OOC: Okay, time for this RPG to go somewhere...
IC:
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During the time the destined trainers were interacting with each other and letting their Pokemon out, Professor Willow was at her computer in the other corner, sorting some Pokemon in their boxes, checking email... all the usual stuff. She occasionally kept an eye on the Pokevices in front of her, mildly surprised yet relieved that nobody had noticed them yet. She also occasionally glanced at what was going on with the trainers. One of the boys had tried to flirt with two of the girls but got slapped in the process. A few people and Pokemon had gone outside, probably the lake judging by the splashing going on. Apparently a Milotic was causing a raucous out there... Some people had noticed the pictures of legendary Pokemon on the walls, and some had had their Pokemon interact...
In all this, Gon turned his immediate attention to the pictures of the legendary Pokemon, and began to look at each one individually. Articuno... he had heard about that one, that it inhabited the Seafoam Islands here in Kanto. Mewtwo... It had been genetically altered from another legendary, Mew. Palkia... that one he knew well; there was a statue of it and Dialga near his home in Eterna City, Sinnoh. Arceus... that one was actually worshiped in a church near his house--the creator of all Pokemon and quite possibly the universe, even.
Gon's attention was interrupted by a pretty-looking girl who looked to be an avid swimmer, or perhaps a volleyball player who really enjoyed parties and spending time in the sun. His eyes followed her for a while, and he smiled as she talked to him, about the pictures on the wall, above all else. It certainly wasn't some cheesy pick-up line Kazu had employed with the other two girls. This meant that this girl was not a desperate flirt, but still might have been mildly interested in him... Unfortunately, Gon had no idea what to say to her, so she just left the lab... Well, that was nothing new--it had happened with several girls his age in school. Apparently several girls had found him mildly attractive at some point, maybe even fascinated by the fact that although he was probably a geek, he had the sense to spend some time outside, whether to take a stroll in the park with his Pokemon or to run from base to base in a baseball game.
Nevertheless, eventually Gon decided to follow Jemima out the door, to see where she went. Besides, this would be a good excuse to let Kaiser out of his Pokeball, perhaps even let him take a swim in the lake he bassed before entering. But just as he was about to walk out the door, he noticed two things. First, there was a newspaper stand just outside the door, with a picture of a cute, robotic-looking Pokemon on the front page. Second, Professor Willow was standing up, turning off the computer, and gathering... something... into a large black bag. Then she started to head outside.
"Come on all of you," Willow announced to everyone still inside the lab, "come outside--we'll meet just at the edge of the lake. I have something to give you--something that I think you'll all find fascinating."
There needed to be no other explanation. Gon rushed out the door behind Professor Willow, eyeing the newspaper on the way. This was worth getting out his laptop and checking out the news later on... First of all, Gon spotted Jemima, sitting with her legs in the lake, letting the playfully lapping waters splash their way against them. There was also a Milotic, a Teddiursa, a Flygon, and a boy and a girl present, and a thick cloud of steam hovered in the middle of the lake. Apparently one of the Pokemon had attacked it.
Gon sat down next to Jemima and let Kaiser out of his Pokeball. The Piplup landed in the water, swam around a bit, then jumped out of the water, did a somersault midair, landed in a small cannonball splash, and did the same thing all over again.
"Erm... sorry for not answering back there..." Gon commented with a slight stutter to his voice, which was very common when he talked to any girl other than Ari. "By the way... you look very pretty near the water. I take it you like to swim?"
While Gon was talking and looking at Jemima (well, primarily her legs), he pulled out his laptop and set it down on one of the dryer patches of grass. After waiting a short while for it to boot up, all he had to do was click on an internet browser, hit another button... and he got to the news page, which showed the same Pokemon picture as the printed newspaper did. After noticing the title ("What is this Pokemon?!?"), he remembered Jemima and said something else to her.
"Oh! Oh! You might not consider guys like me to be stupid, but I suppose not asking what your name is is stupid, no? Hehheh, I'm Gon..."
A pause.
"No, no, not like that. I didn't mean I was going to leave you... I mean my NAME is Gon. Or at least... well, whatever. What's yours?"
Gon couldn't believe he had already made a joke within the first few moments of a conversation. Why did that always seem to happen?
Gon skimmed over the news article for a while, which talked about the discovery of a mysterious Pokemon in Hoenn...
