Ch 2: Get the Show on the Road
It was late in the morning on route 101 in Hoenn, and a young woman was ridding her bike down the path before she reached the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean.
She saw an air plane flying down towards the small port below.
"Looks like I'm almost to Littleroot down, that little Duskull detour didn't put me off too much." She said before she kept riding down the path.
Twenty minutes later the plane had landed and Jason stepped out of the terminal. He looked around at the harbor city around him.
He took a deep breath as he tried to take in the aura of Hoenn. To his surprise he felt a bit of uneasiness and conflict in the general aura of the region. At least ,more than Kanto.
"Huh." he said.
"Ah there you are."
Jason turned to see a large man standing there. He had light skin with graying brownish hair and a beard. He wore a white lab coat with a dark blue shirt underneath, cargo shorts, and a pair of sandals.
Jason was a bit confused, not knowing if the man was talking to him.
"Jason if I'm correct."
"Yes." Jason said.
"Allow me to introduce myself, I am professor Birch. Your father spoke with me and asked me to help you get started on your journey here."
"Really."
"Yes, I am a professor starting trainers go to for their starter pokemon. I am also an expert in Pokemon habitats and distribution. But that's not why you're here. You're here to compete in the Hoenn league, I can get you registered, but only at my lab. I'll give you a ride there."
"Thank you professor." He lead Jason to a black jeep parked near the road.
"By the way I was told you already have a Charmander. It's been a while since I've seen such a young Charmander. Would you mind letting me see him."
"Sure." Jason said as he took out Charmander's black and blue pokeball.
Charmander came out and stretched, having just woken up.
Birch knelt down in front of Charmadner.
"Hmm" He said as he put his hands on his face and Charmander gave a slightly freaked out expression.
"This is a very healthy Charmander. Very well taken care of, and he looks like he comes from very strong parents too. Wait, is this one of your father's Charizard's children."
"Yes."
"Incredible, your father may have the second most powerful Charizard in the world."
Birch sat in the driver's seat while Jason sat in the passenger seat and Charmander sat in his lap.
"Here we go." Birch said as he slammed his foot onto the gas, hurling the jeep forward at full speed.
Jason wasn't expecting this, and held onto the sides of his seat as Charmander also gave a freaked out expression as he held onto Jason tightly.
Meanwhile at Birch's lab, a pair of lab assistants were watching over dozens of pokemon inside an enclosure .
"Alright we fed them all, now we can get ready for the professor and his granddaughter."
They walked inside to see someone else inside.
It was a man with shoulder length brown hair with black shades, in a white lab coat.
He was on the computer not noticing the other lab assistants as they walked in.
"Hey is that the new guy?" One asked.
"I thought he wasn't suppose to get here until Friday."
They walked over to him.
"Hey what do you think you're doing?" One asked.
"I'm uploading new data for professor Birch." He said not turning away from the screen.
One of the assistants stepped closer to the computer to see the man had some of the professor's most valuable research that he had worked hard to keep peering eyes away from until it was complete. He also saw a flash drive attached to the computer.
"Hey what do you think you're doing!" He shouted as he grabbed the man's arm.
The man turned to him and using his free arm pulled out an electric baton before smashing it across the lab assistant's face, hurling him onto the ground.
The other lab assistant stumbled backwards when the man took the flash drive from the computer and stepped towards him.
He desperately looked around for anything to defend himself, when he saw a brown satchel bag.
"Oh right!" he shouted as he desperately opened it to see 3 pokeballs inside.
He took the first one and hurled it forward.
A small Mudkip came out in front of him.
The man in the shades immediately took out a pokeball and hurled it forward. A Dustox came out and flew over him.
"Ok Mudkip use tackle!"
"Use gust."
"Tox!" Dustox shouted as he waved his wings, creating a gust of wind that slammed into Mudkip and hurled him back.
When Mudkip hit the ground he was unconscious as the lab assistant sweat dropped.
"Uhhhh, ok let's try Treecko!"
"Treecko!" Treecko shouted as he came out.
"Use Pound."
"Gust." Treecko leapt up and at Dustox only to be hurled back by a burst of wind and knocked out.
The lab assistant sweat dropped again, shaking as he reached for the last pokeball.
"Go Torchic!" He shouted.
A small Torchic came out and looked around the lab.
"Ok Torchic it's all up to you know, use Ember! Everything you've got!" The lab assistant shouted as he pointed at the Dustox.
The Torchic did nothing as the Lab assistant sweat dropped.
That was when the Torchic noticed something in the other man's hand.
"Torchic?" He said before rushing over, jumping up and snatching the flash drive in his beak, then running off and out of the lab through the open door.
