A/N Hey all and welcome to the latest chapter of Pokemon Omega Loud! I hope you lot are ready for Lincoln and May to get their starter Pokemon as well as see how Lincoln is settling down now that he's in Hoenn. Anyways, I hope you lot enjoy this latest entry so let's get started!
After their discussion, Professor Birch led Lincoln towards his house, but not before checking if Lincoln had any necessities like pj's or toiletries. Having managed to hang on to his bag, Lincoln told Prof. Birch that he was all set.
As they headed next door, Lincoln looked up at the professor, a question burning through his thoughts.
"Professor…" he began, "What are Pokemon?"
The Professor stopped for a brief moment looking surprised, before remembering that Lincoln came from a completely different universe. One that apparently lacked Pokemon.
"Well Lincoln, Pokemon are a strange and mysterious species in this world. They have all sorts of powerful and wondrous abilities that normal animals don't have. In this world people and Pokemon live in harmony, with many Pokemon helping humans in their day to day lives."
Lincoln looked like he had more questions but before he could ask any, they had finally arrived at Professor Birch's home. Leading the way into the house, the Professor called out to his wife.
"Hon? I'm home! I've brought a guest with me!"
A woman roughly the same age as the Professor poked her head out of the kitchen.
"I'm in here, love, could you give me a quick hand with dinner?"
"I'll be right there," the Professor replied.
Turning to Lincoln the Professor told him to sit tight while he helped his wife. Before going to the kitchen he first grabbed a book off the nearby shelf and handed it to Lincoln.
"Here, give this a quick read while I help with dinner and it should answer any questions you may have about Pokemon." he said.
Leaving him to his own devices, the Professor headed into the kitchen.
Lincoln took a seat on the sofa and cracked open the book. He read that Pokemon were just as intelligent as humans, and even more intelligent in some cases. He read about how there were over 1000 different species with more being discovered every day, and how Pokemon would battle each other over territory, food, or just for the thrill of the fight.
As Lincoln read, he began to become excited, especially when he got to the chapter's about Pokemon trainers. He read how trainers would go out into the world and catch as many Pokemon as possible and how they would compete with other trainers by battling one another's Pokemon (with the Pokemon's consent). He also read about the various Pokemon Leagues that one could challenge.
He could feel it. This is what he could do to show his family that he wasn't a loser, and since he was trapped here for the foreseeable future he would have ample time to train up and prove his worth.
Shortly after, Lincoln was sitting at the table enjoying a nice home cooked meal. While they were in the kitchen, the Professor filled his wife in on Lincoln's situation. At first she was heartbroken hearing what the boy had been through and agreed with her husband one hundred percent when he had offered to give the boy a home.
"So Lincoln," she asked. "Have you thought about what you would like to do while we look into getting you home?"
Lincoln looked up at her and the Professor before responding.
"I'd like to learn more about Pokemon and maybe give being a trainer a try. But I want to wait until I feel I'm ready first."
Professor Birch thought for a moment, before gaining a grin.
"In that case." he said, "how about you help me with my research. It will teach you more about Pokemon than most books will, and it can give you valuable experience as a trainer."
With a grin rapidly spreading on his face, and a look of determination in his eyes Lincoln looked at Professor Birch.
"Let's do it."
1 Year Later
The past year for Lincoln has been filled with excitement. As Professor Birch's assistant, he has been privileged to be able to travel all over Hoenn learning about as many Pokemon as he could. When asked why the Professor spent so much time out in the field, he told Lincoln that the best way to learn about Pokemon is in their natural habitat.
Considering that Birch's field of study was Pokemon habitats and distribution that made perfect sense. Lincoln absolutely loved being in the field. Since he had been spending so much time outside and doing loads of exercise taking care of Pokemon, Lincoln had developed a lean athletic build. Not too muscular but clearly healthy.
He had also gotten closer to May, even meeting her father, the Petalburg Gym Leader, Norman. That had been an awkward tense moment at first. Norman gave Lincoln the typical protective dad speech, much to his and May's embarrassment.
May's mother found the boy absolutely charming and her younger brother saw Lincoln as a surrogate elder brother and was absolutely ecstatic that he was working with Professor Birch. As such whenever Lincoln had some free time, Max pestered him with questions about Hoenn's native Pokemon. Thankfully, having already been used to having younger siblings, Lincoln was used to dealing with such things.
As for May, she greatly enjoyed having someone her age to hang out with and also loved hearing stories about Lincoln's trips and the very rare stories about his family.
Lincoln did miss his family greatly but so far they had been unable to find a way for him to go back to his home dimension. He had read about some Pokemon that could travel between universes but none of them were native to Hoenn.
As such he threw himself into his studies and helped out the Professor whenever asked.
This brings us to today. After a whole year of studying, Lincoln finally felt he was ready to start his career as a Pokemon trainer.
Currently he was in his room at Professor Birch's house double checking what supplies he would need while on his adventure. He was dressed in a dark orange and black sports shirt with gray and black shorts. On his head was a black bandana with a red circular design on the top. May always laughed whenever she saw him wearing it, saying that with his hair color it looked like he was wearing a white beanie. Finally he completed his outfit with pale gray and green shoes and a green backpack.
"Today's the big day!" he thought as he finished his preparations.
Heading downstairs he saw Professor Birch's wife, Lisa, sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee.
"Good Morning Mrs. Birch!" he said excitedly.
