Nutty
"It's gonna be okay, Lillie. Snowy's going to be all right."
As the shuttle to the Lillelv Town Pokemon laboratory rumbled along the road, Lillie cradled her injured Pokemon, Snowy, in her arms. The poor little fox Pokemon had been hit by a super effective Fire attack and was just barely conscious. Lillie couldn't believe that, in her first real Pokemon battle, she had let her Pokemon get this injured.
"We're almost there." Her new friend, Ivy, kept saying encouragingly. "Just a few more minutes and we'll be able to get Snowy some help."
"I sure hope so." Lillie said worriedly. She had always hated watching Pokemon get hurt, but now that it was her Pokemon… She just prayed they would reach the laboratory in time.
The shuttle suddenly slowed to a stop. "Last stop: Lillelv Pokemon Laboratory." The driver said.
Lillie quickly rushed off the shuttle, holding Snowy close to her. "Hang on, Snowy!" She said. "It's just up ahead!"
"Vul…" Snowy said weakly. Lillie ran through the doors to the Pokemon lab, only to stop in surprise, as the inside of the lab was not what she expected it to be.
The place was a mess. Research papers were thrown everywhere, there were various stains on the machines in the lab from drink and food spills, and for some reason the whole place smelled strangely like chocolate. In one corner of the room, there was a rather short woman in a lab coat with frizzy, grey hair and large, coke bottle lens glasses digging through a filing cabinet, tossing various papers out of it. "Where is it? Where is it? Where is it?" She said hurriedly. She turned to shout at the back of the lab. "Does anyone know where that paper on the Ruins of Kau is?"
An assistant came from the back of the lab and picked up one of the papers the lab coat wearing woman had already tossed out of the cabinet. "Is this what you're looking for, Prof. Heather?"
The woman called Prof. Heather turned and grabbed the paper out of the assistant's hand. "Yes!" She shouted victoriously. "Thank you, wonderful boy! You get a promotion!"
"I'm already your head lab assistant." The assistant said.
"Excuse me?" Lillie said.
"Then you get a raise!" Prof. Heather declared. "Effective immediately!"
"Excuse me?" Lillie said a little bit louder.
"Professor, if you pay me any more, you won't have any money left for your research." The assistant said.
"Fine! Then you get-"
"Excuse me!" Lillie yelled, turning red after she realized how loud she was just then. Prof. Heather and her assistant stopped arguing and noticed Lillie. "Um… Hello." Lillie said awkwardly. "Sorry to interrupt you, but-"
"Ah, are you my new intern?" Prof. Heather asked, rushing up to get a closer look at Lillie. "You can get started by organizing my papers. If you can't find a place for anything, the floor will do just fine."
"I'm not an intern." Lillie said. She presented Snowy to the professor. "My Pokemon got hurt. Can you please heal it?"
"My, my. An Alolan Vulpix." Prof. Heather said. "A very rare specimen, indeed. Would you mind if I studied it? It would only take about a month or so."
"No. Please, just heal him!" Lillie pleaded.
The assistant ran over to take Snowy. "Don't worry, miss. I'll take care of it." He said. He then ran off to the back of the lab to take care of Snowy.
Ivy and Ross entered the lab and rushed over to Lillie. "Lillie, did you get Snowy taken care of?" Ivy asked.
Lillie smiled. "Yes. Everything's going to be just fine." She replied, silently thanking Arceus that they had made it to the lab in time.
"Ah, you must be my new intern!" Prof. Heather said to Ivy. "You can get started by organizing my papers. If you can't find a place for anything, the floor will do just fine."
"Excuse me?" Ivy said. "I'm not an intern."
Prof. Heather frowned, then turned to Ross. "Ah, then you must be my new intern." She said. "You can get started by organizing my papers. If you can't find a place for anything-"
"The floor will do just fine. Yeah, I heard. And I'm not an intern." Ross said. He turned to Lillie and Ivy with a look that said "Is this lady nuts, or what?"
"Well, if none of you are my new intern, then what are you doing here?" Prof. Heather asked.
"We just arrived in the Norzen region," Ivy explained politely, "and we were hoping to get some new Pokemon for our journey."
