Jason Creight awoke on a beautiful Saturday morning in the dorm wing of
Professor Oak's lab.
He looked out the window of his room. It was a one-person room, with white walls and a white ceiling. Furniture was sparse, but it was there, at the very least.
It felt to him as though he were sleeping in a warehouse. And, truth be told, he was. The lab had been converted from a warehouse originally. Professor Oak had dreamt of being a researcher when he became older. Soon enough, his dream had come true; with the winnings he'd once earned from battles, he'd purchased the old building from Pallet Town and heavily converted it to a durable laboratory.
Jason sighed. "Another day."
He was hit by a sense of deja vu, remembering a time when he'd said that in such a way that if one had heard it, they would know he wasn't looking forward to that day.
But this was different. He was saying it for no reason at all, other than to talk.
It had been three years since he'd won the Indigo League championship. Four years since he'd attracted all that attention in the media. He was now eighteen years old, no taller, and just a little wiser than he had been when he was fourteen. He could only marvel at those memories of himself, wheeling up to the microphone-laden conference table at Indigo Plateau.
He remembered being asked, "Do you intend to challenge the Elite Four?"
And he remembered answering, "Not at this time."
Why not?
Because he had felt he was finished with Pokemon, as far as journeying was concerned.
But lately, he'd been dreaming of his experiences during his journey. His thoughts were being bent towards training once again.
His only idea as to why was that Pokemon had become his life. Training, studying, breeding. He couldn't get away from them, ever. And with Ash having gone off on his own Pokemon journey, Jason was beginning to think of his own journey once again. The only ones he could really talk to were his Pokemon.
Not even Kelly had that kind of bond with him yet.
Not even after being his girlfriend for four years.
He climbed out of bed, into his wheelchair, and took his lab coat off the wall-mounted coat hanger next to the door. Before putting it on, he looked at the name tag hanging on the pocket.
*Jason Creight
Assistant*
He asked himself, *Is this what I really want? Do I want to be a Pokemon researcher? Or do I want to be a trainer again?*
But he didn't receive an answer.
*For four years,* he thought, *this has been my home. A laboratory dedicated to studying Pokemon. I have worked endlessly with Professor Oak and Kelly. I even got the opportunity, as Kelly did, to go to Johto and research the newly discovered Pokemon there. It's a shame that we had to return so soon. At the very least, Kelly and I received plenty of specimens for study; some of them we took for ourselves, some of them we put in the breeding center, some of them we just put in the reserve.
But what happens when a Pokemon researcher becomes dissatisfied with the work he's doing? What happens when he decides it's not enough?
Does he stay where he is and hope his hormones cool down?
Or does he return to the wild grasses in search of new adventures?*
He looked at another wall-mounted coat hanger, this one holding his empty capture ball belt. He'd hung that thing up the day he got here, and he'd put his Pokemon in the reserve where they'd be free and happy.
Jason continued to wonder what he should do. *I remember Elm saying he didn't like being here either. He took the opportunity to go to Johto as soon as he could, and he set up a lab of his own there. Now he's a professor of Pokemon research himself. That was his way of dealing with it.
But I don't want to become a professor of Pokemon research.
What does that leave me with? Assistant and trainer?*
Someone knocked on the door. Jason wheeled himself clear of it and called out, "It's open."
Kelly walked inside.
He looked up at her. She was more beautiful than ever. The smile on her face brightened his day instantly.
"Hey," he said. He checked his watch. "I'm not late for work, am I?"
"No. You feeling all right?" she asked.
"Sure. Why?"
"Because you've got your lab coat on your lap and your name tag is attached to your finger."
He looked down at the tag and sighed. "I've just been thinking, that's all."
"About what?" Kelly sat on the bed.
Jason shook his head, as if he couldn't believe what he himself was going to say. "I don't think I've been happy working here."
"No?"
"No. Ever since Ash left on his journey, I've been dreaming about mine. And I've been asking myself, 'If not Pokemon research, then what? Train?' And you know what? I can't even answer myself."
Kelly leaned forward. "I thought you'd be finished with training after your journey. You ended it on such a high note."
"That's what I thought, too. But that was four years ago. Times change. And I've come to realize that even though what we're doing here is worthwhile, I don't like doing it. It doesn't have that same attraction." Jason shook his head. "Maybe I'll train, maybe I won't. But I can't hang around here much longer without going berserk. I'll work until the end of the month, then I'm handing in my resignation, either way."
