The Lab in Littleroot
The walk to Littleroot Town took only half an hour on foot. Mari and the large party managed to arrive at the town just before lunchtime. It was a quaint little place that was almost hidden amongst the trees. There were no bitumen or gravel roads and only about five streets. All of the houses were small and made of wood and stone with sloping rooves and little chimneys on top. The grass grew short and people grew little flowers in little pots or trays in their little windows. Littleroot was – true to its name – a little town. The only thing that wasn't little was the facility on the edge of town. It was so big and dominating that it could be seen from anywhere in the town, even though it tried to blend in by having the outside clad in wood like all of the other buildings. What made it stand out even more were the three white windmills that towered high above it, spinning in the gentle breeze above the trees.
Ray took a deep breath and let it out with a satisfied sigh. "The air here is really clean; it smells good. It reminds me of my home village, in a way."
"Littleroot Town is pretty out of the way," Mari explained. "See that huge building at the end of the street? That's where we're going. It's the laboratory of the leading Pokémon researcher in Hoenn. He loves it here because the air is clean and the weather is balanced so the Pokémon are easy to study out in the field."
"So, he's like a biologist?" Hilary guessed. She heard the heavy thud of someone stomping up behind them and looked over her shoulder. Tyson was sulking at the back of the group with a huge pout and his arms tightly crossed. She giggled at his expense. "Well, look who finally decided to show up. Feeling a little alone back there, were you?"
"No!" Tyson snapped. "I came to try and talk you guys out of this insanity."
"Stop being so melodramatic," Max said, adding an exasperated sigh on the end. "Just because we're not frantically digging around for that blue and red Pokémon doesn't mean we aren't working on finding it. It's not even like you have to quit beyblading while we're doing it, we can train with each other in the meantime."
"But don't you get it Max?" Tyson exclaimed, uncrossing his arms and throwing them up in the air. "There are no other beyblades in the world! There are no tournaments, no rival teams and not even a dish! This place stinks! I'm not gonna survive in this world for a whole year."
"I can think of places worse than here," Ray said. The others nodded.
"Besides, you don't need a dish to beybattle," Daichi added.
"Well obviously Kai doesn't think so, 'cause he's gone! Or were you guys too wrapped up in your 'World of Pokémon' to realise that?" Tyson retorted.
"Was he that quiet guy at the back?" Mari asked worriedly.
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about Kai," Hilary said, patting Mari on the back. "He can take care of himself."
"But if he's gone off into the forest," Mari said, "he could be in trouble. Wild Pokémon aren't as strong as trained Pokémon but if he got on the wrong side of a Poochyena or even a Wurmple that would spell bad news."
"Then we should find him!" Max exclaimed.
"But you can't go out looking for him on your own without a Pokémon," Mari gasped. "A wild Pokémon might attack and then you'll be in trouble too. We'll visit the professor at the lab first. You coming, Tyson?"
"How'd you know my name?"
"Daichi unofficially introduced it to me. Coming or not?"
Kai had wandered down a quiet street on his own accord to investigate the town. With less than ten streets to choose from, he knew it wouldn't be possible to get lost here. Having already toured most of the town in less than an hour Kai finally found a backstreet. It was completely deserted and very clean, unlike other backstreets Kai had walked before. The end of the street was a dead end but the ground there was hoed and watered and turned into a flower garden with small, flowering trees planted at the back. The colours of every flower were bold and beautiful and co-ordinated sensibly.
"Hi there!"
Kai tensed and turned around with a fist bunched, ready to punch the living daylights out of that person if they so happened to be dangerous. Standing behind him was a little girl, approximately ten years old, wearing a pink dress and a yellow jacket with her frilly white socks pulled up to her knees and yellow sandals. Her cherubic face was dotted with some freckles and her brown hair was tied up in the cutest ponytails Kai had ever seen (not that he'd admit it but it was so). In her arms she held a glass cylinder with a red and white ball on top of the golden lid and a cushion at the bottom. Sitting inside it was a white egg covered in blue and red triangles.
"Haven't seen your face in town before. New here?" she asked.
Kai raised an eyebrow.
"Think you must be. What's your name?"
Kai grunted dismissively.
"Okay, I'm Amber. You'll tell me your name now?"
