Any and all feedback is welcome! Still updating the first post to better reflect the story with a pokedex, etc. I still need help figuring out how to link the chapters to the first post since, for some reason, it won't let me.
Hope you guys enjoy!
Chapter 2: A Simple Request
“Um, why?” asked Patrick hesitantly. He had heard very little about Professor Maple and her studies. He was still getting adjusted to life in Randoh, now he had to leave to meet a stranger with some girl he just met?
“Well, she has a request for you. She knows a little of your back story and feels you’re capable of completing such a task,” replied Lacy. Her expression changed from genuine delight, to concern.
“Why don’t you come and sit down,” Patrick said. He opened the door wide and took a step back. Lacy looked around his home before stepping inside.
Lacy investigated her new surroundings further. Her eyes darted from one side of the house to the other. She finally noticed Lairon slumped on the floor, sleeping. Her eyes widened. “Is that… Is that an actual Lairon?” she asked as she walked over to the pokemon, “I’ve never seen one before. We rarely get a chance to see pokemon from other regions here in Randoh.”
“Yes. He’s mine,” replied Patrick. He found it easier to talk to Lacy now. For some reason he was bad with first impressions, but he could always recover himself after some time. He watched as Lacy knelt down and pet the sleeping pokemon. Lairon groaned in approval of her, but didn’t wake up.
This is all too strange. What could Professor Maple want from me? thought Patrick,
I don’t see how I could be of any use. I barely know a thing about Randoh. I don’t know many of the pokemon in the region. His eyebrows tightened as he thought of what the Professor wanted.
“You alright? You look a little tense,” said Lacy. Patrick realized Lacy had gotten up and made her way to the living room.
“Yeah, just…” Patrick trailed off for a moment. “Just thinking, want a glass of water? Some food? You can have a seat on the couch.”
“I’ll take a water, thank you.” Lacy took a seat on the couch. Patrick filled a glass of water, walked to the living room, sat down in a chair next to the couch and handed Lacy the water. “So, I saw you looked a little tense a moment ago. What’s concerning you?”
Patrick took a deep breath. He didn’t know where to begin. “It’s just; I don’t know what Professor Maple wants from me. I’m new to the region. I barely know the name of my town. I barely know any of the pokemon that live here. What could she want from me?”
Lacy sipped some water. “That’s a good question. I’m sure she can answer it for you. But all I was told was to come down here to Lissof Town and get your butt to Crowe Town where you can talk to her yourself.” She put the glass down.
“Only problem is I don’t really like it here in Randoh. I never wanted to move here in the first place, so what help could a kid who doesn’t even want to be here be?” asked Patrick.
Lacy looked down at the glass on the coffee table. “You know, your dad was loved by many in the region. He was doing things that no other cop wanted to do and he was helping to make Randoh a safer place.” Patrick looked up in shock. “I’m sorry about what happened,” she continued, “but you can’t keep that from preventing you wanting to be here. Randoh can be a beautiful place if you let it into your life. Those inner demons you may be battling with, whatever they are, you won’t be able to overcome them if you aren’t willing to accept change.” She looked up at Patrick, and shot a quick smile. “So what do you say? Take that first step to fighting those demons. Make this that change you need and come with me to see the Prof.”
Well, she sure is persistent and motivational, thought Patrick. He stood up, smiled at Lacy then walked to his room to change.
~~~
Patrick figured he didn’t need to bring pokemon with him since Crowe Town was about a 30 minute walk. He had a headband around his forehead, a new t-shirt, and cargo shorts. Socks halfway up his calves and some all-white sneakers. He walked over to Lairon and woke the resting pokemon. Lairon yawned loudly and looked at Patrick. “Now, I’m going to be gone for, I don’t know how long, maybe a few hours. You keep watch over this place,” Patrick told the pokemon. Lairon nodded his head, turned to his side, and closed his eyes. It fell back asleep. Patrick smiled. He stood up and walked outside where Lacy was waiting.
It was a nice day out. The sun was shining brightly, there was a slight breeze, and the temperature was just right. Patrick looked around, a couple of his neighbors were in their yards doing work, and playing with their pokemon.
“So, this walk is going to be nice,” Patrick said, looking down Route 101. It connected Lissof and Crowe towns together.
“Who said anything about walk?” Lacy asked smiling. She pulled out a pokeball and threw it into the air. The red beam hit the ground and a tall figure started materializing. It was easily two feet taller than Patrick, who was 6’ 0” tall. It had two long, white, very muscular legs with three sharp talons for toes on each foot. Two talons pointed towards the front, and one talon in the heel. Its body was round and covered in sleek navy blue feathers. Its tail feathers were white. The white neck of the pokemon extended up to a small white head with a long beak. The beak matched the color of the blue feathers. Large, round eyes made up most of the skull. A long navy blue plume started at the top of its head, about a couple feet long, and continued to end above the hindquarters. The pokemon squawked, and clawed at the ground.
