@ Fuyu - I like Nai xD Piku's personality seems like a fun match to him.
- Piku (Pikachu) grew to lv 11!
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Clover, Pallet City
Pallet City was a big place nowadays. To get anywhere without a hovercar of your own, you'd almost have to take the underground subway. The surface was pretty much too covered with buildings to have room for streets. People usually only walked or biked the surface. Most transport was done up in the air with hovercars.
Clover took the subway to Oak Park this day. The weather was dry and slightly cold and the sky was clear. Clover loved this weather since it made everything feel fresh and let the sun shine in a beautiful way on all the buildings in the city. But he usually preferred some clouds in the sky. Right now, Clover stood in a shuttle, half-asleep. He was going to meet with the pokémon professor personally and receive what he needed to start his pokémon journey. What a cliché...
In his ears was music. Today he had brought only his small in-ear headphones, which he was going to use as a spare if anything ever happened to the pokétop. He had especially ordered the helmet to come with a music function. And to be green. Very green. Like clovers. He dubbed grass green as his colors here and now on the shuttle trip, marking it with a great yawn. On his shoulder hung the camera bag. It was easily carried since it was made with fine, light metal and the bag repelled bounces from things well.
His parents hadn't argued at all when the invitation from professor Cedar came. They had always known that he'd want to leave when he came of age, even though they doubted that he'd really make it far... the boy didn't know how to wash his dishes on his own, how could he manage to take care of himself and a pokémon out in the wilderness? Many people despised the open landscape nowadays. You could live your whole life inside a city and few traveled the routes who weren't peasants or otherwise working there. Or pokémon trainers, of course. And there were a lot of trainers in Kanto.
Cal Cossinsky had never been outside of Pallet City. It was a bit shameful to admit, but a lot of people really were in the same situation as him. So it was a big step to suddenly go on a journey through a region that he knew very well from TV and maps but had never really seen with his own eyes. Except for the forest closest to the city and the sea to the south.
The shuttle stopped at the Oak Park station and Clover automatically got off it and climbed the stairs faster than the people in the escalator rose. The great cupola that harbored Oak Park came into view immediately as he reached the surface. It was hard to miss. Walking up to it across the crowded streets, he spotted the robots that stood guard at the closest entrance. There wasn't a human guard in the vicinity at the moment. Professor Cedar must be much like himself, Clover thought, putting her trust in robots and pokémon alike. He happily walked right up to a robot there. It didn't look at him as he spoke.
"Good day, mr robot. So...My name is Cal Cossinsky and I've been invited by professor Cedar."
It only took a nanosecond for the robot to register that he was allowed entrance, and it stepped aside and let a door in the glass wall open up. Clover nodded, even though he didn't really have to, and entered. After a few more layer of doors, he was inside. The area was lush. It was a park indeed. He had been here before, with school and with his family a few times, to look at the pokémon that the professor studied and kept here. He had a few favorites.
No robot followed him inside the park, so he kept walking the path winding through the clusters of trees and lawns of grass. Just like he had remembered the place. He took forth his camera and started taking some pictures at the plants and trees, hoping to spot some pokémon. Where were they? Soon, he spotted some people instead. It was a young man, an older man and a middle aged woman with red, almost purple hair. As he quickened his pace and walked up to them, he couldn't help feeling rather excited.
The men discovered him first.
"Who's that?" the younger man said. "Does he have a camera? It's not ok to take pictures inside the cupola without permission!"
"It's a new trainer, of course," the older man said. "No one else is allowed entrance today. And there's not really anything out here that's classified, so it should be ok."
"Wonderful!" the woman said and cut through them, walking straight up to Clover.
They both stopped about a meter from each other. For a split second, Clover studied her. She was taller than he was, naturally, and her face was rather pointy without looking grim in any way. Professor Cedar looked serious and friendly at the same time. Clover was slightly confused but decided to hope that she was more the friendly type than the grim one.
"I'm Cal Cossinsky," he said and stretched out his hand. Better be polite.
"Hello Cal!" the professor said and shook his hand before motioning for him to follow her. Aha, she was indeed the friendly type.
