Ch. 2 - Hatching up a plan
"What's an egg doing out here?" I said to the egg (yeah, like it could respond).
The egg in question was a bright blue on top, white on the bottom and had two orange triangles on it's sides pointing inward.
After staring at it while on my butt for a while I got up.
"Hmm, let's see," -there doesn't appear to be any wild pokemon guarding this egg- "maybe it's an orphan?"
Well, their loss was my gain. ^_^
I carefully made my way down Route 202 (let me tell ya, jumping down those ledges is way scarier than in the game). I did encounter a few pokemon (mostly Starly and Shinx) that wouldn't let me be and attacked me but a swift punch or kick sent them packing. There were also a few people that wanted to battle me but I had to turn them down (I did promise one or two that I'd battle them later though).
At last, I had arrived in Sandgem Town. -There's way more houses here than in the game-
Following the map's directions I went right until I saw Professor Rowan's lab. -holy #$%* it's HUGE!-
I opened the door and waltz right in. -geez, for a lab there isn't much security...-
"Hello? Is anybody home?" No answer. "HELLO!!!"
"No need to shout my boy!" said a raggety old voice from behind me.
*GASP!* "You shouldn't sneak up on people like that!"
"Sorry, but this IS my lab afterall. I'm Professor Rowan" said the old man as he looked me over. "Hmm, you must be here to register as a pokemon trainer."
"Huh? How'd you know?"
"The Nurse Joy from Jubilife City send a Starly over with a message and a description of you," he explained. "Apparently she forgot to ask for you name!" he said followed with a hearty laugh.
-Makes sense.-
"By the way, what IS you name? It's kind of required to register."
"It's..." I paused. "It's Kole. Kole Grace." I thought, -Why should I use my old name?- I never liked it anyway.
"Kole? That's an unusual name. Alright, let's get you registered!"
We were walking down a hall to what I assumed was where you get registered.
"Oh yeah Professor Rowan, could you take a look at this pokemon egg I found?" I said just remembering the egg I was carrying.
"Well, I'm no expert in pokemon eggs but I'll take a look. Hmm, blue and white, maybe it's an Azurill?"
"What about the orange triangles?"
"Perhaps they represent the inner ear?"
-Hmm, I guess that makes sense.-
"Tee hee."
Huh?
"Hey professor, did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"I thought I heard someone giggling."
"Oh, it probably just one of my assistant's daughters. They sometimes bring them to the lab to see the pokemon."
"Huh."
- - -
We arrived at a (relatively small) computer where Professor Rowan inputed my information and such.
"And...done. You're now an official pokemon trainer! Now, about your starter - "
"Can I get a Squirtle!?!" I asked with enthusiasm.
"Hmm? Why a Squirtle?"
"They're one of my favourite pokemon!"
"Well, I don't usually do this but I'll make an exception this time since I currently don't have a starter to give you. I call Professor Oak and see if he can prepare a Squirtle to be your partner."
"Alright! Thanks Professor!" I said as I shook his hands with vigor.
"But what will you do for a pokemon until your starter arrives?"
"I guess I'll just have this Azurill be my partner until then." I looked down at the egg I held when I thought of something. "By the way, do you know if there are any Bellsprout or Oddish around here?"
"Why would you ask that?"
"Well, since Azurill have decent Special Attack I thought I'd train with it against those kinds of pokemon to help it gain Special Attack Effort Values."
"Effort Values? What in the world are you talking about?" he asked when I realized I let something slip.
-Crap! I forgot Effort Values aren't known about by anyone in the pokemon game! Wait a minute, this gives me an idea!-
"Well you see, I've kinda travelled with some friends who were pokemon trainers in the past and, over time, I noticed that when their pokemon battled other specific pokemon they tended to get better in certain stats areas and since it takes a lot of effort to gain the improvements in their abilities I decided to call them Effort Values." I told the Professor. -Wow, that was the longest lie I've ever told.-
"So you're saying that battling specific species of pokemon will help a pokemon improve it's abilities in a specific way?!?"
"Pretty much."
"This is incredible! I must inform all of my colleagues at once!"
