Ch. 4: The Road Less Traveled
Bryce grumbled as he pushed his way through the tall grass, "Sandgem Town had better be close." So far he had encountered three Bidoofs and a Starly and Turtwig was beginning to wear out. He was glad he hated shorts, because at that time he was sure the grass would feel uncomfortable against his legs. He spotted a tree up ahead and waved his arm towards Turtwig. The thought that he was this much closer to finding Brandon excited him, even if he just started.
"C'mon Turtwig, on to Sandgem!" He didn't hear the usually excited, 'Tur-twig!' in response so he turned around, only to find Turtwig on his back. His small green stomach was heaving and his eyes were wide open staring into the sky in a way that reminded him of Edwin's Piplup. Bryce ran to the small pokemon with a worried look on his face.
"Turtwig! What's wrong? Are you sick?" And that's when he heard it, a loud rumbling coming from its belly. Bryce almost laughed from the immense relief. "Ah you're just hungry. Well, I guess it is time for a break." He rubbed the back of his neck, a little embarrassed. Of course a good trainer needs to know when it's time to rest, but being as excited as he was, he overlooked the prospect. He leaned over and picked up the Turtwig who slumped into his arms with a tired, 'Tuuur'. He carried it to the tree he spotted earlier and sat down with it in his lap.
He took out a couple of Oran berries his mom packed, laid one in front of the poor pokemon, and started to eat. The pokemon cried out happily before gobbling down the berry. While this was going on Bryce pulled out his pokedex and scanned it. "Now lets see," he mumbled to himself. "The only move I know you know is Tackle but you also know Withdraw, and Absorb. Not only that, but you're a, female!" This new information surprised him a little, he automatically assumed that Turtwig was a guy like him. As if on cue, she looked up at him, smiled, and called out a happy, 'Turtwig!' Before jumping out of his lap and running around the tree.
Bryce smiled before he noticed the tall grass ahead of him rustling, "Ah crap," he mumbled. "Another Bidoof" But to his surprised, out popped a small blue penguin, it looked around for a second before it spotted him. For some reason it looked a little proud as it pointed at him and cried out, 'Pip, Piplup!' Bryce grinned and stood up, taking this as a challenge, he faces the penguin pokemon and cried out, "Are you ready Turtwig?" Turtwig stopped in her tracks and ran to Bryce's side with a ready, 'Tur!'
"Alright!" Bryce points to the Piplup "Lets try Absorb!" Turtwig's sprout bends forward at the command as a sort of visible green aura emerges from it. The Piplup bewildered by the attack just stares wide-eyed as the green aura strikes it and returns to Turtwig larger than before. She closes her eyes as the attack returned to her and sighs refreshed. Piplup however was quite the opposite as it fell on back. It leapt back up and angrily yelled, "Pip Pip Pip!" At its angry retorts, Bryce ignored and pulled off an empty pokeball. "A wild Piplup around Twinleaf, wait till Edwin hears about this!" He says with a grin as he threw it at the Piplup. It bounced off his head, fell to the ground, and nothing happened. Bryce blinked for a second, were there such things as faulty pokeballs?
Just then he heard a voice cry out, "Piplup? You find him yet?" That voice sounded very familiar and apparently Turtwig thought so too and happily cried, "Tur-twig!" A small scrawny form appeared before them, a mousy kid with brown hair and glasses. "Edwin?" Bryce asked sheepishly, hoping this was just some kind of mistake. Edwin spotted his starter pokemon on the ground with a lump on its head and a pokeball next to it. He returned the penguin to its pokeball and shouted with an accusing tone. "What the heck is wrong with you? You can't steal someone else's pokemon!"
Turtwig stood in front of her trainer ready to defend her trainer from his retorts. But all Bryce could say was, "Well, I, you see... What was Piplup doing out here on its own?" Edwin straightened his glasses and responded, "You mean on his own, and we were looking for you smart one. Your mom called ahead and Professor Rowan sent me to find you. It's almost curfew." He said with a disapproving look at his poketch. Bryce almost jumped three feet in the air at this. "It's almost 7 already? We have to go! Turtwig, return!" He called out sending it back into its ball.
Edwin looked at him as he said this, "Is that really necessary?" He asked referring to the return cry. But Bryce had already run in the direction from which Edwin came. Soon the mousy boy had caught up with him, leading the way they immediately arrived to the town's entrance in time to see Team Galactic troops starting to march out into the streets. Bryce almost skid to a halt and tried to turn around to where they came from, but they'd already been spotted. "Oy! You two!" One called, a high tech helmet over his head, indicating he was the Colonel. "What are you doing outside?" He reached for a pokeball ready to dish out their punishment no matter what the answer was. Edwin started to stammer a response, "W-Well you s-s-see, t-there was a," A gruff voice rang out, "They're with me." And in their midst, Professor Rowan stood by the boys' side.
