Labto Journeys
Chapter One
By Arizima
AN: Yes, I'm re-writing it AGAIN. Don't worry, everything will be the same; except now it's in third person, and there are some more characters and things make a bit more sense. *mutters* And the main character isn't such a Mary-Sue…. *full volume* ^_^ Oh yeah, a swear word is in this chapter, but it's not in a swear word sense, it's part of the phrase "neither Hell nor high water". There may be some grammar-rule-breaking in speech, but hey—it's a bunch of ten-year-old kids talking. You think they're always gonna pause before saying someone's name and stuff like that? I guess that's it! See ya on the other side!
Svelamon: She means the other side of the line, of course. Oh yes, since she didn't explain something, I will. " Stuff in these" is normal speech, Stuff in these is Pokéspeech translated, ' Stuff in these' is something that can be read, and this à ~~~ means a scene change.
Me: U_U Shut up, Svelamon. Imaginary Digimon partners aren't supposed to show up in the author's notes of a POKÉMON fic.
Svelamon: Well, sorry!
Me: Well, with all said and done, just read the fic, or push the back button. Whichever you prefer. ^_^
" Rachel! Come on! You're gonna be late!" A male voice called, carrying well through the suburban home. Upstairs, 'Rachel' called back.
" Hold your Ponytas, Dad! I'm coming!" With that, the orange-haired girl swung open the door to her bedroom, then settled her glasses more firmly over her brown eyes. She was currently pulling a denim jacket over her dark-green t-shirt, but below that were her faded blue jeans and half-pulled-on socks. She stumbled over a sleeping Arcanine on her way downstairs, causing her socks to slip off and the Arcanine to wake up.
What is it, Rachel? What's the rush? The Arcanine asked, yawning. His speech would normally be incomprehensible to a human like Rachel, but the translator chip attached to his dark blue collar translated everything he said.
" Whoops, sorry about that, Joey," Rachel apologized, pulling on her socks, then patting the dog Pokémon on the head. " I'm starting training today, and I'm gonna be late."
Have you forgotten that all of the clocks in our home are fifteen minutes faster than others? Joey asked. Rachel sweatdropped, looking up at the wall clock.
" Yes, yes I did. Guess I don't have to rush so much, then, do I?"
No, you don't. Please don't trip over me again, alright?
" Okay, Joey. Have a nice nap!" Rachel said, picking herself up and rushing down the stairs. She ran into the kitchen, where a pair of white tennis shoes were sitting near a black, bulging backpack. Rachel shoved her feet into the tennis shoes, then pulled the backpack onto her back. Her father, a brown-haired man with glasses like hers, looked down at his daughter.
" Wait a minute, Rachel. I have a couple of last-minute presents for you."
" Really, Dad? What are they?" Rachel asked. He pulled two somewhat small objects from behind his back. The first was a somewhat battered strip of black cloth, and the second was a sky-blue electronic object with a small screen and folded-up antenna.
" This," he said, handing the cloth to her, " is my glasses strap from my trainer days. It's old, but if you use this, neither Hell nor high water can make your glasses fall off."
" Cool! And…. the other thing?" Rachel asked, taking off her own glasses and attaching the glasses strap to them.
" This? Oh, nothing, just a little thing I picked up last night when it was on sale. The saleslady called it a "Pokégear". No idea what that is, but she said it's useful for trainers, so I got you one."
" A Pokégear!? Wow! Thanks, Dad!" Rachel said excitedly as she picked up the gear. Her father smiled, then gave her a brief hug.
" You're welcome. Listen, I can't see you off because I have a house call at the Arayata's, but I'm sending Joey with you to Feldspar, alright?" Rachel wasn't too excited about this. Here she was, a trainer, and her dad was sending the family pet with her to Feldspar!
" Okay, Dad. I'll call you when I get to Feldspar, alright?"
" Alright. JOEY! I've got a mission for you!" The Arcanine bounded downstairs into the kitchen.
What is it, Daniel? He asked.
" Joey, I want you to accompany Rachel to Feldspar. Don't let her get hurt, alright?"
Yes, sir! You can count on me! Joey turned to Rachel. Ready to go?
" Yeah. Bye, Dad! See you when I get to Feldspar!" Rachel said, racing out of the kitchen with Joey.
" Bye! GOOD LUCK!" He called after the ten-year-old girl and the Arcanine.
" Tha—" Rachel's reply was interrupted by the slamming of the door. He smiled faintly at the door.
" There goes one more trainer. I hope she doesn't—"
" Ring ring ring! Ring ring ring! Phone call! Phone call! Ring ring ring—"
" Hello, Evans residence, Dr. Evans here," Mr. Evans said, after rushing for the phone. A worried black-haired woman appeared on the screen, and there was the sound of coughing in the background.