"What!" The man in the shades shouted before he and his Dustox sprinted after Torchic.
The remaining Lab assistant sweat dropped again.
"Well this isn't how I thought this day would go."
Meanwhile Birch drove along a dirt road with ridges alongside it.
"We're almost there my boy."
"Almost." Jason said as he and Charmander kept hanging on as tight as they could.
"You're right, there is a faster way." Birch said before he made a sharp turn and drove straight up the side of the ridges then flew across the air before landing.
Charmander gave Jason an irritated look as he sweat dropped.
"Sorry."
Finally a small town came into sight when a townsfolk saw the jeep.
"Oh no! Birch in a car run!" He shouted as he ran inside his house.
Birch kept flooring it before a large laboratory came into sight.
"Here we are." He said before slamming on the breaks.
The jeep screeched to a halt before Birch stepped out.
"Home sweet home."
Jason and Charmander slowly got out, both feeling very sick.
"Ok, thank Reduka we didn't have a big breakfast." Jason said.
"Follow me inside and we'll get you registered. Also I wonder if my granddaughter is here yet."
"Granddaughter?"
"Oh right, I forgot to tell you. My Granddaughter is coming here today to pick her starter pokemon today. Maybe you'll get to meet her." They walked inside to see the lab was a mess, looking like a pokemon battle had happened inside.
They also noticed a lab assistant with a first aide kit beside him as he wrapped badges around another lab assistant's head.
"What the hell happened in here!? Did Michael's Aggron go on another temper tantrum!?" Birch shouted.
"We were attacked."
"What?" Birch and Jason said.
"Some man dressed as a lab assistant was taking your research. When Jake tried to stop him, he attacked with an electric baton. I tried to use the starter pokemon, but he knocked out Mudkip and Treecko with a Dustox. Then when I tried to use Torchic, he just snatched the flash drive and ran off."
"This is terrible. Someone comes to my lab, to steal my research. Then he attacks my assistants and my pokemon! I'll show him a thing or two." Birch said as he went to a closet and took out a case,
He opened the case to reveal a metal baseball bat with the name Birch in the center.
"The Birch anti creep stick!" He shouted as he held it up.
Jason and Charmander sweat dropped.
"It sounds like Torchic is in danger as well. We should probably go look for him too."
"No, it's much to dangerous for a 16 year old Jason."
"I can handle myself professor." Jason said.
"Alright fine, but if you see the man don't approach him. Find me and I'll take care of him with my anti creep stick."
Jason and Charmander sweat dropped again.
Elsewhere the young woman on the bike was continuing to ride her bike down the path as she got closer to Littleroot town.
"Almost there." She said.
As she rose past a small ridge, she didn't notice as a small Torchic leapt off the top and landed in her face.
"Ahh!" She shouted as she tried to regain control of her bike , but crashed again.
She slowly got up and saw Torchic in front of her.
"Ahh!" She shouted again as she tried to crawl away from him.
"Tor?" Torchic said as he slowly walked towards her.
"No stay way!" The girl said as the small fire bird got closer to her.
Finally he reacher her and turned his head to the side.
The girl stopped shaking and opened her eyes to see the Torchic wasn't doing anything but watching her.
"Huh?" She said.
"Torchic." He said as he looked up at her.
The girl slowly moved her hand closer and touched the side of the Torchic's head.
The Torchic didn't peck her, or make any jumping movements, he just kept looking at her.
The girl was a bit confused, when she noticed there was something inside his beak.
She looked closer and saw it was none other than a flash drive.
"Is that a flash drive?" She asked.
That is when she heard and saw a Dustox fly over the hill.
"Tox!" He shouted as looked down at Torchic.
The girl was now afraid again.
Moments later she saw a man with long hair , shades, in a lab coat walk to the top of the ridge.
He saw the Torchic with the flash drive in his beak.
"There you are. Dustox use Venoshock."
"Tox!" Dustox shouted as his eyes glowed purple and he unleashed a bolt of poison that crashed into Torchic, hurling him back.
"Oh no." The girl shouted in fear as she saw the Torchic hit the ground with a very painful expression.
Despite this, the Torchic slowly reached down and picked up the flash drive again.
"Still not giving up I see, very well. Finish him off Dustox." The man said.
Despite her fear, the girl picked up the Torchic in her arms and quickly got on her bike before riding away as fast as she could.
"After her!" The man shouted.
Elsewhere Jason and Charmander were searching route 101 for signs of Torchic or the man.
He looked down at his Charmander. Despite having a fresh start with this Charmander, he was still afraid of making the same mistakes he made with his other pokemon. His Bulbasaur, His Pidgeotto, and his Squirtle.
