"Hello Addie, I see you've chosen Eleplant?" asked Acacia.
"Actually, I think he chose me," I said, looking down at him.
"Would you like to give him a nickname?" asked Acacia.
I held out Eleplant in front of me. Despite being an elephant, he wasn't very heavy. Probably because he's so small. Once he evolves and gets bigger, I doubt I'd still be able to carry him like that.
"I'll call him 'Peanut', because elephants like peanuts." I said.
"Peanut it is then," said Acacia, fiddling with something on her computer, "There we go. He's registered to you as his official trainer. Your father said you have a PokéPad?"
"Yes." I said.
"Can I borrow it for a second?" she asked.
"Sure," I said, pulling it out of my bag and unfolding it, "Here you go."
Professor Acacia fiddled around with the PokéPad. I heard a series of beeps emit from the speakers. Then the light on the back camera lit up and the light shone directly on Peanut.
ELEPLANT, THE GRASS ELEPHANT POKÉMON. ELEPLANT IS AN HERBIVORE, THEY USE THEIR STRONG TRUNKS TO PULL DOWN SMALL TREES SO THEY CAN EAT THE FRUITS AND LEAVES. THEIR LEAF EARS CHANGE COLOURS AS THE SEASONS CHANGE.
"What was that?" I asked.
"I went online to the MC-Shop and installed the Pokédex app on your PokéPad," she said, "Technically it hasn't been released yet, but I was given a beta version to tinker with and test for bugs."
"Cool," I said to Peanut, "See? You're in my Pokédex now."
"Almost done here, Addie," said Acacia, "Here are some Poké Balls. One of them is for Eleplant and the rest will be for whatever you might catch. Finally, this is an endorsement letter. If you're interested in taking on the Pokémon Gym Challenge, Give that to Nurse Joy in the first Pokémon Center you visit and she'll help you register as a competitor."
"Wow," I gasped, "This is really happening. I'm a Pokémon Trainer now!"
Professor Acacia nodded at me with a warm smile.
"Thank you!" I shouted, running through the halls and back to the main door.
Once I was back outside, I gently placed Peanut down on the ground and looked at him.
"Ready to make this official?" I asked him.
Peanut nodded his head excitedly. I took one of the Poké Balls from my pocket, pressed the button to make it bigger and then tossed it lightly so that it would land on Peanut's head. The Poké Ball turned him into red energy and swallowed it.
Absent-mindedly, I got back on my bike and started to retrace my steps. My goal was to return to the entrance of town where Carlos and I had parted ways. When I got there, I stopped and got off my bike. I put on the kickstand and propped it up against the large wooden sign that said "Welcome to Nortemais" on it.
"Hey! Pokémon talker!" barked a hostile voice.
I turned around and saw that same girl from the lab riding her skateboard over to me.
"You and I are both trainers now," she said, "I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!"
"This isn't really a good time," I said, "I'm waiting for a friend."
"As if a wimp like you even has friends." snorted the girl.
"I'm sorry, did I do something to offend you?" I asked, holding out my hand to her, "My name is Addie, I don't want to be enemies."
"I'm Maria, not that it should matter to you," said the girl, "I don't make friends with people who are below me."
"How can you tell that I'm below you?" I asked, "We just met two seconds ago."
"When you're on a mission to become the world's greatest Pokémon trainer, EVERYONE is below you." said Maria.
"Sounds like an awfully lonely point of view." I said.
"I don't need friends when I have strong Pokémon to crush anyone that gets in my way," said Maria, "Now are you going to battle me or not?"
This girl irks me. I glared at her again.
"Yeah, alright."
"That's what I like to hear," said Maria, pulling a Poké Ball out of her pocket and pressing the button to enlarge it, "Go Calflame!"
I took my PokéPad and pointed the back side camera at Maria's Calflame.
CALFLAME, THE FIRE CALF POKÉMON. CALFLAME HAS FOUR STOMACHS THAT ALLOW THE FOOD IT EATS TO EITHER BE STORED FOR LATER, OR TRANSFORMED INTO ENERGY TO FUEL IT'S FIRE BASED ATTACKS. IT MAINTAINS A BODY TEMPERATURE OF 100° FAHRENHEIT.
