I don't Pokemon, though I'd like to.
(AFTER NICK HAS LEFT THE POKEMON LAB)
Nick was exhilirated. He'd gotten his first Pokemon! It was all he could do right now to stop from running around proclaiming to the world that he'd gotten a Pokemon. But Chikorita was sleeping and if he did that she'd wake up. Plus he had to get home soon since it was getting cold and both he and Chikorita were wet now, though she was less so than him.
With that in mind, Nick hurried back to his house. On the porch though, he remembered what was going on before his mother gave him the perfect excuse to get away: Professor Elm's call.
Hopefully she's cooled down by now, he thought as he opened the front door, wary of the slight squeak the door tended to make when opened.
Nick lived in a simple home with one bathroom, one living room, one kitchen and three bedrooms (not necessarily in that order).
Nick listened and caught the faint sound of his mother singing an old tune that was used to promote the Pokemon Gym Challenge a few years back. The song was usually sung if she was reminiscing on her days as a Pokemon Trainer, thinking of his dad (whom she'd met on her journey) or if she was trying to calm herself down. Now though, it would mask the sound of his footsteps as he snuck back into his room.
Nick walked as quickly and softly as he could past the kitchen and into his room, closing the door softly behind him as he entered.
His room was sparcely decorated, though he liked to think that was part of it's charm. He had one wardrobe with a few drawers next to it, a bed with white blankets and a red pillow, a black clock hanging on the wall, a map of Johto next to the clock and a desk with a computer and some of his reading books on it, some of which were research books written by Professor Oak. The others were notes he'd made in notebooks, diaries and one unfortunate dream journal about Pokemon from various TV shows and radio broadcastes.
He moved slowly to the bed and, doing his best to make sure Chikorita didn't wake up, gently lowered her onto the bed. It made a soft noise as he placed it on the bed then, as he placed a blanket on it to keep it warm, attempted to snuggle deeper into the folds.
Nick quickly moved into the hallway so he could figure out what to do from here.
I should probably let Chikorita sleep for now, if she's as tired as the Professor said. I guess I'll just talk to my mom then.
Nick made his way back to the kitchen in the hopes of surprising his mom (or startling her, he wasn't picky), but was instead greeted with a soft,"Did you think I didn't know you were here the whole time?"
Nick gulped and said,"Well to be fair I think I'm very stealthy. I once snuck past a Sentret."
He walked into the kitchen to find his mom at the stove cooking what appeared to be some sort of steak. "You get that sense of false stealth from your father. And chances are you didn't sneak past the Sentret, it let you pass."
Nick sat down at the kitchen table and said,"What did I get from you again? My razor sharp wit, perhaps?"
His mother turned from her cooking to look him in the eye. "A minor Pokemon obsession. That and a reckless streak I really wish had skipped a generation. So, what was Professor Elm's request?" She tried to say it nonchalantly, but Nick could see how curious she really was. She was leaning forward slightly, trying to make sure she didn't miss anything.
Nick smiled as he remembered that the Professor hadn't told his mom anything. Now, he knew his mother could tell if he lied. But now was the best time to put it to the test, even if it carried the risk of him getting in trouble.
"The Professor needed my help with an important task."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah, apparently he thinks I'm the only Trainer in New Bark who could do it."
"Huh. So what did he ask you to do?"
"I need to collect a rare gemstone from a cave in Kanto."
"The Fibber Caves?"
"Yeah, the Fib ... you knew huh?"
"That you were lying? The Professor called the minute you left my backpack on the porch. Plus you're a terrible liar. I always know when you're lying."
Nick sighed a deep sigh and continued in a depressed sort of tone,"Well, now that I can't lie or sneak around my career as a master thief is going down the toilet. I'll never get into Team Rocket at this rate."
"Well, there are other careers you could apply yourself that are less risky. And Team Rocket disbanded anyway. For now though, tell me what really happened at the Lab."
Nick muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like 'good for nothing Rocket's couldn't steal from a Baby Pokemon anyway' before he continued. "Well, the Professor started talking about the robbery and how there was this Chikorita that didn't get taken. Apparently it really wanted to go on a journey, but it couldn't because it didn't have a Trainer."
