The Journey: Begins
Man finds himself in a world where fantastic creatures abound. Upon arrival to the planet it became quickly apparent that these creatures, called pokémon, were at once mankind's greatest ally and most fearful enemy on this new world. A war broke out between the men who kept to their old customs, and their children, who thought they should live in harmony with the pokémon. The children and pokémon eventually won, but all means of contacting the mother planet Earth was lost. Centuries later, man no longer remembers they had lived anywhere else. The creatures had grown accustomed to man's presence and peace reigned as long as man did not create trouble.
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The forest was calm as he left his uncle's manse. He didn't look back at all as he pulled down his mask; he was beginning his journey and leaving his old life behind. As he walked along the first path of many towards Viridian he saw a girl walking the other way. He was glad he had pulled his mask down, it would have been awkward if she recognized him. He nodded to her as he passed, keeping ready to disappear into the trees if necessary. When they were separated by a bend in the path he stepped off of it and into the trees, following the path from a distance.
After several hours of travel he stopped. Ahead in the trees, about 30 meters away, he heard the sounds of battle. He crept towards the sounds, using all of his wilder skills to remain undetected. When he reached the clearing where the battle was taking place he paused in shock; a scyther, the king of the forest, was being swarmed by a group of ariados as it tried to untangle itself from their web. Every time it broke free, one ariados, and then another, would get a hold of it and bring it back down. He was impressed by the way that the scyther kept fighting throughout the battle. He decided that the scyther's tenacity would be extremely useful; the scyther would be his. He smiled to himself beneath his mask as he released his Pokémon. "Use Twister." The dragon's eyes glowed as it unleashed its powers. The ariados scattered as a few of them were tossed about in the sudden windstorm. As the scyther started to pick itself up the dragon hit it with a bolt of electricity knocking it back to the ground and paralyzing it. He smiled again as he threw the empty black pokéball, knowing it was useless for the scyther to struggle. When the pokéball stopped moving he went to pick it up, already planning how to bring Mars in line.
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It was one year yesterday. The thought kept turning in Mike's head as he decided what to do with his life. Being fifteen he could either continue schooling as his mother had wanted, or enter vocational training. He didn't want to start working yet, the only jobs he was even slightly interested in were running a pokémon daycare or pokémon ranch, and the only way to do either was to finish schooling and then enter into an internship, or prove he was capable of handling pokémon. And he was sick of school; being book smart was not something he thought was necessary, the knowledge he had gained from helping Professor Oak at his lab was all Mike needed.
Life had been difficult for the last year. The only thing he had left of his parents was the house and memories. And odd things kept happening, such as the large egg that had ended up on his doorstep sometime last night. He didn't want to be anything other than someone who took care of pokémon, but he couldn't do that without finishing his education. The Pokémon Committee did not allow the inexperienced to work their own labs or ranches. Though adoption from a care center was an option the candidate had to be able to support himself and the pokémon in question. Which led back to square one.
With this in mind Mike reached down to pick up the egg, preparing to carry it over to Professor Oak who could then transport it to the proper authorities. When his hands touched it, the egg cracked open and a small, furry pokémon rolled out. Its fur was the same color as Mike's hair, a light brown, and its eyes were also the same shade of deep brown as Mike's. As he stood there staring at the odd little creature he failed to notice that Professor Oak was walking up the road to his house. The pokémon, however, noticed Mike immediately and stared at him expectantly.
"What am I supposed to do?" Mike tried to stay calm; if anyone saw that he had hatched an egg without permission he would never be allowed to work with pokémon. He had to get it to Professor Oak before the pokémon got too attached. If he could do that and keep the pokémon calm he might be able to use it as an example of natural ability that the Committee couldn't ignore.
While all these thoughts had been going through Mike's head the baby pokémon reacted to each of the affiliated emotions in turn, finally ending up in excitement. It trilled happily as Mike's attention returned to it and started bouncing around excitedly. Professor Oak looked up, startled at the noise and saw what was happening. He quietly hid himself behind a tree to watch, unobserved.
"All right, all right," Mike was having a hard time talking and laughing at the same time. "I got it. But after I play with you, you need to do what I say ok?"Immediately the little pokémon stopped dancing about and stared at Mike, waiting. "What, am I supposed to come up with something?" The little pokémon crouched down, ready to move in any direction, staring at Mike expectantly. Mike grinned, "Fine then, the game is to see if I can catch you."
