Four skilled boys left on their own whilst boredom plays upon their minds is not in any way safe or advisable. Unfortunately, this was precisely the case one warm summer night.

Black, Cheren, Barry, and Lucas were visiting the famed pokemon lab of Professor Elm, and, with the exception of Lucas, had yet to be amazed by anything they saw. "That's it. I'm fed up with looking at facts and figures," Barry huffed, barely glancing at the next chart.

"But Barry, look over here! It's amazing! Can you believe that-" Lucas looked up to see the other three continuing on their path, ignoring him completely.

"It was nice of Professor Elm to let us look around, but this might be more interesting," Cheren ventured as they passed through another lab room, nearly identical in lack of organization as the others, "if the Professor himself was able to show us around. Since he's not though, it's a little..."

"Dull?" Black finished. Two of his three companions nodded.

Lucas crossed his arms. "This isn't dull at all! It's incredible! The discovery that a berry's healing time for a pokemon can be cut in half depending on the kind of care it receives is a scientific breakthrough!"

"Yawn," Barry responded. "Look, I've got an idea. Let's battle."

Black and Cheren were somewhat drawn by the idea, and so agreed. "H-hey wait! We can't battle in here!" Lucas protested.

Barry laughed, nearly knocking over several stacks of paper as he walked by. "Like we would! Let's go outside. Nothing like a night battle for some fun! Now c'mon, let's go get our pokemon from the PC." Seeing as the other three had their minds made up, Lucas reluctantly followed.

As they walked by, Barry tripped over a packet of papers on the ground. "Man, this lab really needs to be cleaned," he muttered, picking up the packet. "Whoa... this is about Champion Red!" Immediately, the other three were at his side.

"Let me see!" Black said in excitement. They all studied the papers. "Can you believe it? He beat Team Rocket and every gym leader, and later the Elite Four, all before he was even twelve years old. I was twelve when I got my first pokemon," he added, laughing.

"Yes, and his abilities as a trainer far surpassed many who had been training for years. He's truly a legend," Cheren agreed.

Lucas analyzed the paper in his hand. "I wonder what he was like when he first started. Or when he was our age. How old is he now?"

"Um... three years older than us, Lucas. Seventeen," Barry replied.

Black started. "Wait, so he's only two years older than me? How is he so much better than I am?"

Cheren laughed. "He's not a legend for nothing, Black."

He crossed his arms. "Well someday, I'll be a legend too."

Barry nodded. "Yep, same here! And we'll get there sooner if we go and train! C'mon guys, that's enough reading!" The four put the papers back into place and were off to find the PC. Down a corrider or two was the main lab room, lights off, with various machines and papers strewn around. Somewhere in the chaos was Professor Elm's desk. "Where's the light switch?"

"Good question, but it looks like turning the lights on wouldn't help us find anything," Cheren replied dryly.

Barry frowned. "Well... let's just look for the PC."

After about five minutes, Black called out to the others, "Here, I found it!" The other three studied it as well as they could in the dark.

"Looks odd," Cheren noted, "and kind of old. Are you sure this is a PC?"

Barry grinned. "What else could it be? C'mon, start it up!"

"Stop!" Lucas shouted. "Rule number one in a laboratory: If you don't know what it is, don't touch it."

The blond scoffed. "Oh please. This is definitely a PC. Just log in, Black!"

Black looked at Cheren. "Well? What should I do? Log in or leave it?"

Cheren crossed his arms. "I've had enough of tripping over random stacks of paper in this dark lab. Just start it up. Barry has a point; what else could it be?"

Lucas sighed. "Yeah, fine, I'm with them, just start it up."

Black nodded and turned it on. The old machine hummed hesitantly, indicating that it hadn't been used in a while. Soon, the screen lit up. Finally, a log-in screen appeared. "Okay, I'll log in and get my pokemon, then-"

"Then I'll get mine!" Barry announced.

"O-kay, then Barry." Black typed in his log-in information... and was denied access. "W-what? Why isn't it working?"

"Let me try," Lucas said. "I have a lab log-in, so that should work." Lucas typed in his info... and was also denied.

Cheren narrowed his eyes. "Okay, this is weird. Maybe it's not a PC?"

Barry shook his head. "No way! It has to be! Let me try!" As he typed, a message popped up on the screen. "What's 'begin transfer now'...?"

"Don't click it!" Lucas shouted.

Of course, Barry clicked it.

"What is wrong with you?" Lucas demanded.

"Well it wasn't letting us log in so I figured maybe this would help!"

"Are you insane? What did I say about touching things?"

"Guys...!" Black pointed at the machine. Whether the four liked it or not, they were all glued to the screen, waiting to see what happened next. A progress bar had now popped up. "It's at 60%..."

"What happens when it reaches 100%?" Cheren asked. Of course, no one knew the answer to that.

"Maybe... maybe we should get out of here..." Lucas murmured nervously. "What if something bad happens?"

"Then we'll need to take responsibility for it," Black replied. "But I'm pretty sure it's just a PC. I bet Professor Elm is sending some pokemon over. That's probably why it wouldn't let us log in, too... 'Cause it was connecting to the other PC."

Cheren nodded. "Yeah, that sounds about right. Let's wait for the transfer to finish, and then we can get our pokemon."

They watched for a few more moments, and then the bar reached 100%. "O-kay... where are the pokemon he's sending over?" Barry asked impatiently.

"It's an old machine. Maybe it takes a little while to load?" Lucas suggested. Anxiety was creeping back into his tone.

Suddenly, the screen lit up brightly. "Preparations completed. Transferring now," the machine said. The screen got brighter and brighter and the machine hummed louder than it had before. Then, white light engulfed the four, and they were dragged into the machine before they could do anything about it.

After that, the machine's screen dimmed. "Transfer completed. Shutting down." The humming quieted and then muted altogether, and the lab was once again still and dark.

A few yards away, the phone beeped as the voice message system was activated. "Hello, Professor Elm. It's Bill, from Goldenrod. Just wondering how you were doing with my old machine. Does it even turn on still?" There was a pause as the young man laughed. "Well, anyways, I'm glad someone has some use for it. I could only ever get it to work once, and after that, for some reason, it stopped. Feel free to do whatever you want with it, I don't need it anymore. You could even use it for spare parts if you wanted." Another laugh. "Well, thanks for taking my old 'time capsule' off my hands. Now I have space to work on the new PC system. Call me if you have any questions, and have a good week!" There was a beep, and the call was disconnected.


a.n. Greetings. I am The Ambience Endeavor. I hope to update this story weekly, and I also hope you all enjoy it. Feel free to leave a review with anything you like or dislike. I would highly appreciate it.