Yo. Nao here. This idea popped into my head at work. It's crack, but I had a lot of fun typing it up and hope you enjoy it. Lemme know what you think. If you think it sucked, I can respect that.
Characters are not mine, they belong to Yuzu Tsutae. Pokemon and all Pokemon references aside from the town and region names are not mine, and belong to that huge Pokemon Corporation.
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Thump!
A groan.
Thump! Thump!
"Ughnn.............."
THUMP! BANG! CRASH!
"Agh!"
Sora sat up so abruptly in his bed that his head went a little farther back than it was supposed to. He grit his teeth and rubbed the spot where his dome had met violently with the headboard of his bed. "What the hell..." He muttered and positioned himself so he was sitting on the edge of his bed. He looked around his room for a moment, trying to get his eyes to adjust.
The walls were a plain white, with posters and pictures taped or tacked to it. Most of them weren't even aligned properly, making them appear unsymmetrical. A few were pictures of sports cars, some featured pictures of him with his mom and dad, others with his childhood friend, and then the rest were all pokemon. Come to think of it, he'd left his television on again, hadn't he..
He couldn't find the remote, so he scrambled out of bed, tripping over himself on his plush floor rugs to press the power button. It was that old rerun on Red Gyarados again. No wonder he'd had that strange dream.
Putting all that aside, Sora still had to thank someone for making a ruckus and forcing him awake. He was about to start down the stairs when something on the wall in his room caught his attention. A white piece of paper had been taped there with an untidy scrawl that read "The X Button opens the Menu!"
Sora ripped it off the wall and crumbled it up into a ball, looking irritated. "Ha ha.. Very funny, Matsuri." He at last made his way down the stairs and made his way to his Guardian's office. He peered inside only to be met with a terrific mess. Books and papers as well as a few magazines were scattered all over the floor. The desk looked like it had thrown up since there were pens and post it notes all over it. Off to a corner of the room he found his Guardian, Shinichirou laying on the sofa, with Nanami and Nanami's Blissey hovering over him. Sora walked in, surveying the situation. Blissey seemed to be treating a bloody wound on Shinichirou's ankle, and Nanami was busy scolding him about being reckless.
"Morning, Nanami-chan. Nii-chan. Blissey. What happened?" Sora could already guess what it was. Nanami turned to him and sighed a good morning greeting, not that he wasn't happy to see Sora. "Shinichirou was too involved with the new PC he got, wasn't paying attention to where he was going, tripped over some wiring.."
Sora sighed, imitating Nanami and gave Shinichirou a disapproving look. "That nii-chan..." At that Shinichirou raised his head and glared at the boy, already irritated by certain events, and decided to take said irritation out on him. "Oi! You got something to say brat?!" He was quickly shut up when Blissey applied alcohol to Shinichirou's wound, causing him to hiss and grit his teeth.
"Don't take it out on Sora! Because of you, I haven't had time to prepare breakfast!" Nanami sighed, rolling down the sleeves of his long white coat. Nanami worked as a nurse at a Clinic nearby. Sora's town was too small to have anything like a Pokemon Center, so a few years ago Nanami opened a Clinic that would be helpful to both people and Pokemon. "This is why I'm glad I made it available to people too. With idiots like Shinichirou here.."
"Ehhhhhh??!" Sora shot Shinichirou a loathsome glare before turning to Nanami with a sad, kicked puppy look. "And I was really looking forward to Nanami-chan's dinner..." It was no secret that Nanami was an excellent cook. In fact, in a lot of ways Nanami was like the mother in this small family.
"Geez, can't a guy get a little excited for once." Shinichirou sighed, and finally sat up now that Shinichirou's wound had been treated and dressed properly. Shinichirou traveled to a nearby City to teach at the school. However, on his off time he enjoyed working as a detective. Shinichirou could be childish and stubborn at times, but he was a very protective and good person over all. It was a small family, but Sora did miss his mom and dad.
He wasn't quite sure what his mother or father did for a living, all he knew was that they travelled so much that they barely had time to visit him. His father.. When was the last time he ever even saw him? He saw his mother quite frequently, but all she'd tell him was that he was working very hard and should be very proud of him. 'Che!' Sora buried those thoughts.
