Bova picked up the large rock from the bag of minerals that he had collected on their recent expedition. He sighed; he definitely had enough to classify until they reached the next solar system. Not that he minded so much, but it would have been more fun had Ms. Davenport not asked for a report of his findings. At least he could work in his bunk and not the classroom.
He finished typing the last few observations about the latest specimen into the compupad. A large close-up of the rock was displayed on the view screen; he had requested details about it. It was so easy using the Christa's onboard encyclopedia; it seemed to have all the information in the universe locked inside its system. If it didn't know about something, it was inclined to pick it up. iIt makes research easier, at least/i, he thought.
Looking at the mineral closer, he noted the bands of color weaving through the charcoal-colored lump. It reminded him of one rock that he saw in the Earth mineral book that he had read; maybe it was a strain of it, or even the same composition.
"How did you spell that? O... N..." He furrowed his brow. "Whatever."
Bova typed: ONIX.
As quickly as the return key was hit, a loud roar came rushing at him. Taken aback, Bova gripped the edge of his stool and watched on the screen as a large creature- a snake made of rocks?- rammed its head into a much smaller creature, one that was a golden color with red cheeks and brown stripes... "Onyx!?"
The battle continued on the right side of the screen as the left side displayed the statistic of the animal. Name: Onix; Type: Rock/Ground; Height: 8.8 meters; Weight: 210 kilograms. Bova's eyes shifted from the numbers over to the action, where the small yellow rodent looked like it was squeezing its cheeks. Suddenly sparks flew from its body, sending a bolt of lightening across the battlefield towards the rock snake.
"Wow!" Bova exclaimed. "It does what I can do."
"What does?"
The Uranian turned around to find Harlan standing behind him. "When did you get here?"
"A minute ago. Guess you couldn't hear me over that movie you're watching." He grinned. "I knew it couldn't be the rocks you were excited about."
"Naw, the rocks are fine, but I found this while I was looking up stuff." He gestured to the screen, where this time an Onix was battling another of its kind. "Look at the size of this animal! And it's made of rocks!"
"What species is it?" the older boy asked.
"Nothing I've ever heard of. It says it's a Rock Snake... Pokémon."
"I think I've heard that name, but I don't know what they are. Look 'em up."
"Sure," Bova nodded as he typed. "Look up: Pokémon."
The computer brought up a plethora of information; the two boys were unsure where to start until a picture of a small red machine appeared in the corner of the screen. "Click on that red compupad," Harlan suggested.
The link took them to a database, with a large list of creatures to the left and an area for graphics to the right. A voice began to speak to them as an introductory movie played. "Hello. I am Dexter. You are using an interactive Pokédex. Please click on a name to generate statistics for that Pokémon."
"We don't even know what a Po-kay-mon is," Harlan frowned.
"Pokémon," the robotic voice began to define. "Short for 'Pocket Monster'. Creatures that can be used for battle or companionship. It is unknown how many species of Pokemon there are, but as of yet over 500 species have been documented. There are Pokémon Battles that pit trainers against each other, as well as Contests that exhibit the beauty and grace of their creatures."
"That sounds pretty cool," Bova said. "You're sure they're not from Earth?"
"I've never seen one," Harlan replied.
"Pokémon can be found in the Kanto, Johto, Houen, and Sinnoh regions, as well as the Orange Islands chain," the Pokédex continued. "In addition, legend says that some Pokémon may have come from outer space."
"Maybe we'll discover a planet that has them," Harlan considered.
"Yeah, maybe," Bova spoke over his shoulder as he watched the clips of the animals interact on the screen. A pink one with a horn nudged a rose towards a purple one that looked similar. Three large bird-types screeched over the ocean. A cocoon morphed- no, transformed- into a butterfly. A phoenix flew over a rainbow. He hadn't heard of any of these creatures, and he'd read a lot of books about different worlds and their animals.
"So they're used in battles, like wars?" Harlan asked the screen.
"In ancient times they were suited for war, but recently trainers have used them for one-on-one battles," the computerized voice informed them. "Trainers exhibit the strength and speed of their creatures while showing off their own skills in technique and strategy."