Kai hesitated for a second. "Kai."
"That's a cool name. You like my garden?" Amber asked.
Kai's eyes widened at Amber. "You planted all of this?"
"Yep! I mean, living in the backstreet isn't all that cool but there was space to plant some flowers, so I did. I love it! I was so proud of my work that I entered it in a competition a while ago. I didn't win, though. The ladies from this really famous place called Pretty Petal Flower Shop won the first prize. They enter it every two years, so next year I might have a chance of winning. I won this Pokémon egg as a prize but it just doesn't seem to want to hatch."
Amber held up the case with the egg inside. Kai stared at it impassively and—oh darn, it looked like Amber was going to start talking again. He thought that maybe he should just walk away now before he got caught up in more nonsense that he didn't actually care about.
"I've been taking care of it for months since the competition but nothing's happened. Don't know how long until it's ready to hatch and I'm really eager to find out what's inside. Think maybe I need something else to make it hatch? Am I missing something?"
Kai shrugged. It wasn't like he knew anything about looking after Pokémon eggs.
"Maybe I'm not the right person. That's it! It needs the right person to hatch. Even before it's born a Pokémon knows who the right trainer for it is. Do you want it?"
"What makes you assume I'm a trainer?"
Amber grinned. "You look really strong. That's why I think you should take this egg instead and if it ever hatches for you, I hope you'll let me know what it hatched into."
Amber held out the case. Kai took half a step back and stared at her incredulously. He hadn't known this girl for more than a minute and she was already giving him a gift. He couldn't help but think how ridiculous that was! Was she stupid or just too nice for her own good?
"What makes you think I'm good for it?" Kai inquired.
"Aren't you? You don't seem like a person who'd be mean to it or mistreat it if it hatched."
The only thing stopping Kai from dropping his jaw was his pride. Here was Kai – a dark, quiet enigma that was usually given a nice, large girth when people saw him on the street – being told by someone he'd just met that he was a nice guy. Most people probably thought that he was the kind of guy who'd punch them in the face without provocation. In more ways than one, Kai found himself a bit disturbed.
"Take it, please."
Amber thrust it into his chest and Kai instinctively grabbed it. Only a fraction of a second later he realised what trick he had fallen into. Oh well, he couldn't give it back now, could he? That would be rude. Kai suddenly wondered when he'd started caring. Amber just smiled at him. Kai was about to give her a perfectly good reason as to why he couldn't look after it but she gasped and her face lit up like she'd just been presented with the hugest chocolate cake she'd ever seen.
"It moved!"
Kai looked at the egg in the case. Sure enough, in his arms it twitched a little bit. Amber giggled and clapped her hands like a toddler.
"Told you, told you!" she laughed. "Likes you more than me. When it hatches, make sure you train it up good, okay?"
Kai sighed and nodded because she clearly wasn't going to take it back now.
"Oh, here!" Amber ran up to one of her trees – one with orange leaves and pink flowers that looked like daisies – and moved away some petals and leaves, revealing a ripe, blue berry. She picked it and brought it back to Kai, holding it out to him. "This is the first Oran berry of the season. You can have this too. Hopefully the egg will hatch before it goes bad. Or give it to another Pokémon if it's hurt. I hear Oran berries can speed up a Pokémon's healing ability."
Kai was so flustered by this point that he didn't know what else to do but take it. What was he supposed to do now? "Um… thank-you…?"
"Anytime," Amber said and for a moment Kai felt that they'd been friends for years even though they'd just met. He sighed and pocketed the berry.
"I have to leave. My team might be wondering where I am."
"Team? You do double Pokémon battles?" Amber asked. "My big sister does that too. Her partner is her boyfriend from Phenac City in Orre and they're really good. I hope your team does well in battle too."
Kai nodded and couldn't help giving her a brief smile. He turned around and walked back out onto the main streets. He looked back only once to see Amber walking back into her home and the beautiful garden she grew at the dead end.
