Story Notes:
I came up with the story one morning, and I've been frantically trying to construct it. This is my first story on AGNPH. I hope you enjoy it. I'll try to update as often as I can
It Begins
"Status report?", a harsh voice addressed towards a young man staring intently at his computer screen. The man at the computer turned around suddenly, startled at the outburst. He turned around and saw a man staring intently at him. The man had long black hair that was arranged in a way that covered his right eye. His square spectacles were perched upon his nose. He wore a heavily-starched lab coat that seemed to fit him perfectly. Upon seeing the man, the young man smiled.
"Oh! Hello, professor. I didn't hear you come in. I was just..."
"Status report!", the man repeated.
The young man's smile faded. "Ah. Of course." The young man opened a few files from his computer. The computer screen displayed several maps that were in grid format. The young man cleared his throat, and then began.
"From a collection and representation of all the data we have collected, we were able to map out pokemon phenomena across the different regions. According to this data, there was no recent phenomena in the Kanto region... and there was no recent phenomena in the Johto region... and ..."
"Was there any recent pokemon phenomena anywhere!?", the professor interrupted sternly.
"Well... no", the young man admitted.
"Then don't waste my time and just say there's nothing going on!", he muttered audibly before walking out of the room.
The young man sighed. This lab position was looking less and less like the dream job that he thought it would be.
"Hey, noobie! You okay?", a voice called out from the other side of the room.
The young man looked at the direction of the voice and saw a man with very short blond hair sitting upright in his swivel chair. He recognized this man as Nikolai, a fellow researcher that had helped to show him around earlier today. He wore a genuinely concerned look on his face.
Upon seeing that look on his face, the young man quickly worked up a smile and answered.
"Yeah... just a bit startled is all."
Nikolai chuckled. "Yeah. The professor can have that kind of effect on people."
Nikolai stretched his arms above his head before continuing. "It's Yeshua, right?"
The young boy nodded his head. "Yeah, my parents have always taken a liking to scripture."
Yeshua knew the man's name, but he decided to reaffirm it out of courtesy. "Nikolai, right?"
"Just call me Nick", was the man's friendly reply.
Yeshua really didn't know a lot about the man he was working for, other than his reputation. He decided to take this opportunity to ask.
"So... is the professor always this ...", Yeshua began, but trailed off. He was searching for a word.
"Bitchy", Nick filled in, smirking. "I suppose he's been that way for years, but it isn't his fault... are you having doubts about working here, now?"
Yeshua shook his head no. "No... it's just that I thought he'd be more of a sage of knowledge. I mean, he's Professor Vandiros... He's the man that graduated at the top of the class in the best pokemon university in the world! He's the man who put his heart and soul into ..."
"No!" Nick interrupted suddenly, startling Yeshua.
"No?", Yeshua repeated quizzically. "What do you mean 'no'?"
"That man hasn't put his heart into anything for 18 years...", was Nick's reply.
Yeshua was perplexed by that response. "But how can that be, given the position he's in now?"
"He doesn't care about pokemon..."
Yeshua was even more confused by that answer. "How can a person be a professor and not care about pokemon!?"
"He cares about pokemon... he just doesn't care for them. He's completely devoid of any need for emotional bonds... whether it's a bond between a human or with a pokemon. He's only in it for the knowledge."
Yeshua pondered the answer for a moment. The professor sounded like he was a very reclusive person. As he thought about this conversation, he suddenly recalled a piece of information that Nick divulged in it that bothered him.
"You said that the professor hasn't put his heart into anything for 18 years?", Yeshua inquired.
"I did", Nick answered, knowing where this conversation was going.
Yeshua continued. "But the professor has to be around 30 years old, meaning that he had put his heart into things for around 12 years... did something happen to him to change that?"
Nick sighed, as if regretting the question was even asked of him. "Yeah, something did happen. I went to the same school that he had attended for pokemon studies. I had met the same person you are meeting now... a cold, bitter man. We would often bounce theories off of each other. To the casual observer, I guess we would look like friends. However, the bond just wasn't there."
Nick paused to see whether Yeshua was listening. He saw Yeshua staring at him with anticipating eyes. Nick took a breath and then continued.
" I became curious as to the reason why he behaved so irrationally. I never got an answer out of him, so I decided to visit his parents behind his back. They were very nice people, which surprised me. I had thought that he might have been abused and that the abuse was the reason for his behavior. However, the truth was quite different. Apparently, the professor had quite the friendly demeanor. He cared about many different things when he was young."
