A/N: An apology is due for those of you who were looking forward to the Worm/Sunless Sea crossover I promised. Turns out going from the first story I'd ever written to a more artistic, horror version of Wildbow was a bit beyond my current capabilities. As for this, I was once again bitten by the Pokémon bug recently for no apparent reason, this has caused an odd response in combination with my sporadic writing and ended up manifesting as this. This is going to take place all but exclusively in Hoenn, Emerald, and I haven't watched the show in over a decade. Make of it what you will. Feedback appreciated, I don't own Pokémon, etc.
Chapter 1: Uprooted
The van jostled and a stray box teetered precariously. I jerked a hand up to keep it from spilling over entirely. There was one more lurch as the vehicle stopped entirely, causing the stack I'd been bracing against to come down on top of me.
I muttered a mild curse as my twelve year old arms tried vainly to push the heap off of me. The doors creaked open as I squirmed my way out.
"Oh dear! Wallace, are you alright?" A youngish woman's voice asked.
"Don't worry, Mom. It was just my ribs," I answered a bit dryly as I hopped out of the van and dusted myself.
"I did warn you about riding in the back," she said as we walked inside.
"I'm still alive, I'll be fine," I muttered as we walked in, giving me a good look at my new home. There were several Machokes and a lone Makuhita already carrying boxes in. There was a fairly minimal kitchen that would only look marginally better after we unpacked. As of yet there was a carpet, a table, and surprisingly a TV already set up in a pseudo family room. There was another doorway next to the kitchen leading down a hall to what my guess was the master bed and the bathroom.
"Why don't you head upstairs and get your room together? I'll make sure things are working down here," she said with a pat and a nudge.
I obediently made my way up the small staircase and into my room. The curtains were pulled closed so I fumbled for the switch.
Once I got the light on I stood in the doorway and glanced around my room. Mom had done a very good job of making sure it looked a lot like my old one. I absently wandered to where my clock was on the wall, and went about setting the time.
Something was... weird. I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
Clock set, I wandered back downstairs.
"Hey mom, thanks for-"
"Oh Dear! Come quick, your father's on!" She squealed excitedly from the TV.
I jogged over to see, we hadn't been able to get connection to the channels dad showed up on in Johto, and with how often he'd been gone it was one of the bigger reasons we'd moved.
I made it just in time to see a reporter and dad smiling at the camera before it switched over to commercials.
"Oh, I'm sorry dear guess it was just finishing up. Anyways, what do you think of- Wallace? Is everything alright?" She sounded concerned.
I jolted back to the present. I could finally put a label on the feeling I'd had since getting of the truck. But of all things, why nostalgia?
"Sorry, still readjusting," I answered, shaking my head a bit. Mom would feel better if she could mother.
"Oh sweetie, don't worry too much. You'll get settled in before you know it. Speaking of which, I thought I saw one of our neighbors arrive while you were upstairs, why don't you head over and say hello?"
"Are you sure you don't want me over here to help?" I asked, the moving service only got everything into the house, there was still days' worth of setup before everything was in place.
"Don't you worry about me, I said my hellos when your father and I were looking at the house and I still need to sort the boxes. Go on," she said with a twinkle that reeked of mischief.
Thus it was with my parent sense still twitching that I walked over to our neighbor's house and knocked before I could find an excuse not to. There was a pause before the sound of shuffling feet approached the door.
"Oh, hello. You must be our new neighbor please come in," said a woman in a familiarly matronly voice.
"Thank you," I said as I stepped inside and looked around. The house looked remarkably similar to ours, just with more decorations and fewer boxes.
"May just got back, she's upstairs if you'd like to say hello- oh, where are my manners. I'm Ellen, it's a pleasure to meet you."
"Wallace, and likewise of course," I politely smiled back.
"Well go on then, she's probably cataloguing her latest catch, she seemed rather excited about it when she came in," she said, waving a hand towards the staircase.
I made my way up and paused at the door. I probably should have been a little more focused on living next door to a girl my age, but that strange nostalgic feeling was only getting stronger. In a house I'd never set foot in no less. And why did I feel like I already knew May?
With those comforting thoughts, I knocked on the door.
"Yeah mom?" She, presumably May, called distractedly.
"It's your new neighbor, Wallace," I answered for lack of a better response.
I could almost feel the surprise from through the door before I heard footsteps approaching.
The door swung open.
The picture I'd unconsciously assembled in my head was looking back at me, I was fairly certain I was keeping a straight face.
"I heard you were moving in, I didn't think you'd be over yet though. The moving van only left a bit ago. Oh, I'm May," she offered her hand.
I shook it. "Mom wanted me to say hi before I tried to get too reclusive. And speaking of, I heard you had a somewhat remarkable catch earlier?"
Given the newfound energy in her posture, I'd say I picked a good conversation topic.
"Oh yeah, here. Lemme show you!" She dashed back to her desk before I could say anything.
