Prologue
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. All rights go to Satoshi Tajiri and Nintendo. All human characters, in this chapter, are of my own creation except for Sakaki (Giovanni). If you wish to use my characters, please contact me first. Thank you!
"Kyoko-chan! Don't touch those!" A tall, blonde woman walked up to her child, her heels clacking against the hard floor. She grabbed a Pokéball from her young daughter's hands.
The young dark haired girl started to sniffle and cry, "But Okaasan! I wanna Pokémon too!" The four year old started to pout and sat down on the floor tears streaming down her face.
Her mother let out a sigh and kneeled down reaching eye level with her daughter. She looked into her daughter's dark brown, watery eyes wiping the tears from her face. "Okay, Kyoko-chan. Lets go to the lab and talk to your father about it."
"Yay!" The young girl jumped up quickly and smiled wiping the rest of the tears from her rosy cheeks.
The woman picked up her daughter as she stood up. She opened the back door to their house and went outside. She pulled a Pokéball out of her pocket tossing it onto the ground. The ball opened and a Rapidash popped out neighing happily at the woman. The ball rematerialized back into the woman's hands. She slipped it back into her pocket as she put her daughter on the horse Pokémon.
"Make sure you hold onto her neck. You don't want to fall."
Kyoko nodded as she wrapped her arms around the Rapidash's neck. Rapidash's flames lowered in intensity and were cool to the touch. Rapidash lowered her front allowing Kyoko's mother to climb onto her. Once she was situated on Rapidash's back, she yelled out for her to head to the laboratory. Rapidash started to sprint forward at fast speeds. Kyoko looked to her side watching the other houses and trees move past her quickly.
After fifteen minutes of riding, they reached the laboratory. Kyoko looked up from Rapidash's neck and stared at the tall, dark building she had been to a hundred times. The laboratory used to be an abandoned school from years ago making it very large with plenty of rooms for various experiments. Kyoko's father was one of the top scientists and researchers and worked nights a lot. She would come visit him every night before she went to bed if he wasn't out on a field run.
Kyoko's mother jumped off of Rapidash's back and held her arms up for Kyoko to come to her. Kyoko fell forward into her mother's arms as she pet Rapidash on the head.
"Please don't wander off. You can go out to the fields behind the lab if you would like."
Rapidash trotted off towards the back of the laboratory as Kyoko and her mother walked up the stairs and through the door. They walked through the main hallway passing dozens of assistants carrying various test tubes and beakers. They all quickly bowed and greeted her as she passed them. She stopped in front of the elevator next to the staircases and pressed the button for the third floor. The elevator dinged as the door opened and they stepped inside. Kyoko's mother put her down and held her hand. Kyoko shuffled back and forth excitedly. She couldn't wait to get a Pokémon that hopefully her dad would be giving her.
"Okaasan, you think Otousan will give me a Pokémon?" She asked as she gripped her mother's hand tighter.
"Maybe," she said as the elevator dinged again opening the door.
They walked out of the elevator, the door closing behind them. They headed down the long hallway passing multiple rooms full of people. Kyoko looked in each room seeing the people in white lab coats. 'That will be me one day. Next to Okaasan and Otousan.' She smiled at the thought as they reached her father's laboratory.
Her mother pulled out a set of keys from her right pocket and fumbled through all of them until she found the right one. She unlocked the door and turned the knob slowly opening the door. The room was dimly lit and quiet unlike all of the other labs. They coughed as a cloud of smoke passed through the room.
"Otousan?" She coughed again and waved her hand in front of her face to move the smoke.
A man appeared from the cloud of smoke and looked at the two people in front of him. He had dark brown hair that was cut short. His hazel eyes peered at them from behind a pair of lopsided glasses. He was dressed in what once was a white lab coat. It was covered in black powdery splotches. He straightened his glasses and brushed off some of the black substance on his coat.
"Kyoko-chan? It's a little early for you to be here today." He leaned down to be at eye level with his daughter.
"Are you okay?" She asked as she let go of her mother's hand and walked up to her father.
"I'm fine." He laughed and continued, "I just had an experiment go wrong is all. Then again, what else is new." He stood back up stretching his back muscles. "What do you need, Kyoko-chan?"
"Well, Otousan, I want my own Pokémon. I wanna learn more about them and be like you and Okaasan."
"Honey, we've discussed this. You're too young to have your own Pokémon."
"I can take care of it! Please! Let me have one. I don't even want a big one. I just want one." She pleaded with her father giving him puppy dog eyes and a pouting face.
"Don't do that." He stumbled through his words and finally sighed. "Okay, but only if your mother agrees."
Kyoko's face brightened as she turned back to face her mother. Her mother smiled and nodded her head giving her approval. Kyoko jumped into the air happily as she let out a squeal. She ran up to her mother and hugged her legs tightly. She let go and ran back over to her father wrapping her arms tightly around his legs.
"Domo arigato!"
"Okay. Okay. Let go before you get yourself dirty." He said as he tried to walk over to open one of the windows.
The woman picked up her daughter, pulling her away from his legs. She licked her thumb and rubbed the black smudge on Kyoko's cheek making her squirm in her mother's arms more. Her mother giggled as her father opened a couple of windows in the room to help air it out. The sun shined brightly into the room as it was going down. He turned back to his two favorite ladies in his life.
"Okay. Follow me. I'll take you to the other lab where we keep some of our test Pokémon."
He walked past them and out the still open door. His wife followed right behind him readjusting her daughter on her left hip. They walked down the long hallway until they reached a dark room. He pulled a set of keys out of his pocket fumbling through them until he found the key to the door. He put the key in the lock moving it around until it finally clicked unlocking the door.
"This lock always gets stuck. They really need to fix this. Make sure to remind me to put in a service call." He said over his shoulder to his wife.
She nodded in response as he opened the door leading them inside. He ran his hand across the wall until he found the lightswitch which he pushed up. Lights flickered on all the around the room revealing large machinery and shelves filled with Pokéballs. Kyoko squirmed in her mother's arms until she set her down on the floor.
He examined the shelves looking through the translucent top of the Pokéballs. He looked through the entire first case shaking his head. He moved on to the next one. He looked into the first Pokéball on the top shelf and smiled. He picked it up off of the dusty shelf. He blew the dust off of the top of the ball and looked down at his daughter.
"Kyoko-chan, come here."
She walked up to him as he held his hand out handing her the ball. "Now, this Pokémon isn't very strong. He's little just like you but one day, if you treat him nicely, he may grow up to be big and strong. Do you want to know his name?"
She nodded her head and peered through the top of the Pokéball. "What is he?"
He stepped back, "Turn the ball away from you where the button is facing me."
She turned the ball around in her hands and it grew large enough that she needed both hands to hold it. "Wow. It got bigger."
"That's right. Now, call out his name. His name is Bellsprout."
"Bell...sprout?" She said in a quiet voice.
The ball started to glow as it opened up. A red light flashed from the ball to the ground in front of her. She looked in amazement as a small, plant like Pokémon appeared before her. His head was yellow and in the shape of a bell. He had a long, slender, brown body the resembled a flexible twig. His arms looked like little leaves while his feet looked like roots. He turned around and looked at her as his pink lips turned into a smile.
She leaned down a stretched her arms out carefully to touch him. She patted him on the head and he started to sway back and forth dancing with happiness. Her father sighed with relief as he watched them interact with one another.
"It's seems like he likes her, Kyota." The woman said as she stood next to her husband wrapping her left arm around his waist.
"I'm very glad, Kanna." He leaned down and kissed his wife on the cheek as his daughter giggled. "Well, Kyoko-chan, do you like him?"
She swayed her hips back and forth and waved her arms as she danced with Bellsprout. "He's so cute and fun! I love him! Can I keep him, please?"
Both of her parents smiled and said, in unison, "Yes, but you have to take good care of him."
"I will!" She said as she picked up Bellsprout and hugged him continuing to dance.
~Later that night~
Kyota leaned back in his chair as his wife brought him a cup of green tea. He took the cup from her hand sipping it slowly. He started going over the days events in his head wondering where his newest experiment went wrong. He set the cup down on the table and sat up straight.
"So, how did it go today? I saw that your experiment was a little...explosive." She said as she giggled.
"Everything was going fine until what I had created blew up in my face. I almost had it, Kanna. I had almost cloned a Pokémon. It wasn't a very strong one, but it was still a living clone. For a few seconds anyway. The body's cells were fighting each other causing it to reject the living tissue. I guess using Voltorb to clone wasn't the best idea. I'll use another Pokémon next time. I just need to find out what I'm doing wrong. I have to find the perfect mixture."
"You'll figure it out, koibito (darling). You've been working on this project for five years now." She placed her hand on his shoulder rubbing it in an attempt to make him feel better.
"You're right," he placed his hand on top of hers. "If we just had more funding then we would be fine. I'm seriously debating about accepting that offer."
"You don't mean…" She trailed off as a worried look formed on her face and in her eyes.
"Yes. I don't want to work with him. His personality leaves a lot to be desired. Plus, his views on Pokémon are a bit skewed." He took his glasses off setting them on the table as he rubbed his eyes.
A knock sounded at the front door. Both of them looked up in confusion. Kanna started to stand up when Kyota stopped her standing up from his seat. She sat back down as she watched him head over to the door. Another knock sounded as he stood in front of the door.
"Who is it?" He said as he placed his hand on the doorknob.
"Mail service." A muffled voice said on the other side of the door. The voice sounded like that of a younger male.
"This late?" Kanna asked as she placed her hand in her pocket gripping her Pokéball.
Kyota unlocked the door cracking it open. He peered through the slit he formed between the door and the frame. Standing in front of him was a younger man of about twenty years. He was dressed in a red jacket with a white shirt underneath and dark, baggy pants. His dark hair was slicked back. The man held a box wrapped in brown paper and tied together with a slender rope.
"What is that?" Kyota said as he opened the door wider to accept it.
"I don't know, man. I was just ordered to bring it here to you." He continued to hold out the package until Kyota took it.
"By whom?" He held the package in his hands as he looked at the man in front of him.
"You know who." He smiled and walked away from the door heading down the pathway back to his motorcycle.
As the man left, Kyota brought the package into the house shutting the door behind him. He set the package down on the table and sat back down in his chair. Kanna looked at him with a concerned face. He slowly untied the package as she asked him what was inside of it. He shook his head and pulled back the rope and the brown paper revealing a blue box. The box was made out of a crystalline substance that he had never seen before. He popped the silver lock on the box finding a letter and another box inside. He pulled out the letter opening it and reading it out loud.
"Hello, Izumi-san. I am sending you this letter to inform you that my offer still stands. This time though, it isn't an offer. I am giving you one last chance to voluntarily join me on my research. If you do not agree then I will have to move to more drastic measures. You know what I am capable of. Inside the box is something that I want you to research and work on. It should prove beneficial to you. By using it, you sign a contract with me as my researcher."
He stopped reading the letter and opened the box. Inside it was a small, glass jar containing what looked like fine hairs. His wife looked over at the jar noticing the hairs. She asked him what he planned to do about the situation. He set everything down on the table and leaned back in his chair pondering solutions to the futile situation he was in.
"What do you think we should do?" He asked his wife after minutes passed.
"In order to protect the people here and our daughter, we may need to do what he says. Plus, the money wouldn't hurt and you would be able to perfect your research." She paused as a discouraged look formed on her face. "I believe he's telling the truth about his threat. He's already threatened to take our daughter once."
Kyota stared up at the ceiling with a serious look. 'I really don't have much of a choice anymore. I have to join his group or he'll end us or worse.'
He sat up and pushed his chair back from the table standing up. He walked over to his wife and hugged her tightly. He put everything back into the box and put it under his arm. He grabbed the keys to his moped and his helmet. When his wife asked him where he was going, he stood there silent for a few seconds before responding, "To go see Sakaki-sama."
Author's Notes: Thank you for reading the first chapter of the spin-off story for my other fanfiction "Pokémon Teenage Adventures". If you have not read my other story then feel free to check it out! This story centers around Izumi Kyoko, which if you have read the other story, you know exactly who she is. (I don't want to spoil anything for those that are just going to read this story as a solo.) ^_^ I will try to update as much as possible but my other story takes precedence. Anyway, thank you again for reading!