Nick looked at Yeshua and saw that he still was very interested, so he continued.
"As a child, he and the outdoors were inseparable. He would beg and plead with his parents to let him explore the forest near his house. After a while, his parents would cave in. They would give him a pokegear equipped with a GPS and a dozen max repels and send him off. After one of these trips, the professor had come back in tow with an incredibly rare pokemon following him. He begged and pleaded with his parents to keep it, and his parents, still in shock at the sight of that pokemon, had agreed."
"What pokemon was it?", Yeshua asked very excitedly.
"I don't know. His parents didn't want to divulge the pokemon to me. They were afraid of opening up old wounds and having person after person inquire about the pokemon."
Yeshua's excitement faded. "Old wounds? Don't tell me something happened to that pokemon!?"
Nick shook his head. "On the contrary. Something happened to the professor."
"What happened to him?", Yeshua asked.
"He was betrayed and abandoned", Nick answered.
"By who?"
"... His own pokemon.", Nick answered.
Yeshua's eyes widened. That's horrible! How could something like that happen to the professor? As his mind digested this information, he asked another question. "How was the professor betrayed?"
Nick sighed. "That's all of the information I have on his past. If you want more information, you can ask him yourself. However, you'll probably just lose your job that way."
The room remained silent for a while, until Nick asked a question. "Now that you've played 20 questions, can I have my turn?"
Yeshua blushed. He had controlled the conversation, hadn't he? Not wanting to be rude, he smiled and nodded.
"Why did you decide to become a pokemon researcher?", Nick asked.
Yeshua smiled and responded honestly. "Because I like pokemon."
Nick rolled his eyes. "Not the most scientific or detailed answer...", he said while turning his swivel chair around, "but it came from the heart."
"I wonder what answer the professor would give to that question", Yeshua asked himself aloud.
Nick sighed. "I do, too. The fact that he has gotten this far without emotional bonds has me concerned. I know nothing about his motivations or his desires... that scares me a little."
Yeshua became silent. He was concerned, too...
Suddenly, the machinery in the room started to blare. Yeshua was nervous.
"Are we in danger?", Yeshua yelled.
Nick grinned. "No. That sound means we're about to earn our pay! It's the radar system. It's set up to detect abnormal pokemon activity. Just pull up the maps on the computer again.
Yeshua opened up the maps, and then spoke. "There's abnormal pokemon activity... right outside the lab building?!"
Nick was in shock. "What!? Are you sure!?"
Yeshua nodded as Nick ran to Yeshua's side. Yeshua spoke again. "According to the database, the abnormal pokemon activity belongs to a ...", Yeshua suddenly stopped as the image of the pokemon came up on the screen. Both Yeshua and Nick looked at the image before both exclaiming, "A mew!!"
"Aww yeah! We are going to get a huge bonus for this!", Nick exclaimed.
"I can buy those research programs I've always wanted!", Yeshua exclaimed.
"I can buy some hookers!", Nick declared.
"But...you're married.", said Yeshua, pointing at the ring on Nick's finger.
"Good point. I should buy her some hookers, too!"
Yeshua just laughed and gathered his notepad and gear. "Should I let the professor know about this?"
Nick nodded. "Absolutely! Hurry and get to his office ASAP! I'm sure he'll be excited."
Yeshua agreed and went to get the professor.
A cabinet door opened. The professor took out a glass and set it on the desk. He closed the cabinet door and sat at his desk. He opened his desk drawer and pulled out a bottle of wine. He popped the cork of the wine bottle and set it on the table, then closed the desk drawer. The professor poured the wine into the glass. As he did, the scent of payapa berries filled the room. The professor took a sip of the wine, and mulled the taste of the wine over as he spoke.
"To pokemon, berries are the ideal. They are... the panaceas of their kind..."
The professor turned to the bottle of wine. "But what are you to humans? Nothing more than poison!" He took a large gulp of the wine as if to illustrate his point.
"Pokemon reap the benefits of this world... and we get the scraps!!" He threw the bottle of wine across room. The bottle shattered into multiple shards across the wall, staining the wall red.
Suddenly, there was a frantic knocking at the door of the study. The professor adjusted his glasses and responded. "Enter."