"...Researchers are still unsure about whether or not this creature really is a Pokemon; who knows, it could be a robot created by Team Alpha or its E-Gang companion. Nobody really seems to know anything about this 'Pokemon' at the moment, nor how people found out about it. It's never been seen before; it appears as if this picture was either a joke by a Pokemon fan or stolen from some secret organisation... Whatever it is, the assistants to Professor Birch and the scholars of Rustboro Academy are working on this issue..."
While waiting for the lovely girl's response (maybe she was peeking at the screen?), Gon clicked on a link to another article, the second on the list. This one showed the Indigo League stadium and a crowd of panicky people, and bore the title "Indigo Panic: Unusual murders prompt police to evacuate civilians".
"Starting a few months ago, strange things have been happening here in the Indigo Plateau. Dead bodies have been found in the most peculiar of places within that time, the most peculiar being the unlit torch where the sacred Moltres flame burns during the Indigo League; three have been found dead there. It is rather obvious that all these killings were caused by the same person, for the methods in which they died are always the same. There are always three bodies, all pale and stationary with no visible wounds or anything. All three are always surrounded with a circle of rainbow-coloured dust, lately found to be ground Arceus plates. How the killer obtained these, the experts currently have no idea. Also inscribed in each circle is a message in another language that has yet to be deciphered. Below the circle, though, are always the words 'Arceus bless ye all'. This has left everyone from linguists to paranormal researchers perplexed, but Pokemon experts have claimed that it might be a Pokemon who did this. One such person, Vincent Estrel of Lavender Town, claims that it was a legendary Pokemon of the Psychic-type. He went on to explain that the appearance of..."
"Chirruta!"
This cry got everyone's attention--people turned to see Professor Willow, standing near the lake with an Altaria next to her.
"Greetings, chosen Pokemon trainers," Professor Willow announced. "By the way, this is Cornflower--she helps me out on adventures and deliveries occasionally, but it's a long story."
"Chirut," the Altaria agreed.
"The point is, I have something for all of you. I just received a letter from this mysterious trio called the Uma Sisters, who mentioned something about a journey you're... destined... to take."
Willow paused a bit to try to think of a better word than "destined", but even her wonderfully intelligent mind couldn't come up with anything.
"...They told me this:"
Willow took out a piece of ancient-looking parchment, and read a sort of poem off it:
"Deep below you lies a secret
Solemn though it may well be
The fates seem determined to keep it
Hidden safe from you and me.
A message from our divination
Came to us to tell you this:
There's a cure from this complication
Which you can't afford to miss.
The fates have given us some names
And have called upon them so
Now they come to play these games
You shall show them where to go.
So you shall help them start
Before on a journey they're gone
Free the legends in their heart
Give them each a Pokemon."
There was a long pause in the audience; some swore they heard Kricketot chirping in the background, however uncommon they are in Kanto. (OOC: Totally cartooney, but...)
"...I think even a Bidoof will be able to figure this poem out, however mysterious its origin. Now I know you all have Pokemon already, but do you have one of these?"
Willow took out a Pokevice, one that was a brilliant shade of glittering sky blue and had a small bird icon on the front. Then she put it back in her bag, regarding it as unimportant for the moment. Then she looked around the room, to find out that not everyone had arrived yet. There were twenty-four names on the list; I only see nine of you here so far. But no matter--there are probably incidents out there which are preventing the other fifteen from arriving here by now, not to mention I made it rather ambiguous what time you should get here by. As you can probably tell, I don't come into contact with large groups of people very often, and I have no assistants in my laboratory. So forgive me for being new to the task of delegation and summoning... But anyway, if you will all come a little closer, I can give you your Pokevices. Now, before you open the single Pokeball inside of them, let me warn you--you will be surprised as to the kind of Pokemon that's inside. And yes, the Pokemon is yours to keep--it has agreed to help you on this journey the Uma Sisters speak of. However, I would advise you not to show it off to other trainers; they will become suspicious and probably extremely jealous, and you wouldn't want anyone to hate you that way, would you?"
When all the trainers were gathered around, Willow started handing out the Pokevices:
- Addie's was a bright yellowish orange in colour, with a pinkish flame design on it. The background of the screen showed the Indigo League Stadium, with the giant torch burning in the middle.
