Pokémon A Platinum-Star Adventure: Chapter One

[Pixelated_Boombursts]

“Tory! Hurry up, or I'm fining you ten thousand PokéYen!” Barry yelled, pacing my room and fiddling with his scarf. If he was a Pokémon, his nature would be Hasty. They even like sweets and hate sour things.

“You mean ten thousand more?” I respond, looking at him in the mirror before focusing my attention back to my nigh-untamable hair. I wish I could do my hair while wearing glasses, it'd make things so much easier…

“Should I get contacts?” I muse out loud.

Barry only groans in response, “You should get a move on!”

“Alright! I'm done!” I turn around, doing jazz hands, and my ponytail hits me in the face.

Barry’s still barely containing their laughter as I drag them out of the house, grabbing my coat and waving goodbye to Mom.

“So,” He smirks as we head north, and I feel myself grinning back, “You saw the broadcast, too, right? About the Red Gyarados at that lake in Johto?”

I nod, “Yeah?”

“Well, there must be one in Lake Verity, too, right? We're gonna go look for it!”

“Wasn't that because of some weird radiation stuff Team Rocket did, though?” While we both watched the broadcast, apparently I'm the only one who listened to it.

“Yeah, but what's the harm in trying?” He says.

“Lake Verity’s deeper than the Lake of Rage, though,” I point out, “You can only find Gyarados by fishing here. And these boots are not made for fishing.”

“Party pooper.”

I can feel my eye twitch, “What did you say?”

“I called you a party pooper, Tory, because you pooped this totally awesome red Gyarados Search Party!” He smirks, sticking his tongue out.

The fact that their blatant attempt to rile me up is working just irritates me even more, and I stomp forward.

“Fine! We're going to Lake Verity, and I'm gonna catch that Red Gyarados, and I'll become Top Coordinator with it!

“Hey, hold up! Gyarados is clearly a better battle Pokémon!” He says, jogging ahead.

Oh no, you don't.

I run forwards, catching up to them and their stupid long legs. We're twelve, he isn't supposed to be so tall yet!

“A unique Pokémon like that won't even stand out in the Battle Frontier!”

Our heads collide, mine squarely in the middle of their two horns, and he pushes further, “It will when I'm the Tower Tycoon!”

I retaliate with, “Well, my Mom had her Extreme Speed Dragonair, unique serpentine Pokémon’ll like, totally run in my family!”

Someone loudly clears their throat, and Barry and I jerk back, looking towards the source of the sound.

“Excuse me. Let us pass, please.” The Professor Rowan says, and though his voice is stern and slightly impatient, I can't help but let a tiny squeal escape. I'm totally frozen in place, my shoulders are so high they're wiggling my earrings. And I didn't wear the longer ones this time.

Barry, apparently, doesn't have the same problem, “Sorry, sir! My friend Tory—”

“V-Victoria Genevieve Gardner, daughter of Meredith Gar—” Somehow, I find my voice, mortified at the thought of Professor Rowan only knowing me by my childish nickname.

But Professor Rowan's already walked past, seemingly preoccupied.

A boy with black hair and a blue jacket, likely his assistant(Lucky), sheepishly smiles, “Sorry, folks.”

And then they're off.

“Alright, Tory! Let’s see who gets the Red Gyarados first!”

Fine, have it your way, Barry.

I run towards Lake Verity, Barry following suit.

“Hey! That's cheating, I'm gonna fine you a million!”

I can easily make that money with my Contest earnings, so that doesn't bother me.

That's when we see it. Brown, leather, all… briefcase-y, and lying in the tall grass.

Barry stops as well, turning to look at me.

“We have to give it back to them.” He says, at the same time the words leave my mouth.

“Okay, how do we get through the Tall Grass?” Looking around, all I can see is water, and, well, Tall Grass. No safe way.

“Through it, of course! We just run in there, grab the briefcase, and then get out!

“Let me rephrase; how are we going to get through the Tall Grass without getting ambushed?”

“We'll run too fast for a wild Pokémon to come out!”

Hey, that's a smart idea. I'm not gonna let them know I think so, though.

“Alright. Let's give it a try.” I get into a running stance.

Barry copies me. As per usual.

We run, but we forgot one tiny, tiny detail.

We need to stop to retrieve the briefcase.

As soon as we do so, a group of Starly (Okay, it's only three, but still) swoop down from seemingly nowhere and ambush us.

 

[Pixelated_Boombursts]

I look around for an escape route, only for one of the Starly to come closer as the flock essentially surround us.

“Po- Pokémon?! What's going on?!” Barry yells from beside me, the Starly shriek flapping their wings in aggression.

Maybe the briefcase has something we can use!

I crouch in the grass, trying to open the briefcase. It's locked, with two combination locks on either side.

I try the left, it's open. The right though, is locked, the combination left at 396.

Barry's crouching beside me, shielding his head in case the Starly attack.

We can't escape, they're circling us.

I try 000, the most common combination, likely because it's the default.

Bingo, it pops open.

“Star! Ly!” Uh oh, they don't like that sound.

“Look! These are Pokéballs! Let's battle using these!” Barry says, pointing to the contents of the briefcase.

There, nestled among the myriad of papers, journals, and miscellaneous stationary, are three Pokéballs, with stickers denoting the type on each one.

