A/N - Chapter 5 up, and again, I'd like to thank my lovely fiancé for beta reading. Please review and tell me what you think.
Chapter 5 - Perfect Pokémon
He reached the wall and began tapping on a hidden keypad. As his finger hit the wall, a number would light up. Red, being a pragmatist, memorised the number. 060189. It could be useful later.
"So, Red, have you figured out why I'm telling you this?" Oak turned his face to look at Red as a panel in the wall popped open like a hidden door.
Red had. I think he's going to give me one of these Pokémon! I can't believe it!
He nodded. Oak chuckled, "Ah never one for words, eh? Your mother warned me about that. Doesn't matter. Yes, I think that you deserve one of these Perfect Pokémon. That's what they're called in Breeder lingo, as it doesn't get better than this in the breeding world."
The term struck a chord in Red's mind. He remembered a Trainer who had come to his old store to buy some Max Potions. That Trainer had been very proud and had been showing off his Squirtle to anybody who would listen, claiming that the Squirtle was a Perfect Pokémon. People had been skeptical about the claim as nobody had ever heard that phrase before, but the Trainer had scoffed at them and called them all ignorant villagers. He had then released a Pidgeot, and flown away on its back. But Red remembered seeing the Squirtle. There had been something different about it; it didn't behave like all the other Squirtle Red had seen. Perhaps that Trainer had been right.
He focused on what Oak was doing. Behind the wall panel was a safe. Oak took out a key from a chain around his neck and plugged it into the safe. Without turning the key, he faced Red.
"What you are seeing — the secret panel, this safe — have only been seen by two pairs of eyes before today, mine and Blues. The existence of these Perfect Pokémon is a closely guarded secret. Otherwise everybody would want one, and there are nowhere near enough to give out to everybody," he paused. He looked straight at Red, punctuating his words with seriousness, "You have to promise to never reveal the existence of this safe and the contents of it to anybody. Even your own family."
Red sensed the weight of Oak's words. If people ever found out about the Perfect Pokémon, and that Oak had some in his laboratory, there would be a stampede of Trainers clamouring for one. Oak would get no rest, and there would be no shortage of would-be thieves breaking into the lab. He nodded once, but then a question that had been nagging at his mind bubbled to the surface.
"If genetics is only responsible to a certain extent, and training can have a larger effect, why do good genes matter?" he asked Professor Oak. Oak chuckled at the question. "Good boy Red, I was wondering if you would catch that. The reason for that, is that genes also determine the rate of power increase. A Perfect Pokémon will grow stronger much faster than others. It saves years of training!"
Wow. That makes a lot more sense for it to be a secret. Red nodded his head again in understanding.
"Like I was saying earlier, as the official Registrar of Trainers, I have to give out a Pokémon to all applicants who do not have their own. However, I retain the right to decide which Pokémon to give and to who. The League suggests either Charmander, Squirtle or Bulbasaur, and I comply with that. It's easier for me to just let the applicants choose from the three and so that's what I do. But in some cases I like to meddle and give a particular Trainer a Pokémon of my choosing. Usually when I interfere I give a Pikachu. In all my years as Registrar, I have given out hundreds of Pokémon, out of which I have granted to applicants a grand total of six Perfect Pokémon."
He paused to let the gravity of that statement sink in. Red's eyes widened. Only six? He could appreciate the enormity of the situation. Only six Trainers before him had received Perfect Pokémon. Only six Trainers out of hundreds. That makes me lucky number seven.
"So you can understand that you are not to take this lightly. Very few Trainers have this advantage, and you must take the full benefit of it." Oak stopped talking and stared at Red. Red's mind had quickly processed the information Oak had given him. This gives me a massive edge. Whichever Pokémon I get will always be stronger than others of the same level. I will hardly have to train it to keep up with my other Pokémon, and when I do train it, it will be more powerful than almost any opponent.
Red nodded again, a barely perceptible tilt of his head. Oak, apparently satisfied with what he saw, turned the key in the safe. The safe door swung outwards, and inside was yet another layer of security. There was a blank door behind the first, with a fingerprint scanner on one side. Oak pressed the pad of his right index finger on the scanner, and the door flickered and became transparent. No, not transparent, it's disappeared! What amazing technology the Professor has access to!
