Chris Collio: Local hero
Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon, or any of it's characters.
It was a quiet brisk morning. A typical start of the day for the citizens of Twinleaf Town. The sky was blue, the pokemon were chirping, and a very special event was about to begin. The 30th annual, Citizens award ceremony was about to begin, and all the town's people were hurrying to get there. Every kid was already sitting in their seats, anxious for the show to begin. All except one. 14 year old, Chris Coolio was in his room, brushing his dark, long hair. He was all dressed up with a suit, in front of the mirror when he heard his mom calling, "Chris!" She called angrily, "Get down here now! You're father is already at the ceremony, and I will NOT be late."
"I'm sorry, I'm going as fast as I can." He called back, brushing the last strand of his hair, and zipping down the stairs.
"Sometimes that's not fast enough sweetheart." She said a bit annoyed. Before she knew it, Chris was out the door and half way down the street. She rolled her eyes, as she closed the door behind her and muttered to herself, "and sometimes it's too fast for me to keep up with."
Chris ran as fast as he could. He would hate to be late to the award ceremony. Especially since he was one of the people to be receiving an award. That's right, he was fourteen years old, and was about to receive a very exclusive award for good citizenship.
You see, Chris was kind of like Twinleaf town's very own local hero. It started when his best friend Lucas left town to begin his Pokemon journey in the sinnoh region. When it first happened, he thought he would focus on his school work like his mother and father wanted, but instead he found himself enjoying other things much more. Helping people. The first time was when an old woman lost her declatty that she had since she was a young girl. Chris put aside everything for almost a week to help her find it. Once he did, he decided he wanted to help even more people. Things just escalated from there, until he almost became legendary. Today he was receiving an award for all the good deeds he's done.
He approached the crowd, and made his way through it. He could see the mayor up on stage, getting ready to begin. "Welcome!" He spoke into the microphone "My dear citizens of Twinleaf Town! It is such an honor to welcome you to the annual Citizen Award Ceremony." He paused for applause. "There are many here today who will walk home with an award. But, there is only one person who will walk home with much, much more. There is that one person who deserves more than an award. He deserves are up most gratitude. That person, that young man, is none other than Chris Collio. Come on up here now Chris."
Chris's cheeks turned blood red, as the crowd roared with applause. He thought he would be used to the praise by now, but it hit him just as surprisingly as always. He slowly walked up the steps to the stage, where the mayor, and two other town officials were waiting for him.
"Isn't that Chris kid so cool?" A kid in the crowd said while clapping. "Yeah, I know, he's some kind of an awesome kid, don't you think?" A girl said, turning to another boy. A white haired boy with a pony tail had his arms folded. He looked around Chris' age. "Hmph. Yeah, he's something alright." He said, then muttered to himself. "That Chris Coolio, always stealing the glory for himself. It's not enough that the whole town has to love him more than me, but now they have to throw him this big ceremony. Well I'll show him. I'll mess up this entire thing if I have to."
Just then, he looked over to see a small Chimchar, a fire pokemon native to the sinnoh region, playing in the grass off the side of the crowd. A sly grin came across his face. "Heheh, in fact, I think I've got an idea now." The mayor spoke into the microphone once again. "Well, what do you have to say for yourself young man?" He smiled, holding the microphone up to Chris.
"Er….." Chris stammered, feeling a lump growing in his throat, "I wish the crowd was a little bit smaller so I didn't have such stage fright."
"Hahaha." The Mayor laughed along with the crowd. "There's no need to be nervous Chris. You should feel great about yourself at this moment. Our town has been so lucky to have had such a talented young man, who wants nothing but to help people. We consider you, our very own town hero. Which is why I'd like to give you this, Twinleaf town, town hero medal." The applause began again as the Mayor set the medal around Chris' neck. He felt proud as he looked out in the audience. It was good to see the crowd praising him, but it felt even better to see his parents looking so proud. Chris cleared his throat and began to speak into the microphone
"Thank you," He smiled, "thank you so much everyone. You've made me feel so great today. I know you all thank me for helping you all, but the truth is, the pleasure is in the job itself. I love helping you all, and would do every single job over again if I could. I love this town, and I love you all. You can always count on me!" The crowd roared with applause once again.
"FIRREEEE!!!!!!!!" A voice suddenly shouted from the back of the crowd. "FIRE! SOMEONE PLEASE HELP, THE TABLE'S ON FIRE!" Everyone turned to see one of the tables set up for food had caught on fire, and was spreading fast. Chris quickly jumped down off of the stage.
