Indigo and Otis
This is the world of Pokémon, a world of wonder and adventure, of magic and majesty, where amazing creatures roam. Sometimes, we befriend them, and at other times we fight beside them. My name is Beech, but most people just call me "Professor," and I study Archeology and Mythology. Today, I want to tell you a story of three young Trainers, and their journey to become Pokémon Masters.
A sunrise over the distant hills of Pine Valley illuminated a burning red glow over the misty forest. Old iron street lamps blinked off one by one as the cobblestone pathways ran awash with morning light. The chirps of singing Twittle ushered in a morning chorus of Starly and Pikipek punctuated by the "Cock-a-doodle-doo" of a red-crested Poppacrow. All about the town, from the dirt roads leading to the Johnson Ranch and the tiny one-family Farms, to the cobblestone paths ushering in the way to Beech Laboratories, Pine Valley sprung to life.
Sheriff Corbin trotted along on the back of his Equlux, her prismatic horn casting fragmented rainbows on the path that caught the eye of passing birds. He tipped his cowboy hat in a kindly hello to the friends and neighbors he passed by on his way into town. The Farmstand Market was already set up and ready to go, plywood stands in front of rusty pickup trucks full to bursting with vegetables and berries. There was a red-hatted fisherman from out of town here today, proudly displaying salmon and bass in a cooler full of ice, occasionally asking his Spheal to blow a cool breeze to keep it from melting.
There was a cozy pale blue house near the center of town, and there was a young man lying on top of the sloped roof, carving a Tailow out of a chunk of wood. He wore a pale blue shirt and a matching Panama hat, a white open button-up and fingerless gloves, dark green cargo pants and black sneakers. His violet eyes looked away from his morning project and over the town. "Today's the big day," he whispered to himself.
He pocketed his knife and wood and slid quickly down the roof. He rolled expertly onto his feet as they hit the grass and started on a jog toward the Laboratory. "Stop right there, young man!" He froze still with one foot in the air at the sound of his mother's voice. A middle-aged woman with her red hair in a long braid stood in the open doorway with her arms crossed. "When did you get out of bed, Indigo?"
The boy smiled nervously as he wheeled around to face her, "Six O'clock… yesterday." He could feel daggers from her glare, a bit like staring down a rampaging Gyarados. "Hey, it's a big day for me!I was excited, alright?"
His mother shook her head with an exasperated sigh. "Just be careful okay? And come right back here after you meet with Professor Beech! I want to say goodbye properly before you go."
"I will, Mom." Without another wasted moment, Indigo dashed off in a cloud of dust shouting, "wish me luck!"
"Whatever will I do with that boy?"
The Beech Pokémon Research Laboratory was an old brick building in the center of town that could easily have been mistaken for a library. Even its doors were wooden instead of the plexiglass of a modern building, another reminder of just how rural Pine Valley really was. By the time Indigo had made it, the doors were propped open and the sunrise had settled into a warm summer yellow. The Professor emerged from within to greet the boy with a smile. His brown hair was graying at the roots and his beard looked just as aged, but the man's demeanor was no less sunny than the day he first set out on his own journey all those years ago. "Good to see you, Indigo. You're here a bit early."
Indigo slowed down and bent over with his hands on his knees, panting as he caught his breath. "Didn't wanna be late," he mustered through deep breaths, "didn't wanna be stuck with a goldfor or somethin'."
Beech let out a hearty laugh, "Well, if there's one thing I can appreciate it's passion. Come with me." The boy followed giddily into the building. He couldn't help but stare at rooms full of clean equipment and display cases of Archeological finds, plaques and certificates from universities and museums congratulating Beech on his contributions, and most importantly, at the center of the large room they entered directly from the main hall, a table with three red and white capsules, each labeled neatly. "My nephew will be coming later this afternoon, he's busy this morning golfing." The professor strode over to a large cabinet and produced a phone-sized red and blue device, which he handed to Indigo.
