EricDaRed
Herald of A New Era
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- Seen Dec 31, 2009
"What's the status of your group?" One man, dressed in a while lab coat and holding a clipboard asked another similarly dressed man as they stood outside a large glass-enclosed pen with twelve charmander sleeping, milling about, and playing inside.
"The charmander have all reached level fourteen, so we're about a week ahead of schedule... with one exception," The second man explained.
"Exception?" The supervisor's eyes narrowed. He didn't like exceptions; they were bad for business.
"That smaller one in the corner is only at level nine," the man said as he pointed the weaker charmander out through the glass, then he added, "and his flame is about twelve degrees cooler than the others."
"We can't afford to feed and raise sub-quality pokemon. Remove him immediately," The supervisor ordered cooly. He made a small mark on his clipboard and began to walk away.
"Yes sir," The second man answered as he gazed at the small charmander. Even though he knew the small creature was soon going to be put to sleep, he felt no pity for it.
"The charmander have all reached level fourteen, so we're about a week ahead of schedule... with one exception," The second man explained.
"Exception?" The supervisor's eyes narrowed. He didn't like exceptions; they were bad for business.
"That smaller one in the corner is only at level nine," the man said as he pointed the weaker charmander out through the glass, then he added, "and his flame is about twelve degrees cooler than the others."
"We can't afford to feed and raise sub-quality pokemon. Remove him immediately," The supervisor ordered cooly. He made a small mark on his clipboard and began to walk away.
"Yes sir," The second man answered as he gazed at the small charmander. Even though he knew the small creature was soon going to be put to sleep, he felt no pity for it.
Pokemon: A New Era
Chapter I
Luke Granes draped his fingers lightly on the links of a rusty chain-link fence as a gust of wind pushed past the fence, tossing the fourteen-year-old's reddish blonde hair to and fro. His dark brown eyes were fixed squarely forward, as were the eyes of several other students who had gathered on this side of the fence.
On the other side of the fence, just outside school grounds, too older boys stood facing each other in the middle of the street, with about thirty feet between them. No one was watching the boys, however, they were watching the two brawling pokemon between them.
"Pidgeotto, keep gusting!" One trainer called, encouraging the flying pokemon to continue his windy assault.
The other pokemon, a hefty quagsire, used his water gun attack, but the incoming wind pushed the water back, causing a misty spray to waft over the quagsire and his trainer. The quagsire smirked goofily at this, but his trainer was decidedly less amused.
"Quagsire, what are you doing!? This is a new shirt!" The trainer complained, tossing his arms outward in a mini-tantrum. He added in a spat, "I knew I should have asked dad for a Riachu!"
The crowd of on looking students laughed, including Luke, but there laughter was cut-short when a white and blue car rounded the corner at the end of the block and began to approach the trainers. The familiar PTPD logo of the Pallet Town Police Department was clearly visible on the side of the vehicle.
"Uh oh, they're in tru-bull," One of the spectating students remarked with a satisfied grin.
"Dude, I'm outta here!" The quagsire trainer said as he withdrew his pokemon back inside its pokeball. Even before the pokeball completely closed, the trainer was bolting toward the fence. The other trainer followed suit, withdrawing his pokemon and running down the sidewalk in the opposite direction of the patrol car.
The police car's flashing lights began to strobe as it accelerated in pursuit of the second trainer.
The quagsire trainer scrambled up the fence, hurling himself over the top and landing awkwardly on the ground near the crowd of gawking students. As he landed, a small punch fell from his coat pocket without his notice. After regaining his balance he began sprinting again, heading toward the other side of campus.
The show being over, the crowd of students began to disperse.
Luke paused before leaving, though, to bend down and inspect the pouch dropped by the fleeing pokemon. It was a metallic silver color, with a white label that read ''Poke'farms Premium Poke'pellets: extra moist cinnamon muffin flavor'. Luke picked up the pouch and put into the back pouch of his backpack, imagining he would give it to his neighbor who had a pet snubbul.
Luke slung his backpack over his shoulder and began his walk home. Luke lived a couple miles from school and he normally rode his bike home; however, the chain on his bicycle was broken at the moment, so he had to walk.
Luke didn't mind walking, though, because he could take a shortcut through a small patch of forest that bordered the south side of his neighborhood. Sometimes he would catch sight of forest pokemon like spearow, pidgey, and weedle, and he enjoyed seeing them. They never let him get close though, always running away as soon as they saw him. He never knew why. From his somewhat naive point of view, the pokemon shouldn't have any reason to be afraid of him.
Sometimes Luke wished he could have a pet pokemon, like his neighbor. His parents never let him though, explaining that indoor pokemon are too destructive on the home and that their homeowners' covenants prohibited outside pets.
Luke entered the small forest, still daydreaming about having a pet, and headed north between the trees. He scanned the branches as he went, but didn't spot any of the usual flying types. As he was looking up, he heard a 'sploosh' and felt his foot suddenly become damp and cold. He looked down to see that he has stepped in a puddle. He jerked his foot up and shook it in discomfort, he grumbled "Aww, man. Mom's gonna kill me."