Before Mike could even react the pokémon was off, running full speed to hide behind the fence, peering around it to see if Mike was following yet. Mike stood still a moment trying to decide if this was really okay; and after scanning the road and not seeing anyone, decided that it was safe. "Alright you little fur ball, you're mine!"
After a few minutes of being chased, the pokémon dodged Mike again and then ran back towards the house. But instead of going to the house the pokémon ran over to the tree where Professor Oak was hiding and started dancing around and trilling.
"Ah! What are you-" Mike watched in amazement as Professor Oak stumbled out from behind the tree, startled by the little pokémon. Oak stood up and brushed himself off as Mike walked slowly over.
"Professor Oak?" Mike sounded a lot calmer than he felt; even though Professor Oak was a family friend, Mike could get in serious trouble for keeping a pokémon he wasn't registered to have.
"How many time have I told you to call me Gary, Mike? Professor Oak is my grandpa."
"You introduced him to me as 'Gramps', so you're just gonna have to live with him being 'Grandpa Oak' and you being 'Professor.'"
Gary smiled as they turned to walk into Mike's house, the little pokémon not far behind. "By the way Mike, you've found a very rare pokémon there."
"Huh? Really?"
Gary leaned against the doorframe and stared off to the north. "Eevee are extremely rare. They react so easily with the elements that they almost always evolve before they meet anyone. That's why hardly anyone knows about the existence of eevee."
"So, what are you gonna do about this one?"
Gary smiled at Mike as he pulled out a pokéball. "I was actually on my way here to solve a problem of yours." He laughed at the look of confusion on Mike's face. "Becoming a pokémon trainer is a good way to prove that you can handle pokémon and get a caretakers license, though I think that once you get a taste for it you're gonna want to just stay a pokémon trainer. In any case, I brought this pokéball to start you off. Inside it is your first pokémon; or at least, I thought it was gonna be. Eevee seems to have changed that."
Mike couldn't believe what he was hearing; not only was Gary letting him keep Eevee, but he had been planning on giving Mike a pokémon to begin with. Then the first thing Gary said caught his attention. "Pokémon trainer? Me?"
"Pokémon trainers are people who travel around collecting their own pokémon to raise and battle each other with. You've heard of Ash Ketchum right?" Mike nodded and Gary smiled to himself as he remembered his childhood rival. "Pallet has a way of turning out surprisingly talented trainers. Like him… and your father." The last was said so quietly that Mike wasn't sure if he was just imagining it. Gary turned to the door before a thought came to him. "Oh, the pokéball with the pokémon in it. Why don't you open it?"
Mike reached into his pocket where he had put the ball. "This one?" he said as he allowed the ball to open.
There was a surprisingly bright flash of light, and then a black lizard with a flame at the tip of its tail and a combative nature was standing in front of Mike. Mike and Gary stared at it, too stunned to move. It cocked its head as it studied Mike and then swung its tail at him. Mike was too surprised to flinch, even when the flames at the tip of the tail nearly singed his eyebrows.
The pokémon stared at Mike with renewed interest as Mike stepped over towards it. Mike knew enough from helping Grandpa Oak to realize that this one was challenging him for supremacy. He forced himself to quiet all his emotions and spoke calmly.
"That's not a very good idea. We're supposed to be partners from here on, so no more attacking me alright?" Mike's tone was even, without being too domineering or too submissive, but he also wasn't really asking a question. He knew that pokémon were extremely receptive to tone of voice.
Gary watched in approval as Mike earned the young dragon's respect, and smiled again when Eevee demanded more attention. He knew that Mike was going to do just fine, at least as far as raising his pokémon was concerned; he had yet to be tested in battle.
"One of the first rules you'll learn Mike, is that in battle not regulated by the league, there are no rules. You have to depend on your pokémon as much as they-"
"Well that's obvious Professor Oak." Gary was shocked to be cut off. Mike was normally very respective of other people. "If I can't depend on my own pokémon, how can I expect others to entrust me with their pokémon later?"
Gary blinked a few times while it sank in that the lesson he had had the hardest time learning was already ingrained into every fiber of Mike's being. He laughed a little ruefully at himself as he turned towards Mike's house again. Mike and Gary spent the next few hours getting ready for Mike's journey. Gary telling Mike about what to expect when travelling. "-and if all else fails, just listen to your pokémon. They can warn you about any naturally occurring danger nearby."
