Chapter Four- New Family, Lost Friends
I sat on one of the sofas in the living room, the note held in my trembling hands. It was still folded; I couldn't bring myself to read what was written on the card. It was stupid but I felt that if I opened the note, I would be acknowledging that she had left me. Tears began to form in the corners of my eyes; my position meant that the drops of water fell on the piece of paper in my hands.
My father entered the room; he noticed the tears streaming down my face and on to the piece of paper,
"You really cared for her didn't you son?" he inquired, he didn't force me to tell him anything, it was a subtle invitation for sympathy. I nodded; he wrapped one arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his embrace. In his arms I felt a strange security, as if nothing that once would have hurt me could affect me anymore.
Pulling out of the embrace I finally felt strong enough to see what Sam had left me, unfolding the tear stained paper I saw she had left me with only four words: 'Don't follow me, please.' She signed the paper with a simple 'S'. The little ink that was used on the paper was slightly smudged by tears; it had been hard for her to write the note, that was something I suppose. Even though she had asked me not to follow her I had to, I knew where she was going; she was meeting her mother in ViridianCity. Sensing my actions my father laid a hand on my shoulder, looking back at him I could see sympathy in his eyes,
"How could you tell what I was going to do?" I inquired quietly,
"Simple, it's what I would have done." It was true his reason was simple, I was beginning to realise that I shared more with my father than just my appearance; I knew that I looked very similar to him but it was clear our personalities were similar as well. "c'mon, you don't honestly think this is the end for you two do you?" the man looked surprised as I gave a slight nod "Jai, your both trainers, it's inevitable that your paths will cross, it's just what happens on journeys." The older mans words consoled me. I had always been told that my father was a cocky young trainer, who believed that he was unbeatable, it was clear that the man had mellowed with age. "Why don't you go visit your great grandfathers grave, I know that was one of the reasons you chose to dock in PalletTown wasn't it?" he was right, as I left the door I turned and looked at my father,
"Thanks Dad, for everything." The man gave me a warm smile. I turned and left the lab, walking out to the pasture that my great grandfather was buried in.
As I wandered across the plain I thought of the little green shape I had seen earlier that day. I still couldn't understand it, but I knew that I had seen something. I resolved to ask about it when I got back to the lab, I was sure that my father would know what it was.
I approached the black marble gravestone, it was surrounded by flowers, he was loved, no doubt. Settling myself on the grass in front of the black headstone I began to read the engraving:
HERE LIES SAMUEL OAK
PROFFESOR, SCHOLAR, FATHER.
RESPECTED BY MANY PROFFESOR SAMUEL OAK
WAS TRULY ONE OF THIS GENERATIONS GREATEST MEN.
DIED AGED 84
PERSONAL NOTE-
BEWARE CORRUPTION OF THE VOICE
FROM THE FOREST WHICH THE NORTH WIND HAS FORSAKEN
The last section did confuse me; it did not seem to make sense. My great grandfather had been old when he had died, but he had not been senile. He had stayed the same genius he had always bee, working as Pokémon professor until his dying day. Then I saw something that shocked me even more, it was a dark green mark in the shape of a three fingered hand, surrounded by what looked like a singe mark. I thought it had been made by a Pokémon, yet another thing to ask my father. It amused me, I had 16 years of minimal contact with my father, but now I was with him the only things I was asking him about were recent developments, I should have so many other questions for him, but I didn't, I didn't feel like he owed me an explanation, he had grown up similarly with my grandparents leaving when he was young, he was raised by my great grandfather who was often busy as Pokémon professor.
I sat in that pasture looking at the gravestone for another hour thinking about everything that happened: getting Eevee, meeting Sam and Riley, being attacked and hospitalised, almost kissing Sam and her sudden departure. I didn't know how I felt about my journey at that point, I loved spending time with Eevee and meeting new people, but I was scared of what else might hurt me. Lost in my thoughts in the sunny field, I lay back onto the crisp grass. I lay there letting the warm sun heat my body, I decided to release Eevee and train, I needed something to take my mind off the disturbing thoughts.
Just as me and Eevee began I heard my father calling me from the lab. I abandoned training and ran back, Eevee at my heels. As I entered the lab my father was sat on one of the chairs, I walked and sat on the sofa. Looking on the table I saw what looked like a thin book covered in paper and a small wooden box.
"Jai, this is your inheritance from granddad." My father looked at me, he didn't seem upset to be giving this away, but he did look troubled.