I stood a moment before poking my head into the room and glancing around.
Whoever the architect was for these houses didn't have much imagination.
Her room was all but a mirror image of mine, it even had-
"You have a gamecube?" I asked before I could wrangle my stupid mouth.
"Yeah, haven't used it much since I started helping professor Birch though. There's so much to learn about Pokémon, it's nuts!" She fiddled with her computer before swiping a compressed Pokéball off of her desk and tapping the button, causing it to enlarge. Again, before I could offer any sort of input, she tossed the device to her floor where it burst open with the telltale hard-light that coalesced into-
"Torchic!" The red, feathered bird thing chirped.
Starter.
Wait, what?
May was thankfully too distracted to notice my sudden confusion.
"I would never have expected to find a fire type around Littleroot, though from a typing standpoint it makes sense, a lot of the other Pokémon are grass or bug type so it would have a distinct advantage in self defense. But what's doubly odd is that it seems particularly young, it's obviously a fire type, but he doesn't know any fire type moves. Still, I can't wait to show it to the professor. I was just finishing up when you knocked, want to come with?" Arceus almighty, did she not even breathe?
"Sure," I responded, still recovering from the weird familiarity.
May almost sprinted down the stairs and out the door, I paused just long enough to exchange formalities with Ellen before following.
Silently cursing my choice of footwear, I did my best to not trip as I ran after the remarkably swift girl in front of me. Thankfully, it was a fairly short walk to the lab, so our current pace got us there in about one minute.
"Professor Birch? Hey! Professor are you there?" May called out, offensively unaffected by running all the way here.
Though it's not like you've been exercising much yourself, and if you're gonna be hanging out with May much now'd be a good time to change that.
"I don't think he's here. Oh well, maybe you can meet him later. Mind if I get these notes transcribed before I forget the details?" She asked, already pulling her Pokédex out.
"Of course not, I should probably be getting back anyways. Make sure my Mom hasn't decorated my room in pink or something," I grinned as I wandered towards the door.
"She seemed like the kind of person who'd do that, tell her I said hello!" She yelled with a distracted wave, head already buried in the computer.
I opted to take the scenic route back both to get a better layout of Littleroot and to let my heart rate drop back to normal. I'd guess I made it about halfway before I caught sight of a little girl wringing the hem of her skirt in open distress staring down one of the many forest paths. Having both a heart and a brain, I approached.
"What's the matter?" I asked in what I hoped was a friendly voice.
She started, jerking her head around to look at me before relaxing a little. "I just thought I heard someone shout from a way down the path, but I don't have any Pokémon so-
"Augh, help!"
No Pokémon or not, I wasn't going to ignore that. I took off down the path as quickly as I could manage without tripping in my stupid shoes.
After several long seconds of running, I made it to where I'd heard the shout originate from. There was a grown man in an obviously out-of-place lab coat running from a-
Seriously? It's the size of a Caterpie.
Shelving cynical thoughts, I sprinted forward, past a leather bag on the ground, and grabbed the offending Poochyena without slowing down. Hoisting it up to eye level, I put a hand on its stomach and held it against a tree, hard enough to keep it there but not enough to keep it from breathing.
The dark-furred creature looked extremely surprised at the sudden change in position. I felt a small growl rise in its throat as it started to recover.
"NO."
My 'angry parent' voice was somewhat lessened by my prepubescent pitch, but it still seemed to do the trick. The dark type looked frankly lost before its ears tucked back and it squirmed uncomfortably. Convinced it had learned its lesson, I set the offending critter on the ground.
"Shoo," I said without breaking eye contact.
Not wanting to learn what else the unorthodox human might do, the Pokémon departed.
I turned back to the professor who'd been crying murder from a wild puppy. "Are you okay?"
He looked a bit shocked, though from the apparent attack or my unusual methods I wasn't sure.
Why did I do that? I've been taught Pokémon are dangerous before you catch them. So why didn't I just-
"You just-" the professor pulled me from my thoughts. "-how did-" he seemed to be having trouble finding words. "What?"
"You sounded like you were in trouble so I went with the first thing that came to mind. And it worked, didn't it?" I said a bit defensively.
But if he earned the title of Professor then he probably had an intelligent reason to run screaming from something I could hold in one hand.
"I- I guess," he took a moment to clear his head and straighten. "Anyways, thanks for saving me. I... Don't do well under stress."
Or maybe not.
"Whatever the case was, I'm glad to have helped. But I was supposed to be home by now, so I should be heading off, need help with anything else?" I asked as I edged back down the trail.
"No, I think I'm quite done for today. Professor Birch by the way," he said with an offered hand as he picked up his fallen bag.
"Oh, you're Professor Birch! I'm Wallace, just moved into town. May said she found something and she seemed rather excited about it. She was at the lab last I saw," I said as I shook his hand and tilted my chin in the vague direction of the building.
He gave a parental chuckle. "That girl's going to leave me out of a job if she keeps this up. Thank you again Wallace. And... Why don't you drop by the lab later?"