And with that, in a matter of hours (at least, that's what it seemed like to me) my "discovery" of Effort Values was researched very thoroughly by Professor Rowan, his associates, and anyone else they could get in contact with. They also "discovered" the limitations of Effort Values too. At the same time I was warming up the egg with my body heat while taking a nap on a couch.
"Kole my boy wake up!"
"Bwha?" I mumbled, still half-asleep.
"I want to personally congratulate you on your discovery. Thanks to you, my associates, their associates, and myself have managed to find and record 95% of pokemon Effort Values!"
"Cool. What's the other 5%?"
"The legendary pokemon."
"Ah."
"We want to give you an award for this discovery!"
-Hmm, very tempting but...- "No thanks."
"We'll - what? No thanks?!?"
"Yeah, you see, I'd rather be known as a legendary pokemon trainer than a scientist/pokemon trainer."
"But, who will we name as the one who discovered it then?"
"Just use my initials if you want. Heck, claim it yourself if you want."
"I wouldn't dare claim something I did not discover myself. I'll just use your initials and say that you'd rather keep your identity hidden."
"Okay."
"Oh wait! I just remembered! Someone left a number of articles for you!"
"Huh?"
We went back down the hallway towards the main area of the lab. On a table on the otherside of the room was a package.
"See? It's addressed to you."
Just like he said, it was addressed to "Kole Grace".
"Are you sure it's meant for me? I mean, how many Kole Grace's are out there?"
"Trust me, through all the years I've lived here, you are the first person to ever have that name."
Eh, better not look this gift horse in the mouth. Inside the package was a pair of blue pants that looked like they were made of polyester ("They're made of polyfiber. A vast improvement over that ancient material since it's waterproof AND breathes."), a black t-shirt, a white longed-sleaved shirt, a pair of black-fingered white gloves, a few pairs of underwear, a new pair of shoes, a blue headband, a black baseball cap, a dirt-colored cloak, and a backpack like the one in the game, all that I assumed to be made of polyfiber. -Dear god! How did all of this fit into that tiny package-
"That's...a lot."
"Yes. The package must have been using the same storage function as a bag. You see, it's wired to a PC where the items are stored thus, theoretically, providing an infinite amount of space. Oh, I'm sorry, I was just rambling there wasn't I?"
"Yeah." -At least I got an explaination on how it works-
I went to the bathroom, after having Professor Rowan point it out for me, and changed, wearing the black t-shirt over the white shirt. But when I got to the pants...
"Hmm." I looked through the cupboard and found a matchbook. I lit one up and burned a small hole right below the left knee on the pants. "Much better." You see, I had a pair of pants just like these at home that somehow (don't know how) got a burn hole just below the left knee and I thought it made it look cooler. I put them on, along with the shoes, gloves and baseball cap, then placed the cloak and headband in the backpack.
-I wonder who would leave this much for someone?- I thought about, then cast the thought aside. -oh well, no use worrying about it-
I came out and showed the professor my new look.
"Excellent, now you look like a real trainer! And about your question earlier, there aren't any of those grass pokemon around here but I made an alternative just for you..."
- - -
That afternoon (I couldn't believe all of that happened in just one morning!) Professor Rowan showed me around town, introducing me to everyone we met, and I mean EVERYONE! (At least a kind old lady was nice enough to give us some lunch.) After that we returned to the lab so he could set me up with a newer version pokedex, one that could even identify EVs (effort values) of pokemon and how many EVs in a certain stat my pokemon had.
It was late in the evening after dinner (his treat) when the professor suggested I stay for a few days. ("You should wait until that egg hatches then train some. You never know what you'll encounter out there!") I was offered a room to sleep in but I suggested that I sleep outside instead ("I might as well get use to it now rather than later."). Fortunately there was a sleeping bag in the backpack.
As I zipped myself in and made sure the egg was against my body I managed to fall asleep (eventually). Unbeknownst to me, the egg hatched in the night. The little pokemon did something with the egg shells then snuggled back into my embrace.Chapter End Notes:Okay, the next chapter will involve training the new pokemon. Anyone care to guess what it is?