- Jemima's was as pink as a Clefairy, with bright blue trim around the main window and on the buttons. The background on the screen showed a starry night sky with faintly glowing blue clouds below.
- Candice's was ashy brown, with jagged lines across it, and had a design of a star with seven points--yellow on top, red on bottom. The background of the screen showed a volcano.
- Rin's Pokevice was rainbow-coloured, standing out against the others. This one had a little bird icon on the front, and the background on the screen showed the Tin Tower.
- Bobby received a brick-red Pokevice, with spooky-looking green circles all over it. The background on the screen showed a double helix pattern.
- Isaac also ended up with a pink Pokevice, one with purple stripes and a pearl icon on it. The background on the screen was a picture of the observable universe--thousands of galaxies were present.
- Gon's Pokevice was half yellow and half white, with what looked like a trim of green trees around the screen. The background on the screen was a picture of Regirock, Regice, and Registeel.
- Jacob's was misty blue when viewed from one angle, and bright lavender from another. Little yellow moons were also present. The background on the screen showed a bunch of Clefairy gathered around the Moon Stone.
- Kazu's Pokevice was white and green, with pink flowers all over it. The background on the screen showed a meadow.
After that, Willow highly anticipated the sound of Pokeballs opening and people gasping or cheering...
Gon stood there with his laptop in one arm (at that angle, most people could see the news article still visible on the screen) and his Pokevice in his other hand, examining the little device from all angles. Then he glanced at Professor Willow, who nodded encouragingly, and looked back at the Pokevice. He pressed the button on the front to open it, upon which he saw a screen with a picture of Regirock, Regice, and Registeel in the background. This one listed information about his Pokemon, so he saw a Piplup icon and a Venonat icon on the screen and some information--their type, their attacks, their level, their status, their original trainer ("Mariko Tsukimaru" was listed as Kaiser's original trainer)... Puffy even had a bunch of stars next to her icon, indicating she was shiny. There were some buttons underneath the screen that probably led to the other features of the Pokevice, including one button that flipped out a side screen. Above the main screen, though, were six Pokeball-shaped buttons. The first one had a question mark on it as well.
"Hmm, I wonder what this button does..."
Gon pressed one of the other Pokeball buttons, and a message appeared on the screen: "Please touch the button on your Pokeball to the desired button on the Pokevice."
Ah, this must be the Pokeball-storing feature.
Gon took out Puffy's Pokeball and did as the screen instructed. When he did, the entire Pokeball vanished into the button, and a Venonat icon appeared on the button. Figuring it out, Gon then did the same for Kaiser's Pokeball, except the Piplup icon that appeared was a silhouette. This meant that Kaiser was outside his Pokeball.
But as for the Pokeball button with the question mark on it... what was that? Did this release the mystery Pokemon Professor Willow had just been talking about? Gon paused a moment, his thumb trembling with excitement...
Poof!
"Regiii!"
Gon nearly dropped his Pokevice when he saw what came out of the Pokeball.
"...R-R-Regigigas?!?" Gon stammered. He shut his eyes tight, shook his head, and looked again--sure enough, there was Regigigas. It was half the size Gon thought Regigigas was (only about six feet tall, as opposed to twelve), but still...
"Hello Hiroshi. ...Arceus sent me to find you. Don't worry about it--it's a long story I don't feel like telling. What? You know, even though I'm uberly rare and you wouldn't expect to see me every day, you don't HAVE to keep staring at me as if I were some new video game that came out."
Regigigas was talking telepathically to Gon.
"Are you for real?" Gon decided to reply telepathically. "Oh, can you hear me?"
Regigigas nodded.
"Oh, sorry... I just didn't expect a Regigigas to come out of that Pokeball, was all. But really... did Arceus itself really send you to find ME, of all people? Me, just a humdrum trainer in this everyday world? ...Why?"
Regigigas shrugged.
Gon took this moment to see how the others were doing.
"You have to press the button with the Pokeball and the question mark on it," he explained. "You won't BELIEVE what'll come out."
Gon pointed to Regigigas as he said this.
"By the way, I just read an article about some incident going on in the Indigo Plateau. Apparently there's... oh."
Hardly anyone was listening to him--they were probably occupied with their Pokevices. All Gon could do was admire his new Regigigas... Regigigas, a legendary Pokemon... Wow. Lucky him. He had only to wonder why he got such a Pokemon...