The youth took the device and looked it over. "A Pokédex?"
"Well, you're starting as my assistant today, aren't you? You and Magenta, and my nephew Cyan."
"Yeah I suppose I am!" The realization struck him at that moment. Here he was, a licensed Pokémon Trainer, about to get his first Pokémon and his first job at the same time. "Do I uh… do I wait for the others?"
The Professor smiled, "My boy if there's one thing your journey is going to teach you it's that initiative is rewarded." He gestured over to the table, "First come."
As Indigo read the placards beneath each capsule, he felt something. It was a pulling sensation, like one of the capsules was calling to him. The Professor must have felt it too, as he scooped up the ball in question and handed it to his new assistant. "The Basil Cat Pokémon," he said, "it's called Mewsil, and I think this one is meant to be with you."
The boy straightened his hat and held the ball in his hand. It was heavier than it looked, smooth and cool to the touch. The top was a deep red and the bottom pristinely white. He pitched the ball into the air, "Come out, Mewsil!"
The capsule opened, there was a flash of white light that gathered onto the floor that quickly took a catlike shape. As the light faded away and the Pokéball returned to Indigo's hand, the form of his chosen partner became clear. Its body was a deep and verdant green, its fur was thick and puffy with waves of stripes. It had bright blue eyes and a mane of big waxy Basil leaves from the top of its head to the back of its neck. Indigo and the Mewsil met each others' gazes, and a wordless bond was formed. The boy stood still enough for the Pokémon to approach. It took a moment to rub its head against the leg of his jeans before jumping right into his arms. Indigo smiled and nuzzled his new partner, "Your name is Otis."
Footsteps came from behind as a girl with long blonde hair in a pink sundress holding a matching umbrella came into the room. "Ah, I suppose I'm a bit late then."
"Not too late to make your pick, young Magenta." The Professor offered her a Pokédex matching the one he had given to indigo. "I believe the one you had your eye on is right here." He produced one of the two remaining capsules and the girl's eyes lit up.
"Oh, you're so sweet to have left me my Ashrike, Indy!" She gave Indigo a playful wink. With a twirl she let fly her Pokéball.
The same flash of white light broke loose from the capsule, and formed into a tiny bird with a sleek profile. It was mostly white, with flaming red wings and a mask-like pattern of black feathers near its green eyes. It looked around for a moment before flying up to Magenta and nuzzling into her hair. "Oh, we'll just be the best of pals, won't we, Fletcher?"
Otis tilted his head at the display and, seemingly inspired by the bird Pokémon, started clawing and climbing up to Indigo's head. "Hey! Quit it! Cut it out, Otis!" But his protests fell upon deaf ears, as the Mewsil somehow managed to replace the boy's hat and take it for himself, although it was far too big for him. He curled up comfortably and started to purr, perfectly balanced.
"Ah yes, Mewsil are not only known behavioral mimics, they also enjoy close contact and high places." As the professor explained this, Indigo carefully toddled over to him, holding out his arms to keep balance and keep from waking his new partner.
"How do I get him to stop?"
"You'd have to be a miracle worker," Beech started laughing boisterously again. "Mewsil are stubborn, and this one's taken a liking to you. He won't like to be away from his human once he's bonded, so you'd better come to terms with being a futon!"
Magenta and Fletcher tilted their heads, and the girl held her own chin inquisitively. "Honestly, your neck has to be made of iron. How are you holding up an eighteen-pound houseplant?"
"Must be all those hours I spent with my nose buried in a book," he answered somewhat dryly. "Anyway, I never got to ask you, professor; what's our job?"
Beech scratched an itch under his beard and led the teens over to a map on the wall. "Every year, starting on the first Monday of May, the Allidos Pokémon League holds their annual Gym Challenge." As he lectured, the two assistants listened carefully. "Any Trainer with a valid License is permitted to take on the challenge, and by obtaining victory in battle against the eight certified Gyms across the region, earn the right to challenge the Elite Four." He placed two briefcases on the table.