Uh oh… Maria chose Calflame, which means that Peanut is weak against it. I'll just have to hope that her Calflame doesn't know any fire type moves yet.
"It's battle time, Peanut!" I called, taking out his Poké Ball, enlarging it and throwing it to the ground a few feet in front of me.
"Peanut?" snorted Maria, "You gave it a nickname?"
"Peanut is a boy, and yes, I did." I said.
"Ridiculous." snickered Maria.
"What's going on here?"
It was Carlos.
"Out of the way, twerp!" snapped Maria, "We're in the middle of a battle!"
Carlos turned to look at her.
"Twerp?" snorted Carlos, "Who are you calling twerp? We're the same age!"
"If you get hurt, it's your own fault for not moving!" jeered Maria.
Carlos understood what was going on now. He retreated and positioned himself next to me, leaving the area between Peanut and Maria's Calflame vacant.
"Is this your first battle?" asked Carlos, quietly.
"Yup." I said.
"There's no shame in surrendering," he whispered, "She has a type advantage."
"I'm not a quitter." I said.
Carlos reached into his pocket and pulled out a Poké Ball. He held it behind my back and gently poked me with it.
"Here," he said, "Take Manjaw. He's a water type."
"That would be cheating," I said, "Besides, that's the same one that tried to eat my head. Relax, Carlos."
"I'm done waiting!" snapped Maria, "Calflame, use tackle!"
Calflame tilted his head down and charged towards Peanut.
"Watch out, Peanut! Dodge it!" I commanded.
Peanut trumpeted triumphantly and pivoted out of the way.
"Uh oh... " I muttered to myself, "I don't know what moves Peanut knows."
"Wait, I've got it!" cheered Carlos, "It should know rollout, which is a rock type move and rock is super effective against fire types."
"Okay then, Peanut!" I hollered, "Use rollout! Go!"
Another trumpet of agreement and Peanut curled up into a ball and started rolling. Calflame was charging back towards Maria, it was almost like it could sense the danger of Peanut's rollout.
"Get back in there!" snapped Maria, "If you can't even beat a grass type, then maybe I chose the wrong Pokémon!"
Calflame trotted back into the battlefield apprehensively just in time to catch a direct hit from Peanut's rollout. Calflame went flying into the air and Peanut stopped rolling, I saw that Peanut was stumbling; all the spinning from rollout must have made him dizzy.
"Peanut!" I called to him, "Follow my voice!"
"Calflame, use flame charge right now!" shouted Maria.
While still in the air, Calflame was surrounded by flames and shot forwards like a bullet, which soared down and crashed into the dizzy Peanut. There was a small explosion, and when the smoke cleared, Peanut was out cold.
"No!" I shrieked, running over to him, "Peanut!"
"Hey!" snapped Carlos to Maria, "Your Calflame shouldn't be able to use flame charge yet, you just got him!"
"Amateurs" sighed Maria, using a Poké Ball to recall Calflame.
"Well done," she said to Calflame once he was back in his Poké Ball, "I guess you're not worthless after all."
Maria strode over to me and looked at me condescendingly.
"Haven't you two heard of the Adapt Chip?" asked Maria, "It's a prototype device from Megacorp. When you install one on a Pokémon, it lets them temporarily tap into moves, abilities or resistances that they will eventually learn as they evolve."
"I get it, since Calflame's final evolution is a fire/ground type, you had him tap into the ground typing, which made him resist rollout," said Carlos, "And then you used it again so that he could use flame charge earlier than normal."
Maria nodded while I used Peanut's Poké Ball to recall him.
"This will revolutionize the way Pokémon can battle," she nodded, "With this prototype, I can use it five times in one battle before I need to recharge it, but it only took two uses to crush you."
I held out my hand.
"That was a fun battle," I said, "I thought I had you beat for a while there."
"A good trainer never assumes," she said, ignoring my offer for a handshake, "You never know what's going to happen until it happens. That's why you lost to me."
"Well, that and the fact that your Calflame used flame charge and resisted rollout." I chuckled.