“What kind of pokemon is that?” asked Patrick. He had never seen a bird pokemon like this before.
“Say hello to Nitrich. He’s a ground/flying type pokemon only found in Randoh. We’re hopping on his back and he’s taking us to Crowe Town. And you thought we were walking,” she mocked as she hopped on the pokemon’s back.
Patrick watched the pokemon. It clawed at the ground, ready to get started. Patrick jumped on the pokemon’s back. “How long is th-” The bird pokemon took off in a flash. He blinked once and they were already on Route 101.
“Sorry about that, Nitrich are one of the fastest pokemon on Randoh. We should be there in about ten minutes. I’m glad you decided to come,” she smiled. Her ponytail waved in the wind, smothering Patrick’s face.
He looked around at the scenery. He had to admit that the region was beautiful. It seemed as if an endless amount of trees lined the route. Pokemon played in the trees and ran across the ground. The flowers bloomed beautifully. Patrick could barely tell he was riding on the back of a pokemon. Nitrich’s smooth running kept the riders comfortable.
“So how do you know the Professor?” asked Patrick, hoping to break the silence.
“She’s my aunt,” replied Lacy.
“Really? That’s pretty cool.”
“Yeah and so is she. She was always there for me when I was growing up. My mother left my father and me when I was young, so I barely have any memory of her. When my mother left, she helped my father raise me,” Lacy said. She kept a calm straight face. Patrick could tell this was an issue for her. He decided to change the subject.
“So you help your aunt out by doing what?” asked Patrick.
“I help out in her lab as often as I can. If she needs me to run a few errands for her, I’ll do it. If she wants me to go observe some pokemon for a few hours, I do that. I want to be a professor when I get older, so working in the environment will only help.”
“That’s good; I’m not sure what I want to do yet. I used to want to be a cop, but since the move, well you know,” Patrick trailed off. They rode in silence for the rest of the ride.
~~~
Nitrich entered Crowe Town. The town itself wasn’t too big. There were a few houses located throughout the town. A Pokemon Center was being built next to the PokeMart. Professor Maple’s laboratory was a marvelous structure. It was about three stories tall. Stone pokeballs rested along the top corners of the building. A tall antenna sat atop the building with a large satellite dish adjacent. Solar panels rested along the ground floor to the left of the lab. To the right was a fence that wrapped around behind the lab and ended right behind the solar panels. Various pokemon grazed in the field.
Patrick noticed several Nitrich resting in the field. These pokemon were a different color than the one he was riding on. They had light brown feathers on their body, white tail feathers, the beak was light brown the neck and legs were a light tan, and their plumes were black.
“Wait, so this Nitrich is a shiny version?” asked Patrick.
“Yes, I should have mentioned that. This Nitrich, specifically, is one of Professor Maple’s favorite pokemon. She lets me use him when I need to go on errands that are a good bit away,” she patted the pokemon’s body and the pokemon bowed its head. Nitrich came to a stop in front of the lab. The two jumped off, and Lacy returned the pokemon to its pokeball. Patrick stopped to gather himself, and fix his clothes while Lacy ran inside. He looked above at the main entrance. Two large Kabutops sculptures were placed along each side of the doorway.
Well, Patrick took a deep breath and exhaled,
here we go. He walked into the building.
~~~
The lab was busy with several scientists. A couple scientists were in the far corner pointing to a screen and debating. One was looking through a book shelf. Another was hanging sketches of fossils along a bulletin board. Portraits of various fossil pokemon aligned the room. One scientist had an actual fossil on his desk and was studying it thoroughly. Another was placing a fossil into a machine.
“Hey Patrick, over here,” Lacy called. She waved at Patrick and walked up a staircase. Patrick followed. At the top of the steps he stopped to look around. The upstairs was much more organized and less people were running around. There was one scientist reading a book in the corner. Bookcases lined the room. A staircase led to another floor, but at the top stood a door with a keypad to the side indicating there was something locked behind the door. At the far end of the room was a healing device for pokeballs. Next to it stood a glass case with a digital lock, with a passcode on the front. Inside was one pokeball.
Patrick found Lacy in the center of the room talking to an older woman. She was a curvy woman. She had long, curly blonde hair. She wore a white lab coat over a red top and khakis. Her thin-rimmed glasses sat on the top of her head. The woman looked over at Patrick and waved him over.
“Ah, you must be Patrick Hayes. Nice to meet you, I am Professor Maple,” she stuck her hand out, smiling. She had slight wrinkles in her face, probably from stress and work. Patrick shook her hand.
“Nice to meet you, too,” he replied.
“Well, I’m going to presume that this is your first time in Crowe? It’s a quaint town. Not much happens here,” Maple said.