"Thank you, I'm sure that Enlil well keep me safe." At the mention of his new name, the young dragon looked up from where it had been waiting by the door. Seeing that it was nothing of importance, he resumed his waiting. As the time of departure drew nearer Mike grew more excited and anxious. He tried to hide it and would have succeeded, but Eevee was once again imitating his emotions and too young to know how to hide them, so it ended up rolling around on the ground as it didn't know what to do. After Gary and Mike shared a laugh at Eevee's expense they walked outside so Mike could start on his journey.
"Thanks again… Gary." Mike started running as he said his goodbye so that he wouldn't get caught up in the farewell. Because of this, he didn't see the tears that started to roll down Gary's face before he angrily brushed them away.
"What the hell am I doin'. I'm acting just like Ash would." Even though his words were harsh, his tone was soft. He turned his eyes back to the path just in time to see Mike, Eevee, and Enlil go over the top of the hill on the way to Viridian City. It was then that the thought struck him. He pulled the other pokéball out of his back pocket and stared in wonder at the hill that Mike had just climbed. He had intended to give Mike a squirtle, not the black charmeleon. He had been so surprised by charmeleon's appearance that by the time it registered, Mike had already tamed the charmeleon, despite its overly aggressive nature. Gary smiled as he thought that Mike really did have what it took to raise pokémon, his instincts were good. All that was left to see was whether his instincts in battle were as good.
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He paused as his bag shifted yet again. "Listen up you two. You have to stay quiet or other people are going to know that you're there." He sighed as knew that it was pointless. He pulled the scrap of metal out of his pocket again to double check that he really needed to head to Viridian City; he'd prefer to avoid big cities if he could. Just then Mars came flying back through the trees from his scouting mission. He landed in front of the young man.
"Anything?" But Mars just indicated that the way was clear. "Well that's convenient. Let's go give this Earth Co. a visit."
He waited a moment for his bag to stop shifting again before he headed out. As he approached Viridian City he thought again that they might prove to be worth the trouble. He forced himself to remember that as they shifted once again.
About an hour later, he approached his destination. He walked through the city, keeping mostly to the shadows and avoiding large crowds. As he neared the next alleyway he heard savage growling. Knowing that it was most likely just a dog pokémon defending its territory, he started to move past it so that the dog would leave him alone. Something about the growling seemed strange however, and it wasn't until he was almost past that he realized what it was that troubled him; there was more than one dog. As he turned back to investigate he heard something more alarming; the dogs were threatening a girl.
"H-help me. Someone, please help." Her voice was barely above a whimper so he hadn't heard it over the growling.
"Damned city noises are messing with my senses. Mars!" As he called for Mars to leave his reconnaissance position and aid in the fight, he was also pulling down his mask and releasing two other pokémon. "Soze, you're support. Kai, help clear away those dogs." Mars came diving down from the rooftops as Kai, an unusually nimble cubone, rushed the pack. Soze flowed into the shadows where his black scales disappeared into the darkness.
Mars and Kai hit the pack of dogs simultaneously from the masked man's side, opening a path to the girl. Just before the young man reached the girl, a burst of fire from the far side halted Mars and Kai's advance. Running in from the far side of the alley was another dog not native to the Kanto region. It knocked the pack out of the way to stand guard over the girl.
The young man was struck by the houndour's courage to face a whole pack of wild mightyena and poochyena, especially when from its position it looked like they were reinforced by Mars and Kai. He smiled to himself beneath his mask as he decided that the houndour would be his.
Sensing his wishes, Soze blasted the pack of dogs with a twister, made more devastating by the close courters. While houndour was distracted by the poochyena and mightyena struggling to get to their feet, the man ran over and grabbed the girl, pulling her past the line formed by his pokémon. When houndour finally realized what happened he charged straight at the young man.
The young man smiled again as he saw that houndour was so determined to protect the girl. As it got closer, Mars and Kai prepared for combat again. When houndour was only a couple meters away they launched their attack, taking down the pair of mightyena that had almost caught up to houndour. Seeing that the man was targeting the pack, houndour stopped his charge with a rather ungraceful skid.
"You've got talent. I could use it." Houndour hesitated a moment as it thought about becoming the man's pokémon, but then, he had just saved the girl so it nodded its head. The man dropped one of the black pokéballs at houndour's feet and waited for it to get in the ball. While Houndour was catching itself the girl hesitantly cleared her throat.
