Chapter 2: Professor Oak

Roku's P.O.V

Route 29

"Hey! Wait!"

I turned around to see Professor Elm running up to me, holding a few small purple bottles.

"Here! Use these Potions in case your Pokémon gets hurt!" He handed the bottles to me, along with the all-important Bag that I forgot to pick up.

"Ah, thanks!" I said, putting the Potions in the bag and slinging it over my shoulder.

"Here, I also want to register my phone number, so I can call you in case something comes up." Professor Elm took control of my wrist once again and entered his number into my contacts.

"Uh…thanks. "

I proceeded into the tall grass, and almost immediately, a wild Rattata jumped out at me.

"OK, Eevee! Use Tackle!"

Eevee launched forward with amazing speed and struck the Rattata head on, dealing heavy damage. The Rattata flew back and fainted upon impact with a nearby tree.

Holy crap! I thought, my jaw hanging. Eevee must have some pretty impressive Attack to do that to a Rattata.

Then it hit me. Oh, yeah. These Pokémon aren't very strong. There could be stronger ones as I go farther in.

And I called it. I went in farther and almost lost to a Pidgey. Yeah, sad, I know, but that thing was fast. After Eevee finished it off, I gave her a Potion in case she was in danger of fainting.

"You OK?" I asked worriedly.

"I'm good," she said happily. "Onward! Let's get this done!"

I nodded and proceeded forward. As I kept walking, I could feel something watching me. I kept looking into the trees for any sign of the piercing stare that made me feel uneasy.

Man, I hope I get to Cherrygrove soon…

"Hey, are you OK?" I heard Eevee say.

"Huh?" I said, noticing I had stopped. "Yeah, I'm good. Guess I kinda spaced out for a bit."

"Well, we're almost there," Eevee pointed out. "I can see buildings up ahead."

"Good, maybe there's a Pokémon Center up ahead where we can rest," I suggested.

Trying to shake off my unease, I kept walking and didn't stop until I had reached Cherrygrove City.

"Hey, I thought Professor Elm said this was a city," I inquired. "It looks more like a small town to me."

I knew what a small town was like (Duh, I was raised there). Albeit, Cherrygrove was a tad bit bigger, but it was a small town nonetheless. There was a small beach to the west where the Johto region touched the sea, but it was very rocky. It didn't look like a lot of people liked to swim there.

As I walked into the town, I saw the familiar red and blue roofs of the Pokémon Center and the PokeMart, a convenience store where Trainers could buy what they needed for a long trip.

I headed into the Pokémon Center and returned Eevee to her Poke Ball (disagreeably) and let Nurse Joy work her medical magic to heal Eevee to top condition.

After a few minutes of waiting, Nurse Joy walked in and handed me Eevee's ball.

"Your Pokémon is back to full health!" Nurse Joy said with a smile.

I released Eevee, who made a face at me, and said, "Thank you."

Feeling rested as well, I exited the Pokémon Center and headed to the PokeMart, where I used the rest of my funds to buy some Poke Balls, as well as a few more Potions in case I was to run out.

"Ok," I said as I exited the PokeMart and pulled up my map. "Professor Elm said that Mr. Pokémon lived out on Route 30. That's up north."

"Then, what are we waiting for?" Eevee said, raring to go. "Let's get moving!"

"Right!" I said. I ran off to the entrance to Route 30, when I bumped into this kid with blazing red hair.

"Ah!" I said, pulling him up. "Hey, you OK?"

"Watch where you're going, jerkwad!" he snapped. Then he shoved past me and stomped off.

"Wow, so much for gratitude," Eevee growled. "He could've been a little more courteous than that."

"I'm not concerned with that," I said. "He looked like he was in a hurry. I wonder where he was going."

"Well, we don't have time to tail after him," Eevee pointed out. "I bet Professor Elm called Mr. Pokémon ahead of time and told him about our request. He's probably expecting us."

"Right," I agreed. "Don't want to keep him waiting. Let's go."

Eevee and I continued on our journey to Mr. Pokémon's house, with the memory of that redhead in my mind. What was he after? And why was he in such a hurry? I intended to find out after Eevee's appraisal.


Latias' P.O.V.

Viridian Forest

Latias looked down from her hiding spot in the Viridian Forest's overgrowth. The mysterious group of people who had tailed her to New Bark Town had also followed her to Viridian City, and this was the closest hiding spot. The Gym Leader wasn't exactly what you'd call "hospitable."

Hah…I think they're gone…

Latias dropped down from the trees and took a look around. Even though she couldn't see them, she could still feel their presence. They had a lot of hiding spots in a forest like this, and at any moment, they could spring out and capture her, much like they did Latios.

