Troublesome Force: Chapter One Author: Anthadd. Creative aid: TsuramiSea

Place: Somewhere in Cartame
Siruv, strongest of the viruses, pressed a button on the Planet Splicer. Immediately, the planet split apart into cartoon, and video game parts, and then each of those parts split apart. The video game section was luckiest, as only T-G Village and Computer Town split apart from the rest. The viruses immediately set about contaminating various Cartamians in the video game section.

Place: Nintendo City
In the section of Nintendo City reserved for Pokémon, a small Pikachu named Pika awoke in his nest.
"Pika, pikachu, chu pika!" he said. Roughly translated into English, it means 'Something's wrong! I must go to help.'
Pika rushed out of his nest, and even outside of Nintendo City itself; hoping he could help save Cartame from the something that was wrong.

Place: Between Nintendo City and Sega Town
"Pika, chu pikachu, pikachu, pikachu, chu... pika!" (This is spooky, I'm scared, I, I want... my mommy!!) Pika said, wandering aimlessly somewhere between Nintendo City and Sega Town.
Pika thought he saw an injured Butterfree, and ran up to it. In truth, it was a Sworm, which began to attack Pika relentlessly.
"Pikachu!!!" (Take this!!!) Pika used his Thundershock ability and severely damaged the Sworm, who let loose a Sworm cry, and was soon accompanied by seven more Sworm, all attacking Pika, who could not hope to defeat all eight and survive to tell the tale.
"Pika, pikachu, chu!!!" (Someone, please, help!!) Pika's cry carried to the far edges of what was once part of Cartame. "Chu!!!" (Help!!!) Pika tried once more to call for help, but his call was all but a failure, when a girl with brown hair, brandishing a sword made of what appeared to be high-quality silver in one hand, holding a shield of the same element in the other, and wearing armour made of diamonds, leapt behind Pika.
"FIRE!" she yelled, and two bolts of flame shot out from her hand, striking two Sworm, who were knocked behind the other six, still advancing on Pika.
"Pika.... pikachu...." (Help me.... it hurts...) Pika moaned, in horrible pain.
The girl sheathed her sword, and placing a hand on Pika's still form, said, "HEAL." Miraculously, Pika began to recover.
"I'm Alis Landale," the girl, Alis, said. "Who are you?"
"Pika." (Pika.)
"Pika, what an elegant name," Alis said, removing her sword from the sheath. "But we need to defeat these Sworm."
"Chu." (Of course.)
As Alis prepared to slash a Sworm with her sword, Pika realised a magical spell, the THUN spell.
"Kachu!" (THUN!)
Alis struck a Sworm squarely, destroying it. With Pika's use of THUN, the rest of the Sworm soon followed.
"Pika," (Thank you, Alis.) Pika said.
"No problem," she said, motioning for Pika to follow her back to Nintendo City.
"Kachu pikachu?" (Why are we headed back there?) Pika asked.
"I have to buy some product called 'Peanut Cheese Bar'. A creature called Mr. Saturn stumbled into Sega Town a few days ago. It was horribly injured, and only now were we able to determine what it was saying: 'Want Peanut Cheese Bar'."
"Pika!" (I think I know where to find it!)
"You do?" Alis asked, amazed. "Then lead the way."