The screen cut again to a battle. A fiery-haired girl threw a red-and-white ball and it popped open mid-air, revealing a light that formed itself into a fish with a horn. A cut to an aqua-haired girl revealed her throwing the same type of ball, but from it a jellyfish emerged, large red orbs on its head. Back and forth the two girls shouted commands, and the animals followed them from the get-go.
"They're like pets that actually listen," Bova stared.
"Not like Gizbot, or even Thelma sometimes," Harlan quipped.
"Wouldn't it be cool to fight with them? I wonder what other kinds there are."
The mention of another subject shut the video off and turned the automated voice on. "There are 17 types of Pokemon, and a species may belong to one or two types," the Pokedex continued as the screen showed a complex chart. "Some Pokemon types are stronger or weaker than other types."
Harlan smiled. "Rock, paper, scissors."
"Except with electricity! And water and bug and steel. Dark, ooo." Bova began studying the chart. "I want to see some... poison types!"
The program began a slideshow: a large purple snake with a hood, a ghostly orb, a pile of slop. "These can't be animals," Harlan said.
"But look at them," Bova said. "They're in the encyclopedia. People have pictures of them."
"People have cartoons of them," Harlan began.
"Whatever, man. They'd still be fun to have."
The door to the bunk opened, and Radu ducked through the doorway. "Commander Goddard says we should report to the command post in fifteen minutes for drills."
"Aw," Bova frowned. "We're busy."
"With those minerals?" the Andromedan asked.
"No, we just found something cool."
The screen was still going through creatures. "That sort of looks like a Stelgo," Radu tilted his head as a pink creature with a coif on its head flashed across the screen. "Anyway, we should head out."
"Just save where you're at, Bova, and come back to it," Harlan said.
"Fine, fine." He marked the data to be retrieved later. "Screen off."
The wall reappeared and he took one last look at the blank panels before following the other two boys out of the room.
-+-+-+-
"You're a liar, Harlan Band."
The five cadets had settled down at their usual place in the circular couch. The Commander and Miss Davenport had been assigning projects left and right for the past few days, and finally the crew found time to convene. That didn't mean that it was a particularly amiable meeting.
"I'm not a liar. I didn't even tell him that they were real," he countered.
"Suzee, it's all right," Bova shrugged. "I mean, how was he supposed to know that they weren't real animals?"
"Because he's from Earth, that's why. They were supposed to be from Earth, the key phrase there being supposed to," she emphasized to Harlan.
"It was too good to be true," Bova said as he sunk into his seat. Word had gotten around to the girls about the strange creatures that had appeared from the Infocore databases. Further research from their end had discovered that the animals Bova were looking at were, in fact, video games from almost two centuries ago. "I should have known better."
"What if they were real?" Rosie asked as looked to the group. "What if the animals were real and they made computer simulations of them so that they could remember them? I remember seeing pictures of white Earth bears before they were all extinct."
"I don't think that's the case, Rosie." Suzee turned back to Harlan. "A bit more research could have told us that."
"You think you know everyt..."
Harlan was cut off by Radu, who at this point had stayed silent. "I don't see why we couldn't make them ourselves, if they're just data."
"That's a great idea, Radu!" Rosie was already warm to the concept. "We could have pets! Like Sunspot and Nimbus!" she beamed, remembering her two pets at home fondly.
"Suzee, maybe you could find a way to do that," Radu suggested.
"I'll help!" Bova blurted out with more enthusiasm than the others usually expected. "I want a Pikachu!"
"A what-a-chu?" Harlan asked.
"A Pikachu," the Uranian responded. "It's an electric mouse and it can send volts of electricity from its cheeks."
"You've been studying," Suzee said, raising an eyebrow.
"I just looked at a few of them," he replied. "For the heck of it."
"Well, maybe we can get something up and running. Let me look into it." Suzee got up, grabbed her compupad from its place on the Nine Globed Dudley table, and sat down again. "It shouldn't be too complicated."
Bova leaned back in the couch and quickly smiled.
-+-+-+-
The crew was gathered at dinner, chattering around the peacock table.
"So I'd want a Swablu,"- Rosie was listing names- "and maybe a Piplup and a Buneary and..."
"Get me a Charizard!" Harlan laughed. "I want a strong one!"
"Radu, you should have a Celebi," Suzee nodded.
"I think I like the Bulbasaur," he replied.
Bova smirked, thought about a Pikachu, and took another bite.