Kelly frowned. "And just exactly what do you think you'll do if you don't train?"
Jason shrugged. "Wander around Johto. They've got at least sixty species of Pokemon that they're finally ready to show, and there might be a whole lot more running around out there. Maybe I'll go chasing after those rarer Pokemon, the ones we haven't seen yet. I'll catalogue them and send my findings in to Professor Oak or Professor Elm."
She shook her head. "I still see that as research."
"It's a different kind of research, a kind that won't have me restricted to a converted warehouse for the rest of my life."
"The rest of your life? Jason, you've still got your whole life ahead of you."
"And if I spend all of it here, I'll never reach my potential. Kelly, I have to leave here."
Kelly looked at the floor. "For eleven years, you grew up alongside Pokemon. For another three, you trained them to the best of your ability and theirs. Four years ago, you dedicated yourself to the life of a Pokemon researcher. Isn't being a resarcher enough?"
Jason shook his head. "It never will be. I can never escape the world of Pokemon, not after spending my entire life engulfed in it. And the life of a researcher isn't the life for me."
"And if you decide to train?"
Jason spread his hands. "Then I'll train."
She paused for a moment. "And you'd leave me behind?"
He frowned. "You want to stay here?"
"I like it here. Professor Oak is one of the kindest people I've ever met. I don't want to leave, not after he's done this much for me. So would you leave me behind to pursue whatever fate you choose for yourself?"
"How can you expect me to answer that with conviction?"
"Answer me! Would you do it?"
Jason sighed heavily.
He nodded.
"And if you knew for a fact that we would never see each other again after you'd left, would you still go?"
He frowned. "What kind of a question is that?"
"Just answer it. Would you go if you knew we wouldn't see each other again?"
He sat back in his chair and sighed. "I don't know."
"Then you'd better find out before you think about leaving."
She got up and left the room.
He groaned. "Another day, indeed."
If he'd been looking forward to it before, he wasn't now.
***
It was September 29th.
One day before the end of the month.
One day before Jason was planning to resign.
And he still didn't have an answer for Kelly.
He sighed as his work day finally came to an end. It was early evening, and the sun was hanging low over the horizon. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky, and the Pokemon were loving it.
Jason wheeled himself to his room and just sat for a while. He didn't know what to do. Half a month of pondering hadn't helped him with an answer, and he began to wonder if pondering was the right thing to do.
*Maybe I should ask someone else. Question is, who do I ask?*
***
"Jason! Come right in."
Mrs. Ketchum had been working on her dinner. Dinner for one, it seemed to Jason, was so lonely. Yet he'd managed for well over a year with no company.
He wheeled himself into Mrs. Ketchum's modest home and made himself at home in the living room. She sat down on her couch, while Jason tried to find an unobtrusive position in front of her.
"To what do I owe the honor?" she asked.
He sighed. "I need someone to talk to, and Kelly isn't the one to do it with, nor is Professor Oak. And I need a two-sided conversation, so that rules out my Pokemon."
She spread her hands wide and smiled. "Well, here I am. So what do you want to talk about?"
He leaned forward as much as his fried lower vertebrae allowed, trying to make himself look as if he was saying something confidential. "I've been giving serious consideration to resuming my Pokemon training. And that means quitting my job at the lab."
"But you've done so well. You helped Professor Oak with that wonderful Pokedex invention; Ash got one of the first models. And you helped discover so many secrets about Pokemon already. Why leave the lab?"
He chuckled nervously. "Because I'm beginning to get claustrophobic. Ever since Ash left for his own journey, I've been thinking about my own. I've been thinking about the challenges I had along the way, thinking about how exhilarating it was to battle."
"I thought you were beginning to see it as boring, time-consuming."
"I was. That's why I came here; to get away from it. And I did. But now I'm beginning to realize that I've taken away from myself as much as I've given to the world because of my research, maybe even more. So I want to leave the lab."
"Well, I'm not going to stop you, and I doubt Professor Oak would either. He'd be disappointed, but..."
Jason sighed. "The one thing that *is* stopping me is Kelly. She doesn't want to go anywhere. When I told her, she asked me if I would go without her. I told her I would. But then she asked me if I would do it with the knowledge that we'd never see each other again."
Mrs. Ketchum frowned. "That's got to be a tough question. Why is she asking?"
