A/N: So… I'm back! I am so sorry that it's taken almost a whole year since the first chapter. To anyone that remained followers of this story (even those that forgot all about it, I won't blame you) thank you so much. I've been kicking myself over not focusing enough to actually get this chapter done, but now that everyone's under quarantine, I should have a good chance at getting myself to write for this story more. By the time I release this chapter, the next should already be in the works, so if you're still interested in this, that'll be something to look forward to.
Also, in case anyone hadn't noticed, I updated the first chapter, fixing up a lot of things and adding Barry and Lucas's first battle at the end. In the future, chapter edits will probably happen in bulk and won't be too often so that I can focus on updating the story with brand new chapters.
Now, without further ado, let's get this show on the road. Please enjoy the ride, and please review the story and criticize whatever you think could be improved, or outright removed.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon; it is the property of Game Freak and The Pokémon Company.
Chapter 2: To The Lab
"What was the point of coming here again?"
"For starters, it's got a nice view. And we got our first pokémon here. Why, is there somewhere else you wanna go?"
"Um… No. I was kinda hoping you were thinking what I was,"
"And that would be?"
"That this would be an awesome time to catch the legendary of the lake and thank the professor for the Pokemon."
"I thought you gave up on that by now. Wasn't your mom chewing you out when she found out we tried to capture our local deity?"
"Mom doesn't care about all that religious stuff. She was yelling at me for going into Dad's stuff and getting us into danger."
"My point still stands,"
"Alright, alright, I'll forget about it. What about your mom? Doesn't she pray to Mesprit and all that?"
"Technically yeah, but she's not uptight about it Besides, all I had to do was use this revolutionary trick called, 'not telling the whole truth' and I got off scot-free."
"Smartass."
Lucas and Barry chuckled together as they walked into the lake area's clearing. The lake area was still as calm as ever, ignoring that incident with the Starly, and nearly devoid of other human life.
The only other person besides the two teens was a blue-haired man wearing an odd, grey uniform, standing right at the lake's edge. He stood facing the water and seemed to be muttering, though Lucas couldn't tell to whom. For one reason or another, Lucas couldn't move from where he stood, weirdly entranced by the man. Instead, he strained his ears to listen in on whatever he was saying, only to hear bits and pieces of his speech, like, "The flowing time," or "The expanding space," and his announcing himself as Cyrus.
After that last one, the man swiftly turned, giving the lake barely a glance, and began to march towards the lake entrance, where Lucas and Barry stood still.
"Move," Cyrus commanded cooly after finding the two blocking his path.
For a moment, Lucas' breath caught in his throat as he stared up at the blue-haired man. He was not much taller than him, yet seemed to tower above. His figure was not impressive, yet emanated an aura of danger from all over. It was like staring into nothing; a deeply entrancing, terrifying nothingness.
Some voice in his head told Lucas to run off as far as he could, but the boy could only do as told, and step aside, followed by Barry a few seconds later.
Cyrus took a few seconds to stand there and fix both teens with an analytical glance, and when Lucas met it with one of his own, albeit much less intimidating, he failed to glean anything. No contempt. No conceit. Nothing, but emptiness.
In the back of his mind, Lucas spat at the idea. No person was without emotion, some were just good at hiding it and locking emotions up. Given more time, maybe he could've broken through Cyrus's finely constructed mask, but the man left long before that, leaving Lucas staring into blank space until Barry muttered, "What a weird guy."
Then, as though some sort of spell had broken and nothing happened, the blonde straightened himself up and walked to the lake's side, motioning for Lucas to follow. The brunet complied, shelving thoughts of the man as he joined his friend in indulging in nature. He hadn't taken the time to appreciate it when they'd last visited, but Lake Verity was truly beautiful, and he felt thankful that such a sight could be so close to his home.
Lucas closed his eyes and breathed in the natural air, sighing it out. Then he cracked open an eye, finding Barry with his arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently. Lucas sighed once more.
"You can go now," Lucas granted, and Barry's whole appearance lit up.
"Sweet! See you later!" Less than ten seconds later, Barry was long gone, leaving his best friend alone by the lakefront.