"Ohhhhh, of course!" Prof. Heather said. "Come, come. Let me show you what Pokemon I have for you." Prof. Heather led them all to a back room in the lab. Lillie could see the assistant from earlier healing Snowy with a few Burn Heals and Super Potions. She breathed a sigh of relief knowing that her Pokemon was going to be okay. Prof. Heather collected a couple of Pokeballs from a shelf and turned back to Lillie, Ivy, and Ross. "There are three Pokemon that I present to new trainers to start them off on their journeys." She explained. "The first: the Fire type, Hooflare!"
Prof. Heather tossed one Pokeball in the air and from it came a horse-like Pokemon with orange fur, a yellow mane and tail, and rings of fire around its hooves. "Hooooof!" The Pokemon neighed.
"The second," Prof. Heather went on, "is the Water type, Pupuoy!"
Prof. Heather tossed the second Pokeball up and from that one came a Pokemon that looked like an adorable puppy with blue fur, a silver belly, and little rings around its legs that looked like water floaties. "Pup! Pup!" It barked happily.
"And the third," Prof. Heather continued, "is-"
"Hey! Prof. Heather!" The professor, Lillie, Ivy, and Ross were all startled by someone yelling at the front of the lab. They turned to see a boy storming up to the professor. "You can take back your stupid Pokemon!" He said angrily. "All this thing does is try to run away from me! It won't even battle anyone! It sucks!" He thrusted the Pokeball back into Prof. Heather's hands and stormed back out of the lab.
Prof. Heather stayed silent for a few moments before sighing and throwing up the Pokeball the boy had given her. "And the third," she said, "is the Grass type, Nuttree."
A squirrel-like Pokemon that had green fur, a pink belly, and an acorn clutched in its hands appeared from the ball. "Nuttree!" It said, sounding annoyed. The little Pokemon scurried away and hopped up on a high shelf, apparently trying to get away from everyone in the room.
"Why did that boy not want that Pokemon?" Lillie asked.
Prof. Heather sighed. "This particular Nuttree does not take kindly to humans. See, one of my old assistants took this Nuttree from the wild, accidentally taking it away from its family. Since then, every trainer it's had it's tried to escape from to go and find its family. It refuses to form a bond with any human that just wants to use it to battle."
Lillie frowned. How could a person just take a Pokemon away from its family? That wasn't right! And now the poor thing didn't even trust humans. Lillie couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor Pokemon. She got a determined expression on her face and approached the shelf that Nuttree was high up on. "Excuse me?" Lillie said to it, speaking in a kind voice. "I know you don't like humans, and it certainly wasn't fair for you to get taken away from your family, but how would you like to come with me and be my Pokemon?"
"Nut!" The Pokemon responded by blowing a raspberry at Lillie and turning its back on her.
"I promise I won't just use you to battle other trainers." Lillie went on. "If you want, I won't use you to battle at all. In fact, we can just focus on finding your family again."
That got the little squirrel Pokemon's attention. "Nut?" It said, turning around a little.
"I promise," Lillie went on, "I'll help you find your family again. I know how important family can be. So, I'll do everything I can to help you be reunited with yours. What do you say?"
Nuttree thought about it for a moment, then hopped down off its shelf and stood in front of Lillie. "Tree." It said, nodding its head. Lillie smiled.
"I promise you'll be reunited with your family soon." She said. "Would you mind if I gave you a name? Just for now until we find your family?"
"Tree." Nuttree said, nodding its head again.
Lillie thought for a moment, trying to think of the perfect name for her new partner. "Let's see…" She said. "I always did like the cute little chittering noises squirrels make. How about 'Chitter?'"
"Tree! Nuttree!" The Pokemon seemed to enjoy its new name.
Prof. Heather's eyes were brimming with tears. "Beautiful!" She cried. "Just beautiful! I can't believe you would be so kind as to help this little Pokemon find its home again!" Prof. Heather broke down sobbing, creating a bit of an awkward moment. Lillie didn't see her helping Chitter to find its family again as a great act of kindness. She just saw it as simple human decency. Helping Pokemon seemed like her duty now that she was a Pokemon trainer.
Finally, Prof. Heather quit crying and blew her nose on a piece of spare research paper. "So," she said, wiping her eyes and turning to Ivy and Ross, "what about the two of you?"
Ross examined the two Pokemon left over after Lillie's choice. "I'll take this one." He said, pointing to Hooflare. "A Fire type seems like a good match if I'm going to be challenging the Gyms here."
