"This is a Poliwag." Professor Oak told the two girls as the blue Pokemon with a swirl waddled around the laboratory floors.
Ellen laughed nervously, "I knew it was called something like that..."
Samuel Oak was a kind old man. He was definitely getting old, as you could tell from his eyes, not to mention his thinning, gray hair and plumpened shape. Even in his old age, he was active and loved caring for and studying Pokemon.
That night had been a long one. Megan couldn't sleep worrying about the Pokemon, so she and Ellen had stayed the night at the lab looking after it until Oak appeared the next morning to help them heal it. Somehow, Ellen was able to get a full night's rest, but Megan didn't understand at all. The Pokemon now had a bandaged foot and was curiously wandering around Oak's lab trying to figure out what it was supposed to be doing.
"It's okay, you don't see these Pokemon around Pallet too much." Oak explained, "I don't blame you for not knowing... but this one seems to be a lot smaller than most Poliwags. It could even be a newborn Pokemon."
"Wow..." Megan looked at the wobbly little thing, "Baby Pokemon are so cute. I'm glad that you were able to cure it..."
Megan's voice trailed away as she started to slowly tumble to the side in her chair, falling quickly asleep. Ellen laughed and sat next to her. Oak went into his office to get some food for the injured Pokemon as the Poliwag waddled over to Megan and started to nibble at her leg.
Megan suddenly jerked and kicked the little Pokemon aside as she shook her head from side to side trying to figure out what had just happened. She looked at the Pokemon which sadly got up and stared at her.
"I'm sorry!" She gasped, "I didn't mean to hurt you! Were you trying to kiss me?"
Ellen laughed, "More like eat you."
"Then I've got just the thing he needs!" The Professor came back from the back of the lab and placed a small glass plate piled with with brown pellets next to the Poliwag.
The Pokemon excitedly munched away at its new breakfast. Megan watched in awe as the cute little creature ate so happily. She glanced around the lab; it was such an amazing place. There were books about Pokemon in bookshelves lined up on almost every wall. A lot of the books were even written by Oak himself, or were his personal notebooks. The rest of the lab had a small kitchen for making Pokemon food (but the humans would make food for themselves, too) and a small hospitial for caring for hurt or sick Pokemon. There was a large window in the back of the lab that overlooked the pasture where Oak would observe Pokemon that he was caring for. Megan wished she could work at the lab like Ellen, but she just didn't feel smart enough.
The front door flung open and a strange girl barged in, interrupting Megan's daydreams. She had a messy stack of papers in her arms and she hurriedly kicked the door shut. The two girls soon recognized her as Daisy, a young woman who lived near the lab.
"I got a bunch of news from Red," Daisy exclaimed, shuffling papers frantically as the three glared in amazement. Even Poliwag was staring.
She finally found the paper that she was looking for and thrusted it toward Oak, causing him to take a step back with shock. He slowly recovered and took the paper from her.
"Wow..." Oak read slowly as Ellen leaned in with curiousity.
Megan looked confused, "What's going on?"
Ellen turned to her, "Red is one of the kids Mr. Oak sent out to fill the Pokedex."
Megan knew Red, but, "What's a Pokedex?" she asked.
"You don't remember?" Ellen shook her head in disbelief, "It's a digital encyclopedia with information about every Pokemon that exists... or at least that's what it's going to be. Mr. Oak sent three kids from Pallet out to catch Pokemon for him so he could study them. At the same time, the kids were to enter the Pokemon League so they could travel all around Kanto. Didn't you know?"
"I remember now," Megan strained to think, "but I don't remember hearing about the Pokedex."
Daisy was gone in a flash, and Oak was left staring off into space with a proud look on his face. The Poliwag returned to his cheery meal, and Megan stared starry-eyed at the old Professor.
"Professor!" She shouted, jumping up from the chair, "I want to help with the Pokedex, too!"
It took a while for this to register in Oak's mind, but he finally looked over to Megan, "Really? And how exactly are you going to do that?"
Megan shrugged off his laughs, "I can go on a Pokemon journey, too! I'm going to go! I'll even start today!"
