Chapter 4: New Friends

While Barry tore through Route 201 to get to Sandgem and the lab, I casually walked with Franklin, continuing our conversation from earlier. Before long, we were back at the tall grass. Franklin looked apprehensive about going through, but after a reassuring pat on the head from me and he looked ready to go.

Honestly, it wasn't that bad. The random Starly and Bidoof were no match for Franklins tackles. By the time we had arrived in Sandgem, he had grown a few levels and learned Withdraw. Well, it's not the best move to know, but we're getting there I thought.

Right at the entrance of town there was a man with a white apron looking around nervously. He stood in front of a sign that read FREE SAMPLES. I decided that I should check this out because, hey, it's free. The man's face lit up as we approached, especially when he saw Franklin.

"Young trainer!" he called excitedly, stepping forward with his arms held wide. "Please accept this free Potion as a reminder to stop by the local PokeMart to pick up any training supplies you need." he handed me a small bottle with a spray nozzle attached. The liquid inside was teal and it looked more like windex than medicine.

I nodded and took the offered potion. "Thanks, I'll be sure to stop by." I said. The man smiled and nodded as we walked away, looking out for the lab. The town was certainly larger than Twinleaf, but not as big as the cities I knew we'd find later in our journey. As we walked around, seeing the sights, I spotted a familiar pink blob with a white cap.

"Hey Dawn!" I called. The lab assistant looked up from her window shopping and waved when she saw us. She looked down and started chatting and that's when I noticed the pokemon next to her. It was a small bird with a large head and blue feathers all over except it's belly which was white. It had white markings around it's eyes, which looked at us distrustfully. I recognized it instantly as a Piplup.

"Hi Nick, hi Turtwig!" Dawn said, walking up to us. The Piplup was lagging behind a bit, dragging it's feet on purpose. I smiled at the sight.

"Actually, it's Franklin for him now." I said. I looked at the turtle in question and nudged him with my foot, encouraging him to go talk with Piplup. "I always nickname my pokemon, but I didn't have time yesterday."

Dawn frowned. "Always?" she asked. "You've trained pokemon before?" A curious look appeared on her face.

I almost started panicking. "uh, yeah. Back home, I have a bunch of pokemon on the ranch. At least, they're the families pokemon." Nice save I thought.

Dawn nodded. "Oh, that's a common thing." she said. "I even give my own nicknames to the pokemon at the lab sometimes."

I nodded, turning my attention back to the two pokemon. Franklin was continuing to be his usual shy self despite my encouragement. Piplup, meanwhile, seemed adamant to not interact with us in any way. She had her arms crossed and was staring across the street intensely. Franklin seemed to want to ask what she was doing, but was to shy to actually talk to her. I decided to intervene before the poor turtle self-destructed due to nerves.

"So who's this little one?" I asked, kneeling down and taking a closer look at Piplup. Forced to no longer ignore me, the bird pokemon turned her head and gave me a glare that would have made me back off if it wasn't coming from a foot tall blue bird.

"That's Lizbeth." Dawn said, sighing as she watched her pokemon's behavior. "She's not very social and bonded to me early so I decided to choose her as my starter. I'm trying to get her to interact with people more, but she's stubborn."

Lizbeth looked up at Dawn, chirping softly. Huh, I didn't understand that I thought. Guess I can only talk with my pokemon. Dawn smiled and patted Lizbeth on the head, ruffling her feathers. "Go on, introduce yourself to Franklin." she said.

Franklin seemed to be braver now that we were watching his back and he stepped forward. "Hi! I'm Franklin! Let's be friends." he said, extending a leg in an attempt of a handshake. Being a turtle, it was a little awkward looking, but the point got across. Lizbeth stared at the offered leg for a solid minute and Franklin looked like he was about to let it fall when she reached out with a flipper and shook it.

"Yay!" Dawn cried, delighted that her pokemon was making friends. "I'm so proud of you Lizbeth." The Piplup simply nodded.

"It's fun making new friends right Franklin?" I asked. The turtle nodded.

"Oh hey, Dawn, I have a question." I said suddenly, looking back to the assistant. "Do you know where the lab is? I need to finish my trainer registration."

Dawn was happy to escort me to the lab. The four of us walked the streets of Sandgem, the two pokemon talking the whole way while Dawn pointed out the best places to visit as we passed them. It was really weird listening to the pokemon talk. I could understand Franklin completely, but not a single peep from Piplup was in anything resembling English. It was like hearing someone talk on the phone, one side of the conversation lost.