"Sure," I answered before my brain caught up with my mouth.
"Splendid! I'll be waiting at the lab. Take care!" He left with a wave.
Why do I keep agreeing to these things?
The rest of the way home was thankfully uneventful.
"I'm back!" I called as I walked in and kicked of my now much dirtier shoes.
"I saw you running after our neighbor a bit ago, trying a bit too hard to make friends deary?" She said in a light tone as she walked out of the hallway.
"Har dee har har. She invited me to the Pokémon lab about forty seconds after I met her, that and she apparently doesn't know what walking is," I responded dryly.
"Whatever you say dear. Now, want to help me with these boxes?"
"Sure, though I already agreed to go visit Professor Birch later."
"Oh? You've met the professor already?" She asked with a mix of surprise and curiosity.
"Well..."
She's going to hear about it sooner or later, just as well she hears it from you.
So I told her what happened. I was able to time the "so I grabbed the Poochyena" when I could avoid eye contact, but I still could feel her alarm.
"And then I agreed to go meet him later," I finished, still pretending I hadn't done anything strange or dangerous.
There was a moment of quiet while I unpacked yet another box.
"I think..." She started quietly.
Grounded? Tongue Lashing? Extra chores? Come on don't leave me guessing, hit me with it.
"... That I would like to meet this professor when you go to his lab."
What.
"Okay...?" I answered with genuine confusion. But she had already walked out of the room.
Maybe she's going to chew out the professor instead? Should I warn him when I see him?
Nothing to do but see. We finished getting everything in the kitchen sorted and decided to head over.
Still not quite sure what my mother was planning, I knocked on the door to the lab.
"Wallace, is that you? Please come in!" The professor shouted from somewhere inside.
Opening the door showed the space to be in significantly worse condition than it was a few hours ago. There were papers strewn around, the contents of multiple shelves had been gutted, and the Torchic that had likely caused all of this was perched on the desk.
"Sorry for all the mess, but I think May might have caught another undocumented Pokémon so it's rather important that I catalogue what I can. Anyways- oh, hello ma'am," he cut himself off when he spotted my mother.
"Connie, pleasure to meet you. Professor Birch I presume?" My mother said in a tone I still couldn't read.
"Uh, yes. What can I do for you?" He said, glancing towards me. I just gave him the general 'I don't know' look with a shrug.
"It's not too important, I was just hoping we might be able to talk after you finish what you needed my son for," she said with what looked like a smile.
"Of course, of course. I can have May finish up the rest of this. Now," he seemed to focus. "Young man, what you did today was brave, but more than a little reckless. Pokémon are dangerous. But you showed a degree of familiarity that I wouldn't have expected from someone who made the same judgement call you did. Do you have any taught experience training Pokémon?"
"No, not beyond the basics. But my dad's the gym leader in Petalburg so I might've picked up a little," I provided with a shrug.
Birch gave me an evaluating look before glancing at my Mom and making a quick 'can we head over there?' gesture. She looked a bit surprised but followed him out of earshot. I exchanged glances with May, who'd popped up from behind the computer while we'd been talking. She was smiling like she knew exactly what was going on and utterly ignored my pleading look.
After a minute or so the adults came back. Birch looked at me with that strange intense look.
"Wallace, would you like to become a Pokémon trainer?"
...
I can't have heard that right.
'can't have heard' my foot, you heard him perfectly.
"I'm... Sorry?" I said in spite of myself.
"May's just about run ragged with all the field work I need done and I'm not much good outside the lab, I need another trainer to work with me and you've already shown some aptitude for working with Pokémon without any real training. So, would you like to become a Pokémon trainer?"
There, not only a repeat but reasons too. Why not?
Because being a trainer is literally a lifelong decision, have you ever heard of a trainer who was also a doctor or an engineer? At the very least...
"May I have some time to think about it?"
"Of course, just let me know when you decide," he said with a nod.
I stood there awkwardly for a moment before Mom put her hand on my shoulder.
"Why don't you head back. It is a rather big decision and I don't think you need crowding while you think about it. I'll head back when I'm done here," she gave me the 'you're excused' nudge, so I made my way out.
I had some time to make my way home, so I walked slowly and thought.
(Connie)
Wallace walked obediently out the door, leaving just myself, the Professor, and his protege in the upturned lab. After the door shut completely and I heard footsteps walking away, I turned back to the man in the disheveled lab coat. Then I gave a rather pointed look at his assistant, who was doing a good job of looking busy but absolutely listening in.
Thankfully, he got the hint. Which was good because most men were dense at the best of times.
"May? Why don't you head on home? You've done enough for today, I'll get the rest of this finished up."
"I know a dismissal when I hear one, I'll see you tomorrow Professor!" She said as she grabbed her bag and jogged out the door. She was gonna run Wallace into the ground, it'd be great.