"If you two ever hope to catch up to me, you'll need your own Adapt Chips," said Maria, "I just so happen to have two extra ones."
Much to my surprise, she handed one to me and another to Carlos.
"If this thing is a prototype, then how did you get three of them?" gasped Carlos.
"Never you mind twerp," jeered Maria, "Let's just say that I know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy."
Maria sneered at us before she hopped on her skateboard and rode out of town, in the direction of Route 2. Once she was gone, Carlos turned to me.
"Follow me, I'll show you where the Pokémon Center is." he said.
"Okay cool," I said, "Professor Acacia gave me a letter of endorsement that will let me compete in the Puerto Gym Challenge. I'm supposed to use it to register at the nearest Pokémon Center."
Carlos led us to the Nortemais Pokémon Center. When I opened the door, a Joumer wearing an apron and a nurse hat hopped off the counter in the middle of the room and bounced over to us excitedly.
JOUMER, THE KINKAJOU POKÉMON. JOUMERS ARE VERY FRIENDLY AND EXCITABLE. THEY SPEND MOST OF THEIR TIME IN TREES, WHERE THEY USE THEIR TAILS TO TRAVERSE TREES QUICKLY. IN THE PUERTO REGION, THEIR DOCILE NATURE AND ABILITY TO USE SIMPLE TOOLS HAVE MADE THEM POPULAR AS ASSISTANTS IN POKÉMON CENTERS.
"Calm down, Joumer," giggled the nurse from behind the counter, "At least let them get to the counter before trying to introduce yourself."
Carlos nudged me, prompting me to walk up to the counter.
"Hello," said the nurse, "I'm Nurse Joy. I haven't seen you before."
"My name is Addie," I said with a smile, "I'm a rookie trainer from Inicio."
"Well that explains why I haven't seen you before," she said, "What can I do for you today?"
I took out Peanut's Poké Ball and handed it to her.
"I just lost my first battle," I said, "My Pokémon needs some patching up."
"Certainly," said Nurse Joy, "Joumer, please bring this to the back in Room 02."
She turned back to look at me.
"Are you hungry? We offer free food to all trainers whose Pokémon are patients," she said, "If you're interested, take a seat in the cafeteria and Joumer will bring you a menu after he gets your Pokémon set up in the room."
"I could eat." I sighed, rubbing my stomach. It had been about six hours since Carlos and I enjoyed Plumee sandwiches on Route 1.
Nurse Joy nodded before she followed after Joumer into the back. Meanwhile, Carlos was already sitting at one of the tables in the cafeteria. When I saw him sitting there, I walked over to him.
"I have a proposition," he said as I sat on the opposite side of the table, "We get along right? You consider us friends, right?"
"Of course." I said.
"Then let's make it official," he said, "I talked to my Mom while you were at the lab and she thinks I should spread my wings and go on a journey."
"I thought you were already on one?" I asked.
"Not really," he said, "Until today, Axel and I would go out to Route 1 every single day and practice battling Pigamis, waiting for inspiration to strike."
"And now?" I asked.
"Now I think I finally know what I want to do," he said, "I want to be a battle coach. Help rookie trainers go from zero to hero, I enjoy a good battle myself, but I get more satisfaction helping other trainers win."
"Well, you did give me some decent advice in my battle against Maria." I said.
"Right, and since we're friends, I'd love it if we could team up and travel together," said Carlos, "You said you wanted to take on the Puerto Gym Challenge right?"
"Yeah." I said.
"This is a win-win situation; I get to go on an adventure with my friend and do what I love by coaching her, and you get me as a coach, cook and a friend." he said.
"I think it's a great idea. I can't lie and say that those Plumee sandwiches weren't amazing," I said, "I'd be stupid to turn you down."
Carlos held out his hand expectantly.
"Partners?" he asked.
"Partners." I said, shaking his hand enthusiastically.
I put my hand on my forehead momentarily when I remembered that I had promised my Dad that I would call him when I reached Nortemais. I pulled out the PokéPad and held it up in front of me so that the front camera could see my face. Then I went into the video call app and dialed his number.
"What are you doing?" asked Carlos.