"Umm, can I at least know your name? I'd like to thank you for saving me. My name's Alexis." The girls voice was stronger, and less hesitant as she started to recover from her ordeal.
The young man thought for a moment but then decided that he shouldn't give her anything to remember him by. "I have no name."
"Thank you…Masked Man. I won't forget what you did for me."
"You're welcome." The young man was glad for his mask as he realized how beautiful the girl was, with long black hair and clear green eyes. He watched her as she walked away and then headed into the mess created by the fight. He picked up the pokéball with Rand in it and started to walk towards his original destination, trying to figure out why there were houndour, mightyena, and poochyena running around Kanto without trainers. As he passed the collapsed forms of the pack he noticed that many of them wore collars and ankle cuffs, and that one of the collars had broken off. His curiosity getting the better of him he reached down to pick it up. When he saw the symbol stamped on it he froze. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the scrap of metal he had found when he picked up the two in his pack; as he had thought, they were identical.
Soze came over to see what was going on but started shaking when he saw the symbol.
"Soze? What's up? Is it something about the symbol?" the young masked man didn't realize that Soze had yet to see the symbol as he was always watching the road for trouble whenever the man was looking at the scrap piece. Soze lifted his tail and touched the tip to the young man's forehead.
The mountain was enveloped in the blizzard. Whatever it was that was threatening the Icy One was a major concern. The young dratini was not used to compensating for weather of this degree yet, and so was being carried by his mother to stay warm. As they headed towards the cave to find shelter from the sudden storm, Dratini saw something fall from the human made road on the mountain side. It took a moment for Dratini to realize that it was actually two human vehicles falling from the road. One of them was a car, something that Dratini already knew was a way for the humans to move faster, but the other was something foreign to him. It looked something like a whale with circular flippers and flew. Or at least Dratini saw the rest of them were flying when he looked up.
His mother didn't pay any attention to the events until the car and whale-looking thing hit the ground and exploded. His mother looked out over to the mountain and froze. Dratini didn't know what his mother saw but suddenly they were flying to the mountain. When they got there Dratini saw that there was a human baby lying in a tree, the braches having caught the cradle. Dratini looked down at the wreckage of the car and saw a human female looking up at the dragons investigating the baby. As the light faded from her eyes she smiled at Dratini. Dratini looked away from the woman, afraid of what was happening to her and looked at the whale-thing. On the side of the broken machine was a symbol. It was a circle, with squiggly lines on it that looked somewhat like a map. And written in large letters across the circle were the five letters E, A, R, T, and H.
As the memories receded from dominating his mind, the young man's tears started falling behind his mask. He knew from pictures at his uncle's manse that the baby was him. His uncle had always said that the young man's parents were no longer around, but he never said how or why. The young man had left home in the hopes of finding clues about his parents, but now that he knew about it, he wasn't sure of what to do now.
He stared at the collar and scrap of metal in his hands. A thought came into his head. He had something he could do, he could destroy this EARTH Co. that had killed his parents. He told Mars to lead the way to the location indicated by the logo. "Let's go Soze. Let's go and pay those bastards back."
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Amar whistled a light tune as he walked north out of Viridian. The minor earthquake as he had left the city now nothing but a memory in his mind. He looked over his shoulder once to see the pillar of smoke climbing steadily higher in the sky. There was no thought in his head of the damage the earthquake had caused, or who may have been hurt in the explosion. He simply headed north, to Pewter City, where the nearest base was located.
"Is that- is that a dragon!" Amar hadn't even noticed the girls approach. A slight rustling sound was heard as something moved in the bushes and the young man looked around to see that aside from the girl he was alone. He turned to face her and stepped out of the shadows of the tree he had just walked under revealing light brown skin and dark hair with blue tips.
"Dragon? I don't see anyone here besides us." His tone was light as if he had not a single care in the world.
"I could have sworn I saw a black dragon." The girl's green eyes were looking around, trying to locate the creature she had seen just moments before.
"Black dragon? I don't think there are any black dragon's in Kanto. By the way, I'm Amar.".
"Amar? That's an interesting name. Where does it come from?" she laughed. It was a clear bell-like tone that Amar lost himself in before he knew what was happening. He snapped out of it to see her looking at him. Amar couldn't believe what was happening. He had never let a girl take control of the situation before; he was always the one who took the lead.