There was such an intimidating look on his face that even through his helmet, you could tell the Colonel was unnerved. Now it was his turn to stammer, "Y-Yes, w-well, don't let it happen again!" Rowan nodded and led the boys inside, as they turned around, Bryce found the source of his fear was not from the professor, but from Staraptor perched nearby staring fiercely at the geared Colonel. Professor held the door open a little while longer to let it in before Bryce noticed that it perched next to a Starly. "Professor, don't they have pokeballs?" Bryce asked curiously. Edwin smiled and that's when Bryce noticed he dawned a lab coat. "The professor is studying the process of evolution, namely why some pokemon can evolve while others can't. Starly and Staraptor are two of his recent test subjects." He explained. "Someday, I hope to be a Pokemon Researcher like the professor." He added at the end of the explanation. Bryce walked up to the Staraptor which looked at him curiously before he started to stroke its feathers. "Dad had a Staraptor" He whispered as the pokemon made a small noise of content. He felt a hand on his shoulder, it felt similar to the one at the lake and he realized it was the professor's. "Yes, your father was an excellent student of mine, but he only managed to gain very little pokemon data. Coincidentally, that's your father's pokedex. You're Uncle was so impatient those days, he didn't even get one." Bryce ignored this last bit of information and looked at him bewildered, "But, how?" Rowan frowned in response, looking a little distant before he murmured, "I saved it."
Bryce slowly fingered a button on his pokedex, thinking of the destruction and turmoil out on the streets that day and the large pokemon with two pink gems in its shoulder that had caused it all. "Professor, do you know what pokemon that was?" He had been thinking about it ever since, but no one would ever tell him. The professor sighed before taking out his own pokedex and typing in a few buttons, he handed it to Bryce who looked at it, anticipation evident on his face. On it was the exact picture of the pokemon who he remembered two years ago. The pokedex chimed out,
Palkia, The Spacial Pokemon. It is said to live in a gap in the spatial dimension parallel to ours, it has been known through Sinnoh mythology to be a deity that can distort space.
A grim look crept over Bryce's face. "So that's what it was doing that day? Distorting space to destroy people's houses?" Rowan nodded, "I'm afraid so, but you see, it was beyond its control, it was Team Galactic, they had somehow managed to take control of it."
Flashback
The stars had shimmered that night like no other, as tradition stated, everyone in Sandgem town turned out their lights and watched the sky for the annual Volbeat and Illumise migration from Hoenn. Bryce and his family, along with Uncle Markus and Brandon went there every year. Bryce was on his father's shoulders as he pointed in the sky, his arm around his wife. The firefly pokemon flew through the night, stopping short of the fountain everyone had gathered around. Each Volbeat and each Illumise paired off with each other and began their mid-air waltz around the fountain, or at least a waltz is the best way to describe it. Suddenly, the air behind the fountain shimmered. Bryce blinked and stared with his mouth agape as the marble literally started to bend. The fountain split and half and peeled like a banana as the terrified firefly pokemon flew off towards the trees. A large pokemon stepped forth with a spiky haired man in tow, his face contorted with a wicked grin as he held the end of a long red chain, the chain wrapped around the pokemon's neck. Lucas put his son down and hurriedly told his wife to hide with his son with which she obliged, he was the most important thing to them at the moment. The spiky haired man started shouting out orders and the pokemon's gems started to glow.
It slashed out into mid-air, a large pink shock wave followed after the motion and hit a house, it started to shimmer as the air behind the fountain had done before and tore open. Those unfortunate enough to be too close started to get pulled in, their ill-fated cries pierced the night air. Lucas angrily looked at the man and ran in his direction along with Markus. The man towards the pair and glowered, the look that he gave the two was one of familiarity. It was as if the trio had encountered before, and the result was not a happy one. Lucas reached for his pokeball as well as Markus, they were ready to defend the town with their lives. Markus sent out his Tangrowth while Lucas sent out his Staraptor. But by that point, Bryce's mother had picked him up and ran into the lab. The only safe area, according to Rowan, because his research of Evolution was too valuable for Team Galactic to destroy. When the noise ended, they ran outside to find Uncle Markus unconscious against the ground, his Tangrowth, wrapped around him, roots in the ground thanks to Ingrain, but his father was gone.
That night, Bryce lie awake all night, the new information on what had ended his father's life etched in his every thought. He stared at the ceiling of Professor Rowan's lab lying on the cot provided for him until five in the morning. At the time, no one was awake so he packed up and walked once more into the tall grass.