POKEMON RANCHER
CH. 4


Professor Cent lived in the middle of town. His house was also his office where he did some of his research on Pokemon. For you see Professor Cent was the person who started young people on their Pokemon journeys, but he was a little different. You see, instead of just doing his research at his office, he goes out and does it out in the field. He would only be at his office like two maybe three days a week. I only hoped that this was one of the days that he would be at home.

I looked down at the Dratini and saw that she was bleeding from several scorch and burn marks on her body. Her breathing was a little shallow, which could mean many different things, none of which were good. So I headed into town and quickly ran off to professors home.

It took me a little while to reach his home. His home was surrounded by a brick wall and a stone walkway that led up a hill to his front door. His house was a single story but very long with many different rooms. Most of which I believed had his research and probably the Pokemon that he studied. I pushed open the gate to his home and quickly ran up the steps.

Once I had gotten to the top of the steps I shifted the Dratini to my left arm and banged on the door with my fist.

"Professor Cent, professor Cent. Are you there? I need your help." I didn't have to wait long when I heard someone running from behind the doors. The door quickly opened and there stood a man in his late fifties, he had brown hair that was starting to show the signs of baldness, he wore a white lab coat, and black pants. He was short of breath like he had run from far side of the house to get to the door. Before he could even speak I held up the injured Dratini.

"Professor I have an injured Pokemon and I need your help." He gave me a look as to why I was here and not at the Pokemon Center, but he stepped aside and I quickly went into his house. I turned to him and he was just shutting the door.

"Alright I imagine that there is a good reason why you need this Pokemon healed by me instead of at the Pokemon Center." I nodded.

"Before I tell you the reason, can we help this Pokemon." He faced me then looked down at the Dratini that I was carrying. His eyes looked like they were going to bug out but he looked back up to me and nodded. He turned left and motioned for me to follow. We went down a hall that was lined on either side of pictures. Most of them were of him and either people or different Pokemon. There were many door down the hallway but he led me to the last one on the right.

The door opened to what looked like some sort of doctors office. In the center of the room there was a table and a large light over it. Off to the right is a cabinet that had a couple glass doors that were filled with several jars full of different materials. Across the room was a double set of windows, and on the left wall was a curtain and a sink.

"Just place the Dratini on the table over there." He points to the table in the center of the room. I walk slowly over to the table and place the Dratini softly on top the table and look to see what the professor is doing. He is over at the sink scrubbing his hands. I also see that he has a pair of gloves next to the sink.

"Is their anything I can do to help?" He looks over his shoulder at me and nods.

"In the glass cabinet there is a jar full of cotton balls and a black bag in the bottom cabinet. There is also a few other things in that cabinet with the cotton balls that I'll need. Could you please pull them out and place them on the table." I nod to him and start colleting the items and placing them on the table. After placing all the things he asked for on the table he pointed to the door.

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave." I looked up at him. "At least until I've fixed up that Dratini." I look down at the Dratini then turn back to the doc.

"Are you sure that their isn't anything else I can help with?" I look down at the Dratini then back up to the doc.

"I can see that you really care about this Dratini. Is their some special reason why you care about it so much." I look at the doc and he has a serious look in his eye. In a serious tone he says. "I know about your past." A brief flash of my past flashes past my eyes then a single tear falls down my face. I wipe my eye to hide the tear then say.

"For some reason, I seem to like this Dratini. It's strange. I haven't gotten close to a Pokemon for quite some time, but for some reason this Dratini is different." I look back up at the doc and he is smiling.

"Alright. Give me a few moments and I will see what I can do." He nods to me then I turn and walk out the door. Once I close the door I step aside and lean against the wall next to the door. Left to my thought I think of the Dratini. Why do I care about this Pokemon? What does it matter if this Pokemon gets fixed up or not?

Several more questions run through my mind as I wait on the doc. Most of them are about the similarities or differences between that Dratini and my father. It seems like an hours before I hear the door open. I turn to look over and realize I should have leaned against the other wall. SMACK. The door swings open and smacks me in the face. Not realizing that I was right behind the door, the professor hits me with the door several more times.

"Now that's odd. Why doesn't this door open all the way?" In a muffled voice I reply.

"That's because I'm standing right behind it. Now will you stop hitting me with the door." He quickly swings the door away from me and looks behind it. When he sees me holding my nose and forehead where the door hit me, he starts to laugh. "Sure very funny." I step out from behind the door and turn to face him.

"Oh come now. If you can't laugh at yourself their's not much hope for you." I take a long sigh then look behind him.

"How's the Dratini?" I can see that it is covered with several bandages and there are several dirty cotton balls in a small bin under the table. It looks like the Dratini is sleeping peacefully now, as it's body rises and falls slowly with each breath.

