Grounded… Literally

Collin dashed home as fast as his scrawny 10-year-old legs could carry him. He knew that he was in for the grounding of a lifetime. He reluctantly and slowly turned the doorknob and opened the wooden door. He looked inside and found nothing. He took one step inside when… "COLLIN JAMES TANNER, COME UPSTAIRS RIGHT THIS INSTANT!" Collin, still recovering from the loudness of his mom's scream, knew better than to disobey her. He climbed up the stairs, and he was scared for his life as he scaled the last step. Mrs. Tanner was sitting on Collin's bed waiting for him. Her right eye was twitching in anger. "Collin," she said in a calm voice that got Collin wondering what kind of horrific punishment awaited him. "Is it true that you snuck out without telling me?" Collin winced. "Uhhhh…" Collin said, trying to delay as long as possible. "Well… technically yes, but…" Mrs. Tanner shushed him. "Good. Is it also true that you got a Pokémon from Professor Palm?" Collin gasped. "How did you know that?!" His mom grinned. "Well… let's just say that your old friend Marcus came to town." Collin was astonished. He and Marcus go way back as WFF's. It stands for worst friends forever. Collin knew that Marcus would come back some day. He also knew that Marcus always comes at the worst times. Now was the worst of them. Collin lowered his head. "Yes. I did get a Pokémon. But shouldn't you be proud of me, like most parents?" Collin's mother's grin turned to a frown. "Yes, but I'm not like most parents. I believe in discipline and good behavior. So, you may not come out of your room until the end of the month," She glanced at the Pokéball Collin was holding. "And I'll be taking this." She snatched the Pokéball from his hand. Tears began to well up in Collin's eyes. "Mom, you can't do this!" Mrs. Tanner was furious. "Yes I can." She said simply. She left the room.

Just as she left the room, the ground started to shake. This sudden tremor made her drop the Pokéball she was holding, and Rinosprout popped out from inside. "Rinospr-" Rinosprout looked around and realized that he wasn't in a battle. He just figured that he was sent out to stop the tremor. He raced down the stairs. Collin knew he had to escape somehow. In fact, he was so deep in thought that he didn't even notice the earthquake until a fissure caused the entire house to sink underground! He was grounded in two ways now. Oh, the irony. Which Collin did not appreciate. He rushed downstairs to stop the earthquake, which was twice as bad now that he was underground. There he found Rinosprout, fighting off a Pokémon that Collin discovered was a Dugtrio. "Rinosprout, use Vine Whip!" Rinosprout bopped one of Dugtrio's three heads with one of his vines. The head he hit went down and the others stayed up. Collin giggled. "It's like Whack-a-Mole!" Collin told his Pokémon. "Try to get a high score!" Rinosprout kept bopping heads, and he was enjoying himself. Eventually, the Dugtrio just plain left. "Coward." said Collin simply.

His mom was amazed at Collin's skill. "Wow!" she said proudly. "You know, maybe I was wrong about you. I guess I'll let you go on your journey after all." Collin was elated. "Yes!" After Collin left the room, Mrs. Tanner got her phone. She dialed in a number, and someone responded. "Hello, is Trevor here? This is Violet Tanner. Yeah. Okay. Look, A new threat has risen to the organization…"