"Now then, I'm sorry if I worried you with all this, but I don't want Wallace guessing what I'm about to ask," I apologized as I turned to face the scientist.
"That's quite alright ma'am, I tend to get pretty absorbed in my work so it's probably just as well you came by when you did. What did you want to ask?"
"I wanted to ask you about the incident with the Poochyena, I asked Wallace and he gave a rather far-fetched story about the whole thing. So I wanted your account, if that's okay," I fibbed. I hadn't said anything false, but Wallace was as honest as the morning sun. I just thought this would be the best way to find what I was looking for.
"He probably told the truth, it was a rather strange event. I was trying to root the little guy out of some bushes when he'd decided he'd had enough of me sticking my nose in his nest, so he started chasing me. I, uh, well, panicked. I ran back to the trail as quickly as I could and shouted for help. I'd just gotten cornered when Wallace arrived and... Well he just ran up to the Poochyena, grabbed it, and pinned it against a tree and told it off. He... Well..." He scratched at his beard, looking for words.
I was pretty sure I was closing in. "You sound as though there's more to it than my son trying to wrestle with a wild Pokémon," I prodded carefully.
"Well... Are you sure your son hasn't had any practice training Pokémon?" He seemed like he was looking for something too.
I was all but certain we were thinking about the same thing, so I took a gamble.
"He looked older, didn't he?"
Birch stopped scratching his beard out of surprise. "Yes, exactly. Has... Has this happened before?"
"There was one incident involving a science project, some misplaced Pokéblock, and a suspiciously intelligent Pidgey, but nothing this solid," I allowed myself to sigh. Wallace would trust me with his soul if I asked, and here I was giving away personal secrets out of mere curiosity. Time to make some amends.
"I would ask you not to treat him any differently than you would otherwise, but please let me know if anything else happens and hear him out if he has an idea," nothing made Wallace angrier than someone acting like they were immeasurably smarter than him. Smarter was okay, smarter-than-thou was not.
"There aren't enough new ideas nowadays anyway, that shouldn't be a problem. Was there anything else?"
"I think that was everything. Thank you for your time and for indulging my curiosity."
(Wallace)
At this point I was just pretending to think, I'd made my mind up while I was walking home.
Pokémon trainers, real trainers, had almost complete freedom between what they were granted by the scientist sponsoring them and what their team could provide. Everyone was allowed to catch and train Pokémon, but having a trainer card? A Pokédex? Money didn't buy those, opportunity did.
Most of our regrets come from the things we never did.
So now I was just killing time wondering how my initial training would go, and whether I'd be working with the professor or May. My gut told me both.
I wonder what dad'll think.
It was one of the biggest reasons I hadn't become one before now. Having a gym leader as a dad did little to soften people's expectations.
So what's changed?
I could well just be that someone had offered me the position, things always looked better when they were offered as a reward. But more than that the feeling that I was supposed to do this had been building more and more since I'd gotten out of the truck..
I wanted to become a Pokémon trainer and I wanted to indulge the weird sense of duty, this looked like the best way to do it.
Well, that's enough time pseudo-brooding, time to get dinner and tell mom.
Mom had taken the news rather well. The second I'd gotten the words out of my mouth she'd tried to smother me in hugs. Then she'd insisted that we go on an equipment run next morning.
This was how I found myself in front of the door to the lab with a new pack, proper running shoes, several pokeballs, and otherwise one of every item from the Pokémart I could fit in my pack.
Having stood there for several minutes and several reasons not to walk away, I raised my hand and knocked on the lab door.
"Treecko, use pound!" May called out.
The strange green plant-lizard leapt forward and smashed a forelimb into the Zigzagoon, causing the receiving Pokémon to stumble weakly.
May took the opening to hurl a Pokéball at the weakened animal. It collided and absorbed the furry creature, dropping to the ground. It wobbled, again, once more...
*Ting*
"Yes! So anyways, that's how you capture a Pokémon. You need to weaken it first before throwing a Pokéball. It works even better if they're paralyzed or poisoned," she explained as she walked over to collect the Pokéball from where it lay.
I nodded, but couldn't quite keep the frown off my face.
By the end of my first day, I had a fairly clear idea of what I wanted to do.
I checked the sign by the door one more time and knocked.
"Yes? Who is it?" An old woman's voice asked.
"It's Wallace, I just moved into town."
There was the sound of slow steps approaching the door before it creaked open. A very old woman peered out at me from her spectacles with a Skitty plodding at her heels.
"Wallace hmmm? I had an uncle named Wallace. He had something of a fondness for electric types, never knew what became of him. Anyway, is there something I can do for you dear?"
"Well, I understand you're the resident expert on Pokéblocks..."
"Alright then, see you at three Professor!" I called back, closing the door behind me.
First day out on my own. Time to give my probably novice idea the chance it needed to prove idiotic. I made my way down one of the forest trails May had shown me yesterday until I was a few minutes from town.
Here, I sat and waited.