"Hahaha. What, does it really matter? I like my name. And besides, it's not very fair to be laughing at my name when I don't even know yours."
"I suppose you're right." Alexis looked kind of hurt, but she realized that she had been rather rude herself. "My name is Alexis. I'm trying to find the man who saved my life earlier today."
"Oh? What's he like?" Amar couldn't help himself from asking or from getting curious about her life.
"He's really strong and wants to remain anonymous."
"That's going to make it rather difficult to find him."
"I know. But it's necessary that I find him." Alexis had lost the hurt look as the conversation continued. "I inherited a bit of psychic powers from my mother and their telling me that I need to find him."
"Are they telling you why?" The bit about the psychic powers had Amar really concerned.
A strange look came over Alexis' face when he asked that question. Her eyes faded and her voice changed, sounding like it was coming from somewhere far away. "The Jakul riding the Black Dragon will bring destruction and war for the first time since the Coming."
"What's that supposed to mean? Is there any way to stop this?"
"The war will come. The fate of the world will depend on the four with the power to change his heart."
"Who is the Jakul? And all these others?"
Alexis blinked a little and her eyes were clear again. She blushed and turned slightly so she wasn't looking him straight in the eye. "Sorry, but I can't really control it right now so I can't tell you anymore than that because I don't know. I do know that the Jakul is the man who saved me though."
"We also need to find these other four." The young man's voice trailed off in thought.
"Well, it was nice seeing you, but I really need to get going. I have to get to Pewter City before too long. That's where he's heading, I can feel it."
Many thoughts rolled through Amar's head in rapid succession, ending with I can't let her go like this. "Well, I'm heading to Pewter too. So, if you want, we could travel together." He cursed himself as the words rushed out of his mouth, losing the calm that he prided himself on. Alexis only smiled and nodded before they gathered up the supplies she had dropped when she first appeared. Fifteen minutes later the glade was empty, and as a butterfree winged its way overhead a clear bell-like laughter could be heard echoing in the distance.
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Mike was daydreaming as he walked, letting Eevee rest on his shoulders. He didn't really notice that the path was getting narrower so lost was he in his fantasies. Enlil however, was alert, so he noticed the sound. Having never had experience with bicycles he didn't recognize the sound as tires on gravel, however, he still understood that something was approaching from behind…and fast. Enlil jumped into Mike, sending all three of them sprawling on the side of the path, with Eevee rolling into the bushes, out of sight. A few seconds later, a girl with shoulder length auburn hair whipped past on her bike.
"And she didn't even say sorry." Mike thought aloud. "Oh, well, not much to be done about it. You guys ready to go?" Eevee and Enlil had already gotten back on the path, with Eevee prancing about just as he had before taking his nap. Mike laughed at Eevee's enthusiasm. "It's good that you're all excited, but I'm not carrying you again until we reach Viridian." Eevee immediately stopped jumping and walked calmly next to Enlil. Mike laughed again as he topped the hill and saw the city in the distance.
Looking down the path, he saw the girl backed up against a tree with her bike lying broken on the ground several feet away. Trapping her against a tree was a Beedril and a bug pokémon that Mike had never seen before. Mike started running when he saw that their trainer had pulled out more pokéballs so he didn't notice that Eevee had run off into the woods. The girl kept her calm and nothing showed in her blue eyes as he shouted at her.
"Listen up girlie! You nearly ran me and my bugs over so you'd better come up with a way to make up for it! Are you listening! Fine! Experience the wrath of bugs!"
Mike had almost reached them when the guy hurled a group of five pokéballs, releasing a venerable army of bug pokémon. He had two caterpies, one weedle, another one Mike didn't know though it looked like an unevolved form of the first, a kakuna, and the two already out. Immediately after being released the group attacked the girl. Mike didn't even have to say anything as Enlil was already charging the group.
"Start with an Ember." Mike left it up to Enlil to figure out what to do after that as he ran to place himself between the girl and the oncoming pokémon. Before he had to worry about whether that was actually an intelligent idea, Enlil's attack sprayed through the group taking down all but the flyers. Only the beedril and new bug were able to fight, but they were furious at the humiliation they had just been given. They charged in too quickly for Enlil to prepare another attack and he was forced to fend them off with nothing more than fang and claw. Even though Enlil was a powerful fighter, his style was not really suited for fighting multiple enemies.