"Of course he would do that," Lucas chuckled to himself, shoving his hands in his pockets and taking some more time to appreciate the sight of the lake. Before long he made like Barry and left, but not before releasing Turtwig from his Pokeball and allowing the green turtle to stroll beside him.
"So this is Sandgem. Neat," Lucas muttered aloud as he walked into the small town. From beside him, Turtwig trotted comfortably.
Although the town didn't appear too different from Twinleaf, it felt different enough. A couple more buildings and a beach made a difference, he supposed. For a few more minutes he went on walking through the town, looking for the lab with no luck, until someone behind him announced, "You're going the wrong way."
He turned in the direction of the speaker, finding that it was none other than Professor Rowan's assistant from a few days ago (Dawn if his memory served right). She looked virtually the same as she had at the lake, with the same blank expression, except now she held a Piplup in her arms, close to her chest. It looked comfortable there, but not overly familiar, so she'd likely received it recently. Maybe even on the same day as him and...
"My face is up here," Dawn called again, snapping Lucas out of his head.
"Oh, uh, sorry. I get stuck in my head," Lucas apologized, scratching at the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Didn't seem to be the case at the lake," She challenged with a raised eyebrow.
"Just the adrenaline," he shrugged.
"Whatever you say. Anyway, as I was saying, you're going the wrong way. You passed the lab a couple of buildings ago,"
"Oh. Mind leading me there?"
"That's what I'm here for,"
As the two trainers walked on beside each other, Piplup squirmed its way out of her trainer's arms and onto the ground, next to Turtwig, who'd been silent throughout the whole encounter.
"You have a weird human," the blue penguin chirped.
"Maybe so," Turtwig replied curtly, barely sparing the penguin a glance.
"Well my human is nothing like that; she is much more graceful. And, as you must see, she is much better looking, if you ask me," Piplup replied, poking out her chest.
"Never asked, but okay. Mine is good enough,"
"Good enough is not acceptable!"
"Whatever," Turtwig sighed. Piplup was always like this, and he'd long since realized that letting her win was best.
Meanwhile, their trainers kept silent and to themselves as they made it to the lab. When they finally made it, Dawn moved to open the door when it swung open and Barry popped out, running straight into the bluenette and knocking her on her butt.
"Oh! Watch where you're - Lucas! You're here! Took you long enough. Lemme tell you, the professor is way scarier and more strict than I thought he would be! But he's still a really nice guy, too! Anyways, I've gotta go! Catch you later!" The blond babbled in a single breath before leaving as suddenly as he'd appeared
"Sorry about that. Barry is too energetic for his good, and he's run into so many people at this point that I don't think he realizes they get annoyed," Lucas apologized as he helped Dawn get up, struggling not to chuckle at the agitated look on her face.
"Couldn't even apologize for himself," She huffed, among a series of obscenities and swears. The girl took a few more seconds and deep breaths to calm down, then proceeded to lead Lucas into the professor's lab.
A couple of minutes and rooms later, the two were standing in Professor Rowan's private office. It was all Lucas could do to keep from staring around the barren room in search of anything special. He'd always imagined that the room of a regional professor and once accomplished trainer would be full of plaques and trophies, but lo and behold; the office held little more than a desk and some pictures framed upon the wall.
As for the man himself, he was seated at his desk, some mix between a frown and an impassive look on his face. He did perk up slightly at the sight of Lucas, thankfully.
"Ah, Lucas. Good that you came right after your friend. I'm sure you bumped into him on his way out," Rowan greeted.
"I did. Er, well, Dawn did, but that's probably not what you meant," Lucas ignored the bluenette's glare in favor of continuing. "But yeah, I'm here. Though I'm surprised Barry was only just leaving by the time I got here. I half expected him to be in Jubilife by now,"
"That would be thanks to all of his questions and wandering around the lab, but he left as soon as he got his fill," the professor admitted, and Lucas nodded. That sounded like Barry
"Anyway, that is not what you are here to discuss. Would you mind letting me see the turtwig I gave you?"
On cue, the turtle grunted, grabbing the professor's attention. He seemed to appraise the pokemon for a bit, glancing between it and Lucas before giving an approving nod and grunt. "Turtwig seems to have grown fond of you already,"
"I guess he has," Lucas agreed, glancing at the turtle, receiving a grunt, which sounded nice enough.