Meanwhile, within the Pokémon laboratory in Littleroot town, Hilary and the rest of the bladers stared in awe at the amazing technology surrounding them. It looked so alien and advanced. There was something to the right side of the room that was cylinder shaped with a red dome on top that looked like some kind of incubator. In the corner was a machine with a big probe-like device inside a glass chamber that could have very well been a teleportation device. There were many bookshelves that were messily stuffed with files of research notes and surprisingly few textbooks. Between them were some extra desks, each with its own computer. Some of them also had a laptop and a variety of small gadgets that they couldn't even fathom the purpose of. Most of these workplaces were cluttered with paper notes and the occasional red and white ball. A couple of them were occupied but the occupiers looked busy so nobody bothered to talk to them. The back of the lab was more lab-like, with a few desks and benches sporting scientific equipment that, while more advanced than anything on earth, were recognisable as microscopes, magnifying glasses, beakers and test tubes. There was more high-tech machinery, some fridges, a lot of cupboards and a very messy desk.
"Whoa, this looks amazing!" Max said in awe. "I can't tell what half of this stuff even is."
"This doesn't look like a very professional lab," Hilary said, wrinkling her nose at the cluttered state of most things.
"Oh, Professor Birch is very professional in his work," Mari assured them, "just not very professional in his workplace tidiness. Hope he isn't out in the field right now because that would be a letdown for you guys."
"Looking for Professor Birch?" one of the lab assistants in the room piped up. He turned around in his swivel chair. He had brown hair and eyes and was quite young, yet he seemed too old to be a mere assistant. "He went out this morning but he should be back soon. It'll be worth it to just wait here for him. Unless it's something I can help with."
Mari's eyebrows shot up to her hairline in astonishment. "Professor Oak!?"
"Professor Oak is my grandpa. Call me Gary," the young scientist chuckled while Hilary and the bladers glanced from him to Mari.
"You know this dude?" Tyson asked.
"Of course! He's from my home region; Kanto. Started my travels in his grandpa's lab where I got my official starter Pokémon."
"Yeah, I remember that," Gary said, putting his elbow on his desk and his chin in his hand. "How long ago was that? Five years? Hard to believe it's been that long already."
"I know. That first year travelling with Pokémon was super fun. It's good to see you again," Mari said, "but what are you doing here?"
"Getting Professor Birch's help for a research project I'm doing in Hoenn. And how about you guys?" Gary said, directing the question at Hilary and the bladers. "New trainers?"
"You wish," Tyson grumbled.
"We might be," Ray said, glaring disappointedly at Tyson out of the corner of his eye. "Mari said that we can get Pokémon here."
"You can help with that, can't you?" Mari asked, leaning forward a bit and giving Gary an expectant look. "Since you and your grandpa are responsible for sending Kanto trainers on their adventures."
"Sorry, the business of sending trainers off is strictly the duty of the RP." Gary smiled but looked apologetic all the same. "But if there's any info you need to know beforehand, I can answer all your questions."
Mari put a finger to her cheek. "Hm… well, what do we need?"
She looked at Hilary and the beybladers and they returned it with a confused stare.
Gary tutted. "Gee, Mar, five years on the road and you've already forgotten the basics. Naturally, the first thing you need before you go travelling is a travel document."
Mari pounded the palm of her hand. "Oh! That's right! You need to have ID."
The teens from the world of beyblades exchanged glances with one another and began to search through their pockets for anything that might be the least bit helpful. Tyson found his wallet in his back pocket with his student ID card in it. Hilary found her student ID and public transport card. Max had an American school ID card and a PPB security key. Ray only had his Resident Identity Card and Daichi had only had a beystadium backstage pass from the last World Championship. Ray held up his card for the professor to see.
"Is this acceptable ID?" he asked.
Gary stood up and went over to Ray to examine the card. He took it from Ray's hand and examined both sides. His eyebrows furrowed. "Can't even read this language. Shouldn't be a problem though because if you register at a Pokémon lab you'll have ID issued to you in the form of a Pokédex."
"A Pokédex?" Daichi echoed. "What's that?"
"It's a multipurpose device that's handed out to trainers," Mari answered, unzipping the side pocket of her red and green backpack and taking out a red gadget that looked like a PDA. "This one's mine. The Pokédex is really helpful for trainers. It stores your personal information so you can use it as ID and it also has records of all known Pokémon. If you come across a Pokémon you don't know about, you can look it up in the 'dex."
"So it's like a Pokémon encyclopaedia or something?" Ray asked.