"I mean, we kinda know that, sir. Now that the two of us are fifteen, we could join." Indigo casually scratched his Mewsil's head, who in turn started to purr loudly.
"We needed a license just to take the job here, remember?" Magenta fiddled with her umbrella while Fletcher wagged his tail from inside her hair, trying to make a nest. "Why tell us what we already know?"
The professor sighed, "Children these days have no sense of drama… I have a quest for the two of you." He turned back around to face the map again, pausing a moment to close his eyes and muse upon some time long past. "The Gym challenge would take two young and adventurous youths all across the country, facing down new challenges and discovering new mysteries waiting to be solved." He held up a third Pokédex, "I want the two of you to travel across Allidos and record as many Pokémon as you can with these. Pokémon of the same species can have radically different colorations, mutations, histories and dispositions, as many stories to tell us as we could ever find on the murals of dusty tombs. Catch new Pokémon and grow together as Trainers, achieve your full potential together, and you may find that wonderful things will come your way."
The professor opened the two briefcases. Both contained identical supplies: six Pokéballs, just like the ones their starters had come in, money clips with a short stack of one-hundred Pyon bills, a pair of binoculars, a flare gun and a few signal flares, a first-aid kit, and a map. "I know that you've been hiking before, Indigo, so you know the necessity of being properly supplied. I am not unaware of the dangers of this task, but the two of you are old enough to take this journey." The professor straightened his lab coat and cleared his throat. "If either of you would rather not take the job, you don't have to. The Pokémon are yours to keep either way–"
"Are you kidding me?" Magenta shouted. "There's no way! I've been waiting for an opportunity like this my whole life, and now you're asking if I'd give it up?"
Indigo nodded, a fire lit behind his eyes, his fist clenched in determinant solidarity. "There's a world out there waiting to be seen. If all I have to do for a free ticket to the League is write a few reports, you can count me in!"
Beech smiled, pleased with the resolve of his two new proteges. "Then we can begin." He pointed at the northeastern corner of Allidos, a hilly, forested area where Pine Valley was located, and traced the road of Route 603 southwest toward another town, where the roads forked. "Like everywhere, the presence of wild Pokémon makes city expansion in Allidos difficult. Because of this, you'll need to travel between most towns and cities along dirt paths by foot. Your first task, therefore, is a test of your survival skills: reach Oliveburg Town via Route 603 and call me from the Pokémon Center there. You can travel together or apart, it doesn't matter. There is no competition between Trainers that supersedes friendly cooperation where you are willing to make it."
The two trainers gladly accepted the briefcases and shook each others' hands. "We'll have to pack," said the girl in pink. "Will you wait for me at the entrance of town about ten?"
Indigo hefted the briefcase nonchalantly over his shoulder, somehow not waking his sleeping partner. "Want me to? It's not that far a walk, maybe a day or two."
She nodded. "I've never hiked before, and I'm kinda scared to go alone. I could use a helping hand to get started."
"Then we'll decide whether or not to split once we hit Oliveburg."
"Deal!"
Indigo's mother was waiting for him in her rocking chair on the porch when he came home, eager to show her both the briefcase and Otis. She stood up and hugged him tightly, met by the sound of roaring purring as Otis sniffed her hair. "Be safe, Indy. I'm going to miss you."
"I'll call, Mom." He pulled away and smiled. "Gotta start my journey one day, don't I?"
"Yes, you do." She sniffled and let go of her son. "Now get your gear together," she reached behind her chair and pulled out a neatly-wrapped lunchbox and a bag of Pokéchow with a measuring cup and a small metal bowl. "And take these with you. I'd better not hear about you skipping meals chasing fish upstream, you hear me?"
Indigo took the bags and rushed inside, "Loud and clear!"
She shook her head and wiped a tear, "What is the world going to do with that boy running loose?"