"I don't know. She insisted I answer. I told her I didn't know. She said she wanted an answer if I was going to leave. And that was two weeks ago."
"And you still don't know."
Jason shook his head. "I'm as in the dark now as I was then."
"And you want my advice?"
"I just need someone to tell all this to. But if you're offering..."
She leaned forward. "The only advice I can give you is this: if the desire to be a trainer again truly burns inside you, then you should pursue it. Ash did, and I miss him dearly, but I don't think any less of him since I know he's out fulfilling his dream. But if you feel even the slightest bit of doubt, then don't go at all. It'll be too much of a heartache on both of you."
He thought about this for a moment, then nodded. "Thanks, Mrs. Ketchum."
She looked into his eyes. "You're going to do it, aren't you?"
He smiled mysteriously.
And he left.
He may not have given her an answer, but she knew what she had seen in his eyes.
She'd seen them burning.
Burning with determination.
Reflecting the heart of a trainer.
***
Jason was too nervous to approach Professor Oak directly with his resignation paper. So that morning, he slipped it into Oak's mailbox.
He hoped his mentor would understand.
When his work day ended, he headed back to his room for the last time and packed his things. He left personal belongings that he didn't want to carry with him in the room, and he locked the door on his way out.
When he got to the room where his capture balls resided, he found that Professor Oak was waiting for him there.
They watched each other for a time, neither of them making a move.
Finally, Oak broke the silence.
"Good luck," he said simply.
Jason smiled, wheeled over to his shelf, and selected the Pokemon he would take with him.
Gyarados.
Gengar.
Cyndaquil.
Mareep.
Phanpy.
Charizard.
Half were older, trained, and evolved.
Half were none of the above.
Jason left the room.
***
Kelly stood at the entrance of the lab, watching Jason wheel himself down the path.
*There's my answer,* she thought.
As she watched her companion pass beyond the horizon, a tear rolled down her cheek.
*Be well, my friend.*
***
Jason made his way to the nearby creek and began to follow it. He knew it would lead to Tohjo Falls. From there, he could make his way to New Bark Town, where he would hopefully begin training his new recruits.
And he would register for the Johto League there.
He was ready to take however long it would take.
*But can I do it alone?*
Jason Creight journeyed on.
To Be Continued
He looked out the window of his room. It was a one-person room, with white walls and a white ceiling. Furniture was sparse, but it was there, at the very least.
It felt to him as though he were sleeping in a warehouse. And, truth be told, he was. The lab had been converted from a warehouse originally. Professor Oak had dreamt of being a researcher when he became older. Soon enough, his dream had come true; with the winnings he'd once earned from battles, he'd purchased the old building from Pallet Town and heavily converted it to a durable laboratory.
Jason sighed. "Another day."
He was hit by a sense of deja vu, remembering a time when he'd said that in such a way that if one had heard it, they would know he wasn't looking forward to that day.
But this was different. He was saying it for no reason at all, other than to talk.
It had been three years since he'd won the Indigo League championship. Four years since he'd attracted all that attention in the media. He was now eighteen years old, no taller, and just a little wiser than he had been when he was fourteen. He could only marvel at those memories of himself, wheeling up to the microphone-laden conference table at Indigo Plateau.
He remembered being asked, "Do you intend to challenge the Elite Four?"
And he remembered answering, "Not at this time."
Why not?
Because he had felt he was finished with Pokemon, as far as journeying was concerned.
But lately, he'd been dreaming of his experiences during his journey. His thoughts were being bent towards training once again.
His only idea as to why was that Pokemon had become his life. Training, studying, breeding. He couldn't get away from them, ever. And with Ash having gone off on his own Pokemon journey, Jason was beginning to think of his own journey once again. The only ones he could really talk to were his Pokemon.
Not even Kelly had that kind of bond with him yet.
Not even after being his girlfriend for four years.
He climbed out of bed, into his wheelchair, and took his lab coat off the wall-mounted coat hanger next to the door. Before putting it on, he looked at the name tag hanging on the pocket.
*Jason Creight
Assistant*
He asked himself, *Is this what I really want? Do I want to be a Pokemon researcher? Or do I want to be a trainer again?*
But he didn't receive an answer.