I was prepared to avoid moving for a substantial period of time, water bottle and snacks both within grabbing range. This thankfully proved unnecessary.
About ten minutes in, I heard a bush rustling about thirty feet away. A Poochyena wandered out, apparently not having seen me yet.
Slowly, I moved a hand into my pocket and drew out an Oran berry. Then, gauging carefully , I flicked it to the unaware Pokémon.
It landed about ten feet away, due to my awkward position of course. The dark haired Pokémon jerked its head up to where the fruit had landed. It stood stock still for a moment before creeping forward and sniffing the spontaneous item. It almost appeared to deliberate for a moment before reaching down and snapping it up.
Part one was a success. Now for part two.
I repeated part one, trying to get this berry to land closer to me.
It took barely a quarter as much time for the Poochyena to wander towards this berry and eat it as well.
I didn't get the third berry quite far enough. It landed about fifteen feet from me and my flick had elicited a loud smack from my palm.
I really wasn't sure how I hadn't been detected already, but I could tell the moment it recognized me as human. It went rigid-
Then growled as its tail puffed out.
Plan B.
It wasn't advancing, yet, so I reached deliberately into my pocket and pulled out one of the Pokéblocks I'd made with Mrs. Fructus last evening. Carefully angling my hand to the wild Pokémon could see what I was holding, I underhanded it to the growling dog.
It jerked away from the berry mash and growled louder. And yes it did in fact have teeth.
Damn, Plan C?
Before I'd decided best how to respond to the provoked attack, I saw its nose start twitching vigorously. It was surprisingly entertaining to watch it try to keep me in one eye while its nose guided it. Right to where the Pokéblock had landed.
In one quick motion, it gobbled up the entire cube.
I carefully retreated back to Plan B, throwing another block.
It stopped growling and looked a little less guarded.
... maybe...
Two berries and three cubes later and the dark type was just staring at me from where it sat, just out of arm's reach.
I again reached into my pocket and drew out another cube, and held it out in the palm of my hand.
We waited until my arm started to get sore. Once I was about ready to toss it anyway, the Pokémon stood.
Slowly, so slowly, it crept forward. Never once did it stop staring at me while I kept my gaze not pointed directly at it.
I almost dropped the cube when it poked my hand with its snout, apparently checking if I was planning on pouncing. My arm was burning but I remained firm.
Then it ate the offered food and sat down. Right next to me.
I dared a glance at it. It was just staring back at me with red and yellow eyes wearing a curious expression, ears quirked up.
Adorable little sucker aren't ya? At least when you're not threatening to bite me.
Feeling brave and maybe just a little impatient, I reached a visibly empty hand towards the Pokémon. It looked a little suspicious, but a not insignificant amount of free food had bought me enough trust to give it a pat. Then a scratch on the scruff, then behind the ears.
In no time at all there was a wild Poochyena with its tongue stuck out rolling around on its back in my lap.
I was so happy I gave it the belly rub of the century.
Between the contented grunts of the newly named 'Mutt' in my lap and my own mental celebrations, I almost didn't hear the bushes behind me rustling. Mutt most certainly did though as he stood straight up on my legs and stared straight at the offending bush, belly rub forgotten.
I looked at where he was staring. I didn't see anything at first, but the colors seemed odd and was that red?
A Ralts poked its head out.
Universe, I don't know if you're listening, but thank you.
This was going to be tricky, but I vaguely remembered May's intro to the local fauna. Ralts has some kind of psychic empathy and tended to only approach people who were feeling happy.
I fed Mutt another Pokéblock to distract him before lightly tossing one towards the green haired critter.
It twitched its nose before wrinkling its face and leaning away.
I mentally smacked myself. Oh yeah the psychic type will totally like the same flavor as the dark type, makes sense.
I gave Mutt another scruff scratch to keep one of us happy while I fished out a different color. This one was met with more success.
It slowly stepped out of the bush, looking more curious about the non-Pokéball throwing human than about the offered food.
Feeling equally curious and determined, I tossed a cube of yet a different color-
It leapt and snached it out of the air, cramming it into its mouth before it hit the ground.
Guess he's got a sweet tooth. Or she, I'm not sure.
I fished another piece out and held it in my hand.
Apparently Ralts were really easy to make friends with as long as you were happy and offered something sweet.
It walked forward on its strange gown-feet-things without any visible hesitation and plucked the offered piece out of my hand and ate it before it-
"Hey!"
Too late, it had already nabbed a handful of berries from my open pack and scampered just out of reach. And I could swear it was smirking at me.
"You want berries go get em yourself, Mrs. Fructus has hundreds of 'em."
It chewed cheekily at me.
"Alright, you wanna play? Let's Play!"
I carefully took a protesting Mutt off of my lap and started chasing the newly named 'Imp'. It was startlingly fast for barely coming up to my knee, and it took me a good thirty seconds to finally grab the little thief. Whereupon it gave me a very sad expression.
"Oh don't fuss, you want more Pokéblock?"