"What are you doing! You can't possibly beat them by yourself!" Mike was not expecting the girl to still be there. "Let me help!"
"You're right. I can't beat him by myself." Mike paused as she started reaching into her pack. "That's why I've got Enlil." When he turned back to the battle he saw Enlil get knocked over by the new bug.
"Yeah, Ninjask, get 'em." The bug trainer was dancing around in excitement. Mike thought that he was a rather annoying little boy.
"Well that's doing you a lot of good. He can't fight them alone!" Mike was getting very irritated with the way the girl was constantly doubting him.
"You know, this would be a lot easier if you'd just let me concentrate. Thanks." Mike didn't notice that she had completely frozen up when she saw his face. Mike then realized that Eevee had disappeared somewhere. He looked around trying to find him.
The beedril charged at Enlil as he got back to his feet. "Yeah, get him Beedril! Teach that punk the penalty of getting in my way!" The bug trainer's yell brought Mike's attention back to the fight. As Beedril got closer it moved all three of its stingers into position to attack Enlil. Enlil's back being turned, he did not notice Beedril bearing down on him.
"Enlil! Behind you!" Mike managed to call out in time for Enlil to turn, but not soon enough for him to dodge. Instead, Enlil blocked Beedril's hand stingers with his arms and blocked the bottom stinger with his foot. Unfortunately this left him completely defenseless against any attack from Ninjask; which Ninjask took full advantage of, slamming into him from behind. "Enlil!" Even though Mike knew that shouting his name wasn't going to help, he couldn't help himself. As Enlil stumbled to his feet Beedril came once again, and Mike was forced to watch helplessly as things just repeated themselves. Except that's not what the youth had in mind. Once Enlil and Beedril were looked in their struggle again, Ninjask came charging towards Mike and the girl. Unable to do anything, he readied himself to take the full force of the bugs assault, but before Ninjask could reach him a vine came whipping out of the forest, smashing Ninjask into the ground.
"Where did that come from! What did you do!" However, neither Mike nor the girl heard him as they were asking each other their own questions.
"When did you release another pokémon?"
"Guess I should've just let you help huh?"
The two stared at each other for a moment before searching their surroundings, realizing that there was another player around. Beedril also hesitated a moment as its partner got beat down, giving Enlil the time to regain his strength. The flame at the tip of his tail burned brighter as Enlil's fury built up inside of him. He opened his mouth and, instead of a spray of embers, a stream of fire came bursting out, nearly incinerating Beedril. Enlil made sure that his enemies were down, and then stumbled his way to Mike.
"Listen, the Pokémon Center is at the center of the city. I have to take care of something, but then I'll meet you there." She paused as she thought of something else. "It is kind of my fault." Mike thanked her as she left and then ran to Enlil, ignoring the other trainer as he rushed to get Enlil back into his pokéball. Mike then saw Eevee who had walked out from the woods and, forgetting his earlier statement, picked him up and started running the rest of the way to the city.
As he walked into the city proper, looking for the Pokémon Center at the center of the city, the earth shook with a violent explosion. Mike made sure Eevee was secure on his shoulders and resumed walking towards the center of the city, thankful that Enlil was already back in his pokéball where he was resting. It took him a little bit to realize that the smoke from the explosion was rising from the center of the city, the direction that the Center was supposed to be in.
"Son of a-" Mike stopped midsentence as he started a steady trot. As he neared the site of the explosion he heard the anticipated noises of the police and fire departments trying to gain control.
"Get those fires under control!"
"Where's the Wartortle Unit? We need them to put out the fires inside the building!"
"Why haven't the hounds found anything yet? We need a scent to track the culprit!"
Mike was looking for a way to circle the mess when he heard something else.
"What? You'll have to speak up to be heard over all this mess."
"I found this girl trying to sneak away with her broken bike." Broken bike? Mike moved closer so he could hear them better.
"I wasn't sneaking I was limping. I think I sprained something when the explosion knocked me over." Mike was surprised to hear the voice of the girl that he had rescued, but he was more surprised by the way she sounded like she was about to cry.
"Sorry that we can't just take your word for it. But unless someone can vouch for you you're going to have to come with us."
"What? I can't do that! I have to get to the Pokémon Center-"
"That's enough miss. Just be quiet and come with us to the station."