He had made so many mistakes with them, and now he didn't even have his father to check in on him.
He took a deep breath as he looked back around the trail.
When Charmander saw movement in a bush, he ran over to see if it was Torchic, but tripped on a rock and tumbled into the bush, crashing into a Poochyena.
Poochyena got up and growled at Charmander.
"Oh no, Charmander just back away from him."
Charmander didn't like this Poochyena growling at him and growled back.
The Poochyena responded by using Tackle and forcing Charmander to stumble backwards.
"Charmander use Ember."
"Char!" Charmander shouted as he opened his mouth and unleashed several small bursts of fire at Poochyena, only to have the Poochyena leap out of the way.
"No Charmander to the left!" Jason shouted.
Charmander quickly turned to the left and unleashed more fire.
That was when the Poochyena turned to face him.
"He's going to tackle you. Use Scratch." Charmander readied to scratch but to Jason's surprise, the Poochyena splashed sand into Charmander's eyes making him stumble backwards, unable to see.
Jason began to sweat as Poochyena ran at him to use Tackle.
"Now he's going to tackle , use Scatch."
Charmander thought otherwise, Jason was wrong before and kept giving him bad direction. Instead he decided to do what he wanted to do, and let out Ember.
Jason felt his heart sink when he saw Charmander disobey him and unleash Ember. Unable to see, the fires were sporadic and inaccurate, missing Poochyena before he slammed into Charmander , knocking him onto his back.
After doing this, the Poochyena ran off and Charmander wiped the sand out of his eyes.
He saw Poochyena run off and realized if he had listened to Ash he might have knocked Poochyena back.
His father had always told him about listening to his trainer, about how he didn't listen to Ash when he evolved. How he almost got them both killed, and literally got Ash scarred for life. Now he had disobeyed his trainer, just after they started.
At the same time Jason felt like he was out of breath. This was just how it started with his other 3 pokemon. Now it was starting again.
"Char." Charmander said as Jason noticed some tears in his eyes.
Jason knelt down in front of Charmander.
"Are you hurt?" He said as he saw some bruises on Charmander's stomach.
Charmander slowly looked up at Jason as he took a deep breath then touched his bruises with his hand. Jason's eyes glowed blue as his hand did as well. Charmander felt his bruises fade away.
Before Jason could pull his arm away, Charmander came forward and hugged him as Jason felt Charmander's tears.
"Alright , we both screwed up there. Let's just move on from this and find Torchic."
"Char!" Charmander said nodding.
Meanwhile the girl was still ridding as fast as she could with Torchic in her arm.
Close behind was the Dustox who unleashed a Gust when he got close enough that knocked the bike down and sent the girl tumbling off the bike with the Torchic beside her.
The man in the lab coat slowly walked closer to them.
He saw the Torchic still had the flash drive in his beak.
"Give me the Torchic!" He said.
The girl slowly tried to get up and pick up the Torchic.
"Never." She said.
"I found you!" They heard.
The man turned to see Birch running at him with a bat.
"Grandpa?" The girl said.
"Face the wrath of the Birch anti creep stick!" Birch shouted as he swung it at the man. Only to have him move to the side and jab the electric baton into Birch, shocking him and making him stumble onto the ground moaning.
"Now as I was saying." He started before the girl noticed a young man on the ridge. He looked about 16 with tan skin, a muscular build, thick raven black hair, and light blue eyes. He wore a dark grey shirt with black short sleeves and a pair of dark jeans.
Beside him was a young Charmander.
Jason saw professor Birch on the ground. He also saw the man in the lab coat and a young woman with a Torchic in her arms. The young woman looked about his age with light skin, grayish blue eyes, and navy black hair that went past her shoulders. She wore a black sleeveless top under a blue unbuttoned jacket, with dark blue short shorts with a gap between the top of her shots and the bottom of her shirt, leaving a portion of her stomach exposed, and a blue cloth tied around her head with a white pokeball symbol on it.
Jason turned to the man in the lab coat.
"I'm just going to say this once, walk away."
The man in the shades smiled.
"Venoshock."
"Charmander dodge and use Ember." Charmander used forward away from the incoming blast of poison before opening his mouth and unleashing several small blasts of fire at Dustox.
"Gust." The Dustox used his wings to blow the fire back at Charmander.
"Charmander move directly forward." Charmander did what he said , completely avoiding the redirected fire.
"Use Growl!"
"Char!" Charmander growled, reducing Dustox's attack.
"Confusion."
"Dust!" Dustox's eyes glowed blue as he lifted Charmander up with psychic energy and held him in front of him as he prepared to hurl him into the ground.
"Growl!""
