MeLoVeGhOsTs
6th January 2009, 09:18 AM
Hello, some of you may know me, other not. I've decided to rewrite and rework my fic, which I suppose I posted here before.
After reading Chris' article in the e-zine, I came to the conclusion that I loved trainer fics, as it's my only real passion in fanfiction. Perhaps I just like cliché stories and happy endings, but for whatever reason it is, I decided I should help getting them from underneath the dust.
I don't have a prologue, so this will be chapter one in it's whole.
I'm not a very expierenced writer, but I'd love if you guys could find the time and read through it and give me some constructive critism. I'd really like improve as a writer, seeing that english is my third language, but most of all I want another trainer fic up at TPM:)
It might take a while for the next two chapters, seeing as I have exams right now, but after that it should be ok.
Perhaps, you'll stick with me to the end, if I will get that far that is.
Enjoy.
When kids grow
Chapter 1
Death decision
"Matt, wake up! Is your stuff ready?" a strict, but sincere voice yelled. It was a blond-haired woman with a tender figure, dark eyes, somewhat wider bottom and was apparently the young man’s mother. As she called Matt, he slowly woke up with an irritated look on his face.
"Yes mom. I already did it yesterday!" Matt shouted, irritated that his pleasant sleep was already terminated.
Matt was a youngster who lived in Fortree city, and loved it. At the age of 15 he was finally allowed to begin his own pokemon journey, what was considered to be normal for a boy his age. He was getting started later than all of his friends, since they started at fourteen, but he didn’t care anymore today. His father is an overprotective parent, as is with many parents, but also rather strict so there was no chance of trying to persuade him. So as his friends left the previous year, Matt sobbed for a while but decided that there’s no point in being sad as his father already told him he could start the next year, when he was a bit older.
"Ok, then come down and eat something! A real trainer should eat a lot!" his mother shouted again, starting her usual pep talk again.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming…" Matt said still half asleep.
He left his room, descended the stairs, right into the kitchen, where his mother was already setting the table. He grabbed a slice of bread and started chewing on it, without his normal satisfaction of consuming food. He was a diehard food-fanatic, but hated breakfast, and especially bread.
"Dad will take you to Zuta. Pidgeot needs to get some fresh air and excercise anyway." his mother exclaimed with her usual jolly voice, that irritated Matt his early in the morning. He just felt like being quiet, and enjoying the silence.
Zuta was a region north of Hoenn and north-west of Johto. Unlike Kanto and Johto, where the weather was sunny and dry most of the time, Zuta had a more tropical climate. It was warm and sunnyl, but it also rained a lot, which made some pokemontrainers extremely happy. Swiftswim-trainers went to the region exclusively for training purposes only.
"Alright, should I take my cloud-goggles with me or not?" Matt asked his mother in a dull monotone voice.
"It won't be that necessary, but you can take them with you if you want" his mother replied focussing on the dinner table while passing the butter to Matt.
"Ok, I'll leave it at home then, I gave enough luggage as it is." Matt said, while thinking about the tons of stuff he had collected for his journey. It contained all sorts of books his mom bought (food primarily), some books on pokemon and gymleaders, that he had gotten from his father for his last birthday. His father had been a trainer as well, back in the old days, so he knew that some tips could make the difference between winning and losing.
"Matt, finish your meal, we're going to leave" a heavy, strict, yet gentle voice said. Standing in the doorway was Matt's father, who seemed more huge and wider because of the small size of the opening. When he came to the dinner table it appeared that he was actually a long and thin man, with brown, not brushed, ear-length hair and a smooth, pointy face.
"Ok, dad." Matt said. He left his slice of bread where it was, secretly happy that he could skip his breakfast today; this wasn't the time for eating. As he hugged his mother, more out of moral obligation than out of willingness, his dad took his backpack and already went outside in the garden. Matt took a glance at his father and quickly followed along.
When they got to a relatively open place his father took out a yellow, light-blue dotted pokeball and threw it at the ground. In a flash of light, a larger then normal Pidgeot appeared on the grassy floor, it spread it’s fabulous wings and growled, happy to be outside.
"A long flight will do you good, won't it?" Matt's father said to Pidgeot, while stroking its warm fur slowly. Pidgeot nodded calmly.
"Alrighty then," Matt's father was getting more enthusiastic "we're flying to Zuta. You know, where we entered that flying contest once… "Matt's father said, but lowered the volume of his voice a bit after reconsideration. Pidgeot lowered its head; showing a form of embarrassment.