The other two looked at Megan and then at each other, still trying to decide if she was serious. Before they could think another thought, the little blue Pokemon that had just finished eating burst into tears.
"Ack! What's wrong with it?!" Megan shrieked.
Oak covered his ears, "She probably wants to go back to her mother!"
The two girls didn't even consider that, but it was only natural to let the baby go back to its mother after it was healed. Without hesitation, the three set out the the shore to look for the Poliwag's mother, identified as Poliwhirl by Professor Oak. Megan carried the Poliwag in her arms, who was slowly slowing its crying to a whimper.
Hearing the shrill cries of its child, the Poliwhirl climbed up from the shore in no time. Before it could set its mind to attack, though, Megan let Poliwag down and it ran back to its mother with the greatest relief. Before it got all the way to the safety of its parent, it turned back to look at Megan, chirped happily, and ran off to the ocean with Poliwhirl.
The three sighed and headed back up the dusty path to the same old Pallet, ready to continue life as it always was, day in and day out... except for Megan. She was adamant on starting a Pokemon journey right away.
"So, how about it?" She persisted, "When will I get to work on the Pokedex and start my journey?"
Professor Oak laughed again, "If you can catch a Pokemon on your own, I'll let you do it."
"Okay!" She cheered, "So when will you give me a Pokemon to catch one with?"
"You really are ready to go right now, aren't you?" The man was almost worried, "But I never said I'll give you a Pokemon to do it. I don't really have any left to lend out, you know."
Megan stopped walking with the others and stared at her feet. Was he crazy? You can't catch a Pokemon that way. Even Megan knew that herself. Nobody wanted her to go on this journey, not even Professor Oak. Maybe she really should just give up on this stupid idea... but that would be giving up on her life... wouldn't it? The frustrated girl stormed off in a grumpy rage back to her house. Ellen looked a bit worried, but knew it was for the best.
Ellen picked up the plate of food and washed it off in the kitchen when the two returned to the lab. She wondered what kind of crazy ideas Megan was coming up with at home in her desperate attempts to become a Pokemon trainer. Maybe she could leave work early today and confort her friend.
A knock came from the front door. Another one of Oak's assistants opened it and signed for a package.
"Ellen," the man called, "Tell Mr. Oak that a new shipment of berries just came in."
Oh no... she thought, that means I'll have to do that again...
Ellen reported the new deliver to Oak, and the dreaded task was laid upon her. She had to prepare food for the Ratticates and feed them today. If there was a Pokemon that Ellen couldn't stand, it was Ratticate. Even the small Rattata creeped her out, but Ratticate just made her want to give up her job as a lab assistant.
Once a month, the lab got a shipment of strange berries that was a special treat for the Ratticates. Ellen didn't understand how something that smelled so badly could ever be a treat, but the Ratticates loved it.
The strange berries stained the sink as she smashed them together, emitting a foul aroma into the kitchen. Why did Ratticates like to eat such horrid food? Ellen gagged just smelling the weird fruits as she grinded them with a block in the sink. The mixture looked finished enough to her, so she shoveled them out with a spade into a bucket that the Rattatas would eat from. Just the thought of it was making her sick already.
She put the bucket aside and washed her hands and cleaned up the mess from the kitchen. Even though this was a distracting job, she still couldn't stop thinking about Megan. She didn't have that much time to worry, though, because she had to go tend to the Goldeens and Seakings before feeding the Ratticates. This job was not a big deal at all. The aquarium was calming, and it wasn't hard to drop the small food pellets and flakes into the water. Plus, Ellen loved to watch the Pokemon swim cheerfully after a long-awaited feeding.
The temperature and cleanliness of the water was fine, so she didn't get to waste any more time with the water Pokemon. It was time to take the bucket outside. In a hurry to get it over with, she dropped the bucket carelessly over the fence of the pen where the Ratticates stayed. Even though it was a horror scene, she couldn't help but watch the huge teeth slash at the mush that was thrown to them. Ratticates were nothing appealing to look at -- a huge mass of tangled brown fur and large, grimey teeth that existed only to kill prey or chop up berry bushes. No wonder people trained such a Pokemon even though it didn't do any special attacks... these teeth were so dangerous. The three Pokemon let out scary grunts as they hungrily engulfed the contents of the wide bucket.