"What's wrong Dad?" he looked up and wordlessly handed me the slim package,
"This was your great grandfather's sketchbook, when he was younger he was a Pokémon watcher," he had avoided the question, something was obviously wrong. I took the package and un-wrapped it. Inside was an A4 leather bound book, it looked worn, clearly it was very old. I opened it delicately and flicked through the pages of drawings, it fascinated me all these Pokémon that my great grandfather had seen. I wanted that. It was then that I decided to continue my journey. I kept looking through and came across a sketch of a Pikachu sleeping against another Pokémon; it was of similar size but looked very different. It had a large head which curled into a tip at the back. Its body was small with long arms and short legs. I slipped the book into my bag and looked back at the older man sat opposite me.
"The rest of your inheritance cannot be given to you yet. Gramps wanted me to give you a Pokémon which he had caught. The only Pokémon left that he caught is a starter Pokémon though." I understood, trainers weren't being given starter Pokémon anymore, I did not know why, only the Pokémon professors did. "I cannot tell you all the details but due to starter Pokémon's potential they are only being given to trainers who will not abuse their power. So I must test your skill. I already know you are kind of heart, but I still have not seen you battle, to determine whether you will raise it well. As I am the only other trainer around I will battle you to test your skill." This was what had been troubling him, but to be honest I couldn't wait, I knew he was a strong trainer so I wanted to test my progress,
"All right lets go dad!" I gave him a smile, his spirits lightened as we ventured to the battlefield which he had beaten Sam in only a few hours earlier.
Sending Eevee on to the battlefield I waited for my father's choice,
"All right, as you're starting with your first Pokémon I'll start with mine, let's go my old friend!" I could see my father was enjoying this as a Blastoise appeared in front of me. "Use water gun Blastoise!" a jet of water shot towards Eevee,
"Dodge then use shadow ball!" Eevee began running to the side to avoid the jet of water and launched the dark mass at the turtle Pokémon, it hit causing the giant Pokémon to stumble,
"Skull bash Blastoise!" Blastoise began running towards Eevee, I knew it was stronger so I had to use tactics to stand any chance of winning.
"Eevee, jump on to Blastoise's back and tackle it from behind!" Eevee did as I said and ended up behind Blastoise, but as it began to tackle it glowed pink, it shocked me to say the least. Reading my expression my father called to me,
"You certainly have trained with Eevee, that's covet." The covet attack hit Blastoise who fell forward. With Blastoise on the ground my father called the battle.
"Jai, would you like your new Pokémon now?" he said with a wide grin spreading across his face, I broke out in to a smile
"Do you mean I passed?"
"Yes you certainly have trained Eevee well."
We entered the lab; my father picked up the wooden box and handed it to me. I opened it, inside was a small pokeball, I enlarged it then threw it into the air, upon the floor sat a blue and green Pokémon,
"Bulba?" I was thrilled,
"It's a Bulbasaur, thank you so much dad!" I ran and hugged him,
"I wish gramps had lived to see this day," he said as he buried his face into my thick head of hair. I pulled out of the embrace and released eevee,
"Eevee, this is Bulbasaur, he'll be travelling with us from now on." Eevee bounded towards the new Pokémon and they began to play happily together, I turned back to my father,
"Where is your XTransceiver son, I have something else as a gift from me." I handed him the small orange device, he inserted a small chip, "that is a condensed pokedex; while it will not give you information on the species as a whole it will tell you basic information about a Pokémon like level or moves."
"Wow, thanks Dad," I turned towards Bulbasaur to check my new Pokémon's moves, it knew vine whip, sleep powder, razor leaf and to my surprise leaf storm. I was surprised because I knew that Bulbasaur only learnt leaf storm under certain conditions, so that they were born with it.
The next day I left the lab, I had decided that I should continue my journey before I became too attached to PalletTown. So I departed and left towards Route One, but what I didn't notice was the movement of a cloak as it disappeared between the houses.
Hey guys, sorry it's been a while since i uploaded. anyway, i was pretty pleased with this chapter, we get a better insight into Gary and Jai's personalities.
Anyway i think that this is going well, but like i put before i really want reviews so that i can get an idea of what you like and what you want me to improve upon, or even suggestions for how you want the story to progress.
So thanks for reading, i will hopefully be uploading fairly frequently and i really hope that you stay with the story because i have big plans for Jai.
