Pokémon - The Journey Begins

Chapter 27: Return to Pallet



After Matt had payed a visit to his family once he returned to Pallet, he decided to go back to Professor Oak's laboratory. He was really interested in seeing this egg that he had discovered. For safety, and in case he saw a trainer out on the road, he took his Pokémon along with him.

Matt moved his shoulders around a little bit. "Wow, it certainly feels odd not carrying a backpack with me. I can't believe I've traveled for so long. It's only been about two months. I wonder how the other trainers from here have been doing; I haven't heard from them, or about them."

Matt approached the front door after ascending a few steps and knocked.

Professor Oak answered with a smile. "Good afternoon! How are you today?"

"Pretty good. I feel bad though, because I couldn't get the badge at Cinnibar."

"Oh? What happened?"

"It was burnt to the ground," Matt said, releasing a stiff laughter afterwards. He wasn't sure why that amused him.

"That's sad to hear. I had received a letter from somebody named Jordan and a girl named Lizzie. Do you know who they are?"

"They're friends of mine, and we traveled together for a little while. Jordan had to go work at the lab at Cinnibar, and Lizzie wanted to get another badge somewhere. She told me she'd join up with me later to train for the Pokémon League."

"That's good! Well, the egg I've examined has started to shake a little bit, and I'm not quite sure when it may hatch. Come with me." The Professor lead himself and Matt to the room where the egg was being incubated. Matt had never been in this room before, so he took the opportunity to look around. In a way, it was similar to some of the other rooms: Pokéballs hanging from one shelf, and large, researching machines surrounding the walls. Lighting from the room came from florescent lights, as there were no windows anywhere.

Matt took a look at a spotted Pokémon egg. He watched in awe. "THAT'S a Pokémon egg? It's huge!"

"Well, I found it in the woods when your Clefairy went for a nature hike on its own. It was the one who discovered it."

"Really? Isn't that something...I wonder what it could hatch into?"

"More than likely a reptile."

"I can't tell."

"Well, would you like something to drink? I've made some tea."

"Sure, what kind is it?"

"Just regular tea, unless you prefer something else."

"Not really," Matt shook his head. "Regardless, I just need to add some sugar to give it some sweetness."

The professor smiled, and lead him into the living room. "Come, you must tell me everything."

* * *

"Wow...that's quite impressive. You've had quite the journey!"

"Yeah, Team Rocket's still after me. I really don't know what to do. It seems I'm badly wanted for some reason."

The Professor scratched his chin. "Hmm...well, it appears that secret organizations have been shut down and several involved have been thrown into prison lately. It was in this morning's newspaper. Did you have a chance to look at it?"

"Huh? No, my family doesn't read the newspaper." Matt took the large, thick copy from the professor and read the front page. He saw a photo of one man talking to a policeman. He then read the article. "'Arrmun Colbolt (left), reports another secret organization of Team Rocket.'" He smiled. "So, he kept his promise after all."

"What was that?" the Professor asked.

"Oh, well, I had a little Pokémon battle with him a while back. And, since I won, he had promised me that there would be no more encounters from Team Rocket. I thought he meant that they wouldn't bug me anymore, but he's managing to shut down every single organization. Wow, and I thought he betrayed me; I had another encounter with others on the way to Cinnibar."

"Interesting. Well, want to go and see if the egg has hatched yet?"

Matt took one last sip of his tea cup and nearly choked before put it down. "You mean it's about to hatch? And...may I ask you a favour?"

"What's that?"

"Would there be any chance of...me taking that Pokémon?" Matt asked shyly.

The professor laughed. "Of course you may. But, since it's young, I have to make sure it's being properly fed for the first month or so. Can you wait that long?"

Matt smiled. "As long as I get to keep it, I don't care!"

The Professor and Matt walked back down to the room in which the Pokémon egg was being incubated, and to their surprise, the egg was just hatching. Professor Oak quickly dashed, and looked at the egg in awe, with Matt following, quite anxious to see what it could be.

