paid without financial assistance...

The other members of the fire club were rolling their eyes, clearly unhappy with being shown up by Jonathan.

Ken had his face covered with his palm.

No doubt Jonathan beating me in yet another duel was NOT helping his case.

Gotan... was that bird snickering? I looked closer and he seemed his usual clueless self. Must have been my imagination... At the same time, I noticed his charred feathers. Must have been the flamethrower he took.

Rick was shaking his head jotting down notes. Just what WAS he writing about me anyway?

I turned my attention back to Jonathan and grinned. "Congratulations Jonathan! Charmeleon is indeed a good card and you were fortunate to draw the Professor Oak that you played that game. I shall return again after a brief intermission."

So... gambler did not pay off. I wasn't too surprised considering it WAS fitting for a gambling-themed card to be a risk, but I wondered if there was some way to improve the odds. Perhaps another subscription from Bill Inc. would work? I reasoned it at least wouldn't be connected to that glitchy janky 'teleporter'.

(41)

Before long, I was back outside on the phone with Bill Inc.

This time, I got a female rep.

"Thank you for calling Bill Incorporated, this is Stephanie, how can I help you?"

My jaw dropped. "Stephanie from the TCG Island Psychic Club?!"

"...That's right. This job lets me work remotely and I get to chose my own hours. What better way to pick up some extra cash, eh?"

I squinted my eyes. "What about your work at the club?"

"Oh that? I'm just using my lunch break for it. I had a... feeling it would be good to be working right now... and I know exactly what you want."

I tilted my head. "Another premonition?"

"You catch on quick. Give me a face-time call on my personal cell, it's 555-555-5555. I love that number. It makes it so easy to... facilitate things."

I hung up and called her back on her cell.

Stephanie smiled slightly. "There we go. Now we can... conduct business. You want your gambler card to work. There is no monthly subscription you can pay to make it work. However... for the right price, I could be persuaded to alter the coding in the system to put the odds in your favor..."

I closed my eyes and found myself nodding. "Very well, name your price."

Stephanie maintained her smile. "I won't be asking anything too high, but I want 25% of all your winnings from selling cards won from booster packs from your duels. I already know that's the highest you will go to still be willing to deal, so you may as well agree."

What could I say? She was exactly right.

I could feel my eyes rolling back in annoyance. "No use trying to negotiate with you, as usual. Fine, I accept."

I then checked my phone and found a cash app request from her. I accepted. Proceeds would transfer automatically.

Stephanie dropped her smile. "Oh, and this won't be perfect. Sometimes I won't be able to rig it. It just depends on how much they are supervising me. Lucky for you I always know when they are watching... but you have a duel to play, don't you? See you around..."

*click*

Anything to keep that blasted Jonathan from winning in yet ANOTHER duel against me. I refused to have my common card tour be ruined by the likes of him!

Now both the teleporter AND gambler cards should function properly. It was about time I reminded the dreaded Jonathan of the difference in our skills!

133TFR33k · 2025-08-11T05:06:27+0100

Special thanks to the beta readers listed below who put in reviews via PM prior to posting!

K_S
candycanearter07

Chapter 8: Retribution

(42)

May 13th

I confidently strolled back into the club room.

Bad luck couldn't hold out forever, and I had stacked the odds in my favor... But the prospect of having to pay for a private education for him was something I had to actively try not to think about. If I did and it caused me to lose...

As I approached, Jonathan, he smiled. "Alright now it's time to see just how far I'll go. I've got to say I wasn't expecting to win two games in a row against the champion. Wouldn't that be something if it were three?"

I smiled back. "It sure would, but luck only takes one so far..."

Underneath my smile I fought desperately to subdue the sinking feeling in my chest. I knew no matter what I had to win this!

The next three duels in a row against Jonathan were ALL victories. All of my coinflips worked flawlessly and I found myself with access to all the cards I needed to ensure my victories. I had Energy Removals to keep his mons suppressed, multiple Voltorb to strike hard and fast, plenty of energy, and Gust of Wind to hit whatever I wanted. I would tank hits with Doduo while setting up Voltorb to attack and boost my Voltorb damage with Porygon as needed.

(43)

The amount of relief I felt after winning the first of those three games...

Jonathan frowned and shut his eyes. "Ok that's enough. No more duels for me tonight. You win, 'champ'. I'll be training, so don't think you can stay ahead forever..."

Ken looked profoundly relieved. "As expected of our champion. Do let me know when you are ready for our duel later. I look forward to a heated battle!"

I nodded respectfully before surveying the room.

Rick was scribbling notes furiously on his note pad with one hand. His other arm was propping the notepad up while directing the vacuum to suck up feathers from Gotan. At the same time, he hopped on one foot to keep from getting tangled in vacuum tubing. He somehow did all of this while only looking at his notepad.

His ability to multitask was admittedly impressive.

Gotan was looking rather battered from the attacks he had endured, with ruffled feathers and swelling in various areas. He kept adjusting his body so the battered parts got disturbed by the vacuum.

And he couldn't have looked happier about it.

Crazy bird...

The other members of the club NOW started trying to say how good Jonathan did and that winning even one game against me was a big accomplishment.

Of course they were happy now that he lost and was no longer making them look even weaker. Club politics... Not something I missed.

I remember the other members in my childhood including Ken getting so angry when I would win. But of course, I never held back. They would have got even angrier if I had...

As I turned to leave, Rick started following me while he continued to write. How he managed to avoid tripping or running into things while doing this was beyond me.

Gotan scrapped himself off the floor. He followed me with a limped hobble that would be considered slow by his standards but still easily able to keep up with me.