"Excuse me! Pardon! Look out!" Chris called out, making his way as fast as he could through the crowd. He finally made it the back, where the table was burning. It was now spreading onto the next table. He had to stop it before it spread any further. "I need a water pokemon, and fast! Is there anyone here who has a water pokemon?"
"I have a Marill!" A woman called out.
"Good, please let it out, now!" He answered back. The woman released her water pokemon and told it to listen to Chris. "Okay Marill, use water gun straight ahead now!"
"Marilllllll!" The marill chirped as it shot out a strong stream of water at the fire. Only part of the fire went out, as the rest continued to spread. Chris was running out of time.
"Rats!" Chris muttered. "That's not gonna cut it. Listen, everyone, get ready to cover your heads." Chris turned to the crowd. Without any questions asked, everyone crouched down, and covered their head with their arms Okay, Marill, use water gun straight up in the air, let's go!"
"Rillll!" Marill shouted once again, this time spitting out the water in the air. Little drops of water began to fall all over the ceremony area, as if it was raining. The fire began to wear down more and more. Marill was beginning to get tired. "Just a little bit longer Marill. You'll be okay, I promise." Chris encouraged the water pokemon, trying to keep it going. The fire finally disappeared, and all that was left was a pillar of smoke. The crowd began with applause again, as Chris bent down smiling to Marill. He reached in his pocket and pulled out some pokemon food. "Thank you so much Marill. I always carry some pokemon food with me, just in case. You've earned it, so here you go."
"Marill Mar!" Marill chirped happily, as it nibbled on the pokemon food. It's owner came by and retrieved it back to it's poke-ball. Just then, Chris turned and noticed something under the table, that had just been burned. It was a small Chimchar, that was looking quite scared. It shivered, and shook, startled when Chris' eyes locked onto it. It backed up in fear. Suddenly, one of the towns people shouted.
"Hey! That Chimchar must've started the fire!" They said. Another voice shouted out angrily, "Argh, it runied that table of food!" Another one called out. "It was supposed to be for everyone. Let's get it!"
"Chimmm!" Chimchar backed up even further in fear. Chris quickly jumped in front of it.
"Now hold on everyone!" He said firmly, "You're probably right about it setting the table on fire. But look at it, it's only a baby. I highly doubt it caused this trouble all by itself."
"Mr. Chris!" A young boy in the crowd stepped forward raising hand. "It's not Chimchar's fault at all. A boy made it do that. I saw it myself. It was him!" Everyone turned to where the young boy was pointing. The finger was pointing straight at the white haired boy from earlier, who was looking very guilty.
"Well," Chris folded his arms angrily looking at the boy. "Jimmy Carols. Why am I not surprised. It's not like this is the first time you've caused trouble."
"Argh, yeah I did it!" Jimmy shouted angrily. "And I'd do it again, if only that stupid little boy hadn't ratted me out."
"You're in a lot of trouble young man." The mayor wagged his finger at Jimmy, grabbing him by the arm. "I've got to go take this boy down to the station. But first, Ladies and Gentlemen, please give another hand for Chris Coolio. He's done it again."
"WOOOOHHH!" The crowd wooted and clapped. Chris turned and smiled to the Chimchar.
"See, everything's going to be fine!" Chris winked at it. He began to walk forward, when the Chimchar suddenly got scared and ran away. "Huh? Hold on, wait a min-" Chris began to run after the Chimchar when he was grabbed by the crowd. They lifted him into the air, hopping him up and down in celebration. Everyone was happy and cheering, except for Chris himself. He was distracted, staring at the place where Chimchar disappeared too.
So, the Ceremony continued, and many other citizens won awards. Such as, cleanest lawn, volunteering, etc, etc. No one receiving as much applause as Chris did. Afterwards, what was left of the food was served, and everyone had a good time. But Chris was still deep in thought about Chimchar. Things like that always bothered him. Was there something wrong with the Chimchar? Did he do something to scare it? Will it be okay? All those questions ran through his mind on his returning walk home.
Later on, Chris sat at his kitchen table, as him mom finished baking the last of his hero apple pie. "Here it is!" His mom sang, putting a slice down in front of, planting a kiss on his cheek. "For my son, the hero. I know how much you love your apple pie, so I've made this special Hero pie for you."
"Thank you mom." Chris smiled.
"You seem distracted though, Chris." Chris' father said, sitting down across from him. "In fact, for the better part of the ceremony you seemed distracted. Is something the matter?"
"Well," Chris began to confess, "Do you remember the Chimchar that Jimmy used to start the fire? Well, it ran away. And I'm worried about it. What if…what if it doesn't have a family?"