Place: Nintendo City
Pika led Alis confidently throughout Nintendo City, finally stopping before a hut reminiscent of the huts found in Saturn Valley. It was emblazoned with the word "ShOP". They went in.
"Hi hi hi. You come buying? I Mr. Saturn, can do all for you. What need have you?" asked the Mr. Saturn.
"Yes," Alis said, "we need a Peanut Cheese Bar."
"That twenty-two dollars. Have you money enough?"
"Um... yes," Alis said, opening a small packet of money, and taking out twenty-two small coins, also known as Meseta. She gave the Mr. Saturn the Meseta. "Will this do?"
"Not enough money! Boing! Not enough money!" the Mr. Saturn said.
"But I gave you 22 Meseta!" Alis complained.
Suddenly a blonde-haired girl in a pink dress entered the store. Her mouth dropped open at the site of the Mr. Saturn yelling at Alis and Pika.
"What's the problem?" she said, manouevring around Alis and Pika.
"They have not money enough!" the Mr. Saturn fumed.
"How much money do you need?" the girl asked.
"Twenty-two dollars," Alis said.
"Oh, I have that much," the girl said, opening her purse, and taking out assorted bills. "Here." she handed the money to the Mr. Saturn.
"I you thank!" The Mr. Saturn pressed a button with his oversized nose, and a candy bar that smelled strongly of cheese and peanuts dropped from the ceiling. Pika leaped onto Alis's shoulder, then onto the counter, picked the bar up in his teeth, then leaped back down.
"Pika, we have to get going now," Alis said. She turned to the girl. "Thank you... I didn't get your name. What was it?"
"Paula," Paula said. "Paula Polestar."
"I'm sorry you had to pay for the Peanut Cheese Bar," Alis said morosely.
"I sense that some evil is arising in Cartame," Paula said, "and that we, along with many more, will save our world. But the computer and cartoon sections have disappeared. Anyone in one of the cartoon towns at the time cannot access any towns other than the cartoon towns. Anyone in the computer section is relatively cut off from the rest of Cartame. My friend Ness was in the computer section when it disappeared. Also, T-G Village seems to have disappeared as well."
"No," Alis said, "Cartame can not end this way. We must do something! We must destroy the evil!"
Pika, who had been silent for a while, suddenly spoke up, saying "Chu!" (Of course! I will fight beside you both!)
"But I don't know where to start to defeat the evil," Paula said.
Alis began thinking, then snapped her fingers. "Dark Falz!" she said.
"Pika, pikachu?" (Who's Dark Falz?) Pika asked.
"Dark Falz," Alis said, "is a creature from beyond the darkest realms. I defeated it in the catacombs below Paseo in Space Century 342."
Immediately Paula learned the FIRE, PROT, and THUN spells; along with the FOI, WAT, TSU and SHU techs; and the FLAELI, TANDLE, EMBER, BUBBLE and THUNDERSHOCK skills. Alis learned FOI, RES, FLAELI, EMBER, and PSI FIRE ALPHA. Pika learned TSU, TANDLE, and PSI FIRE ALPHA.
"Amazing," Paula said, "I know more abilities than I did."
"It must be a blessing," Alis said.
"Pika pika chu chu pika!" (Let's go see this Dark Falz!) Pika exclaimed.

Place: Sega Town
In Sega Town, after giving the Peanut Cheese Bar to the Mr. Saturn, who immediately went back to Nintendo City via a Teleport Station, Pika, Alis and Paula came across a stream of wisps of snow.
"Viruses," Alis hissed. "But what are they doing here?"
"I don't know," Paula whispered, "but do you know where they're headed?"
"Pika!" (Yeah, where?)
Alis gasped. "Dark Falz's catacombs."
"You're kidding me, right, Alis?" Paula asked.
"No," Alis replied, "I'm not."
The two women and the small electric rodent somehow slipped into the river of Viruses.

