Disclaimer: Pokémon .. yeah. Not mine.
Chapter Two
"The line between Humanity and Insanity are often crossed. But beware, once crossed … there is no way back."
Adrian Howard, convicted murderer. (20th of March, 2530)
Carter Family Home, Nacrene City , April 19th 2523
Adam was standing in his backyard, staring intently at Alexander before picking something out of his pocket.
"Let's see what it has to say about you," Adam mumbled as he aimed the small device at his Ponyta.
Contrary to popular belief, Failsafe trainers were not given a pokédex at the start of their journey. All of Unova's trainers were handed an Unova standard issue c-gear. Capable of scanning a pokémon to see their moves, status, gender and more and it could receive a signal from about anywhere in Unova. They started handing freely them out after a boy died in a cave, unable to call for help.
"Ponyta, male .. yes already knew that. Tail whip, Growl, Tackle and … Hypnosis? Flame wheel?" Adam exclaimed as he watched the lazily grazing Ponyta that didn't seem fazed at all from his sudden, uncharacteristic outburst.
"Must be those egg moves they talked about, weird combo though. I could probably work with that," Adam said to himself as he scratched his head before pocketing his c-gear again.
"Okay," Adam said as he grabbed the book lying innocently in the grass next to his feet, "Let's start checking."
He started flipping through the pages, each and every one of them filled with a neat handwriting until he reached 'In case of getting a fire-pokémon' as he grabbed a pencil from his other pocket.
Adam started scribbling on the pages, adding stuff here and there and occasionally writing a 'Done' after some of the points. Writing down things was his thing, Adam did it for as long as he could remember. This book held his everything, from what he thought was a valid survival plan for a nuclear war to a detailed guide on how to mend clothes. It was all hand written and he kept adding things through the various years. It also held his check lists, a detailed map of Unova and a list of various numbers he could call in case of an emergency.
"So, Alexander .. " Adam began awkwardly as he watched his Ponyta, "I don't really like fire-pokémon seeing how they tend to put things on fire. And us humans aren't really made for that, nor are books, or electronics .. or grass .. and forests .."
His voice trailed off as he saw himself setting fire to Unova's forests and plains, not a good idea.
"So, if you refrain from setting things on fire without vocal permission from me, I'll let you walk alongside me for the duration of the journey. Deal?"
Alexander watched Adam for a while, his brown eyes drilling holes into Adam's green before he slowly nodded his head.
Adam sighed, relieved that that went well enough for his tastes, before adding another thing.
"I'm going inside now .. just .. don't burn down our backyard okay?"
With that Adam rushed back inside, slamming the glass door closed behind him as watched his little brother walk up towards him. His plush Patrat dangling from his tiny hand as he watched Alexander with big brown eyes as he put his thumb in his mouth.
"Whas'da, 'Dam?" he asked, voice muffled as he refused to remove his thumb.
"That's a Ponyta, Tom," Adam said gently as he ruffled his little brother's dusty curls, "From Kanto."
"Cwool," Tom mumbled as he pressed his nose against the glass door and continued staring at Alexander.
"Yeah, cool," Adam mumbled before he rushed up the stairs, intent on finding out more about Ponyta as a specie.
Adam quickly pressed the power button on his laptop, his notebook faithfully lying on his desk next to the laptop. He would miss the old thing, but a laptop had no place in a pokémon journey. Too many ways for it to break, lose power or just get stolen. Besides, they didn't have Wi-Fi on the road either. So, totally useless.
"Ponyta," Adam mumbled as he scrolled down the page filled with search-engine results before finding a promising link from Unova's own department of Pokémon Regulation and Information.
"Ponyta is a pokémon most commonly found in Kanto's plains and grasslands though some have been found roaming Mt. Silver. They are commonly used in races or by trainers to enhance their own mobility.
Warning: Any trainer trying to ride a Ponyta must first get himself a set of fire-proof tack and clothes to prevent burns. Also, trainers are recommended to only ride a Ponyta when they are not too tall or heavy in comparison to the Ponyta.
Their diet mainly consists of various grasses, leaves and the occasional berries. In winter months we advise trainers to provide extra food such as hay, nutrient blocks and general fire-pokémon food though this is optional. Trainers are advised not to feed a Ponyta meat, it causes colic and disrupts their digestion process. Also, letting them drink salt water is not recommended for the same reason.