Mike knew that he was going to have to act fast if he was going to save her. He just hoped they believed him. "Excuse me, but she really does have to get to the Pokémon Center. We were gonna meet there for our date." Mike did his best to look like an embarrassed teenager as he walked over to the girl and put his arm around her. "The explosion kinda put a whole in my plans though." Mike laughed nervously, hoping that the officers would take it as embarrassment.
"If you were going to meet your boyfriend you could have just said so." The officer's tone had changed completely, no longer hostile he was just trying to get back to his duty.
"Like you would have believed me." The girl spoke softly so her words were lost to everyone but Mike who was right next to her. The officer took it as an embarrassed agreement and dismissed them. After they got around a corner and were sure they weren't being followed, Mike took his arm from around her shoulders as they stopped.
"Sorry about that. It was the first thing I could think of." Eevee jumped from Mike's shoulders to the girl's and started rubbing his cheek against hers. She reached up to pet Eevee as she started walking, but only managed to take one step before nearly collapsing. Mike caught her and then hesitated a moment, unsure if what he was about to do would be okay.
"Sorry, but I don't think you're gonna be able to walk." As he spoke, he maneuvered her so he could carry her on his back.
"It's fine. I seem to be thanking you a lot. And I haven't even apologized yet for almost running you over on the road." Mike laughed as he lifted her, impressed that she knew it was him she had sent off the path. "Or maybe I don't need to since you think it was so funny." Her tone was a little icy as she turned her attention forward and ignored him, leaving Mike to wonder if she really wasn't angry while he carried her to the pokémon center.
When they finally reached the pokémon center, after stopping at an aid station set up to help the injured, they discovered that it was completely packed with people. Mike helped her to sit on a bench and then turned to face her to discuss what to do when he realized he had no idea what her name was. After a bit of an awkward pause Mike introduced himself.
"I'm Mike, the one on your shoulder is Eevee, and the guy resting after the battle is Enlil. I'm heading out to challenge the Pokémon League to prove myself a capable handler of pokémon. My dream is to open up a place where people can come and live alongside pokémon." Mike stalled a little as he saw the girl smiling and then got embarrassed as he realized what he was doing. "Sorry, I guess I kinda got carried away."
The girl laughed and looked happy for the first time since Mike had met her, her blue eyes finally had some sparkle back. "It's fine, your sincerity is cute. Is Mike short for Michael?" Mike nodded, though his spirit fell a little as he was called cute but tried to keep it hidden. "I'm Clarissa, and I have Kitsune and Hinote for companions." At Mike's look of confusion she laughed again as she realized her mistake. "Sorry, a vulpix and flareon respectively. I have to say, your charmeleon is really impressive, he was managing to fight off two powerful pokémon by himself."
Mike grinned as he placed a hand on Enlil's ball. "Careful, if he hears you his ego's gonna explode." Clarissa laughed again. "Well, this place is kind of a mess, and Enlil just needs some rest," Mike trailed off as he realized that he was starting to like being around Clarissa. He wanted to stay near her if possible. "Did you finish what you had to do?"
Clarissa laughed again, he wasn't sure what was happening, but he knew he was not prepared for it. "You could say that, yes." Then she got a mischievous look on her face, "But if you want to find out then you have offer me something in exchange."
Mike hesitated for a moment, trying to decide if she might go with him. Just as he decided it was probably a bad idea to ask, Eevee looked at Mike and then settled into the space between Clarissa's neck and shoulder and Mike found himself getting jealous. Mike struggled to regain control of his thoughts. If he didn't force himself to concentrate he started thinking about Clarissa and Mike had to stop himself before he went any further in his thoughts of her. He decided that it would be best if he went for it; if he got in trouble with Professor Oak, then he got in trouble, no use complaining about it.
"You could, come with me? Maybe. If you wanted to." Mike was so nervous that he didn't realize how badly he was stumbling. And to make it even worse, Clarissa had started to stare at the ground, deep in thought; though Mike had no idea that's what was happening. Eevee sensed Mike's spirit start to fall and trilled to get Clarissa's attention.
"Huh? What? Oh! Did you say something Mike? I'm sorry, I was thinking about something." Clarissa's cheeks reddened due to her embarrassment. "I really am sorry. And I know this will sound selfish, especially since I wasn't listening to you just now, but," Clarissa took a deep breath to calm herself and then started over again. "Would you let me travel with you?"
