The morning sun shone brightly down on our young heroes as SP and his lifelong friend Eugene basked in its radiant glow, laying out under the sun. SP was already ten years old, but starting a Pokemon adventure wasn't easy when you live on tiny Cinnabar Island, far away from the mainland. Most people know Cinnabar Island for its resort and hot spring; a place where tourists come from far and wide to relax, enjoy the beach, and work on their tan. But most people never travel across the mountains to the southern tip of the island, where the small village of Carmine is located, nestled snugly up against the sea. It's a tiny, tight knit community, where everyone knows everyone and are all very friendly to one another. It was a very quiet place, and apart from the occasional lost tourist or brave trainer wanting to visit their village's haunted attraction, very few people ever visited. Professor Oak, the Pokemon professor only visited their town when two or more trainers were old enough to start out on their own Pokemon quest, and luckily for these two, he was scheduled to make a stop there the very next day. As a flock of pidgey flew by overheard, chirping a rhythmic tune into the wind, SP could almost feel that adventure was right around the corner. He quickly sat up, standing and brushing any debris off of his sweatshirt and khakis before adjusting the pair of pink headphones that always seemed to be hanging around his neck. SP's dream was to become the most powerful Pokemon trainer ever, hoping to eventually defeat the champion and take his place as Kanto Pokemon master. The two young boys had spent the day walking around town, everyone waving and smiling at them as they went. They were the first trainers in a long time to hail from their village, so it was a pretty big deal, especially to the townsfolk. After walking around town and saying their goodbyes while they could, the duo decided to just enjoy the peace and quiet before their big day.
"Come on, Gene; this is getting boring! This is our last day on this island, and I want to spend it flipping this town upside down!" SP announced, a sly smirk on his face. Eugene yawned, stretching and following suit, slowly standing up as well. Eugene's goals were about the same as SP's, only Eugene didn't really care about being the absolute best. All Eugene was concerned with was seeing and meeting the most powerful Pokemon this world had to offer, and hopefully catch them and have them join his team.
"Yeah, yeah I hear ya." Eugene replied in mock annoyance. Suddenly, an idea hit him as he turned, smiling deviously at SP.
"You know what we could do…" Eugene began. Before he could even finish, SP was shaking his head.
"No way, Gene. I am not going anywhere near that place ever again! You know the stories! And remember that one halloween when we tried to get in there; all those weird noises and creaky boards. No way." SP stated firmly. Eugene simply shrugged, pushing his way past SP as he strutted confidently towards the aforementioned location.
"Whatever, SP. Be a wimp then. I'm gonna get inside that place and check it out!" Eugene declared, before continuing his confident stroll. SP stood still as a statue, weighing his options. He really didn't want to go anywhere near the place, but he also didn't want to leave his best friend hanging; what kind of friend would do something like that? Groaning in annoyance, SP took off after Eugene.
"Come on, wait up!" He cried. By the time he caught up, the two were standing face to face with the scariest place on the island; the Pokemon Mansion. Now, most people would assume that there can't be anything that scary there; you'd be dead wrong. This mansion was home to some of the creepiest conspiracy theories in all of Kanto; said to be the home of evil and twisted scientists who experimented on Pokemon, and rumor had it they may have even succeeded in creating the first ever man made Pokemon, which SP couldn't help but imagine as a hodgepodge of Pokmon forming one, giant Frankenstein like creature. There was another mansion similar to this one on the other side of the mountains, but it was not nearly as run down and in shambles as this one was. Needless to say, the kids of this town had always been scared of the place, local stories of children mysteriously vanishing keeping them at bay.
"Come on, dude; do you really want to go in there?" SP asked cautiously. Eugene simply smiled, scoffing playfully.
"What's the matter, SP; too chicken?" Eugene taunted playfully. SP blew raspberries, waving his hand dismissively.
"What? No. I don't believe those baby stories." SP tried to laugh it off, but sounded painfully forced.