“Yes, it is. I haven’t gotten out much since we moved in,” he said.
“How is your mother doing?”
“She’s, uh, she’s doing good,” Patrick was hesitant. He wondered why she brought up his mother.
“That’s good. Your mother and I met years ago,” she said, “You see, I study the history of pokemon, particularly fossil pokemon. I study how they lived all those years ago, and what caused them to go extinct. I met your mother on an archaeological dig a little over a decade ago. She’s a very nice lady.”
“Thanks,” he said.
“But, before I get sidetracked, welcome to Randoh. I brought you here because I have a little request for you,” Maple said, getting straight to the point, “Lacy, can you go and feed the Nitrich around back for me?”
“Sure thing,” she smiled, but looked disappointed. She wanted to know what the Professor was going to ask Patrick.
“First thing’s first, follow me,” Maple said. She turned around and headed to a large computer. It had a glass screen, and that was it. The technology in Randoh was much more advanced than in Hoenn. She typed in a few things screen and pushed a button. A small red rectangle popped out of a device connected to the computer. Maple picked it up. It was about the size of her hand. She handed it to Patrick. The device fit perfectly in his hand. The entire front of the device was a screen and it lit up. A small projection appeared on top and a virtual pokeball rotated slowly.
“That right there you’ll need from now till ever. That device works as a Pokedex, a phone, a web browser, and much more. It’s called a Virtual Phone, or vPhone for short. However, since it also is a Pokedex, people just call it a Pokedex. Old habits die hard I guess. Now, you’ll need these,” she walked over to a long tube and pressed a button. The clear tube connected to the room upstairs. Five pokeballs rolled down the tube. Maple picked up the pokeballs and handed them to Patrick. “You’re going to need these out there in Randoh. I’d give you a starter pokemon, but that pokemon over there,” she pointed to the locked case, “is Cuburn, and it’s already reserved. Plus, you’re already an experienced trainer so technically I’m not allowed to.”
“Wait a minute, so your request is to have me travel Randoh, catching pokemon and winning badges? Isn’t that too much of a cliché to be a request?” he asked.
“Well you have a point, but this isn’t the request I had in mind. Follow me over here,” Maple walked over to a bulletin board. Patrick placed the pokeballs on his belt, the Pokedex in a pocket, and walked over to the Professor. All along the bulletin board were newspaper clippings, and some police reports. Most of them had to do with Ram.
“What does this have to do with anything?” asked Patrick.
“Well, as you may already know, I am Lacy’s aunt. My brother, her father, is a detective over in Indutech City. Indutech is the largest city in Randoh. He’s been investigating something, behind the back of his commander. He thinks that Ram is up to no good.”
“How can that be? Aren’t they trying to preserve the history of Randoh by preventing the industrialization that so many want?” asked Patrick.
“That is true; they have strived to keep the history of Randoh in one piece. And that is, according to them, their ultimate goal. But it just seems fishy that all of a sudden they’ve set up in the Old Ruins. Randoh has been going through change for many years, and now that a big discovery was made in the Old Ruins, which were abandoned for decades, they’ve practically moved their entire company in. If they really wanted to preserve Randoh, why not move in or try to do something years before more than 75% of the region has changed to adapt to new technologies? It just doesn’t seem right,” explained Maple.
“So, what is it exactly that you want me to do?” asked Patrick.
“To put it bluntly, I want you to spy on your mother,” she replied in a serious tone.
“Spy? There’s no way in hell I would do that to my mother,” answered Patrick angrily.
“I said to put it bluntly. I don’t want you to actually spy on her. I just want you to keep track of what she does. Ask her how her days go. Find out if there’s anything ‘out of the ordinary’ going on or if they find something interesting or big. And I want you to get back to me if anything happens.”
“Why do you want me to do this?” asked Patrick.
“Well, your mother is a lovely lady. She’s hardworking, a great archaeologist, puts others first, and means well. She’s a great friend. However, I think she was sort of forced into joining Ram. I feel they’re using her for something. Something big, but we aren’t sure what.” Maple picked up a binder and went through it.
“So let me get this straight. You want me to ‘spy’ on my mother because you and your brother think that a company, who is working for good, is planning something big that can what? Take over the region?” asked Patrick.
“Good is a loose word when it comes to this. We can’t be quick to judge a book by its cover. We have legitimate reason to believe this, but we need some way to get more information. You are our best shot. Will you help?” Maple looked at Patrick with concern.
Patrick clenched his fist. How could this woman possibly ask him to spy on his own mother for something stupid? He glared at the professor, turned around and yelled, “No!” He stormed out of the laboratory and ran.
Lacy was in the field feeding the various pokemon. She turned and saw Patrick running off in the distance towards Route 101.
I wonder what has him all hyped up, she thought.