Chapter 3: The errand
(Uh… Some weird requirement that seems to appear in every Pokémon game, anime, manga…)
And on the third shake, there was the sound of a lock being set, and then the ball lay still.
Ion watched the ball for a few more seconds before he turned to Will and gave a loud cry, grinning widely, "That was AWESOME!"
Ray gave a slight sigh of relief, before walking over to pick up the Poké Ball. "That was how to catch a Pokémon, though usually they aren't that hard." He said, returning the grin with a slight smile of his own. "Status effects are your friend, and good strategies with your Pokémon help too."
"But you basically just beat another Pokémon into unconsciousness and then throw a ball at it, right?" Ion replied in a smart-alecky tone, rolling his eyes but still grinning. "I'm not that stupid, I know how to catch a Pokémon. I just didn't have any of the balls to do it. I said so before, remember?"
However, just because he knew how didn't mean he knew how to apply that knowledge. Seeing Ray do it was very, very useful for his future career.
Ray put the Poké Ball onto his belt. "Shall we continue? If we want to get to Mr. Pokémon's and back before nightfall, we've got to pick up the pace a little."
Aw, and Ion hoped for more conversation. Ray must have been discouraged by his quip. Ah well, it's not like they'd be together forever; Elm still had to study this guy's strange Eevee thing.
"Alright, sure, but it's not very far, Mr. Leader Man." Ion said, beginning to lead the way again. "And besides, it's not even noon yet! We have all the time in the world, and all Elm is going to do is hook up wires to your Eevee and the thing he wants us to go get anyway, so let's give them some time to be free, yeah?"
"Right... wait, wires?" Ray said, slightly put off by that comment. Rowan was certainly more conservative than Elm in his research approach, if that was the case. "Oh dear... that's not good. Leafeon will kill the professor if he tries to do that."
"Well, what else do scientist people do when they got something they wanna study? They put wires and stuff on it and 'check the readings'. TV says so," The boy nodded, having already long since accepted the TV fantasies to be reality. Except for the shows that basically proclaimed humanity to be complete and utter bastards, of course. Even he knew that simply wasn't true.
"You do know that more than half the stuff they show on that glowing box is false, right?" Ray asked apprehensively, taking an easy pace slightly behind Ion.
"If it isn't true, why do they show stuff on it? Like Captain Strong, Defender of the Universe from the super killer space alien zombie ninja pirate robot teams?" The last bit was clearly sarcastic, even Ion knew that was just a cartoon show. Only a true idiot would think it wasn't. He was just making conversation.
"Well... for entertainment. That's the only thing I can think of." Ray said with a shrug, though the sarcasm was not lost on him. "Wait... isn't that Cherrygrove up ahead? That really was short." Ray remarked.
"Cherrygrove is only ten minutes away on foot," Ion replied, shrugging slightly. "It always makes me wonder why Elm just never goes to see what Mr. Pokémon wants himself. I mean, he always sends his aides out to do it." He was silent for a moment, before pausing to let Ray catch up with him and then started walking with him, leaning over slightly to whisper to him, as if there were listening devices in the bushes. "I think he's lazy."
"Yeah, I'd say I have to agree with you on that point." Ray said, nodding.
"Hey, kids!" Came the voice of an old man, near the entrance. Ray and Ion ignored him as they continued to walk, even as the old man bean to trot after them, waving his arms wildly at them. After a few paces, however, he gave up, slumping over and huffing. "Young hoodlums… not even listening to the wisdom of an old man and… ZZZ…" His head drooped as he began to snore on his feet.
"How far is Mr. Pokémon's from Cherrygrove?" Ray asked, curiously.
"Well," Ion began, pulling out his PokéGear from his pocket and looking up the map function, "According to Elm, it's part way up to Violet City, and that's considerably a longer route. It'd probably take us a day on foot to travel all the way up there."
"Hmm... you think we could make the trip there and back tonight? Elm seemed pretty anxious to get his hands on that egg." Ray said, still unfamiliar with the layout of Johto.
"As I said, it's only part way up, we'd definitely be able to get there and back to New Bark Town before it even gets dark," Ion stated, hopping slightly, hoping to be able to release his Pokémon from their Balls soon. It seems he'd tired them out quite a bit before they'd left for Cherrygrove.
"Alright then." Ray said, as they walked through Cherrygrove. "Let me just make sure, you do know what a Pokémon Center and Pokémarts are, right?" It never hurt to check the little things, as every bit of knowledge that a trainer didn't know could cost them a battle they should have won.
"They're the places you go to for free cookies and muffins, right?" Ion asked innocently, looking up at Ray with big eyes.