"Ok then, there's no problem. Let's go." Eugene said excitedly, inching his way ever closer to the door. He slowly reached out, pushing it open as it creaked and groaned in protest. Eugene raised an eyebrow at SP, gesturing for him to go first.
"After you." He stated, challenge evident in his voice. SP swallowed the lump in his throat, forcing himself forwards with mock-confidence.
"Y-Yeah. This place isn't so-" He was cut off by violent sound of the giant oak doors slamming shut, SP nearly jumping out of his skin. Shaking off the jitters as best he could, He began looking around for nothing in particular.
"What exactly is it you hope to find in here, Gene?" SP asked, trying everything in his power to distract himself from the eerie feeling that seemed to hang in the air. Eugene simply shrugged, looking just as creeped out as SP, but refusing to show any signs if he could help it.
"I dunno. Some adventure, I guess." He shrugged. They walked around the first floor for a while, jumping out of their socks whenever they would bump into something they hadn't seen or when the occasional rattata would scurry across the floor. They browsed around the broken shelves, old, musty books lining them, seemingly untouched for decades. Papers were scattered all over the floor, tiny Pokemon footprints littering the yellowed parchments, the ink barely visible anymore. They examined some of the broken machinery, what looked to be the shattered remains of a few giant test tubes in pieces at their feet, the computer systems damaged beyond possible repair. They even found an old Pokemon encyclopedia, from back before the Pokedex was invented, laughing as they flipped through the musty pages, seeing the haphazard chicken scratch drawings of Pokemon, and the fact that many of the entries were either outdated or disproved. Once they had thoroughly investigated the place to their satisfaction, the two headed for the door.
"See? Now we can tell everyone that we had the guts to come into this place. It's really not that scary at a-"
"-tin-" A muffled cry echoed quietly through the halls, like the faint whisper of a wandering spirit. Both boys looked at one another, the color drained from their faces.
"You heard it too?" SP asked, Eugene simply nodding, too stunned to respond beyond that. For a moment, you could hear the gentle, rhythmic thumping of both boys' hearts as silence roared.
"-Tini!-" The cry sounded out again, this time sounding more pained and desperate than before. Fear was replaced with confusion as SP realised that it wasn't the sound of a ghost at all.
"Di-Didn't that sound like a Pokemon?" SP asked, Eugene agreeing. They slowly began trying to track down where exactly the cry was coming from, creeping ever closer to its origin until they stopped at the base of the stairwell leading to the upper floors. As far as they knew, they were on the lowest possible level of the building, but when the cry rang out once again, it came from below them.
"It sounded like it was coming from underneath us." Eugene stated curiously. The duo began to examine the stairwell more carefully, SP placing his hand at the point where the stairs met the floor, feeling a gentle breeze tickling his palm.
"There's something under here, Gene; a spare room, maybe?" SP conjected. Eugene crossed his arms, again looking at the staircase, a look of realization suddenly befalling him.
"Hey, look at this statue." He said, pointing to the twin rhydon statues on either side of the stairs.
"See how this one's left arm is tilted the wrong way? It should be…. Like…. This." Eugene stated as he slowly moved the arm of the rhydon statue to match the other one. The staircase began to rumble ever so slightly as the bottom three stairs opened up and revealed yet more stairs heading into an unknown part of the mansion.
"-Tini-" The cry came up the stairs, this time less muffled and more desperate than before. Steeling themselves, the two boys nodded at one another, heading down the secret staircase and into the unknown. As they traveled, it got darker and darker, until they were literally walking blind. SP snapped his fingers, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his old Mp3 player, the light from the screen giving them a dim light as they continued downwards. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they were met with an old looking door, carved into it were all kinds of Pokemon, like scyther, growlithe, pikachu, rhyhorn, and two that neither one of them could identify.