Yeshua burst into the room with a huge grin on his face, making the professor wish he had waited a little bit longer before throwing the wine bottle. "Professor! Professor!! It's incredible! You won't believe it!", Yeshua shouted.
"Try me.", was the professor's reply.
"There's a mew right outside of our lab building!", Yeshua shouted.
The professor quirked a visible eyebrow, but displayed no other visible reactions. "Is that all, Yeshua?"
Yeshua was shocked. "Um... yes, professor. That's all."
The professor picked up a textbook that was worn from repeated use and opened it. "Very well... Off you go."
Yeshua was very confused at this point. "Um... when are we leaving to go study the mew?", Yeshua asked.
"We aren't", replied the professor.
"What!?", Yeshua shouted. "Sir... with all due respect, it isn't everyday that a rare pokemon lands in your backyard!"
"And what would you gain from this study?", The professor asked. "What would you gain this isn't already beaten into your 20-year-old head?"
Yeshua didn't really have a plan for how he was going to study the mew, now that he thought about it. He struggled for an answer to this. " I..."
"Dear boy...", the professor began, "If you can't even come up with a proper procedure for studying the mew, then what good is the data you collect? You'd be wasting this lab's time, resources, and money."
Yeshua wasn't backing down. "I understand your point, sir... but you don't have a good reason to not study it."
"And you don't have a good reason to study it", the professor countered. "Admit it. The only reason you want to study the mew is because of how rare it is."
Yeshua was feeling several things at this point. He knew that part of the reason for wanting to study the mew was because of the rarity, but he also knew he was genuinely curious about the mew. He didn't appreciate being misjudged that quickly, but it wasn't in Yeshua's nature to lash out. "It isn't the only reason..."
"It's always the only reason! People have to work their entire lives to define their existence, while pokemon get all the value of their existence by simply being! There are probably as many mews as there are scientists of my expertise. Mews are valued for being mews. People aren't valued for being people. In terms of rarity, the pokemon with no special traits will always get the favor over the scientist with a wide variety of skills. Nobody has ever had the same zeal venturing to a scientist as they have had venturing to a mew!"
Yeshua turned around and walked to the door. As he opened the door, he turned his head over his shoulder and looked at the professor before speaking.
"I have..."
Yeshua walked out of the room and shut the door, leaving the professor in perfect silence...Chapter End Notes:Well... that's the start of it all. I'll leave the reviewing in your hands.
I don't make the hype... I just enforce it :
"Oh! Hello, professor. I didn't hear you come in. I was just..."
"Status report!", the man repeated.
The young man's smile faded. "Ah. Of course." The young man opened a few files from his computer. The computer screen displayed several maps that were in grid format. The young man cleared his throat, and then began.
"From a collection and representation of all the data we have collected, we were able to map out pokemon phenomena across the different regions. According to this data, there was no recent phenomena in the Kanto region... and there was no recent phenomena in the Johto region... and ..."
"Was there any recent pokemon phenomena anywhere!?", the professor interrupted sternly.
"Well... no", the young man admitted.
"Then don't waste my time and just say there's nothing going on!", he muttered audibly before walking out of the room.
The young man sighed. This lab position was looking less and less like the dream job that he thought it would be.
"Hey, noobie! You okay?", a voice called out from the other side of the room.
The young man looked at the direction of the voice and saw a man with very short blond hair sitting upright in his swivel chair. He recognized this man as Nikolai, a fellow researcher that had helped to show him around earlier today. He wore a genuinely concerned look on his face.
Upon seeing that look on his face, the young man quickly worked up a smile and answered.
"Yeah... just a bit startled is all."
Nikolai chuckled. "Yeah. The professor can have that kind of effect on people."
Nikolai stretched his arms above his head before continuing. "It's Yeshua, right?"
The young boy nodded his head. "Yeah, my parents have always taken a liking to scripture."
Yeshua knew the man's name, but he decided to reaffirm it out of courtesy. "Nikolai, right?"
"Just call me Nick", was the man's friendly reply.
Yeshua really didn't know a lot about the man he was working for, other than his reputation. He decided to take this opportunity to ask.
"So... is the professor always this ...", Yeshua began, but trailed off. He was searching for a word.
"Bitchy", Nick filled in, smirking. "I suppose he's been that way for years, but it isn't his fault... are you having doubts about working here, now?"