"Ok, let's go!" Matt said thrilled, making sure this day wouldn’t be ruined by memories. This was his great day and he would not let it be spoiled, even though he could sympathize.
Matt's dad put on his cloud goggles, climbed on Pidgeot and reached out his hand to Matt. Matt grabbed it and settled himself on Pidgeot’s back, holding his arms tight around his father while clamping his feet behind Pidgeot’s wings.
As they rose up into the air, Pidgeot stroke his wings and flew up higher and higher, enjoying every minute of his flight. Matt was also excited, not by the flying part, but by the thought that he could finally begin his own pokemon journey after being set a year behind. The long wait had did some good after all, as he could now start in the Zuta region, while his friends are travelling in the Hoenn region. It also gave him a year extra preparation, to study up on pokemon and moves. He hoped that his might give him the advantage he needed to trump his friends eventually.
"Pidgeot! Extremespeed!" His father commanded with his strict, but steady voice. Matt gasped for air as they shot off at a dazzling speed. He had ridden many times on his father’s trusted Pidgeot, but could never get used to the thrill and shock every time Pidgeot started his Extremespeed-technique.
After flying about an hour and a half through clouds, trying to touch an Altaria's wing and being chased by a Fearow who had no change against the Pidgeot’s speed, Matt couldn't restrain himself anymore and shouted to his father.
"Dad, how long until we arrive in Zuta?" Matt asked, hoping for a good answer.
"With Pidgeot's Extremespeed, I say it will take about another half hour" His father replied with his usual calm voice.
"Well I can live with that." Matt replied, while he already saw a small island, followed by the sea as far as the eye could see.
After flying about another twenty minutes, he suddenly felt that Pidgeot was starting to descend. Matt enjoyed the wind going through his jet black hair that constantly blocked his eyesight. After getting rid of the hair problem for a while, Matt focused on the thought of seeing some pokemon. His focus soon shifted as he saw the outlines of a small city to the east of them.
“So, this is the place where you're big adventure is going to start." his father said with a smile that kind of pointing out that he would’ve wanted to start his own journey again. Matt really couldn’t help a little giggle.
This was Reeto city his father was talking about, the ‘starters-village’ of Zuta. Although people started their journeys everywhere, it was a common tradition to have at least one village that would be acknowledged as a place where beginning trainers could come and pick up their first pokemon. The four regions were actually very competitive, and although Zuta didn’t really have a Pallet or a Twinleaf town, they decided to stamp Reeto city with the starters-village etiquette. Even though it was marked as a city, it was actually quite small and quaint, and it had a specific professor to fit the description of a ‘starters-village’.
"It seems like it" Matt replied to his father’s nostalgic remark. He could’ve screamed if not for keeping up the show of his adult personality. Matt always tried to act older than he was, and although he had more knowledge than most of the teens that shared his age, he couldn’t help feeling young and inexperienced in comparison to his father, Winona the Fortree gymleader and all of his friends who already have one year of pokemon experience. Hopefully this journey of his could make up for that.
Matt’s father than patted Pidgeot on the back and it started to land slowly, but aiming for the right spot. Pidgeot landed before the biggest building in the town and as soon as Matt and his father got of his back, a young woman came walking out of the building. She looked about 25 years old, had blue curly hair, blue eyes, a nice figure and was wearing a lab coat. She was walking to our direction.
"Hi, you must be Matt, right?" The woman asked, while putting her hair in place, behind her shoulder.
"Yes, that's right, and who are you, if I may ask?" he said very polite. Although his parents taught him always to be polite, the main reason for his withheld attitude was not trying scare of the only person who greeted them.
"I'm professor Zue, an expert on happiness-based evolutions. I became interested in them when I was about ten years old, since love is an important factor in every…" She said, starting to brag about her history and job.
While Matt didn't find the patience or interest to listen to her, he started looking around to the nice little town, while his father was stuck listening to professor Zue. The town bared a resemblance to Pallet town. Although he had been there only once, he still remembered it. He smirked at the thought that the Zuta government probably took Pallet town as an example for maintaining this peaceful atmosphere. The quaintness of this town was really emphasized by it being surrounded by trees, and having only a few houses and the big building they landed in front. The absence of a pokemoncenter was remarkable.
"…ok that’s enough about me. Now, you tell me something about yourself." she said, actually quite demanding after finally putting an end to her, what seemed like an hour, rant.
Although Matt didn’t like her arrogant attitude it was a relief that she quit babbling, so he started talking if only to not let her have the word again. His father kind of took a mental break after the whole life story and sighed softly.
"I'm Matt and I’d like to start my pokemon journey, in order to become a trainer." he said plainly, actually keeping back his postponed enthusiasm.