Then he took a closer look around. There were many puddles, and even some of the tree branches were dripping wet. 'There hasn't been any rain all month, were did all of this water come from?' he wondered.
He soon got his answer. He spotted a small pidgey laying on its side on the ground. It's feathers were ruffled and soaked with water. He ran to its side a bent down, but as soon as he touched the bird its eyes shot open and it flew quickly into the air, its flight path noticeably wobbly.
From the right, a burst of water suddenly came crashing through the foliage. Luke spun around to see that a quagsire had fired the blast. Behind the round blue pokemon was the same trainer Luke saw fleeing the police an hour earlier. The trainer ordered, "After him you slowpoke, you're missing out on the experience!"
Experience? Luke was unsure of what the trainer was referring to, his knowledge of pokemon trainer jargon was somewhat limited. Regardless, Luke's blood was boiling at the fact that this trainer was bullying a weak, frightened pokemon.
As the quagsire waddled forward per his owner's command, Luke stepped around the tree to block the pokemon's path. The pokemon was taken aback slightly, and puzzled, "Qua??"
"Stop!" Luke demanded to the other boy, who was at least two years his senior.
"Get out of my way, twerp. I'm training my quagsire here," The older boy responded.
"Go train somewhere else! Don't attack helpless pokemon!" Luke demanded, hiding his fear of the older, stronger boy as much as he could.
"I don't have time for this, let's go Quag." The trainer replied. The quagsire stepped past Luke, scanning the trees for his soggy victim. As the trainer passed by, he looked into Luke's eyes with a menacing glare.
Luke stared back, frozen in place, his heart beating furiously in his chest.
The trainer and his quagsire went about twenty feet further into the forest, searching for the pidgey they were hunting. Luke followed them, still keeping quiet.
The older boy looked disdainfully over his shoulder at Luke and said, "Beat it, kid."
Just then, Luke spotted the pidgey a few yards to the left, resting on a low tree branch. Afraid that the older boy would spot the injured bird, Luke called out, "Hey! You're nothing but a big bully... and... uh, you need to leave these pokemon alone!"
The trainer spun around with his teeth and fists clenched. He took several heavy steps toward Luke before stopping a few inches from the younger boy's face, "What are you going to do about it?"
"This!" Luke said as he made a fist and accelerated it into the older boy's gut. The trainer grunted in surprise and Luke took off running in the opposite direction of the pidgey.
The diversion worked, the trainer and his quagsire were no longer pursuing the pidgey, but were now chasing after Luke instead. As he ran, Luke caught his foot on a tree root and sprawled forward and landed face-first in one of Quagsire's puddles.
Luke rolled over, with mud covering his face, to see the older boy standing over him with his fists ready to strike. Luke threw a handful of mud at the bully, splashing him in the eyes.
"Ahh! My eyes!" The older boy shouted. Then, as he wiped the mud from his eyes, he added, "That's it! Quagsire, use water gun!"
"Wha...?" Before Luke could finish the word, he was struck in the face by a powerful burst of pressurized water. He sputtered and coughed as he forced himself to his feet and began running again. He didn't even get ten feet away before his backpack was struck by another burst of water, and he was sent sprawling into the dirt again.
Luke was now completely soaked, and his clothing and hair was caked in mud.
"Hahaha," The older boy jeered. Motioning for his quagsire to stop, he said, "That'll teach you to get in my way, punk. Come on Quag, let's go home, all this training is making me hungry."
"Quag!" the pokemon said enthusiastically at the mention of food. With that, the bully returned Quagsire to his pokeball, turned, and began walking away.
Luke sat up, pulled of his backpack, and set it on a small spot on the ground that was still mostly dry. He sat there in the mud and numbly watched the trainer walk away. Suddenly, the trainer tripped and fell down, landing face-first in the mud.
The trainer shouted, "What tripped me!?"
Luke busted out laughing, thoroughly enjoying the poetic justice. The trainer gave Luke a thoroughly nasty look before getting up and angrily stomping away.
After the trainer was gone, something shiny caught Luke's eye near the spot where the bully tripped. Luke went over to investigate, carrying his backpack with him, and found a small thread of gleaming sturdy silk draped between the trees at ankle-level. Luke ran his fingers along the silk and said, "A trip wire?"
That's when Luke noticed a small green pokemon hiding in the brush. It was a caterpie. Luke looked at the pokemon, who's head was barley visible through the foliage, and said, "Is this your string? Did you trip that trainer?"
"Pi..." The Caterpie quickly ducked its head and it moved backward, clearly afraid of the mud-covered young man that was speaking to him.
"No, wait..." Luke spoke as softly as he could, "I wanted to thank you."
Luke reached into his backpack and pulled out the pack of poke'pellets . He tore open the bag and shook three of the light brown cinnamon flavored pellets into his hand. He tossed one of the pellets onto the ground near Caterpie's hiding place and said, "Here, have a snack. I hope you like cinnamon."
The worm-shaped pokemon eyed the pellet with interest, but didn't make any movement towards it. It was too nervous.