Like all other pokémon, Ponyta need exercise. A Ponyta can reach speeds up to 90 miles per hour whereas a full-grown Rapidash reaches up to 150m/h. A Ponyta is capable of making sharp turns and stopping swiftly after reaching their top speed though letting a Ponyta run full-speed through a forest is not recommended for obvious reasons. A Ponyta is capable of jumping a maximum of 5'5 feet high and up to a distance of 6 feet. Either letting them run around for a period up to three-and-a-half hours or keeping a healthy training regime when using as a battle-pokémon will suffice.
We recommend you to have your Ponyta checked out by a Nurse Joy once each year for influenza like viruses and other diseases though it is not mandatory. A Ponyta or Rapidash only need to have their hooves checked out when cracks appear diagonally on them, if this is not the case they are fine. Also, if your Ponyta's core temperature exceeds 58.76 degrees Centigrade it is most likely fighting of a disease and we recommend a full check-up in the nearest pokécenter. If that is not available, feeding them small amounts of Lum, Sitrus and Oran berries to improve their immune system.
Ponyta are mainly a visual-oriented pokémon, they rely on eyesight more often than not. In case of sudden blindness a Ponyta will either rampage and attack anything it can find or run away blindly which can quite possibly cause harm to itself. We advise trainers, breeders and coordinators to gently ease their Ponyta into experiencing the loss of sight so a Sand-Attack or stray piece of cloth does not become a disaster.
Wild and tamed Ponyta are generally playful and docile. They tend to kick at things behind them and may bolt when faced with a scary situation. Older Ponyta or Ponyta close to evolving will tend to be more violent and competitive up to the point of chasing around other pokémon before engaging them in battle. This may be seen as predatory behaviour of a young carnivorous-pokémon, 'playing with food', but is in fact a way to show off speed, agility and battle prowess to either its trainer or a potential mate.
A Ponyta's owner is advised to register the pokémon at the nearest pokécenter and invest in fire proof equipment. Also, we advise extreme caution when in forests or other areas where fire spreads quickly."
Adam pressed the 'print' button as he stood up from his chair and walked over to his window, overlooking the backyard. He saw Alexander quietly grazing on the grass as his fiery tail swished from side to side in quiet contentment. Tommy was standing a few feet away, watching in silent, child-like awe as Alexander grazed. It was quite funny, how his little brother did like pokémon but would probably grow out of that the moment he grew older, like so many others. Adam never liked them himself, the sight of something so big and dangerous not endearing the sometimes cute creatures to him. He was indifferent to them now though, he had to be. One can't work as a pilot is he's afraid of heights.
Adam walked over to his desks again, grabbed the piece of paper he just printed and folding it neatly before tucking it into his notebook. No use in copying it all down on paper now, too much work. He had other things to do, like re-budgeting again to scrap the food and change it with grasses, notably less expensive, and to add winter food. He'd do it some other time, on a rainy day when he's stuck in a pokécenter or something. But nevertheless, it's good to be prepared. After all, he wanted to be relatively successful at this.
And so Adam started writing again, erasing parts and adding to others as he cursed Unova's policy on foreign pokémon. It proved quite annoying at times like these, more work and all. But it had its usefulness every now and then. Unova was the only region where trainers were given a strict no-release policy for any foreign pokémon. It kept pokémon bloodlines strong and pure though some of the rarer pokémon often had inbreeding problems. But since the decrease in trainers these problems became few and far between only to rise every now and then around the time failsafe trainers set out. It was the same for any Unovan pokémon in other regions, they were not allowed to be released.
"Adam, your Ponyta is leaving some unwanted gifts on your mother's lawn!" Adam suddenly heard his father yell from downstairs and he pushed his chair back from his desk as he hurried to the window. There, next to one of the ugly garden-gnomes lay a fresh heap of Ponyta-poo.
"Got it .. " Adam mumbled, more to himself than to his dad as he forced himself to the stairs, dragging his feet the entire time.
Note to self, Adam thought as he shovelled the dung into the garbage bin next to the shed with a grimace, find funds to cover both air fresheners and portable flamethrower. I may quite possibly have a portable chemical-weapon on my hands if I don't.
Clearing in front of the Nuvema Town Laboratory, Nuvema Town, April 20th 2523
It was set-out day, traditionally held in the respective Region's starting town. There were dozens of cameras being set up and reporters swarming around to interview the new and enthusiastic trainers. They had rehearsed it about five times, when to let your pokémon out and throw their pokéballs up. When to charge forward, when to stop and where to line up to get back to your own region when the whole ordeal was over. It was very fake, rehearsed and not to mention troublesome. Highly so.
"Hullo," a voice from Adam's right said as a lanky, bushy haired blonde girl pushed through the swarm of other trainers, "Ah'm Jill, ye've got a Ponyta right?"