"Oh dear, another one…" she said, not surprised by his answer as Matt looked at her with a confused look.
"What do you mean ’another one’?" he asked, being somewhat in a struggle deciding being either confused or angered. His look gave of the angered part, while his mind was kind of confused.
"No offense meant, but there are a lot of kids who wish to start their journey but very few of them actually become trainers, or at least decent ones." she replied, changing her voice from arrogant to doubtful.
"Oh I see" Matt said not trying to be reckless or offended by her lack in confidence in him. It was kind of demotivating to hear the low chances of success, but he quickly shrugged and started at her.
"Anyway, you can give it a shot if you want." she said while actually trying to oppress any form of interest, which was really strange for a professor who should be handing out starter pokemon to really enthusiastic kids, or adolescents in his case.
"Could you follow me?" she said turning her back to Matt.
While he slowly followed the professor, he began to realize that pokemon training would be harder than he imagined. He had read about all sorts of stuff, from breeding, to battling, even grooming and feeding, but living with pokemon is something that he can’t learn just by studying or reading. Matt's father made a start by withdrawing Pidgeot and Matt followed.
They walked to the big building, while rainclouds started to form and the first drops splattered on Matt’s black snickers. It kind of looked like an old radio tower from the outside. The stones looked like they had been here for over a century, the top windows were awfully filthy and it looked cold. Professor Zue made a ‘follow-me’ sign as she entered.
At least the inside looked a lot better then the outside. The place was actually huge. The main hall had portraits of famous researchers all over the wall and the right corner, what seemed to be a small place of worship, a statue of Pr. Oak was placed. It was surrounded by flowers and behind him hung all the different pokedex’ he had ever created.
"Wow, this place is huge!" Matt said, stating his thoughts out loud.
"Here we are." Professor Zue said, while guiding them to a mahogany door.
It was filled with small carved-in pokemon artwork. It had a medium-sized sign which read: 'Meeting room'
Pr. Zue opened the door and stepped inside, while she gestured to Matt and his father to follow her again. The Meeting room was actually just as Matt expected. It contained some couches, a strange device with contained three odd-coloured pokeballs, and a lot of artwork again, which made him wonder if professor Zue was an artist, or art collector.
"Well then, I bet you're dying to know what pokemon are in the pokeballs." Pr.Zue said to Matt, with a little hint of sarcasm, while showing him the three different kinds of pokeballs.
Matt took a stare at the balls which were located in the weird looking device which was completely made out of metal, followed by gold outlining and a glass dome on top of it. The right ball was completely dark and line that separated red from white on a regular pokeball was no line, but a crimson-coloured snake tongue. The ball on the left was greenish with the upper side in a darker green, which fit nicely in contrast with the lower’s side grass green colour. The ball in the middle was the most artistic one. The upper side was ocean blue with what seemed to be reflections of ice sculptures, while the bottom was plain white.
"This little fellow is Salaka" Pr.Zue said pointing at the dark pokeball.
She took it out of the device and threw it on the ground, releasing a dark skinned lizard with two red spots on its back. It hissed something upon seeing Matt and his father which revealed its split tongue.
"Salaka, is a Poison and Fire lizard hybrid who has the ability to poison foes on contact with its poisonous skin. Though the skin is normally only dangerous to humans, it can poison a pokemon aswell if Salaka is threatened, releasing venom out of the two spots on its back. It specializes in sneak attacks which normally can be described as badly poisoning the unaware foe with its venom while defending itself with distance attacks until its victim finally collapses of the deadly poison." Professor Zue exclaimed, talking about it as normally as drinking two cups of tea.
Matt swallowed when he heard the info and felt kind of scared. Thinking about how touching this would result in dangerous intoxication and death, didn’t really made him like this pokemon. He was wondering if there were any nice pokemon in the other two balls.
"The second one is Ducka" Pr. Zue said, not paying any attention to Matt's scared attitude.
She tossed the blue ball on the hard, cold ground as a weird looking duck appeared. Matt immediately thought that it was a psyduck, but after a five second study, realised that it didn’t have that dumb look on its face, or its hands on its head all the time. It actually looked the opposite of psyduck, with a determined look and sharp looking claws that seemed a bit to big for itss body, more like a golduck actually. The only thing that seemed out of place was the three black hairs that stood vertically on its head, giving it a somewhat comical touch. After another five second study Matt concluded that this pokemon seemed just as threatening as the other one.
