Felix's Nuzlocke
Ch. 1
The Deaths
Felix sat with her knees curled up against the moving boxes in the van. Her brown hair rested comfortably below her shoulders. Her glasses were attached to a string of beads for safe keeping. She was reading a thick book on Pokémon behaviors. The truck lurched to a stop causing Felix to lose her place. She glanced up to see the door being opened and machoke offering his hand to help her out of the truck. Tucking the book under her arm she took the machoke's hand and jumped out.
Her mom was standing in the yard talking to the trainer who ran (Pokémon moving company). Littleroot town was smaller than Viridian City, but much quieter too. Perfect for a would be Pokémon Professor. Her mother glanced over, seeing that she was out of the truck, "Felix, was the ride okay? I know it had to be tiring riding with our things in the truck," she called.
"Everything was fine mom, I was able to get some reading in on Pokémon behaviors here in Hoenn," Felix told her with a big smile on her face.
"Well that's good. Your father and I made sure to get you a loft room like you wanted so you'd have space for all your books," Felix's mother shared as they walked inside, "Also your dad bought you a couple of things, including a new clock to mark our new move here. You should run up and set it, he'll want to know how much you like it."
Felix nodded and ran up the stairs, nearly running into a machoke who was carrying a box full of her books. "Machoke!" it called out indignantly as she passed it on the stairs. The first thing she did when she got to her room was flop on the bed. It was bigger than the room she'd had at her old home, plenty of space for shelves and her books. She grinned. She was going to like it here. A pink clock by the stairs caught her eye. She frowned; dad never did seem to get it. She would have preferred purple to pink. Setting the book on Pokémon behaviors aside she got up and took the clock off the wall and began to set it according to her watch.
"FELIX!" she heard from downstairs, "HONEY YOUR FATHER'S ON TV! GET DOWN HERE AND SEE!"
Felix hung the clock back up and raced downstairs. As she reached the base of the stairs she could hear, "…We brought you this report from in front of Petalburg gym. Now back to you Jason Jeffers."
"Thank you Amanda and this just in, a challenger at the elite four has just lost all of their Pokémon. Gabby has more of the story here," there was a brief pause before the TV showed the Elite Four building.
"Thank you Jason. In a very strange turn of events the challenger, who has requested to remain anonymous, was battling just as everyone does when his Pokémon were rendered unable to battle by Champion Steven's Pokémon. By the time the Pokémon were taken to Nurse Joy however two Pokémon had died. Pokemon deaths have been relatively rare, as low as one in one thousand. However the doctors worked to save the remaining Pokémon failed. There is an investigation being done to find what caused these healthy Pokémon to drop dead after the fight. Some are speculating that it might have to do with some of the problems Johto Pokémon have been experiencing despite the health checks and quarantine measures Pokémon rangers have been doing to keep wild populations separate. It seems the Johto epidemic may have crossed into Hoenn's borders. We don't know if that is true yet and the Pokémon doctors have been alerting people to make sure they are careful when battling," Gabby said in an unusually chipper manner, "Back to you Jason."
Felix turned away from the screen. She knew of the Johto epidemic. It was one of the reasons her mom and her had to go through so much red tape when leaving Kanto, which was already infected due to its close proximity and its sharing of the elite four.
"It's too bad we missed him, but that poor trainer," Felix's mother said as she headed for the kitchen, "Losing an entire team like that can't be easy."
"No, it can't be," Felix responded before heading back to the stairs.
"Oh! Felix, your father wanted me to ask you to visit one of his friends when we got to town.
She rolled her eyes. All of her father's friends were trainers and he expected her to follow in his footsteps. Thing is she didn't want to be a trainer. Sure she'd keep a Pokémon or two, but she really wanted to research them. This friend of his was probably a trainer friend who was going to talk to her about battling or training or something. "His school buddy, Dan Birch, lives right next door. Your dad thought you'd enjoy talking to him." Felix stopped. Dan Birch…as in Pokemon Professor Birch. She turned around quickly.
"Yeah I think I'll do that! See you later mom!" Felix called before dashing out of the house.
Felix ran next door with visions of meeting the professor. Birch was the leading professor in Pokemon behavior. Though Professor Oak was arguably the best overall professor, Birch was still very important in the scientific community.
She took a deep breath as she got to the professor's door. She was nervous, here was one of her idols, and she was getting ready to meet him. "Breathe Felix he's one of dad's friends he's probably expecting me."
She knocked on the door. "Just a moment,"came a voice from inside. The door opened to show a woman with brown hair, "How can I help you?"
"I am looking for Prof. Birch!" Felix cried out anxiously.
"Oh? My husband isn't here at the moment, he's out studying the wild Pokemon at the moment. I'm sure he'd be able to help you when he gets home. What was your name?" Birch's wife asked.
"Felix ma'am."
"Wait you're Norman's kid?" she asked with surprise, "I thought you were a boy."
"The name would make you think that," Felix told her.
"Oh! You must meet my son Brendon, he's been talking nonstop about wanting to meet you!" she opened the door up wider so Felix could enter.
"Just straight up the stairs and to the left he should be in his room."
The first thought Felix had when she entered the house was how eraliey similar it was to her home. She walked up the stairs and walked until she heard someone muttering in one of the rooms, "Need to take this and pack that..." Felix knocked on the door frame. "What? Who are you?"
"I'm Felix," she told him as she extended her hand, "The gym leader's kid."
"I thought you'd be a boy," Brendon told her while crossing his arms, "especially with that name."