They walked away from the other men and soon saw a building in the middle of the park. The laboratory.
"Aren't there usually more pokémon out on the lawns?" Clover suddenly asked. "Have they gone into hibernation or something?"
"Not really, but I've put most of them into energy form and stored them into the computer for today, since new trainers are arriving. I've only let some special pokémon out into the gardens..."
As they turned around the corner of the house, the back garden became visible. And with that, all the pokémon. They were playing, sleeping or simply being in the garden, many different species, colors and forms. Clover was impressed and immediately pulled up his camera again. The professor seemed a bit hesitant about telling him off... and finally refrained from doing so. It wouldn't really harm, anyway.
"Wait here and I'll fetch the pokétop you've ordered!" the professor said.
Clover entered the garden as she hurried away, and looked around at the various creatures there. Some turned to look at the newcomer. He saw some of his favorites. Further into the garden, he spotted a pond. He held his camera hard and walked there, seeing a Goldeen and a Horsea swim around happily, as well as a Squirtle taking a dive and an oddly colored Psyduck dipping its feet. He knew all these names of pokémon, of course. Most kids did. As he shot a few pictures of the playing pokémon, thinking about which one he would choose, something gleamed on the bottom of the pond. A blue, slowly pulsating light. Clover walked closer to the edge to get a better look. Could it be...? But it was the wrong color.
"Staryu?" he said, half loudly.
The light stopped pulsating, Goldeen and Horsea stopped playing and looked down into the pond, and suddenly bubbles came to the surface. After them came a star shaped pokémon up and landed in the shallows near Clover. The boy had to blink. It looked nothing like he had expected it to. Instead of brown with a red light, this pokémon was silver gray with a blue gem in its midst. How come?
"Here you go!" the professor's voice came from behind and made him turn. She walked up to him and handed him the green helmet. His pokétop.
"Thanks, professor, it's... actually just like I imagined! Neat!" he was almost a little taken aback by the fact that he couldn't find anything with it to complain about.
"It's not active for real," she said and clicked a partially covered button on the inside of the helmet. It retracted smoothly into a pair of large green headphones. "As soon as you activate it for the first time, the voice and personality will take shape, depending on how you act, think and talk."
"... it can feel my thoughts?" Clover said skeptically and held the headphones on arm's length.
"No," the professor giggled, "but it can interpret your body's reactions. Tells a lot about a person's thoughts and feelings."
"Creepy."
"Anyways, have you chosen a pokémon to start your journey with?"
Clover looked around at the species climbing the trees, playing in the grass or just standing on a safe distance watching the humans. And then he looked at the Staryu in the shallow water.
"How come that one is so oddly colored?" he asked the professor.
"It's a shiny. I've got quite a lot of them here. They are very rare so I like to study if their behavior is different from regular colored pokémon's. Do you like it?"
"It certainly looks cool, in a way," Clover said and stepped closer to the Staryu. He looked at it through the camera lens.
"Hi there," he said and tried giving it a smile behind the camera. "Smile for me?" as soon as he said that, he realized it was stupid. It kind of had no face. It gave up some kind of bubbling, greeting noise though.
"It seems to like you," Cedar said.
"How can you tell?" Clover said, wrinkling an eyebrow. There wasn't... really any indications whatsoever except for that bubbling noise.
The professor smiled. "I can tell. If you get to know Staryu, you'll learn to tell as well."
Clover looked from one to the other and then nodded. "Are you coming with me, shiny Staryu?" he asked the water pokémon.
The pokémon stood still with it's blue gem faintly glowing. Then it gave up another bubbling noise and waved its arms. Seemed like a yes to Clover.
---
@ me -
- Clover received a shiny Staryu from professor Cedar!
- Clover received his pokétop!
---
I'mma post again...
Clover, Route 1
Professor Cedar had registered Clover's choice of companion in the database and then he had set off from the lab with a lot of best wishes hailing from the professor and the assistants. He took the subway to the northern part of Pallet and there he went up to the surface to finally not go back down again. He could see the edge of the city. A border he had never before crossed over. Now it was time to cross it with his own two feet.