"Ducka" she continued. "is an Ice/Water pokemon capable of cracking ice with its sharp beak. It specializes in close combat, but can fully exploit any special attacks as well. In the wild, this pokemon freezes its victim and the carefully chops them up with its razor sharp claws."
Matt frowned as he realised that getting cut to pieces isn’t any better than getting poisoned. He was starting to get his doubts about this whole journey thing, even though he wished for it all his life.
"And finally Cacta" She said releasing the last pokemon out of its green pokeball.
A small, green pokemon appeared. It didn’t have a separate head and torso, but instead had a round green ball as body, where the face was also located, similar to an Oddish or Elekid. It vaguely resembled a cactus, with stingers on its head, which seemed to form some sort of Mohawk. Its facial expression wasn’t very nice, which appeared to say something along the lines of ‘I pity the fool’. It also didn’t really seem to have hands, but boxing gloves instead; and after a further analysis which proved to be mushrooms.
"It is a grass/fighting pokemon of great endurance and spirit. It won't quit battling until it either faints or wins. The stingers on its head can be used to fire a Pin Missile at enemies, although not highly, these stingers are poisonous. It uses the mushroom like gloves to punch, as expected. Cacta's combat style isn't very different from a Hitmonchan, except that it can use the elemental power of its grass type to use spores as well." Pr.Zue said calmly in a steady monotone voice.
She made it clear that the introduction of the pokemon was finished by taking a deep breath and looking towards Matt with a stern look. Matt was kind of intimidated by the three pokemon that all seemed to be murdermachine’s.
"So, which one do you want?" she asked calmly awaiting Matt's answer.
"Do you mind if I take a while to think?" Matt asked the professor, doubting the pokemon and himself.
"No not at all, but I'll put the pokemon back in there balls, just for safety." She said while smiling at Matt.
He thought he could see somewhat of an evil, smirking smile behind her other smile when she said that.
Matt nodded as she put the pokemon back in their balls, then inviting Matt’s father for coffee in the lounge room. They both left, leaving Matt alone with his thoughts and three slightly strange pokemon enclosed in their pokeballs.
As the door shut, Matt was already pondering on his choice. He was thinking what pokemon would prove to be the one with the highest chance of survival. Not for them, but for himself, as they all looked dangerous. Salaka will poison him upon touching, Ducka could cut of his head and Cacta could go on a rampage and break every bone in his body. He swallowed again, thinking why he always has to think the worst of it in every situation. He took a piece of paper and a pen and started noting all the cons and pros of the pokemon, to make it somewhat easier, which was something he learned from his grandfather years ago.
***
"Well Jeff, what do you think the boy is going to do?" Pr.Zue asked Matt's father.
She gave a more interested look than she had given all day, except when she was talking about the killer instincts of her starter pokemon. Matt’s father was seriously wondering how she ever became an expert on happiness based evolutions. She didn’t really act love-able, in fact she got a kick of those dangerous specimens of pokemon she holds in her lab.
"I don't know.” Jeff replied, puzzling over the matter. “He actually looked scared of the pokemon when you first introduced them, perhaps you didn’t notice.”
"Oh" She said, looking rather confused. It was like she couldn’t get her head around someone not loving these cuties.
“I'm sure he will do a great job choosing, even though I don’t have much hope in young trainers, I can see that Matt is quite mature for his age, so he’ll make the right decision” Professor Zue said, suprisinly. “The key to the decision is their combat style” she continued. “They all have a unique way of battling. If he is indeed motivated and skilful enough to make it anywhere as a trainer, this is his first test, and his choice will decide a lot."
"What do you mean" Matt's father asked, not really grasping her explanation.
"Well, it depends on Matt’s intelligence and his own personal way of looking to battles. If he likes a direct assault, with some extras, he should pick the physical powerhorse Cacta. Salaka is something special though, it’s a species recently discovered. It has a natural ability to feel when a trainer is kind to it or not. If Matt likes it, and is worthy of training it, he won’t be poisoned by its skin.If he wants swift and effective moves he should take Ducka, who can combine physical and long distance fighting. This is probably the pokemon if he wants to experiment and have it all." She calmly explained to Matt's father while slurping away at her coffee.
"But that’s dangerous!" Jeff said getting into his overprotective state again.
"No, actually, it isn't." She said to Matt's father, shushing him. "In the end, Matt will choose the pokemon that he feels the most comfortable with and if it happens to be Salaka, then he will treat it with love and respect, even if it’s dangerous. Believe me, I’ve had years of experience."
As Jeff was about to protest about the possible death of his own son by the hands of one of her pokemon as they heard a voice shouting from the other room.