"Good, good. Have you considered giving him a nickname then?" Rowan inquired.
Lucas hadn't thought too deeply about it, but one idea for a name had come to mind.
"What do you think about Leif?" Lucas questioned the turtle. Turtwig seemed to contemplate the name for a few
"Root? Not awfully creative of you," Dawn commented from behind him, reminding Lucas that she was still there.
"It's creative enough," Lucas defended, shrugging off the snide remark
"Ehem," the professor cleared his throat, drawing Lucas's attention back to the elderly man.
"Root is a perfectly fine name, but let's move onto the main reason for you being here," With that, the professor picked up a small red box and presented it to Lucas.
"This is the newest version of the Pokedex," Rowan stated, but Lucas had long since realized what it was.
Professor Rowan, on top of being Sinnoh's regional professor, was known for being extremely strict with handing out pokedexes. Every decade or so rumors would spread on a new batch of trainers with pokedexes taking the Sinnoh region by storm, and with them came poor replicas of the encyclopedia, along with imported ones from overseas. But nothing could compare to Rowan-produced dexes, and the idea that one might be given to him had Lucas near salivating.
"Now, I'm sure you know that I don't hand these out to just anybody, but don't let that get into your head. Even with one of these you're only a beginner when it comes to being a trainer, and even less in the eyes of the elites," the professor stated coldly, forcing Lucas back to reality.
"I see great potential in you, and believe that this will help cultivate that, but do not ever let yourself get cocky. Nor should you go around flaunting this like you're some hotshot; there will always be someone better than you, and some of them may even be willing to take this from you by force."
Lucas resisted the urge to cringe physically as he was presented the harsh truth and possibilities that came with owning something so precious. Of course, being who he was he'd thought these things would be the case, but to hear it all from the mouth of another made it feel so much more real. But he swallowed those thoughts and nodded, putting a look of conviction in his face.
Professor Rowan stared for a second before nodding himself, a hint of pride and recognition in his eye. Then he handed the encyclopedia to Lucas, he took it gingerly. Immediately he flipped open the device and its screen lit up. For a few seconds, it displayed nothing before switching to a setup screen, though the trainer put it away soon after. He would get to that later.
"I hope you enjoy this gift and go on to use it well, but do keep in mind that I'm not giving it purely out of the goodness of my heart. I'm expecting detailed and extensive reports on your findings and of any Pokémon, you decide to capture or train," the professor finished, a stern look on his face.
"Yes sir," Lucas saluted, and that was the end of that.
A few minutes later the young trainer had left the office, accompanied by Dawn, who was to give him a short tour of the town and its facilities. But before that, Professor Rowan gave Lucas one last gift; a TM for the move Return. After that, he dismissed the boy, and Dawn took charge of him. Within a few minutes, they'd gone through the basics of what a Pokémon Center looked like, or what a poke mart looked like, and that was it for everything interesting, as Dawn put it, so the tour stopped there.
"I'd offer to show you how to capture a pokémon, but I'm sure you know what to do," Dawn said as the two walked around aimlessly, no destination in mind.
Lucas shrugged at the non-offer."Well, thanks anyway."
"You know what you're gonna do next?" Dawn inquired.
"Guess I'll go home and give my mom a real goodbye. It's still early, so I can probably Jubilife City before it gets too dark," Lucas explained casually.
"Sounds like a plan. I'll see you there," And with that, Dawn walked off towards Route 202 without saying another word.
Lucas spent a few seconds watching the girl walk off, before shrugging and muttering to himself, "She's a weird one."
"You do know that you didn't have to come back, yes?" Johana asked as her son plopped himself onto their couch.
"Come on, mom. If I didn't then you'd be giving me an earful over the phone" Lucas retorted, swiping a bottle of water off the nearby coffee table and taking a swig.
"You're damn right I would. But I'd never blame you for not wanting to backtrack on your first day," His mother replied before seating herself beside Lucas.
"I wanted to say goodbye in person, too. After this it'll be just you and Roxy," Lucas admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head and avoiding eye contact with his mother.
Johana, on the other hand, was struggling to keep it together. She kept a straight face, but on the inside, her dams were ready to burst. The woman rarely cried, but she was not without emotion, and having to send off her son on his adventure was about to set her tear ducts off.