"Calling my Dad," I said, "He wanted me to call when I reached Nortemais."
After the phone rang a few times, my Dad answered and his face lit up when he saw that it was me.
"Good evening, Adelaide." he said.
"Dad!" I whined.
He grinned mischievously. Sometimes he liked to use my full name just because he enjoyed my reaction. Other than people that I'm meeting for the first time, he's the only one that calls me Adelaide. Not even André or my Mom used my full name.
"Sorry Addie," he said, "How are you doing?"
"Pretty good," I said, turning the camera so that Carlos was visible too, "I made a new friend who gave me lunch and kept me company on the way here. We've decided to journey together."
"That's wonderful," said my Dad, "And which Pokémon did you choose?"
"Um, Eleplant," I said, "But he's being worked on by Nurse Joy right now."
"Why?" asked my Dad.
"I met the other trainer that Professor Acacia was expecting," I said, "Her name is Maria. She chose Calflame and then challenged me to a battle, which I lost."
"You said her name is Maria?" asked my Dad, pensively, "Yeah that sounds about right. I guess she would be that old by now."
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
"If I'm not mistaken, this Maria might be the daughter of my former boss at Megacorp, President Gunray," he said, "When I was laid off five years ago, his daughter was around the same age as you."
"Of course!" exclaimed Carlos, "That explains how she was able to get those prototype Megacorp products. If her father runs the company, she'd have access to all kinds of unreleased gadgets."
"Have you decided what you're going to do next?" asked my Dad, changing the subject.
"Professor Acacia gave me a letter of endorsement for the Puerto Gym Challenge," I said, "I want to follow in André's footsteps and become a famous Pokémon trainer."
"No matter what you decide to do," said my Dad, "You have my support."
"Thanks Dad," I said, "I should go, it's getting late and my stomach is growling."
"Alright Addie," he said, "I love you. Stay safe."
"I will," I said, "Love you too. Bye."
I tapped on the end call button and put the PokéPad away. Shortly afterwards, Joumer came bouncing over to us again. He stopped and placed two small laminated menus on the tables. One in front of me and the other in front of Carlos.
"Thanks." I said to him.
Carlos and I looked at the menus.
"This looks interesting," he said, "They have teriyaki tacos."
"What do you say, partner?" I asked him, "Shall we christen our new partnership with an unusual food partnership?"
"Absolutely." said Carlos.
"Joumer?" I asked the room at large, "Could we have two teriyaki tacos, please?"
"Not sure if that's how to order." chuckled Carlos.
Despite this, Joumer dropped down from the ceiling and looked at each of us before swiping the menus he had given us earlier and then he bounced back behind Nurse Joy's counter.
"I stand corrected." he chuckled again.
We exchanged small talk while waiting for our food to come. After a few minutes, Nurse Joy came to our table and gently placed Peanut's Poké Ball next to me.
"Eleplant will be fine," she said, "He just needs to rest for a while."
"Thank you so much." I said to her.
Nurse Joy went back to her counter. The food still hadn't come yet, this was my chance, it was now or never. I stood up and walked over to her.
"Professor Acacia gave me a letter of endorsement." I said when I reached the counter.
"Ah so you want to take on the Puerto Gym Challenge?" she asked.
I reached into my bag and pulled out the letter Acacia had given me earlier. Nurse Joy took it from me and unfolded it so that she could read it.
"Is something wrong?" I asked.
"No," said Nurse Joy, "It's just that normally Isabelle would never give a rookie trainer an endorsement letter on the same day she received her first Pokémon."
"It's probably because she remembers my older brother," I explained, "His name is André; he left on his Pokémon journey a little more than eight years ago."
"André as in "The Amazing André?" one of the strongest trainers anywhere," she gasped, "You're his little sister?"
I nodded.
"Yeah, that explains everything," said Nurse Joy, "You should feel honoured. Professor Acacia must have sensed that you're destined for greatness too."
"So how do I register?" I asked, blushing a little.
"Leave that to me," she said, "Once I fax this letter to the Pokémon League headquarters in Terminar, they'll finish the registration process."
"You don't need anything else from me?" I asked.