"Can you see anything?" Matt asked.

"No...nothing yet."

In a few minutes, the entire shell was completely removed, and what Matt and the Professor could see was a tiny, pale-green Pokémon with what appeared to be a leaf of some kind sprouting from its head. Matt couldn't see much more of it, for it was curled up into a ball.

"Oh, it's a Chikorita!" the professor replied enthousiastically.

"I've never seen such a creature before..." Matt commented.

"Oh, it's one of those creatures that you can find in the Johto league."

"Johto? Where's that?"

"Oh, about Northwest of here," the professor replied. "Are you planning to go there? After you battle in the Pokémon League here you should go and give it a try!"

Matt shrugged. "I'd rather take on the task that's at hand at the moment.."

"Good idea," the trofessor replied. "There are several other leagues that you may want to compete for." He turned his attention to the newly hatched Pokémon. "So, this is a Chikorita. I never thought we would find any of their kind here."

"That's weird," Matt commented. "You mean there's a whole batch of different Pokémon just in Johto?"

"Oh, not just Johto, but other places as well. You see, Indigo is just an area where most of the Pokémon have moved. However, some of them can't travel long distances and are stuck where they are. So, I guess a family of Chikoritas managed to find their way down here."

"And abandoned the egg?" Matt asked.

"Perhaps. It may have fallen victim to animals at a higher food chain; Chikoritas are quite small in stature, afterall, even when fully grown. Or perhaps the egg just got lost, or its nest was raided and it decided to move on."

"Well, as long as this one survived, that's all right." Matt smiled. "It's so cool. And I get to keep it?"

"That's right...I better give it some milk right now. Would you like to stay a little bit longer?"

"No thanks, I'd better go back home; my parents were a bit shocked after learning that I was just leaving again as soon as I got back, so, I thought they would rather have me hang around just like I used to, I guess."

"No problem then. Train hard now."

Matt faced Professor Oak and shook his hand. "Thank you, sir. I'll try my very best."

* * *

Matt threw himself on top of his bed. "Man...I'm stuffed. I have to keep reminding myself not to eat so much. Phew." He then looked at his Squirtle, who was still looking around his room. "Hey, buddy, what's up?"

Squirtle looked at his trainer and smiled. "Squirtle!"

Matt smiled. "Good, as long as you're all right, I don't mind."

Matt's sister, Jess, then came into his room. "So...I hear you have a girlfriend?"

Matt blushed. "Wha--ho--what?! No, I don't!"

"Yes you do...you're stammering and you're blush-ing..." Jess replied with a sing-song style of voice.

"Who told you that?"

"Professor Oak. He told us that Lizzie called him and said that she'd be coming here in a few days. Why haven't you told mom and dad about her coming over?"

"I don't recall this phone call being made. And how come you're still here? Why didn't you go out on a Pokémon journey of your own?"

"I don't want to. Yeah, I know I like Pokémon and all that, but training...bluch. The idea makes me sick. Well, I suppose you'll want to be left alone...like always." Jess then left Matt's room and closed the door behind her.

"Perhaps I shouldn't have returned home?" Matt asked himself. "Ah, whatever. It's fine to be back, so I shouldn't be complaining." Matt looked at his clock. "Yeesh, it's only 5:30. I would go out and train if there were only Pokémon trainers who came this way. I'll just have to wait for Lizzie to arrive."

Matt stretched out on to his bed and sighed. "I've forgotten how soft this was. As a matter of fact, it feels softer than it usually did. I guess that's what happens when you sleep in sleeping bags and Pokémon Center beds for two months."

Squirtle then approached Matt's bed and climbed up. While trying to move to the other side, he attempted to climb over his gut, except he tripped and fell.

"Oof!" Matt yelled. "Hey, hey, hey! Watch where you're jumping! You don't want to make me sick, do you?"

