This story's ability is Slow Start. Give it a few chapters and then it'll be a rampaging powerhouse.
Mid Autumn, 2078 C.E.
Solaceon Town, Sinnoh
*Slurp*
James sat on an old, wooden stool, that creaked under his weight as he was slowly taking sips from his mug of coffee, freshly brewed to 180 degrees. The stool sat next to an island counter (also wooden) in the middle of a medium-sized kitchen, which was about 11' x 13'. There were also counterson each wall. The left counter was beneath a large window, whichoverlooked a wide, grassy plain that stretched far off into the distance, further than the eye could see, rolling hills caressing the surface. On top of all the counters were made of large, shale tiles, worn smooth by the sandpaper of the window was a deeap sink, kept a pristine white by Elaine (the owner of the place, along with her husband, Rob). The counter on the other side of the room had a solid, iron stove, taking up half the counter space with its wide girth. Underneath the stove was an oven, insides burnt matte black by years of use. Standing out among all the weathered textures, the white plastic refrigerator stood awkwardly in the corner among the rustic surfaces.
*Slurp*
*Clunk*
James stared forlornly into the empty coffee mug, as he placed it in the sink. At six feet tall, he was (apparently) tall for his age and was fifteen years old. He lived with his family, about half a mile outside of Solaceon. Normally, he would've started his Pokemon journey two years ago, when he was thirteen, but his family fell on hard times, and he had to stay home to help out. Of course, when he took the ranch-hand job at Rob's and Elaine's place, he figured that he'd be there for a month or two to help get his family back on its feet, and then he'd start his journey a little late. "Better late than never," he had thought. And then his father, the family's primary money-maker, died. So here he was, two years later, the only ranch-hand that stayed year-round, making a decent salary to support his depressed mother (who had attempted suicide twice) and – more importantly – his eleven-year-old sister, Lucy. To earn enough money to support them, he had to stay at the farm nearly around-the-clock, except for when he got to see them on Sundays. It's not that he didn't like the ranch or anything – it was just that his entire life's worth of hopes and dreams of traveling across the land, searching far and wide for Pokemon, had been utterly squashed.
Walking away from the sink after rinsing out his mug, James looked out the window and saw that the sun was rising, splashing orange, pink, and red across the horizon."Crap!" James thought. "I'm late!"James picked up his jacket from the hook by the door, and stepped into his tough, leather boots with a practiced quickness. As he stepped through the door, the crisp air of Fall greeted him, filling his powerful lungs with chilly air and leaving nothing but a lonely cloud of carbon dioxide in its place. James briskly walked over to the huge, looming barn next to the two-story house that all the ranch-hands shared.
There were four other ranch-hands at the place: Jason, who was the most knowledgeable of them all and hailed from Lilycove in Hoenn; Alex, who was strong and resourceful, but was a bit dim-witted and was from Celestic to the north; Joe, a scrawny seventeen-year-old who made up for his lack of strength with his excellent cooking prowess (he came from a region very far away, that he said was named "Unova"); and Austin, a cunning practical joker from Hearthome. James was the odd man out, preferring to work alone in the wee hours in the morning. He – among other things – had the job of getting up before dawn to let the Pokemon out of their barns in the morning. At the ranch, there were were four different species of Pokemon raised: Ponyta, Rapidash, Miltank, and Tauros. The Ponyta and Rapidash were raised and sold for entertainment reasons only, while the Miltanks produced milk and the Tauros were turned into beef.
And then there as the property itself The ranch owned approximately 750 acres of land, and of it, 10% of the acres consisted of a deep forest. Not that it mattered though, the Pokemon usually stayed away from it, as it was infested with some pretty powerful Pokemon; Austin thought he saw a Venusaur back there when he was rescuing a misguided Miltank calf a few months ago. Not that anyone had believed him. The other 90% of the acres had wide, open prairies, that lay upon rolling hills. But I digress.
James unlocked the barn's heavy padlock, while the sun rose steadily behind him, and he could already hearthe Pokemon whinnying in displeasure from being stuck inside the barn when they desperately wanted to run. The doors' hinges opened smoothly and silently, as they were kept oiled by Jason, and were completely silent.