"Yep," Gary replied. "That's the most important aspect of the Pokédex for you but it's also an important research tool for scientists who study Pokémon. We ask trainers to try to use their Pokédexes to collect information not just about any new Pokémon they see but all Pokémon and to get info on Pokémon they meet in battle with other trainers. The information needs to be reported back to us from a Pokémon Centre."
"This sounds really boring," Daichi interrupted, picking his nose disinterestedly.
"For once, I agree with Daichi," Tyson nodded.
"I think it sounds interesting," Hilary said, glaring at the two of them with her arms akimbo.
"And it's super important," Mari added. "Don't you think it's cool that you can train Pokémon and do it for science?"
"Even if you don't want to use it for research, I think it'll be a useful thing to carry around," Ray pointed out, "I highly doubt any ID we have on us will be valid around here."
"If you really want it, I can set you up with one," Gary offered.
"I thought you said you needed some 'RP' to do it or something," Max said.
"That's just for official trainer registration. Pokédex ID and data upgrades, I can do."
"Is there a new data upgrade for the 'dex?" Mari asked, holding hers out to the professor. "Can you update mine?"
"Actually, there is a small upgrade. I can do that for you while you're here."
"Gosh! What a surprise!" a big, booming, jolly voice suddenly exclaimed, startling everyone. "What're all of you youngsters doing in my lab?"
They all turned, finding a large, bearded man with brown hair that was going white at the sides walking up to them. He was wearing shorts, sandals and had a bag slung over his shoulder. His face was a bit sunburnt and he had a few scratches from some rough encounter with a Pokémon but he seemed to be generally happy and okay.
"See? What'd I tell ya?" Gary said.
"Professor Birch!" Mari exclaimed.
"He's a professor?" Tyson asked disbelievingly.
"Yes, I'm Professor Birch," Birch said happily. "Now what can I do for you kids? It'll have to be quick. I've just collected some very interesting data out in the field today of a Porygon Z and I want to analyse it as soon as possible."
"A Porygon Z?" the party exclaimed in unison.
"I knew we should have started looking around," Tyson grumbled, "instead of giving up and coming here."
"Yes! It did the most bizarre thing. It created a wormhole large and powerful enough to suck in other Pokémon. I wish it was still out there. It teleported away a while ago."
"Sounds like the Porygon Z we're looking for," Mari said. Birch gave her an inquisitive look. "We're trying to chase that Porygon Z. No telling where it could be so we decided to track it on foot but we need some Pokémon if we want to go on that kind of adventure."
Professor Birch stroked his chin. "Haven't I seen you someplace before?"
Mari blinked. "Yes… a year ago. Started off the journey to the Hoenn League right here in your lab."
Professor Birch clapped his thigh. "I remember now! You're Mari! Welcome back, Mari. How's your father doing? And your mother?"
Mari nodded. "Mom's doing fine. Been a long time since she lost a battle. Not sure exactly where dad is at the moment, but I think he's doing well. Haven't heard of any complaints or injuries yet."
"That's good to hear!" Professor Birch patted her on the shoulder. "Now, you all needed Pokémon, true?"
"They're after Pokédexes and registration too," Gary added. "I agreed to fill in the 'dexes for them, so if you guys could just give me anything that might be useful for filling it in that would be great."
Hilary and the bladers handed their ID cards to the young professor and Mari also handed in her Pokédex. Gary took the items and headed towards the back of the lab to start working on his task.
"Thanks for that, Gary," Birch said sheepishly. "I really hate the tedious work. I'll do the registration afterwards. Now, Pokémon."
"Yep! One for Tyson, one for Max, one for Ray and one for Hilary," Mari beamed.
Tyson put his hands up defensively. "No way, I don't want a Pokémon! I'm happy with my beyblade."
"Don't be stubborn Tyson!" Hilary snapped.
"What about a Pokémon for me?" Daichi exclaimed.
Birch scratched his head. "What's a beyblade?"
Tyson sighed. "I just knew it…"
"It's a little blue spinning top," Mari explained to the researcher. "But it isn't an ordinary spinning top because it's super fast and has a little gear inside to generate extra power for a little while."
"It's not necessarily blue," Ray added. "Mine's white." He took his beyblade out for all to see. Professor Birch examined it with an awestruck expression.
