Almost total rewrite of this chapter.
Special thanks to Alexis and Hizzy for editing this.
Disclaimer: Go back to the previous chapter and read the statement out loud.
Chapter 2: Begin! The Energetic Flames of Carl!
One quiet morning, as the sun rises in the town of Pallet and the rest of the Pokemon world, trainers will leave their hometown and embark on their journeys and make themselves a legend. This is the story of one of those trainers, and he is in for a rude awakening.
"Carl! Get up now! I'm not going to call you again!"
16 year old Carl Zorbo woke up drowsily at his mother's voice. I'll bet… he thought and went back to sleep. After five minutes, he woke up again to the sound of loud thumping. She kicked down the door; the loud banging caused Carl to jump. Looking up at her, he thought she looked positively furious.
Carl's mother clapped her hands and shouted. "Let's move it! Chop chop! The New Trainer's Orientation starts in thirty minutes!" She stomped downstairs.
Carl shouted after her. "But what about my door?!"
His mother snapped at him. "That's your fault!"
Carl sighed deeply and began to dress and realized that the Orientation was today! How could he have forgotten? Fresh from Viridian Academy, Carl was ready to get his very own Pokemon and start his journey.
He ran his hands through his black, unruly hair. Looking into a mirror, he met his own brown eyes. He was one of the top three in the Academy and he was well-liked because of his personality even though the Academy was filled with competitive kids. He was very friendly and kind to everyone; he had a good sense of humor, although he sometimes commented on irrelevant things that often caught people off-guard. His classmates had given him plenty of nicknames from "Airhead" as the least harmful, to "Crackhead" as the most severe.
Before going on downstairs, he paused to open his window and survey the weather. Great, sunny. He thought. He walked downstairs, just in time for breakfast. It seemed that he and his mother were the only ones since the rest of the family were nowhere to be seen.
His mom smiled sweetly at him. "Glad to see you're up. I made you the big breakfast sandwich, your favorite. But we ran out of jalapenos. Sorry!"
Carl grinned. "It's okay, mom." As soon as she turned away, his grin transformed into a grimace. Why does she have to have a split personality?
When he finished his sandwich, he set out to Professor Oak's lab. When he arrived, he could see many trainers lining up at the professor's house. They all chattered about which Pokemon they're going to get.
"I betcha I'll get a Farfetch'd!" One boy said.
"Please, a Dratini is way better than some duck!" Another boy said.
Carl turned away, snorting. He smiled to himself. There's no way the professor will give out rare Pokemon like those. But then again, in his excitement, he forgot which Pokemon he would like to get. He'd like to get one of the Elemental Trio: Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle. Anyone would really do; although he was rather partial to Charmander. A cry snapped him out of his thoughts.
"It's him!"
Thinking that it was Professor Oak, he whipped his head to the door. But the door was closed and the kids were looking at something behind him. Carl turned around and groaned. It was Dirk Ashford. Dirk smirked and stepped in front of Carl. The two exchanged greetings.
"Crackhead."
"Turd."
They turned away from each other immediately. It was well-known that Carl and Dirk loathed each other. Carl surveyed him; not much of his appearance changed since the last time he saw him: He still had spiky blond hair and the arrogant expression plastered on his face with his confident brown eyes. Dirk was second place in Viridian Academy while Carl barely made third.
"Hey guys!" A voice chirped. Carl and Dirk turned around. Alice bounced up next to them. This ditzy girl was at the top of her class although she didn't look it. Dirk just gave her a cold glare and turned around again. Carl shrugged and yawned. A silence followed. "So…how's it going?" Alice asked.
Dirk didn't say anything while Carl shrugged again. Alice tried one more time. "So what kind of Pokemon do you guys want? Grass has always been my fave type so a Bulbasaur would be an obvious choice. Did you know that Bulbasaur is the easiest to train out of all three starters?..." She rambled on and on until both Carl and Dirk couldn't take it anymore and walked off in different directions.
Alice Ginkgo is a daughter of one of the richest families in Kanto. Like Carl, she is a bit of an airhead, but at least she scored higher in her exams. She liked to talk a lot about anything. Just say a simple sentence around her, and she will come up and strike up a conversation. It can get pretty annoying especially if you weren't talking to her.
Suddenly, a loudspeaker blared, "All new trainers please move away from the door. Carl was shaking as he and the crowd shuffled backward. This is it...
The door in front of the house opened. The silence was deafening as everyone held their breath. A man wearing a crumpled lab coat in a wheelchair appeared with a young woman pushing him. The frail old man was losing his hair but had very sharp eyebrows.
There was a rumor going around that Oak himself had suffered a stroke. No one knows how, when and why, and he always goes out in a wheelchair with someone pushing him while out in public. Naturally, controversies arose but none of them were true. He started to sit in the wheelchair at a convention about two years ago, sometime around Ash Ketchum had disappeared for training.
"Would the top three students of Viridian Academy please step in my lab please?" Professor Oak croaked. Carl, Alice and Dirk stepped out of the crowd from different locations and walked to the professor's house. If they were nervous, they didn't look it. Duncan glared at anyone who stared too long. Alice smiled, oblivious to the jealous looks the three were receiving. Carl only wore a blank face until he tripped and fell on his face.
When he got up, Alice and Duncan were walking without a backward glance. All the other kids were snickered.
"Had a nice trip?" One person had called out.
Embarrassed, he jogged to catch up with them. They stepped in Professor Oak's lab. Soon there were all in a big room with a table holding three Poke balls. Oak's lab assistant turned him around to face the three. She spoke with him. "Now, grandfather, you know what the doctor said…"
"Yes, yes, yes, I know! Daisy, you worry too much."
To the three's amazement, the seemingly "handicapped" professor wasn't crippled at all! The rumor about the stroke was fake! Oak stretched his legs and arms after he got up from his wheelchair.
"Ahhh…that old thing is getting the best of me…So! You three," He pointed at Carl, Duncan and Alice. "Are you ready? Because, you are about to meet your Pokemon partner for the first time!" He then all of a sudden broke down into tears. Daisy sighed exasperatedly and put her hand to her face. All waited politely until the eccentric professor's sobs subsided.
"I'm sorry. Seeing the new trainers off has always been very emotional to me. So, tears aside, who would like to go first?"
Alice and Duncan didn't do anything but stand in silence; staring at the professor with odd looks. Carl, however, bolted towards the table and picked up a ball at random. He activated it. A brilliant flash of white light filled the lab. When the light disappeared, an orange lizard standing upright with a flame on its tail looked upwards and greeted Carl.
"Charmander!" The lizard said.
Carl stared at it for a long minute. Then he fainted. An awkward silence followed.
"Well, this is new." Daisy commented.
Seriously, isn't that new? A new trainer faints when he receives his Pokemon. All other trainers would jump for joy at this. A sign that this fic is unique.
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