Luke tossed a couple more pellets onto the same spot and said, "I'm not like that mean trainer. I'm a nice guy."
Still, the caterpie remained hidden in the brush. After another three minutes or so, Luke put the bag of poke'pellets back into his bookbag and said, "Well, I have to go home little guy. Enjoy your snack."
With that, Luke slung his muddy backpack over his shoulder, and resumed his walk home. As he walked away, he didn't notice that Caterpie had left his hiding spot, just a little, in order to watch the young man walk away. As soon as Luke was gone, the small pokemon eagerly devoured the small pile of poke'pellets.
Luke was dreading his parents' reaction to his filthy state. Still, he didn't have much choice but to go home and face the music. Luke hopped over the wooden plank fence that bordered his yard and the small forest he cut through and walked up to his home's sliding glass door. He could see his father using the computer and his mother watching TV on the couch in the living room.
The dirty young man tapped on the window, and his mom looked curiously in his direction wondering why he didn't just come in. One look at her son answered that question for her. She jumped up from the couch and hurried over to the door, while her husband continued to type obliviously away on the computer.
Mrs. Granes slid the door open and looked at her son with a mix of frustration and concern, "What on earth happened to you!?"
"It's a long story mom... can I get cleaned up first?" He asked politely.
"Sure, honey, I'll go grab you a towel and some clean clothes," She answered.
A couple an hours later, at the dinner table over pot roast and peas, Luke told his parents what happened in the forest. Luke's father was furious. He wasn't furious at Luke, thankfully.
"How dare that kid attack my son with a pokemon! We should have him arrested!" Mr. Granes declared. Then he added, "I've always said this pokemon training thing has gone too far. Kids can't handle that kind of responsibility!"
"Well, you do have to have a pokemon training licence." Luke's mom replied, "It's not like it used to be were anyone with a dollar for a pokeball could become a pokemon trainer."
"Well the requirements are obviously not strict enough if people like this bully are allowed to train pokemon," Mr. Granes responded.
"Luke, you really shouldn't have punched that boy in the first place." Luke's mom lectured.
"But mom, he was harming innocent pokemon, I couldn't just let him..." Luke began to explain.
"Then you should have come to us," She interrupted. Luke's father nodded in agreement.
"Then he would have kept attacking that pidgey, and its not like you would actually have done anything about it!" Luke snapped.
"Watch your tone with us," Luke's dad said in an authoritative tone, his face firm and unyielding.
"No!" Luke said as he abruptly rose from his seat, "I did the right thing and all you can do is tell me that I was wrong! Thanks for the support!"
Leaving his dinner half-finished, Luke stormed down the hall into his room and slammed the door. His father started angrily after him, but Mrs. Granes gently grabbed her husband's arm and said, "Let him cool off. He's probably being defensive because he's embarrassed about being beat up."
"Fine." Mr. Granes said huffily as he sat down and shoved a forkful of peas into his mouth.
"You know, if we'd let Luke get a learner's license..." Mrs. Granes began.
"No." Her husband responded curtly.
"My brother could teach him how to..." She began again.
"No." He repeated, then added, "He's too young. Its too much responsibility."
"You were a pokemon trainer when you were twelve," his wife reasoned.
"Yea, and we know how that turned out, don't we? The answer is no." Mr. Granes said with finality, signaling that the conversation was over.
Later that evening, at around 9:00, Luke's mom tapped lightly on his door.
"Yea?" He answered.
His mother opened the door and looked in, seeing her son standing at the window and staring outside. Luke said to his mother, "What do you want?"
"To check on my stubborn son," she said playfully. Coming into the room she asked, "What are you looking at?"
"The forest. After that bully attacked me, a little caterpie spun a web between a couple trees and tripped him." Luke explained, "I was just wondering how that little guy was doing."
"Well maybe you'll see him on the way to school tomorrow, your father still hasn't gotten around to fixing your bike," She said.
"Hmm... maybe." Luke answered, "I don't think it will matter, the caterpie was too scared to come near me."
"Well, honey, pokemon are scared of us. They think they might be attacked, or captured." She explained, "We can't blame them, its our own fault."
After a quiet moment, Luke asked quietly, "Mom? Were wild pokemon always afraid of us like they are now?"
"No, but that was a long time ago, during your great-grandfather's time," She answered.
"If I was a pokemon trainer, I'd never attack a scared pokemon. I'd only try to capture pokemon that were willing to fight me and that, ya know, understand the risks," Luke said.
"That reminds me of something your great-grandfather told me. He said sometimes wild pokemon want to battle a trainer, because battling is a way for the pokemon to decide if the trainer is worthy to train them," She continued, "It's kinda like getting married. Some people want to get married, some don't. Those that do have to search for the right person. Some pokemon want to be domestic, to belong to a trainer, some don't. Those that do have to decide who they want to be partners with."
"Now," Luke's mom said as she leaned in and wrapped her boy in a warm hug, "Is a fourteen year old too grown-up to let his mother tuck him in?"
Luke blushed slightly and said, "Nah, mom, just don't tell my friends."
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