R-typer: Chapter 5

"Come on Pat, it's time to get up! Your supplies are on the table." I was tired from playing R-Type yesterday, and Lance yelling at me didn't really help with that.

"I'm coming. Just give me a minute," I groggily replied.

"No breakfast for you then!" Lance taunted as he closed the dorm room's door. I got up and opened my eyes, only to see a crap load of red.

"T-Shirt, I hate you now, but I shall deal with you until fur covers my torso completely." By the way, I forgot to say what my T-Shirt says, or at least used to say. It said "C.M.S. PRIDE." C.M.S. was the initials of our middle school, hence "M.S." PRIDE stood for Preparation, Respect, Integrity, Discipline, and Excellence, things of which our school lacked a ton of. It was small before I started transforming because I was a growing boy. Now it was too big because I'm a shrinking boy! I was so looking forward to being taller than Tom. I guess that will be my clone's goal now.
I tucked the shirt in, rolled up the cuffs on my pants, and tightened my belt to avoid the mistake I made yesterday. I was surprised my tail didn't get crushed by the denim.

I found a package on the table where the lamp was between our beds. I opened it, and found a mechanical pencil, as well as a blue spiral-bound notebook, inside a small backpack. Wait, how am I supposed to hold a pencil without opposable thumbs? I guess I'll find out sooner or later. I bet someone will tell me I'm holding it awkwardly, not that I would care. I have never held my pencil correctly. I hold it with 3 fingers and my thumb, instead of 2 fingers and thumb, because it's more comfortable.

I took the backpack and headed out the door to the cafeteria. All the while I was thinking where to find good candidates as my volunteers. I knew I should try to at least look for Flying types and Electric types. I just had to avoid Magnemite, Magneton, and Magnezone as candidates; magnets can screw up LCD displays royally.

As I approached the cafeteria, I felt something was following me, but when I turned around, no one was there. I didn't think I could sense aura yet, at least not voluntarily, so I ignored it for the time being and continued on to the line.

I had to use the ledge this time to reach the counter and grab my food. I may be using the next one up by tomorrow. I grabbed my breakfast, which was a couple waffles, a butter cartridge (if that's what they're called), and a milk carton; I'm not that heavy of an eater. I looked for Lance and Cheryl, but I couldn't find them. "They must've already eaten." I muttered.
I decided to sit alone, and after finishing, I looked at the clock; 8:34. I had 21 minutes to goof off, so I decided to give myself a small tour of the base by going to where my classrooms were at, starting with E404.
As I neared the room, I noticed a piece of paper under the plaque where the room's ID number was displayed. It seemed to be posted by some random joker, because it read, "Also known as Error 404: Room not found." It even had the error symbol you get on the web page when you get an error code of any sort. What kind of confused me was that when I looked behind me, to room 403, there was no paper there to denote that it was known as "Error 403: Forbidden." Both doors were closed, so I guessed the teachers were getting ready. Room E548, physics, wasn't much different, Doors were shut again, so no seeing what was in there, but I could bet that there was at least a periodic table of elements on the wall somewhere. Next up was history, room E368. It wasn't that far off, but for some reason I couldn't get it off my mind that sense of foreboding. It was like the walls were watching me. I decided to check the time again, and seeing that there was no clock nearby, I looked at my map. It said it was 8:50, so I headed back to room E404.
This time the door was open, so I decided to head in. I was almost always to my classes back in high school before any other student, and this time was no different. The desks were arranged in a 6x5 grid, with 6 chairs in the front, facing a desk and a whiteboard. In said desk was a Manectric, with a name plate facing he chairs that read "Krauss."

He looked in my direction with a slight expression of surprise. "Oh, you're mighty early! Say, I haven't seen you before. You must be a new student!"

"I know; I'm always early to my classes. And yes, I am new; my name's Patrick." I responded. He flipped through some stapled papers, and started looking through it.

"Ah, yes, here you are. Take any seat you like. Class will begin soon."

I took a seat in the front and set my backpack under the desk, and took out my supplies. I started to fiddle around with my pencil while students flooded in, to see how I could get a grip on it. For some reason, it just stuck to my paw like there was glue there, because screw logic. Yea, since when did Pokémon world logic make sense. You shouldn't need authentic running shoes just to run.

