Hey, everyone. This chapter is a little faster and a little shorter than usual, isn't it? That's because it is a mini chapter!
A little in between this chapter and the next in order to wet your palette, introduce some very important plot points and further the story without bogging down the next chapter and making it too long. Don't worry, Gimult is skipping ahead a bit, but I haven't forgotten about Charmander, Squirtle, or Bulbasaur.
I'm just not sure whether I want to put Ash actually getting them in the story. This story is about Gimult following Ash, but he doesn't need to be there for EVERYTHING that boy does.
So here's the in-between chapter. Expect the next one sometime between a week and next year.
Also, let me know what you think, please. This half-chapter contains the first (and possibly one of the most relevant) plot topics that I personally made up. I would love to hear your feedback.
As always, thank you for paying attention and giving a little story like this a chance. I know it's not the standard formula for Pokemon stories, but I really like writing it. I hope that you guys are enjoying it.
A Second Journey
Chapter 14.5:
Bill's Lighthouse
I entered the clearing with a boom and a crack. The nearby Pidgey squawked at me, but I couldn't really find myself caring. They were just Pidgey. Beginner Pokemon, the lot of them.
Mimey turned to me. His eyes were concerned, no doubt having already sensed my mental state. He didn't say anything, instead preferring to let me take the initiative in the conversation. When I didn't, he just nodded, before turning back to the lighthouse.
I looked at the back of his head. His cream skin and blue hair bobbed as he habitually bounced in place. In the game Mr. Mime was an uncommon Pokemon, one that people barely used and typically forgot. He was a low-tier 'mon that went forgotten in the annals of history.
And yet, here he was: my most trusted friend and loyal partner. How could I compare him to any such thing? Even those Pidgey could potentially be fearsome. Pokemon in the real world were so very different than the ones in the game.
Mr. Mime looked at me again, his eyes pulsing a faint blue for just a second. I could sense him trying to probe my mind, but for once I denied him entry. His fingers flexed, a sign in Mime for are you okay? I nodded.
"I just… need some time to think. I can think while we go inspect Bill's."
Mimey stared at me. For one painful minute we just stood there in silence. Then he nodded. He understood. That meant more to me than I realized. He turned from me, walking in his odd little way, towards the sound of waves crashing against a coastline. We were likely close already.
I followed, shaking the thoughts out of my head. I had time to think on this later. Thoughts on the differences between the fiction and reality could wait. Even though they were so similar…
"Mime," he said. His voice was quiet, as he usually didn't use it. I looked up, and found myself broken out of a trance that I wasn't aware I was in.
I smiled. It was a weak smile, but it was a smile nonetheless. Mimey didn't look too enthused by it, but he pointed ahead.
There was a lighthouse ahead of us, situated on the edge of a cliff. I wish there was a better way to describe it. It was a long, thin and frankly phallic tube with a beacon at the top. The head was conical and pointy and the whole thing was an unimaginative white. Next to the house, just a couple of meters away, was a small cottage. It seemed big enough for a room and a bathroom and not much else.
I sighed. This was Bill's Lighthouse, alright.
As I said before, I was not particularly connected to the Pokemon Researcher Bill. Typically, in regions, there was a single Pokemon Professor presiding over all of the Pokemon research. There were others, of course, and not all of them were affiliated with the region's Professor. To be completely honest, however, those that chose not to were pretty stupid.
There was simply no point in being a researcher and not under Professor Oak if you lived in the Kanto region. He funded every proposal with merit that came his way and, even if he rejected it, you were better off with him knowing about it and possibly funding you later once the idea became relevant.
Going solo in a region like Kanto was baseless and unnecessary. Most researchers who tried this way were quickly destitute and faded into obscurity.
Most researchers, that is, except Bill.
Researcher Bill Montgomery emerged into the field of Poke science almost ten years ago when he was a teenager. He had a revolutionary idea to make Pokeballs, like the Pokemon themselves, transferable and storable as energy and data. This way, they would be kept happy and safe and alive in a sort of stasis.
His proposal was met with critical acclaim. Some people saw the idea as profitable and efficient. Keeping them as data made it so that millions would be saved every year on Pokemon maintenance. Some people, however, saw the idea as idealistic at best. Keep Pokemon and Pokeballs suspended? That would take resources and databases far too large for anyone to maintain.
Not to mention the amount of security needed to protect such large servers, and the money needed to supply a way for Trainers to have easy access. What if someone hacked into the database? So many powerful Pokemon would soon find their way into the wrong hands. What if Team Rocket managed to get in?
There were so many problems that didn't necessarily outweigh the benefits. The Bill bill (terribly named) sat on the League floor for so many months that some believed that it was forgotten.
And then a few people, namely the scholars of the Church of Mew, rose from the gutters and butted their way into politics. They spat and argued and cried about the unethical treatment of Pokemon and keeping them suspended outside of the reaches of time and blah, blah.
Needless to say, the bill got smacked down pretty hard. Even Professor Oak, who wasn't entirely opposed to the plan, couldn't revive it. Bill Montgomery, a radical and idealist, was sent down from the Pokemon League to traverse the Victory Road in shame…
…For a month. All it took Bill was a month to return to the League with another proposition. This project was his passion, damn it, and he was not going to let it go so easily.
"One year," the nasally teenager said. His hair was frazzled and his glasses were askew, but his eyes? They were filled with a determination that could not be contained. "Give me one year to make a program that can do everything I promised. No worries of impossible to protect databases and no gigantic server sites. Just one year, and the PC Storage System will be running in limited capacity. If I can do all of it, on my own, in one year, you will validate my system and implement it region-wide."
