Chapter 2: Drive
Author’s Note: Sorry this took so long. The past month has been…. hell, on earth for me. Midterms were last month, and I averaged 2 exams a week. Oftentimes I would have 3 exams in a single week. Perfect time for mental issues to well up and make studying almost impossible. Bombed a decent amount of the exams and put myself in a hole. In most of my classes I was able to stop the bleeding but a couple in particular are worrisome. I am back though. Now I’m climbing back into it, building some good momentum and in a much better mindset. I finally have time to get back to this.
Sunlight peaks through the window, hitting my eyes to force them open. It is midmorning already, and Barry probably started off on his way to meet with the professor and fine me. Whatever. I sit up and stretch out, a bit stiff from a night’s sleep. Piplup apparently woke up a while back and wandered out of my room. I should probably go find him. Quickly throwing on a simple pair of street clothes, I exit my room and casually descend to the main floor. Mom was preparing some breakfast, with piplup sitting on the counter, tapping its little feet on the side. They became fast friends it seems. She greets me and we eat in silence, with mom helping to feed piplup, as it is hard to use silverware with flippers. Soon after the meal, she speaks. “So, um, you should probably go see the professor. I have something that would make the trip easier.” She motions to the box on the coffee table, and I walk over. Opening the box, I grin. Inside was a new pair of running shoes, with a piece of paper noting some instructions. I read them aloud: “Put on these shoes and feel the wind through your hair! Just press A…whatever that means.” I quickly put them on after my mom rolls her eyes. She had a point, there was no A button, and this is not some kind of Nintendo Wii game.
“Alright be safe!” My mom’s voice rings out as I walk through the door. Piplup was sitting in my bag with his head poking out, as he refused to go back into the pokeball and frankly I do not feel like fighting with the little penguin. Besides, it was cute. Route 201 did not seem nearly as daunting this time, we even encountered more wild pokemon that piplup beat into submission. Scrappy little guy. Getting him back into my pack to travel was a bit of a pain, but not too annoying thankfully. Battling seemed to burn off some of the extra energy.
Sandgem Town is much like Twinleaf, difference being it has a beach towards the south. That’s…literally it. The professor’s lab was just inside the city limits, so finding it was not difficult. Sauntering into the lab, I walk forward, where Barry and Professor Rowan are both waiting for me already. Thankfully, Rowan begins to speak before Barry can start talking about some ridiculous fines. “Ah, Lucas, good morning.” I nod in acknowledgement to his welcome before he continues. “Glad to see both of you here on time. Anyways, I did allow you to keep two of my pokemon correct? Well, I have done some consideration over the past…twelve hours. Those pokemon seem to have taken a liking to yo- wait a moment, where is piplup?” Rowen finally asks. I had just noticed: turtwig was standing beside Barry, just calmly listening. I turn around to kind of show Rowen. He was sitting in my bag with his head poking out, riding along. Rowen nods and continues. “Yes. Anyways, I have a task for you two if you are willing to accept. It is a big one. Every region has many of these wonderful little species of pokemon, and we need to catalog them. I would do this myself, but as you can see, I am getting up there in age. This is where you two come in.” He turns to his desk, grabbing two identical devices before facing Barry and I once more. “These two little gizmos are both copies of the Sinnoh Regional Pokedex. These will automatically store the data of any pokemon you encounter in it. How they have the data but don’t just give us access? That I have no idea, and I’ll be having a rather…frank discussion with the creator once I have a chance to do so.” Barry and I look at each other when he says this. I casually snort, amused at the thought of Rowan in a fistfight with someone else. Rowen adjusts his glasses. “Ahem.” We turn back to the professor. “Now, this is a very big undertaking of course, so in order to do so I am willing to make you an offer: I will give you these pokedexes, one for each of you. I will also teach you how to catch pokemon. Finally, I will allow you to keep the pokemon you so generously…borrowed from my suitcase yesterday evening.”
I’m floored by the offer: a legitimate journey, I get to keep my little avian friend…would mom even be ok with this? “And yes, Lucas, your mother is already ok with this. I discussed the prospect with her on the telephone last night.” Rowan states, as if he could peer into my mind. Barry snickers. Being the son of Palmer, the tycoon of the Battle Tower, he honestly was expected to have taken off by now, so his mom probably was thankful to get this warning at least. I look over to Barry, but he’s already dashed off to go prepare. I sigh, he almost forgot his pokedex. My gaze shifts back to Rowen, and I nod, accepting the device from the professor. It springs to life in my hands, immediately asking for my name. I punch in L-U-C-A-S, and now that it was satisfied, it displayed my “party”, which is now just piplup. I click on the icon for piplup and it immediately asks me to nickname him. “Well, would you like to nickname piplup?” Rowen asks. I shrug, it’s mainly for aesthetic purposes. Some trainers nickname their pokemon, others prefer not to. Suddenly though, I get an idea and quickly punch in the letters…
V-I-R-G-I-L
“Virgil? Am I to guess you’ve read the Divine Comedy?” Rowen asks. I grin. Maybe this stuffy old academic had a bit more to him than just pokemon after all. “For someone as young as you, that’s rather impressive I will say. I am a bit biased, but that’s a very fine choice if I do say so myself. Now, when you are ready to learn how the capture procedure works, meet Dawn, my assistant, on Route 202 just past here. However, I would suggest saying your goodbyes first.” I nod, turning to make my exit out of the lab. The door closes behind me and I make my way back towards Route 201.