As Nick watched the lightbulb went off in his mother's head."So did he..." she trailed of, knowing he would fill in the blank.
Nick smiled as he said,"That's right. I've been given a Pokemon and permission to go on a journey from a Pokemon Professor. A real honour, if I do say so myself. And all it took was breaking the record for 'Most Wild Pokemon Attacks Without a Pokemon of Your Own'."
His mother glared at him and asked,"What about my permission Nicholas?"
Nick put on a nervous smile. The difficult part would be getting his mom to go along with it. "Well mom, since were both reasonable adults and I've repeatedly proven myself eager - even a bit reckless - to go out exploring Johto, I'd like to ask you if I could go on a Pokemon journey with my new Chikorita. So, may I?"
His mom stared at him for such a long time that Nick worried she'd say no. Then her face broke out into a smile as she said,"Of course Nick. You just needed to ask, after all."
Nick got up, smiled and hugged his mother. "Thanks mom. I'll make you proud."
He could almost hear the smile in his mother's voice as she replied. "No problem. I was proud when you broke the record. Even if you almost broke your leg trying", she said reproachfully. Then he could hear the smirk in her voice as she asked,"So, does Chikorita know you're going to go on a journey? Or that she's even your Pokemon?"
Nick smiled his nervous smile again and said,"Well I'm going to go tell her now, if she's awake. If not, the I'll have to wake her up."
"Good luck. You'll need it if she ends up not liking you."
"Gee, thanks. But first, a shower, a change of clothes and a meal."
"Anything specific?"
"Flannel pajamas. And ramen noodles."
(AFTER A SHOWER, CHANGE OF CLOTHES AND A STEAK (NOODLES WERE UNAVAILABLE))
After a quick shower, Nick felt a lot better. Of course he was still nervous about waking Chikorita, but considering how they'd met that wasn't surprising.
Sure hope it likes me, otherwise mom will start gloating about how she was right, he thought as he opened the door.
And froze.
There, laying on the bed, was the Chikorita. Or, from what he could determine, should be the Chikorita. It was in almost the exact same position it was in before, but it had snuggled into the blanket so much that the only way he found it was to find the lump in the bed where it was laying. It was moving around alot though...
Nick carefully made his way to the bed and tried to untangle Chikorita from the blankets it was caught in. At the first tug the Chikorita's head popped out of the bundle of blankets and stared at him as he froze.
Think fast Nick, he thought.
"Um, hi there Chikorita."
It was still staring. Probably at the 'Oh Crap' smile which betrayed his nervousness.
"Now I know what you're thinking. 'Who is this handsome and debonair stranger who has appeared before me? Why am I in this strange, sparcely decorated room? Should I make a break for it? And are there any snacks?' "
The Chikorita nodded at the last three questions and nodded at the 'stranger' part of the first.
Nick soldiered on. This could be his last chance, after all, to get a Pokemon as cool and rare as Chikorita. "Well, since you don't care about the clearly handsome stranger, I'll explain the others first. This is my room, you don't need to run since I won't do anything to hurt you and you're safe and warm here, the snacks are hidden under the bed (albeit not very well from a certain Furret and its Trainer) and the handsome stranger is the boy who wants to be your Trainer."
The Chikorita listened in stunned silence then hopped off the bed and, crawling under it, retrieved the snacks he'd mentioned. Nick watched it struggle with a bag of chips before he reached down, took the bag from it and opened it.
Chikorita gave a small nod of thanks and hopped on the bed with bag of chips in it's mouth. Nick sat down next to it. Chikorita set the bag on the bed and proceeded to eat the chips in what he thought was supposed to be slow and methodical manner, but really only made it look like it was really hungry. It would repeatedly scarf down as many chips as it could at a time, which made its cheeks bulge right before it started chewing.
Nick coughed to get Chikorita's attention, and it's head turned sharply in his direction, cheeks looking as if they were about to burst. "So as I was saying, I want to go on a Pokemon journey. I also have it on good authority-"
The Chikorita coughed and smirked at him.
"Okay, at this point questionable authority that you also want to travel and grow stronger."
The Chikorita nodded, then frowned as it realized it had eaten all the chips in the bag.
Nick handed it a bowl of Pokemon food he'd brought from the kitchen as he asked,"So since we both want to travel, I was wondering if you'd let me be your Trainer? That way we could go on a Pokemon journey together."
