Written By: Kenocka
001. Beginnings: Wyrm
Disclaimer: Anything that doesn't sound like it belongs in Pokémon is MINE. Lévànce is MINE. Let me find out you took him.
Author's Notes: I'm using the fanfic 100 prompts to get this and all related to it written.
Summary: Not everyone starts out early and not everyone starts out perfectly.
The bell hanging over the door rang and Professor Oak looked up from his paperwork to see a young man in his early twenties, maybe a little younger, standing in his doorway. After looking around to make sure he was in the right place the boy let the door swing shut and walked toward the counter. With a sigh because his assistants never seemed to be around to deal with trainers or anyone else for that matter, Oak stood up, wincing slightly at the stiffness in his back.
'Probably from another region,'he thought. "So what starter do you want?" The energetic Pokémon-are-the-absolute-best-thing-since-toilet-paper routine was for the kids that came around thinking they were the next big thing waiting to happen in the Pokémon world, not adults.
"Well, can I look at them first?" The man seemed a bit startled by the directness and a little hesitant to say anything more. Oak sighed and smiled apologetically.
"Sorry, I'm under a little bit of stress. I didn't mean to snap at you like that. I'm Professor Samuel Oak and seeing as how my assistants are everywhere but here I'll be dealing with you directly." He came around the counter and offered a handshake, the man accepted. "Do you have an appointment?"
"No I don't and it's okay, everyone gets irritated. I'm Lévànce Da'Toni, beginning Pokémon trainer." The man smiled at Oak's surprise. "I graduated and took some college before I decided that, yeah, I did want to travel with Pokémon." Trainers who weren't sure they were going to get very far participated in a "traveling school" program that would allow them to send and receive school assignments and keep up with their less adventurous classmates.
Oak blinked, still in shock. "Wow," was all he could think to say before shaking his head and bringing his thoughts back to Earth. He'd never heard of anyone beginning an adventure that most ten-year-olds leapt into headfirst so late. "I'll have to get your information before we go look at your first possible teammate."
The red tape commenced, filled in mostly by Lévànce himself, a relief because having to call every child's mother and ask for information had gotten old. There was a website with all the procedures to register to become a trainer. You could pre-apply at home! All you would need was physical ID that could be scanned and then picking out your starter was the last step. No one remembered that though.
"Done Professor." Lévànce turned the monitor to face Oak, who checked it over before taking over the keyboard and typing in the password that gave the information the go ahead.
"I saw that you put down a contact number to prove that you took wilderness survival courses. Is that true or are you planning on doing that when you get your starter?"
The response was quick and happy sounding - the sound of a new trainer excited about beginning his "Pokémon Journey." "No, I took them for years, along with a few medical courses. The school I attended was pretty out there and they thought them appropriate electives seeing as how so many of their students usually do some traveling after graduation."
The two reached the actual laboratory of Oak's observatory, three Pokéballs, each with a sticker symbolizing the Pokémon inside, sat on a center island. The two zeroed in on that as soon as they walked into the room.
"Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Charmander are the three starters you can choose from. Ash got Pikachu because he was late and desperate." From his tone Lévànce could tell that many a new trainer had asked for the unusual.
Voice and face looking shocked, Lévànce responded, "Oh, I wasn't going to ask for anything abnormal!" Samuel sighed faintly in relief. "I was curious about that Charmander over there though. Why's he separated from any other Pokémon?"
Oak sighed and walked over to the pen where Lévànce had wandered and was, through the grating, letting the Charmander sniff at his hand. "This guy has been abandoned by beginning trainers on five occasions for medical reasons." An inquiring glance was the response the scientist got. "He's gotten pneumonia two or three times and for that his lungs are very weak and that leaves him nearly unable to use fire attacks without hurting himself; from what I've been told and seen, he passes out if he tries to use too many of them. He's a sweet tempered boy," the lizard got an affectionate pat on the head, "but not the fire-breather his kind's well-known for. What he does have going for him are his scales, because of all the fantasy movies everyone wants a scaly."
"So he's pretty rare then? That alone is enough to make most breeders at least consider dealing with his medical issues isn't it?"
"No, some might say that his weakened immune system will be passed on to any offspring he might sire."
It wasn't that Oak didn't want to take care of the Charmander anymore, but the poor thing had been rejected so many times he had almost lost hope that anyone would ever want the creature and spending time taking care of just one Pokémon when so many were under his watch was what had made him snap at Lévànce earlier. Samuel decided to lay it on thick.
"Just so you know he's not exactly a low level starter because of how many times he's been picked and brought back. He's got some experience but the drawback is almost no literal firepower; however, he does have a few attacks: Ember, Scratch, Sunny Day, and Flare Blitz – "he gets that from one of his parents and that means they were powerful" to quote his breeder."
Lévànce chewed his lip for a few minutes and asked, "So he needs meds?" Oak gave him a nod and the boy resumed chewing his lip thoughtfully. The professor felt a twinge of guilt for trying to pass off a sickly Pokémon on a beginning trainer but he was only willing to do so because of Lévànce's age. If the newbie had been ten or just a little older then Samuel would have just kept the lizard, frustration and all.
"Well…" Lévànce trailed off, looked down at the Charmander, and bit his lip; the little lizard's eyes were as wide and watery as he could manage, just begging to be picked and kept for once. The man crumbled. "What would I have to do to keep him healthy if," no one could blame him for being cautious, "I wanted him for a starter?"
"A breathing treatment once a day and whenever he lets you know he needs one." The scientist smirked at the man's surprise. "He knows that breathing treatments help and chances are that he'll grow out of needing them in time."
Lévànce took a deep breath, held it, and then let it out slowly and he picked up the orange creature. "I'll try this guy out then. I just hope that he lasts long enough to get to a town if something goes wrong." The Charmander wagged his tale, licked Lévànce's face, and hugged his new trainer. "I'm calling you Wyrm from now on."
Professor Oak smiled.
Lévànce (lay - VAHNse) Da'Toni (DA tony)
I hate the way this looks in Word's web layout. It looks like I haven't written anything even though I've got two and a half pages of text without anything above or below the bars.
I know that it's massively unfair to give my already-at-an-advantage character a higher level starter – I imagine Wyrm to be about level 10 or a little lower – but I think his medical problems even that out a bit. Whoever heard of a Charmander with pneumonia issues? I don't prescribe to the "only four attacks allowed" school of thought. It's a limit to me personally but I'm not going to just give every Pokémon Lévànce teams up with awesome attacks and nothing but. More than likely they'll have idiotic attacks like growl and tail whip until they "forget" them.
Oh and as far as a school having survival courses and stuff like that please remember that this is Pokémon and such a thing isn't completely impossible.
A friend of mine actually calculated out the time it would take to get between all the towns and without a bike it's about a day. I have no idea how he figured this out but I'm going to trust him on this so that Lévànce can get Wyrm his breathing treatments every day.
My friend Malkunakrys on Deviantart is the one who suggested that breeders wouldn't want an immune deficient sire because of the weakness being possibly passed on to offspring. She helps her mom run a dog kennel and they've been doing it for over twelve years so she knows what she's talking about. She's also an uncertified but technically overqualified vet tech so I trust her on this stuff. Go check out her pics on Deviantart.