"Good Morning Lincoln!" she replied, "And for the umpteenth time, please call me Lisa."
Blushing slightly in embarrassment, Lincoln sheepishly responded, "Sorry about that, I'm just a bit excited."
With a small grin on her face, Mrs. Birch asked if Lincoln would like some breakfast before he set out.
"Not today, I want to get started right away. Is the Professor still here or is he in the lab?"
"He's already left for the Lab but he was planning on doing some field work on route 101, so he may be there. I'd check the lab first." she replied.
Thanking her, Lincoln left the house and began making his way towards the lab. As he walked he enjoyed watching all the Pokemon running around the fields and near the various houses spotted around the area.
Before long, Lincoln arrived at the Birch Laboratory. Making his way inside Lincoln was greeted by a wide open space with several tables and shelves housing hundreds of books and papers, as well as a few machines that he still had no idea what purpose they served. At each station were a few of the Professor's lab assistants, going about their duties.
Seeing the young boy entering the assistants greeted Lincoln with enthusiasm before returning to their duties.
Towards the back of the Lab was a table and computer the Professor Birch normally sat at. The Professor wasn't there but Lincoln was glad to see that May was already there waiting by the table.
"Hi May! Are you ready to start our journey?" he asked.
"You better believe it," she replied with a friendly wink. " I can't wait to become a Pokemon Coordinator."
Indeed, when May learned that Lincoln was getting ready to go on a journey, she jumped at the chance to travel with her new friend. She had originally decided to compete in the League challenge like Lincoln but after seeing a Pokemon Contest on the t.v. (something that they didn't have in her old home region) she immediately fell in love with coordinating and decided to focus on Contests instead.
"I take it that the Professor is already out doing field work?" Lincoln asked.
"Yeah, we just missed him apparently. I was going to go look for him but decided to wait for you first." May replied.
"Well let's go see if we can find him, I think I know exactly where he should be right now." Lincoln said.
With that the duo left the lab and headed for the entrance to route 101 which was on the northern side of town. The two continued to talk about various things with Lincoln talking about how excited he was to do the Gym challenge and May discussing the various routines she had seen Coordinators do on the t.v.
As they reached the entrance to town they noticed a young local boy running back and forth at the entrance with a panicked expression on his face.
"Oh no, oh no, what do I do!?" he kept saying
Concerned, Lincoln and May rushed to the boy in order to calm him down.
"Hey calm down," Lincoln started, leaning down to the boy's height, "What's going on?"
The boy looked back and forth between the two and the woods beyond the town entrance.
"Someone's screaming for help out on route 101 and I don't know what to do!" the boy said.
Lincoln and May looked at each other. Now that the boy had calmed down a little, they could indeed hear someone calling for help.
Both gained a look of realization on their faces when they recognised that voice.
It was Professor Birch!
Both kids ran out onto route 101 heading towards where the screaming was coming from. In a clearing just past the treeline, Professor Birch was backed into the base of a tree where two gray dog-like Pokemon that Lincoln recognized as Poochyena, had him cornered. The Professor was keeping them at bay with a tree branch but it was clear that he couldn't keep them back much longer.
Seeing Lincoln and May rushing towards him, the Professor felt a sense of relief before calling out to the pair.
"Lincoln! Grab my bag, there should be some pokeballs inside that can help!" he cried.
Seeing the bag a short distance away Lincoln and May quickly ran to it and reached inside. Each grabbed a Pokeball at random before turning back to the Poochyena. Seeing the two getting ready for battle, the Poochyena turned away from the Professor and rushed towards the two trainers.
"Pokeball GO!" Both trainers yelled as they tossed their chosen pokeballs.
Both balls burst open in a flash of light, briefly blinding the Poochyena and halting their advance.
From Lincoln's pokeball a small, orange, chick-like Pokemon stood ready with a determined look on its face briefly looking back at Lincoln with a nod.
May's pokeball, on the other hand, released a small blue, frog-like pokemon with orange gills on its cheeks and a fish-like fin on its head and another serving as its tail. It looked around with a sleepy expression on its face before turning to the Poochyena and gaining a determined look as well.
"Awesome, a Torchic!" exclaimed Lincoln.
"I got a Mudkip!" said May.
Giving each other a quick nod, both trainers stood side by side and looked at their new Pokemon.
"Torchic/Mudkip!" Both trainers called out.
"Let's battle!"
Meanwhile, in a different but still familiar dimension, a young girl with messy brown hair and glasses was sitting at a computer typing away as fast as she could. Her glasses reflected the light of her monitor as rows upon rows of data sped by at an almost impossible pace.
She typed a few more commands before a command prompt opened on her screen.
ACTIVATE DIMENSIONAL SCAN? Y/N?
Clicking the yes icon, Lisa Loud leaned back in her chair.
"I'll find you soon, elder brother." she said.
A/N so Lincoln has received Torchic and May has gotten Mudkip. This chapter was a bit harder to write as a needed to figure out what May 's starter would be since I was giving Linc Torchic. As to why I he got Torchic, well Torchic is my favorite starter so there you go. I also wanted May to have a clear goal from the get go as well. Now next chapter will be their first ever Pokemon Battle and the official start of their journey.
As for the Louds we'll also get a short glimpse of what life has been like for them over the past year without Lincoln. We'll also get the reveal of Lincoln's second traveling companion, so keep your eyes peeled.