Authors Note: Thank you for reading my story. I hope you liked my spin on the intro video, but now it's time to meet our main character.
Michael looks around at the battle arena that he is now fighting in. The arena has sandstone bleachers and columns, but a large section of the arena and crumbled from the test of time. Despite the fact that the arena was huge, the largest Michael had seen, the only people inside the arena were Michael and his opponent.
While his opponent had brown hair and was wearing a light blue jacket with white trim as well as dark grey pants and shoes, Michael had dark red hair and was wearing his usual blue pants, black undershirt, bright yellow vest, dark colored shoes, and his goggles which hung about his neck.
His opponent yelling out, "Metagross, Use Sludge Bomb!" brought Michael's concentration back to the battle at hand. Michael's Salamence took the blow to its side just below its dark red wing. The dragon-like Pokémon growled at the Steel-Psychic Pokémon as it raised itself back into the air.
"Dragon Dance!" Michael commanded his Dragon Pokémon. Salamence then began to glow with a red light that surrounded its entire body. As the light faded and the opposing Metagross launched another Sludge Bomb, Salamence was easily able to avoid it.
"Now, Earthquake!" Michael yelled. Most trainers would use Salamence's Dragon Claw, since moves with the same type as the Pokémon using them inflict more damage to the enemy. But Michael knew that Metagross, being a Steel type, would take less damage from the usual Dragon Claw. Earthquake, however, was a Ground-type move, and Steel-type Pokémon like Metagross were especially vulnerable to ground moves. So, as the Earthquake impacted the Metagross, it was thrown through the air and landed on its back.
"Metagross!" The trainer cried as he ran to his fallen comrade.
Michael looked up to see the blue light in the sky begin to move down and around the arena. Michael closed his eyes and waited for the light to consume all around him.
"All right Michael, that's it for now," the battle instructor Michael knew as Kent said as Michael opened up his eyes to see the Battle Simulator lab.
"That was amazing," Kent went on as Michael stepped from the simulator. "The fact that you were able to take command of that gigantic Salamence like it was your little Eevee was truly something."
Michael smiled at the praise before saying, "I was only trying to help you two complete the simulator." The scientist over in the corner that controlled the Battle Simulator looked up at this statement.
"Even so," the scientist said, "The difference between not just the size but the attitude of a Salamence and an Eevee is very large." The scientist scratched his chin as he continued with his observations. "Since we have made each Pokémon in the Battle Simulator a close to the real thing as possible, which includes a Salamence's refusal to accept a weak or inexperienced trainer. That shows that you have great potential to become a truly great trainer."
Michael was once again pleased and slightly surprised at this much praise. True, Michael was the best trainer at the HQ Lab, but that wasn't saying much because only a select few of the people at this lab were actual trainers. Most of the people here were scientists. Even his mother had worked on this project since before he could remember.
Michael was snapped out of his thoughts as Kent said, "Hey Michael. The only Pokémon you have right now is your Eevee, right? Don't you think you should start training other Pokémon?"
Michael thought about Kent's words. While it was true that Michael would like to be able to train other Pokémon, he couldn't just go out and catch one anytime he'd like. Unlike other regions, Orre had been devoid of wild Pokémon since anyone could remember. So that's why Michael's only Pokémon is the Eevee his father gave to him before he disappeared.
Michael took Eevee's Pokeball of his belt. The then tossed the ball a short distance. As the baseball-sized sphere hit the ground, it popped open and a bright white light came out of it. The light began to take a shape, and then dispersed as Eevee came into full sight.
Eevee had the appearance and the size of a small fox. Eevee had mostly light brown fur, with the exception of the cream-colored fur at the tip of its tail and around its neck and darker brown fur in its ears. Eevee looked up at Michael with a yawn. It then walked over to him, and sat by his leg. It then looked around at the room before realizing it was the Battle Simulator room. As if it knew some future event, Eevee ran over the door of the room and started yipping at Michael to walk over there.
"Well, I guess I'll help you two out some more later," Michael said as he walked toward his Eevee and the door.
"No problem." Kent stated as Michael walked through the door.
As he walked out, however, he almost ran over Wilson, the oldest man in the lab.
"I'm sorry Wilson!" Michael said as he backed away from the frail old man.
"It's alright, sonny," Wilson said as he leaned on his cane, "I was coming over to talk to you, as a matter of fact." Wilson continued.
Michael, intrigued, asked, "Well what is it?"
"Just the fact that your mother and the professor need you in his office." Wilson stated as he shambled toward the elevator at the end of the hall. Michael then started running towards the office, despite the fact that is was fairly close. His Eevee following close behind him. As he came up to the office door, it opened to reveal his mother wearing her usual pink dress and Professor Krane wearing his green shirt, lab coat, and glasses.
"Hello Michael," his mother said, her light green eyes filled with the joy only a mother seeing her child could possess. "Do you wish to speak to the director?"
"Ha-ha, no need to be so official all the time Lily," Krane laughed, "Especially around your son."
"But…" Lily started to say something but then decided against it.