" Dr. Evans? This is Mrs. Arayata. Lia's gotten worse. Can you please hurry over here?"
" Can do! Tell Lia I'm coming, alright?"
" Alright. Thank you, Dr. Evans. Bye!" With that, Mrs. Arayata hung up, and Mr. Evans rushed upstairs.
~~~
" Well… looks like… we're finally… here, Joey." Rachel said, huffing and puffing as she came to the door of a large building. A gold-colored plaque next to the door read ' MINERAL TOWN RESEARCH CENTER'.
You know, you could have rode on me and we would have gotten here in about five minutes.
" No way! It's good exercise! I've got to build up my endurance!"
Alright then, fine with me. I'll wait right here for you, okay? I don't think I'm allowed in there.
" Okay."
" Hey! Wait up! Rachel!" yelled a female voice. Rachel turned around to see an extremely tall black-haired girl, dressed a lot like her, race up to the research center.
" Hey, Jia! Where's Lia?" Jia shrugged.
" She's home sick. Glad to see you here, by the way! With that flu bug going around, I thought you might have gotten it, and that would be a disaster." Rachel slightly narrowed her eyes.
" Yes, yes it would. You going in or not?" she asked, holding open the door.
" Thanks. Well, let's go!" The two girls walked into the building together, then headed for the area from which a small buzz of many people talking at once emanated. Upon pushing open the door, Rachel discovered eleven people; ten other children and a somewhat pretty, tall woman in a labcoat next to three somewhat large bins. One of them was green, one was blue, and the last was orange. In the center of the room was a projector, like the ones you would see in a classroom.
" Ah, good! Miss Arayata, Miss Evans! You two are here, finally, so we can get started. Everyone please pick a seat." Gradually, the twelve children picked desks for themselves and were seated.
" For those of you who've forgotten about the three official Labto starters, here's a refresher. There are three starters; one fire, one water, and one grass. The Fire-type is Caninat, a fire dog just like Growlithe, Arcanine, Houndour, and Houndoom." A picture of a light yellow-orange collie with blue eyes and fire around its "wrists" appeared on the white wall.
" Caninat has a calm demeanor, and has two evolutions. The first evolution is Banarat." A picture of a red-orange greyhound with larger fires around each wrist appeared. " Banarat is about the same as Caninat, except is a bit more powerful and much more fast. The last evolution is Charhund, a Fire/Poison type." A picture of a crimson German shepherd with very large fires around each wrist and a fire on its upper back appeared. Two fangs stuck out of its mouth.
" And now, Petana, the flower kitten." A picture of a cute, juvenile green cat with purple eyes and a reddish-pink flower on its tail appeared. There were also two small leaves near the flower. " Petana is a bit stubborn, but can be friendly if you're nice to it. Its first evolution is Blipeda." A picture of a light green bobcat with three dark green stripes on its back and a partially-bloomed purplish flower on its tail appeared. There were four leaves near its tail flower. " And the last evolution is Flowri. Flowri is an official mount recognized by most Pokémon Leagues." A picture of a dark green mountain lion with a very large reddish-purple flower on its tail was cast onto the wall. The flower was fully bloomed, and a few yellow flower parts came out of it; there was an entire ring of leaves around its tail.
" Last but not least is Gekato, a Water type." A picture of a light blue somewhat cute lizard with a large head was cast onto the wall. " Gekato is very friendly, but cannot stay out of the water for long. Its evolution is Kamada." Gekato was replaced by a picture of a lizard on all fours, the color of faded blue jeans. A Vaporeon-like ruffle was around its neck, and the tip of its tail was a darker blue than the rest of the lizard. " Kamada then evolves into Salisko." Kamada disappeared, and a picture of a very large lizard took its place. Salisko had a large head, like Gekato, and sharp fangs. It had a blue shell on its back, but the rest of it was colored like Gekato. Finally, there were two faded blue spikes coming out of its front leg joints, which were like human elbows. Salisko was then replaced by a picture of Gekato, Caninat, and Petana together.
" Choose your starting Pokémon carefully. The person with the highest score on the test will choose first. Jia Arayata!"
Jia flashed Rachel a smile, then headed up to the little stage that the lady in the labcoat was on.
" I'd like a Gekato, Professor Holly." She said confidently.
" Alright then, a Gekato it is! Here's your license, debit card, and Pokédex, Jia." Professor Holly said, handing Jia a small blue machine, two cards, and a Pokéball with a medium blue button. Jia took them, bowed, then ran off the stage.
" Rachel Evans!"
" That's me," Rachel muttered as she ran up to the stage.