Mike froze for a moment, trying to figure out if she was just playing with him. "Really? What a great idea! I wish I had thought of it. Oh wait, that's what you didn't hear." To let Clarissa know that he was just teasing her he stuck his tongue out at her.
Clarissa at first looked hurt, quickly followed by anger and shock, and then ended up laughing. Mike's heart skipped again when she smiled; he had always known the difference between boys and girls, but it had never really mattered to him until now. Clarissa reached up and grabbed Eevee, pulling him off her shoulder and into her arms.
"Careful, I came here to find Eevee's trainer. And if you keep talking like that I might decide to keep him." Eevee trilled and licked Clarissa's cheek but then shook his head and looked at Mike. Clarissa was stunned for a moment, but then started laughing, if a little ruefully. "So you like me, but Michael is your trainer. Is that it?" Eevee trilled happily and licked her again. "Alright, I get it! Stop! That tickles!" She started giggling as Eevee jumped back to her shoulder and rubbed his cheek against hers.
"Alright, that's enough Eevee. She'll be with us for a while, so try and spread out your affections," Mike paused and then smiled evilly at Eevee, "or she might get bored with you."
Clarissa gasped in mock horror as she once again pulled Eevee into her arms. "Michael, how could you think I could get bored with a pokémon as cute as this one. He's almost as cute as my Kitsune."
Mike couldn't tell if it was her agreeing to go with him or the way she said his name that was making him feel so good. Either way, he was happier than he could remember so he almost missed what she had said earlier. "Ryss, what do you mean by you came to find Eevee's trainer?"
Clarissa stopped playing with Eevee and looked at Mike with a serious intensity that he had not seen before. "Ryss?"
"Sorry, it's a habit of mine. Is it bad?"
Clarissa smiled, though she tried to hide it by playing with Eevee again. "No, I wouldn't say it's bad. Just that no one's ever called me that before."
Mike didn't realize he had been holding his breath until he released it. "So, about Eevee's trainer?"
She reached into her pack and pulled out a collection of pokéballs and an electronic device. "My uncle said that if you were going to take on the Pokémon League you would first have to beat the gym leaders. And if you want to do that then you need to catch more pokémon." Clarissa smiled as Mike took the items. The electronic device especially caught his attention, though it was only after he had made a mental note that Clarissa had many different smiles.
"Ryss, what is this thing?"
"It's called a Pokédex, and it has information about a lot of pokémon in it. Even ones from other regions such as ninjask and nincada."
Mike opened up the Pokédex to discover a screen with many menus. He stood there staring at them all for a while without having any idea of what to do. After a few more seconds, Clarissa started laughing again.
"God, you're hopeless. Here, I'll give you the full tutorial as we travel." Mike pocketed the items and got Clarissa back onto his back. "My house is nearby so we can rest there before starting tomorrow. Besides, my uncle wants you to contact him."
"That's twice now that you've mentioned your uncle. Who is he?"
Clarissa stared at Mike as though stunned. "How do you not know who my uncle is? He's the one who gave you Enlil!"
Mike almost dropped her from the shock. He turned his head to look at her. "You're Gary's niece! Gary has a niece! Why have I never met you before?"
Clarissa smiled again, though it was a smile that Mike wasn't sure that he liked. "Because, I live in Viridian, and you live in Pallet."
"Well, sure, but I'm talking about when you visited Gary and Grandpa Oak."
This time Clarissa's smile made Mike's heart beat faster as there was a slight blush to her cheeks. "Oh, well, we only go out there once a year. And it's not always at the same time." Mike was starting to feel better as he realized that it was not because he was stupidly blind that he had never seen her before. The road was getting crowded so he started looking forward again. "And the one time I could talk to you, you were so busy with the vulpix pups that you didn't know I was there." Clarissa's voice was too soft for Mike to even know she had spoken, though Eevee heard it quite clearly from his spot on her shoulder.
"So the reason we never saw each other was just a result of timing. That's just unlucky then." Mike had no idea that Eevee was attempting to make Clarissa feel better.
"Yeah, that is." Clarissa's voice choked a bit as she spoke.
"Ryss? Is your leg alright? I'm not holding it too tight am I?"
"No, no you're fine. You want to take a right here."
"Alright, let me know if you need anything." Clarissa just nodded as Mike turned on the street indicated and headed to her house.
"Dummy." Her voice was almost too quiet for even Eevee to hear.