"And mine's green," Max said, also showing his.
"Mine's purple," Daichi said, showing off Strata Dragoon. "Only Kai's beyblade is blue but we need to find him before some Pokémon beats him up."
"He went off into the wild?" Birch asked, eyes widening in disbelief.
"We hope not," Hilary said. "We'd like to look for him but Mari suggested that we take Pokémon if we do."
"Now that's a sensible idea," Birch agreed. "I have just the thing right over here." Professor Birch pointed them all in the direction of the particularly messy table at the end of the room. The computer was sitting half-asleep (the screensaver rolled by with images of underwater Pokémon). Birch gestured for the group to follow him over to the desk and opened one of the drawers. Inside were rows of little white and red balls, each with a button on the front. He picked one up and showed it to the group. "Most of these Pokémon are official starter Pokémon for beginner trainers entering the Hoenn League."
He pressed the white button on the ball. It clicked open and a flash of white light spewed out of it. The light moulded into a bipedal, two-tailed green gecko. The beybladers and Hilary went slack-jawed.
"Whoa! How did you do that?!" Daichi exclaimed.
Birch raised a confused eyebrow. "I just let it out of its Pokéball."
"I remember Mari did something strange to her Pokémon with a ball like that," Ray noted. Mari looked at him with her head cocked to the side.
"Yeah. She didn't want to make the walk back to Littleroot so I returned her to her Pokéball. She's kinda lazy like that." Mari giggled.
Professor Birch took two more Pokéballs out of the drawer and released the creatures they contained. This time the light formed an orange chick with its head almost as big as its body and a weird blue thing with a head fin and a fin-like tail that looked like some sort of amphibian.
"These three are the official starter Pokémon for the Hoenn region," Brich said.
"Aw! They're all super cute!" Hilary cooed, crouching down to be closer to the Pokémons' level. "But there's only three of them and there's five of us."
"There are other Pokémon exactly like these three. But maybe you'd like to decide which one you want first."
Hilary looked over each of them in turn. "I don't really know… is there a difference besides what they look like?"
"Well if you don't mind, I want the blue one!" Max decided, picking up the amphibian. It blinked at him. "What's this guy called?"
"That's a Mudkip," Birch replied. "It's a water-type Pokémon."
"Why don't you start learning to use the Pokédex now?" Gary interjected, coming back to return Mari's Pokédex. "I'm done with the upgrade, so you can show them how to use it."
"Super!" Mari said, taking the Pokédex and turning to the three Pokémon. She opened it up and it came to life automatically. "Okay, you can use the Pokédex kind of like a dictionary and all of the Pokémon are listed in a certain order. You can change the order to whatever you want, like alphabetical or by type. But if you need it on the fly, it has a camera that you can point at a Pokémon and the 'dex will identify it. Like so…"
Mari aimed the camera of her Pokédex at the Mudkip in Max's hands. The response was so quick it seemed to be immediate and the screen changed to a profile on Mudkip. A mechanical voice dictated the first few sentences in the entry:
"Mudkip, the mud fish Pokémon. In water, Mudkip uses the gills on its cheeks to breathe. If faced with a tight situation in battle it will unleash its amazing power – it can crush rocks bigger than itself!"
"Sweet! I really want this one!" Max exclaimed.
"Then what does that leave us with?" Ray muttered, looking at the gecko and the chick.
"I don't care. You take your pick Ray, I don't even want one," Tyson said.
Ray gave him a pointed look. "Don't be so negative, Tyson! You're stuck here until we find that Porygon Z, so deal with it." Ray didn't even have to take a step. The green gecko marched up to him and studied him closely, scanning him from all angles with its huge eyes. It gave a definitive nod and leaned against Ray's leg, folding its hands behind its head and crossing one leg over the other. "I think this one likes me. So, Tyson, you're stuck with the baby chicken."
Tyson looked at the orange chick. It hopped over to him and nuzzled his leg affectionately. It took all of Tyson's self-control to not melt. "Well I suppose it isn't that bad…"
"Aw, that's so cute," Hilary cooed. "Can I have one of those chicks too?"
"Certainly! I think I do have another Torchic…" Professor Birch went back to the drawer and began to search through the rows of balls. He picked one and tested the weight in his hand. "The weight feels strange but I'm pretty sure this one is meant to also be a Torchic."