Nanami grabbed his bag and a cup of coffee and smiled. "All done and ready to go, Blissey?" Blissey turned from Shinichirou and ran to Nanami's side. "Blissey!" She exclaimed. Nanami and Blissey brushed past Sora as they made their way into the living room. "Ah..!" Nanami stopped and turned around to face Sora. "That reminds me, Matsuri stopped by late last night. I didn't know you were sleeping, so I let him in. He also came by this morning to let you know that Professor Cypress was wanting to speak to you."
"Grrrreat..." Sora mumbled to himself. He wished Nanami a good day and bounded up the stairs to his room. He dressed himself in a pair of navy cargo pants, threw on a baggy white shirt with long blue sleeves and a pair of tennis shoes and bolted out the door before Shinichirou could say anything to him.
It was a beautiful day out. Columbine town always had such perfect weather. A sky that was always blue, with little to no clouds, and the sun shining down as if it were smiling just for them. And then there was the reincarnation of the sun himself, with knee thigh length blonde hair and bright green eyes wearing his hair up in a ponytail and a long white jacket with red details. The blonde looked strange wearing all white, usually he preferred vibrant colors like greens and oranges, and he never wore his hair up unless there was some kind of an event.
"Good Morning!!" He shouted, giving Sora a salute and rushing over to him. 'As noisy as ever..' Sora thought to himself. "Morning, Matsuri. By the way.. I have something for you.." He dug through the pockets of his pants and produced a crumpled piece of paper, which he in turn threw at the blonde's face. Of course it didn't really hurt, but Matsuri flinched, closing his eye just in time as the paper hit him. He questioningly looked from Sora to the paper before bending down to pick it up and straighten it out so he could read it.
"What was the point of THAT anyways?!" Sora folded his arms, now suddenly looking irritated. Matsuri only chuckled as he looked it over. "Ma, ma...." He said, his way of trying to calm Sora down by showing him it wasn't anything to get upset over. "It's a code!"
Sora blinked, unfolding his arms and placing his hands on his hips. "Heh?!" He scrunched up one eye as he looked the blonde straight in the eyes. "Well, you see.. Yours truly has been chosen to do great things. So great things are destined to happen! So if something should ever happen, that will be our code." Matsuri looked pretty proud of himself, and Sora could not understand a thing about it.
"But The X Button..." Sora started before Matsuri held up a hand to silence him. "If something should happen.. Like, I'm to be kidnapped by Team Rocket, or a mad scientist.. And with no one to trust, I will know to trust our secret code!" Sora was outraged. "What the hell are you going on about so early in the morning?! That aside, watching too much TV has made you go mad!"
Matsuri had always been a bit eccentric, ever since they were younger. They'd play all kinds of games and Matsuri always had to be the leader, the bossy one. He'd even dreamed, like so many others, to start his adventure into the world of Pokemon. He'd even forced Sora into odd jobs, calling themselves the Jack-Of-All-Trades, just so they could come up with some money to buy the necessities they needed. Now at the tender age of sixteen, with only a volunteer job at Nanami's clinic, the blonde must have finally snapped.
"In any case, don't keep Professor Cypress waiting. Just go in, she's not a very patient person." Sora nodded. He knew all to well the kind of person Professor Cypress was. They lived in a small enough town that everyone knew everyone. Professor Cypress was one of those people who didn't bother to make trips to the neighbors with a fruit basket, but that was only because as a pokemon researcher, she was quite busy. That didn't stop Sora and Matsuri for sneaking into the lab and causing trouble.
As Sora trudged the short distance to Professor Cypress's lab with Matsuri closely following behind, he had to wonder what this was all about. Sure, she and him had gotten into little quibbles now and then, but the older and more mature Sora became, the more they came to much friendlier terms. Sora would even occasionally come over for idle chit chat. Having been taught by Shinichirou most of his life, he'd become quite smart. Having a teacher who lived with you had it's ups and downs, but Sora was smart enough to understand a lot about the things they discussed.
Problem was, he didn't know too much about Pokemon.
As soon as Sora reached the building, Matsuri pulled off to the side. Apparently content to lean against the wall next to the door. Whatever the reason, Matsuri wouldn't be joining him inside.
Sora pulled open the door and went inside.
It was the kind of place you expected from a lab, only not. It was definitely not huge or had a secret underground lair or anything like that. Though there was a second story that housed a few of the scientists that worked there. The floors, walls, and shelves were all pristine. There were shelves filled with books and filled with different kinds of objects like berries and stones. Professor Cypress was known in the Suen Region as a scientist that worked mostly on discovering special type of pokemon known as Shinies.