Staryu was in its pokéball. Clover had almost decided to call it a "he", even though it didn't really have a gender. He thought both the genderless thing and the no face thing was creepy, but still something fascinated him about Staryu. It was quite the beautiful pokémon, even though this one was strangely colored. He had placed its pokéball on the front most spot on his belt. The other spots were just waiting to fill up with pokémon as well.
It was still very sunny with not a cloud in sight. It was about noon when Cal Cossinsky first set his foot on real soil instead of on pavement. It was a strange feeling. The ground and the grass weren't as well kept as the grass in the parks of Pallet. The grass was tall on the side of the road and waved in the slight breeze. Clover's scarf fluttered as well and made him feel adventurous in a way. This just had to be preserved on photo. He took up his camera, which was hanging in the bag on his left shoulder, and started taking landscape pictures. He got some really nice shots, but they were a bit... non-vivid. Wasn't there supposed to be pokémon around here? He scanned the area with his own eyes. Maybe they were too good at hiding.
A sudden urge in the quiet situation made him take up the headphones hanging around his neck, to cover his ears. He then realized that he hadn't got a music player connected to them. He
then realized that it wasn't his usual headphones, but his pokétop. Oh. He reached in for the concealed button inside the headphones and pressed it. He had to pull away his arm quick because the pokétop suddenly folded out around his head and the next thing he knew, he was wearing a green helmet instead of a couple of headphones. Right. He could hear a faint buzz in his ear, but it went away quickly.
"Fancy," he said. "Only, a bit warm in this weather, no? Where did the inventors do their brainwork, in their thumbs?"
"Probably with their brains."
Cal jumped at the sudden response he got. He looked around. Nobody was there. Not a soul.
"Don't be alarmed," the strangely androgynous voice said. "I am your pokétop speaking."
"Oh! Of course!" Clover calmed down. How stupid of him. "It's voice controlled."
"I know."
"I know that you know, you are the voice, aren't you?"
"Well observed, Cal Cossinsky," the voice stated.¨
Clover was fumbling in his mind to find some good words to snap back with... but he couldn't.
"So, hello, I guess," he said instead.
"Hello! I hope you are glad to meet me. I am very glad to meet you."
Clover snickered. How cute, in a way. A computer program who's glad. "You are a computer program, aren't you?"
"That is correct."
"And a quite advanced one at that, no?"
"My artificial intelligence is not among the most advanced in the world, but I am specifically developed to handle personal relations and feelings as well as things regarding pokémon in any way."
"Hm, not among the most advanced..."
"I assure you I am advanced enough for you."
"What's that supposed to mean now?" Clover suddenly noticed that the pokétop voice had become more feminine as they spoke. "By the way, are you a female now?"
"I am a computer program. I am genderless. But based on my brief observations of you, a female voice will do better in your pokétop."
"Grr, so I'll have to listen to a girl wherever I go?"
"That is correct. Now, you should try using some of the commands in the pokétop."
"Commands? Like... pokédex, please?"
"Not quite like that. The command is: pokétop! Pokédex!"
"If you say so," Clover sighed and looked around. He must look a bit silly standing here on his own, talking, but nobody was around so... "Pokétop! Pokédex!"
The see throgh visor suddenly became a see through screen that resembled pokédexes Cal had seen online.
"Cool. Let's look up Staryu's info!"
"Staryu, the starshape pokémon. If it's body is torn, it can grow back if the core remains. The core flashes at midnight," the pokétop read.
"Uh, you don't have to read it out loud for me, you know..." Clover said.
"Noted. It seems like you only have one page in your pokédex. May I suggest you capture some more pokémon? A trainer should have a vast collection to choose from."
"Yeah, yeah, I will. I just... have to find them."
"Command: pokétop! Heat sensor!"
"It can do that?"
"No, that would make it too heavy. But it would be a nice addition."
Clover facepalmed.
"Pokémon are often found in tall grass or forests," the pokétop added.
"Alright, tall grass it is. Uh... can I take out Staryu?"