Class wasn't all that interesting. Today we had to do Matrixes, which are grids of numbers within brackets. I won't care to explain how they work, because even they confuse me. Good thing calculators were invented.

My next hour was free, so I decided to play some R-Type. You may be thinking that it's hard dealing with paws, even with a modified controller (the base had modified PS2 controllers, but not modded "Wiimotes"). However, it's not that hard since I just reconfigured the controls a little. All I really do is use the Left Analog stick to move, X to shoot, [] to charge the Wave Cannon, Directional Pad, instead of L1 and R1, to shift "Gears," and Triangle to use the "Special Weapon," which is actually the Delta Weapon. I think they set it to triangle by default on purpose, because a triangle closely resembles the Greek letter Delta.

After "Game Overing" at the Battleship Raid level, I checked the clock. It read 10:42, not enough time to try doing level 1.0 again. However, for my troubles of playing with the Scope Duck and Sunday Strike unlocked  for 30 minutes, I unlocked the TL-T: Chiron.

I waited until 10:54 to start walking to Physics, because I didn't want to get plowed over by the stampede of students in the hallway. The hallways started to fill in as I exited the elevator on the 6th floor, but it wasn't too bad.

When I got to the classroom, I pleased to see that there was in fact a periodic table on the wall, as well as a type advantage chart. I saw a list of Mathematical equations, such as E=MC2, F=ma, and free body diagrams of a wooden crates with varying masses. I even saw a sign that said, "Know now that when you read this sign, someone, somewhere, is doing the exact same thing to a similar sign."

There wasn't anyone at the front desk, just a TV monitor and a name plate like before. The only big difference the desk had was that there was a Newton's Cradle on it. I took a seat near the front again, and 3 minutes of waiting later, the speaker on the TV started up.

"Hello class, I hope everyone has had a good morning?" A voice said from the speakers, along with static on the screen. There was a series of "yeas" and "sures," along with my response of, "if you count video games as good."

The knobs on the television seemed to rotate themselves, while a faint orange image started to fade in on the screen. Being so far up, I could tell that it was a Rotom, apparently muttering something along the lines of "damn students keep messing with the knobs." When the static was gone, he continued.

"Good, because it will only get better from here on, or it could get confusing."

Sure enough, we watched some things on the TV I knew would blow everyone's minds. We watched how Black holes are formed, what would happen if you fell into a black hole, how black holes can bend time and can be used as a natural time machine, and a lot of other things that had to do with astronomy. As well as that, we saw how satellites correct themselves while in orbit. I forget what it's called, but it gives out minimal thrust, the R-9 takes this technology to the max to give out enough thrust to lift off the ground. It only takes a solar panel to charge the battery that runs the satellites, but the battery the R-9 will have will be much larger. It will drain within 3 hours, in theory, but I think a solar panel or 10 on the top may make it last a bit longer while in mid-flight.

When the bell rang, I headed to the cafeteria for lunch; it was crowded, as always. I got a PB&J and a milk carton from the counter and looked for Lance, Cheryl, or Mitch. Not seeing them, I sat down at a random empty table. This one was close to the ground, so I could eat without having to jump up to the seat. I started eating my sandwich when I heard a voice from behind me.

"Do you mind if I sit with you?"

I turned around and saw an Eevee balancing a tray of food on her head. I swallowed my food before speaking.

"Sure. Oh, let me get that for you." I got down and put her tray on the table, in front of the seat next to me.

"Thanks," she replied, relieved of having to balance the tray. She hopped up to the seat and started eating an apple. "By the way," the Eevee started, "I noticed you were completely unfazed by what was on the television during physics. How could you not be confused?"

"I have quite a large imagination, although it is limited to certain things. It's not hard for me to visualize things in my head." I replied.

"I meant how you could understand those strange words like spaghe- uhhh…" she stuttered.

"Spaghettification," I chuckled. "Think spaghetti, then just add the 'ification' suffix."

"Yea, how can you handle all that?"

"I don't know. I've just been interested so much in astronomy and theoretical science."

"Do you read about it a lot?"

"Not really, but how I got interested was when I had to do a biography report of a famous person in 4th grade. I didn't know who to do until my dad introduced me to probably one of the most famous books I've ever read."

"What was it called?"