The Commander and Miss Davenport looked at each other with puzzled expressions. "So," the Commander cut in, "what form of Greek are you speaking tonight?"
"It's not Greek, it's Pokémon," Rosie said, adding a teasing tone to her reply. "It's a game that Bova found."
"You battle them!" Harlan swung his fist in the air, narrowly missing Radu next to him.
"But you can also train them," Suzee noted.
"I don't suppose it's an educational game," Miss Davenport said.
"It's supposed to teach things like responsibility and loyalty, it said," Radu responded.
"Who said?"
"The Pokédex."
"Po-kay... What is it?" The teacher looked frustrated at the new vocabulary.
"It's like a compupad, but has all the information for the creatures in it."
Rosie was squirming from excitement. "And we want to make..."
"We want to make sure," Bova cut in," that we know a lot about them before we play. Right?"
"Creatures... like animals," Miss Davenport frowned.
"They're sort of like pets, yeah," Suzee shrugged. "But they're on the computer."
"Sounds interesting," Goddard commented. "I want to think I've heard of them, but not for a long while."
"You might have," Harlan nodded. "They are from Earth."
"We were thinking we might play some games with them," Radu said. "Maybe have them battle."
"3-D simulations, you know." Suzee paused before finishing. "On the screens in the bunks, or maybe even..."
"We want to make them real!" Rosie blurted out.
"Rosie!" Suzee hissed.
"Absolutely not." Miss Davenport was already on her feet about the matter. "I refuse to have any digital... monsters running around this ship. The Gizbot is bad enough. And my sinuses simply will not stand for it."
"But we've figured out how to do it," the Mercurian started explaining. "And it won't bother your allergies or anything! Please?"
Radu started, "We should probably explain how we plan to..."
"So here's how it works," Rosie cut him off in excitement. "I asked Bova and Suzee to look for a way to make the holographic information into solid information, because it says in the games that Pokemon are holographic information. And what they came up with is so cool." She looked at the two eagerly.
Bova nodded. "We found the formulae in the phase-through program that reverts an object back to its solid state."
Suzee continued. "We modified it so that we could change the data that shows the Pokemon from a hologram to a solid object. At this point, a hollow object, but it still has the same texture as a real Pokemon. Slime, feathers, you name it."
Harlan smirked. "And you're not allergic to data, are you, Miss Davenport?"
The teacher folded her arms. "No, Mr. Band, I am not allergic to data."
Commander Goddard smirked. "Well, it sounds like you've done a lot of research about it." He ate another bite.
"I'm still not sure about this," Davenport frowned. "You all have been keeping up with your studies, but I'm still afraid you'll get distracted from more important matters."
"We'll keep up with things, Miss D.," Harlan promised.
"And we'll only bring them out during free time," Radu added.
"Haven't you ever had a pet, Miss Davenport?" Suzee asked.
"My sister had a tarantula," she responded. "Horrid thing."
"Please?" Rosie begged again. "We'd keep them in their Pokéballs- you know, their homes- during class and duty. We don't even have to take care of them, and they'd be a lot of fun."
Bova shrugged, trying not to look overexcited.
Miss Davenport looked over to the Commander, who stared back for a moment. "It seems harmless," he shrugged.
She sighed, expecting it of him. Turning back to the kids, she conceded. "I suppose you can look into the matter."
"Thank you so much, Miss Davenport!" Rosie smiled brightly.
"You're welcome, dear," She couldn't help but smile a bit in response.
"We'll even get some for you!" the Mercurian added. "Are we excused?"
"Yes, you're all dismissed, as soon as..." Davenport didn't have to end her sentence before the five cadets were jumping up from the table, tossing their plates into the sink and dashing through the door. "Oh, well, thank you," she called after them.
"Do you think this is a good idea, Commander?"
"They seemed enthusiastic about it. Nothing brings excitement to a ship more than a new idea."
"As long as they keep up in lessons," she nodded.
"It seems," Goddard said, "that things are going to get exciting."
-----
AN: The first chapter! The title is in reference to 2BAMaster, a song off the same-titled Pokémon CD that was released, wow, almost 10 years ago. (I couldn't bring myself to name it Pocket Mon-stars like my pun-ny side wants to.) Look for some more chapters coming. ^_^