He released it onto the floor of the laboratory. What formed from the bright flash of light wasn't at all like the orange chick. It was another bipedal Pokémon. This one was all white with a green helmet-like plate on its head and wide, red horns on the front and back of its head. It looked up at the people standing around it and put a tiny hand to its chin in wonder. Hilary slapped both hands to her cheeks and squealed.
"Wah! This one's so cute! Can I have it instead?"
Professor Birch furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm quite certain that should have been a Torchic. Why do I even have a Ralts?"
"It may have been your grandson's doing," Gary said, rejoining the group. "Since you were down to only those three official starter Pokémon after all of those trainers came through in the past week. I heard Ruby mentioning something about helping you out by 'restocking the Pokémon'."
"Really? Down? Huh, guess I've been too caught up in my work recently to keep track of what's going on around my own lab!" Professor Birch laughed heartily at his own expense.
"Please Professor, can I keep this one?" Hilary begged, giving him the best puppy-dog eyes she could make. "I don't care if it's not official."
"Well, I guess I'll have to let you keep her. You're not going to want to give her back, are you?"
"Nup!" Hilary giggled. "Oh, and she's a girl? That's doubly cute!"
"Hey! What about me? I want one of them!"Daichi whined. He reached into the drawer before anyone else could get a word in and pulled out a Pokéball. "How do you open these things?"
"Here, let me show you," Birch offered. "You push the button on the front twice. That's all you really require to open it. I wonder what Ruby caught in this one…"
The Pokéball snapped open and the Pokémon that appeared was unlike any of the others. For starters, it didn't even have legs! Or a body. It looked like a rock with a face and two muscular arms. Most of the beybladers were taken aback by the appearance of this creature but Daichi's eyes lit up.
"It's so cool!"
"It's so weird," Tyson muttered.
"It is not!" Daichi retorted. "What is it anyway?"
"From memory, that's called a Geodude," Mari replied, pointing her Pokédex camera at it, "but the 'dex will have all the technical info."
"Geodude, the rock Pokémon. Commonly found near mountain trails and in fields, people often mistake this Pokémon for rocks and step or trip on them. They swing their arms violently if disturbed. Proud of their sturdy bodies, they bash against each other in a contest to prove whose is harder."
"Sounds just like Daichi," Tyson joked.
"Shut up, Tyson! You're just jealous that mine is cooler than yours," Daichi said, grinning over his new Pokémon. The rock gave him a toothless grin and a huge hug.
"Well, those ones weren't so bad," Birch said. "And this is only a suggestion but if you're going to travel around Hoenn with Pokémon you might want to take up the Pokémon Gym Challenge."
"The Gym Challenge?" Max, Tyson and Daichi echoed.
"It's the greatest thing!" Mari interjected excitedly. Her eyes sparkled with excitement. "Trainers who carry Pokédexes with them are recognised as official trainers and can take part in the Gym Challenge. There are eight Pokémon Gyms in Hoenn and each gym has a Gym Leader. Defeat the Gym Leader and you earn a badge. Defeat all the Gym Leaders and collect eight badges in less than a year to qualify for the Pokémon League: a knockout tournament and the most prestigious honour to your name if you win. Win in the Pokémon League and you can then go on to take on a force known as the Elite Four – the four most elite trainers in Hoenn. Defeat them all in succession and then you can take on the Hoenn Champion! Defeating him makes you the Champion of Hoenn!"
Birch chuckled. "It's just as Mari says. Just be careful though, the gyms have certain rules determining how many Pokémon you need to have and things like substitution. You can't participate unless you fulfil the rules."
Hilary glanced at the determined expression that had suddenly fallen over Tyson's face and laughed. "I see now that there's some form of competition Tyson wants to get into it."
Tyson frowned at her. "Beyblades are still better."
The professor laughed heartily at Tyson's obstinate attitude. "It's good to see enthusiasm in young people like you. I'll bring out some Pokédexes for any of you who want to participate in the Pokémon Gym Challenge and give you the whole spiel about catching and training Pokémon."
A/N: most people who appear in this story as incidental characters are based on Pokémon game NPCs. Amber is based on the NPC little girls in the Pokémon: Colosseum story mode.