Chapter 4

Nate

Nate glanced upwards into a stormy sky, rain pounding him and coming down in buckets. He was miserably cold and shook uncontrollably. It was darkness all around him and he could see and feel nothing. All he could feel was his own fear, but he didnt know what he was afraid of.

"Kerawwww" a pokemon cried out. Seemingly in pain. But oddly enough Nate felt that the pokemon was just as terrified and afraid as he was. He continued to hear the same noise but still hear nothing, and the rain kept on pouring down. The cold hand that was currently gripping nates heart squeezed harder as the dark sky flashed.

Lightning filled up the sky and a yellow bird flew above him screeching once again. The bird was beautiful and sparkling but it was terrified. Somehow from his spot way below he could see its eyes and they were filled with fear. Suddenly the air was filled with sudden humidity and all of the hairs on nates arms stood up straight. The bird screeched louder than ever before and nates ears rang with the sounds of the cacophony. And then it happened, the bird lit up light a candle and Nate could the the electricity pulsing through it. Like the fuse to a firework. Then the firework exploded and a huge lighting ball smashed the ground and Nate felt a searing burn and a ringing in his ears as he hit the ground. Nate glanced up groggily and couldn't see a thing. Only the bird screeching and flying off into the dark.

...

Nate woke up suddenly from his dream drenched in sweat and panting. It seemed so real that he checked his hearing by ruffling the covers close to each ear. Nate had never had a dream like that one before and he never wanted one again. The strange frightened yellow bird would be forever imprinted into his memory.

Nate glanced at his alarm clock and tried to register what each of the hands meant. After a while Nate realized it was 10:00 which was 5 hours past when he normally woke up. Nate knew he had to wake up but he was so tired.Nate looked at his viridian colored walls and couldn't help but feel trapped. As much as his mother tried to make Nate feel at home he still was more at peace in the forest. There was something about the silent noise that only a trained ear could hear. Sounds that made the forest vivid and burstin with energy. You can't find that in a city no matter how hard some people try.

And it was on that note Nate decided he was going to go back to sleep if not for the feathery whirlwind that would attack him. Nate spit out feathers and and laughed hard as his best friend greeted him. His friend of course was his little pidgey which Nate had rescued in the forest. It was a shy little Pokémon and that Nate had grown extremely found of in their time together. He even took it into the fires with him someone to teach him how to track and sometimes new moves. It seemed like just yesterday Nate had found him.

It had been an extremely hot day so hot that Nate had to stop and shade himself under a particularly large tree. Nate wiped the sweat off of his brow and took a large swig of water. Sighing contentedly at the relief. It was then that Nate hears an unusual sound of a struggle going on not too far away from where Nate was resting. Normally he would just pass it off as pokemon fighting over mates but this sounded worse. More brutal.

Nate quickly rushed to the clearing to find a large fearow pecking at a baby pidgey. Pidgey get tossed out of the mother pidgeot's best to learn to fly. Any that couldn't learn didnt survive, it was a cruel practice. This one it seemed was one of the unfortunate ones and the fearow had no qualms about cruelly tearing into it. The pidgeys cries were loud and it's eyes met nates.

"Help me" it seemed to be shouting at him. Needing no other provocation Nate drew an arrow and shot it at the fearow hoping his aim to be true. The arrow struck it on the left wing and the fearow dropped stunned. It was a good shot but Nate had been aiming for the head. Nate notched another arrow as soon as the fearow rose once again and hit it in the opposite wing this time. The fearow tan off screeching leaving large feathers behind. Nate quickly retrieved his arrows and ran over to the pidgey. It was bleeding profusely and Nate knew it would die without medical help. He picked it up and quickly ran to the pokemon center in town.

The pidgey survived but would forever have a long scar on its stomach. And the nurse told Nate it couldn't live in the wilds anymore due to its weakness. Nate then adopted it and nursed it to full health. Nate then thought it to fly which is another long story, but they bonded. And pidgey followed Nate wherever and doesn't need a pokéball like most people do.

The pidgey flew onto nates shoulder and seemed happy there and Nate felt it dig into its shirt as it perched there. Nate walked into his bathroom and brushed his teeth and glanced at his reflection. He always checked to see the same blue eyes and long brown air staring back at him. Because of that one time... But Nate shuddered at the memory and looked away. Nate looked down at his black pants with green flames which led to his white shirt he wore under a green short-sleeved jacket. He wore two green gloves on each hand and had a pokéball necklace dangling from his neck. The pokéball was empty but his mother had gotten it for him on his birthday a few years back.

Nate knew his mom would be at work right now so headed downstairs and grabbed a quick bowl of cereal. His staryu bites were particularly bland today. Probably a little stale. Nate rushed through the cereal and quickly headed out the door. It was on his way out the door he remembered what he witnessed in professor Alders lab yesterday. It made his had hurt to try and make sense of it. But all he knew was that the professor had some serious secrets.

Nate walked down through town with pidgey still perched on his shoulder who was shaking either excitement. He loved to see the city. Nate made a beeline for the professors lab to see if there was any work for him to do. The metal doors automatically slided open and breathed fresh air onto Nate. And the bright lights of the lab engulfed him.

"Hello Nate!" Various assistants greeted nate as he walked through the lab. Various machines cluttered the labs. One time professor alder had tried to explain what each meant to Nate but all that Nate got out of if was that he didnt belong in a Pokémon lab. Nate walked thought the room dodging rushing assistants and confused Pokémon trying to reach the professors private office.

Outside of the office Nate want to knock on the door but heard whispering so he waited. The whispers were indistinguishable and so Nate went ahead and knocked. Twice and solid.

"Come in, come in" the professor called out. So Nate turned the handle and walked in. To nates surprise the room was empty save the professor who has never looked worse in his life. There were dark bags under his eyes, and his normally well-groomed hair was unkept and matted. His shirt had a coffee stained on him and he looked exhausted.

"Hey professor I was wondering if there was anything you needed done." Nate asked warily. He stood as far back as he could and was very uncomfortable.

"Yes I do actually Nate. " the professor exclaimed after a long and awkward pause. "In the ruins outside of town there is a stone I am looking for. It's a bright yellow stone deep in the ruins."

The professor drew a sketch of it and handed it to Nate with a shaking hand and sat back down at his desk slumped over with his face in his hands.