Chapter 1: Starting the Fire
"Professor, have the kids arrived yet?" A young intern asked his boss, a hulking blonde, Nordic man in a large lab coat that barely reached his waist.
The man turned around and looked at his intern with his slightly bloodshot blue eyes, which were normally fixated on his research and bloodshot from late nights spent in the lab.
"Professor? Professor Fern?" The intern asked.
"I told you, just call me Isaac. By the way, yes, a young brown haired boy arrived and took a Snivy about an hour ago. He said he wanted Snivy due to it being much faster than the other two. They're barely kids, though, they're almost 16." Professor Fern replied.
Just as he finished his sentence, another boy that looked to be around 15 walked in.
"Hello, Professor. I'm Alex, and I'm here for my starter Pokémon. What are my choices?"
"Well met. I'm afraid someone already took our Snivy, but there's a Tepig or an Oshawott if you so choose to have them." The Professor replied to Alex matter-of-factly.
"Good thing I wanted a Tepig!" Alex laughed.
"Alright then, looks like we're off to a good start! Your Tepig knows Tackle and Tail Whip, by the way." Fern said, waving to him as he left the lab.
"Thanks, Professor! I'll take good care of him!" Alex called to him as he exited the lab, excited to start a new journey.
On his way out, Alex nearly ran into a short, brown-haired girl that looked like she was around his age.
"Excuse you, dork." She snarled at the unwitting boy.
"Uhhh... Terribly sorry..." Alex started backing away.
"Wait here. I'm going to get my Pokémon, and then I'll crush you in a battle with it." The girl derisively sneered at Alex, who was stunned by the girl's sudden challenge.
"Uhhh... there's only an Oshawott left." Alex half-heartedly called to her, but she was already inside the lab. She came out just as quickly as she rushed in, her brown eyes seeming to ignite with excitement as she sent out her newly acquired Oshawott to battle. He was momentarily stunned, but he sent out his Tepig, who seemed somewhat confused by the sudden activity and being sent out into battle.
"Tepig, use Tackle!" Alex called out to his Pokémon, who started running at the Oshawott recklessly.
"Shelly, hit it headlong! Tackle as well!" The girl called out. The two Pokémon were about to collide when a pair of Pidove blew them away with a Gust attack.
"Alright, let's postpone the battle! These Pidove need to be taken care of, NOW!" The girl yelled, before motioning to her Oshawott to attack.
"TACKLE!" The two trainers yelled in unison, as their Pokémon struggled to hit the quickly flying and strangely aggressive Pidove. Eventually, the girl's Oshawott grazed the wing of a Pidove, causing it to lose altitude for just long enough for Tepig to hit it head-on with a full-power Tackle. The Pidove was not unconscious but it made no move to get up. The other Pidove continued to relentlessly attack but it was eventually sent flying into the bushes by a Tackle from Oshawott. Alex thought he heard a distinct rustling, but he figured it was probably the Pidove getting up and fleeing. Meanwhile, the girl took a Poké Ball from her belt and captured the remaining Pidove without too much struggling on the Pidove's part.
"It would probably be best if we battle another time. Do you have a TMA?" The girl asked Alex.
"Trainer Mobile Assistant, right? Yeah, one sec." Alex pulled out his phone and gave it to the girl.
The girl then gave the phone back to Alex after typing into it for a few seconds. "Gotta run, I have some training to do and gyms to beat!" She giggled mischievously before taking off down the path.
Alex looked at the phone and saw the Girl's Trainer card pop up on the screen.
Marcia Desmond, age 15. Pokémon: Oshawott ("Shelly"), Pidove ("Aero"). Trainer for 2 hours. 0 Badges.
He couldn't help but think about how, now that he actually got a decent look at her on her trainer card, that she was actually really pretty. Not that a pretty girl could thwart his plans to become Pokémon League Champion. It's not like he actually liked her or something, anyway, right? Alex shook these thoughts out of his head as he looked at the map function on his TMA.
"The easiest way to go is through Elderwood Trail... Okay. Maybe I can catch a Pokémon or two on the way." Alex muttered to himself as he wandered off into the woods with his Tepig trotting along beside him.
Unbeknownst to him, he was being watched by a frustrated man in a black hoodie that obscured his face, a purple crescent moon on the part of the hood overtop his eyes, his head poking out over the bushes obscuring his torso. "The device seemed to work, but the Pokémon here are evidently too weak to cause any major disturbance. Those two trainers took down the Pidove I loosed on them... Oh well. Better get back with the field reports before they get too impatient with me." Silently, he slunk into the shadows of the forest that shielded him from view, leaving nobody the wiser.