" Which Pokémon would you like, Rachel?" Professor Holly asked.
" Hmmm…. Hang on a sec…." Rachel pondered over it. A Caninat would be redundant, since her dad already had an Arcanine, a Petana would be cool, especially since it was good against Gekato, and Gekato…. " I'll take a Petana."
" Okay, here you go!" Professor Holly said cheerfully, handing Rachel a Pokéball with a jade green button, a blue Pokédex, and two cards with her picture and some information on them. Rachel bowed to Professor Holly, then hopped off the stage.
" Luke Greider!"
A brown-haired boy went up and chose a Caninat in a split second, as if someone would steal them away at the last moment. The proceedings went on like this, then, finally, the last person ( a blond guy with glasses named Jordan) chose their Pokémon, and Professor Holly cleared her throat to gain attention.
" Well, that's everything. You twelve are now ready to go out there and become trainers! Good luck!"
" Finally!" Rachel said quickly as she walked out of the room, along with Luke, Jordan, and a blue-haired girl named Zoe.
Once she was out, she turned to the Arcanine patiently waiting in the grass.
" Ready, Joey?"
Yes, but shouldn't you meet your Pokémon first? I want to see what you chose too,
" Not here, it's way too public. I know a good secluded spot right outside of town, okay?"
Alright.
" Then let's go!" Rachel cried giddily as she ran ahead of Joey.
~~~
Well? Let it out, let it out! Joey impatiently cried. He and Rachel stood atop a hill overlooking Route 121— the path from Mineral Town to Feldspar.
" Alright, hold your Ponytas, Joey! Go, Pokémon!" Rachel cried, tossing her Pokéball into the air. A white beam of light shot out of the button and took the form of a jade green juvenile cat with purple eyes and a pink tail flower. The ball returned to Rachel's hand.
" Petana tan tana?" the Petana said, yawning.
" Huh? Oh yeah!" Rachel reached into her backpack and pulled out six one-size-fits-all collars (though they looked a bit more like harnesses) of different colors; white, black, red, blue, green, and pink. " Hey, Petana, which one of these do you want?" she asked, holding out the six to Petana. Petana stepped forward and sniffed each one, then pointed her paw at the tag of the pink one.
" Tana!"
" That one huh? Okay." Rachel stuffed the first five collars into her backpack, and clipped the pink one onto Petana's neck. " Now try repeating what you said before, Petana."
I said, " So who's my new trainer?" and " That one."
" Oh, okay. I'm your new trainer; the name's Rachel Evans, and this is Joey, my family's Arcanine. What's your name?"
Don't have one. Jeff and Professor Holly just call me "Petana" all the time. If you want to give me a name, that's fine by me. By the way, nice to meet you too.
" Yes, I will give you a name. Hmmm…." Rachel looked at Petana, then noticed the golden rays from the mid-morning sun glinting off her jade green fur. " I've got it! Jade!"
Jade, huh? Sounds fine to me. Any other stuff you want to know? Petana, now Jade, asked,
Do you mind being kept in a ball, Jade? Joey cut in. Jade shrugged.
Not really, but I prefer being kept out. It is extremely boring in there. Jade looked up at Rachel. Why do you ask? It's usually up to the trainer to decide, unless the Pokémon's really stubborn, which I am not. Rachel, a bit miffed at Joey butting into her conversation, hesitantly replied.
" Sure, you can be kept out, Jade. Just let me know if you want in for whatever reason, okay?"
Okay. Can we get going now? I'm itching for some exercise. Rachel nodded.
" Okay guys, let's go!"
AN: See, not much of a change now, is it? Just a few less clichés and stuff. ^_^ I'll continue soon, don't worry. I've put all my other projects on hiatus until I finish the Evans saga (or at least the first four parts), unless I get a really big block. (Why do I call it the Evans saga? Simple. It's a long, long thing, the Evans saga. Lesse….. There's four "seasons" with Rachel, and at least one with a certain character that comes after her.) I also want to finish it because the more time it has not finished, the more I get attached to it. I dread the day when I'll be forced to stop this series…. My characters are like children to me, and to stop writing about them is like them dying, or at least falling out of communication with them…. O_O Eh…. I'd better just get to the disclaimer now…. ^_^;;;
Disclaimer: Pokémon and all related indicia belong to their respective owners, none of which are me. I am making no money off of this fanfic, and no offense is intended toward the creators/owners of Pokémon.
Claimer: I do, however, own Labto, all original characters, and all original related indicia. To use any of them, you must have my permission, give me credit, and not make any money off of it. (Unless you're Nintendo or one of the dudes/dudets from the disclaimer. ^_^;;;)