………
“So you’re finally leaving on a journey of your own huh?” My mom seems a bit saddened by the news, but unsurprised. “I figured it was only a matter of time before you and Barry decided to spread your wings and take off into the rest of Sinnoh, just promise me a couple of things: One, be careful. I would rather not hear about you doing something stupid or something equally as stupid leading to your demise on the six o’clock news.” I snicker at this, the thought of something like being hypnotized into drowning by a bronzor or something equally as dumb occurring. Not likely to happen, I was definitely one of the smarter kids in my age group. “I’m serious.” She continues, “I want to make sure you make it back here safely when it’s all said and done. That brings me to my second condition. Please, don’t hesitate to visit. It’s still your home and I can’t wait to see how much you’ve grown and what kind of pokemon you’ve caught! Also…your piplup, Virgil wasn’t it?” Piplup squawks in response to his name being called. “Virgil seems like good company, I whipped up a little something for the both of you as a little treat.” She walks over to the tiny alcove that houses our kitchen and brings out a little decorative box, removing the lid to reveal a few poffins. “Just…as a little something to start you off on the right foot Lucas. Now, remember to write, I love you, and have fun. Stay safe too!” I nod at her, taking the box and replacing the lid, then the two of us embrace in a quick hug before I make my exit from my childhood home. Now…back to Sandgem.
…………
The path back to Sandgem and Route 202 was nothing of note besides being shown to the PokeMart and Pokemon Center as if I had never been to school before in my life, or listened to Barry for literally five seconds about his dad. Tracing my path back to Route 202, Dawn saw me and waved me over. Once she introduced herself, she proceeded to go into probably the most boring explanation about how to catch a pokemon I had ever stood through. I wish I could have told Rowen I knew how but I forgot to mention it during the excitement of being able to keep Virgil. Hell speaking of Virgil, even the little bird was bored enough to sleep through the entire charade. When she was finally done, I thanked Dawn, though I wish I could get the 15 to 20 minutes of my life back that I had just lost. I decide to head back into town and buy potions, then some pokeballs, before going back to Route 201. There are some weaker pokemon here, yes, but pokemon are pokemon and I have to start somewhere of course! Apparently, that somewhere decided to be the absolute derpiest looking pokemon imaginable.
I’m talking about bidoof.
This little brown mouse beaver looking thing stumbled out of the grass and nibbled at my shoe. Virgil jumped out of my backpack and chirped at it. Before long, the two were rolling in the grass, wresting with each other for supremacy. Virgil was easily winning, mainly since he had the advantage of flippers to slap the hell out of the wild bidoof with. It was comical, and a little bit sad if I’m going to be honest. Probably the only reason I decided to catch the bidoof anyways, mainly to keep Virgil from seriously injuring it. The beaver easily stayed inside the pokeball, and frankly I don’t blame it one bit: would you rather stay safe or be attacked by an angry penguin? Anyways, I kind of took pity on the little guy, and now that I think about it, a friend of mine from a while back loved bidoof. Bidoof is his favorite pokemon (don’t ask me why, I couldn’t tell you). So, this bidoof is named Will. Welcome to the team Will, hopefully your rather…humble beginning can sprout into something legendary.
After that rousing victory, me and the crew move back to Sandgem town to rest up for a bit. I also force Virgil to apologize to Will for the rather savage beating he dished out. Watching a penguin squawk and chirp at a beaver who just made…chattering noises (can’t explain them any better frankly) was a rather interesting experience I will not lie. Once rested, we set foot onto Route 202! The first real test of trainerdom begins here. No wild pokemon in sight, oddly enough. A few kids around my age were resting in the shade further up the path it seemed but that was about it. Not much action here, but either way I had to continue. About halfway up the route, I hear some rather quiet growling behind me. There is some underbrush to the left of an otherwise clear path. Something is in that little bush, its eyes glinting. It leaps out in its full glory, little blue and black body. I’ve seen this pokemon before, it’s rather rare in these parts if I am not mistaken. Shinx.
Score.
I waste no time. I decide to send out Will, as Shinx is an electric type, and frankly I don’t think Virgil would appreciate becoming a semiconductor today. Will, however, does not fare much better. Perhaps I still overestimated the bidoof, because the shinx was still dishing out some rather healthy damage to Will pretty easily. Thankfully, I was able to ready some potions and keep Will going to whittle down the resolve of the shiny. One pokeball later…two shakes…and it popped free. I scowl. Obviously, this little devil has a bit more spirit than Will. It thankfully chooses a more defensive move this turn, and the next pokeball thrown is able to seal the deal. I decide to name her (as told to me by the pokedex) Shelly. Why? Well…I dunno. Something about her just reminds me of some of the shells I would see on the shores of Sandgem, it’s strange. Welcome Shelly, I guess.
I spend a few minutes healing up and resting before pushing up the route, running into kids my age who really want to battle. I oblige. The battle turns into Virgil walking forward and smacking a bunch of low level pokemon silly. Not much effort or really anything to talk about really. Some of the pokemon were so weak even Will and Shelly got some time to fight. Will, finally started to get a grip on things once he won his first battle. It was nice seeing the little guy excited and fired up to keep training.
Shortly after the third battle, a large metropolitan area was laid before my eyes. This had to be Jubilife City. It’s getting late, so it’s likely a grand idea to make my way to the Pokemon Center. I know they have beds there for trainers who are passing through, as well as a meal for those who are present. How they afford all that is my guess, but I’ll probably leave a donation of some of my winnings in there. Have to repay some of the kindness that Nurse Joy and the staff give us trainers who come in, caked in dirt and mud, pokemon half alive from fighting. I find the Pokemon Center relatively quickly, thankfully because there are signs everywhere. People probably get lost here all the time, meaning Barry is probably in some alley on the other side of town at this point knowing him. I roll my eyes at the thought, walking through the sliding doors to call it a night.
Current Team:
Virgil (Piplup) Level 7 Male
Will (Bidoof) Level 4 Male
Shelly (Shiny) Level 5 Female