Need a hint? It's a shiny pokemon
The egg in question was a bright blue on top, white on the bottom and had two orange triangles on it's sides pointing inward.
After staring at it while on my butt for a while I got up.
"Hmm, let's see," -there doesn't appear to be any wild pokemon guarding this egg- "maybe it's an orphan?"
Well, their loss was my gain. ^_^
I carefully made my way down Route 202 (let me tell ya, jumping down those ledges is way scarier than in the game). I did encounter a few pokemon (mostly Starly and Shinx) that wouldn't let me be and attacked me but a swift punch or kick sent them packing. There were also a few people that wanted to battle me but I had to turn them down (I did promise one or two that I'd battle them later though).
At last, I had arrived in Sandgem Town. -There's way more houses here than in the game-
Following the map's directions I went right until I saw Professor Rowan's lab. -holy #$%* it's HUGE!-
I opened the door and waltz right in. -geez, for a lab there isn't much security...-
"Hello? Is anybody home?" No answer. "HELLO!!!"
"No need to shout my boy!" said a raggety old voice from behind me.
*GASP!* "You shouldn't sneak up on people like that!"
"Sorry, but this IS my lab afterall. I'm Professor Rowan" said the old man as he looked me over. "Hmm, you must be here to register as a pokemon trainer."
"Huh? How'd you know?"
"The Nurse Joy from Jubilife City send a Starly over with a message and a description of you," he explained. "Apparently she forgot to ask for you name!" he said followed with a hearty laugh.
-Makes sense.-
"By the way, what IS you name? It's kind of required to register."
"It's..." I paused. "It's Kole. Kole Grace." I thought, -Why should I use my old name?- I never liked it anyway.
"Kole? That's an unusual name. Alright, let's get you registered!"
We were walking down a hall to what I assumed was where you get registered.
"Oh yeah Professor Rowan, could you take a look at this pokemon egg I found?" I said just remembering the egg I was carrying.
"Well, I'm no expert in pokemon eggs but I'll take a look. Hmm, blue and white, maybe it's an Azurill?"
"What about the orange triangles?"
"Perhaps they represent the inner ear?"
-Hmm, I guess that makes sense.-
"Tee hee."
Huh?
"Hey professor, did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"I thought I heard someone giggling."
"Oh, it probably just one of my assistant's daughters. They sometimes bring them to the lab to see the pokemon."
"Huh."
- - -
We arrived at a (relatively small) computer where Professor Rowan inputed my information and such.
"And...done. You're now an official pokemon trainer! Now, about your starter - "
"Can I get a Squirtle!?!" I asked with enthusiasm.
"Hmm? Why a Squirtle?"
"They're one of my favourite pokemon!"
"Well, I don't usually do this but I'll make an exception this time since I currently don't have a starter to give you. I call Professor Oak and see if he can prepare a Squirtle to be your partner."
"Alright! Thanks Professor!" I said as I shook his hands with vigor.
"But what will you do for a pokemon until your starter arrives?"
"I guess I'll just have this Azurill be my partner until then." I looked down at the egg I held when I thought of something. "By the way, do you know if there are any Bellsprout or Oddish around here?"
"Why would you ask that?"
"Well, since Azurill have decent Special Attack I thought I'd train with it against those kinds of pokemon to help it gain Special Attack Effort Values."
"Effort Values? What in the world are you talking about?" he asked when I realized I let something slip.
-Crap! I forgot Effort Values aren't known about by anyone in the pokemon game! Wait a minute, this gives me an idea!-
"Well you see, I've kinda travelled with some friends who were pokemon trainers in the past and, over time, I noticed that when their pokemon battled other specific pokemon they tended to get better in certain stats areas and since it takes a lot of effort to gain the improvements in their abilities I decided to call them Effort Values." I told the Professor. -Wow, that was the longest lie I've ever told.-
"So you're saying that battling specific species of pokemon will help a pokemon improve it's abilities in a specific way?!?"
"Pretty much."
"This is incredible! I must inform all of my colleagues at once!"
