Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. Nintendo does, however. Not that you don't know this, of course. If I owned pokemon, there would be more legendaries, pokemon would be easier to catch, you would not have to go to a special pokemon party in Japan to get Mew, and the pokemon would be either total crack, stupid-looking, or look so cool they actually looked idiotic. Anyway, let's get to what you really came here for.
Elliot walked down the path to his house. What the professor had said was confusing him. Didn't he want his pokemon back? Elliot decided to just go home for now. He walked up the small steps and into his house. Elliot saw his mom in the kitchen.
"Uh, Mom? I need to talk to you," he said to her.
"Okay, honey," Elliot heard her say.
She walked into the living room and said, "What's up, dear?"
"The ceiling," he replied without thinking. His mother gave him a look.
"Well…" Elliot hesitated for a moment then told her what had happened.
His mother listened, then smiled.
"Wow, I can't believe that happened to you," she said at last, "Am I ever glad that both you and Tom are unharmed. The professor you mentioned is probably Professor Rowan of Sandgem Town. I've heard he is well known for his studies on pokemon. I have also heard he is quite intimidating…" She paused briefly, "Elliot, I think you need to visit him in Sandgem Town. You need to properly explain why you had no choice but to use his pokemon. Don't worry!" she added when Elliot started to say something. "I'm sure he will understand," she told him, then suddenly exclaimed, "Oh, I know! Elliot, put these on," she handed him a pair of what looked like running shoes. "Going to Sandgem Town is like an adventure in itself, right? With these running shoes you can get to faraway places much faster. Okay…" She helped Elliot put them on. "The package says, 'Put on the running shoes and blaze new trails of adventure!' Well isn't that just nifty." Elliot's mom said, smiling. Elliot smiled back, then went out the door. He ran up to Route 201, enjoying the new feel of the shoes, then realized he hadn't seen Tom for a while. He did see Matt nearby and walked over to him.
"Hi, Matt. Have you seen Tom recently?" Elliot asked.
"Tom? He went tearing off in a huge rush a while ago." Matt said.
"Thanks!" Elliot yelled as he ran off.
At Route 201, Tom was nowhere to be found. Elliot went left at the fork, wondering if he was at Lake Verity. He went through the path between in the trees and looked out over the lake, but no one was there. Sighing, Elliot went back to the fork. He had his own pokemon now, so he could go into the tall grass without worry. There was another trainer going on the same path he was.
"Hey, trainer," he said. "do you want me to tell you how to catch a pokemon?"
"Uh…sure," Elliot said. Catching pokemon was one of the best things about being a pokemon trainer. He always wanted to know how it was done.
"Okay," said the other trainer, "you can only catch wild pokemon, which means you'll want to look in tall grass or caves. You want to weaken it as much as you can without knocking it out, because if a pokemon is still healthy, it can break out of the pokeball. I can't give you any, but there's a pokemart up ahead. You can buy pokeballs there if you want."
Elliot smiled. "Thanks!" he said.
"You're welcome," said the other trainer.
Suddenly, a starly that was eating some bugs in the tall grass jumped out and attacked Elliot. It was a low-level female, like the one that had attacked him before.
"Speak of the devil!" Elliot exclaimed as he tossed Piplup's pokeball. It burst open and Piplup came out with a small "Piplup!"
"This is another starly, so…Piplup, try pound!" Piplup obediently pounded the starly with his wing-arm. The starly chirped and was sent backwards a bit from the force. When it righted itself again, it growled before Elliot could order another command. Piplup stepped back fearfully, but then shook it off and stepped forward again.
"So it's trying that tactic, huh?" Elliot said, "Quickly, Piplup! Pound!" Piplup jumped up and whacked the starly away again. It flew back, but tried to tackle Piplup this time. However, the previous attack seemed to have dazed it a bit, and Piplup was able to dodge.
"Now, Piplup! Pound again!" Piplup pounded the starly again before it could recover and it seemed he hit her with extra force, as the pokemon fainted. Piplup chirped happily at this victory.
"Good job, Piplup!" Elliot congratulated, smiling. Piplup smiled as well and Elliot recalled him.
Elliot walked down the path some more, and his travels were uneventful. He reached the edge of the patch of tall grass, and the path sloped upward. Elliot climbed up, then turned to his left. He noticed that the path led to Verity Lakefront. That wasn't the way he was going, so he went back. He went down the slope again, and continued on the path. On his left was a small sign. On it was written, "Trainer Tips: talk to everyone you meet!"
How odd. Mom always told me not to talk to strangers... Elliot thought. He shrugged and continued on the path. To his left was a large patch of tall grass, but he decided to keep going. The path ended in a ledge which he could not climb, however. Elliot sighed and went back to the patch of tall grass. He ran upwards, noticing it sloped a bit. He didn't see any other pokemon, but at the top he found another trainer by the edge of the trees.
Remembering the sign's suggestion, Elliot went over to talk to him and found out he was a pokemart worker. He gave Elliot a potion as a free sample.