Eventually, we arrived at the edge of town. A short walk later, we were at the Pokemon Lab. There was a large central building, two stories tall with large windows in the front and a large range in the back for the pokemon to run around in. I saw all kinds of species native to Sinnoh, and a few that weren't like Nidoran and Wurmple.

Reaching the front door, I was reaching for the doorknob when it burst open, slamming into me and knocking me clear off of the porch. The person who had opened the door had apparently slammed into the other side, not expecting it to stop so suddenly. I groaned, rubbing my bruised face and chest when I saw the identity of my attacker. "Dammit Barry." I said, getting to my feet.

The blonde was rubbing his face, trying to ease the pain of running into a solid oak door. Hearing his name, he looked up and saw us. "Oh, hey Nick, Dawn! Here for registration? I'm all done with that." he said proudly. "I'm on my way to being the best trainer in Sinnoh, and nobody can stop me! C'mon George, we need to get to Jublife ASAP!" And with that, he sped off, the orange monkey hot on his heels as they faded into the horizon.

Dawn and I stared at his retreating form. "He really goes at his own pace doesn't he?" she said. Franklin and I nodded in agreement as Lizbeth scoffed. Turning back to the lab, I stepped through the door and found myself in a room filled to the brim with electronic equipment. Computers lined the walls, text scrolling up in flashing letters, a large incubator was set in the corner with three eggs nestled in it. Rowan stood over the eggs, watching them closely. "Come in, come in." he said, waving us closer.

Franklin and I walked over to him, and I picked the turtle up so he could see the eggs too. Rowan glanced at us, then returned his attention to the eggs. "The next batch of starter pokemon." he explained. "Need to keep them on rotation in case someone needs them." He turned and walked over to a nearby desk, grabbing some items off of it and walking back. "Here then. This is your trainer card, do not loose it." he said, handing me a small plastic card that had my name and starter pokemon emblazoned on it. "You'll need to get your picture taken at the nearest PokeCenter. Now, if you would be so kind, I have a proposition for you."

I watched as he held out his other hand, in which sat a pokedex. The device was a rectangular red case with a camera and a flip screen. I looked at the device before shaking my head. "I'm sorry Professor. I can't take a pokedex." I said.

Rowan studied my face for a short time before putting the device away. "Dawn!" he barked. "Please go check on the pokemon outside. I wish to talk with Nick alone." The black haired girl nodded and stepped out a side door, Lizbeth following her outside. Alone now, Rowan walked back to his desk and grabbed a rolling chair, sitting in it and turning to face me. "Is this because of the Nuzlocke?" he asked.

With the amount of times I've been shocked by revelations recently, you'd think I would just not react anymore. Instead, I took a step back, unconsciously grabbing my right hand. "Why do you say that?" I asked. Yeah, way to go dumbass. Go ahead and just confirm it.

Rowan leaned forward, a cross expression on his face. "Listen to me carefully Nick." he said, his voice low and authoritative. "I cannot stop you from attempting this challenge, not now. But I can tell you this. Be careful. The pokemon you capture are going to be putting their lives on the line. And the worst part is, they don't have a say in it. They're lives are at risk simply because you captured them." he fell back in his seat, stern expression remaining. "Are you prepared to take that responsibility? If a pokemon dies because of your game, are you prepared to accept the consequences?"

I nodded, recovering from my earlier surprise. "Yes. I wouldn't have accepted this challenge if I didn't think I could win." I looked down at Franklin. "I don't want any of my pokemon to die. I'll do anything in my power to keep them safe."

Rowan's brow furrowed even more. "A childs view." he retorted. "Sooner or later Nick, you are going to make a mistake. And when that happens, you're not going to be able to protect them. This is not as simple as you think it is boy." He stood up, grabbing a disk off of his desk. "Here." he said, handing it to me. "I cannot stop this madness, but I can at least help you survive. This is a Technical Machine, a TM. It will teach the move Return to your pokemon. I assume you already know what Return does?"

I nodded, slipping the TM into the CD case I bought just for this kind of thing, thanking him. As I started to leave, I paused at the door. "Prof. Rowan?" I asked. He grunted from his desk. "When did you know I was taking the challenge?"

"When I first saw you on Route 201." he replied without looking up from his work. I stood there for a moment before leaving. What a strange guy I thought.