And with that, in a matter of hours (at least, that's what it seemed like to me) my "discovery" of Effort Values was researched very thoroughly by Professor Rowan, his associates, and anyone else they could get in contact with. They also "discovered" the limitations of Effort Values too. At the same time I was warming up the egg with my body heat while taking a nap on a couch.
"Kole my boy wake up!"
"Bwha?" I mumbled, still half-asleep.
"I want to personally congratulate you on your discovery. Thanks to you, my associates, their associates, and myself have managed to find and record 95% of pokemon Effort Values!"
"Cool. What's the other 5%?"
"The legendary pokemon."
"Ah."
"We want to give you an award for this discovery!"
-Hmm, very tempting but...- "No thanks."
"We'll - what? No thanks?!?"
"Yeah, you see, I'd rather be known as a legendary pokemon trainer than a scientist/pokemon trainer."
"But, who will we name as the one who discovered it then?"
"Just use my initials if you want. Heck, claim it yourself if you want."
"I wouldn't dare claim something I did not discover myself. I'll just use your initials and say that you'd rather keep your identity hidden."
"Okay."
"Oh wait! I just remembered! Someone left a number of articles for you!"
"Huh?"
We went back down the hallway towards the main area of the lab. On a table on the otherside of the room was a package.
"See? It's addressed to you."
Just like he said, it was addressed to "Kole Grace".
"Are you sure it's meant for me? I mean, how many Kole Grace's are out there?"
"Trust me, through all the years I've lived here, you are the first person to ever have that name."
Eh, better not look this gift horse in the mouth. Inside the package was a pair of blue pants that looked like they were made of polyester ("They're made of polyfiber. A vast improvement over that ancient material since it's waterproof AND breathes."), a black t-shirt, a white longed-sleaved shirt, a pair of black-fingered white gloves, a few pairs of underwear, a new pair of shoes, a blue headband, a black baseball cap, a dirt-colored cloak, and a backpack like the one in the game, all that I assumed to be made of polyfiber. -Dear god! How did all of this fit into that tiny package-
"That's...a lot."
"Yes. The package must have been using the same storage function as a bag. You see, it's wired to a PC where the items are stored thus, theoretically, providing an infinite amount of space. Oh, I'm sorry, I was just rambling there wasn't I?"
"Yeah." -At least I got an explaination on how it works-
I went to the bathroom, after having Professor Rowan point it out for me, and changed, wearing the black t-shirt over the white shirt. But when I got to the pants...
"Hmm." I looked through the cupboard and found a matchbook. I lit one up and burned a small hole right below the left knee on the pants. "Much better." You see, I had a pair of pants just like these at home that somehow (don't know how) got a burn hole just below the left knee and I thought it made it look cooler. I put them on, along with the shoes, gloves and baseball cap, then placed the cloak and headband in the backpack.
-I wonder who would leave this much for someone?- I thought about, then cast the thought aside. -oh well, no use worrying about it-
I came out and showed the professor my new look.
"Excellent, now you look like a real trainer! And about your question earlier, there aren't any of those grass pokemon around here but I made an alternative just for you..."
- - -
That afternoon (I couldn't believe all of that happened in just one morning!) Professor Rowan showed me around town, introducing me to everyone we met, and I mean EVERYONE! (At least a kind old lady was nice enough to give us some lunch.) After that we returned to the lab so he could set me up with a newer version pokedex, one that could even identify EVs (effort values) of pokemon and how many EVs in a certain stat my pokemon had.
It was late in the evening after dinner (his treat) when the professor suggested I stay for a few days. ("You should wait until that egg hatches then train some. You never know what you'll encounter out there!") I was offered a room to sleep in but I suggested that I sleep outside instead ("I might as well get use to it now rather than later."). Fortunately there was a sleeping bag in the backpack.
As I zipped myself in and made sure the egg was against my body I managed to fall asleep (eventually). Unbeknownst to me, the egg hatched in the night. The little pokemon did something with the egg shells then snuggled back into my embrace.Chapter End Notes:Okay, the next chapter will involve training the new pokemon. Anyone care to guess what it is?
Need a hint? It's a shiny pokemon