Before the waterworks could start flowing, Barry's mother barged in through the front door, much like her son would. Lucas and Johana jumped to their feet at that, and only starred as Mrs. Pearl took a few seconds to catch her breath, as though she'd sprinted straight from her home.
"Oh, Lucas! Thank Arceus you're here! Have you seen Barry? He ran out this morning, barely shot me a good morning, and I haven't seen nor heard from him since!" the middle-aged woman cried, leaving herself little time to breathe.
Lucas's face was blank for a few seconds until it morphed into an expression of dumbfounded shock, which he covered with a heavy facepalm.
"Don't worry about it, Mrs. Pearl. I was with him earlier, and he went to the Professor's lab in Sandgem. He's probably halfway to Jubilife City by now," Lucas explained, removing his hand from his face to get a better look at Mrs. Pearl.
She was furious.
"Well then," she began tersely, "thank you so much. Would you mind finding him and handing him this for me?" With that, the woman pulled out a small package, all wrapped up like a present and, despite the polite way she'd asked, all but shoved the package into his hands.
Not wanting to be on the receiving end of the woman's wrath, the black haired teen took the present and stuffed it into his bookbag, nodding vigorously all the way.
"Why thank you. I'll come back for a chat later, Johana." Mrs. Pearl announced cordially before walking to the door.
Before she left, however, she turned sharply and looked Lucas dead in the eye. "Also, Lucas, sweetie. Please tell Barry to call me immediately the next time he's remotely near a telephone of some sort," The woman finished, a sickly sweet tone to her voice as she grinned an identical grin to her son's, albeit with much more malice behind it.
Then Mrs. Pearl made her exit almost as quickly as she'd barged in, leaving both members of the Dime household simultaneously confused and terrified for her son, no matter how he'd brought her wrath upon him.
"Guess it's a good thing I stopped by," Lucas muttered in an attempt to clear the mood.
"Guess so," his mother echoed in agreement.
Author's Note: So there it is, the second chapter of this story! Despite how long it took me to finish and publish this chapter, it's been in the works ever since I posted the first (not that I was constantly working on it) and I hope that everyone here enjoyed, although nothing really happened in it. I just really wanted to get this one out so I could convince myself to keep going with this. The next chapter should have more in the way of action and story. But don't leave the story just yet! I've decided to include a little something to help with worldbuilding for Sinnoh as well as give a little extra info on important characters, Sinnoh lore, or things like that I feel can't comfortably just be fit into the main story. Here's the first one!
P.S. In the future these will probably come before the author's note, so you don't have to worry about reading paragraphs of just me if you're looking for lore and things of the sort.
Trainer Tips
Nolan Rowan: Sinnoh's Leading Pokemon Professor
Professor Nolan Rowan is a world-renowned researcher and leader in the field of pokemon evolution. His discoveries have helped with developing machines and trainer items intended to aid with certain pokemon's evolutions (e.g. the Magmarizer and Electirizer). He's also been a major help in discovering the often odd and obscure evolution methods for other pokemon, like Tangela and Yanma's need to learn Ancient Power.
Rowan's fame does not solely come from his status as a regional professor, however. It started in his youth when he claimed the title of Sinnoh League Champion at what was then the youngest age for any champion. He was also once rivals with the equally famous Professor Samuel Oak and to this day the two regard each other as close friends and colleagues. Not to mention he mentored the Kalos region's Augustine Sycamore, a rising star of sorts in the world of researching pokemon evolution, albeit more focused on the odd phenomenon of Mega Evolution.
Unfortunately, despite his fame and impressive record, Professor Rowan is not particularly well regarded by people outside of the scientific community because of his stance on distributing the highly coveted pokemon encyclopedia known as the Pokedex. Because of Rowan's strict stance on handing any out, Sinnoh is one of few regions to not have any mass-produced and distributed pokedexes from its own professor. Instead, the League produces and supplies trainers with their own versions of the machine (likely only allowed because the professor was once the face of the League). They pale in quality to any of Rowan's and constantly fail to catch up with any of his because of how secretly he makes and hands any of them out to anybody.
Despite this, Rowan is still looked highly upon by members of the scientific community and many more and is regarded as the go-to figure for anything related to the field of pokemon evolution.