Chapter 4: Strange events
Taichi followed the street that would lead him to the next city, while Charmander was walking beside him. Taichi had decided to still let Charmander out of his Pokéball because he really liked his company and Charmander seemed to enjoy Taichi's company as well.
It was quite funny, how they actually just knew each other for barely a few hours now, but it felt like they have been friends forever. There was this special bond between them and it almost felt like they were destined for each other. At least Taichi felt that way and he was sure Charmander felt the same.
Taichi continued to tell Charmander more about him and his family and Charmander was listening very carefully and sometimes made noises and gestures that showed that he was really interested in what the young boy told him.
It made Taichi really happy that he had gotten such a great partner and that they could adventure together.
Their path led through a forest, but it was a sunny day and the trees weren't standing too close to each other so that it was still very bright in the forest. But thanks to the shadows of the trees it wasn't quite as hot as in the open field, so Taichi and his Pokémon partner really enjoyed their walk through the forest.
Suddenly Charmander looked up and with some noises and gestures made it clear to Taichi that something was going on in the sky, so Taichi looked up as well.
Because the tree leaves were hindering his view of the sky at first Taichi wasn't really sure what was going on.
He didn't see the sun or a blue sky like he had expected. Not even a cloud.
Instead, the sky had turned very colorful, almost like they were standing beneath a giant rainbow.
"Is that ... an aurora?" Taichi asked astonished.
But there was no time to admire the beautiful scenery as suddenly something came down from the aurora at high speed.
Was that a comet that was falling down?
Before Taichi could decide on what to do, the comet - or whatever it was - hit the ground in front of Taichi. Without even thinking the young boy covered his partner to protect him.
Thankfully that thing that fell from the sky was rather small and the impact only made a little hole in the ground and stirred up some dust and dirt.
The small thing - whatever it was - was glowing and started to fly upwards.
When it had reached about Taichi's chest height Taichi grabbed it and it immediately stopped glowing and flying.
The young boy looked at the thing in his hand.
Taichi had never seen something like this before. The ice-blue-colored device was a bit smaller than a Pokéball but had a square shape with rounded inward corners. It had some buttons and a tiny antenna. In the middle, there was a dark greenish monitor like from a Pokétch, with a circle around it that had strange letters written on it, that Taichi had never seen before.
What was that thing, Taichi wondered. Was it a Pokétch that was missing the watch strap?
And what language was that Taichi asked himself.
Taichi crouched down so that Charmander could also look at the strange device.
"Have you seen something like that before?" Taichi asked his partner.
Charmander looked at the small device and shook its head.
Then Taichi put it inside his pocket and told Charmander that he would show it to Professor Oak when they arrived in the next city, where he could contact him through the videophone that they had in every Pokémon Center and would ask him if he knew what that was.
The strange aurora had vanished by now and above the trees there was nothing but the sun and blue sky as if nothing ever happened.
Taichi had actually planned to catch some other Pokémon on the way, but now he was really curious what that thing in his pocket was, so he decided to walk straight to the next city to call Professor Oak.
He also wanted to tell Hikari about the aurora.
Taichi wondered if it could have been seen from their town. He still hadn't gotten that far away after all, so it was definitely possible.
Fortunately, the next town wasn't that far away and since Taichi and Charmander didn't take any long breaks it didn't take them too long to reach it.
As they arrived in the city a young man with wavy brown hair and brown eyes who was wearing a long-sleeved shirt with a tie and fitting dress pants came up to them.
"Hey, I'm Bill. And who are you?" the young man introduced himself to Taichi.
As Taichi told the young man named Bill his name, Bill continued: "Hmm, Taichi? You came at just the right time."
Bill explained to Taichi that he was a true blue PokéManiac, an excessive Pokémon fan who had a large collection of both common and rare Pokémon. He informed the young goggle-head that was also an inventor and had developed the "Pokémon Storage System". He told Taichi that he had recently developed a brand new version of the Pokémon Storage System and asked Taichi if he wanted to try it out.
Well, actually it was more like he begged Taichi to try it out.
Taichi looked at Charmander because he wanted to know what his partner thought about it.
As Charmander didn't seem to have any objections, Taichi decided to give it a try.
The young man seemed quite nice and if Taichi could help him, by trying out this new Pokémon Storage thing, then he would do that.
It surely wouldn't hurt to try it, right?
So Taichi and Charmander followed Bill to his house.
Once inside Bill went to a computer and turned it on.
He explained to Taichi that with the system he developed Pokémon could be stored on a PC.
Stored on a PC? The young goggle-head was really confused. It was already strange that Pokémon could fit in Pokéballs, even though they were a lot smaller than Pokémon themselves, but stored in a PC? It wasn't like Pokémon were made of data or something. So how was that supposed to work?
Bill asked Taichi to try it and to store Charmander on the PC.
"What do you think? Would that be ok for you?" the fledgling trainer asked his Pokémon and since Charmander nodded Taichi said: "Well, then, I'll try it out."
Bill gave Taichi instructions on what to do.
It actually wasn't difficult and soon Charmander was stored inside the PC.
It had really worked. His Pokémon was really inside the PC.
Then everything went very fast.
Suddenly the device in Taichi's pocket started to omit a very bright light and then the screen on Bill's computer started to shine as well. The light got brighter and covered Taichi, who was standing right in front of the PC. Then the light from the PC went back inside the PC and pulled Taichi with it into the computer.
Then the screen turned black. The young boy with the wild brown hair and the goggles was gone.
Bill was staring in shock at his computer.
Did this boy really got sucked into the PC right now?
"I knew it worked on Pokémon somehow, but on humans ..." he mumbled to himself and then: "I need to get him out of there again."
He opened the Pokémon storage system, but neither Taichi nor Charmander were there.
Since Taichi had a Charmander and no other Pokémon, Bill figured that he had probably just recently gotten his first Pokémon from Professor Oak.
So Bill decided to call the professor. Maybe he would know what to do.
A lot of strange events have happened in this chapter. What is that device that Taichi and Charmander found and what just happened to them? Will they be alright?
Be excited to find out … as the adventure begins.
Monster-Analyzer:
Strange Device: (Ok, I know it's not a monster, but … whatever.) The device has an ice-blueish color, which is a mixture of light grey and light blue and a bit smaller than a Pokéball. It's not exactly flat but definitely not a ball. It has a square shape, but with the four corners inwards, so that it actually had eight corners outwards and four corners inwards. But the corners are all rounded. On one of the inward corners, the device has a tiny black antenna. It has one blue button on the side of the antenna and two oval buttons on the other side. In the middle, there is a dark greenish monitor, like the screen of an old game boy or a Pokétch, and around it is a circle that has strange letters written on it.