Yeshua shook his head no. "No... it's just that I thought he'd be more of a sage of knowledge. I mean, he's Professor Vandiros... He's the man that graduated at the top of the class in the best pokemon university in the world! He's the man who put his heart and soul into ..."
"No!" Nick interrupted suddenly, startling Yeshua.
"No?", Yeshua repeated quizzically. "What do you mean 'no'?"
"That man hasn't put his heart into anything for 18 years...", was Nick's reply.
Yeshua was perplexed by that response. "But how can that be, given the position he's in now?"
"He doesn't care about pokemon..."
Yeshua was even more confused by that answer. "How can a person be a professor and not care about pokemon!?"
"He cares about pokemon... he just doesn't care for them. He's completely devoid of any need for emotional bonds... whether it's a bond between a human or with a pokemon. He's only in it for the knowledge."
Yeshua pondered the answer for a moment. The professor sounded like he was a very reclusive person. As he thought about this conversation, he suddenly recalled a piece of information that Nick divulged in it that bothered him.
"You said that the professor hasn't put his heart into anything for 18 years?", Yeshua inquired.
"I did", Nick answered, knowing where this conversation was going.
Yeshua continued. "But the professor has to be around 30 years old, meaning that he had put his heart into things for around 12 years... did something happen to him to change that?"
Nick sighed, as if regretting the question was even asked of him. "Yeah, something did happen. I went to the same school that he had attended for pokemon studies. I had met the same person you are meeting now... a cold, bitter man. We would often bounce theories off of each other. To the casual observer, I guess we would look like friends. However, the bond just wasn't there."
Nick paused to see whether Yeshua was listening. He saw Yeshua staring at him with anticipating eyes. Nick took a breath and then continued.
" I became curious as to the reason why he behaved so irrationally. I never got an answer out of him, so I decided to visit his parents behind his back. They were very nice people, which surprised me. I had thought that he might have been abused and that the abuse was the reason for his behavior. However, the truth was quite different. Apparently, the professor had quite the friendly demeanor. He cared about many different things when he was young."
Nick looked at Yeshua and saw that he still was very interested, so he continued.
"As a child, he and the outdoors were inseparable. He would beg and plead with his parents to let him explore the forest near his house. After a while, his parents would cave in. They would give him a pokegear equipped with a GPS and a dozen max repels and send him off. After one of these trips, the professor had come back in tow with an incredibly rare pokemon following him. He begged and pleaded with his parents to keep it, and his parents, still in shock at the sight of that pokemon, had agreed."
"What pokemon was it?", Yeshua asked very excitedly.
"I don't know. His parents didn't want to divulge the pokemon to me. They were afraid of opening up old wounds and having person after person inquire about the pokemon."
Yeshua's excitement faded. "Old wounds? Don't tell me something happened to that pokemon!?"
Nick shook his head. "On the contrary. Something happened to the professor."
"What happened to him?", Yeshua asked.
"He was betrayed and abandoned", Nick answered.
"By who?"
"... His own pokemon.", Nick answered.
Yeshua's eyes widened. That's horrible! How could something like that happen to the professor? As his mind digested this information, he asked another question. "How was the professor betrayed?"
Nick sighed. "That's all of the information I have on his past. If you want more information, you can ask him yourself. However, you'll probably just lose your job that way."
The room remained silent for a while, until Nick asked a question. "Now that you've played 20 questions, can I have my turn?"
Yeshua blushed. He had controlled the conversation, hadn't he? Not wanting to be rude, he smiled and nodded.
"Why did you decide to become a pokemon researcher?", Nick asked.
Yeshua smiled and responded honestly. "Because I like pokemon."
Nick rolled his eyes. "Not the most scientific or detailed answer...", he said while turning his swivel chair around, "but it came from the heart."
"I wonder what answer the professor would give to that question", Yeshua asked himself aloud.
Nick sighed. "I do, too. The fact that he has gotten this far without emotional bonds has me concerned. I know nothing about his motivations or his desires... that scares me a little."
Yeshua became silent. He was concerned, too...
Suddenly, the machinery in the room started to blare. Yeshua was nervous.
"Are we in danger?", Yeshua yelled.
Nick grinned. "No. That sound means we're about to earn our pay! It's the radar system. It's set up to detect abnormal pokemon activity. Just pull up the maps on the computer again.
