Chapter 1 – VS Grovyle
I stretch my arms as I wake, and I look at my clock and see that I beat my alarm again. Stupid sleeping schedule, I thought to myself. I got up and got dressed for the day, and went to another day working in the lab. After I showered, I grabbed my lab coat and headed out of my apartment and waited for the daily bus that went around Periwinkle City.
"Good morning Elliot!" the bus driver greeted me with his ever so cheery tone. I nodded and smiled at him in reply as I looked around to find a seat, I saw a free seat by the window and took it. As usual, it took 20 minutes for me to reach my stop, and as I got off the bus, I saw three men in black business suits with gold neck ties coming out of the laboratory's main doors with the usually stoic Professor Redwood, looked quite irate walking behind them. She was a tall lady with olive-kissed skin, long forest green hair tied in a neat pony tail, wearing a smart-looking black dress underneath her crisp white lab coat. She is known to be one of the smartest minds here in the Chroma Region. She had breakthroughs with Pokémon medical technology. She made great improvements with regards to the major surgeries that Pokémon in certain conditions have to undergo. She also made improvements to the modern day potion so that it could be more potent and retain the same price.
"..and don't you dare show your faces here again!" I hear Professor Redwood shout at the businessmen. She huffed and went back in with her son in tow. Tom, her son, gestured for me to follow back inside. He's my age, sixteen, and is about to start his journey tomorrow, a luxury I just cannot afford. I just went on in and rushed to my work station. I hear the clacking of Professor Redwood's heels as she went in front fuming.
"Listen up people! I'm sure that most of you have seen those businessmen earlier. Let me just say, be careful with the information from the lab. Starting from today, all laboratory work shall be left inside the laboratory. There shall be an inspection at the entrance for each day. That will be all." She told us in an intimidating voice. I just kept that bit of information in my mind. I guess it would give me time for my other hobbies. I slid my hand into my pocket to feel the ball I have kept with me for five years. As 6:00 PM approached, I packed my paperwork and saved my work in my computer, and got ready to leave.
"Frosty! Wait up!" I hear Tom's term of endearment for me. He started calling me 'Frosty' when we were eleven, when I started to work at his mom's laboratory. I was lucky enough to qualify for the scholarship that allowed me to continue my studies in exchange for working at the Professor's lab. I've been helping on the professor's work on Pokémon mythology. "Gonna go train that Kirlia of yours?" he asked me in his usual teasing tone. I just ignored him and went on my way to the edge of town, where there are plenty of wild Pokémon to train up Kirlia. He kept on following me and I just ignored him for the rest of my walk. I put my lab coat in my bag and let out Kirlia. "Your shiny Kirlia is just as peculiar as your weird icy eyes." He pointed out as he let out his Grovyle, a Pokémon he has had for the longest time. He looked at me the way he always did when he wanted to battle, we always just used our starters, Ralts and Treecko, even though he was able to catch more Pokémon given that he had the funds to do so. I didn't mind it, he liked to tease me, but he always had my back, and most of all, he has always treated me fairly. We locked eyes, and we knew that it was time to battle.
"Kirlia! Lead with Teleport and Ice Punch!" I shouted out my command. And Kirlia immediately disappeared and reappeared in front on Grovyle delivering a solid punch. Grovyle then jumped backwards towards Tom.
"Ice Punch? That's a weird move to teach a Kirlia, but then again, I learned that I should never expect anything normal from you." Tom said with a smile. "Grovyle! Use Agility and Leaf Blade, keep them coming until you hit Kirlia!" He then commanded like an expert battler. We kept on battling with small potion breaks in between, he always brought extra with him especially when he wanted to challenge me to an all-out battle. We only had a few of these ever since we knew each other, and I knew that this particular instance was because he was leaving for his journey soon, so I obliged and went all out for our battle. I didn't know how long we were going at it, but I noticed that it got much darker from when we started. I didn't know when Professor Redwood actually showed up and stayed in the side watching our battle.
"This is our last set of Potions. Whoever wins here wins it all!" I hear Tom shout from the other side. I nodded in agreement as we unleashed our final moves.
"Grovyle! Use Leaf Blade! Full power!"
"Kirlia! Let's go for an all out Ice Punch!"
I see Grovyle's leaves glow green and sharpen as my Kirlia focuses his power to coat his tiny fists in ice. The two attacks collided and caused a smoky explosion. Both of us watched in anticipation of what the result is. As the smokeclears, we see that both Grovyle and Kirlia are knocked out.