Chikorita froze mid-chew and looked at him, considering his proposal. Then it nodded, finished chewing, swallowed and said,"Chiko."
Nick felt the smile break out on his face as he said,"Thanks Chikorita. I promise I'll do my best to be a good Trainer. We've got to go to the Lab tomorrow before we go on our journey, but after that we'll go as soon as we can. Right now though I've got to introduce you to my mom, you'll love her."
Chikorita hopped off the bed an made its way to the door then stopped, clearly waiting for him to open it.
Nick got up to open the door for Chikorita, then stopped as he remembered there was something he'd wanted to ask it.
"So Chikorita you're a girl right?"
Chikorita turned to stare at him, then started laughing as she nodded.
Nick huffed as he opened the door and said,'Pardon my asking."
Chikorita stopped laughing, but she kept looking at him and giggling when she thought he wasn't looking. She stopped smiling when he was looking anyway.
Nick found his mom in the living room watching a movie with Furret.
"Mom."
His mom gave a short shriek and jumped, then glared when she realized what had happened.
She turned to him as she said,"Nick."
Nick smirked as he asked,"What did you say about me not being able to sneak around?"
His mother was about to reply when Furret caught sight of Chikorita and came over to mother, catching sight of Chikorita, asked,"So is this the Chikorita the Professor gave you?"
Nick looked down at Chikorita and smiled as she looked uneasily at Furret.
"I prefer 'entrusted' to gave, but yeah this is her."
His mother came over and picked Chikorita up, carefully as if she were measuring her weight.
"Well she certainly looks healthy," she noted. "Though I never would have guessed you'd get a rare Grass-type Pokemon like Chikorita."
"Well what can I say? I'm just that amazing."
His mother muttered 'Unlikely' under her breath then asked,"So have you given her a name yet?"
Nick blinked, the smile melting off his face. "A name?" he asked.
His mother glared at him reproachfully as she said,"Of course. You can't just keep calling her Chikorita. There are so many that if you saw another and called 'Chikorita' they'd both look up at you and wonder who you're calling. It's an embarassing sight I've had to see too many times to count. One of them was your father, by the way"
Nick thought about it for a moment before he heard his mother say,"It's best to nickname your Pokemon. They'll grow closer to you if there's a special name you call them by and it sometimes aids in a battle."
That settled it.
"Alright Chikorita you're getting a nickname! Just give me a minute..."
Nick thought for a few minutes and then thought of something he'd heard from a friend once.
"I've got it! I'll call you Amica, Amy for short. What do you think?"
The Chikorita smiled and nodded as she said a quick 'Chikoriiii!'
Nick's mother smiled as she set the newly dubbed Amy on the ground and said,"Well I suppose you both should be getting ready for your Pokemon journey. So go pack your bag."
Nick smiled as he picked Amy and said,"Sure mom, I'll pack a bag."
His mom thought for a moment then said,"You know, you should take the pink bag. It definitely holds more than the others and it's been on a journey before. I can personally vouch for its abilities."
Nick looked at his mom and said,"Thanks again then. I had no idea where to get a bag and I was getting a little worried. That solves one problem at least."
'What's the other?"
"Whether Amy will sleep on the bed, the floor or in her Pokeball."
(THAT NIGHT, NICK'S ROOM)
After packing the things he'd thought they'd need in the pink backpack, Nick turned around and saw Amy crawling into the bed.
Rather than tell her to get off his bed Nick simply smiled ruefully and lifted the blanket so she could crawl under it. She gave him a small nod in thanks then curled up and went to sleep.
Nick gently pushed her to the side, careful not to wake her, as he crawled into bed himself and lay there, thinking about what tomorrow would bring them. He fell asleep around the midnight.
(END CHAPTER 2)
AN:I feel as if I should explain. Johto was the first (and best) sequel to Pokemon Red and Blue in many peoples eyes, and in HeartGold/SoulSilver the Pokemon nobody takes eventually disappears. That's where the idea for the story came from. Also, google translate says 'Amica' means friend. Since she's his first Pokemon it seemed appropriate at the time. I'm looking up parodies and jokes to see if I can add more humor so if you have any advice let me know.