The food fest was cut short by the scream of a young girl not too far from the lab. Ellen gasped and turned to the direction it came from. Was that really her? What was she doing? Did she really try to...?
Forgetting all about the Ratticates, Ellen ran toward the north end of Pallet, out of the wooden gate in the huge fence around Oak's pastures. Daisy joined her running out of her house as the grey buildings blurred by the two, running for the continuing screams. The two froze as they saw Megan knocked on the ground -- her clothes were ripped and dirty; there were cuts and bruises across her body. Flapping next to her was an enraged Pidgey.
Megan's head rolled over to see Ellen reaching in her pocket, "Ellen, stop!"
Ellen's eyes widened, and she understood what Megan shouted for. She really was serious.
"You can't battle this Pokemon!" She propped herself back up, "I have to catch him all by--"
Before she could finish, the Pidgey dove into it's recovering foe, striking it's beak across Megan's cheek. The pain burned and sent a firey flash throughout her whole body. She slowly stretched her soot-covered left hand to her face, feeling a wet, warm smear. She pulled her hand away to see that it was covered in blood that was running from the large gash on her cheek. Could she really do this? Tears started to form in her eyes and she shook her head to try to clear them out. She had to do this. There was no other way. She had to see her friends again. She knew they were out there...
Megan's hands slid across the tall grass as she struggled to stand back up. She couldn't think straight, but she knew she had to weaken this Pokemon so that she could catch it. That's all she had to do... this one simple task, and she'd be able to go search for Alex and Marcus. She knew Ellen would want to come, too.
The wild Pidgey began flapping its wings more quickly than usual, and Ellen knew right away that it would do a Gust attack. This was one of Pidgey's special attacks in which it created a small whirlwind by flapping its wings. Each Pokemon can bite and scratch and things in self defense, but after fighting for a while, they slowly learn how to do special attacks that can have amazing effects. Ellen knew she couldn't risk letting Megan get hit with a Gust attack, so she grabbed for her Pokeball again.
To add to the chain of surprise, Megan stood up and started to dash at the flying Pokemon with a raised fist. Was she really going to punch it? Ellen pressed the button on her Pokeball to prepare to release Oddish, but out of nowhere a large Pokemon hopped onto Megan's back and used her as a springboard to soar at the Pidgey and land a strong punch to the right side of its face. The hurt and scared Pokemon quickly flew off.
The blue savior landed, and everyone recognized it as Poliwhirl. Megan lowered her clenched hand and stared ahead, dumbfounded. Did that really just happen? Did a Poliwhirl really just save her from the Pidgey? None of the three of them even knew what to think until a baby Poliwag with a bandaged foot waddled over to the older Pokemon, sqeaking with delight.
Exhausted and overwhelmed with the pain that she was just beginning to feel, Megan fell off her feet and hugged her knees in the grass, watching as the little blue Pokemon she had rescued from the rocks bobbled its way to her. Moving in the tall grass seemed like quite a feat for the small Poliwag. With no fear, it hopped into her lap and nestled into her chest. Megan jumped a bit from shock, but noticing it's loving and beaming face, she lightly stroked its slippery, wet skin on its back. Did it remember that Megan helped cure it? Did it remember being saved from the rocks?
The three girls looked up as the mother Poliwhirl crowed toward its child and waved. The mother ran off, and Megan waited for the Poliwag to jump away from her and follow. The mother had almost vanished in the horizon, and the baby Pokemon was still cheerfully enjoying Megan's lap. Without thinking, Megan poked Poliwag in it's belly. It squirmed a little.
"Gotcha." She pulled her Pokeball out of her right pocket and dropped it carefully on the Pokemon's head.
The round mechanism cracked open, revealing a ball of light that engulphed the small creature, shrinking it to the size of the ball. With a clack, it closed over the trapped Pokemon and rumbled a little in her lap, but let off a click to let Megan know the capture was a success.
"I..." Megan was so excited she could barely get the words out, "caught... a Pokemon!"