*For four years,* he thought, *this has been my home. A laboratory dedicated to studying Pokemon. I have worked endlessly with Professor Oak and Kelly. I even got the opportunity, as Kelly did, to go to Johto and research the newly discovered Pokemon there. It's a shame that we had to return so soon. At the very least, Kelly and I received plenty of specimens for study; some of them we took for ourselves, some of them we put in the breeding center, some of them we just put in the reserve.
But what happens when a Pokemon researcher becomes dissatisfied with the work he's doing? What happens when he decides it's not enough?
Does he stay where he is and hope his hormones cool down?
Or does he return to the wild grasses in search of new adventures?*
He looked at another wall-mounted coat hanger, this one holding his empty capture ball belt. He'd hung that thing up the day he got here, and he'd put his Pokemon in the reserve where they'd be free and happy.
Jason continued to wonder what he should do. *I remember Elm saying he didn't like being here either. He took the opportunity to go to Johto as soon as he could, and he set up a lab of his own there. Now he's a professor of Pokemon research himself. That was his way of dealing with it.
But I don't want to become a professor of Pokemon research.
What does that leave me with? Assistant and trainer?*
Someone knocked on the door. Jason wheeled himself clear of it and called out, "It's open."
Kelly walked inside.
He looked up at her. She was more beautiful than ever. The smile on her face brightened his day instantly.
"Hey," he said. He checked his watch. "I'm not late for work, am I?"
"No. You feeling all right?" she asked.
"Sure. Why?"
"Because you've got your lab coat on your lap and your name tag is attached to your finger."
He looked down at the tag and sighed. "I've just been thinking, that's all."
"About what?" Kelly sat on the bed.
Jason shook his head, as if he couldn't believe what he himself was going to say. "I don't think I've been happy working here."
"No?"
"No. Ever since Ash left on his journey, I've been dreaming about mine. And I've been asking myself, 'If not Pokemon research, then what? Train?' And you know what? I can't even answer myself."
Kelly leaned forward. "I thought you'd be finished with training after your journey. You ended it on such a high note."
"That's what I thought, too. But that was four years ago. Times change. And I've come to realize that even though what we're doing here is worthwhile, I don't like doing it. It doesn't have that same attraction." Jason shook his head. "Maybe I'll train, maybe I won't. But I can't hang around here much longer without going berserk. I'll work until the end of the month, then I'm handing in my resignation, either way."
Kelly frowned. "And just exactly what do you think you'll do if you don't train?"
Jason shrugged. "Wander around Johto. They've got at least sixty species of Pokemon that they're finally ready to show, and there might be a whole lot more running around out there. Maybe I'll go chasing after those rarer Pokemon, the ones we haven't seen yet. I'll catalogue them and send my findings in to Professor Oak or Professor Elm."
She shook her head. "I still see that as research."
"It's a different kind of research, a kind that won't have me restricted to a converted warehouse for the rest of my life."
"The rest of your life? Jason, you've still got your whole life ahead of you."
"And if I spend all of it here, I'll never reach my potential. Kelly, I have to leave here."
Kelly looked at the floor. "For eleven years, you grew up alongside Pokemon. For another three, you trained them to the best of your ability and theirs. Four years ago, you dedicated yourself to the life of a Pokemon researcher. Isn't being a resarcher enough?"
Jason shook his head. "It never will be. I can never escape the world of Pokemon, not after spending my entire life engulfed in it. And the life of a researcher isn't the life for me."
"And if you decide to train?"
Jason spread his hands. "Then I'll train."
She paused for a moment. "And you'd leave me behind?"
He frowned. "You want to stay here?"
"I like it here. Professor Oak is one of the kindest people I've ever met. I don't want to leave, not after he's done this much for me. So would you leave me behind to pursue whatever fate you choose for yourself?"
"How can you expect me to answer that with conviction?"
"Answer me! Would you do it?"
Jason sighed heavily.
He nodded.
"And if you knew for a fact that we would never see each other again after you'd left, would you still go?"
He frowned. "What kind of a question is that?"
"Just answer it. Would you go if you knew we wouldn't see each other again?"
He sat back in his chair and sighed. "I don't know."
"Then you'd better find out before you think about leaving."
She got up and left the room.
He groaned. "Another day, indeed."
If he'd been looking forward to it before, he wasn't now.
***
It was September 29th.
One day before the end of the month.
One day before Jason was planning to resign.
And he still didn't have an answer for Kelly.
He sighed as his work day finally came to an end. It was early evening, and the sun was hanging low over the horizon. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky, and the Pokemon were loving it.