Behind this last door, it seemed like a normal safe. There were three racks, not unlike those in a supermarket where if one pulls an item out, the next one slides down to take its place. Each rack had a number of standard Poké Balls, though not all racks had the same number. The rack on the left was green, while the one on the right was blue. The middle one was a deep crimson. Red looked at the contents of the safe with intrigue.
Above each rack there was a screen, which displayed which Pokémon was inside the ball at the front of the rack. At first glance, it seemed that these were the same choices given to all new Trainers - Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle. But when Red looked again, he saw the differences. While regular starter Pokémon were usually playful and easygoing, the Pokémon inside these Balls were anything but. The Squirtle had withdrawn into its shell, occasionally popping its head out to send a glare at the camera that was recording it. The Bulbasaur was lying on its belly, wearing a disdainful look on its face. The bulb on its back was slowly opening and closing, like the chest of a man as he slept.
These Pokémon are more feral than usual. No wonder Oak would not consider giving them to beginner Trainers. And… that Charmander; it looks so intense.
Indeed, the Charmander was different from the others. It stood perfectly still, staring at the camera. It didn't move a muscle, except to blink. It was perfectly disciplined. It had taken Red a tremendous amount of self control to not go on his journey and to help bring his family back on their feet. There had been times when he had been extremely tempted to just run away and start his quest, when he was so full of uncertainty that he felt his heart would be crushed, when he would look up to the sky so that his tears wouldn't fall. But he had held on to his values and stayed at home. This Charmander seemed much the same. There was no reason for it to be standing absolutely straight and in constant vigilance, but it was. Red felt a sense of belonging when he saw the Charmander, like he had come home after months of being away.
However, that was not the only thing that made the Fire type stand out. Its skin was coloured slightly differently from that of other members of their species. Regular Charmander was orange, whereas the one in this Poké Ball was closer to yellow. It was a subtle difference, but noticeable to the expert eye, which Red possessed, as hundreds of Trainers would pass through his store annually, showing off their Pokémon. A Shiny Pokémon! You don't see many of those around.
Shiny Pokémon were the result of a benign genetic mutation. Initially when this mutation had been discovered some years ago, people had thought that they would be more powerful than regular Pokémon due to their scarcity. That myth was debunked after a team of scientists measured the potential of three Shiny Rattata. This was compared to the results from hundred of regular Rattata and it was found that all the Shiny Rattata had varying positions in the spectrum, including one that was near the bottom. Shiny Pokémon were still valuable, though just because of their rarity.
Red felt instantly drawn towards the Charmander; he tried to look at the other two, but after the initial cursory glance, he couldn't help but focus on the Fire Type.
"So what do you think,Red?" said Oak, breaking Red out of his thoughts. "Impressive, aren't they?"
Red could only nod as he gawked at the image of Charmander on the screen. "What are you waiting for? Take it!" Oak urged Red.
Red was still staring at the screen as he slowly reached out and grabbed the sphere that held Charmander. As he took it out of the rack, the next Poké Ball rolled forward and the image on the screen was replaced with another Charmander; this one, however, had none of the restraint of its predecessor. The new Charmander was stalking around shooting Ember attacks at the walls. Seeing this, Red was doubly sure that he had picked the right Pokémon.
As soon as Red's hand was clear of the safe, Oak pushed a hidden button on the side. The fingerprint door came back into existence, fascinating Red with the technology once again. Oak then shut the safe door and turned the key, putting it back around his neck. He then closed the hidden panel of the wall and there was no sign at all of anything being behind the wall, except for the Poké Ball in Red's hand. He looked at it for a second and then pressed the button in the middle, releasing Charmander.
The flame on the tip of its tail was large, larger than any Charmander's should be. And Red could feel the scorching heat from it, as if he were a loaf of bread in an oven. It stared at Red with its intense crimson eyes. Red stared back.
Nobody ever asked Red why he was named so. It was obvious at the first meeting. He had been born with brown eyes speckled with maroon. It was slightly unnerving to some people, that a boy's eyes should have a reddish tinge to them.
Blood red eyes met their brick-coloured counterparts. After a moment that forged a connection for a lifetime, the Charmander walked over to Red. He knelt down and petted its head and whispered to it.
"You will be the inferno that obliterates our opponents."
A/N - There you have it! Red has picked his first Pokémon!