Professor Samuel Oak had barely begun to manage a sort of neutral face to show his newly orphaned grandchildren when the doorbell rang.
He would have to cry over the death of his son and daughter-in-law later; the children had to have someone who seemed to know what to do and be strong for them. But who really knows what to do when the father buries the son and not the other way around?
Dissing the lack of logic life seems to harbor at times and how science isn't, regrettably, too much of an accuarate field of what enables human beings to predict destiny, he stood up to get the door.
A scrawny, tall old woman dressed in black with a stern brow stood facing the professor.
-Good afternoon. Professor Samuel Oak? -she asked behind thick, round glasses
- It's me.
He looked behind the woman at the two children with tear-swollen faces.
-Hello, kids! –he did the best he could to make his half smile look sincere-
Daisy, the oldest, muttered a weak hello back, without lifting her gaze off the floor. Of course, little Gary wouldn't ease the scowl or grunt with a hey. Six is not the same age as fifteen.
-Professor, I come from the funerary home. I was tasked with the delivery of your grandchildren, who have no living relatives other than you who could possibly raise them to be successful members of our society. Here, on your son's will, it says…
Professor Oak had stopped listening to the old woman babble on about laws of custody; he walked toward his grandkids to get them inside the house; he put one arm around Daisy's shoulder and carried Gary with the other, and closed the door on the still babbling lady's face.
-Gramps, that was cool. Old lady should keep quiet about something she knows nothing about. -Gary had finally muttered something and looked his grandpa in the eye. The professor smiled sincerely this time. So he was like him and his son, after all.
Gary... Daisy... you understand why you're going to live with me from here on? - of course Daisy knew, and she was a strong young lady, so she should be fine, in time... but what about Gary? He was only six... children realize what death means until a year later when they turn seven, a lot like Pokémon that learn a new move when they grow in level. How would he handle it..?
Several months later
Daisy resumed her studies after two weeks after the funeral, and acquired a strange obsession with mechanics and ground-type Pokémon. This was logical if one knew about her parents' car accident. She didn't want to learn to drive either; she said she'd rather construct devices than use them. Other than that, she was doing fine and wanted to become an Earth Gym Leader. On the other hand, Gary wasn't as well-behaved and calm anymore...
The professor had to spend a lot of time working most days and the kid rarely had anyone to play with, so he snuck into the Pokémon corral behind the lab, which was dangerous because he was a child less tall than a Pidgeot!
However, most Pokémon seemed to adore him... when he wasn't poking them when they were sleeping or startling the bird pokémon and the Ponytas, or jumped on a huge Snorlax's belly, which angered his grandpa. As these actions made Oak go chase his grandson instead of working, Gary kept doing it. He already knew all the escape routes for whenever he was grounded, anyway.
Hey gramps, why did mom and dad die? -Gary asked before going to bed one night-
They... had a car accident... they were badly wounded and couldn't be saved in time.
You mean it was just bad luck?
...Something like it; we call it fate... it means it's something you cannot predict but will happen no matter what you do; you can't bring the dead back to life. They're off to another dimension now, but they're always watching over you, and still love you like they did when they were here.-he tried to tuck the child into his bed, but Gary kept pushing the bedspread
But you don't go and die when you really want to stay!
Listen, Gary... we all die some day, both you and me as well, and we cannot know when that day is gonna come, but it's usually when you're very old... but life, most likely, doesn't end there... our bodies get decomposed, but our soul is not measurable by science... which means it's beyond our reach to know what happens, but most of us can tell there is something more to life than...
What's decompose?
When your body slowly becomes one with the soil... the flesh and all your substances turn into earth, and earth feeds plants and plant Pokémon... it's a lot like the fruit that stays too long in the fridge. First the flesh goes, then the seeds... but the soul, or the body, doesn't feel any of that.
So what Mattie says is true! My parents are skeletons! And didn't want to see us anymore so they got themselves into a car accident!
That's not true! I saw they were turned into ashes, so they can't be skeletons. Who's Mattie?
A kid from preschool who was bothering me because I have no parents. So you burned my parents? -Gary was a little scared now
No, no, Gary... we only burned their bodies to put them in an urn and be able to visit them in a symbolic way... to still feel like they are on this world with us while we have them in our hearts. And about the kid, don't listen to what he says; it's complete nonsense, because accidents are called so because nobody wants them to happen! And I assure you, your parents would have loved to stay with you, but life had other plans for you...
What plan so evil could involve killing my parents? Almost all of the time, my only play company are other trainers's Pokémon... I wish I could play with dad or mom again... I think it's my fault they're gone! I wasn't a good kid... I was always messing up the house... -he sobbed lightly-
Professor Oak had an idea.
It's nobody's fault when someone dies. Unless you killed them. But look, in everything bad, there has to be something good. Your parents's fate is indeed something neither you or I deserve (imagine, my son died!), but maybe you wouldn't have been able to meet and get to know all those Pokémon well and discovered your love for them if it hadn't been because of that... or would you?
No... I hadn't seen so many kinds of them before! I wanna meet more.
Maybe you could be a trainer yourself one day, and since you live at a Pokémon Lab, you can make great use of the information here!
I'm going to be so amazing, nobody will ever think my parents are skelletons! Everyone will even want my autograph like famous people's! I'll do it for me to be good, and for them to like what they see from wherever they are!
You're already good, but I like how that sounds! Here, have this ying yang necklace; my dad gave it to me... it means what I just said: that there is a little good in bad, and a little bad in good; you just make out the most of it.
Wow! -Gary eyed it before he put it around his neck
I'm glad you like it. Now, sleep well, Gary, you gotta go to school tomorrow.
I don't wanna.
You will! You have to be a good student if you want your Pokémon license someday!
Gary scowled. Professor Oak laughed. - Every Pokémon journey starts even before you get your first Pokémon. You've got to learn to read, for example! What if you get lost and a sign on the street points out the goal?
-I can read small signs!
-That's not what I mean! Now, I have to go to bed, too; tomorrow's a long day!
And with that, he kissed his grandson's forehead, turned off the light and left the room.
Gary never took off that necklace, not even for the shower.
Professor Oak didn't actually go to bed because he needed to finish a report on his latest research subject, but he couldn't stop thinking about Gary's trouble with death... he knew kids were usually mean, but surely not all of them were like that... were they? And although he seemed to love hanging out with Pokémon, it wasn't safe letting him into the corral like that when there were irritable Nidokings and Gyarados roaming around!
He had to find Gary some safer company... Of course! The neighbor, Delia Ketchum, had a son only 2 years younger than his grandson, and it was his birthday in a week! He wasn't in preschool yet, so it was perfect! Gary would go to the party whether he thought he was too cool for it or not.