"Uh... not exactly." Ray said, unsure whether or not Ion was joking with him. "The Pokémon center is where traveler's can rest for the night, and get their Pokémon healed. The reason people stay is because it takes a few hours for Pokémon to be fully healed by the machines they use. Pokémarts are where you can buy items. Right now, since neither you nor I have any badges, the items we can buy are limited due to the recent restrictions placed by the Pokémon league. Once you get more badges, you can buy a greater variety of better items."
"Well, I knew what those were," Ion began slowly, looking off to the side almost distractedly, "But I didn't know about those new restrictions by the Pokémon League. And here I was going to use my weekly allowance to buy a stock of Ultra Balls. Mmm."
At the end there, the smaller teen pouted; once more, his expectations were dashed. The world was out to get him, wasn't it?
"Well, if you know how to use them, Poké Balls work just as well as Ultra Balls." Ray said, shrugging. He felt like he had wasted his time explaining something, but Ion had gotten something out of it, so it evened out... sort of. "By the way, what route is this?" He asked, as they were now out of Cherrygrove city (Very quickly, he might add) and heading upward on a new path.
"Route 30. Mr. Pokémon lives here, up a branching path. I think most of the people in Cherrygrove kicked him out of their town because of some misdemeanor a few years ago." Ion's face scrunched up a little, trying to think up what it was exactly. "But he used to live there, and Johto was known for having two Pokémon Professors in two different towns unlike the other countries or... Something. I don't know, I think I wasn't paying attention in that class..."
"Why am I not surprised to hear that..." Ray uttered under his breath. But the man got a misdemeanor... what could that have been for? From the looks of that photo... maybe people were just annoyed with him.
Ion was about to say something before he noticed something about the path almost right in front of them (when they had turned the fork to the right) and his face screwed up in annoyance.
Just as he thought, the path had overgrown again. Long, tall blades of grass, far taller than him and up to Ray's chest now covered the route.
"What is it about grass that makes it grow back so fast in only a few days?" The boy asked absently, kicking the ground.
"I don't know, the grass in Sinnoh isn't nearly so overgrown." Ray said with a shrug. "If we push through it, we'll be at Mr. Pokémon's house, right? And if we run into any wild Pokémon, you or I can beat them."
Ion nodded absently, Knowing he wouldn't enjoy his trip through the tall grass. It was usually full of bugs and other little nasty things, and he had a feeling his allergies would be killing him as they went through it, but he knew he had to get through, so he resigned himself to his fate, and began to lead once again, pushing through the tall grass.
Ray followed, again at any easy pace. He found the best way to avoid most unnecessary encounters was to not rush headlong through tall grass or caves, but to walk calmly through.
After much trudging through the grass, with some Pokémon skittering around out of their way (Mostly being Caterpies and Weedles), they reached the other side of it to see a relatively small house, a humble looking thing. Though Ion really couldn't appreciate it as he had been sneezing his lungs out, and still was, covering his poor, sore nose with a hanky.
"I hate tall grass," The boy complained, sneezing once more to punctuate it.
"Allergies?" Ray asked. He had never had trouble with them, but he felt Ion's pain to the smallest of extents. "Well, at least we're here." He looked up at the house, and was glad to see that it looked normal. For some reason, he had been expecting the odd Mr. Pokémon's house to also look weird, like the inhabitant itself was. He went up to the door and knocked, glancing back to make sure Ion was coming.
"I hate tall grass," The boy repeated, following him.
"Yo yo, looks like I got a guest!" Came a voice from inside, which Ray could only guess belonged to Mr. Pokémon. The door opened, and an older man looked at the two. "So, you're the homeboys Elm sent to pick the package I found?"
"Yeah." Ray answered.
"Then come on in, G-boy, we've got a lot to talk about." Mr. Pokémon responded, stepping to the side. Ray entered, and immediately noticed there was one other person in the house.
Ion was quite a bit meeker than Ray, as he never really felt comfortable around Mr. Pokémon. It wasn't anything against the old man, but... He was just weird.
He noticed another older man sitting off to the side, sipping some tea from a mug and watching with some thinly veiled interest, but he wasn't speaking up so Ion immediately ignored him. He hid behind Ray, peeking out from behind him, and waited for the chance to be able to split.
"My main man Elm didn't come himself, and I thought I had something good to show for sure this time." Mr. Pokémon said, a slightly sad air to his odd words. "Ah well, I might as well give you the package you came for, and send ya back so he can enjoy." As he went over to the table, Ray looked over at the other man, and remembered where he had seen the man before.
"Aren't you Professor Oak? The original Pokédex maker?" Ray asked in surprise.
"Indeed I am, m'boy," the older gentleman smiled, sipping his tea, "I was just here visiting my friend Frederick, as he asked me to come by and look over his discovery. It is a pretty interesting find, I must say, and I have only seen one other thing like it in my life. It is an extremely rare find, but I'm sure Elm would enjoy it more, as his main focus of study is Pokémon Breeding."
