Paige hung her arms and head out the side of the car with labored breaths. Isaac looked back at her after he had removed his tinted helmet. Cradling it under his arm, he couldn't help but snicker at Paige and her lack of poise at this time.
"Was it the speed or the jumps down the slopes that got you?" Paige stared up at him with her best attempt at a Glare attack, her stomach trying to hold onto her breakfast earlier in the day while maintaining her menacing look. Isaac didn't look too impressed, reaching up and scratching behind his ear while pointing behind himself with his thumb. "We are here anyway." Paige regained her color quickly as she hopped out of the sidecar and looked up at the laboratory.
The large structure stood out from the other buildings in Pallet Town for its wind turbines, the three windows of the inner balcony and the four windows of the second floor. All that was standing between her and completing this long and tiring day was a set of stairs that would lead her up to the front door. The sun had begun to set by now but there was still plenty of light in the summer evening. The flowering trees and gardens in Pallet Town expelled a vibrant scent that invigorated her mind and body. The stone laid steps didn't take long to traverse as she jogged up with one arm wrapped around the Charmander, the other holding the straps of the net bag. Gale was recalled earlier in the motorcycle ride after Isaac had started gunning the vehicle to see just how high the bike would go off the ledges. Charmander didn't seem to mind at all about the reckless driving. In fact, the Pokémon almost seemed to cheer in enjoyment at each leap.
Reaching the overhang of the front door, Paige gasped for breath and promised herself that she would get into better shape in the near future. This was an utterly ridiculous day. Setting the Charmander down next to her, the Pokémon would look up at Paige wipe her brow clean and reach out to knock on the front door. Paige attempted to control her breathing, standing up straight and looking like she was going about her business as usual. The door creaked open as an older man in a white lab coat stood at the threshold. His faded blue eyes peered down at Paige through a large set of goggles modeled after a bug Pokémon's eyesight. His hair had long since grayed over, changing from a rich brown in his younger years. The man held a large stack of books balanced on one of his arms as he gazed at Paige while she would reply to the odd sight with an awkward pause.
"Ahh . . . . "
"Yes yes, both of you come in", the man said as he pushed the front door open and turned back to walk into his lobby. Paige walked past the doorframe with Charmander in tow while looking around the room.
The lobby looked like a well-kept living room in a home and nothing like Paige expected from a Pokémon researcher. A pink carpet was laid out beneath two couches and a coffee table above it with a set of computers and bookshelves on the side. The adjacent doors to the living room looked to be some sort of storage rooms but Paige couldn't make much out from behind the tiny windows on the doors. The older man pulled the goggles off of his head and placed them down on top of the table in the main sitting area. "So what can I do for you two today?" Paige arched up her brow at his words. Two?
"This is Paige and I am Isaac. I found her wandering around Route 1 and said she had some sort of delivery for you." Paige jumped and turned around to find Isaac standing behind her. How the hell did he manage to run up behind me like that? I didn't even hear his footsteps . . .
"Well now, let's see what you have got here." Paige nodded and opened up the bag and removed the two packages, placing them onto the coffee table next to where the goggles were. "Ahh yes! This is wonderful! I was worried that these got lost in the mail. Thank you Paige. These are just what I needed to continue my research." Paige let out a breath of relief, feeling a light tug on her opaque tights. Looking down she was greeted by the Charmander's smile up at her.
"Oh! I also have this professor, sir." Paige reached down and scooped up the Charmander in her arms as it happily chimed out, enjoying the human's touch. Professor Oak looked puzzled as she held the Pokémon out to him. It soon dawned on her that he wasn't expecting a Pokémon. He was expecting another package. "Well . . the thing is that one of your packages . . . hatched! Hehe . . . I'm sorry that I didn't get it to you sooner." Professor Oak's face went from puzzled to more stern with concern. The professor requested the two to wait in the lobby for a few moments as he made a call, leaving Isaac and Paige alone.
Paige took a seat on one of the wooden framed couches and leaned back into the white cushions with Charmander sitting in her lap. Isaac stood against a wall across from her with his arms crossed over one another and letting out a soft ticking sound of disappointment. Paige picked up on this instantly. "What?"
"What what?"
"Don't start with me. Please. It has been a very long day and the last thing I need is to be scolded by you before getting chewed out by Professor Oak."
"Oh", Isaac replied, "how do you know he is going to chew you out? Did you do something wrong?" Paige looked down at the top of the Charmander's head, sliding her hand over it and softly rubbing over the skin while Charmander made a sound of enjoyment from the attention.