"Tini, Tini!" The weak cry came from the other side of those doors, and from their both boys knew for sure that it was indeed a pokemon. After a moment, SP knelt down and slowly peaked through the keyhole. Though he couldn't see very much, he was able to make out the shadowy form of a man wearing a torn up lab coat. He was pacing back and forth, and seemed to be in a heated discussion with someone over the phone.
"Yes, yes, I am fully aware of that. What? No, no one ever comes into this mansion. It is in the middle of nowhere, and the few people that do live here are too scared to come within a hundred yards of this building! Silly folklore seems to be serving our purposes quite nicely. Yes, the tests are almost completed; I will be abandoning this site tonight. Can't stay in one place too long, otherwise they might be able to catch up. Yes…. Yes sir, I know the importance of this project. You'll have your results by tomorrow." The scientist seemed to hang up the phone, letting out an annoyed breath. He walked out of SP's view, chuckling as he did.
"You are quite the special one, aren't you? Let's hope that all these tests aren't for nothing, you little pest." He smirked deviously.
"TINI!" The creature cried out, obviously scared for it's life. SP couldn't stand by and watch this any more, kicking the door open loudly.
"Hey! Stop hurting that Pokemon!" He screamed. The scientist stumbled backwards, obviously super surprised that anyone was even there. He scrambled to his feet, shock being replaced by anger.
"What are you doing here, kid? How did you find this place?!" He raged, obviously unhappy.
"Doesn't matter! You need to stop hurting that Pokemon right now!" SP demanded. The scientist chuckled pointing his finger at SP threateningly.
"Get out of here, kid before someone gets hurt." Just then, the extremely muscular and slightly taller Eugene stepped into the room. Even though he was only 10 years old, Eugene was always abnormally large for his age, and that coupled with the fact that he had taken years of martial arts classes made him a very formidable force. Eugene cracked his knuckles, obviously unhappy.
"Funny... I was thinkin' somthing similar." He stated firmly. The man saw the between the two of them, he was clearly outgunned. He slowly backed up against the far wall, anger replacing confidence as he yanked what looked to be a USB drive out of the nearby computer.
"You kids are going to regret this. Mark my words, you haven't seen the last of me. The day is coming soon when all will tremble before the mighty syndicate!" He vowed before pressing a hidden button, the entire wall flipping around. We rushed over, trying desperately to find the switch, but by the time we did, it was too late. We sprinted back into the room scanning it quickly for the injured Pokemon.
"Hey! Where are you!" SP cried. For a moment, nothing happened.
"Tini! Tini!" The cry came from the farthest corner of the room. They both ran over, finally spotting it in a giant test tube, not unlike the ones shattered to pieces on the floor above them. There, trapped inside the glass and looking extremely weak, was the weirdest looking dratini SP had ever seen, even though he had admittedly only seen one; when a stray trainer came to their village. Where as that dratini was a very deep sea blue, this one was a bright, vibrant pink color. SP quickly put that thought aside, smiling kindly as the creature did its best to raise its head. It was obviously malnourished, and SP could see more than a few places where needles had been haphazardly stuck into it.
"Dratini…" It said weakly.
"Hey hey…. It's ok, little buddy." He looked around, trying to find a way to open the giant tube. The control panel had about 60 buttons on it, and none of them were labeled. He abandoned the attempt, turning his attention back to the pink dratini.
"Hey, I'm going to have to break the glass; get ready." He told it, the Pokemon nodding in understanding and straining to move as far away from the glass in front of me as it could. SP swung his elbow at the glass as hard as he could, shattering it and reaching in to pick up the frail creature.
"Hang in there, dratini; I'll get you to the Pokemon center!" He promised, The two bolting out of the place as quickly as they could as SP cradled the dratini in his arms. Though the town was small, it wasn't too small to not have a Pokemon center. The boys burst through the doors, the nurse Joy gasping as she saw the dratini.
"Ma'am…. This scientist guy…. Was doing some kinds of experiments on it when… when we found it. Please help…" SP gasped, out of breath from all the running. She took the dratini from his arms, rushing it into the back room. SP stood there for a moment, Eugene running his hands through his hair before plopping down in one of the chairs in the waiting area.