Place: Dark Falz Catacombs
"Pika..." (I'm scared of the dark...)
"I think I can help," Alis said, pulling a torch out of her pack. When she lit it, the catacombs were suddenly filled with a blinding light, causing the rats and cockroaches in it to scamper into holes. As Pika, Paula and Alis ventured further down, following the viruses, the rats peered out, scared by Paula and Alis, but even more so by Pika.
Pika felt something brush against his back. He turned around. "Chu!" (Virus!) he yelled.
"Virus?" both Paula and Alis said, turning around, weapons brandished.
"A sword?" Paula asked.
"A frying pan?"
"Chu! Pika!" (Virus! Get it away!)
"Stop! Don't hurt me!" the virus said.
"Did that--" Alis began.
"--Virus just--"
"Kachu?" (Speak?)
"I don't mean you any harm!"
"Just what you would expect a Virus to say," Paula said, her voice dripping anger. "It's gutless Viruses like you who separated me from my friend Ness!"
"I'm telling the truth! Siruv has gotten out of control!"
"Pika pika pikachu kachu!" (Who in Cartame is Siruv?) Pika inquired.
"Siruv," the virus said, "is the leader of the true Viruses. Some say he is directly descended from the great Virus."
"Hold on a minute, Virus," Paula said. "You said 'True Viruses'. What do you mean by that?"
"True Viruses, usually not referred to as 'True', behave in an evil manner.
"But I, and my friends, are Viruses referred to among the 'True' Viruses as 'False' Viruses, and amongst ourselves as 'Better'; because we wish to maintain a friendly relationship with you Cartamians, but the 'True' Viruses deem this treason, slander, heresy."
"Alis, have you ever lived under someone who restricts your freedom of speech?"
"Yes, Paula, I have. In fact, I killed that same person, as my brother's dying wish."
"Do not continue to talk amongst yourself," the Virus continued, "for I, a spy for the False Viruses, have come here to try and save Dark Falz from permanent servitude as Siruv's slave."
"They're planning to enslave Dark Falz?" Alis gasped. "That would be why there was so many."
"Dark Falz is stronger and more powerful than most Cartamians. A single Virus, not even Virus-" although a Virus, this one practically spat the term- "could hope to take Dark Falz over by him or herself."
"You seem to know a lot about this attack," Paula said. "Would you like to join us?"
The Virus's colour brightened. "Thank you," he said. "My name is Ecoli."
So now Paula, Pika and Alis followed Ecoli down through the catacombs. As they ventured, Ecoli became aware of the Hi-Jammer Skill, which he used every so often to cut a path through the Viruses whenever Pika, Alis or Paula were in danger of having one enter their body.
When Ecoli finally ran out of Hi-Jammer, he learned TANDLE, THUN and PSI THUNDER ALPHA. Luckily, they were not far from the end of the catacombs.
"Hold it," Ecoli warned. "I sense a large congregation of shadow energy."
"What?" asked Paula and Alis.
"Ka?" (Huh?) Pika asked.
"Shadow energy," Ecoli began, "is the energy emitted by Cartamians of an evil nature; such as Dark Falz and Viruses. You three emit light energy. But False Viruses such as myself emit neutral energies."
"Why do False Viruses emit neutral energies?" Paula demanded.
"It is because, though our bodies naturally emit shadow energy, we thought we had been able to electro-engineer our bodies so we would emit light energies, but the process destroyed many of us, and neutralised the energies that we emit. Very few of my strain of virus exist now. I believe only a hundred remain."
"Oh my," Paula said. "We must help Ecoli to show some of the so-called 'True Viruses' that doing good isn't so bad after all." After saying that, Paula hit herself on the head with her frying pan, causing her slight damage, and giving her one doozy of a headache.
Paula then pulled a Refreshing Herb out of her backpack and ingested it.
When they reached the door, Alis remarked, "This is just like the door in the Paseo Catacombs. I'll use my Miracle Key to open it." Alis removed a small key from her itempack and pressed it against the door, which opened. They went in, and what they saw surprised them.
"Ha ha ha ha ha," Dark Falz laughed. "The mighty Alis, forced to ally herself with a weak girl, a rat, and a False Virus." Dark Falz slowly advanced towards Ecoli, Pika, Alis and Paula.
"Get ready," Alis warned. "Dark Falz is very, very powerful."


Not long after they made friends with Ecoli; Paula, Alis and Pika, along with Ecoli, are locked in deadly battle with a Dark Falz who has been taken over by many True Viruses. Will they survive, or will they fail? Stay tuned for the next episode of Troublesome Force