"I did do something wrong. I let my work pile up on me during the summer when I should have just got it done with. Occasionally I feel resentment that I am given such a workload without any help . . . so I make sure to space it all out. I usually am careful about dates and labels but this time I spent too much time off and missed a few packages and they were delivered late." Paige smiled, dropping her head, feeling the sting of defeat as her actions had prevented this man from getting his parcels. Isaac dropped his shoulders a bit and listened to her, sensing she was attempting to be genuine at this point. "If I would have taken care of this, they would have been shipped out earlier and all of this trouble you and I went through would have never likely happened."
Isaac walked over to Paige and stood in front of her. Paige looked up at him as her eyes had grown a bit cold from feeling bad about herself and the situation she had dug herself into. Isaac would only smile, reaching down to place his hands on her shoulders but instead he took a pinch hold of both of her cheeks and pulled in opposite directions. Paige winced and looked back up at him shocked at his actions. Still, Paige didn't push or pull away as she gazed up at his smile.
"I didn't know you had a rebel streak in you like this. Here I was thinking you were delivering and shipping all by the books but it looks like you have a bit of a Slakoth in you. Typical." Isaac let go of her cheeks but not his smile. Paige felt like she should be upset at his use of his words but for some reason his tone carried a lot more teasing mannerism to it than a mean streak. "Listen to me. We all make mistakes once in a while and the important thing is to learn from them and move on, accepting what comes and making the best of the situation. Got it?" Paige nodded softly as the door Professor Oak took to leave the room opened back up. Paige immediately stood with arms wrapped around Charmander. Professor Oak's demeanor had lightened up to a pleased smile.
"Why don't you both get cleaned up and join me in the lab for a bit? I just made some dinner and I'd love to have the company."
Paige sat uncomfortably in the research room upstairs. Fidgeting a bit on the brown couch with half her dinner still in her lap she would look around the room at all of the technological pieces. She had no clue what the majority of these machines were used for but they must be involved in Pokémon testing.
In front of a blue chair where Professor Oak sat there was a large status screen that was showing the health and power of Charmander. The Pokémon sat happily on the testing area as blue and green lights scanned over its body and input the data up for Professor Oak on his computer. Isaac had taken up to looking at a glass tank where several computers were hooked up to and viewing a yellow shaded Magikarp swim around slowly inside. On Professor Oak's computer, a brown haired man, slightly widow peaked, with glasses joined Oak in viewed the incoming data on a split screen.
Everyone seemed to be in depth with research or viewing while Paige just stirred her tofu and noodles softly with chopsticks. She was out of place and her comfort zone here. Dinner conversation wasn't that much easier either. Paige regaled the professor and Isaac with the tale on how she was ran off the road by a van and the two poachers that seemed interested in stealing the egg. Isaac kept quiet during this time while Professor Oak asked questions about the location of when the egg hatched and what people or Pokémon were around at that time.
Letting out a deep sigh she closed her eyes and tried to find some comfort that the professor wasn't upset but pleased the egg hatched. Apparently Professor Elm, the individual on the split screen, had sent the egg to Professor Oak after the estimated hatching period had passed. Maybe it was just a late bloomer then? Whatever the reasoning, Paige had completed her final delivery and there was a sense of victory in that.
Char charrrr!
Paige opened her eyes back up and looked down in front of her. Charmander gazed up at her with his claws resting lightly on her knees, his small fangs on the upper and lower jaw visible in his parted smile. Paige smiled, leaning forward to place her bowl on the coffee table behind Charmander before lifting the Pokémon up into her lap. He seemed to really be attached to Paige, like a duckling to its mother. Professor Oak had pulled his chair over to the couch where Paige sat, leaving Professor Elm up on the monitor in a full screen view. Isaac remained by the tank, turning around though to observe the dialog between the group.
"Now then", Professor Oak started, "it would seem that we have a bit of a problem still. Analysis shows Charmander is in good shape and by all measurements a normal individual of his breed. The issue comes up with his sudden hatching in your care. You do not seem to be an experienced trainer nor do you have a full party of Pokémon with you." Paige winced a bit at his words. While she was sure it wasn't intentional, it still felt a bit like a jab. "Professor Elm originally was studying the egg and caring for it. A Pokémon daycare worker brought him the egg after it was found in the field and refused to hatch." It was at this point Professor Oak turned to his computer screen as Professor Elm chimed in with a series of nods.