A quick glance revealed he was hobbling not to avoid pain, but to seek it out! Stepping awkwardly and directly on the bruised parts of his talons. Smiling all the while... the lunatic.

(44)

After spending so much time in a club, I was getting pretty hot so, on my way out, I stopped by the handheld fan vending machine to pick up a nice Scyther-themed fan... only to find they were sold out?! Oh why had I not purchased one sooner!? Now all they had were those dumb Doduo-themed fans!

But my need for a nice breeze won out over my despair of missing out on a cool Scyther fan.

I reluctantly purchased the Doduo fan.

Gotan seemed smug about this as he danced about gleefully.

Thankfully, the fan came with batteries in it and it did feel quite nice!

At this point, I had built up a decent supply of booster packs from my victories. Every victory earned a couple of them from every opponent, after all!

Having had a good haul for the day, I stopped by my local card shop to sell the booster packs for money. Since I was only using common cards and already had a full set of all of those, I had no need for anything the booster packs might contain.

It was good to get some money into my bank account.

I then noticed an incoming call: 555-555-5555. I picked it up, because why not?

(45)

I raised an eyebrow. "Stephanie?"

"Bingo. That's another reason I love this number... I noticed some of that sweet money came in from you. Nice going, Mr. Gentleman. I trust you are satisfied with the results?"

I smiled. "Indeed I am!"

"Splendid. Keep up the good work. Oh, and make sure you pay our club a visit next. Fortune will favor you if you do and I wouldn't mind raking in a bit more of that nice cash of yours..."

*Click*

She never was much of a conversationalist. Would saying 'bye' really be that hard? No matter.

What DID matter was that I was now getting the results I deserved! Coin-flips to make a card do anything at all... Few things were worse than that. Granted, failing the flip for 'Gambler' did still allow ONE card to be drawn, but it was a poor consolation prize, at best.

Regarding my next destination, it would obviously be the Psychic club! Free money is free money, after all!

May 14th

I took the subway to the Psychic Club. It even had a designated area in each section for Doduo. I decided to take a seat near it so Rick could gather feathers from Gotan while we traveled.

On the seat next to me was today's newspaper.

I recently cancelled my subscription to conserve funds, but I found this the perfect opportunity to catch up on things.

(46)

The TCG Times

UBI Cap Increase
Universal Basic Income. A wonderful fact of modern life. Set in place by our oracle centuries ago, this one social reform has virtually eliminated all poverty for TCG Island citizens for several generations.

As we have come to expect from the oracle, when inflation gets a little too high, the UBI is increased. Let us be thankful for our benevolent AI ruler, the oracle. Let us also not take for granted the modest houses, food, water, healthcare, and UBI granted to all our citizens as basic human rights.

The latest increase in UBI will continue to safeguard our way of life and help ensure the happiness and well-being of all our citizens.

Ah, so there would be yet another increase in the UBI. Even the wealthy benefit from it. Anyone could struggle with rising costs depending on how stretched their budget was, but the Oracle sees that no one need worry about such concerns.

In theory, I could sell my house, downsize, and not need to go earn any money at all, but where would be the fun in that? I enjoyed my fancy home and extra spending money too much to just let go of it.

I continued reading.

Where have all the Doduo gone?
Until the past few years, we have all enjoyed the Doduo of our island. People have them as pets, and their antics never cease to amuse. They are great with children too. But lately, the number of Doduo has drastically dropped!

Our reporters even investigated GR Island to discover the same phenomenon there as well! What could this mean? To report relevant information, please call 222-222-2222. As this case is ongoing, publication will continue.

So, Doduo were disappearing? If they weren't here and they weren't on GR Island, then perhaps they were being moved to Neo Island? But Neo had always been an odd place that kept to itself...

I scanned through several more sections to find another that caught my interest:

Immigration Uptick
The latest world population statistics indicate a in influx in immigration from Neo Island to GR Island. The cause of this is speculated to be GR Island's king seeking cheap labor as he is known to be frugal.

As TCG Island does not allow for immigration except by special permit, marriage, or adoption, GR Island is the only place citizens of Neo Island could generally formally move to.

Not all immigration is legal, however. Reports indicate GR Island is also engaged in deportation of immigrants that have not gone through the proper channels. Failure to return undocumented immigrants to Neo Island is a hot diplomatic topic lately on the world stage. Neo Island does not tolerate when their citizens leave Neo Island illegally.

Neo Island had always been strange about its emigration policies, but to create diplomatic incidents over it seemed more firm than usual. Perhaps GR Island had a better standard of living than Neo? Of course, I was sure it had nothing on TCG Island. I had always been proud to call TCG Island my home.

The subway was nearing our stop, so I set the newspaper back where it was for someone else to enjoy perusing.

After a brief walk we reached the Psychic Club.

Being told ahead of time by a psychic that I would win all my duels at a club had a certain excitement about it. I strolled inside as Rick and Gotan followed.

Pokémon TCG2: Doduo Adventures - Book One: TCG Island (In Progress)

More options

Recent threadmarks

133TFR33k

Creator of the Doduo Alliance

133TFR33k

Creator of the Doduo Alliance

133TFR33k

Creator of the Doduo Alliance

133TFR33k

Creator of the Doduo Alliance

Astinus

Youngster

K_S

Unrepentent Giovanni and Rocket fan

133TFR33k

Creator of the Doduo Alliance

133TFR33k

Creator of the Doduo Alliance

133TFR33k

Creator of the Doduo Alliance

133TFR33k

Creator of the Doduo Alliance

133TFR33k

Creator of the Doduo Alliance

133TFR33k

Creator of the Doduo Alliance

133TFR33k

Creator of the Doduo Alliance

Recent threadmarks