Chapter Two
Outside my house, Bianca had to rush off to do something and I had a sneaking suspicion that I knew what it was. Her father's attitudes were well known to all of us, particularly when he'd start shouting at Bianca about how he didn't want her leaving town for anything, or going anywhere without clearing it with him first, or how she wasn't able to do anything on her own.
There were moments, listening to him, that I just wanted to deck him. Did he think she was going to stay a toddler forever? Did he think that he could just hide her under an Everstone and she'd be his little girl for the rest of her life? What did he expect her to do if something happened to him?
Like had happened to my dad.
I still heard Mom crying at night, particularly on the first day of winter. Dad had gone out to go fishing with his Pokemon and… well, they never came back. The mere fact that after that she's still willing to let me walk out the front door with only a single Pokemon at my side… well, she's got more courage than a great many others I know. Myself included.
All three of our mothers, though, had been planning something with Professor Juniper for a while. It was a tradition, a rite of passage, for teenagers to leave home with Pokemon and return, or not, as adults. It was how the young found their own places in the world. It was a much better idea than what passed as transitioning to adulthood where I came from originally. At least it was a demarcation point for most.
And we had Pokemon with us, so that limited the amount of actual trouble we could get into.
Cheren and Bianca were waiting for me outside the lab. The tearstreaks on Bianca's face tore at my heart and I reached out to hug her. "You're a Trainer, now," I murmured, "and you can be a good one. I believe in you."
She murmured back. "I find your faith in me disturbing." We both had to chuckle softly. It was an old joke between us, even if Bianca didn't get it like I did.
Cheren rolled his eyes. He never did understand the little things that Bianca and I did because we were friends. He was so no-nonsense and focused that the concept of in-jokes and private references went over his head. And right now he was rather impatient to get going on the journey that we all knew that we were about to embark upon. "We shouldn't keep Professor Juniper waiting like this."
I nodded and wrapped one arm around Bianca's shoulders. "Come on, let's see what all this is leading up to, okay?"
She nodded and the three of us entered the building together.
Sure enough, Professor Juniper was waiting for us as we entered the lab and she was in rare form. I swore I could see her eyes glitter in humor and self-satisfaction as she saw me carrying the Tepig and Bianca cooing over her Snivy, who was playing up to it like the master manipulator that I knew he could be. She'd planned it.
The thought occurred to me, watching them, that if Jeremiel were a Trainer, he'd have a Snivy. The two were like peas in a pod for manipulating people.
The Professor then insisted on introducing herself as if we hadn't grown up seeing her every day. I had to wonder if what she had for us was really that world-changing that it made her this flustered. This felt like something more than just three teenagers leaving home to become adults.
Okay, okay, I'm not stupid and I am a storyteller by trade. Of course I knew something was up. The way she insisted on introducing herself… it felt like the start of a story, or a game. At that point I had some very pointed suspicions of just where and when that angel of mine had dropped me off.
I used to work in the Electronics Department of the local retail superstore. The same department with the movies and the videogames. So yeah, I had a very large piece of my mind to give Jeremiel.
Sure enough, she had a task for us, a deceptively simple task. We were to travel and meet as many of the types of Pokemon in Unova as we could. I just about groaned. It was a tailor-made excuse to visit every single city and town and everything in between.
Not that it wasn't a legit excuse. The idea of cataloging native wildlife is not a new one and it is the first step to understanding an ecosystem. But for crying out loud, she was giving a Pokedex to me! And I have archivist and scholar tendencies in my blood!
I could just about throttle that angel. He knew. He knew that completing this thing was going to keep me here until the damn thing was done, however long that took. What in the world was going through his head when he set this up? Did he expect me to simply settle down and spend a lifetime here?
She interrupted my swirling thoughts by noticing our Pokemon… and the fact that we'd already been battling with them. Bianca and I both blushed brightly in embarrassment. Cheren was as stone-faced as ever. He never showed his embarrassment, if he even ever felt it. Apparently, though, it was a good thing for us, because she could tell that our Pokemon were beginning to trust us.
I could hear my Tepig grunting with laughter as he sat on my shoulder. She's not slow, this one. I like her, Trainer! This journey will be fun for both of us!
Her next question, though, caught me by surprise, though it really shouldn't have. I couldn't very well go around calling my friend "Tepig" when that was his breed, not his true name. I thought for a moment about what to call him, as I heard Bianca name her Snivy "Laural". I liked that name… but I didn't know what to call my friend.
He snorted in my ear, sounding very much like a cough for attention. Trainer, I am Cho Ham. A warrior does not hide behind false names unless necessity demands it… which it does not right now.
I smiled, breathing a bit easier. "Professor, my Tepig's name is Cho Ham."
Professor Juniper had us meet her outside of town for her demonstration of how to actually catch a Pokemon. She'd explained the process in detail before, the capture system and how the Pokeballs were made to hold the Pokemon in comfort and such. But she'd never actually shown us the process before. Capturing a Pokemon meant making a friend and that was something not to be done lightly.
When we found her, she was standing in an area where the grass grew deep and thick. We'd always been warned to stay out of the deep grass, because that was where Pokemon hid. We didn't have Pokemon of our own to meet them in battle… until now.
It was startling when the Patrat jumped out at us, chittering in challenge. Look out! Lookout!
Okay… so maybe Cho Ham and Laural really were very extraordinary because the Patrat's speech was as limited as that of Cheren's Oshawott. He'd declined to give him a name, which I thought was rather silly, but it wasn't *my* Oshawott.
Professor Juniper called out her Minccino to meet the Patrat and we watched with interest as the skilled Pokemon weakened the newcomer so that the Pokeball that the Professor threw was able to capture it easily.
As a starting gift, we were each given five Pokeballs and told to meet her on the other side of the road, in Accumula Town. Professor Juniper had a few more things to show us before we could be on our way and on our own. Bianca wanted to make a competition of things, see how many Pokemon we could catch on the route.
We agreed and then we parted ways… and I could feel my breath tremble with nervousness as I looked out at Route One and realized that I was on my own, with only Cho Ham at my side.
What is this trembling, Trainer? Cho Ham asked loudly, grunting with surprise. This is exciting! This is what a warrior lives for! The challenge of a journey worth taking! I am Cho Ham, the greatest of Tepigs, and I shall battle anyone in your name! Together we will empty these fields and build an army!
I had to laugh. "No, Cho Ham, I don't want an army. One, maybe two friends from these fields. No more. I'm not greedy."
He grunted again in acceptance of my decision. Very well, but the journey will not take itself. You must move your feet!
I chuckled again and then sighed and took a reluctant step forward into the deep grasses outside town. The steps got easier the more I took because he was right. I was a Pokemon Trainer. This is what I did.