"I ran a battery of tests and confirmed the Pokémon inside was alive but was unsure why it would not hatch. I thought it would be best to transfer the egg to somewhere where it could be around a lot of Pokémon as this seems to elevate the likelihood and process of hatching. I talked with Professor Oak and he agreed to take the egg into his care."
"But wouldn't it have been easier to just transfer the egg through the PC systems", Paige questioned, feeling a bit more relaxed at speaking out. Professor Oak smiled and nodded.
"Oh yes, it would have been but Professor Elm's assistants identified a virus in his system and using it would have risked losing the egg in the transfer. We realized it would be safer to have someone ship it directly to me as soon as possible. I am still amazed that the egg landed in your care and hatched though. At first it appeared my workload had been cut in half but now it seems we have quite the daunting task ahead of us." Professor Oak smiled as he finished his sentence. Paige looked back and forth between the two professors as both of them not looked to her. Paige cleared her throat a bit at the silence before Isaac spoke out.
"Apparently you are involved as well Paige", Isaac stated as he walked over to rest his hands on the back of the couch and look over to Oak. "Correct Professor?"
"That's right Isaac. Paige is crucial to our hypothesis. Would you be willing to help us with a study Paige?" Paige looked at Professor Oak with a bit of confusion on her face but complied with a smile and nod. Professor Oak clapped his hands together in accomplishment. "Excellent. Paige, we need for you to raise this Charmander for us. The best way for you to do so would be to travel with Charmander, collect gym badges and maybe ever compete in the Pokémon League."
"Ok Professor. I will travel to col- . . . " Paige froze up, her smile melting away into a shocked and terrified state with her jaw hung open and eyes froze on the Professor. "Wait! What?! N-no! I mean I can't! I am not a trainer! I don't even like the idea of fighting Pokémon and getting them hurt!" Paige's face grew a bit red from her outburst but felt better as Isaac joined in.
"Paige is right here Professor. The girl is ill equipped for the road ahead and the task at hand. Why not give the Charmander to an experienced trainer? It will have a better chance at growth that way." The Charmander seemed to understand what was going on and had a say in the matter.
Charrrrr!
Charmander clinched onto Paige and buried its face into her chest once more with the golden flame on his tail flickering and slightly decreasing in size. Isaac watched the display with a gruff sigh. Paige looked down at the top of his head, softly stroking her palm over his skin in an attempt to comfort it. The flame on the Pokémon's tail grew in size once more as it gazed up at Paige. Oddly enough to Paige his face almost seemed like it was concerned. She knew it wasn't her imagination seeing his tail flame grow in strength.
Reading up on the starting Pokémon from Kanto years ago, she would recall how the flame on a Charmander's tail indicated the health and mood of this Pokémon. Within the short time of knowing this Pokémon, she was well aware that his flame grew the brightest when he rested in her lap or in her arms. If she let him go, would that flame stay bright? Would she be the cause of his sadness for the rest of his life or would he get over it after a new trainer came for him? What if this new trainer only sought to fight Charmander and cared little for the Pokémon's feelings? Would she be any better than that trainer if she gave him up now?
"It is not up to us Isaac." Professor Elm spoke up from the monitor. "Pokémon who hatch have a special bond with the trainer they first see. I discovered this in studies on Togepi and their initial reaction to a trainer. A Pokémon hatched from an egg bonds much quicker to a trainer than those found in the wild and caught. Normally when we present potential starters to beginning trainers, we are very careful that this bond is not established with anyone so that the Pokémon will bond with the new trainer. Now in Paige's case, she was present when Charmander hatched. The fact that this particular egg did not hatch up until Paige was in possession of it, combined with the fact that Pokémon poachers are interested in obtaining it and the odd color flame to its tail, I am interested to see if this Pokémon is simply an oddity within the numbers or has something unique about it without any disruption early on. If we were to separate Charmander from Paige we could be setting back its growth quite a bit. Maybe it we were to give Charmander to someone else that was there during the hatching. We can't force Paige to take this Pokémon if she is not willing so perhaps we can-"
"I'll do it", Paige interrupted. She retained her gaze at Charmander's eyes; her fingertips dragging softly down his backside and watching the Pokémon's smile grow. Isaac stammered to say something but was quickly cut off by Paige. "I admit I know little about Pokémon in general and even less about being a trainer . . . but I don't think I could bear seeing Charmander sad if I had a say in it. Maybe it's because I feel responsible for him now or maybe I just have a soft heart for his sweet face." Paige smiled a bit as her fingertips pushed softly to its cheeks and watched the Charmander beam happily at her choice. "But I am willing to do what must be done. I don't ever want to see Pokémon like him sad."