"By the way Michael, I heard your discussion with Kent all the way from over here." The professor went on, "It sounds like your already impressive battling skills are steadily improving."
Michael nodded and stated, "I am getting better at battling, but I still need to get used to battling real trainers with Eevee."
"I'm sure you will get the chance in the near future." Krane replied. "Either way, I'm sure you would stomp me flat in a battle." Krane said, following his statement with a laugh.
Lily turned to Krane and sighed, mild irritation present. "I wish all of you would give my kids so much praise all the time. They're going to be spoiled rotten if you keep this up!"
"It's alright Lily," Krane replied to her worrying, "Michael and Jovi are both wonderful children."
Michael was a bit upset by this statement, since he had his fourteenth birthday a few months ago. The Orre Region officially considered humans adults when they reach the age of sixteen, so he was a bit annoyed with the thought of still being labeled a child.
Lily then turned to her son and requested, "I don't want to bother you Michael, but I need you to find Jove for me. We are nearing an important phase in the Purifying Chambers development, so I can't go looking for her." A worried expression appeared on her face as she continued with "I haven't seen her since lunch, so I'm getting worried. So will you please go look for her?"
"Of course," Michael replied, "I'll go find her." Michael was, on the inside, frustrated that, once again, he had to go find his sister because she got lost on the lab grounds again. "Or," Michael though, "she could have gone off to that crazy Dr. Kaminko's lab again."
"Sorry to have you bothered by this Michael," Professor Krane said, "But the Purifying Chambers five year development period is reaching its conclusion, and your mother is needed here for her expertise."
Michael nodded at this statement, understanding the reasoning but still finding annoyance in it.
Professor Krane nodded to himself then suddenly looked up. "Oh, yes. Michael, I have left the PDA I told you about in your room. Feel free to get it before you look for your sister. PDA stands for Pokémon Digital Assistance, but I'm pretty sure you knew that already. You shouldn't have any trouble learning how to use it."
Michael, excited by this news, only managed a quick, "Thanks Professor!" before he bolted from the room through the door opposite the one he came through. He ran through the next room, carefully avoiding the man working at the computer, and continued on to the elevator. The elevator took him down to the first floor, and he immediately bolted for the first room on his right.
After walking down a small hallway, Michael entered his room. He walked over to his desk, and picked up the PDA. As soon as Michael picked up his new device, it made the ringing noise that announced the arrival of a new e-mail.
Flipping the device open, Michael skimmed through the e-mail, learning that his sister had been playing hide and seek with Adon. Adon was an assistant at the lad that mostly kept Jovi out of the way of the other people working there. Michael had heard Adon in one of the upstairs rooms when he was running back to his room, so he decided to ask him where Jovi might be.
Before he left the room, Michael called his Eevee back into its Pokeball. Michael ran over to the elevator to go back up to the second floor. Walking down to the room where he had heard Adon's voice earlier, he opened the door to see no one there. Confused, he looked around the room.
After not finding anyone he heard a voice say, "Michael, are you looking for me? I'm hiding from Jovi, so please don't give me away."
Michael looked under the table at the side of the room and saw Adon huddled in a ball underneath it. "Actually, I'm looking for Jovi and haven't had much luck." Michael replied to Adon.
"Well, if she isn't anywhere in the lab, she might have ran off to Dr. Kaminko's manor," Adon replied with a huff, "She probably forgot about me hiding from her, so now I'm going to have to stay down here."
Michael smirked at this statement. As he walked out of the room, he called, "Thanks for the tip, Adon!"
Michael then almost collided with a scientist who was heading towards the eating area of the lab. "The news just came on, and there's been a lot of talking coming from inside the eating area. Let's go check it out, Michael." He said.
As they walked into the room, they heard the end of the broadcast. "The S.S. Libra was reportedly filled with Pokémon. The ship has been missing for five days, and all the authorities can say is that they don't have any clue what has happened," the news anchor stated, "All we can do is hope that the dozens of Pokémon on board are safe and sound. This has been ONBS News."
Michael, disturbed by this news but still with a mission, left the eating area. Michael then ran back down to his room and opened a box at the foot of his bed. Inside were three potions, Michaels stash just in case he had to go somewhere outside the lab. Michael then exited the lab from the door closest to his room, and started to walk to the border of the lab's grounds.
Deciding it wouldn't hurt to ponder a bit, he thought back to the news cast. It wasn't unheard of for ships to disappear, but it was the first time one had disappeared near Orre in a long time. On top of that, they can't find any evidence to show how or why such a large ship disappeared.
Michael shook these dark thoughts out of his mind. He walked over to his scooter, let his Eevee out of its Pokeball, allowed the Eevee to hop up onto the handlebars, and then mounted his scooter. It had been a while, but he was sure he could find Dr. Kaminko's manor soon.
As the teenager drove away from the lab, a pair of eyes watched him from the trees and immediately dismissed him of ever being a threat. Little did the owner of the eyes know that the fourteen-year old boy looking for his sister would become the largest threat to their plans.
Michael's Team:
Eevee: Lv: 12. Moves: Tackle, Bite, Sand Attack, Tail Whip