These must be the three Pokémon beginning Trainers can choose from!

As the Starly fly upwards to nosedive towards us, I pick one up, pressing the button and throwing it. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Barry do the same.

“Chim! Char?” The Fire-Type tilts its head, looking at me curiously.

“Introductions can wait! Chimchar, use Scratch!” I say, pointing towards the Starly.

Thankfully, it listens, tail-flame burning brighter as it scratches at the Starly with its sharp claws.

Starly manages to get farther, and points its torso towards us, flapping its wings to use Gust on Chimchar.

Chimchar huffs out a burst of flame, which grows stronger thanks to the wind and temporarily immobilizes the Starly.

It runs back to me, the flames of its tail slowly returning back to normal as I scoop him up, grinning so widely I can feel my cheeks starting to hurt.

Spinning him around in my arms, I yell out, “Alright! Great job, Chimchar!”

The flock of Starly flies away, one of them soaking wet thanks to Barry's Piplup, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

“Fwaaah!” Barry pants, “Your Chimchar totally rocked! But my Piplup was way tougher than yours!”

“Ha! As if! Besides, we had way more flair!” I flip my hair, a little more dramatically than strictly necessary, but hey! We beat the Starly!

“... They were other people's Pokémon, though… but we had to use them… they won't mind, will they?” He mutters, scratching at his chin as I return Chimchar back to its Pokéball.

“Course not. We were only in that mess to return their briefcase. Professor Rowan is, like, super accomplished and stuff. He'll understand that we meant well!”

I really wish I felt as confident as I sound to him, what if Professor Rowan really is as scary as he seemed…?

“Besides, we have to return the briefcase, anyway. So it's not like we can avoid them.” I shrug, totally nonchalant and not at all like I would be biting my nails if it weren't for the bitter polish.

“You're right. Let's bring the briefcase back. If we get attacked by another Pokémon, we might be in trouble.”

He rushes out, but when I walk towards the Lakefront, I immediately crash into him.

“You go ahead. I know we have to return these Pokémon. They're not ours… but I want to spend some more time with this little guy.”

He looks at his Pokéball, smiling fondly.

I look down at mine— professor Rowan's— as well, the little Fire-Type sticker staring back at me in place of Chimchar.

“We didn't have any choice in using those people's Pokémon, right? But these Pokémon belong to them… they'll want them back, won't they? But this is the first Pokémon I've ever battled with…”

He's right. These were our first Pokémon. That was my first battle.

And now it's over, and we'll have to start our journey later.

I wish I could say something along the lines of “at least I know which one I'm gonna pick”, but… I don't want a Chimchar. I want this one.

This is the Chimchar who listened to me even when he had no reason to. The one who fought the Starly instead of running away…

Wait, Barry and I have just been standing here, silently staring at our Pokéballs.

“I wish I could grow tougher with this little guy…” Barry mutters, uncharacteristically quietly.

“Barry?” I'm worried, I don't… I don't know what to do in this situation. We can't just leave with the Pokémon. That'd make us thieves, and very obvious ones at that.

“I don't feel like talking,” he says, and I'm kind of relieved, “Let's go… are we maybe walking slower than when we went to the lake?”

“... Yeah. We are.”

Turns out, we don't need to. Professor Rowan’s assistant walks towards us, out of breath.

“Whew! You found the briefcase? The Professor would've gone through the roof if he knew I forgot it here, hunh?”

Barry looks bummed out as he places the briefcase in the assistant’s waiting hands.

“Hey, so uh—” they say, sheepishly looking at the Pokéballs in our hands.

“Whaaaat?! Did you guys… did you use these Pokémon?!” The assistant cries out, more panicked than angry.

“Oh man… how am I gonna explain this to the professor?” He sighs.

“We— we didn't mean to!” I say, holding my hands up.

“Yeah! We were attacked by some wild Starly while trying to get it back!” Barry thankfully backs me up.

“What would you have done if you had gotten it back?” The Assistant asks.

Which is when the Professor himself approaches us, “I see, so you used our Pokémon. Let me see them, please.”

Barry’s crestfallen expression definitely mirrors my own as we hand our new friends over.

Then, the professor calls the Pokémon out, and the next thing I know, Chimchar’s rushing towards me.

I scoop him up, “Chimchar! Hey, bud!”

Barry and Piplup are apparently just as gleeful about their reunion.

That's when I notice the introspective look on Professor Rowan's face, and I feel weird and all heavy in my chest at the thought of saying goodbye.

“Hmm…” the Professor muses, “Chimchar and Piplup…”

He straightens up, eyes meeting the two Pokémon, still in our arms, and says, “I see, that's how it is.”

And then he does something totally extraordinary, completely beyond either of our wildest imaginations, an absolutely cray-cray decision that takes even his assistant by surprise.

He hands the Pokéballs to us.

“Lucas!” He says to the assistant, “I'm going back to my lab!”

And then he walks off, leaving Barry and I with Lucas, cradling Chimchar and Piplup’s Pokéballs in our hands.

“Uhh… yeah, of course! Professor, wait for me!” Lucas says, hurrying to follow the professor, but he turns around once.

“You should visit us at our lab later, I think.”

Barry and I slowly turn to face each other, and I'm positive his dumbfounded expression mirrors mine.

“Tory, pinch me.”

“Only if you pinch me.”