Everything inside the barn was nice and orderly. There were pens along the east and west sides of the barn, made of special fire-proof lumber imported from Fallarbor Town in Hoenn, as was the rest of the barn. There were fifteen pens on each side, in which. Four of them were empty. In the pens that were full, there were seven Ponyta and nineteen Rapidash, shifting around restlessly as they waited for James to unlock the hatch on their pens. In the back of the barn, were mountainous bales of hale, reaching almost to the loft, a place which we'll touch upon later. As James walked by each pen,unlocking them as he went, each Pokemon let out a thankful whinny in response, and then galloped out into the open ranch. The Rapidash and Ponyta galloped off, running towards some unknown destination as a singular, giant mass. James cast a sideways at the house and noticed that the others had been roused from their slumber by the thundering hooves, and would probably cook breakfast soon.
"Alright, well, I better go release the others,"James thought."They might be hungry. No, wait. They're always hungry..." On the other side of the big, red barn that the Ponyta and the Rapidash were kept in was another, but squat, wider, and lacking paint. James continued the same routine as he had before, albeit more slowly, because there were far more of the bovines then horses (about 70 cows total), and they made most of the farm's money. As the Miltank and Tauros (that were awake) ambled over to the pasture for some delicious grass, James strolled over to the house and saw Joe frying something on the griddle. "Oh. It's Sunday, isn't it?" James thought offhandedly."I guess Joe's making us a big breakfast then, as usual." Joe always cooked a rather large breakfast on Sundays. Apparently it reminded him of his home back in Lacunosa Town. James caught a whiff of what was cooking. "Is that... corned beef hash? We haven't had meat since Tauros beef got expensive... what's the occasion, I wonder? I hope there's some extra for... him."
Inside the house, the hash in the cast-iron frying pan was sizzling merrily, and Alex and Austin were rubbing the eyes, while Joe was wide awake and whistling a happy tune. Morning as usual. "G'morning James!" Joe greeted me. He spoke fluently in our language, but had a slight accent leftover from Unova. "How'd you sleep?"
"Fine, I guess. You?" I was never much of a talker, and as a consequence, most of my sentences were short, and to the point. Some people call me blunt, or introverted, and maybe they're right. But I don't care. That's just who I am, and that's the way I always will be, that mysterious kid in the background, that no one knows about.
"Eh... It was alright." As I bent over to untie my shoes, he simultaneously shook his pan and added one of his mysterious, homemade spices he always kept in his apron, before speaking again. "As you can see, the other two are as lively as usual..."
Austin wearily lifted his head from his arms, and stared blearily at Joe as he spoke. "You weren't up all night working. You have no right to be talking." He shifted his head in the general direction of James, and uttered a small "Morning..." before putting his head back into his arms.
"I don't believe staying up all night Miltank tipping qualifies as working," Joe responded, without looking up from what he was cooking.
"...Shut up..." Austin groaned from within his arms.
During all of this, Alex remained perfectly silent, content with staring at the ceiling, and thinking about Arceus-knows-what.
James strolled over to the fridge and got himself a glass of orange juice. "What's the special occasion, Joe?" At Joe's confused glance, James added, "You know, with the meat and all."
"Oh! That! Well, I was at the supermarket yesterday, and I ran into an old friend of mine, back from when I lived in Lacunosa. Apparently, he works as the captain of a ship that imports goods from Unova. Among his goods, were some prime cuts of Bouffalant, and he was able to get me a great deal! I bought a whole bunch, vacuum-sealed the lot, and stored the meat in the freezer for future use. So, no special occasion, no-no; only cooking some food from our new stockpile."
"Ah."
"Exciting, yes?"
"Very." Actually, it was quite an event: there had been a huge shortage of meat after a burst of some rare disease disease from Johto ravaged the population of Normal-type Pokemon, which had a profound effect on milk and meat production. A cure had recently been developed during a collaboration between Silph Co. and the Devon Corporation, but the numbers of Normal-type Pokemon were still low. Our Miltank and Tauros hadn't been affected for some reason, so all of our milk and meat had been sold to rich people overseas, or locals.
"How would you like your eggs this morning?" Unfertilized Combusken eggs, cooked to perfection. Gotta love 'em!