"Nope," said Nurse Joy with a grin, "Except you need to choose a competitor number and a catchphrase that the marketing guys will use for this year's annual commercials."
She slid the endorsement letter back to me, and I saw that on the bottom of the page, were two blanks spaces, one for my number and the other for my catchphrase. I took a moment to think, and then something my brother used to say to me popped into my head. "Don't stop until you reach the top." As for my number, since I'd been waiting patiently until I turned twelve, it seemed fitting that I use twelve.
"I've got it!" I exclaimed delightedly.
Nurse Joy handed me a pen and I quickly filled in the two blank spaces. In the number section, I wrote: "012", and in the catchphrase section, I wrote: "I won't stop until I reach the top!" Then I handed both the pen and the filled out form back to Nurse Joy.
"Perfect," she said warmly, "Now all I do is use my fax machine to send this to Terminar."
I watched her as she gently inserted the sheet of paper into the machine and pressed some buttons to make the paper get fed through a conveyor belt until it spat the form back out and onto the floor.
"Okay, Addie," she said, "You are now an official competitor in this year's Puerto Gym Challenge."
"So, um… Where should I go first?" I asked meekly.
"The closest gym is in Doença," she said, "To get there, leave town and follow Route 2 to Terceiro; from there, continue on to Route 3, which will take you to Doença."
"Doença," I said excitedly, "Alright, thanks again."
I turned and walked back to the cafeteria, Carlos had released Manjaw and Axelot from their Poké Balls and was pouring Pokémon food into two plastic bowls for them.
"Do you have enough for me to feed Peanut?" I asked him.
"We're a team now, Addie," he said, "That means we can share all kinds of stuff."
"Cool." I said, taking the bottle of food and one bowl from him.
I placed them down on my side of the table and picked up Peanut's Poké Ball. I brought it close to my mouth and whispered into it.
"I hope you know how proud I am of you. You tried your very best against Maria's Calflame," I said, "You must be hungry, do you feel up to eating supper?"
I heard a muffled trumpet from inside the ball. Giggling delightedly, I pressed the button to make the ball large and then tossed it on the table. Peanut emerged from it and turned to look at me.
"Hello Peanut," I said to him, "Just give me a second to fill this bowl."
Peanut jumped onto my lap from the table and rubbed the top of his head against my chest.
"Wow Addie," said Carlos admiringly, "Peanut really likes you."
"How can you tell?" I asked, "I haven't even had him for a full day yet."
"Look at him, he's cuddling up to you," said Carlos, "Not even Axel and I bonded that deeply that quickly. You told me that it was almost like you chose each other. Maybe this was meant to be."
"So you think that if I had chosen Rainling or Calflame, they wouldn't have been so affectionate?" I asked.
"Don't think too much into it," said Carlos, "But I think I could feel what Peanut felt when I first met you. It was almost like I could read your soul or something."
"And what did it say?" I asked.
"That she might like sandwiches." he said.
We shared a look and then cracked up laughing. Once Joumer came and delivered our teriyaki tacos, Carlos and I had to switch between eating our food and feeding our Pokémon.
Nurse Joy came to check on us a bit later and informed us that there were rooms available on the top floor if we wanted to spend the night at the center. It was getting pretty late, and I was pretty tired.
"Let's do it," I said to both Nurse Joy and Carlos, "Tomorrow morning we'll head for Route 2 and Terceiro."
"Sounds like a plan." said Carlos.
THANK YOU FOR READING THIS CHAPTER. BEFORE YOU LEAVE, PLEASE TAKE JUST A FEW MINUTES TO LEAVE A REVIEW AND TELL ME WHAT YOU LIKED OR DIDN'T LIKE ABOUT THIS CHAPTER. GETTING FEEDBACK ON MY STORIES IS WHAT MAKES ALL THE HARD WORK I PUT TOWARDS THEM WORTH IT. IF I NEVER GET ANY REVIEWS, IT MAKES ME NOT WANT TO WASTE TIME WRITING MORE STORIES. I DON'T WANT THAT TO HAPPEN AND I HOPE YOU DON'T EITHER. A SINGLE REVIEW IS ALL I ASK. - Thanks!