"Yeah, I get that a lot." Felix told him with a groan, "My dad thought it would give me character."
Brenden snorted at her. "Well I have to get going. My father wants me to catalog some wild pokemon on route 103. See you later."
Brenden walked past her and led her down stairs before racing out the door to help his dad. Felix followed him but was disappointed. She'd really hoped to meet Birch right then. While her books were good they didn't stack up against the real thing.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of screams to the north. reacting on instinct she ran to the edge of town to see what all the hollering was about. She could tell that someone was in trouble when she was stopped by a kid who was looking out towards the route. "Someone's yelling for help miss, but there are wilds pokemon out there. I'm too scared to go out there."
Felix nodded and continued through. She'd watched wild pokemon before back in Kanto. While it was usually easier to deal with pokemon by using other pokemon other methods could be used if you understood them well enough. As she got closer to the screams A man burst out of the underbrush with a poocheyna at his heels. "HELP!" The man cried as the poochyena tore after him.
Felix knew that poocheyna typically turned tail an ran when confronted with opposition, but this one didn't seem fazed by the small stick the man was trying to use to scare the aggressive pokemon away.
"In my bag there!" the man cried, "There are pokemon in there! Use one to get this one to get away."
Felix pulled open the bag that was sitting on the ground. wasting no time she grabbed the first pokeball that she saw before tossing it in the air. "Tree-ko!" The green pokemon called as it jumped out of the pokeball.
The treeko noticed the poocheyna immediately and ran toward it and smacked the poocheyna upside the head. Felix knew that a treeko that level would only know pound and leer. The poochyena turned around to face treeko and in a rage tackled treeko to the ground. Felix thought quickly, she couldn't just let the treeko face it on its own. She grabbed a rock from the ground. "Hey! Leave him alone!" she cried as she tossed the rock towards the too fighting pokemon. Her aim was off and it flew over the poochyena's head.
Distracted from its new quarry the poocheyna turned to look at her before it charged toward her like it did towards the guy it was charging earlier. She stood still, hoping that her not panicking might be enough to cause the poocheyna to turn tail and run.
The treeko however was not finished with the poocheyna. It jumped up and after taking a running start it jumped, performed a flip and slamed it's tail into the poocheyena's head in another pound attack, sending the poochyena into the ground. The dog pokemon let out a growl and tackled the green pokemon.
Treeko grunted as the poocheyna pinned it to the ground before it backhanded the poochyena, and with a sickening crack the poocheyna fell over dead as a door nail.
Felix stood there in shock. She knew wild pokemon killed other pokemon in the wild, it trainer pokemon typically kept themselves under control since they didn't need to kill to get there food or to protect their space.
"Thanks for helping me," the man said addressing her. "I am surprised that you threw the stone at the poocheyna, a rabid pokemon is nothing to play with."
"Rabid? You mean actual rabies?" Felix asked. Kanto had successfully wipped out the disease about a decade ago. It was mostly used as a way now to scare kids from interacting with strange pokemon.
"Yes, unfortunately. Hoenn is still trying to get the disease eradicated. Most of the time you won't come across a pokemon with it but sometimes you will, and when you do it's nicer just to put them out of their misery. Shame though, I'd been watching that poocheyna since it was just hatched," the man told her as he reached out for the treeko's pokeball.
She handed it over as the green pokemon came over,"Tree-ko!" It cried at its owner. the man pressed the button on the pokeball.
"You did a good job boy. Now let's get you back to the lab," he told the green pokemon.
"Lab? You work with Professor Birch?"Felix asked.
" Something like that," the man said, "why don't you come with me and I could give you the tour."
Felix loved the lab. All the instruments, the cleanliness of it, the chambers made to observe pokemon, all of it.
She was embarrassed to find out though that the guy who she saved didn't just own the lab. He owned it.
"I've heard a lot about Felix," Birch told her, "your dad just won't stop boasting about you. Said you absorb everything about pokemon that you read."
"I do," Felix told him, "I want to learn everything I can."
"Well I know just the thing to help you then," Birch told her before he got up. He gestured to one of his assistants and after a brief discussion Birch came back holding the Treeko that had fought the poocheyna. "My assistants have just finished looking him over. It seems like he wasn't infected but we gave him a booster just in case. You did so well with him and he seems to have taken a like to you. I'd like to give him to you as thanks."
"There must be some mista-" Felix started before she was interrupted by Birch.
"Your father wanted me to make sure you got a pokemon. He says you have real potential." Felix's face fell. This was why she didn't want a pokemon. " It's nothing to be embarrassed about," Birch told her, "You and Treeko really make a good team."
The treeko looked at her with a glint in his eye. "Tree."
"You should take him and go to route 103. My son is there doing some cataloging of wild pokemon, and he'd probably be wanting the help," Birch told her.
"Yeah, I think I'll do that." Felix wasn't about to give up a chance to help a professor. And the Treeko was kind of cute.
"Let's get a couple of things straight," Felix told the green pokemon who'd just killed yet another zigzagoon. "I don't want you to kill every pokemon we come across. I understand the need for you to hunt prey pokemon to supplement your diet but it's not the only thing you're going to be eating." The treeko stared at her boredly. "And you need a name. Honestly if we fight another treeko I want a way to clearly communicate with you. And I have the perfect name already."
"Tree?" Treeko prompted.
"Close. I'm naming you after the greatest pokemon professor the world has ever known. Your name shall be Oak after Professor Oak."