Her eventual decision was to take to the skies above the Kanto region.

Latias folded her wings back and shot through the tree cover, flying up into the sky. She felt relief, for she could sense no one but the Pokémon of the sky.

But then, things took a turn for the worst.

"There she is! We've located Latias!"

Latias looked back to see 3 people riding 3 of the most fearsome Dragon-type Pokémon: Dragonite, Salamence, and worst of all: Hydreigon.

Latias had a mental facepalm. Why didn't she think of how many flying Pokémon they had access to? And why didn't she camouflage herself? That wasn't important right now, however. Now, all she needed to think about was escape.

If they want a dogfight, they're gonna get one!

Latias folded her wings back and barrel-rolled to starboard, with the three Dragon Riders following close behind. She rolled, dashed, and twisted frantically to exhaust the Dragons' energy as quickly as possible. However, as hard as she tried, she couldn't shake them.

"Hydreigon! Use Dark Pulse!"

The black dragon sent out a creepy black pulse of energy, which Latias narrowly dodged, and activated her camouflage.

"Hey! Where'd she go?!"

Now it's MY turn, Latias grinned.

One by one, she shot the dragons and their Trainers out of the air with her Dragon Breath. Salamence, however, survived the attack, and had sent out a Dragon Breath of his own, which missed Latias by a long shot. Then, Salamence's face turned to one of disbelief and horror as Latias appeared right in front of him and launched her Mist Ball point-blank into his face. A massive explosion rang out, and Salamence and his rider fell out of the sky, both of them smoking and unconscious.

"Phew…that was rough," she sighed.

Not wasting any of her precious time, Latias put her camouflage back up and blasted off to the horizon.


Roku's P.O.V.

Route 30

I ended up at Mr. Pokémon's house after some pretty intense battles with the locals. 3 Spinarak and a Hoothoot later, and I was ready to call it quits and head back. But a Trainer never quits. Eevee continuously reminded me of that.

I knocked on his door and stepped inside. Two somewhat old men were sitting at a desk, chatting.

"Oh, sorry," I apologized, making my presence known. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

"Ah, you must be Roku!" Mr. Pokémon said. "Professor Elm told me you'd be coming!"

"Told you so," Eevee bragged.

"Whatever," I hissed. Then I pointed at Eevee and said, "This is the Pokémon I was telling you about."

Mr. Pokémon knelt down and began to examine Eevee.

"As long as this guy doesn't get handsy, we'll be OK," Eevee said, an angrily nervous tone in her voice.

"Don't worry, Eevee," I reassured her. "He's not going to hurt you. I'll make sure of that."

"Hmm…" Mr. Pokémon hummed, a curious look on his face. "Wait, what's this?"

"What's up?" I asked curiously.

"There's something around this Eevee's neck," Mr. Pokémon pointed out. "I'm gonna see if I can find it in her chest fur."

"Hey!" Eevee snapped as Mr. Pokémon dug into her fur. She flung her head down and bit Mr. Pokemon's hand.

"OW!" Mr. Pokémon exclaimed, pulling his hand back. "Well, you're a feisty one, aren't you?"

"Eevee! He wasn't gonna hurt you!" I said, bending down and picking her up. As I did, I felt something strange around Eevee's neck. I dug through her fur for a second and found a strange charm tied to a string around her neck.

"What is this?" I said, looking at the charm. It was purple in color and shaped like a crescent moon.

"Do my eyes deceive me?" Mr. Pokémon said, taking a gander at the charm. Then he gasped "Th-that's a Lunar Charm! Where did you find this?!"

"I didn't even know it was there," I said. "Why, is it rare?"

"Very!" Mr. Pokémon exclaimed. "The Lunar Charm is an item that is exclusively for the Pokémon Umbreon. These charms have been long gone since they were made in the Sinnoh region. It's supposed to help Eevee evolve into Umbreon, as well as give it major power when it's being held by a Umbreon."

"It is quite rare to see an Eevee holding such a rare item," the other guy rang in. "Where did this Pokémon come from?"

"Well, I got it from Professor Elm as sort of an early birthday present," I explained. "I think he caught it near Ecruteak City."

"Hmm…" the other guy said, deep in thought.

"Maybe the Kimono Girls can give him some insight," Mr. Pokémon suggested. "If anyone can help us, it's them."

"Where can I find these Kimono Girls?" I asked.

"You'll find them in Ecruteak City, in the Dance Theater," the other guy explained. "You'll have to go west from Violet City if you want to get there fast."

"Thanks," I said. "By the way, I never caught your name."