"Sounds like a good idea if you are going to battle a wild pokémon. Or were you planning on battling it yourself?"
"Ha. Ha. Ha," Clover said through clenched teeth. "Staryu, go!"
The starshape pokémon came out of it's pokéball as Clover threw it into the air. The pokéball then soared back into the boy's outstretched hand. "Nifty," he couldn't help saying.
Staryu looked energized and happy... at least Clover thought so.
"We're going to find some wild pokémon to capture!" Clover told him.
The bubbling noise answered him and Staryu jumped closer to his trainer. He didn't seem to have any problems with following orders just yet. Perhaps professor Cedar's pokémon had been trained already.
The mere presence of an unfamiliar pokémon, Staryu, seemed to stir up something in the tall grass some meters away. Suddenly a small, black, hyena looking pokémon jumped out onto the road and growled at the newcomers.
"May I suggest asking the pokédex to identify the wild species?" the pokétop said in Clover's ears.
"Yeah, sounds smart. Pokédex, identify!"
In his wide visor, but still so that he could see the view in front of him, a new page popped up. Apparently it was called Poochyena and was a dark type.
"It looks kind of vicious..."
Staryu stood strong without budging when the Poochyena growled on.
"... but we can take it! Staryu, it's time for our first battle."
"Good luck," the pokétop said.
"Thanks," Cal said, a bit surprised. "Well, I've looked up your attacks before, Staryu, so let's test them out. Tackle!"
Staryu jumped forward to ram the hyena, but Poochyena ran forward as well and met the tackle with one of its own. The two pokémon crashed and bounced back, still on their feet... or in Staryu's case, on some of its arms.
"That didn't do much..."
"I suggest another command: Pokétop! Battle mode!" the pokétop said.
"Alright, we'll see what that does. Pokétop! Battle mode!" Clover called out.
"No need to shout, I'm right here."
"Hm, sorry then..."
The visor changed. Gone was the pokédex and instead came up data on Staryu's current estimated health and status as well as the opponent's data. But the opponent's wasn't at all as detailed as Staryu's.
"That's actually... pretty nifty," Clover admitted.
"Indeed."
"So, Staryu, try Water Gun instead!"
Staryu let out a bubbling noise and then shot three bullets of water towards Poochyena. The hyena wasn't really prepared for that, and got hit and soaked. In Clover's visor, the estimated health bar for Poochyena sunk quite a lot.
"Great!" Clover exclaimed.
Poochyena didn't give up though. It backed away a little... only to come back and kick up sand all over Staryu's body! The water made it wet, at that.
"What is that? A Sand-Attack?"
Poochyena smiled smugly at them.
"Well, sorry to break it for you... but Staryu's got no face you can cover. I guess it kind of feels its way around, or what do you say, buddy?"
Staryu shouted something back to show that his trainer was right. Poochyena swallowed and started to back away again.
"Staryu, Rapid Spin!"
The muddy sand flew off as the star jumped up and started spinning quickly while jetting itself towards Poochyena. The hyena frantically growled to stop the attack, but to no avail. It got struck by the massive spinning body, and fell to the ground pretty much knocked out.
Staryu came back, like a boomerang, and landed next to Clover. "That wasn't too bad," Clover said with a raised eyebrow at the successful battle. Staryu let out his bubbling noise and looked rather proud, blowing up its body slightly.
"So now I can catch it? Pokétop?"
"That would be a good idea. If you don't, it will probably recover soon anyways. Pokémon are strangely sturdy."
"Yeah yeah. I'll catch it. And I know how to do it... at least they do it like this on TV."
He quickly picked up an empty pokéball from the pouch on his hip and threw it towards the Poochyena. It hit, since pokéballs are made to be drawn to the energies of pokémon, and the Poochyena was sucked inside. The ball twisted once... twice... Clover was starting to think that his first attempt at a capture would be a failure... while it finally stopped. He had made a capture.
---
@ me
- Staryu grew to lv 11!
- Clover captured a Poochyena! (lv 8, FEMALE, ability: Quick Feet)
