Chapter 9: Outlawship Is Now A Common Trait Among Players.
Waking up once again on his back, Phil was staring into Jenna's eyes.
"It is you." Phil said weakly.
"Phil," Jenna said playfully, "You almost killed Skye."
"Skye?" Phil turned his head to the anthro raichu. "You?" Skye nodded his head. "This is too weird." Phil said, "I mean, you always liked pokémon, Jenna, but this?"
"I don't know what's happened, Phil."
Phil stood up, took another look at Skye, then sat down on the bed. "Jenna," Phil said to her, "Please explain Skye."
"Skye found me in the woods yesterday morning." Jenna replied.
"Yesterday. . . It's only been that long?" Phil said, rubbing his head, "It has, hasn't it?"
"What do you mean?" Skye said quizziotically.
"Nevermind." Phil said to him.
Jenna sat down on the bed next to Phil.
"Where's your poké balls?" Skye asked, noticing the absence of them on Phil's belt.
"I'm not a trainer." Phil said, skillfully avoiding the topic.
There was a sudden knock on the door. "Are you alright in there? I could hear some yelling." A nurse's voice came from the door.
"No, uh, everything's fine." Phil said standing up to the door.
"You're awake? That's good." The doorknob turned.
"Um, I don't think. . ." Phil said, as the nurse walked into the door.
"Oh dear!" The nurse said. Phil buried his face in his hands. "Someone's left the window open."
"Huh?" Phil said, turning around to the window. Jenna and Skye were gone. "Oh, uh, yeah." Phil said, thinking quickly.
The nurse closed the window.
"Are you ready to go?" The nurse asked.
"Uh, yeah." Phil said. "Let me get my stuff."
"If I may ask," The nurse said to Phil as he was getting his stuff from the corner, "Why were you carrying a sword?"
"It's dangerous out there in the woods." Phil said unconcerned.
"But the most dangerous things out there are pokémon." The nurse said, "Why don't you fight them with your own pokémon?"
Phil was caught off guard. "I don't have any." He said after a pause.
"You could apply for a license today." The nurse said matter-of-factly. "I'm surprised you didn't get one when you were ten."
"Uh. . ." Phil was cornered. "I gotta go."
"Look, just take this card down to the pokémon center." The nurse said to Phil, "You can start training today."
"Um, thanks." Phil said, taking the card with his good arm.
"Oh, and let me get that cast off for you."
"But I don't think. . ."
The nurse had already cut off the cast rather quickly. It seemed as though it was made to go off quickly. Phil's arm felt whole again. "Huh. . ." Phil said.
"It's a new medicine that mends bones within an hour instead of a few weeks," The nurse said, "Now run along." Phil hurried out the door. "You do realize it's late out." She called after him.
"Yeah, I know." Phil said to her. "I like working at night."
"The center is going to close in an hour. You had better hurry."
Phil walked down the stairs and out through the hospital front door.
"Phil!"
Phil turned to the voice that was outside in the rain.
"Jenna!" Phil said to her again, although she was wearing her trenchcoat. He ran up to her, and on the spur of the moment, embraced her.
"They want me to start pokémon training." Phil said to Jenna. "But I don't really know."
Jenna let go of Phil and took a step back. "They want you to start training? Now?"
"Well," Phil admitted, "The nurse attending gave me this card that says I've passed my physical."
"I'm not sure about this." Skye said, a few feet away. "And I'm still scared of poké balls."
"That's what I was thinking about, too." Phil said. "But some poké balls could still be useful."
"Alright." Skye said, "But keep them hidden until you use them."
"Don't worry about that." Phil said. "I don't plan on catching any pokémon."
The trio walked through the rain in the direction of the pokémon center. It was easy enough to find; it said 'Pokémon Center' on the front in big bold letters. "We'll wait here." Skye said to Phil, who was walking up the steps into the center's door.
"You're up awful late." Said the woman behind the counter, none other than Nurse Joy.
"Eh, yeah." Phil said. "A nurse at the hospital said I should start training pokémon."
"Oh? Now?"
"Yeah, as a matter of fact." Phil stepped up to the counter. "Here's the card she gave me."
Joy looked at the card. "Ok, I'll take your word for it, but I'm afraid we don't have any starter pokémon available."
"That's ok." Phil said, "I wasn't really expecting any."
"But we do have a few other pokémon to choose from." Joy said as she picked up a tray from under the desk. "We get stranded pokémon all the time. Choose one."
Phil looked at the nineteen poké balls in the tray. There certainly was quite a wide variety, but none of them seemed too rare. Rattata. Pidgey. Goldeen. None of them seemed to be one that he would want. His eyes came across a ball labeled 'Porygon'. "Where did you get this?" Phil asked Joy, as he picked up the poké ball.
"Oh, that one was found in our central computers a few weeks ago." Joy said. "You're lucky you got to it first."
"I'll take it then." Phil said.
"Here is your lisense," Joy said, handing him a pokédex, "But you'll need to wait a month if you want a pokédex that can check for pokémon on short notice, or pokégear."
"I won't take one then." Phil said. "I have a friend who probably knows a lot more about pokémon than a pokédex could tell me." Phil pocketed the poké balls and turned away from the counter. "Thank you, Joy." he said, leaving.
"Oh," Joy said to Phil departing, "Be on the lookout for Pokémon Hybrids."
Outside, Phil couldn't see Jenna or Skye around anywhere. "Jenna?" Phil called into the night.
"I'm here, Phil." Jenna said from around the corner of the center.
"I have my license." Phil said. "And my pokémon."
Jenna stepped out of the shadows, followed by Skye. "Ok," Skye said, "Now is probably a good time to ditch your license."
"Ditch it?" Jenna asked him.
"Yes. We are outlaws, after all."
"Outlaws?" Phil asked Skye this time.
"All hybrids are outlaws." Skye said to Phil, "And since you're traveling with us, you are one, too."
"Oh." Phil said.
"You don't want to leave any trail. The pokédex emits a signal that tells the league where you are at all times, and all your information."
"It does that?" Phil asked, looking at his dex.
"Yeah, and you don't want to leave it lying around here. Hand it to me."
Phil handed the pokédex to Skye. Skye grasped it in his oversized hand, and a blinding flash of electricity lit it up. He opened his hand, revealing the dex had turned to dust.
"And now," Skye said, "We run."
"Run?" Phil asked.
"Yes. You were just registered, and any pokédex that disappears without consent is handled immediately."
"What does that mean?"
"They're sending feds over as we speak."
Phil stopped at that. "No time to waste! Let's get going!"
Skye sprinted off down the road. Fast. Jenna followed, but Phil could not keep up with them.
For some reason or another, Skye stopped at the Pawn shop that Phil had been to a few hours ago.
"Jack!" Skye said, opening the door with a ding, "I need some help here!"
Jenna came up behind, followed by a huffing and puffing Phil.
"What is it?" Jack asked, coming out of the door in the back.
"I need your Kadabra to teleport us out of here."
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