Chapter 3

"C'mon, Red! We gotta hurry! You know what the Prof said about us being late!"

The black-haired boy looked at the creature on his left shoulder with his strange red eyes and made a couple signs with his fingers.

"Got up earlier, my foot! You don't know the difference between your clock's alarm and your mom's yelling!" Cheeks sparked in annoyance. "I just about ready to zap you when you finally got out."

Red waved away his friend's outburst, causing the Pokemon to become even more annoyed. "Red, come on! If we're going to do everything we want to do out there, you have to get up earlier!"

The ten-year-old shrugged as they reached the door of the building they were running towards. As he opened the door and went inside, the Pokemon's ranting continued.

"Just because you have a talking Pikachu doesn't mean you have the opportunity to sleep in," the Pokemon continued. "How are you going to beat Brock and the other Gym Leaders? By sleeping?"

"Good morning Red, Riley." An old man with kind blue eyes and white hair watched them approach from where he stood beside a worktable. "I suppose you slept well?"

"Oh, he slept well, all right, Professor Oak." Riley sent a glare at Red, but the boy ignored it. "His mom was almost ready to dump a bucket of cold water on him by the time he finally got up."

Red shrugged, then began to make signs with his hands quickly. Riley let out annoyed sigh, then translated.

"Apparently, he stated up all night watching old recorded videos of Pokemon battles he saw on TV. After I went to bed!"

"Didn't your mom warn you against doing that, Red?" A cocky, brown-haired boy came down the stairs from the second floor, his sharp blue eyes glimmering with mischief. "Daisy made sure I went to bed early."

Red rolled his eyes while Riley looked the boy over.

"Careful, Blue," the Pikachu warned. "In case you haven't noticed, your shirt's on backwards." While Blue was fixing his shirt, the Pikachu added, "And if you try to get even more cocky then you already are, I can and will ThunderShock you."

Blue's face paled, and he stumbled down the stairs as he tried to get his arms back into the shirtsleeves. "Gramps, why did you have to let him here today?"

"He turned ten a few days ago, like you did," Professor Oak replied. "Are you two ready?"

Red nodded vigorously, Riley grinning on his shoulder, while Blue adopted a bored expression.

"Let's just get this over with," Blue stated. "Gramps, where's that Pokemon you promised me?"

Prof. Oak jumped a little at this, then looked at the work table. "Let's see..." He dove through a pile of papers covered in sketches of various Pokemon that lived in the area, as well as orders for multiple mechanical parts. "Aha! Here she is." Oak came up with a PokeBall and handed it to Blue. "Go ahead. Let her out."

Blue accepted the PokeBall, then tossed it into the air. It burst open with a pop!, releasing a small, four-legged brown creature with a white fur collar and a fluffy tail.

"Eevee!" the Pokemon exclaimed. It looked up at Blue, then rubbed against his legs, purring as it did.

"Huh." Blue bent down and started to pet the Pokemon. "What Type is this?"

"Eevee is a Normal-Type," Oak explained. "According to some of the research I've done, the Pokemon's DNA is unstable, and it can evolve according to different environment conditions."

"So, it can become a Ground-Type?"

"Perhaps." Oak went back to his worktable and returned a moment later with ten PokeBalls. "These are empty, and you can use them to capture other Pokemon to fill out your team." Handing Blue and Red five each, he asked, "Red, do you have Riley's PokeBall with you?"

Red nodded and dug into a pants pocket, removing a miniaturized red-and-white sphere.

"We're all good to go," Riley said. "Red's mom made it a point to give us a whole lot of Potions and other healing items before we went to - or should have gone to - bed last night." He shot another glare at his Trainer. "Where we're going, you won't be able to watch those shows all the time."

Red shrugged again, and motioned carelessly.

"One more thing." Red and Riley looked back at Oak as he showed the two boys a pair of red devices. "These are a new invention of mine, called the Pokemon Encyclopedia, or PokeDex for short. I want you two to go out and collect data on all the Pokemon living in the Kanto region."

"A Pokemon hunt and the Pokemon League to think about?" Riley's lightning-bolt tail wagged - whether out of excitement or annoyance, no one was truly sure. "You sure do know how to make things interesting, Prof."

Oak's eyes sparked with amusement, but that soon passed. "Be careful out there - the both of you. There has been suspicious activity going on in certain areas of the region, and there have been Trainers who have come back claiming to have been beaten by men in black uniforms."

Riley gave Oak a surprised look. "If you don't want us to go out, why didn't you say so? Prof, you could probably hold us back until the problem's taken care of."

