Author's Note:
… Welp, what can I say? Fates hard proven to be most entertaining, Pokémon Blue Version took me a solid thirty-five hours of gameplay to beat Blue and get the four (five with Mew) Legendary Pokémon, and, well… school is a thing. Just reminding you all!
The Review 'tis appreciated, WyldClaw! If that is how good it was for you at the beginning, then I hope that the rest of the story only gets better for you in terms of personal enjoyment!
And before I forget…
Sun and Moon HY~PE!
Disclaimer:
Pokémon and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.
Of Children, Men, and Monsters
Chapter Twenty-Five: Silly Old Coots
Cue music – Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal Version soundtrack – Come Along
T'was another fifty-two minutes and some slightly sore feet later when Marza and Oscura finally arrived at Mister Pokémon's house.
'… Well. It would seem like Elm was really not joking when he said I would recognize it on sight…'
The front yard was filled with – for lack of a batter term – Pokémon garden gnomes. Miniature statuettes of Pokémon lined sections of the yard, reminding Marza of something such as an army squadron. The overhang of the porch had a dozen or more miscellaneous posters draped on its edge, and the front door, rather than the usual oblong shape, was a perfectly round, man-sized slab of wood in the shape of a Poké Ball. The layered, wooden walls alternated between red, black, and white with every new vertical plate of wood.
And that was just on one side of the house!
"Quite the fanatic, I imagine…"
Marza knocked on the door after a great many moments of hesitation, and from inside, a middle-aged voice spoke: "Come on in!"
Marza did so, again with some hesitance.
The interior of the house was a hodge-podge of machines and merchandise of varying kinds – dolls, keychains, and other such knick-knacks. There were no less than four computer monitors and corresponding tools, not to mention the myriad of cords lying about.
Perhaps more worthy of the two females' respective attentions, however, were the two men sitting on a plush white-red-black couch in the center of the mess. The slightly older looking man on the left had auburn-colored hair that was clearly in the process of graying over, a yellow vest with a white shirt underneath, some plain brown pants, a pair of oddly thick eyebrows, and a wize, kindly smile.
The one on the right continued the trend of the standard Poké Ball colors being everywhere, with striking white pants, a collared red shirt, and a black tie. His hair, like the person next to him, was graying, though the fact that there was not quite as much gray as there was black showed off the fact that he was probably at least a few years younger than his co-hort.
His curiosity-filled brown eyes bore onto hers for only a moment before shifting to the Pokémon next to her feet. He leapt from his position on the couch and whizzed over to the Larvitar, crouching down to get a closer look at Oscura. Said Pokémon hid behind Marza's legs, unnerved by his rapid approach and his mildly creepy gaze.
The tri-colored man exclaimed, "Ohhh~! What a rare specimen you have there! However did you come across it?"
Marza curtly replied, "She was technically a gift, and her name is Oscura. Way to be rude and not ask me for my name, by the way."
He replied in his somewhat eccentric tone of voice, "Ah, apologies! I tend to get rather excited when I see such rare Pokémon as this Larvitar before me! I am not a Trainer, however much I wish I was, you see, so I am not allowed to go to the more dangerous places such as the wilderness of Mount Silver. Now, before I forget again, what is you name?"
"Marza. I assume you are Mister Pokémon?"
"You would be correct in that assumption, young lady," spoke up the other man, getting up from the couch, himself.
"I am Professor Samuel Oak. Some call me the Pokémon Professor, but since there are more than one of those, I prefer Professor Oak. Pleased to make you acquaintance, Marza."
Marza grinned in appreciation at his politeness, but was also a tad bewildered with a pattern she was beginning to notice…
'… Odd. Elm? Oak? What, is there a "Professor Evergreen" out there as well or some such?'
She jumped off of this train of thought swiftly (however amusing the ride may have been), and returned, "Likewise."
She shifted her focus to the other man, next saying, "I have been told by Professor Elm that you, Mister Pokémon, wanted to give him something. He was preoccupied with some tasks, and will apparently continue to preoccupied for a while yet, so he asked me to come over and get it for him."
"Ho ho! How very like him, to be caught up in so much work to the point where he wouldn't have time for big ol' me!"
He didn't sound bitter about this, or even resigned – just as if he had done this a million times before and had learned to take it with a grain of salt.