Professor Elm and Oak looked at each other in agreement as Oak stood up and walked over to his computer to recover something he was saving for just an occasion. Isaac leaped over the back of the couch and took a seat next to Paige with a thud to get her attention.
"Paige you need to think carefully about this. If there were two Pokémon hunters looking for Charmander when it was an egg, how many more do you think will be doing the same thing? Pokemon poaches and hunters care little about the life of Pokémon and the people that get in their way. If you hold onto it you are only going to get hurt." Isaac spoke with resolve and in a stern tone, trying to convince her that her choice was misguided. Paige smiled down at Charmander, shaking her head before looking back up at Isaac.
"If you are so concerned about Charmander and I, you can join us. After all, you seem to know how to handle yourself around poachers. You made short work of Skinner right?" Isaac stuttered a bit, retorting loudly with a bit of anger in his tone.
"Knocking someone out from behind and fighting them head on is two totally different things! You expect me to follow you around and lead you by your hand through all this? You will get eaten alive out there without help!"
"No Isaac", Paige calmly retorted. "I expect you to do as you please but know that I intend to do what I can for Charmander, even if that means I have to become his trainer and battle Pokémon. Show me how to fight and I will fight." Paige seemed determined in her resolve. This fire in Paige caught Isaac off guard, expecting her to be like a stereotypical lass.
"I think she could learn a lot from you Isaac as you could of her", Professor Oak interrupted as he held up a rectangular case to Paige's face. The blue eye on the lower left gave a click, a shutter closing and reopening as the red case flipped open at the center to display Paige's picture along with the title of 'Trainer'. "This is for you Paige. It is a Pokedex, a high tech encyclopedia to use on your journey to help you in identifying and cataloging the Pokémon you see. Know that I do not give this to just any trainer. I am right about you Paige. It just will take you some time to realize your potential." Professor Oak smiled at Paige, her response a little in shock that he would remember her. It had been nearly 4 years since she visited his lab with her father. Now 14 years old, Paige had a second change.
Reaching up she took the Pokedex from the professor and looked down at her reflection looking back at her, glad she washed her face up before dinner now. "You will also need some pokeballs for catching Pokémon. I am sure Isaac here will teach you all he knows in no time. From your story, he sounds like a skilled and competent trainer to learn from." Isaac let out a huff as he was volunteered into a task he wanted no part of. Still, his eyes glanced down at the Charmander and Paige as the Professors spoke about what she should do next. Perhaps it would be for the best this way.
Lying in the bed Professor Oak had supplied for the night in a guest room, it was hard to believe that she was going to start a Pokémon journey tomorrow. She would have to let her family know of course. Her brother would have to pick up the slack while she was gone and that in itself was a victory to her. No more morning wakeup calls with Poliwag spitting water in her face. Even through the exhaustion of the day, she could not sleep yet. Resting her head under her arms she stared up at the ceiling in the dim flickering light.
Gale had perched herself on the headboard above and was sleeping soundly. There was no surprise there. Charmander had curled itself up on top of Paige's stomach until it dozed off. The weight of the pokemon was more comforting than annoying. The heat its body gave off was the only problem, especially in the summer. His tail rested in the middle of his curled up body and away from the sheets but Paige could only imagine waking up to her sheets being on fire. Maybe it would be best to recall him before she dozed off. Her right hand gripped the new pokeball for Charmander loosely. He accepted earlier that evening without any struggle. In truth, it was somewhat the same story with Gale.
Holding the ball up and over Charmander she whispered gently as a beam of red energy engulfing his body and pulled it back into the capsule. Holding the orb above her face for a few moments, it was all like a dream to her. She didn't want to wake up as much as she didn't want to go to sleep. Her worn clear gloss fingernails fit snug around the capsule while she smiled brightly. Curling up on her side she noticed the pokeball had warmed up to the touch. Paige brought her new companion up to her chest and clasped her other hand around it while closed her eyes. For a brief moment she could have sworn she felt a heartbeat in her fingertips in rhythm with hers but shrugged it off as she was finally dozing off. Tomorrow was going to be a great day.