Chapter Four: The Good News, and The Bad News
I rushed home after collecting my Pokedex, Pokeballs, Potions and Berries. I sneaked past dad on the way to my room. I saw he was on the VidPhone with someone, so I assumed that it was Elm trying to convince my dad to let me go. I reached my room in record time, and started throwing whatever I thought I'd need into a suitcase. I was thinking only of Kanna, the Elite Four, and what Elm had said. When I got to putting my gear into the case, I stopped to look at the odd Pokeball again. While I was staring at it, wondering who had made it, Kanna popped out of her Pokeball. "Kan!" She came over to me and jumped up on my bed. She looked at me strangely, then noticed the Pokeball in my hand. "Kan! Aun kan!" She ran around behind my back, wanting to be protected from the object, but not trusting anything in the room but me to do it. "Woah! Calm down, Kanna! Believe me, I'm not going to put you in that thing again!" I stared at it. "Who knows what it'll do to you." Good! "Huh? Who said that?" I stood up and looked out the window; almost sure that it was my friends playing a joke on me. But no one was in sight. Shaken, I sat back down on my bed. A fleeting thought shot through my mind, but I quickly dismissed it as having watched too many adventure movies in the past week for my own good. I continued to pack, but kept the Pokeball out on my desk. I was more than a little apprehensive when it came to keeping it in my sight. Who knows what powers it had?
~*~*~*~*~
"NICOLE SINT! GET DOWN HERE!" "Uh, oh." "I MEAN NOW!!" From that alone, I came to the conclusion that my dad had found out about my trip. And he wasn't happy. As I came downstairs, Kanna followed me despite my warnings. She had never seen my father on the warpath, where as I had made a living getting him there. I came into the dining room and Dad motioned to me to sit down. To say he wasn't happy was an understatement. (He was more like furious.) "Nicole, I understand you have a Pokemon now." "Yep. She's a baby Suicune, as far as anyone can tell." Kanna jumped up onto my lap and started working my dad over. She was doing a very good impression of a cute little helpless puppy, and I could see dad melting in her, uh, paws. "Isn't she so sweet?" I added, hoping to help Kanna in her work. "Elm says that she's chosen me to be her trainer, and he thinks I could go far with her help. Even to the Pokemon League!" Nothing. If anything I'd made it worse by assuming he'd let me grow up to my chronological age. "Nicole, I trust you. Its everyone else that-" "That you don't trust, I know." I sighed. "Dad, I can handle myself now, and with Kanna I can be a real trainer! Elm said he thought I might make it to the Elite Four! No one has ever made it past the first two!" Dad raised an eyebrow. "I know. Elm called me while you were walking home. He seemed to be determined to get you permission to go, so I gave it to him." My eyes grew wide when I heard that. "Really? Thanks Dad!" I jumped up, ready to go, but Dad held up a hand. I sat back down, fearing the worst. "Elm told me about this errand he wants you to do for him, and I agreed. I'm withholding my judgment on your journey until you get back." He looked at the Pokeballs I had on the belt around my waist. "So no using those, ok kiddo?" With the look that Dad gave me, I knew that to complain was to commit Trainer suicide. So I kept my mouth shut and nodded. Kanna seemed disappointed that her charms didn't work as well as she had expected, and so jumped down from my lap. I went up to get my stuff from my room. Dad called after me, "And you might want to rethink using that suitcase! A backpack will do better!"