"Professor, I’ve made my decision!"
"You see" She said, smiling at Jeff. He was startled.
After reading Chris' article in the e-zine, I came to the conclusion that I loved trainer fics, as it's my only real passion in fanfiction. Perhaps I just like cliché stories and happy endings, but for whatever reason it is, I decided I should help getting them from underneath the dust.
I don't have a prologue, so this will be chapter one in it's whole.
I'm not a very expierenced writer, but I'd love if you guys could find the time and read through it and give me some constructive critism. I'd really like improve as a writer, seeing that english is my third language, but most of all I want another trainer fic up at TPM:)
It might take a while for the next two chapters, seeing as I have exams right now, but after that it should be ok.
Perhaps, you'll stick with me to the end, if I will get that far that is.
Enjoy.
When kids grow
Chapter 1
Death decision
"Matt, wake up! Is your stuff ready?" a strict, but sincere voice yelled. It was a blond-haired woman with a tender figure, dark eyes, somewhat wider bottom and was apparently the young man’s mother. As she called Matt, he slowly woke up with an irritated look on his face.
"Yes mom. I already did it yesterday!" Matt shouted, irritated that his pleasant sleep was already terminated.
Matt was a youngster who lived in Fortree city, and loved it. At the age of 15 he was finally allowed to begin his own pokemon journey, what was considered to be normal for a boy his age. He was getting started later than all of his friends, since they started at fourteen, but he didn’t care anymore today. His father is an overprotective parent, as is with many parents, but also rather strict so there was no chance of trying to persuade him. So as his friends left the previous year, Matt sobbed for a while but decided that there’s no point in being sad as his father already told him he could start the next year, when he was a bit older.
"Ok, then come down and eat something! A real trainer should eat a lot!" his mother shouted again, starting her usual pep talk again.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming…" Matt said still half asleep.
He left his room, descended the stairs, right into the kitchen, where his mother was already setting the table. He grabbed a slice of bread and started chewing on it, without his normal satisfaction of consuming food. He was a diehard food-fanatic, but hated breakfast, and especially bread.
"Dad will take you to Zuta. Pidgeot needs to get some fresh air and excercise anyway." his mother exclaimed with her usual jolly voice, that irritated Matt his early in the morning. He just felt like being quiet, and enjoying the silence.
Zuta was a region north of Hoenn and north-west of Johto. Unlike Kanto and Johto, where the weather was sunny and dry most of the time, Zuta had a more tropical climate. It was warm and sunnyl, but it also rained a lot, which made some pokemontrainers extremely happy. Swiftswim-trainers went to the region exclusively for training purposes only.
"Alright, should I take my cloud-goggles with me or not?" Matt asked his mother in a dull monotone voice.
"It won't be that necessary, but you can take them with you if you want" his mother replied focussing on the dinner table while passing the butter to Matt.
"Ok, I'll leave it at home then, I gave enough luggage as it is." Matt said, while thinking about the tons of stuff he had collected for his journey. It contained all sorts of books his mom bought (food primarily), some books on pokemon and gymleaders, that he had gotten from his father for his last birthday. His father had been a trainer as well, back in the old days, so he knew that some tips could make the difference between winning and losing.
"Matt, finish your meal, we're going to leave" a heavy, strict, yet gentle voice said. Standing in the doorway was Matt's father, who seemed more huge and wider because of the small size of the opening. When he came to the dinner table it appeared that he was actually a long and thin man, with brown, not brushed, ear-length hair and a smooth, pointy face.
"Ok, dad." Matt said. He left his slice of bread where it was, secretly happy that he could skip his breakfast today; this wasn't the time for eating. As he hugged his mother, more out of moral obligation than out of willingness, his dad took his backpack and already went outside in the garden. Matt took a glance at his father and quickly followed along.
When they got to a relatively open place his father took out a yellow, light-blue dotted pokeball and threw it at the ground. In a flash of light, a larger then normal Pidgeot appeared on the grassy floor, it spread it’s fabulous wings and growled, happy to be outside.
"A long flight will do you good, won't it?" Matt's father said to Pidgeot, while stroking its warm fur slowly. Pidgeot nodded calmly.
"Alrighty then," Matt's father was getting more enthusiastic "we're flying to Zuta. You know, where we entered that flying contest once… "Matt's father said, but lowered the volume of his voice a bit after reconsideration. Pidgeot lowered its head; showing a form of embarrassment.
"Ok, let's go!" Matt said thrilled, making sure this day wouldn’t be ruined by memories. This was his great day and he would not let it be spoiled, even though he could sympathize.