It couldn't understand me, or I didn't think it could at least, but it got enough from my emotions to get my meaning if it's happy warbling was anything to go by. I let Imp ride back on my shoulders.
Once I got back to where I'd left my pack...
Mutt was nowhere to be seen but my pack was moving and producing chewing sounds.
"Mutt, dang it!"
Ten minutes and uncountable tag teams later and my pack had been all but cleaned out by my two 'catches' of anything edible and some things that weren't. I really had no idea how I could come up with an excuse for tooth marks on my brand-new Pokédex.
"I think it's time we head back, I wanna show you two to the professor and see if I can get his okay to keep going like this." I shouldered my much lighter pack and started back on the trail. Mutt followed, idly wagging his tail. Imp wandered just behind him, no doubt reading my masked apprehension.
I made a slow pace back, but even as carefully casual as my gate was Mutt started slowing once we got within sight of the buildings.
"If you guys stay close no one will try to catch you."
Imp could apparently feel my honesty as it wandered closer and put an appendage on my leg. I scooped it (really need to figure out if you're a guy or girl cause calling you 'it' feels weird) up and perched it on my shoulders.
"Give me a pat if you want down."
Imp warbled in response, so I started walking. Mutt followed hesitantly.
It was about mid-morning so people were around but rush hour had already passed, not that Littleroot had much of a rush hour.
Though by sheer chance or what else, I stumbled across one of the few faces I knew.
"Good morning Mrs. Fructus!" I called out.
"Oh, hello Wallace. I see you've been busy," she said as she examined Imp atop my shoulders.
"Yup, got a bit of a sweet tooth, this one. Mutt prefers the sour ones," I smiled as I bent down and gave him another ear rub.
"Why what a coincidence, I just so happen to have a few with me," she rifled through her purse and pulled out two blocks. I reached forward but Imp beat me to it, jumping up and springing off of my forehead, snagging the pink one on his way down.
"Imp! Show some manners. You can't possibly still be hungry," I turned to the surprised old lady. "Sorry, he's a bit grabby-"
I was cut off by a surprisingly loud laugh. "I bet you two will get along just splendidly, and here's yours," she tossed the yellow cube to Mutt, who happily snapped it up.
"Do bring those two with you when you visit next," she said with a wave and walked away.
I stood there for a minute. "Looks like you two made another friend, now how about we go visit Professor Birch?"
They followed me the rest of the way to the lab.
I knocked on the door.
"Come in!" The professor shouted from inside.
The lab was in significantly better condition than it had been two days ago, but it wasn't quite back to the pristine order it had been when I'd first seen it.
"Ah, Wallace, I was expecting to see you sooner. I forgot to give you a Pokémon to-"
"That's okay professor, I got it handled," I couldn't quite keep the grin off my face at his flabbergasted expression.
After a long moment he stopped staring at Imp and Mutt and clamped his mouth shut. "You- caught these two without a Pokémon?" He asked slowly.
"Well, technically no. I haven't caught them, they're just following me around cause they like Pokéblock and people don't try to catch them if I'm around," I explained.
"They're- still wild?"
"Not really, other than this one being a bit grabby around food," I gave a pointed look to Imp.
There was another silence, this one felt heavier.
"Do you not want to catch them?" He asked carefully.
"Didn't see much point in doing so. So can I keep going like this?"
"Well, the biggest problem is that I get pretty much all of my data from Pokéballs, but..."
My heart sank a little until I saw how he was glancing around the lab.
"Yeah, I could get you a scanner or something. I won't be able to get it together today though," he looked apologetic.
"Thank you professor. I didn't mean to be trouble. And this is probably going to be about all I can get done today like this, These two did the liberty of cleaning out all the Pokéblock I prepared," I mentioned sheepishly.
"That's quite alright, to be perfectly honest I wasn't even sure you'd have any success today, it being your first day and all. And well done by the way. Your scanner will be ready by tomorrow."
I exited the lab with my two companions in tow and let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. I had a good deal of time before I was expected to get home and I was apparently going to need a fairly substantial supply of Pokéblock, so I made my way to Mrs. Fructus' house.
"Now take care dear! And try not to get outsmarted by your company again, would you?"
"I'll do what I can but these two are sharp. Thanks again for the restock!" I called back.
"Nonsense, I couldn't imagine a better use for it other than fattening Feli here," she gave the Skitty a fond scratch. "Now get outa here, your mother must be getting worried by now."
With a last wave, I closed the gate and jogged home. Imp was on her (Mrs. Fructus seemed adamant it was a girl) favorite perch, my shoulders, and Mutt was padding along behind me.
I'd barely knocked and opened the door before Mom dashed into the room and mobbed me with questions and hugs.
"You're back! How was your first day? Who are your new friends? What took you so long? Have you eaten yet?"
"Mom! One thing at a time. First day was good, more on that later. This is Imp and Mutt. They ran me out of Pokéblock so I had to go make more. And no I haven't eaten, I only just finished making more Pokéblock," I listed off.