"Well, I would say that you knowing that alone is enough proof, but I am wiser than that! So, answer me three questions, and you shall have your parcel that you supposedly need!"
Marza thought that this whole procedure was silly to a borderline obscene degree. Oak seemed to unintentionally agree with this sentiment, shaking his head in bemusement at the Pokémon fanatic when his back was turned.
"Question one: I have been told that Elm has been dealing with a particularly rowdy starter Pokémon as of late. As you must have went into his lab to get the request to come to me, you must know what Pokémon this is! So, what is the name of this Pokémon?"
It was hardly a difficult question, especially considering how strange, striking, and memorable most of the Pokémon that Marza encountered were, at least to her, personally.
"Totodile."
Mister Pokémon snapped his fingers and gave a thumbs-up.
"Very good! The second question: I have known Elm long enough to know that he organizes things in a very odd way. How would you describe the way Elm sorts things in his lab?"
'This is a bit vague, but who's to say this can't be a trick question?'
"As far as I could tell, he doesn't really organize things – at least, to any more of a degree of organization than piling things on top of each other haphazardly."
The hard-core fan of Pokémon winked this time.
"Clever girl! And for your final question: Did Elm tell you what you were even supposed to get from me in the first place?"
Marza racked her brain for answers, yet could find no reasonable one. As such, she uncertainly responded, "… I do not believe so…?"
"Good answer! It is also the correct one, as Elm forgetting what he is talking about mid-conversation is unsurprising! And not at all because I didn't tell him."
The second sentence was uttered in a hushed tone. Marza barely held back a snort. Samuel, on the other hand…
"Heh, heh! Looks like Elm isn't the only scatterbrain here!"
"Oh, shut it, Sam!" The smile on his face contradicted his words, making obvious his humor of the situation.
"Well, that aside, I would say that you are not lying about your little quest! As such, I, Mister Pokémon, shall bestow upon you…!"
He then zipped over to a window, plucking out a relatively gargantuan egg sitting on a soft mattress in a glass container from behind the curtain. The ovular object was a simple, stark white across the entire surface, with the exceptions of some small, triangular spots of either red or blue dotting it every now and then. The Poké Ball-colored man paced back over cautiously, staring at the ground in front of him as he did so as to not trip over any wires or trinkets.
"A Pokémon egg of what I suspect is a nigh-extinct species! I believe that it would be more secure with him than it would be with me, so if you would be so kind as to get it to him intact, we scientists would appreciate the favor greatly!"
'Oh, you have got to be kidding me. They're entrusting me with something like this!?'
She was internally grasping at straws as to how to respond.
'To risk or to not risk the potential of extinction for a species… That is the question… Ah, someone else is going to have to do this if I don't, and I am the second-least clumsy person that I know, so…!'
"I'll do it," she responded succinctly.
"Very good! So good, in fact, that I will commend you for having the courage to take this task up!"
He slowly and carefully handed the package to her, saying, "Be extra-careful! An entire species line of Pokémon just might be riding on your back and lack of clumsiness!"
'Species line…? Wait, focus, Marza!'
"No pressure, I know," she couldn't help but snark. "Now, if you will excuse me, I would prefer getting back to Cherrygrove and possibly New Bark by the end of the day…"
The distinct sound of a clicking pen drew Marza's attention away from Mister Pokémon to Professor Oak. With some startling deftness, he folded the paper he had just been writing on a few times, took an empty letter from a nearby desk, put the paper into the letter, and sealed it shut with a quick brush of an index finger.
"If it would not be too much trouble, Marza," he spoke up again, "would you be so kind as to also deliver this to my fellow professor? I have a few words to say to him, and while I acknowledge that computers and e-mails and such are extremely handy tools when it comes to these matters, it simply doesn't feel as personal as using a letter."
Marza grinned at his opinion.
"Oh, I agree completely, Professor. It's really a shame, how all of this newer technology is rendering actual face-to-face encounters and relationships less and less common!"
Oak laughed a genuine laugh at this.
"It is good to see that my mind isn't so addled with age as to think that, then! Anyways, I think we have been keeping you long enough, especially considering how far away your intended destination is. Have a safe trip!"
"The thought is appreciated! Good bye!"
With that being said, both parties turned their backs on each other, with one to continue their travelling and the other to resume their conversation. Speaking of which…
"So, my friend, what were you going to say about the Skitty and the Wailord?"