~*~*~*~*~
As I left New Bark Town, I read the map that Professor Elm had given to me. He had clearly marked the way to Mr. Pokemon's house. It actually wasn't that far away from Cherrygrove City, which was about half a day's walk from New Bark. Since my dad hadn't given me permission for a journey yet, he had me take his bike to get there faster. It should take me the rest of the day if all went well. I reached Cherrygrove City without much happening. I was going too fast for any of the wild Pokemon to catch up and fight me. I stopped off at the Pokemon Center anyway for a drink and a checkup for Kanna. Nurse Joy gave Kanna a close look and (of course) asked me if Professor Elm knew about her. "Of course," I replied. "Elm gave her to me, so he'd better know about her, huh?" After a quick snack, Kanna and I set off for Mr. Pokemon's house up North. Kanna decided to sit behind me on the parcel rack, though she was far from a parcel. We made good time and were there in about a half an hour. As I propped the bike up, Kanna got off and ran over to the man who stepped out of the house. This, naturally, was Mr. Pokemon himself. He looked like a magician that had turned in his top hat for a smaller version. It was really pretty funny how his face changed so quickly from a welcome smile to a "what the?" look. I explained to him about Kanna, and he smiled and nodded all the while. He seemed almost like as if you could knock him over with your pinkie finger, but then you really looked at him and decided no, you couldn't. It was pretty confusing. "Hmm. This is very interesting, so I'll be sure to call Elm about it. But as I recall, you came here for this." Mr. Pokemon handed a small stone to me. It resembled an evolutionary stone, but it was unlike any I'd seen before. I mentally checked them off; Water, Fire, Thunder, Grass, Moon, and Sun. And Everstone, but that kept a Pokemon from evolving, so it didn't really count. This looked like a crystal shard, and was cool to the touch. It was cloudy, like a blizzard was raging inside. As I examined it, Mr. Pokemon told its history. Apparently, it had been discovered in the mountains on the Blackthorn side of the Ice Path. Buried under a bunch of rocks, a paleontologist had uncovered it. Knowing that Mr. Pokemon was an expert on new and unusual things, he had sent it to him by way of the Pidgey Express. Mr. Pokemon had received it the day before and immediately called Professor Elm about it. "I'm currently trying to find out if there are more of these somewhere in the area. But, for now, this is the only one. "So, you see, it's quite important that this gets back to Professor Elm safely. Don't loose it, all right?" "Ok." I figured that the safest place would be where I was currently keeping my.oh. No, that wouldn't work. I was trying to keep the Pokeball separate from everything else. Well, that left my fannypack. It would definitely be safe there! Kanna and I waved goodbye and started back towards Cherrygrove. Halfway there, I got a call from Elm on my PokeGear. "Nicole? I just got a call from Officer Jenny in Cherrygrove. An upstart Pokemon thief group is copying Team Rocket's past crimes. Be careful, ok?" "All right Elm. Should I stay at the Pokemon Center in Cherrygrove overnight?" "You better take that up with your father. Be sure to call him right when you arrive at the Center, all right?" "Sure Elm, I will. Promise." And with that I hung up. When I looked up, I was confronted by two figures. They didn't seem to have a uniform, so I dismissed Team Rocket. However, that still left the new group. "Hand over that Pokemon, little girl!"
I rushed home after collecting my Pokedex, Pokeballs, Potions and Berries. I sneaked past dad on the way to my room. I saw he was on the VidPhone with someone, so I assumed that it was Elm trying to convince my dad to let me go. I reached my room in record time, and started throwing whatever I thought I'd need into a suitcase. I was thinking only of Kanna, the Elite Four, and what Elm had said. When I got to putting my gear into the case, I stopped to look at the odd Pokeball again. While I was staring at it, wondering who had made it, Kanna popped out of her Pokeball. "Kan!" She came over to me and jumped up on my bed. She looked at me strangely, then noticed the Pokeball in my hand. "Kan! Aun kan!" She ran around behind my back, wanting to be protected from the object, but not trusting anything in the room but me to do it. "Woah! Calm down, Kanna! Believe me, I'm not going to put you in that thing again!" I stared at it. "Who knows what it'll do to you." Good! "Huh? Who said that?" I stood up and looked out the window; almost sure that it was my friends playing a joke on me. But no one was in sight. Shaken, I sat back down on my bed. A fleeting thought shot through my mind, but I quickly dismissed it as having watched too many adventure movies in the past week for my own good. I continued to pack, but kept the Pokeball out on my desk. I was more than a little apprehensive when it came to keeping it in my sight. Who knows what powers it had?