Matt's dad put on his cloud goggles, climbed on Pidgeot and reached out his hand to Matt. Matt grabbed it and settled himself on Pidgeot’s back, holding his arms tight around his father while clamping his feet behind Pidgeot’s wings.
As they rose up into the air, Pidgeot stroke his wings and flew up higher and higher, enjoying every minute of his flight. Matt was also excited, not by the flying part, but by the thought that he could finally begin his own pokemon journey after being set a year behind. The long wait had did some good after all, as he could now start in the Zuta region, while his friends are travelling in the Hoenn region. It also gave him a year extra preparation, to study up on pokemon and moves. He hoped that his might give him the advantage he needed to trump his friends eventually.
"Pidgeot! Extremespeed!" His father commanded with his strict, but steady voice. Matt gasped for air as they shot off at a dazzling speed. He had ridden many times on his father’s trusted Pidgeot, but could never get used to the thrill and shock every time Pidgeot started his Extremespeed-technique.
After flying about an hour and a half through clouds, trying to touch an Altaria's wing and being chased by a Fearow who had no change against the Pidgeot’s speed, Matt couldn't restrain himself anymore and shouted to his father.
"Dad, how long until we arrive in Zuta?" Matt asked, hoping for a good answer.
"With Pidgeot's Extremespeed, I say it will take about another half hour" His father replied with his usual calm voice.
"Well I can live with that." Matt replied, while he already saw a small island, followed by the sea as far as the eye could see.
After flying about another twenty minutes, he suddenly felt that Pidgeot was starting to descend. Matt enjoyed the wind going through his jet black hair that constantly blocked his eyesight. After getting rid of the hair problem for a while, Matt focused on the thought of seeing some pokemon. His focus soon shifted as he saw the outlines of a small city to the east of them.
“So, this is the place where you're big adventure is going to start." his father said with a smile that kind of pointing out that he would’ve wanted to start his own journey again. Matt really couldn’t help a little giggle.
This was Reeto city his father was talking about, the ‘starters-village’ of Zuta. Although people started their journeys everywhere, it was a common tradition to have at least one village that would be acknowledged as a place where beginning trainers could come and pick up their first pokemon. The four regions were actually very competitive, and although Zuta didn’t really have a Pallet or a Twinleaf town, they decided to stamp Reeto city with the starters-village etiquette. Even though it was marked as a city, it was actually quite small and quaint, and it had a specific professor to fit the description of a ‘starters-village’.
"It seems like it" Matt replied to his father’s nostalgic remark. He could’ve screamed if not for keeping up the show of his adult personality. Matt always tried to act older than he was, and although he had more knowledge than most of the teens that shared his age, he couldn’t help feeling young and inexperienced in comparison to his father, Winona the Fortree gymleader and all of his friends who already have one year of pokemon experience. Hopefully this journey of his could make up for that.
Matt’s father than patted Pidgeot on the back and it started to land slowly, but aiming for the right spot. Pidgeot landed before the biggest building in the town and as soon as Matt and his father got of his back, a young woman came walking out of the building. She looked about 25 years old, had blue curly hair, blue eyes, a nice figure and was wearing a lab coat. She was walking to our direction.
"Hi, you must be Matt, right?" The woman asked, while putting her hair in place, behind her shoulder.
"Yes, that's right, and who are you, if I may ask?" he said very polite. Although his parents taught him always to be polite, the main reason for his withheld attitude was not trying scare of the only person who greeted them.
"I'm professor Zue, an expert on happiness-based evolutions. I became interested in them when I was about ten years old, since love is an important factor in every…" She said, starting to brag about her history and job.
While Matt didn't find the patience or interest to listen to her, he started looking around to the nice little town, while his father was stuck listening to professor Zue. The town bared a resemblance to Pallet town. Although he had been there only once, he still remembered it. He smirked at the thought that the Zuta government probably took Pallet town as an example for maintaining this peaceful atmosphere. The quaintness of this town was really emphasized by it being surrounded by trees, and having only a few houses and the big building they landed in front. The absence of a pokemoncenter was remarkable.
"…ok that’s enough about me. Now, you tell me something about yourself." she said, actually quite demanding after finally putting an end to her, what seemed like an hour, rant.
Although Matt didn’t like her arrogant attitude it was a relief that she quit babbling, so he started talking if only to not let her have the word again. His father kind of took a mental break after the whole life story and sighed softly.
"I'm Matt and I’d like to start my pokemon journey, in order to become a trainer." he said plainly, actually keeping back his postponed enthusiasm.