Back in town, I found my way towards Route 202. Making my way to the next route, I heard a voice call my name. Looking around, I saw an unfamiliar woman waving at me from down the street. Who the hell is this? I thought.

The woman trotted up to me. She was wearing a yellow sundress and had curly honey colored hair. "You're Nick, right?" she asked. I nodded. "I'm Barry's mom. He left home in such a hurry this morning, he forgot his stuff. Would you give it to him?" she asked, holding up a parcel.

"Sure." I muttered, grabbing the box and putting it in my bag. She thanked me and we parted ways. A short jog later, I was at Route 202. It was a winding path through the forest, short cliffs preventing me from taking the direct route straight across. I was about to step into the grass when I heard my name for the third time today.

"Wait Nick!" Dawn called, jogging up to me. "I forgot to give you these at the lab." she said, holding out 5 pokeballs. I nodded and took them, putting them in my bag and thanked her. "No problem." she said. "Hey, want me to teach you how to catch pokemon?"

I shook my head. "Already learned it on the ranch." I said. Man, this ranch excuse is working out perfectly. Why didn't I think of this with Barry? She nodded and walked towards Jublife. "Okay then, see you later!" she called, releasing Lizbeth and making her way up the path.

I turned and started to follow her. "Not so fast buddy." oh man, not this guy again. "Yes, this guy again. Look, now that you have pokeballs, rule 1 is in place. Which means, those pokemon you saw on 201 and the lake earlier? They don't count as the first one. Have at it." I stood there nodding. I glanced down at Franklin, who was looking at me.

"Why'd you stop Nick?" he asked.

"Nothing really." I said, grabbing a spare pokeball out of my bag. "How about we go make some new friends, huh?" I said. We tore off into the route, eyes darting for the first pokemon we could find.

Later that night, I decided it was to dark to continue to Jublife. Besides, I need to train these new recruits so they're on par with Franklin. I thought, glancing down at the three new pokeballs on my belt. I went to the PokeCenter, getting my photo taken while I was at it, and grabbed a room. Once I got everything settled, I took the pokeballs off of my belt. Tossing them lightly, four beams of light emerged. One beam turned into Franklin who I immediately picked up and set on the bed next to me. We watched the other three pokemon look around their new surroundings.

One was a female Bidoof. I had caught her on Route 201 when I found her sleeping under a nearby tree. Once she was awake, she fought with more vigor than I thought she would, making her an interesting addition to the team. A small chirp brought my attention to the Starly I had caught at Lake Verity. This one was also female, flapping her wings and ruffling her feathers before she started to herd the other two, preventing them from wandering off. This might have been a mistake with the latest addition. A male Shinx growled deeply at the bird as she tried to get him to move over. Wisely, she decided it wasn't a good fight and focused her attention on me. Looking closely, I saw that they all had the Mark on them, on the Bidoofs belly, the Starlys left wing, and the Shinxs chest.

"Uh, hello everyone." I said. The three of them looked at me, a fascinating mixture of interest, boredom and apathy. "Look, I'm gonna give you the short version. I'm doing a challenge. It makes me able to understand your speech. Also, I'm gonna nickname you so if you have a problem with that, speak up now."

"No problems here." the Starly chirped. The Bidoof nodded and the Shinx merely rolled his eyes.

"Okay then." I said. "You are now, Brittany, Sora, and Mufasa." I said, pointing at the Bidoof, Starly and Shinx respectively. They seemed to like the names, or at least, Sora did. Brittany seemed to be falling asleep and Mufasa didn't say anything, just lying on the floor and staring at me with a bored expression.

"Alright, this is Franklin." I said, gesturing to the turtle next to me. "And finally, a word of warning." I got serious as I leaned in. "This challenge is dangerous. I'm gonna do everything I can to keep you safe but please believe me when I say that you can die."

Sora seemed slightly concerned with this knowledge but didn't say anything. Brittany really was asleep now, and I didn't want to wake her. Surprisingly, this information seemed to gain Mufasa's attention. He got to his feet and walked up to me. He sniffed ay my legs for a bit, then nodded. "You'll do." he said simply, his voice surprisingly deep for the little cat. He walked back to his previous spot and lay down again.

"Ooookay. So, I'll leave it to Franklin to sort out the details. I'm going to bed. Goodnight!" I said, reaching over and turning off the light. I dreamt of victory and new friends ahead. If I only knew.