"It was A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking. I didn't understand what he was saying too well, but the thought of going through wormholes and the theory of the multiverse and parallel universes really caught my attention."

"So did you do a report on him?" the girl asked.

I swallowed my last bite of the sandwich, "Yep, but I got a lower grade because I didn't talk during the speech."

"Well why not?"

"We were supposed to act like the person our report was on, and because Stephen Hawking's whole body is paralyzed, save for his vital organs and a single muscle in his right cheek, I had to have my head lie on a headrest on a wheelchair, and let a computer do the talking for me."

"That seems unfair to lower someone's grade because they didn't talk, simply because the person they did the report on can't."

"That's what I said. At least I had fun,"

"That's the important part! By the way, how is 90% of this man's body paralyzed?"

"He was diagnosed with a neurological disorder known as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis while attending Cambridge University. It's more commonly known as Lou Gehrig 's disease. He was given only a few years to live, as the usual life span after being diagnosed is about less than 10 years."

"How long did he really have?"

"He's not dead yet. In fact, he was diagnosed with ALS when he was 21, which was in 1963."

She took a moment to do the math, "He's 70 and has been living with that disease for almost 50 years? How is that possible!?"

"Nobody knows, it's just one of those things that are unexplainable. By the way, what time is it?" I looked at the clock. "12:45. Wow, since when did that much talking take up so little time?"

"Heck if I know." I threw our trash away in a nearby trash bin and started walking through the halls with the girl. Which reminded me: I didn't know her name.

"Oh, it's Sarah. What's yours?

"Patrick, but you can just call me Pat,"

"Cool, by the way, do you ever do anything other than things that are physics related?"

"Yea, I play a ton of video games in my free time. If you'd like to see what kind, I'll gladly show you!" I offered.

We got to an elevator. "Sure, where's your dorm?"

I pressed the # button after she pressed 4. And the elevator started moving. "Room E255. I will more than likely be free before you get out of 5th hour, so just knock; I'll let you in. By the way, if you can bring your room's laptop. That would be great!" As I finished, the door slid open.

"Ok, I will. See you at 2:55!" Sarah yelled, running off to get to class.

"See ya!"


History wasn't interesting enough to put here, it was just a more detailed version of Arturo's holographic video. After the bell rang, I headed to my room and decided to try getting Terraria to work. I put my backpack on the floor, next to my bed, and started up my computer, I went to my flash drive's files and took the Terraria game files and copied them onto the laptop's respective location.

Once I tried placing it in the program files, an error came up; one that I would never expect. "A file under this name already exists,  would you like to overwrite these files?" This took me aback, I didn't expect Steam to be downloaded already! After being shocked, I looked for Steam's icon in the Start menu, and clicked it. I got to the login prompt, and typed in my username and password. Once I hit enter, I wondered what was about to happen. I expected Steam to tell me that I was using a different computer to launch it, and it would want Email verification. But it didn't instead, a text box appeared and said, "E-mail verification is bypassed by the base's network. Also, note that there is a bot watching you every second you have the computer on. So don't try anything sneaky."

I didn't expect that. Was this already there, or did Arturo order this to be set up after I told him about Terraria? Either way, I clicked "Ok" and proceeded to log in. I clicked Terraria's icon, and started up the game. Before it launched, I saw I had a PM. I decided to click it, and it was an automated message from the base's network. It was about multiplayer. It seemed the base had its own network for Steam and multiplayer servers. This would work out perfectly, and I could play Terraria with Sarah if she wanted. I clicked on Terraria's window, and clicked multiplayer, then Join. I was decided to create a new character, and after making it look like a Riolu (or as best the game would let me make it) I clicked create and put in the name "Patrick J." After selecting my newly made character, I saw a list of servers already on the next screen, and they all had our base's name on them.
I clicked one, and I spawned in a box of ebonstone brick. A sign was there and I right-clicked it. It said that a moderator would come to me soon, and no later than when I clicked (close), was someone right next to me in Hallowed Armor. I wondered what was going on until the chat bar read the following:

"BaseMod1: Room number please." I reckoned it was a security measure, so I just responded with, "E255."

I waited a few seconds before getting a reply.

"Alright, you're good to go. Just had to make sure you weren't someone who was skipping class." After that, orange text came up in the chat menu that said, "Teleporting Patrick to BaseMod1," releasing me from the box.