Shinies were pokemon that appeared to be a different color than the rest of their type, and shined when initially summoned from a pokeball; hence the name, Shinies. It was a rare phenomenom, which was why Professor Cyprus was always so busy.
As Sora approached Professor Cypress, he noticed a table off to the side with two pokeballs. The pokeballs were unlike any he'd ever seen before. For all he knew, they were all red. But these two were different. If he had to explain them, he'd say they were beautiful as far as pokeballs could go. One a sky blue with a dark blue line, and there were what he guessed appeared to be white designs that looked a lot like clouds. The other ball was a soft pink, with a red line, and the designs on the top half of the ball looked like faint designs of sakura petals, in a lighter yet visible shade of pink.
As Sora was busy staring at them, he felt a pair of eyes that seemed to be searing through his head. Startled by this feeling, he spun around only to be faced with a beautiful person. Too lovely to have been a boy, so he could only assume it had to be a girl. A girl with hair longer than Matsuri's which was gathered at the back in a ponytail, and soft pinks eyes that matched the hue of her hair. She was wearing a long pink shirt that touched to her knees and a pair of khaki capris.
The only thing that wasn't lovely about her was the glare she was giving Sora. "Uh, um.." He was trying to find a way to put "What the hell is your problem?" in a more polite tone. But before he could, Professor Cypress took note of them. "Sora! Finally you made it. I was afraid I'd reach senior citizen status before you decided to show up." Always a sarcastic one, Professor Cypress always wore a long white lab coat that resembled the one Nanami usually wore for work. Her dark hair was short and curled outward at the nape of her neck, and always seated at the bridge of her nose were a pair of glasses.
"And you're quite early for having traveled so far." Professor Cypress's attention was now on the pink haired girl, who now looked at her in turn, though not with such a hateful look.
"I have Staraptor to thank for that." The girl spoke at last, only girls didn't normally have such a deep boyish tone of voice, not even when they were trying too hard. Well, Sora wouldn't say that voice was extremely deep, but it still bothered him that it sounded a few octaves too short a girls tone would be.
"Of course, of course." Professor Cypress turned to the table and stood in front of it.
"The other was already here. He's a pretty excitable boy so I didn't expect him to stay for too long. However, this makes things easier that you're both here so I can explain to you what I explained to him. Sunao, I know I briefed you about this over the phone." The pink haired girl nodded. 'So Sunao is her name...' Sora thought to himself. While Sora was busy thinking, Professor Cypress continued.
"Due to the nature of my research, it should be obvious what I'm about to show you. But since Sora is a little slow in that department, I'll cut to the chase. In these pokeballs, are Pokemon known as Shinies. I have spent countless months trying to capture at least one and have over succeeded myself by catching three. But, there isn't much I can do for them since I am stuck here.." Professor Cypress looked around the lab for a moment and sighed before continuing on.
"I needed three little guinea pigs to hold onto these three and help me with my research. You have the right to decline, but I know you won't. So moving on," Professor Cypress picked up the blue ball and handed it to Sora. When he took it, she picked up the pink ball and handed it to Sunao.
"I want to know more about these Shinies.. What makes them so different from other Pokemon of their kind? Are they any different? Are they outcasts? Do they have special abilities? What makes them shine? I want to know all these things and so much more, which is why I am giving them to you both. I expect you to take very good care of them, and to report to me regularly."
Sora stared at the blue pokeball in his hand. He'd never ever held a pokeball in his hand. It seemed strange to be thinking that he was also quite literally holding a living, breathing entity there as well. Sunao simply nodded and bowed. "Thank you for letting me be apart of this. I'll be sure to keep in touch." Without so much as letting another word be said, Sunao turned and walked briskly from the room and exited the building.
"He's a strange child." Professor Cypress chuckled to herself. Sora spun to face her, looking absolutely shocked. "THAT was a boy?!"
"Well, of course he is. You really don't keep up in the world of Pokemon, do you?" She folded her arms as if it should be the most obvious thing in the world for Sora to know who Sunao was.
"Well, anyways... Why did you pick me? I can understand why Matsuri.. Well, no, I can't really understand that.. There's a lot of things wrong with this and... him. But why me?" Sora looked from the ball to the professor, as if they could both answer this question for him.
Professor Cypress merely placed her hand on Sora's shoulder. "You're a good kid, Sora. An idiot, but still a good kid. I need someone like you to handle this. Now, go home, talk this over with your guardians, and whatever you decide to do, report back to me immediately."
Sora only nodded.