"Son, relax a little bit." His dad laughed. "You've done so much good for this town, and pokemon already. Take a break a little bit. You can search for that Chimchar tomorrow."
"Yeah, I guess so…" Chris sighed.
"Keep this up, and you might be able to make a career out of it." His mother giggled.
"You don't know how true that statement is." A voice called from the front door. The three family members looked over to see the Mayor standing in the door window.
"Mr. Mayor, come on in." Chris' father said standing up. The Mayor opened up the door and walked inside the kitchen.
"Would you like a slice of pie Mr. Mayor? It's freshly baked." Chris' mother offered.
"No, thank you." He shook his head, sitting down at the table. "I'm actually here to speak to you Chris."
"Really? What for?" Chris asked curiously.
"With all the commotion at the Ceremony today, I didn't get to give you the second part of your reward." The mayor reached into the pocket of his suit jacket, and pulled out a folded up a piece of paper. "This letter was sent to me a couple of days ago." Chris took the letter, and opened it up. His face lit up.
"I-it's a letter. From the pokemon rangers guild in the fiore region." He said reading on.
"I've been emailing back and forth with one of the bases there for a couple of weeks now." The mayor explained, "telling them all about you. And from the sound of that letter it sound like---"
"They want me to come train at the Ringtown Ranger base!" Chris exclaimed. He didn't even notice the huge smile that came across his face. "I can't believe this. Th-they want me?"
"The Ringtown leader thinks you sound just like the kind of Ranger they need on their team." The Mayor continued, "If you'd like to go, there is a ferry that will arrive here on Saturday morning. Of course, you'd be gone for a few months."
"Saturday?" Chris turned to his parents. "That's the day after tomorrow. I don't know. I've never been away from home for that long before? Dad, Mom, what do you think I should do?" Both Chris' mother and father looked at each other than looked back at Chris.
"Chris, honey," His mother sat down next to him. "You're father and I have been so proud of you these last couple of months. We know you were disappointed when you found out you weren't going to be able to go on a pokemon journey with your friend Lucas, but you've really come through since than. And well, we held you back from that, and…I suppose it wouldn't be right if we held you back from this too."
"So, you're saying you want me to go?" Chris asked.
"We're saying, whatever you decide, we both support it." His father smiled, nodding to him. Chris sat deep in thought. The same look on his face as when he was thinking about that Chimchar. He looked up at the Mayor.
"I want to help everyone around the world. More than just this town." Chris stated firmly standing up. "If training with the Pokemon Rangers is the way to do it, than I'm in.
"Good." The mayor smiled, handing him a pen. "Then I need you to sign here please. And your parents need to sign here." Chris sat back down, taking the pen from the mayor and beginning to write his name down. His parents did the same. The mayor took a seat and began to further explain the process.
Later that night, Chris walked into his room, and pulled out a suitcase. The letter said he wouldn't need many personal things on his trip. So he only packed the absolutely necessary items, such as his tooth brush, comb, and pajamas. He was so excited to be leaving for the fiore region. He knew that helping people in his hometown was a good deed, but the ranger's could help him truly learn what it means to help people. All over!
He had just finished folding up his last piece of clothing when he looked outside his window. A red figure was sitting on his front lawn nibbling at some food. It was the Chimchar from before. A smile came across Chris's face. He quickly opened the window and shouted down to it. "Chimchar!" He waved, "It's me! I'm so glad you're alright. I was afraid something bad was going to happen to you."
"Char…." Chimchar backed up in fear. Suddenly something swooped down over it. A large brown bird, with white feathers, and orange claws. It was a Staraptor. From the looks of it, it looked like Staraptor was after Chimchar's food. It's claws scratched the back of Chimchar "CHIMCHARCHAR!" it screeched.
"Hey! Staraptor, leave it alone, ok?" Chris called out to it. Staraptor, ignoring Chris's warning, swooped down and grabbed Chimchar, clutching it's feet firm around Chimchar's body. It lifted high in the air and began to fly off. "No!" Chris muttered to himself. He wanted to go after it and help, but he didn't know if his parents would approve. Even though he was practically a certified Hero, it was still dark outside, and Chris would always have a curfew. But he also couldn't let innocent pokemon get hurt because he was afraid of getting in trouble. He took one last look at the hallway, making sure his parents were no where in sight, then he hopped outside his window, and began to chase after the Staraptor.
A/N: Ok, so here's a brand new story, and a brand new theme. Please review to tell me if you think I should continue or not.