"We'll wait for dratini, SP. Don't worry, it'll be ok." Eugene tried to comfort him, but he seemed to be very torn up over this. All he could see every time he closed his eyes was the crumpled up form of that poor dratini, and it looking up at him like he was its last hope. The two sat there for about 3 hours, hearing absolutely nothing from the nurse about the condition of the Pokemon, Finally, the nurse came out from the back room, SP springing onto his feet, worry plastered all over his face.
"Nurse, is… is dratini going to be ok?" He asked. The nurse smiled, stepping aside to reveal the pink dratini slithering behind her, looking completely healthy and happy.
"Dratini!" It cried aloud, quickly making its way over to SP, climbing up his leg and resting itself across his shoulders.
"Dratini! I'm so glad you're ok!" SP sighed with relief, dratini rubbing its head against SP's cheek happily.
"Dratini really seems to like you, SP. You should keep it with you until it heals completely." She suggested, SP nodding in agreement before looking over at dratini.
"What do you say, dratini? Want to crash with me for a little while?" SP asked, dratini nodding excitedly. SP laughed as he and Eugene left the center, Eugene checking his watch in surprise.
"Dude, it's already 4 o'clock. I think it's time we headed home and got something to eat." Eugene suggested, patting his stomach for extra emphasis. Dratini cried out in agreement, SP laughing and nodding.
"Ok, then. Well, I'll meet up with you by the docks tomorrow morning then. And don't be late!" SP yelled at Eugene, who was already jogging towards his home. SP sighed, reaching over and scratching dratini under the chin. Dratini hummed in pleasure, lifting its head as SP did.
"Food does sound pretty good right about now. Let's head on home." SP walked back to his home, where his mom was already setting the table.
"SP! You're finally home! I was wondering when you'd - Oh, my what a beautiful Pokemon! I didn't think you'd get one until tomorrow." She commented. SP sat down at the table and began explaining to his mother about the man in the lab coat, and how he had been running horrible tests on the little Pokemon, who was devouring its meal happily while resting in the corner of the room. After he finished the story and his food, he went over to the couch and plopped down, turning on his favorite Pokemon documentary, Cases of Kanto, dratini sleeping peacefully on his lap. After watching a few of the hour and a half long shows, He yawned loudly realizing it was already closing in on 9 o'clock.
"Well, I'd better get to bed… Don't want to miss the only ferry out of town! And tomorrow, I get my very own starter Pokemon!" SP said to himself excitedly, looking down at the dratini.
"Don't worry, dratini; I'll be sure to let you go back out into the wild before I go." SP promised, gently setting dratini down and hopping off the couch, racing up the stairs and quickly getting ready for bed. As he crawled under the covers, SP couldn't help but try and determine which of the three starter Pokemon he should choose.
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The scientist quickly made his way to the nearest public phone, digging into his pocket for some spare change. Those brats had almost found him out, and he couldn't risk them bringing any adults or worse, any police to the site before he had gotten the data out of there. It really didn't matter much at all what happened to that annoying, whiny pest of a Pokemon; he had gotten what he had needed from it. After feeding the coins into the phone and choosing 'voice only', the man quickly punched in the number for his boss. The phone rang three times before a husky voiced man answered from the other side of the line.
"I thought you told me that you would be evacuating that station tomorrow. You said there would be no interference." His bass voice boomed in annoyance. The scientist pulled at his collar nervously.
"Well, yes… there were some…. Complications. I couldn't risk anyone taking the data, so I fled the area while I could. But don't worry; I have the information we need." He promised, the mystery man grunting in what seemed to be half-pleasure.
"Good. Report back to me immediately. We will begin phase two of testing at once." He commanded, before hanging up abruptly. The scientist looked at the phone for a moment, before placing it back onto the receiver, and silently stalked away.