Jason wheeled himself to his room and just sat for a while. He didn't know what to do. Half a month of pondering hadn't helped him with an answer, and he began to wonder if pondering was the right thing to do.
*Maybe I should ask someone else. Question is, who do I ask?*
***
"Jason! Come right in."
Mrs. Ketchum had been working on her dinner. Dinner for one, it seemed to Jason, was so lonely. Yet he'd managed for well over a year with no company.
He wheeled himself into Mrs. Ketchum's modest home and made himself at home in the living room. She sat down on her couch, while Jason tried to find an unobtrusive position in front of her.
"To what do I owe the honor?" she asked.
He sighed. "I need someone to talk to, and Kelly isn't the one to do it with, nor is Professor Oak. And I need a two-sided conversation, so that rules out my Pokemon."
She spread her hands wide and smiled. "Well, here I am. So what do you want to talk about?"
He leaned forward as much as his fried lower vertebrae allowed, trying to make himself look as if he was saying something confidential. "I've been giving serious consideration to resuming my Pokemon training. And that means quitting my job at the lab."
"But you've done so well. You helped Professor Oak with that wonderful Pokedex invention; Ash got one of the first models. And you helped discover so many secrets about Pokemon already. Why leave the lab?"
He chuckled nervously. "Because I'm beginning to get claustrophobic. Ever since Ash left for his own journey, I've been thinking about my own. I've been thinking about the challenges I had along the way, thinking about how exhilarating it was to battle."
"I thought you were beginning to see it as boring, time-consuming."
"I was. That's why I came here; to get away from it. And I did. But now I'm beginning to realize that I've taken away from myself as much as I've given to the world because of my research, maybe even more. So I want to leave the lab."
"Well, I'm not going to stop you, and I doubt Professor Oak would either. He'd be disappointed, but..."
Jason sighed. "The one thing that *is* stopping me is Kelly. She doesn't want to go anywhere. When I told her, she asked me if I would go without her. I told her I would. But then she asked me if I would do it with the knowledge that we'd never see each other again."
Mrs. Ketchum frowned. "That's got to be a tough question. Why is she asking?"
"I don't know. She insisted I answer. I told her I didn't know. She said she wanted an answer if I was going to leave. And that was two weeks ago."
"And you still don't know."
Jason shook his head. "I'm as in the dark now as I was then."
"And you want my advice?"
"I just need someone to tell all this to. But if you're offering..."
She leaned forward. "The only advice I can give you is this: if the desire to be a trainer again truly burns inside you, then you should pursue it. Ash did, and I miss him dearly, but I don't think any less of him since I know he's out fulfilling his dream. But if you feel even the slightest bit of doubt, then don't go at all. It'll be too much of a heartache on both of you."
He thought about this for a moment, then nodded. "Thanks, Mrs. Ketchum."
She looked into his eyes. "You're going to do it, aren't you?"
He smiled mysteriously.
And he left.
He may not have given her an answer, but she knew what she had seen in his eyes.
She'd seen them burning.
Burning with determination.
Reflecting the heart of a trainer.
***
Jason was too nervous to approach Professor Oak directly with his resignation paper. So that morning, he slipped it into Oak's mailbox.
He hoped his mentor would understand.
When his work day ended, he headed back to his room for the last time and packed his things. He left personal belongings that he didn't want to carry with him in the room, and he locked the door on his way out.
When he got to the room where his capture balls resided, he found that Professor Oak was waiting for him there.
They watched each other for a time, neither of them making a move.
Finally, Oak broke the silence.
"Good luck," he said simply.
Jason smiled, wheeled over to his shelf, and selected the Pokemon he would take with him.
Gyarados.
Gengar.
Cyndaquil.
Mareep.
Phanpy.
Charizard.
Half were older, trained, and evolved.
Half were none of the above.
Jason left the room.
***
Kelly stood at the entrance of the lab, watching Jason wheel himself down the path.
*There's my answer,* she thought.
As she watched her companion pass beyond the horizon, a tear rolled down her cheek.
*Be well, my friend.*
***
Jason made his way to the nearby creek and began to follow it. He knew it would lead to Tohjo Falls. From there, he could make his way to New Bark Town, where he would hopefully begin training his new recruits.
And he would register for the Johto League there.
He was ready to take however long it would take.
*But can I do it alone?*
Jason Creight journeyed on.
To Be Continued