"Well as you can see, it's doing a lot better now. Though from what I can tell, it got beaten pretty badly by an electric attack or attacks. So I recommend that it stay here until it recovers from it's injuries." I feel so bad. If that Dratini probably hadn't been sleeping with me, then that trainer wouldn't have seen it and attacked it.

"If it would be alright with you, I would like to take care of her at my house." He looks back to the sleeping Dratini then to me. He places his hand on his chin and starts to think. Eventually he nods and leads me into the living room where he has me sit. His living room is a little interesting, for you see the actual room has a depression in it. There are a pair of chairs facing a couch on either side of the depression. In-between them is an oak table that has a small potted plant on it.

He seats himself in one of the chairs while he offers me a seat on the couch. "Before I agree to let you take the Dratini home with you, I need to ask you a few things." I nod to him. "First of all I need to know your intentions with it. Second, are you sure that you can care for it. And finally, you remember the law around here about keeping a Pokemon without a license."

I slowly nod to him. "Well first of all, I would like for the Dratini and me to become good friends. Next, I have done a lot of research on Dratini's a few nights ago and I already know that it loves my mothers bread." The professor shudders at the sound of me mentioning my mothers bread. "As to why it loves that bread is beyond me." I lower my head. "And yes I remember the law." The professor stands up and walks over and places a hand on my shoulder.

"I understand that the law wouldn't allow you to do this, but since your going to care for it until it recovers from it's injuries. It should be ok." I look up at him standing over me with a smile. It's a little a little strange seeing a person standing over me since I stand over everyone when I'm standing. "So here's what I'm going to do. I will pack a bag full of supplies for the Dratini. Then you can take it home with you." He gives me a gently squeeze on the shoulder and points to the phone. "Though I recommend that you go ahead and call your boss and tell him you will busy for the next day or two."

He lets go of my shoulder and starts to head back to his office. "Oh and before I forget." He turns around and faces me. "You should probably inform your mother that you will be coming home with the Dratini in a little while." I nod to him and remember that I should have been back at work quite some time ago. I quickly jump up and head over to the rotary phone that he had pointed to. I didn't know why he didn't get one of those video phones, but I didn't have time to ponder that.

After calling my boss and explaining why I didn't come back from lunch and ask if I could have the next few days off. He agrees and says that it would be good idea for me to finally get into Pokemon. Next I call home but there is no answer. I guess that she must still be at work. So I hang up the phone and turn to head to the professors office.

"NO WAIT DON'T! AH SHOOT!" I quickly run on over to the professors office and look in. Laying on the floor completely drenched is the professor. I look over and see the Dratini facing the professor with a mean look on her face. I slowly step into the room. I see one of it's hears twitch towards me and realize what is about to happen. "Donovin watch out!" But it's to late. The Dratini faces me and lets go a water gun attack.

I was expecting this and quickly side step the attack and look over at it. "Dratini, don't you remember me." I open out my arms to show I don't mean any harm to it and the Dratini stops it's attack. A sad expression crosses it's face as she realized what she had almost done. I quickly walk over to her and pick her up and start to rub her head. She looks up to me and starts to purr. "I guess you must have just woken up and gotten scared when you realized that I wasn't here." It nodded, then buried it's head into my chest where it began to cry. I look up from the Dratini to see the professor stand up and shake his lab coat. Beads of water continue to fall from his coat as he walks over to us.

"Well I guess I don't need to worry about if that Dratini trusts you or not." I smile. His hair is plastered to his head and he has the vague resemblance to a drowned rat. "So were you able to get in touch with your boss?"

"Ya and he says that it's about time I got a Pokemon of my own." The Dratini looks up to me with a worried look on it's face. I lightly rub her head and she shakes my hand off. "Don't worry Dratini. I'm just going to take you home where I can give you some more of that bread you like and help you get all better." She looked up to me and happily cried out.

"Well how about we go home Dratini." She looked up at me and nodded. So with that the two of us headed home.

"Before you leave Dusty. There are some things that you need to know about how to care for that Dratini." I stop right before the door nod and turn to him. He looks like he's changed his coat. He is now dressed in a brown coat. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a slip of paper then hands it to me. "On that slip of paper is some instructions on how to care for that Dratini." I take the paper and look down at the Dratini.

She is snuggling into my arm and sleeping peacefully. So I place the paper into my pocket then wave to the professor and leave. As I walk through the town I start to notice several people looking at me. Or at least the Pokemon that I'm carrying. It takes me a little longer to reach home since everybody wants to see this Dratini. The only problem was whenever someone would get to close the Dratini would start to cry and burry her head a little deeper into my chest.

Finally we reach my home and quickly dive into it. "Man I can't believe how many people wanted to see you Dratini." She looks up to me and gives me a nervous nod. "Though you don't need to worry anymore, since we are home." She nods to me and I walk into the living room and sit down on the couch. As I sit there on the couch I lightly rub the Dratini's head and think of what I should do now. Then my hand falls on my pocket and I feel a lump in it.Chapter End Notes:Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended