May 3, 2013
1:34 PM
(House in Nuevema Town - Unova)
A 17 year old teenager sits a top of a black cushion if front of a flat screen television on a glass and metal stand. He has pine green spiky hair, worn in a "bedhead" fashion, and greenish hazel eyes that glow with the vigor the child has. He has a slightly larger build than most teenagers of his age, but nothing too abnormal. He is wearing a rugged, sleeveless, black tee-shirt, and red basketball shorts that match the nonchalant look. Behind him are a glass and metal table and a black sofa to match the other furniture. Underneath him is a fresh white low cut rug that covers most of the area's floor.
In the kitchen is the teen's mother, who is washing dishes as she hums a melody. She has long light brown hair that is straight and lively. Her eyes show past years of worry and struggle, but her face shows a soft look of compassion and quietness. She is wearing a blue lounge shirt and black workout pants.
The TV in front of the child flashes with different assorted commercials. The teen pays no attention to them and continues playing his 3DS in his hands tapping vigorously to the changing screen in front of him.
Suddenly the news theme song comes on and a reporter appears on the television. "Breaking news! The once raining undefeated Kanto Champion has now been defeated by a young lady by the name of Kelly. With her amazing Pikachu, Sparkle, Kelly was able to defeat the last of the Champion's Pokémon in a valiant thunderbolt attack, which left the Champion in complete shock at the raw power of the attack. Later that day the Champion announce that he shall be stepping down from his position to pursue other leads, and plans to hand off the role to the victorious challenger." says the news reporter.
"Hey Mom check that out! The Kanto champ just got beat, and he handed down his role." says a teenager as he looks up to view the screen. He turns towards his mother to see her excited expression, but rather is surprised to see her looking at him. She has a rag in her hand and the hands on her hips, and looks at the boy with a look of annoyance on her face.
"Clayton, your 17 now, I should be having to repeat myself. Why don't you go outside instead of watching television and playing games? There's a whole world out there instead of in those little videogames you play. Plus all of your friends have already gone out on their adventures, and here you are stuck at home." says Clayton's mom with a look of disappointment. The lines on her face outline her expression making more menacing, yet at the same time show that she is getting older none the less.
"Well it's raining…" says Clayton simply as he points towards the window.
"You think that stop a true trainer to be? I bet they would be outside training even if it was in the middle of a typhoon! Look. Go to Professor Juniper's lab and ask her some question about being a Pokémon trainer. She'll have a lot of useful tips, and she'll probably be able to get you ready to up and leave tomorrow. Who knows, maybe she'll even have a few Pokémon she can give you to get started." says Clayton's mother as she waves her rag in the general direction of the Professors lab.
"Well, I guess you're right."
"I'm always right Clayton. I'm your mother after all." Says his mother as she turns back around and walks back over to the sink.
Clayton stands there for a second before looking into the reflection of his 3DS screen. He looks at his face which is covered in a five o'clock shadow of stubble. His hair is messy and has a very non caring look to it, which he hates. He examines his clothes and ponders over the thought.
"She's right. This isn't how I imagined my life would be, all cooped up in a house with almost no social life outside of my computer. I need to get my priorities straight." He thinks to himself with a firm nod of the head. He quickly rushes towards the door.
"Uh Clayton, you not dressed." says his mother say she points towards the stairs without looking up.
Clayton looks down at himself and lets out a snort of amusement. "Your right again Mom." says Clayton as he does a 180 and runs up the stairs to his room. There he rushes and grabs his cameo shorts and a none-ripped short sleeve black shirt. He briskly walks into the bathroom and takes shower to clean himself up. Once he gets out he shaves the unwanted stubble of his face and stares at himself for a brief moment.
"Now that's how I want to look like!" he says as he fixes his hair.
He throws on his clothes and a pair of worn down converse before running back down the stairs. As he rushes down the stairs he trips and rolls down the remainder of the flight before landing face first on the ground, but he quickly gets up and continues out the door. "Later Mom! I'll be back for dinner!" he says as he rushes out.
"Wait Clayton your bleed... Oh who am I kidding? He's always rushing all over the place without a care in the world. He's just like his father." says Clayton's as the door closes. She continues washing dishes all the while with a smile on her face.
Out the outside of the house, Clayton slips on the stairs of his porch and goes flying into a puddle. He lifts himself out of and waves his arms trying to get the water off. "Great now I'm all bruised up and wet. What was the point of that shower?" he says as he gets up and brushes himself off. He carefully walks back up the steps and grabs and umbrella out of the pot by the door. This time he walks normally down the stairs and opens the umbrella to prevent himself from getting dirty further.
He walks around his house and towards the lab, we he suddenly notices some people in weird clothing walking around each house examining them.
They are all wearing long black cloaks that conceal all of their features whispering in a low and suspicious tone.
Clayton turns toward their direct and is about to walk over to them when he hears a familiar voice.
"Oh well if it isn't Clayton Mayday." says the voice in a very annoying and obnoxious tone.
Clayton turns around to see his neighbor Michael. Teenager the same age as Clayton with pale white completion and grown out blue hair cut to the style of his father, Cheren. He has almost no muscles and is a frail child. He is wearing a black jacket with an orange button-up shirt and green tie underneath, and regular black slacks to match the look. His look on his face is that of a condescending snobby look, and he was his arms cross while looking at Clayton.
"What is it Michael? Here to gloat about your Pokémon like always?" says Clayton as he looks towards Michael with an annoyed look. He tries not to pester himself by thinking of the kid in front of him.
"Heh! No but now that you remind me I'm going to talk about it..." He goes on talking as Clayton walks away. It isn't for another few seconds that he realizes Clayton walking away.
"Hey where are you going? You don't like hearing about amazing Pokémon? You probably jealous since your mother is a lame trainer who has been here her whole life and you dad left you guys." says Michael in pure spite. He has a look of satisfaction as he notices Clayton stop, wanting to see his response.
Clayton looks back to see him smirking with a devilish grin. Before he can stop to think, he quickly walks over and punches Michael straight in the nose.
Michael reals over in pain and grasps his nose as he falls back. "Ow! Why did you do that!" he yells as tears begin to fill his eyes. He continuous checks his nose to see if there is any blood coming out.
"Shut the hell up you prick," yells Clayton, "we're teens now, and that means I won't hold back from beating you ass when you get on my nerves. Next time you talk crap about my parents, I'll do more than break your nose."
Clayton stomps off in an aggravated manner. After a few minutes of walking, he is able to calm down.
"Ugh! I freaking hate that kid." he says aloud to himself. He remembers the countless arguments he and Michael have had in the past few years, and can't help himself form having a feel of disgust overwhelm him.
Soon after he arrives at Professor Juniper's laboratory, the feeling replaced with his fond childhood memories of the laboratory. The once magically colorful walls have faded from that time long ago, yet they still inspire the same feeling of a childish level of happiness for Clayton. He smiles as the images and thought of his childhood flood his mind.
He often use to play with Michael and Anastasia, an adventurous blonde haired girl who use to live next to him, in the forest behind the laboratory. Professor Juniper would often let the children play in her back yard while she talked with the parents.
Clayton laughs a little at he scans his memories for the good times. Soon enough though the reality hits him and his happy mood quickly diminishes. He remembers the day when Anastasia had to leave to Nimbasa after her mom got a job there. Clayton and Michael got in a big argument that day, and without Anastasia, the issue could never be resolved. From that day Clayton and Michael have rarely talked and grown to hate each other.
Clayton shakes his head as if to get rid of the bad memories and walks up to the door. He stares at pink door and lifts his hand, but is hesitate to knock. He takes a deep breath trying to settle his nerves.
"This is it, today is the day." he says as he eventually knocks. He waits for a few seconds, but hears nothing. Just as he reaches to knock again, the door flies open and Professor Juniper comes falling out.
She slowly rolls over to look up at Clayton. "Oh hi there Clayton!"
He can now see she is in a tangle of colorful wires that encompass her entire body up to her neck. Clayton can't see much of her body through the wires, but by here expression he can tell she is not seriously injured.
"I'm kind of in a pickle here, mind helping me out?" says Professor Juniper in her normal nonchalant tone as she sheepishly smiles.
Clayton chuckles at her awkwardness, but helps her up and inside. He walks the Professor over to the biggest of three couches surrounding a table, and gently sets her down and proceeds to untangle her.
"Well thank you for helping me out! I was working on setting up a Cross-Region Trading System and I happen to tripped over one of the chords," says Professor Juniper as she smiles and nervously sweats off of her forehead, "but I'm not quite sure how I ended up tangling myself this bad. Maybe it's because I went left but I was supposed to go right, or was it that I went right…" She trails on muttering words.
Clayton laughs a little but focuses on concentrating at the task of untangling her. After a few minutes, of tugging and pulling, the Professor is free enough to get out. She slips out of her wire cocoon and plops herself down on the couch next to the cocoon.
Now that she is out Clayton can see she is wearing a long white lab coat with a Pokéball hairclip holding up all of her hair light brown hair into a bun. She is wearing a red blouse shirt with black pants underneath her coat, which is unusually fancy for her. Clayton does a quick survey of her to check she is fine, but then notices a long bleeding cut running down her left leg.
"Professor, you bleeding." Says Clayton as he grabs an alcohol swab and Band-Aid for the box on her table.
The Professor Juniper looks at him with a confused look then looks down to her legs to examine them. Once she notices the cut she says, "Oh look at that I am!" in a not very surprised tone.
Clayton finishes bandage her leg and gets up. "I swear Professor, you can't wall more than two steps without hurting yourself." says Clayton as he shakes his head in disbelief.
"Yeah I guess you right," says Professor Juniper as Clayton sits down, "but if I recall correctly, you tend to have a lot of accidents too."
"No I don't! Not unless I'm rushing around, which is most of the time." says Clayton as he looks down rubbing his head.
Professor Juniper laughs at him and Clayton soon joins in too.
"So what brings you to my amalgamous laboratory?" the Professor asks.
"Well my Mom wants me to start my journey soon, and wanted me to talk to you first. Plus I wanted to come see how you were doing, since it's been a while since I've seen you." Says Clayton. The look on his face shows that something is troubling him.
The Professor notices his mood. "What's wrong Clayton?" says Professor Juniper sincerely. She reaches over and places a hand on Clayton's shoulder.
He looks up at her. "Well, Professor, I've been with my mother for 17 years now, and I really badly want to go on my own adventure, but I'm having second thoughts on leaving my mother alone. She's only had me since my Dad… you know..." says Clayton solemnly. He looks away as to hide the emotions he is expressing.
"Clayton it's alright. Everyone has second thoughts about their first journey out of the house. Sometimes kids want to go on one so bad they sneak out. Like in my case. My parents didn't want me to go out on a dangerous journey. They wanted me to stay home and study to become a professor like I am today. But you're lucky Clayton. You have a mother who wants you to go out there and become a trainer. You should listen to her and take the chance before it's too late." says Professor Juniper caringly. She lets go of his shoulder as he nods in agreement.
The two stay silent for a few moments, pondering over the situation, before Clayton breaks the silence.
"So you said you have a Cross-Region Trader?" asks Clayton intrigued and also trying to change the conversation.
"Yeah! Do you want to see it?" says Professor Juniper as she jumps out of her seat. As she turns around in an excited fashion, her foot gets caught on one of the wires Clayton had untangled earlier. She begins to fall, but quickly grabs her collar of her coat to try and stop her from plummeting again.
"Ah, well thanks there! That would have been a doozy." says Professor Juniper as she is hanging above the ground waving her arms like wings seemingly try to gain balance.
Clayton says nothing, but chuckles jokingly and shakes his head. He lifts the dangling Professor up and follows her, carefully, over to her almost finished Cross-Region Trading System.
"Tadah! Here it is, my CRT!" says Professor Juniper with arms stretched out.
Clayton walks closer to it and looks at the hub of the machine. He notices there is a piece missing right out of the center. He looks back to the Professor to mention his sighting, but soon sees that she is already look at the schematics.
"Well I can't seem to make it work," says Professor Juniper as she looks hard at the schematics of the CRT. She scratches her head vigorously and has her tongue out as if she is trying to concentrate to the point her extremities bother her.
Clayton walks behind her to see the schematics, and notices they are for a cereal dispenser. "Professor, that's the wrong schematic." says Clayton as he grabs it. He pulls it out of her hands to reveal the real schematics underneath it.
"Oh that makes sense! No wonder I couldn't find the lever for this 'Melake'. So let's see the last part is..." says the professor as she scratches her head again.
Clayton notice the missing part is an icon it the shape of a half sphere Pokéball button. He looks around on the tables and the ground, but he can't find anything.
When he looks back to the Professor he sees she still scratching her head as if she has lice. He looks at the hairclip and notices it's the missing part. "Uh Professor, where did you find that hairclip?" asks Clayton as he looks closer at it.
"I found it on the table this morning. I was looking for it all yesterday too." says the Professor without looking up.
"Could I take a quick look at that real quick?"
"Uh, sure, just make sure not lose it." says the Professor as she takes the part off, all without taking her eyes off the paper. Her hair falls down out of its bun and too her bottom. She hands the missing piece to Clayton, who looks at it carefully with a scrutinizing eye.
He walks over to the machine and puts it I place but then he remembers something the Professor said a few years back.
"I hate it when someone finishes off my projects. It makes me feel incomplete..." says the Professor in his head.
He quickly dislodges the piece and turns back to the Professor. "Uh Professor, I think I found the problem." says Clayton nicely as he has hides hands behind his back trying to make himself seem less suspicious.
"Huh? Oh well look at that! Good eye Clayton!" says the Professor as she walks over to the CRT. She pushes the piece down into the slot.
The machine does nothing for a second, but then it emits light and makes a strange humming sound. Soon the machine fully turns on, and starts to boot up.
"Well thank you for helping me out there," says Professor Juniper as she looks back to Clayton, patting him on the back, "So you want to learn about going on Adventures? I'll make some tea first." She walks over to her kitchen and starts making tea.
Clayton now takes this chance to take a look at the laboratory around him. Each of the walls is painted in a bright color, just like the outside of the house, and the floor is made of cherry oak wood flooring. There are stairs leading to an upper floor which is where the Professor's room is. The area below the staircase and in between the door is the living area, with mismatching couches, a table in the center, and several bookshelves on each wall, stacked with books in a messy fashion. To the left of him is a kitchen area, where the professor can be seen making tea in a strange contraption of hers. Behind and to the right of Clayton is a large "L" shaped counter with various small machines, parts, and schematics scatter about. On the walls surround the machine are the Professor's large machines such as a Poké Healer, PokéBox computer, and the newly finish CRT. Once Clayton finally finishes surveying the lab, he turns back to the direction of the Professor. Clayton jumps when he sees her directly behind him holding two cups of tea. He jumps back a bit, and the Professor lets out a small giggle.
"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you there." Says the Professor as she hands Clayton his cup of tea.
"You didn't scare me I'm too…," Clayton begins, but he then cuts himself off with the truth, "okay you did surprise me there." He lets out a small grin and rubs the back of her head.
The Professor giggles again and then motions for a toast.
Clayton smiles back, and accepts the offer of toast. He then takes a sip of the tea, and smiles at its deliciousness. "A cup of green tea with a hint of orange. You sure do know my favorite type of tea Professor." Says Clayton as he takes another sip.
The Professor takes a sip of her tea. "Well you did use to come here often you know," she begins as she walks towards the couch, "it's sad not seeing you around as much, but it's always nice to have you come and visit." She takes a seat on the couch across from Clayton.
"So anyways how about we start our lesson?" says Professor Juniper smiling she grabs her book of notes off the table.