"Char!" Charmander shouted as he weakened Dustox's power again. This allowed Charmander to move his arms freely.
"Scatch!"
Charmander slashes Dustox across the face.
This made Dustox loose focus and drop Charmander who landed on his feet.
"Ember."
"Dodge it!"
Dustox moved out of the way as the Embers continued flying and crashed into the girl's bike.
"Ahh! My bike!" She shouted.
Autumn felt the Torchic slowly raise his head and give Dustox an angry expression.
"Tor!" He shouted before dropping the flash drive to the ground and trying to get out of the girl's arms.
She saw this and let Torchic down.
"Get him Torchic!" She shouted.
"Tor chic!" He shouted as he let out a Ember that crashed into Dustox's back.
"Ember!"
"Char!" Charmander shouted as he also blasted Dustox's front with small bursts of fire.
Upon seeing this, the man in the lab coat raised his baton and sprinted at Jason.
The girl saw with unbelievable reflexes, Jason moved forward and blocked the man's attack with his forearm before slamming his fist into his face, making him stumble backwards. As he did the man came forward again only to have Jason grab his arm and move under him with a quick movement, taking his arm with him and causing the man to flip onto his back and roll away.
When he got up he saw that the combined Ember attacks had caused Dustox to be burned.
He also saw Jason kick the baton aside.
"This isn't over." The man said as he returned Dustox and ran off.
Jason considered pursuing him, but decided in the end not to.
"Char!" Charmander shouted , happy he managed to best Dustox with Jason.
Jason walked over to Birch who slowly got up rubbing the side of his head.
"That was unpleasant." He said
The girl also walked over.
"Grandpa are you ok?"
"Autumn, you were here? Thank heavens you weren't hurt. I'm ok." Birch said turning to Jason.
"Jason I'd like to introduce you to my granddaughter, Autumn. Autumn, this is Jason."
"Hello." Jason said.
"You burned my bike to a crisp." She said when Jason saw the bike and sweat dropped.
"Right, I uh." He started before the Torchic came up to Birch held the flash drive in the his beak.
"My research, thank you Torchic. Now let's get back to the Lab."
Back at the lab, Jason stood beside Autumn as Birch looked over Torchic and Charmander.
"Look I'm sorry about the bike." Jason stared before Autumn smiled.
"It's alright I was just joking. I don't really care about that after what I've been through today."
Jason didn't know what, but there was something about this girl Autumn, he felt something about her. Something he didn't feel in other people.
"Char!" Charmander said as he came back over to Jason.
He noticed that Autumn backed away a bit when Charmander came over to him.
"Are you ok?"
"I'm fine." She said nervously.
"Char!" Charmander said as Jason smiled at him.
"Yes you did good out there Charmander."
"How long have you had Charmander?" She asked.
"One day."
"Really? But you battled so well with him."
"That wasn't very great. We just did our best. Autumn, are you uncomfortable around pokemon?"
She looked nervous.
"Well I."
"Torchic, you're all better." Birch said.
"Torchic!" Torchic said before running over to Autumn.
"Torchic, I'm glad your better." She said not seeming nervous.
"Well now that we've gotten this taken care of I'm ready to get you both underway."
Birch said as he took out a pokedex from his computer.
"Well Jason I've done it, you are now registered in the Hoenn league."
"Thanks Professor."
"Now Autumn let's get you settled with your first pokemon."
"That's alright grandpa, I already know who I want." Autumn said as Torchic gave a happy expression.
"Torchic!"
"Well it looks like he'd like to come with you." He said as he gave her his pokeball and a pokedex.
"I'm so proud of you Autumn, starting your pokemon journey."
"I know, but now I'm not really sure what to do." She said sweat dropping.
"What?"
"I guess I never really thought about what I would do when I started my journey."
"Well Autumn there's lots of things, you can explore the region and all it's beauty, compete in the Hoenn league."
"I don't really know." She said.
"Well I know what I'm doing. I'm competing in The Hoenn league." Jason said.
"Char!".
Autumn looked back at Jason and his Charmander.
"Hey Jason, I know we just met. But I was wondering if maybe I could travel with you, at least until I know what I want to do with myself." She said.
Jason wasn't expecting that. In some regards, he was hoping he could have this journey alone , with just him and his pokemon. But he remembered the stories that his parents would tell them about their journeys, the friends they made. Maybe doing it alone wasn't the best option.
"Alright we can travel together."
"Well thank you Jason." Birch said as Autumn turned away from Jason and smiled with her eyes closed.
"Yes." She said.
Author's note
So we've been introduced to another main character,
As I said before, one's monday comes, I go back to class
So there isn't too much more here to say
So until next time, please review, comment, suggest , or ask(via PM)