Squirtle blushed and jumped off on to another part of the bed. He then curled himself into his shell and decided to go to sleep. Matt looked around at everything in his bedroom. He looked at all of his Pokémon posters, merchandise, and his eyes eventually made their way to his bookshelf, which was completely filled with several study books, including books that he studied when he was younger.

Matt walked over and took out one of the books. "This was the one I couldn't finish, because it was so long and complicated. But that was over five years ago. I should try to finish it now." Matt then opened the page to where a bookmark was placed, now covered in dust. Matt waved his hand in front of his face and coughed. "Wow, this book has been literally untouched for years!"

Matt sat down and pulled out a chair. He read a little bit of the previous page to see where he was. "Ah, right, I remember. The Evolution Stone Chapter. I remember why I couldn't finish this book; these chapters were at least thirty to fifty pages long each." Matt looked at the different photographed types of evolution stones along with a very detailed description underneath. He then read five pages about what takes place during an evolution.

He finished the chapter and moved on to the next. Pokémon Nutrition. Matt laughed as he read what was suggested. "Geez, if anybody wanted living proof of whatever's obsolete, this book here takes the cake! You can't feed these to a Pokémon, you'll kill it! 'Fiber, water, essential nutrients.' Geez, what a joke. You'll get the same effect just feeding them grass, or fruits and vegetables or whatever."

Matt then managed to get himself to another chapter, which was the last one in the book. Pokémon Battle Strategies. He nodded in agreement to himself. "I like how these charts explain battle strategies, but it all seems too cliché, too simplistic. Sure, a basic offensive and defensive based style is good depending on the Pokémon. But attacking and guarding skills aren't what really matters most. It also has to be the speed, intelligence and stamina of a Pokémon. This book only displays certain offensive and defensive strategies. Even for beginning trainers, these are far too strange. Then again, a beginner couldn't use stuff like this; look at how it's explained! Sure, it's a good idea to keep things relatively simple, but by the way they explain this, a poor beginner's going to have a heart attack!"

Matt then finished the book and put it away. He then looked at the clock, it was nearly 8:00. "Wow, time really flew by, didn't it? I think I might use some of those strategies...with a mixture of my own of course." He then yawned. "What the...why am I getting tired now? Well, I really should try and sleep. I'll think better if I sleep well." Matt then brushed his teeth, changed into his pajamas and curled up under the sheets into bed. He then turned off the light, placed his head on his pillow and let out a long, relaxed sigh. "This is so soft; I'm not sorry I came home...."

* * *

Matt looked around a few days later to see if Lizzie had arrived in town. After not being able to see her, he made another trip to Professor Oak's laboratory to see how his Chikorita was doing.

"I just gave it its lunch," the professor stated. "It's such a playful little thing; I let it run around the lab now."

"I'm surprised it could do that after only a few days..." Matt commented.

"Pokémon are mysterious creatures." He looked back at Matt. "So, has your partner arrived yet?"

Matt shook his head. "I've been waiting for her to arrive for the past few days, so now I'm just stuck at the house sitting around, and reading some old books."

The professor grinned. "Cheer up. If she said she's going to be here, she will. I'm sure she'll call when she leaves."

Matt nodded, then looked around at the Chikorita, running around the long hallways of the laboratory and laughed at its carefree attitude. "Wow, I can't wait to see how it'll look next month!"

The professor smiled. "Just another week, and this thing'll be allowed to roam around outside!"

"Wow, it's growing so fast, it makes me wonder how much of a hassle it is to take care of that thing."

"Oh, it's no big deal. It's running around pretty much blindly now. I think I can get it to tame in about a week or so."

"Something so young? Can you do that?"

"Oh, it's not impossible. Why don't you find the Chikorita now? You should get to learn about its attitude and habits before you begin training it."

"Why not?" Matt smiled. "I might as well, since I don't have anything else to do all day."



TO BE CONTINUED.