~*~*~*~*~
"NICOLE SINT! GET DOWN HERE!" "Uh, oh." "I MEAN NOW!!" From that alone, I came to the conclusion that my dad had found out about my trip. And he wasn't happy. As I came downstairs, Kanna followed me despite my warnings. She had never seen my father on the warpath, where as I had made a living getting him there. I came into the dining room and Dad motioned to me to sit down. To say he wasn't happy was an understatement. (He was more like furious.) "Nicole, I understand you have a Pokemon now." "Yep. She's a baby Suicune, as far as anyone can tell." Kanna jumped up onto my lap and started working my dad over. She was doing a very good impression of a cute little helpless puppy, and I could see dad melting in her, uh, paws. "Isn't she so sweet?" I added, hoping to help Kanna in her work. "Elm says that she's chosen me to be her trainer, and he thinks I could go far with her help. Even to the Pokemon League!" Nothing. If anything I'd made it worse by assuming he'd let me grow up to my chronological age. "Nicole, I trust you. Its everyone else that-" "That you don't trust, I know." I sighed. "Dad, I can handle myself now, and with Kanna I can be a real trainer! Elm said he thought I might make it to the Elite Four! No one has ever made it past the first two!" Dad raised an eyebrow. "I know. Elm called me while you were walking home. He seemed to be determined to get you permission to go, so I gave it to him." My eyes grew wide when I heard that. "Really? Thanks Dad!" I jumped up, ready to go, but Dad held up a hand. I sat back down, fearing the worst. "Elm told me about this errand he wants you to do for him, and I agreed. I'm withholding my judgment on your journey until you get back." He looked at the Pokeballs I had on the belt around my waist. "So no using those, ok kiddo?" With the look that Dad gave me, I knew that to complain was to commit Trainer suicide. So I kept my mouth shut and nodded. Kanna seemed disappointed that her charms didn't work as well as she had expected, and so jumped down from my lap. I went up to get my stuff from my room. Dad called after me, "And you might want to rethink using that suitcase! A backpack will do better!"
~*~*~*~*~
As I left New Bark Town, I read the map that Professor Elm had given to me. He had clearly marked the way to Mr. Pokemon's house. It actually wasn't that far away from Cherrygrove City, which was about half a day's walk from New Bark. Since my dad hadn't given me permission for a journey yet, he had me take his bike to get there faster. It should take me the rest of the day if all went well. I reached Cherrygrove City without much happening. I was going too fast for any of the wild Pokemon to catch up and fight me. I stopped off at the Pokemon Center anyway for a drink and a checkup for Kanna. Nurse Joy gave Kanna a close look and (of course) asked me if Professor Elm knew about her. "Of course," I replied. "Elm gave her to me, so he'd better know about her, huh?" After a quick snack, Kanna and I set off for Mr. Pokemon's house up North. Kanna decided to sit behind me on the parcel rack, though she was far from a parcel. We made good time and were there in about a half an hour. As I propped the bike up, Kanna got off and ran over to the man who stepped out of the house. This, naturally, was Mr. Pokemon himself. He looked like a magician that had turned in his top hat for a smaller version. It was really pretty funny how his face changed so quickly from a welcome smile to a "what the?" look. I explained to him about Kanna, and he smiled and nodded all the while. He seemed almost like as if you could knock him over with your pinkie finger, but then you really looked at him and decided no, you couldn't. It was pretty confusing. "Hmm. This is very interesting, so I'll be sure to call Elm about it. But as I recall, you came here for this." Mr. Pokemon handed a small stone to me. It resembled an evolutionary stone, but it was unlike any I'd seen before. I mentally checked them off; Water, Fire, Thunder, Grass, Moon, and Sun. And Everstone, but that kept a Pokemon from evolving, so it didn't really count. This looked like a crystal shard, and was cool to the touch. It was cloudy, like a blizzard was raging inside. As I examined it, Mr. Pokemon told its history. Apparently, it had been discovered in the mountains on the Blackthorn side of the Ice Path. Buried under a bunch of rocks, a paleontologist had uncovered it. Knowing that Mr. Pokemon was an expert on new and unusual things, he had sent it to him by way of the Pidgey Express. Mr. Pokemon had received it the day before and immediately called Professor Elm about it. "I'm currently trying to find out if there are more of these somewhere in the area. But, for now, this is the only one. "So, you see, it's quite important that this gets back to Professor Elm safely. Don't loose it, all right?" "Ok." I figured that the safest place would be where I was currently keeping my.oh. No, that wouldn't work. I was trying to keep the Pokeball separate from everything else. Well, that left my fannypack. It would definitely be safe there! Kanna and I waved goodbye and started back towards Cherrygrove. Halfway there, I got a call from Elm on my PokeGear. "Nicole? I just got a call from Officer Jenny in Cherrygrove. An upstart Pokemon thief group is copying Team Rocket's past crimes. Be careful, ok?" "All right Elm. Should I stay at the Pokemon Center in Cherrygrove overnight?" "You better take that up with your father. Be sure to call him right when you arrive at the Center, all right?" "Sure Elm, I will. Promise." And with that I hung up. When I looked up, I was confronted by two figures. They didn't seem to have a uniform, so I dismissed Team Rocket. However, that still left the new group. "Hand over that Pokemon, little girl!"