"Great!" Ivy said. "Because I wanted this one!" She picked up Pupuoy, who started likcing her face causing Ivy to giggle. "It's so cute! How could I not pick it?" Ivy pulled out her other Pokeball and threw it out, causing her Espeon to come out of it. "Pupuoy, meet your new friend, Espeon."
"Pup! Pup!" Pupuoy barked.
"Espeon." Espeon said kindly.
Ross followed Ivy's lead and called out his Umbreon for Hooflare to meet. "You two get along now." He advised them. "We're going to be winning lots of battles together."
"Umbre!" Umbreon said excitedly.
"Hoooooflare!" Hooflare neighed in agreement.
The lab assistant that was healing Snowy brought the little fox Pokemon over to Lillie. "Miss, your Pokemon's all healed." He said, handing Snowy to Lillie.
"Oh! Thank you so much!" Lillie said gratefully. She took Snowy and set him down in front of Chitter. "Chitter, meet your new friend, Snowy." She said.
"Nuttree!" Chitter said happily, reaching out a paw to greet Snowy.
"Vuuuuuuul!" Snowy said, blasting Chitter with an Ice Beam attack and freezing it solid.
"Oh, my!" Lillie exclaimed, quickly getting out an Ice Heal for Chitter. "I'm so sorry, Chitter! Snowy, you should know better!"
"Vul." Snowy said, not sounding particularly guilty at all.
"Nuttree! Tree tree!" Chitter yelled at Snowy, shaking its fist angrily at him.
"Oh! There's one more thing you kids will need for your journeys!" Prof. Heather exclaimed. She went over to a box on a shelf and pulled out three small, pink handheld computer devices. "A Pokedex!" She handed them out to each of the three trainers. "I programmed this model myself." She said proudly. "I call it a Heatherdex!"
Lillie turned her Heatherdex on. It immediately scanned Chitter. "Nuttree: The Acorn Squirrel Pokemon. A Grass type. From birth, this Pokemon collects an acorn that it will keep with it for the rest of its life."
"Wow! That's amazing!" Lillie exclaimed.
Ivy and Ross scanned their Pokemon too. "Hooflare: The Fire Hoof Pokemon." Ross' Heatherdex said. "A Fire type. Hooflare uses its fiery hooves to attack anyone or anything it considers a threat."
"Pupuoy: The Floating Dog Pokemon." Ivy's Heatherdex said. "A Water type. The small rings around Pupuoy's legs allow it to float gently on any body of water. It will never sink."
"You can talk to it too, you know." Prof. Heather advised them. "Go ahead! Try it!"
"Oh. Okay." Lillie said. She turned to her Heatherdex. "Hello, Heatherdex. My name's Lillie."
"Nice to meet you, Larry!" The Heatherdex replied.
"Um, no. My name isn't-"
"Hi, Larry! Hi, Larry! Hi, Larry!" The Heatherdex went on excitedly.
"You say you programmed these things yourself?" Ross asked Prof. Heather, putting his own Heatherdex away without bothering to talk to it.
Prof. Heather smiled proudly. "Wonderful little things, aren't they?" She said.
"Er… Yes, they are." Lillie said politely as her Heatherdex continued to say "Hi, Larry!"
The three trainers left the lab happily with their new Pokemon. Lillie turned to Ivy and Ross. "Well, I guess this is where we part ways." She said.
Ivy and Ross looked at each other. "We don't have to." Ross said.
"Yeah! Why don't you travel with us?" Ivy asked. "I mean, we've already been through a lot together. Battling Team Rocket, getting our first new Pokemon in this region…"
"Yeah. Plus, whenever I need a laugh, I can just listen to your Heatherdex call you Larry." Ross added.
Lillie was touched. She remembered travelling with Catherine and Hau on their own Pokemon journeys five years ago in Alola. It would definitely be fun to have some new friends to travel with this time too on her Pokemon journey. "Sure!" Lillie said. "I'll travel with you guys!"
"Great!" Ivy said. "Let's rest up at the Pokemon Center here in town, then tomorrow we can all register for the Pokemon League and Contests and set out!"
Lillie smiled. AS she and her new friends walked together to the Pokemon Center in Lillelv Town, she could already tell that her own Pokemon journey was going to be truly amazing!