"Let me get something for you then. So tell me about your first day! What happened? Who'd the Professor start you with?"
The next several minutes passed comfortably as I talked about my relatively exciting morning. Being as nonchalant as I could when I described earning Mutt's trust through free food and belly rubs.
I also pretended not to notice that Mom had gone quiet.
When I finished my recounting of what Birch had told me, I just sat at the table and waited for a response. Mom was quiet for a minute while she worked in the kitchen.
"What you did was very foolish," she stated. I opened my mouth- "but also very brave. You're not stupid, you know Pokémon are dangerous. But you still did your best to do your job without getting anyone at all hurt. But Wallace, I want you to promise me something."
She gave The Mom Look. I was to promise the following.
"If you have to defend yourself, don't hesitate," she said, walking out of the kitchen and giving me a head-hug.
"Don't worry mom, I know how to take care of myself," I said as I reciprocated the hug from my seat. "I promise."
The days turned into weeks as I started honing my methodology. I fell into the habit of scanning any and every pokemon I could. I got data on Poochyena and Ralts (obviously), Zigzagoon, Wurmple, Lotad, Seedot, Surskit, and a lone Wingull. Most of them had wandered away after I'd given them their food and scan. The Professor was quite happy with everything I was bringing in.
May... Didn't seem as happy.
I'd seen the signs but had failed to register what they meant. I inadvertently pushed her past tipping point when I entered the lab with a Wurmple contesting with Imp for headspace.
"Hey Professor, I think I found one that'd be willing to stick around," I said with a cheesy grin as I started slowly prying the clingy insect from my hat, then my hat from it once I got it off.
"Splendid! Can you get its footprints? I got all the materials put away so they should be in their usual spot. Let me know when you're done," he said distractedly as he walked out the door I'd just entered.
I set Cpt. Wiggles down on the workspace and got the soft-plates out. While I was tearing the seal off of a fresh plate, I felt Imp grip the back tighter of my head and give a small, worried warble.
In the relatively short time I'd been traveling with her, I'd become highly accustomed to having her as a warning bell. She was an actual empath where I was a semi-oblivious twelve year old.
This was why I immediately set the plate down despite it already starting to harden and swiveled my head around, careful not to dislodge my psychic tag-along.
No one was there except May carrying a box of folders.
Frowning.
May didn't frown unless she was thinking really hard. And something about her body language...
Imp warbled again and almost seemed to cower behind my head. Even Mutt brought his head up from where he'd been sleeping under the desk, tracking May.
"May, is everything alright?"
She put the box down on the wrong shelf. Hard.
"Of course not. Why would anything be wrong?" She said in that female-exclusive dangerous tone.
Damn, lessee, what have I done since moving in that could have cascaded into this? There was the time I accidentally let Mudkip out but she seemed to think that was funny more than anything. I got the weight measurements done like I promised, did I misplace them? It can't have been the nature typing either, she was there while I was doing it.
As I churned through the possibilities, I was only half aware that she was staring at me. Imp tugged on my hair and made another distressed sound.
I snapped back. "May, if there's something the wrong-"
"But nothing's wrong! Everything's been great since you showed up! We've been getting so much done with all the data you collect while the native Pokémon leap into your arms! Professor Birch is as happy as I've ever seen him," her tone was dripping with something dangerous and she wasn't blinking.
Jealous. Shit.
"May-" I tried to get a word in.
She ran right over me. "I mean, why am I even here? We don't need to keep most of the Pokémon I catch so we end up releasing most of them anyways, and I can only bring eight or so in on a good day. You on the other hand save us a fortune in used Pokéballs and got no fewer than twenty three samples yesterday," she'd started walking towards where I was standing.
Mutt stood up and growled, moving over to where I was standing.
"Mutt!-" I reprimanded.
"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to get so angry. But why shouldn't he growl at me? I'm just May, I've been doing this since I was six and I can only manage an above average catch rate. You've been at this for less than a month and you've quadrupled the lab's productivity. And you're a Gym Leader's son to boot. So why am I even here?"
Her lips were curved up, but she was not smiling.
"May-"
"I couldn't even-"
"MAY!" I shouted over her. I needed to deal with this now.
"What?!" She almost screamed back at me.
Now I could speak, that'd be great if I had any idea of what to say.
"I love doing this May, you introduced me to something I've never taken as much joy from as anything. But if you want me to stop..."
All you have to do is ask.
Now why couldn't I say that?
I was silent for a moment too long.
"Then what? Should I ask politely? Should I ask the professor to just let his best 'Trainer' go since I asked? Should I turn my card in since I'm all but useless? What, Wallace?"
"I wouldn't even be doing this if you hadn't brought me to the lab!"
Shit. Shitshitshit that sounded so much better in my head-
I was expecting a slap. I got a remarkably well balanced fist to the face.