And this would have interested Ion more if that weird Mr. Pokémon wasn't in the room, talking and walking in his weird way.
'Wait, his first name is Frederick?' The boy thought to himself, his face screwing up. 'Does this mean his last name really is 'Pokémon'? Man, his ancestors must have hated themselves or something...'
"By the way, G-boy," Mr. Pokémon said, which made Ray assume he was being talked to. "Your Eevee's color is whack, yo." Ray could feel his eye twitching, but he answered anyway.
"Yeah, my father found a new eeveelution. We call it Leafeon." Ray responded, unsure if this would spark a similar reaction he had gotten from Rowan and Elm.
"Hm," Oak hummed, finishing his tea and quickly, and then got up from where he sat, heading over to Ray and bending down to look at Leafeon - looking, but not touching. "So, this is the Pokémon that Rowan was smug about, was it?" He asked, looking her over.
"I don't know if he was smug about it, but yeah, this is her. You got his warning about her biting, then?" Ray asked, crouching down and giving her a light pat on the head.
Meanwhile, Mr. Pokémon Approached Ion, Holding the egg with utmost care. "Yo yo young dude, grab this package and stash it in your safe bag, yeah?"
"Right..." Ion said, sounding a little uncomfortable being around the strange man, but none the less he took the egg carefully and was surprised at the feeling of it almost jumping in his hands, staring at it in surprise. But then he shrugged and put it in his duffel bag, careful to put it on some of his softer stuff, and closed it back up.
"Indeed. Eevees tend to be particular about who they want touching them," Oak smiled, giving the new Eeveelution one last look over and then standing back up. "Anyway, m'boy, who is this young man you brought with you?" He turned to Ion at that, raising an eyebrow at him.
"He's Ion, Professor Elm's newest prospect." Ray said, introducing Ion for the Professor.
"Oh? So I take it he's chosen his new start-"
"I don't like any of them," Ion suddenly repeated stubbornly, interrupting the old man, and making both his eyebrows rise questioningly.
"Hm," Oak hummed once more.
Ray sighed. "We got sent on this errand to give Ion time to consider which of them he should choose so he gets his trainer license."
"Ah, I see," Oak nodded slightly, before turning back to Ion once more, who went back to being meek. "So, Ion, why do you not like them?"
The boy, at first, didn't really have a good answer for that question. I mean, even he knew his initial reasoning was illogical; yeah, it was an easy third Pokémon for him, and he felt like he was being forced to pick one, but really, it just sounded like the temper tantrum of a spoiled child...
"The blue jerkgator bit me." The boy finally managed to say, turning his eyes away with a slight blush of embarrassment appearing on his cheeks, his expression stubborn.
"Well then," Oak laughed softly, shaking his head. "Does this mean the other two are bad by association, or did they also attack you in any way?"
"No..." The boy admitted, his embarrassment getting worse.
"So do you hate them by association?"
"No!" The boy replied, looking up at Oak with surprise. "Hating a Pokémon just because of association or because it did something bad isn't a good thing! I just don't want to feel like I'm being forced to choose!"
Oak was silent for a moment, looking calmly down at the boy after his outburst, and Ion felt his embarrassment grow worse. And then, after a minute of silence, Oak said, "Which element do you like best? Water, Grass or Fire?"
"Fire, I guess..." Ion said softly, meekly, fidgeting somewhat. Why was he feeling like he was under a microscope?
"Then your choice should be obvious. Fire Pokémon are rather rare, so outside of a starter, you'd have to purposefully go out looking for one if you want to find one later. And Cyndaquil is a rather useful Fire type," Oak began, starting to fish for something in his pocket.
Ion looked thoughtfully at the floor, his mouth tugging in a frown as he thought it over, as Oak continued, "And besides, it must have made those Pokémon sad to hear their prospective trainer say he doesn't like them, they may have mistaken it as something you didn't like about them."
"But that's not the reason..." Ion said softly, looking somewhat horrified. He hadn't thought about that, and now that it had been brought to his attention, he felt horrible. He didn't want any of them to feel unwanted, even if he was being forced to choose one. It was like being adopted by someone and being unwanted by just about everyone else.
Oak nodded, smiling at the boy's understanding. "I know, and while I don't like having to tell a trainer they need to take a Pokémon they may not exactly want or planned to get, I also have to take the Pokémon's wants into consideration myself. Sometimes they may want a trainer, sometimes they may not. They may want to fight in Pokémon battles, they may not. But either way, it's always best to make them feel welcome, even if either side may not want the other. And you love your own Pokémon enough to do so, don't you?"
