16Doobop13 Presents
Perils of Pokemon Hard Mode 2
Hearts of Gold
Chapter 1: A Flint to Start the Fire
My name, is Hank Coro, and it's been a good half a year since I last set foot near a pokemon that wasn't my girlfriend Lyra's Marill. The reason being of how I completely failed at a Nuzlocke attempt of the Kanto region half a year ago. I was really going strong, and then it all fell apart. Here I am in Johto though, and there is no Nuzlocke rule here, so now I can start my first day as an intern at Elm's pokemon lab with a smile on my face.
"Hank! It's good to see you again!" Said my Dad, who was just stopping by to congratulate me on my new job.
"Good to see you too Dad!" I beamed. "How's everything back home?"
"Well, Harold is super pumped up about how he'll be turning 10 soon. He says that when he does, he'll come over to this lab and go on a journey through Johto!"
"That's good for him." I said, feeling happy for the first time in a while.
"There he is!" Professor Elm said in a joking manner as he came down the steps that led to his upstairs study. "You ready for your first day Hank?"
"Am I ever!" I said excitedly, mainly because this job paid really well.
"Alright, you have fun son." Dad said as he gave me hug and then surfed away on his Swampert.
"So… Down to business." Professor Elm said. "I have three pokemon in these poke balls here." Professor Elm pointed to three different poke balls. I couldn't tell what pokemon was in which poke ball. "Your task is two-fold. The first one is receiving a discovery Mr. Pokemon made. And the second one is noting what your pokemon does, because, recent research has made scientists all over the world believe that pokemon kept outside of their poke balls develop differently than those kept inside."
"Who's Mr. Pokemon?" I asked.
"He lives up on Route 30. You can't miss his house. Now, choose a pokemon to be your partner. Oh but first, I can't stress this enough… Our lab doesn't have the budget to cover an unauthorized use of the pokemon center by a foreigner so you'll have to make do with these until you somehow obtain a Johto Pokedex okay?"
"Yeah, sure." I said as I picked up the poke ball in the middle.
"Oh, so you chose Cyndaquil?"
"I guess." I said as I sent out the Cyndaquil inside the poke ball.
"He'll probably take a great liking to you." Professor elm said. "He's the only one left of his kind in the region." He whispered.
"Hey, it'll be okay, buddy." I said to the little guy as I picked him up and held him in the same fashion Lyra held Marill.
"B-Buddy?" The Cyndaquil asked. "That's not my name is it?"
"Of course not!" I said. "How about…. Um…" I looked around the room until I saw Professor Elm's fireplace. "How about Flint?"
"Okay!" He said and we walked out toward Route 29, but before we could go, I was stopped by seeing a familiar face standing outside the lab.
"Silver?" I mumbled under my breath. The boy turned his head, and then yelled at me.
"What are you looking at? Get lost!"
Flint ran off, and I took off after him. If he fainted out there, Elm would have my ass.
….
I was able to reach Mr. Pokemon's house easily thanks to the Running Shoes I'd kept from my Kanto Journey, and I still had some money left over too, and I used it to buy stuff like Potions and Antidotes. I was disappointed about how there were no Poke balls, but oh well. As we entered Mr. Pokemon's house, we were greeted with hearty cheers.
"Thank goodness you're here!" Mr. Pokemon said joyously. "I found…this…egg!" He said as he handed me a pokemon egg.
"This is your 'big discovery'? This is just a pokemon egg!"
"It's not like any egg I've ever seen." Mr. Pokemon shrugged. "But oh my goodness, that Cyndaquil really likes you!"
"Hank and I have barely talked!" Flint argued. "Hank is your name right?" I nodded.
"That's cute. It's saying how much it loves you!"
"N-no he isn't…" I said, questioning Mr. Pokemon's sanity.
"Look, kid, it's just that this guy wanted me to tell you that." Mr. Pokemon pointed to the man sitting at the desk in the corner, and suddenly everything was explained. The man was Professor Oak.
Professor Oak was the first pokemon Professor I'd ever gotten a pokemon from, and was also the grandfather of a rival I had back in Kanto, plus, he molested pokemon. "Flint, get back in your ball." I said seriously. "This man is a monster."
"I'm not taking orders from you!" Flint said. "You technically don't own me yet. Elm still does."
"Hank! Great news! I updated your pokedex! You have a Johto I.D. now!"
"That's…great?" I didn't know what was going on, so I turned to Flint and said "Let's get back to Elm."
The second we stepped outside, my phone rang. It was Elm.
"Hank! Quick! Quick! You have to get back to the lab ASAP and for the love of Arceus, make sure Flint doesn't faint."
"S-Sure!" I said. "We have to go Flint. Come on!"
"Right behind you." He replied.
…
We were about to get back onto Route 29 when we were stopped by the kid that was near Elm's lab earlier that day. "Hello again, Hank Coro. If I might be the first, you're birthday is tomorrow. So, I'll wish it to you now."
"You…you are that kid from the Indigo League."
"Oh, I'm much more than that." He said. "I was the last Rocket Grunt initiated before you made Giovanni disband us. When he did, he made me the heir to the throne of Team Rocket, after we get back on our feet."
"Look, I don't have time for this so-"
"Totodile, Scratch!"
"Agghh! Flint Smokescreen."
The smoke cleared and Silver stared in awe at how Flint was able to best his Totodile so easily. "Now, I need to get back to Elm's lab. Step aside 'Rocket Grunt'."
Silver shoved me past him and took off toward Route 30.
….
As we arrived at Elm's Lab, Lyra tackle hugged me into the wall. "Thank goodness you're okay!" She said.
"What's going on?" I asked Professor Elm urgently. Next to him was a police officer.
"We have two problems Hank…" Professor Elm said. "The first one is that my Totodile was stolen!"
"Hey! I battled a kid with a Totodile! His name was Silver and he had long red hair."
"Thanks." The cop said as he left.
"You battled the Totodile?" Elm asked urgently. "Is Flint okay?"
"Yeah, he's right here." I said holding up Flint.
"Sup." Flint said to Elm.
"Hey Flint… Do you trust Hank?" Elm asked. Flint gave him a so-so sign.
"It will have to do. Hank, I'm giving ownership of Flint to you okay?"
"I never agreed to that!" Flint argued.
"Neither did I!" I said agreeing with him for once. "By the way, Mr. Pokemon wanted me to give you this egg."
"We have bigger problems Hank."
"What? What could possibly constitute a full grown man in a fit of fear? It can't be that bad."
"Actually Hank…" Lyra said. "It is."
"You can at least tell me what's going on. I'll fix it no matter what it is."
"No. You can't. I'm not putting you through that again."
"What Lyra? Not putting me through what?"
"Hank… The Johto Region has been taken over by Kanto Officials so…"
"Oh….no…"
"Yes. The entire Johto region has been trapped in Nuzlocke."