"WHAT?!" Blue looked from Riley to Oak. "But I've been waiting for this for my whole life? I'm not going to give up on my journey now!"

"I knew you were going to say that." Oak let out a sigh. "I wasn't planning on stopping you, but if things become to tough for you, you must come home immediately. I don't see that happening quite yet, however, seeing as the suspicious activity is still a long way from here. I know you two can probably take care of yourselves, but...be careful, all right?"

Red nodded, a determined look on his face. Clipping Riley's PokeBall to his belt and dropping the empty ones - as well as the PokeDex - into a pants pocket, he turned to go, only for Blue to stop him by grabbing the back of his red jacket.

"I want a Pokemon Battle," Blue stated.

Red turned to look back at Oak's grandson, Riley giving the blue-eyed boy a look of surprise.

"You sure?" Riley asked. "Cause you've said plenty of times how much you've wanted to get a Ground-Type first."

Blue bit his lower lip, then nodded. "I'm sure. I want to know what an actual battle is like."

"All right, then." Riley jumped off Red's shoulder as Blue's Eevee jumped in front of her Trainer. "Prof, you want to referee?"

"Not in here, I won't. If you two want to have a Pokemon Battle, we aren't going to risk having this place destroyed by a misplaced attack." Oak began to usher the two boys out, continuing, "The last time that happened, I had to call Red's mother in for a week in order to get the place cleaned up, and even then I was still on my toes in case a support fell because it had been weakened."

"Who caused all that?" Riley gave the professor a curious look.

"I'm not going to say. I was only using their battle as an example." Oak smiled ruefully. "Maybe they'll tell you who they are later." As the group stopped on Professor Oak's front lawn, he said, "Before you two battle, I'm going to have to go over a few things."

"What kind of things?" Blue asked.

"Turn on your PokeDexes, first." As the two boys did as they were told, Oak continued, "Not only does my invention collect data on Pokemon, but it also can inform you of the skills the creatures on your team have. Now, Red, I know that you already know Riley's attacks, but when you run into other Pokemon, this will make it much easier for you to battle without using Riley as a translator all the time." Oak pointed to a switch on the side of Red's PokeDex. "This will turn on Speaker Mode - go ahead, try it."

Red gave the switch a curious look, then flipped it.

"The main menu screen should have a submenu that allows you to access your Pokemon Team," Oak continued as Red continued to look at the PokeDex. "Once there, you can initiate a battle sequence, or simply look at how your Pokemon is doing."

"That's helpful," Riley remarked. "But I could have just told him that stuff anyway."

"Riley, Battling when your Trainer is a mute is going to be a little bit different. For one, you weren't registered as a helper Pokemon, so you have to compete in Battles when Red says so-"

"I'm okay with that."

"And you would have to increase your speed tenfold in order to turn and see the signs Red would be making as commands."

Riley's grin faded. "I get it. That would leave me wide open!"

Red nodded in agreement, then sent a look in Blue's and Eevee's direction, a smirk on his face. Blue understood what Red was getting at.

"Alright, Eevee." Blue grinned at his rival. "Let's go! Tackle!"

Red pushed a button on the PokeDex, and it responded in monotone, "ThunderShock!"

Riley shuddered at the tone of the voice, but zapped the Normal-Type before it slammed into him.

"Ow!" Riley yelped. "That stings!"

"Eev vee!" Eevee growled in response.

"Tackle again!" Blue ordered.

"ThunderShock!" Red shuddered at the voice of the PokeDex, Riley catching sight of it out of the corner of his eye.

"We'll either have to get used to it, or find a way around it," Riley muttered. Eevee slammed into him while he was distracted with his thoughts, only for the Normal-Type to get zapped a second time.

"Vee!" Eevee yelped, static sparking from her fur. She stumbled around, trying to regain whatever footing she had lost, only to collapse in the grass.

"What? No!" Blue glared at Eevee. "Get up!"

"Blue, that's enough." Oak placed a hand on Blue's shoulder. "Eevee is exhausted. He needs to rest and regain her energy."

Blue clenched his fists and teeth in annoyance, then let out a sigh. "Fine." He pointed at Red accusingly. "But I will beat you! You can bet on it!"

"We'll see about that!" Riley retorted as Blue went back inside Oak's lab. "Hey, Red, we should probably tell your Mom that we're officially heading out now."

Red nodded in agreement, then turned and walked back to his house, which was among the closest to the sea.

"We'll have to move quickly, though," the Pikachu continued. "We wanted to get to Viridian City before dark - preferably right around dinner..."

As the two friends continued to walk into town, Oak watched them from his front door. "I hope that what she saw won't come into being," the professor murmured before going inside.