"Yes." Ion replied quietly, looking very embarrassed and slightly angry with himself.
"Good. Now, don't you have something you need to do? Besides returning the egg to Elm, that is." Oak asked, looking pleased the boy was seeing reason.
"Yeah, I do," Ion responded, though still quiet, thoughtful, embarrassed and angry with himself. He knew how his high energy made people look at him, and he remembered being lonely before he was befriended by Lyra and Ethan, how unwanted he had felt by the world. And now he'd potentially made three little Pokémon looking forward to a kind trainer feel unwanted. And he felt horrible about that.
"Then go on, boy-G." Said Mr. Pokémon, who despite his odd wording, was being kind. "You don't have anything left to do with us old farts."
Ray had watched this entire conversation silently, surprised that Oak had been able to make Ion, who was such a stubborn, sarcastic little idiot (as was his first impression), realize his mistake. He suddenly realized just how wise, or perhaps how experienced the professor was with not just Pokémon, but people as well. However, this surprise didn't last at Mr. Pokémon's words, and for once, he had to stifle a chuckle at them. He didn't want to seem disrespectful, after all.
And Ion nodded at the old men, suddenly determined, but before he could begin the trek back to New Bark, Professor Oak suddenly handed him a strange, red device that he had been fishing for inside his pocket. He looked at it for a moment, a strange PDA looking device, before he realized what it was, and then looked up in amazement at the older man.
"I see what Elm may have seen in you, young man," Oak gave the boy a wink, "And I believe in it, too. I think with the help of this Pokédex, you may become something great. And don't worry, you won't be, ahem, 'forced' to capture any Pokémon you may not want to catch just because I'm giving you this. Just get the ones you feel you need."
The boy's face lit up at that encouragement, and nodded with gracious appreciation, he took the offered device in his hands and gently placed it in his shirt pocket, patted it, and gave the older man a smile.
"Thank you." He said, before turning to Ray and nodding at him. "I'm ready to go now, Mr. Ray."
"Just Ray, we're the same age after all." Ray said, waving his hand nonchalantly. He was becoming quite interested in Ion himself, with two of the four best known professors saying he had great potential; there must be something about him. "I'm ready as well. Thank you both for your time." Ray said, bowing.
"Don't mention it, G-boy. We cool." Mr. Pokémon said, making that same odd gesture Ray had seen in the Picture, but this time with both hands.
It was only a few minutes into their walk back to Cherrygrove (After they had once again cleared the long grass that caused Ion's allergies to act up, the poor boy still sneezing), when suddenly Ion's PokéGear began ringing. This surprised him as he had been inspecting his Pokédex (after all, while he may not like studying, it was kind of cool to hear stuff about any species of Pokémon he may not have known from a talking box with this most awesome sounding computerized voice), and he nearly dropped that gift, sneezing once more.
He pulled out his Gear, and looked at the caller ID of the person contacting him, and saw it was professor Elm. The boy sighed and rolled his eyes, mumbling, "Why is he calling? He knows it takes some time to get here and back..."
Ray shrugged. "You might as well see what he wants. If it's another errand, better we hear about it now rather then when we get back to his lab, right?"
"Right, sure, I'll put it on speaker phone so you can hear, too," Ion shrugged back, pushed a few buttons on it, and then answering the call.
Before the boy could even speak, Elm's voice crackled through it, sounding quite panicked, "Oh, dear, um, Ion! It's horrible!"
Ray scratched his head, looking confused, Ion mirroring that confusion with a slight frown (and sneezing again, too). "What is?" The younger of the two asked.
"Well I... It's just... Hurry up and get back here!" The professor's distressed voice rang through, before the call ended abruptly.
Tatsu55 says: Hey all! I just wanted to mention that in this chapter our characters meet Mr. Pokémon. He starts you on your journey in a way, and yet he NEVER APPEARS AGAIN. Therefore, I wanted to make his character as eccentric as possible, and now that he is, we've planned more appearances for him. Hope you all liked this chapter!
One sez: Well, actually, you COULD go visit Mr. Pokémon again after you get the Red Scale, but all you really do is trade it for an EXP. Share. But I think just about everyone knows that now. But if you didn't, hey, at least you learned something new. :D As Tatsu said, though, I think there will be more appearances of Mr. Pokémon in this story now. Even if he's a horribly insensitive racial stereotype of black people (and without being black, too), it's still a source of humor. An unfortunate source, but I hoped you laughed anyway. ^.^;
And if not, kick Tatsu. He's the one who decided to make him like that.
Actually, now that I think about it, Mr. Pokémon, in most fanfics based on Gold and Silver, tend to make him a strange character, but then throw him away anyway; even when he could have been just as interesting, or even more so, than the main characters. o.o Weird that works, huh