Yeshua opened up the maps, and then spoke. "There's abnormal pokemon activity... right outside the lab building?!"
Nick was in shock. "What!? Are you sure!?"
Yeshua nodded as Nick ran to Yeshua's side. Yeshua spoke again. "According to the database, the abnormal pokemon activity belongs to a ...", Yeshua suddenly stopped as the image of the pokemon came up on the screen. Both Yeshua and Nick looked at the image before both exclaiming, "A mew!!"
"Aww yeah! We are going to get a huge bonus for this!", Nick exclaimed.
"I can buy those research programs I've always wanted!", Yeshua exclaimed.
"I can buy some hookers!", Nick declared.
"But...you're married.", said Yeshua, pointing at the ring on Nick's finger.
"Good point. I should buy her some hookers, too!"
Yeshua just laughed and gathered his notepad and gear. "Should I let the professor know about this?"
Nick nodded. "Absolutely! Hurry and get to his office ASAP! I'm sure he'll be excited."
Yeshua agreed and went to get the professor.
A cabinet door opened. The professor took out a glass and set it on the desk. He closed the cabinet door and sat at his desk. He opened his desk drawer and pulled out a bottle of wine. He popped the cork of the wine bottle and set it on the table, then closed the desk drawer. The professor poured the wine into the glass. As he did, the scent of payapa berries filled the room. The professor took a sip of the wine, and mulled the taste of the wine over as he spoke.
"To pokemon, berries are the ideal. They are... the panaceas of their kind..."
The professor turned to the bottle of wine. "But what are you to humans? Nothing more than poison!" He took a large gulp of the wine as if to illustrate his point.
"Pokemon reap the benefits of this world... and we get the scraps!!" He threw the bottle of wine across room. The bottle shattered into multiple shards across the wall, staining the wall red.
Suddenly, there was a frantic knocking at the door of the study. The professor adjusted his glasses and responded. "Enter."
Yeshua burst into the room with a huge grin on his face, making the professor wish he had waited a little bit longer before throwing the wine bottle. "Professor! Professor!! It's incredible! You won't believe it!", Yeshua shouted.
"Try me.", was the professor's reply.
"There's a mew right outside of our lab building!", Yeshua shouted.
The professor quirked a visible eyebrow, but displayed no other visible reactions. "Is that all, Yeshua?"
Yeshua was shocked. "Um... yes, professor. That's all."
The professor picked up a textbook that was worn from repeated use and opened it. "Very well... Off you go."
Yeshua was very confused at this point. "Um... when are we leaving to go study the mew?", Yeshua asked.
"We aren't", replied the professor.
"What!?", Yeshua shouted. "Sir... with all due respect, it isn't everyday that a rare pokemon lands in your backyard!"
"And what would you gain from this study?", The professor asked. "What would you gain this isn't already beaten into your 20-year-old head?"
Yeshua didn't really have a plan for how he was going to study the mew, now that he thought about it. He struggled for an answer to this. " I..."
"Dear boy...", the professor began, "If you can't even come up with a proper procedure for studying the mew, then what good is the data you collect? You'd be wasting this lab's time, resources, and money."
Yeshua wasn't backing down. "I understand your point, sir... but you don't have a good reason to not study it."
"And you don't have a good reason to study it", the professor countered. "Admit it. The only reason you want to study the mew is because of how rare it is."
Yeshua was feeling several things at this point. He knew that part of the reason for wanting to study the mew was because of the rarity, but he also knew he was genuinely curious about the mew. He didn't appreciate being misjudged that quickly, but it wasn't in Yeshua's nature to lash out. "It isn't the only reason..."
"It's always the only reason! People have to work their entire lives to define their existence, while pokemon get all the value of their existence by simply being! There are probably as many mews as there are scientists of my expertise. Mews are valued for being mews. People aren't valued for being people. In terms of rarity, the pokemon with no special traits will always get the favor over the scientist with a wide variety of skills. Nobody has ever had the same zeal venturing to a scientist as they have had venturing to a mew!"
Yeshua turned around and walked to the door. As he opened the door, he turned his head over his shoulder and looked at the professor before speaking.
"I have..."
Yeshua walked out of the room and shut the door, leaving the professor in perfect silence...Chapter End Notes:Well... that's the start of it all. I'll leave the reviewing in your hands.
I don't make the hype... I just enforce it :