Before I could even start recovering, Mutt leapt forward with a snarl and sank his teeth into her leg. She apparently hadn't thought that far ahead and jerked backwards with a startled yelp, Mutt's extra weight caused her to tip all the way over.
"Mutt! Off!" I shouted as I teetered to my feet, idly aware of Imp not being attached to the back of my head.
"Stupid runt! I- aah!" She had moved into a sitting position after Mutt had thankfully come off, only to grab her head and cry out.
I didn't see her hit her head, what-
Imp was on one of the shelves, looking like he was trying to stare a hole through May.
"Imp! Stop!"
Imp's presence lessened as something retracted and May staggered to her feet, shaking her head. She immediately turned around and started limping briskly towards the door.
She almost ran into the professor.
There was a moment of shocked silence from all parties before May slipped by him with a muttered 'excuse me'.
Birch just looked around at the aftermath. There wasn't that much, but my nose was bleeding freely and there was a small trail of red speckles leading away from the desk.
"What happened."
It wasn't a question.
My mother, Ellen, and Professor Birch were having what looked like a heated discussion. We'd agreed to meet at a small coffee shop to discuss what had happened.
I had unwittingly become too valuable of an asset to just drop. May had seniority in spades.
Neither of our parents wanted us around each other when the discussion had started after Birch had explained what had happened.
So here we were, May and I. Standing outside the coffee shop with orders to not speak to or even look at each other while the adults sorted things out.
I'd always hated waiting like this, this just reaffirmed my stance.
Time passed.
The doors opened for the umpteenth time, I looked anyways.
The three of them all looked resigned and unhappy as they marched out. My Mom beelined for me.
She just made the 'follow me' gesture. I did so.
We started walking homeward down the trail back to Littleroot.
"It wasn't as bad as it sounds-"
"The professor was cataloguing his notes on your data and forgot to stop the recording. He showed us what happened."
I shut my mouth.
We didn't talk until we got home.
I was about ready to explode from the tension by the time I closed the front door behind us.
"We have a couple of options," she said simply, taking a seat at the table.
I mutely took the seat opposite.
"Option one, you quit."
My heart dropped through my stomach. Imp shifted uncomfortably from her semi-permanent perch.
"Option two, she quits."
"I can't-"
She held up a hand. "Option three, one of you goes on an Expedition."
Wait, what?
"As in a 'Travel the region with only your Pokémon and backpack' Expedition?" I asked, knowing full well what the answer was.
"Yes."
I was somehow still surprised.
"That... Are those really the only possible solutions?" They all seemed a bit extreme.
"All three of us thought you two would get along. But May still hasn't apologized," she said with a grimace. "So, none of us want you around each other, at least until she's had some time to cool off."
The professor needs his data, so neither of us can quit. But we don't know how long it'll take for May to cool off and both of us need to use the lab. One of us needs to leave and we can both keep working.
"I'll go."
"She can't..." Mom trailed off.
She looked at me, visibly surprised. "Honey, you don't have to-"
"I know I don't have to, but... May, isn't a bad person. She's competitive and a bit jealous, but she's also really smart and works really really hard. She'd be leaving behind her childhood home while we only just moved in. I don't want her to feel like we're kicking her out. And besides, I've been kinda wanting to go exploring anyways."
"An Expedition is hardly a bit of exploring Wallace. You'll be gone for... Months," she went quiet and put a hand to her head.
"Mom..." I was again unsure of what to say.
"I was so happy when you started training. You always look just like your father when you're talking to Imp, so engrossed, so content. I never thought you'd be leaving so soon though," she sounded like she was talking more to herself.
I was bad at these things, so I went with the first thing that came to mind. I got up, walked across the table, and gave Mom a hug.
Neither of us moved for a while.
Morning came and Mom insisted we go on another equipment run, even though she'd made sure to buy pretty much everything I might conceivably need when I'd started.
Then I was ready. It really wasn't very much time at all.
My mom, the professor, and I were all standing at the trailhead leading towards Petalburg. May was nowhere to be seen.
"Well Wallace, I have to admit, I never imagined this would happen quite so soon. And if you're not sure-"
I shook my head. "This is what's best for everyone. I'm sure."
Thankfully, he only nodded. "Very well. Here's your Pokénav, I've suggested a route but you might find it easier to just make it up as you go along. That said," he pressed the device into my hand. "Don't lose it."
"I'll be careful," I said as I clipped it to my belt. "Well, I've never liked long goodbyes. Anything you want me to tell dad when I see him?" I asked, turning to mom.
"Just what you told me," she said with a hug.
Well, at least I'll have a few days to figure out what that means.
"You can count on it mom. Well then, guess I'll be off," I said with a wave as I started down the trail.
"Take care dear! And please, you can always come back home when you want to!"
"Don't worry, you're gonna have to try harder than this to get rid of me! Oh, and give May my regards!"
One last nod and a wave, and I turned down the trail proper.
This was how my journey began.