To say that the government was surprised would be underselling it. The Elite Four were shocked. The Pillars of the time were shocked. But Lance? Crafty, arrogant bastard that he was, he knew a good chance when he saw it. Back then, he was still a young man with more heart than brains. He had not too long ago ascended to Champion, and every move he made was scrutinized.
This Bill proposal, however? This was not something that he could pass up. Despite the best wishes of his advisors that he refused, he accepted Bill's challenge.
The next year was spent in silence. For the most part, people had forgotten about the rambunctious teenage scientist and his crazy proposal. No one heard a single thing from Bill until about three days before the deadline.
Then the whole world saw Pokemon Champion and Master Lance Wataru pull a Pokeball from a machine. He opened it, and what came out was a perfectly chipper Clefairy.
The same Clefairy that belonged to one Bill Montgomery, currently residing in Saffron City.
The media went crazy. The government went crazy. Transfer of Pokeballs and Pokemon over long distances in the blink of an eye? That was incredible! Government funding came flooding out of every facet of the League. Top politicians wanted one in every house. Rangers wanted a portable one on their person.
All of that money stopped, however, when three very critical people walked up. One Lance Wataru, one Bill Montgomery, and one Elizabeth Joy.
"You all seem to be forgetting something," Lance said, a wry smile on his disgusting face. "Bill made his proposition with me, the Champion. Not the League. The funding of his invention falls on my shoulders, not yours."
Government officials roared. He couldn't do such a thing! They pressured him to back down. That pressure was easily lifted when Lance summoned his Dragonite.
"This is not up for discussion," he said, his voice as calm as a lake and as unyielding as the dragons he owned. "I will be placing strict regulations on Bill's Storage System, and anyone who objects can unseat me and change it."
No one was stupid enough to attempt such a thing. The next person walked up.
Elizabeth Joy, the current matriarch of the Joy Clan that presided over all Pokemon medicine spoke.
"The Pokemon Storage system," she said, her voice as youthful as when she, too, was a Nurse Joy, "will be available at any Pokemon Center free of charge, provided that you are a registered Trainer or League affiliate. Certain League sanctioned areas will contain them as well, but for the most part the Pokemon Center of Indigo will be happy to assist you with your needs."
She bowed, but absolutely no one saw it as an act of subservience. If there were three people in all of the world that you didn't piss off, it would be the Dragon Master Lance, the matriarch of the Joy Clan, and the revered Professor of Kanto.
With two of those unassailable existences flanking Bill, the orders on his product were accepted without trouble, much to Bill's own delight. He didn't want his technology being used by those stuffy elites who rejected him anyway. His PC System quickly became known worldwide, and though he decided to remain based in Kanto, he was a name and a face known worldwide.
Montgomery Enterprises was one of the most profiting companies in the world. Not that you would know it looking at the way their CEO and founder acted. On that day, Bill became a Researcher whose existence and knowledge on Pokemon science came second to perhaps only two people. He cemented himself as one of the few Single Powers in the world, and carried a certain weight to his words and presence.
He was also, at his heart, still a child. That was the Bill that I saw after knocking on his door.
"Who is it?" he asked. His voice wasn't as nasally as when I first heard it all those years ago. It was deeper, more matured. "Because I don't have time for any of your stupid—"
The shaggy haired man was wearing a lab coat over a striped button-down. Said shirt was only half tucked into his slacks, and his sneakers were so ragged that they were nearly falling apart.
Still, he was a Single Power, and as such I tried not to palm my own face.
"Bill Montgomery," I said. The man, now taking me in full, straightened out. The hunch-over he was sporting corrected itself so easily that it had to be an act, and his annoyed frown turned into a determined scowl.
"Gimult, the Adventurer Champion," he responded. He adjusted the glasses on his face before opening his door beyond the crack he made to answer. "Or, should I say, Gimult Waterflower?"
I frowned. "I signed that not two hours ago. There is no way that you could know about it."
The scientist laughed. He stepped to the side and gestured me in. I obliged. I turned around, making sure that the Boy was sniffing around the grass outside and Free was overhead, before accepting his offer.
Bill was not an idiot. He knew what I was looking for. He took a peek outside, though I doubt he found anything, before giving up and closing the door. He walked past me, and I took the moment to notice that we were just about the same height. I was perhaps inches taller.
"The Gym Leaders are the ones who ratify adoptions, you know?" Bill said. He led me towards a table, though I would not have known it was such if he hadn't swept most of the very confusing looking documents on the ground. What was left was a small wooden dining table that the Boy would have trouble fitting on. "Daisy was very excited. The order was confirmed just thirty minutes ago."
I took a seat. It was uncomfortable, but still better than standing. "That doesn't explain how you know. Why are you keeping tabs on me?"
Bill sat across from me and, upon hearing the question, raised an eyebrow. His scowl lightened, turning instead to an amused curiosity.
"Honestly, I could be asking the same of you. How did you know where I was? It's not like I broadcasted my location."
"Finding information on a Single Power isn't difficult."
Bill laughed. It was surprisingly innocent and child-like.
"Then I could say the same of you. You might have come here because you needed something, but I make it a habit of keeping tabs on the influential. Makes it easier whenever one runs knocking. Though, I have to say, out of all the major players that I expected to come tapping on my door, I never expected you."
I shuffled uncomfortably as the Researcher leaned forward on his table. His fingers steeped as he rested his chin atop them.
"So, as one Single Power to another, what can this Researcher do for you, Adventurer Champion?"