"Of course it's a tie! It can never be too easy with you, can it?" Tom asks me while smiling. I just nod at him as I returned Kirlia into his ball while Tom did the same to his Grovyle.
"Mr. Reed, just stay at the laboratory's dormitory, we have healing machines there for your Pokémon. It is quite late and I believe that the last bus have already departed a couple of hours ago." I hear Professor Redwood tell me. I just nodded and went with them towards the laboratory. The Redwood's residence is just beside the laboratory after all. Tom and I chatted along the way, we talked about what moves could have been used to change the outcome of our battle earlier. We both healed our Pokémon at the machine and ate dinner that was served in the dormitory as the Professor had more work to attend to.
"You should go start your own journey." Tom said to me while he ate his dinner.
"You know I can't just leave. I do have my trainer license, but I can't just leave my work. I have no money to sustain travelling." I said to him in reply. I do want to go on my own journey, but that wouldn't practical as I would still have to pay for my apartment's rent, which I could barely afford with my salary.
"I know, and it's just not fair. You have talent, with just your Kirlia, you could probably beat half the trainer population in the Upper Chroma Region." He says as he finishes his dinner. I think he is overestimating my battling ability, but it is comforting to hear what he said. We didn't talk for any longer and he left to go home.
There were a couple of people in the dormitory, probably those who have been working overtime, and a few ones who came from other places to intern for Professor Redwood. I claimed a bed and looked at the clock. 12:01 AM. It was past midnight, and I still couldn't sleep. I kept thinking about what could have been if I were in better circumstances, would I have been starting my own journey? Would I have met the Redwoods? Would I ever get to battle Tom? Those thoughts filled my head until I finally went to sleep.
I woke up the next morning with a stressed mind. 5:30 AM, I still woke up ahead of my usual schedule. Luckily, I already stayed at the dormitory before and I have stashed a couple of my older clothes in one of the lockers. To my surprise, a note fell off my locker. I picked it up and read it:
Frosty,
Make sure you keep up with me. Even though you probably won't leave Periwinkle City anytime soon, make sure you can keep up with me in battle. I even left you a special present for your birthday. I'll drop by every now and then to battle you stupid ass.
Tom, your most awesomest rival ever
I chuckled at the childishness of his note, I know that he's pretty smart since we did go to school together. Being the child of the esteemed professor was quite hard for Tom since people expected so much of him, so I just let him be childish and competitive when we're together. I see a pokéball in my locker and stare at it in awe. He got me a freaking Pokémon, that stupid … I teared up a little and smiled at his gift. I immediately changed clothes and put on my lab coat and went out to the lab's field to let out the Pokémon that Tom left me. As I approach the door to that leads out to the field, I see Professor Redwood staring at the main entrance. I approached her and greeted her.
"Tom left an hour ago. He couldn't wait to go on his own for a while. If the law allowed him to travel at a younger age, I believe he would have taken that opportunity to do so. Sometimes, I think that the only reason he stayed here was because you gave him enough of a challenge." Professor Redwood said to me as she sipped her coffee. She seems surprised that I got the pokéball in my hand. "He actually gave you that Pokémon, huh? He probably doesn't want you to know this, but that was one stubborn Pokémon. He researched for a couple days on how to get that Pokémon tame enough so that it would take to you easily." She said with a smile. I just looked at her in awe. "You don't have work today, right? You're free to go to the field to test out your new Pokémon." She said as she walked towards the main lab.
I got to the field and see the abundance of Pokémon that was housed by the laboratory. There were a couple of Taurus and Miltanks on the field, a couple of Krabbies and Goldeens in the pond, and several others. The most noticeable of the bunch is Professor Redwood's Audino acting as a big sister of some sort to all the Pokémon in the ranch. I threw the pokéball up in the air and let out the Pokémon that Tom gave me. A Piplup then landed on my head. He gave me a Piplup, one of the rarer Pokémon only found in the northern cities, in which they are still incredibly rare. Piplup just sat on my shoulder and started pecking me on the head. I let out my Kirlia to get them acquainted with each other. Piplup got down and looked at Kirlia, while Kirlia just stared back. I don't know what happened but they stopped and sort of talked and went to the nearby pond.
After an hour of getting adjusted with each other, I returned Kirlia into his ball and let Piplup tag along with me as I go home. I noticed that Piplup kept tumbling down as we walked so I proceeded to carry it in my arms as I walked to the bus station. Tom didn't know it, but he definitely won this round.