"Err .. yeah?" Adam responded awkwardly as he watched the girl, she wore a chequered shirt and with overalls that had the pants rolled up to her knees and a pair of huge western boots adorned her feet. He almost pictured her with a cowboy hat and a pitchfork before dismissing the image.
"Mah cousins Joe 'n Ed have one of those on their farm, Ah was just wonderin' what yer gonna use it for," She said in a hard-to-miss Johto drawl.
"Battling, you know .. average trainer stuff," Adam stated, "How did you remember I was the one with the Ponyta?"
"Ah've got one of those pictogramical memories or that's what Auntie says," Jill said as she scratched her head.
"Photographic memory, you mean," Adam said, baffled as to why she couldn't remember that despite claiming to have a 'pictogramical' memory.
"Sure, photographic .. pictogramical .. yer city folks are all the same. Always creatin' more stupid words for us farm folks to remember. I aint no genius and I aint likin' yer stupid words," Jill ranted as she threw her hands in the air and stomped her feet.
"Okay .. sure," Adam mumbled, itching to get away from the crazy girl.
"So, how'd yer like bein' a Failsafe-trainer ehh?" she asked, suddenly as calm as ever, "Daddy says it's to be expected 'f me, Ah never went to those fancy schools like yer city folks. Ah learned like any good girl from her daddy should, milkin' Miltank 'nstead of readin' stupid books. Can't blame em for wantin' me gone, those government fella's."
"I don't really care," Adam admitted as he suppressed his eye twitch caused by the girl's sudden switch in mood, "I'll get paid, which is good. So yeah .. not much."
"Ah yer one of them greedy fella's then, eh? Cousin Larry hates 'em ya know, used to send his Arcanine at 'em but had to stop 'cause the police told him he couldn't just torch them bailiffs. They took his Arcanine 'n then Cousin Larry got himself a gun 'n now he shoots at them but 'cause he's a terrible shot he never hits 'em," Jill rambled merrily as her hands made a shooting motion before he directed her brown eyes back at Adam, "Yer not greedy then, are ye? Ah really hate 'em too and ah'll send out Billy if ah must."
"Who's Billy?" Adam asked before his voice was cut off by a monotone voice stating they had to get in their positions. He saw Jill wave at him before she disappeared in the crowd again
Adam sighed as he got to where he was supposed to stand too, next to an obese girl with pigtails and a short boy with glasses that shot him a downright evil look before huffing and sticking his nose in the air. The camera crews were busy covering every possible angle on them from the ground while a helicopter zoomed above them. Adam kept his face carefully calm, not wanting to get a close up and have the whole world see him cry or do something embarrassing. Even though he tried, he couldn't keep himself from sneezing and the yawn that followed, he just hoped no one zoomed in on him then.
"And now, on this glorious day, we let our newest generation of Failsafe trainers out into the wild so they may grow as persons and experience life!" President Casey said through the microphone as his voice rang through the clearing while he stood on the make-shift stage, "On the count of three!"
"One."
Pokéballs were thrown in the air, breaking open in what seemed like one, huge blast of red light as 500 different pokémon were called out of their pokéballs. Some stayed airborne, flapping around wildly while others fell to the ground and looked around in confusion. And others, mostly water types, had to be held by their trainers as they couldn't move on land.
Alexander stared at Adam in obvious confusion, Adam just shook his head and waited for the sign.
"Two."
Breaths were held, looks were shared and as the group readied themselves to start running.
"Three."
A gun was fired at that exact moment but no one paid attention to it as they broke out in an all-out sprint like instructed. Pokémon running along in confusion as they stormed down the dirt path leading towards the wide world.
A scream broke out from the spectators as faces and cameras turned to capture the chaos unfolding behind the fences.
In millions of households around the world the television screens showed the same message, Due to maintenance problems we are unable to continue airing.
A/N.
Another chapter, after much delay.
To clear things up.
1. If it's so bad to work with pokémon, why are there still farms?
People need food, dairy and protection (in case of Cousin Larry's Arcanine), which is perfectly normal for the general public.
2. Jill is a stereotype farmgirl/cowgirl/whatever.
Yes, yes she is. Kudos for anyone recognizing her (or her family members).
3. Who's Billy?
A rainbow-coloured Eevee that can tapdance.
Anyway, thank you for reading and a special thanks to Tanon and Omega the Omniscient for reviewing and adding me to your alerts. I really hope I lived up to your expectations of not having this degenerate into another standard pokémon-journey fic.