"Oh dear, another one…" she said, not surprised by his answer as Matt looked at her with a confused look.
"What do you mean ’another one’?" he asked, being somewhat in a struggle deciding being either confused or angered. His look gave of the angered part, while his mind was kind of confused.
"No offense meant, but there are a lot of kids who wish to start their journey but very few of them actually become trainers, or at least decent ones." she replied, changing her voice from arrogant to doubtful.
"Oh I see" Matt said not trying to be reckless or offended by her lack in confidence in him. It was kind of demotivating to hear the low chances of success, but he quickly shrugged and started at her.
"Anyway, you can give it a shot if you want." she said while actually trying to oppress any form of interest, which was really strange for a professor who should be handing out starter pokemon to really enthusiastic kids, or adolescents in his case.
"Could you follow me?" she said turning her back to Matt.
While he slowly followed the professor, he began to realize that pokemon training would be harder than he imagined. He had read about all sorts of stuff, from breeding, to battling, even grooming and feeding, but living with pokemon is something that he can’t learn just by studying or reading. Matt's father made a start by withdrawing Pidgeot and Matt followed.
They walked to the big building, while rainclouds started to form and the first drops splattered on Matt’s black snickers. It kind of looked like an old radio tower from the outside. The stones looked like they had been here for over a century, the top windows were awfully filthy and it looked cold. Professor Zue made a ‘follow-me’ sign as she entered.
At least the inside looked a lot better then the outside. The place was actually huge. The main hall had portraits of famous researchers all over the wall and the right corner, what seemed to be a small place of worship, a statue of Pr. Oak was placed. It was surrounded by flowers and behind him hung all the different pokedex’ he had ever created.
"Wow, this place is huge!" Matt said, stating his thoughts out loud.
"Here we are." Professor Zue said, while guiding them to a mahogany door.
It was filled with small carved-in pokemon artwork. It had a medium-sized sign which read: 'Meeting room'
Pr. Zue opened the door and stepped inside, while she gestured to Matt and his father to follow her again. The Meeting room was actually just as Matt expected. It contained some couches, a strange device with contained three odd-coloured pokeballs, and a lot of artwork again, which made him wonder if professor Zue was an artist, or art collector.
"Well then, I bet you're dying to know what pokemon are in the pokeballs." Pr.Zue said to Matt, with a little hint of sarcasm, while showing him the three different kinds of pokeballs.
Matt took a stare at the balls which were located in the weird looking device which was completely made out of metal, followed by gold outlining and a glass dome on top of it. The right ball was completely dark and line that separated red from white on a regular pokeball was no line, but a crimson-coloured snake tongue. The ball on the left was greenish with the upper side in a darker green, which fit nicely in contrast with the lower’s side grass green colour. The ball in the middle was the most artistic one. The upper side was ocean blue with what seemed to be reflections of ice sculptures, while the bottom was plain white.
"This little fellow is Salaka" Pr.Zue said pointing at the dark pokeball.
She took it out of the device and threw it on the ground, releasing a dark skinned lizard with two red spots on its back. It hissed something upon seeing Matt and his father which revealed its split tongue.
"Salaka, is a Poison and Fire lizard hybrid who has the ability to poison foes on contact with its poisonous skin. Though the skin is normally only dangerous to humans, it can poison a pokemon aswell if Salaka is threatened, releasing venom out of the two spots on its back. It specializes in sneak attacks which normally can be described as badly poisoning the unaware foe with its venom while defending itself with distance attacks until its victim finally collapses of the deadly poison." Professor Zue exclaimed, talking about it as normally as drinking two cups of tea.
Matt swallowed when he heard the info and felt kind of scared. Thinking about how touching this would result in dangerous intoxication and death, didn’t really made him like this pokemon. He was wondering if there were any nice pokemon in the other two balls.
"The second one is Ducka" Pr. Zue said, not paying any attention to Matt's scared attitude.
She tossed the blue ball on the hard, cold ground as a weird looking duck appeared. Matt immediately thought that it was a psyduck, but after a five second study, realised that it didn’t have that dumb look on its face, or its hands on its head all the time. It actually looked the opposite of psyduck, with a determined look and sharp looking claws that seemed a bit to big for itss body, more like a golduck actually. The only thing that seemed out of place was the three black hairs that stood vertically on its head, giving it a somewhat comical touch. After another five second study Matt concluded that this pokemon seemed just as threatening as the other one.
"Ducka" she continued. "is an Ice/Water pokemon capable of cracking ice with its sharp beak. It specializes in close combat, but can fully exploit any special attacks as well. In the wild, this pokemon freezes its victim and the carefully chops them up with its razor sharp claws."