"Over easy, thanks." Small talk like this continued until the meal was served. By the time everyone was gathered at the table, Alex and Austin had woken up from their sleepy stupor, and Austin's exuberant personality (coupled with a good cup of Chesto Berry coffee) took over, taking the table by storm. "Anyone have any weird dreams last night?" he said, not waiting for anyone to answer before he went on. "I did! It started with me standing at the top of one of those huge towers in Jubilife, towering above the city. And then, this huge Tyranitar – taller than the building I was standing on - appeared next to me and let out a huge roar. Then, on the other side of city, this humungous Mothim – as big as the Tyranitar – came flying down out of a cloud, and they had a battle. They were tossing buildings and cars, and they destroyed the entire city. It was, like, awesome!"
"That's... lovely, Austin. How's the hash?" Joe asked, a bit overwhelmed by Austin super-fast talking.
"Fantastic! I haven't meat in AGES!" Austin responded, still hyper.
"Glad to hear it,"Joeturned to me. "Think it needs anything, James?" I was a fairly good cook myself, and Joe often asked me my opinion on the food.
"It's delicious. Perhaps a little garlic, and maybe a bit of red pepper might add to the taste, but otherwise it's great." James responded.
"Glad to hear it. I'll remember that for next time." Then he stood up. "Well, I'm done now. Austin, Alex? Don't forget to do the dishes, like last time." That was the way it worked around here, Joe and I would take turns cooking dinner (we usually made our own lunches and breakfasts), while Austin and Alex did the dishes.
*Slurp*
James sat on an old, wooden stool, that creaked under his weight as he was slowly taking sips from his mug of coffee, freshly brewed to 180 stool sat next to an island counter (also wooden) in the middle of a medium-sized kitchen which was about 11' x 13'. There were also counterson each wall. The left counter was beneath a large window, whichoverlooked a wide, grassy plain that stretched far off into the distance, further than the eye could see, rolling hills caressing the surface. The tops of all the counters were made of large, shale tiles, worn smooth by the sandpaper of the window was a deep sink, kept a pristine white by Elaine (the owner of the place, along with her husband, Rob). The counter on the other side of the room had a solid, iron stove, taking up half the counter space with its wide girth. Underneath the stove was an oven, insides burnt matte black by years of use. Standing out among all the weathered textures, the white plastic refrigerator stood awkwardly in the corner among the rustic surfaces.
*Slurp*
*Clunk*
James stared forlornly into the empty coffee mug, as he placed it in the sink. At six feet tall, he was (apparently) tall for his age and was fifteen years old. He lived with his family, about half a mile outside of Solaceon. Normally, he would've started his Pokemon journey two years ago, when he was thirteen, but his family fell on hard times, and he had to stay home to help out. Of course, when he took the ranch-hand job at Rob's and Elaine's place, he figured that he'd be there for a month or two to help get his family back on its feet, and then he'd start his journey a little
"Don't worry Joe, Austin and I won't forget this time. Now go and do...whatever you were going to do." Then he started talking to Austin about something. James was pretty sure he heard something about some weird new Pokemon from the two. Joe sighed, laced up his boots, and went out the door.
James took a quick look around, making sure that no one was looking, and then dumped the rest of that amazing hash into a little plastic bowl James had in his lap, and snapped the lid into place. "He'll like this much better than the oatmeal I've been feeding him, that's for sure. Since he liked the last hash, he's sure to love this one!"
James glanced around one more time to make sure Alex and Austin hadn't seen, put the bowl underneath my coat, and walked unceremoniously out the door. James set a quick trot towards the red barn, and opened the door. Making sure that Joe wasn't in there, James shut the door behind him, scurried over to the hay bales,and climbed up them, making sure the lid of the bowl didn't come off. At the top of the stack, standing completely erect, his fingertips barely brushed the bottom of the little trapdoor James had fashioned as an entryway to the loft. He gently pulled on the handle, and the trapdoor swung open, causing a small ladder to slide down. It had taken him ten days to craft it, but it was definitely worth it. It had also helped that James had convinced Alex to help make it for my "attic" back at home. After climbing the ladder, James forgot to shut the trapdoor, and hurried over to where he was looking out the small window.
"Good morning, James," the Riolu said telepathically. "Did you bring me some breakfast?"
Sweet! First Chapter in a new epic, by the magnificent mikk317! Seriously though, I'm not giving up on this one. It will be spectacular!
I realize that this chapter isn't the most exciting, but it needed to be written. There will definitely be action in the next chapter!
Don't forget to review! Criticism/suggestions/random comments accepted!