Elliot thanked him and put the purple bottle with a spay nozzle at the top in his bag happily. Now he'd be able to heal Piplup if anything happened. With that done, he continued on his way.
The patch of tall grass ended abruptly, and Elliot noticed that he was on the ledge that he saw before. Not able to resist the urge, he jumped off the short ledge. It was a little exciting. Elliot ran up to the ledge again and continued toward Sandgem Town this time. Upon entering, Elliot noticed a large, hi-tech looking building. Dawn was standing at the entrance.
"Oh! There you are!" she exclaimed. "Please, come with me! The professor's waiting!" she grabbed Elliot's hand and started pulling him towards the lab.
"Hey, Dawn, wait-" Elliot began, but Dawn ignored him.
"This is it!" Dawn said when Elliot was in front of the lab. Elliot looked up at the strange building. "This is our pokemon research lab! Let's go…" Dawn said, walking toward the door. Elliot followed. Suddenly, however, Tom came running out of the door and slammed into Elliot…just like at Twinleaf.
"What the…" Tom began, then his expression softened. "Oh, it's you Elliot! That old guy…he's not so scary so much as he is totally out there!"
Elliot saw Dawn fight back a scowl.
"Uh…really?" Elliot said hesitantly, frowning a bit. Tom laughed.
"Aww, it doesn't matter, Elliot! I'm out of here. See you later!"
Tom then ran off further into Sandgem.
"Wow, what was that?" Dawn said. Elliot shrugged, not sure what to say. "Your friend seems to be really impatient."
"Yeah, that's Tom all right." Elliot replied.
"Well, anyway…let's go inside," Dawn said. She grabbed Elliot again and led him inside the lab. Professor Rowan was standing at the back. Elliot saw a few other professors as Dawn led him to where Rowan was standing.
"Hi, Professor!" Dawn said. "This is Elliot, from Twinleaf Town. Remember him?"
"Ah, yes," Rowan said. "Let me see your pokemon again, Elliot,"
Elliot nodded awkwardly, then handed over Piplup's pokeball. Professor Rowan opened it and carefully looked at Piplup thoroughly, muttering things like "Hmm…" and "I see…" finally, he looked back at Elliot.
"This pokemon seems rather happy," Rowan said to Elliot. "All right, then. I'll give this piplup to you as a gift."
Dawn gasped, and Elliot was shocked.
"P-professor, you can't be serious!" she said.
Rowan turned to her. "I am serious, Dawn. This pokemon has grown to like him in the short time it has been with him. I think it should stay with him. Besides, it would help for what I have planned."
Elliot looked at him quizzically, and Dawn seemed to remember something and said, "Oh, yes, that."
Rowan turned back to Elliot.
"You friend Tom told me what happened at the lake," he said. "You battled very well, despite it being your first time. And, from what I can see, there is a growing bond between you and that pokemon, though it is still young. That's why I would like to entrust you with Piplup."
Dawn blushed a bit, then said, "I'm so glad you're kind towards pokemon! If you weren't, I'd have to…oh, I just can't say it…"
Professor Rowan cleared his throat loudly. "Let's move on to the main topic," he said, cutting off Dawn. "There is something I want you to do for me. First of all, I want to know exactly what kinds of pokemon live in the Sinnoh region. To do so, it is necessary to collect data, using the pokedex. This is what I wish to ask of you. I want to entrust you with this pokedex. Will you use it to record data on all the pokemon in Sinnoh for me?"
"Of course!" Elliot said gladly. He was exited to be able to go and become a pokemon trainer. Rowan smiled at him.
"Hm!" he said. "Good answer!" he gave Elliot a strange, red, hi-tech looking device. "That pokedex is a very high-tech device. It will automatically record data on every kind of pokemon you encounter. Elliot, I ask that you go everywhere to meet every kind of pokemon in this region."
"I've got one, too!" Dawn added.
"Elliot, when you walked up route 201 with your pokemon, what did you feel?" Rowan asked.
"I…" Elliot paused as he searched for the right words. "I felt happy, I guess…it was a strange feeling, and I can't describe it very well, but…I felt glad that I was with a pokemon." Rowan smiled again.
"I've lived for 60 long years. Even now, I get a thrill when I'm with a pokemon." Rowan said slowly, then quickly spoke again, "Now, you should know that there are countless pokemon in this world. That means there are just as many thrills waiting for you out there. Now go! Elliot, your grand adventure begins right now."
Dawn turned to Elliot and said,
"I also help the professor add pages to the pokedex. So, in a sense, I'm just like you. I just got a head start on you, that's all. I'll be happy to teach you things. Glad to meet you, Elliot!"
"You too," Elliot said, smiling.
Dawn led Elliot out the door. Elliot was excited to start filling up his pokedex right away.
Author's Note: Wow, that's a lot of text…there shouldn't be as much text after this, though, so expect the chapters to get further in the story soon. Hopefully…it'll take a few chapters just to get Elliot's first badge…then there's Floarama Town and the Valley Windworks…sigh…expect me to level up my pokemon a bit while I'm waiting. (I expect Piplup to evolve very soon now…)