Matt frowned as he realised that getting cut to pieces isn’t any better than getting poisoned. He was starting to get his doubts about this whole journey thing, even though he wished for it all his life.
"And finally Cacta" She said releasing the last pokemon out of its green pokeball.
A small, green pokemon appeared. It didn’t have a separate head and torso, but instead had a round green ball as body, where the face was also located, similar to an Oddish or Elekid. It vaguely resembled a cactus, with stingers on its head, which seemed to form some sort of Mohawk. Its facial expression wasn’t very nice, which appeared to say something along the lines of ‘I pity the fool’. It also didn’t really seem to have hands, but boxing gloves instead; and after a further analysis which proved to be mushrooms.
"It is a grass/fighting pokemon of great endurance and spirit. It won't quit battling until it either faints or wins. The stingers on its head can be used to fire a Pin Missile at enemies, although not highly, these stingers are poisonous. It uses the mushroom like gloves to punch, as expected. Cacta's combat style isn't very different from a Hitmonchan, except that it can use the elemental power of its grass type to use spores as well." Pr.Zue said calmly in a steady monotone voice.
She made it clear that the introduction of the pokemon was finished by taking a deep breath and looking towards Matt with a stern look. Matt was kind of intimidated by the three pokemon that all seemed to be murdermachine’s.
"So, which one do you want?" she asked calmly awaiting Matt's answer.
"Do you mind if I take a while to think?" Matt asked the professor, doubting the pokemon and himself.
"No not at all, but I'll put the pokemon back in there balls, just for safety." She said while smiling at Matt.
He thought he could see somewhat of an evil, smirking smile behind her other smile when she said that.
Matt nodded as she put the pokemon back in their balls, then inviting Matt’s father for coffee in the lounge room. They both left, leaving Matt alone with his thoughts and three slightly strange pokemon enclosed in their pokeballs.
As the door shut, Matt was already pondering on his choice. He was thinking what pokemon would prove to be the one with the highest chance of survival. Not for them, but for himself, as they all looked dangerous. Salaka will poison him upon touching, Ducka could cut of his head and Cacta could go on a rampage and break every bone in his body. He swallowed again, thinking why he always has to think the worst of it in every situation. He took a piece of paper and a pen and started noting all the cons and pros of the pokemon, to make it somewhat easier, which was something he learned from his grandfather years ago.
***
"Well Jeff, what do you think the boy is going to do?" Pr.Zue asked Matt's father.
She gave a more interested look than she had given all day, except when she was talking about the killer instincts of her starter pokemon. Matt’s father was seriously wondering how she ever became an expert on happiness based evolutions. She didn’t really act love-able, in fact she got a kick of those dangerous specimens of pokemon she holds in her lab.
"I don't know.” Jeff replied, puzzling over the matter. “He actually looked scared of the pokemon when you first introduced them, perhaps you didn’t notice.”
"Oh" She said, looking rather confused. It was like she couldn’t get her head around someone not loving these cuties.
“I'm sure he will do a great job choosing, even though I don’t have much hope in young trainers, I can see that Matt is quite mature for his age, so he’ll make the right decision” Professor Zue said, suprisinly. “The key to the decision is their combat style” she continued. “They all have a unique way of battling. If he is indeed motivated and skilful enough to make it anywhere as a trainer, this is his first test, and his choice will decide a lot."
"What do you mean" Matt's father asked, not really grasping her explanation.
"Well, it depends on Matt’s intelligence and his own personal way of looking to battles. If he likes a direct assault, with some extras, he should pick the physical powerhorse Cacta. Salaka is something special though, it’s a species recently discovered. It has a natural ability to feel when a trainer is kind to it or not. If Matt likes it, and is worthy of training it, he won’t be poisoned by its skin.If he wants swift and effective moves he should take Ducka, who can combine physical and long distance fighting. This is probably the pokemon if he wants to experiment and have it all." She calmly explained to Matt's father while slurping away at her coffee.
"But that’s dangerous!" Jeff said getting into his overprotective state again.
"No, actually, it isn't." She said to Matt's father, shushing him. "In the end, Matt will choose the pokemon that he feels the most comfortable with and if it happens to be Salaka, then he will treat it with love and respect, even if it’s dangerous. Believe me, I’ve had years of experience."
As Jeff was about to protest about the possible death of his own son by the hands of one of her pokemon as they heard a voice shouting from the other room.
"Professor, I’ve made my decision!"
"You see" She said, smiling at Jeff. He was startled.