"Ah, right. So sorry," the guy said. "My name is Oak."

"Huh…Wait, Oak?" I said excitedly. "As in 'Professor Oak'?!"

I thought I recognized his voice from somewhere. Professor Oak had a really famous radio show, called "Pokémon Talk" that aired every morning. His show pretty much taught me everything I know about Pokémon.

"Wow, it's an honor to meet you!" I said. "I listen to your show every morning!"

"Well, that's great!" he laughed. "Say, you look like a fine Trainer. How about helping me out?"

"Uh, sure. What do you need help with?" I asked.

Professor Oak handed me an expansion card for my P*DA. I plugged it in, and a new Pokedex app had installed itself onto my P*DA.

"I would like you to help me complete the Pokedex. It's a tough job and I'm looking for the best to help me accomplish it. Can you do this?"

I was ecstatic. Professor Oak was one of the best at finding good Trainers, but I had to ask him.

"But, Professor…Why choose me?"

Professor Oak placed a hand on my shoulder and said, "When Professor Elm said he was going to give you that Pokémon, he must have known that you'd treat her with love and trust. We are known to see the potential of young Trainers. I know that you can do this."

I closed my eyes. "I'm not sure of how much help I can be, but I'll try." Then I opened them, showing my confidence. "I'll try."

"Good. I'll leave you to it." Professor Oak looked at his watch. "Oh, is it that time already? I've got to go to Goldenrod City for my usual talk show. It was good to meet you, Roku."

"Same here," I said, moving aside to let the professor out the door.

That's when I realized: I'd never figured out the mystery behind Eevee's odd color. I loaded the Pokedex and brought up Eevee's entry.

"Eevee, the Evolution Pokémon," said an electronic voice. "Thanks to its unstable genetic makeup, this special Pokémon conceals many different possible evolutions."

I flipped through a few pages on Eevee's info and found the Forms page. The heading at the top above my Eevee's appearance said "Female, Shiny."

I gasped. Shiny Pokémon were extremely rare and valuable. I never knew why I didn't notice it before, but when I thought about it, Eevee did kind of have a shimmer to her fur.

"By the way," Mr. Pokémon piped up. "Could you get Professor Elm to examine this for me?"

I turned to face him and saw that he was holding a strange glass case with a rather large Egg in it.

"Is that a Pokémon Egg?" I asked, knowledgeable about this subject from the many appraisals that I'd witnessed.

"That's what I want to know. Tell Professor Elm that a friend of mine from Ecruteak gave that to me."

"Got it," I said, taking the Egg from Mr. Pokémon.

"Be very careful with that Egg," Mr. Pokémon warned me.

"You've got nothing to worry about," I replied. "I've got this under control."

I exited the cottage after extending my thanks to Mr. Pokémon. As I was about to make my way back to Cherrygrove, my P*DA rang with a call from Professor Elm.

"Hello?"

A holographic image of Professor Elm's face appeared as I answered. He looked very distressed and upset.

"H-Hello? Roku?" he said nervously. "I-It's a disaster! Uh, um, it's just terrible!"

"Hey, calm down! Tell me what happened," I said.

"What should I do? It…oh, no…Please get back here now!"

Click! He had hung up before I had a chance to ask what happened.

"Sounds like the prof's in trouble!" Eevee said.

"C'mon! Let's roll out!"

Determined to find out, Eevee and I hauled tail back to Cherrygrove, ignoring any wild Pokémon that attempted to jump out at us and pick a fight. As we got back and were about to take the road to New Bark Town, we were stopped by a guy with long red hair.

"Humph…such a waste, giving a rare Pokémon to a wimp like you," he scoffed.

"What was that?" I said aggressively, going into a battle stance. "You'd better have the skills to back up those words!"

"You obviously don't know how to pick your fights," the redhead said. "Well, I, too, have a good Pokémon. Let me show you what I mean!"

I'm right here!" I challenged. "Come and get some!"


Author's Note: Yeah, this seemed like a great place to break off. Leave you readers hanging until I update it. Mwahaha.

Anyway, I guess I could give you a little insight on what's gonna happen next. First of all, I've still gotta decide what Pokémon I'm gonna give my rival. It has to be a type that's strong against mine, so…maybe a Riolu? Or maybe I could incorporate Kalos into this and give him a Pancham or something. I'll decide on something.

Also, there will be another character working her way into the story as Roku's companion. Not so much as a love interest (not now, anyway…) but more as a partner. I've got to figure out where, when, and how I'm gonna introduce her. That's gonna be fun…

And that's all for now. Strato Abyss signing out.