I typed in, "Thanks," and went on my way to explore a bit. There wasn't much to do, and it seemed that the world was untouched.

This would be perfect for Sarah and I.

    I was going to come back later after Sarah came by. Until then, I decided to play more R-type.

After being pummeled by the Dobkeratops, and gaining a couple fighters, such as Achellios, I heard a knock on the door. "There's Sarah." I said to no one in particular.

I don't want to bore you with the visit as I have bored you enough already. Let's just say that Sarah was somewhat interested in Terraria, even though she didn't get some of the logic of the game. But, for the third time, screw logic; it's a video game.
After Sarah left, I went to one of the many gyms to see how battles went in the base, just to get a preview of sort for battle class. It was fun to watch other Pokéumans spar with each other, but for some reason, that foreboding feeling from earlier fell upon me again. I stayed alert for signs of trouble, just in case something bad was going to happen. I apparently wasn't paying much attention to the sparring Pokéumans, because I got nipped in the face with a Swift attack. It was only slightly painful. I bet it was because I was a Fighting type and Swift is a no-miss normal type move.

"SORRY! ARE YOU OK!?" someone shouted.

"I'M FINE!" I yelled back. I saw a Pachurisu sprint up to me, and I mean sprint!

"I'm so sorry I didn't mean it I hope I didn't do too much damage please forgive me I'm so so-"

"STOP!" I was a bit agitated by the fact that she wouldn't pause for me to say anything back. I bet it was because Pachurisu are portrayed as hyper in the games, especially with their high base speed. I saw her recoil a bit, and I started to talk. "I said I'm fine; there's no harm done. I'm a fighting type, so it couldn't even hurt me too much. There's no need to apologize, but I still wonder how it missed your partner, seeing that Swift shouldn't miss." I saw her partner, a Flygon, fly over to us and start to explain what happened.

"Yea, about that, she was confused at the time, so technically you were the target, but weren't even in the battle. Confusion can be a pain sometimes." That answered how it missed: it didn't.

"Oh, well that's ok. It wasn't on purpose." I replied.

"Thank you for forgiving me I couldn't see what I was doing everything was so fuz-"

"STOP! Please, pause between sentences. I can't understand half of what you are saying otherwise. I understand you may be a bit hyper, or on adrenaline, because you were just sparring, but please: no run-on sentences."

The Pachurisu looked saddened a bit. "Sorry, it's just a habit I've had I try not to create run-on sentences but it happens and… there I go again. But hey, catching myself is a start! By the way, I'm Amanda, and this is Shane. What's your name?"

"Patrick, but to can just call me Pat." I glanced at the clock, only to realize I still had my mediocre eyesight. I can't read size 34 font 7 feet in front of me without my glasses. Too bad I left them at home. Amanda seemed to notice me squinting at the clock, and clarified the time for me.

"It's 8:50. Can't you read that?"

"Not without my glasses," I sighed, "which are still at home…"

"They're not going be of any help soon though." Shane interrupted.

"I can only hope." I replied, a bit drowsy at that point. "Anyway, I'm going to go to sleep. See ya."

As I walked out of the gym, I started to think of how I knew that something was going to happen. I was somehow forewarned, and I ignored it only slightly. The next moment, I'm hit with a Swift attack. Opening the dorm room's door, I headed straight for my bed. I guess I'll try to find out tomorrow. That was my last thought before I drifted into dreamland.


***In another dimension, date: 2183***

"Bulldog, status report. Over." A voice said through a radio. The audio seemed fuzzy. "Bulldog, do you copy? Over." There was no one there to answer. The man who was known as Bulldog was now dead, having used a suicidal move by firing the Final Wave Cannon on the Bydo Core; destroying it. Sending the force device that had once been attached to the core into a trans-dimensional shift; departing to places unknown… "BULLDOOOOG!!!"


***Back in our dimension, in an office lit up by only a table lamp***

"What do you mean?" A man said. His face was silhouetted by the lighting.

"I mean that the spherical object has travelled through space and time, and has ended up here," a man in a white lab coat replied.

"How is that even possible!?"

"We do not know. Our best scientists are already investigating the situation."

"Well hurry up, and collect whatever it was. We can't let it fall into the Pokéumans' hands. Who knows what this object is capable of."

"Right away sir!"