Chapter 2
The Briefcase in the Lake
“Wake up, Jason!” Mom shook me rapidly. “You’re already late!”
I tried to gather my things as fast as I could, but just a few seconds before I was about to grab something, my mother beat me to it and put it on me or in my backpack with two other things. And every time she did, she hissed “This is what happens when you stay awake until three in the morning on a day that you have to get up early!”
I slumped outside as she hustled. As Mom practically dragged me through the lawn, our grumpy nextdoor neighbor, Ben, came stomping up to us. “I BARELY GOT ANY SLEEP AT ALL LAST NIGHT THANKS TO YOUR BRAT’S SHOUTIN’!”
Ben was a real jerk while I was growing up. Every time he saw me doing something that he didn’t like, he would always go over to my house and begin yelling at my mother as though HE knew how to raise me. I knew that he was arrested by Officer Jenny a few times, and empty bottles usually littered his lawn. Frankly, I don’t think that sounds like someone who should be lecturing my mother on how to raise me.
“Give him a break, Ben, it was the night before his tenth birthday last night!”
He continued yelling, “I DON’T CARE! IT WAS TWO THI-”
“HEEEY! JASOOON!!!” My friend, Barry, who lived a few houses down the street, shouted as he ran past Ben and slammed into me.
“OUCH,” I yelped as we collided, both of us landing hard on the ground.
“Whoops! Sorry about that!” He jumped straight back onto his feet. “I can’t believe that I had to wait until your birthday to get my starter!”
“You didn’t have to!” I protested, “you could have gotten yours on your birthday!”
“I know!” He laughed, “but I’m just a good friend like that, ya know?”
Ben suddenly loomed over Barry and shouted, “WHY DON’T YOU WATCH WHERE YOU’RE GOING YOU LITTLE BRAT!”
Mom started berating at Ben again and they started another arguing match. Barry seemed to ignore him, and continued, “anyways, I think you owe me a million bucks for making me wait so long!”
I laughed, “I’m not going to give you a million bucks because you decided to wait for my birthday!”
“
Oh yeah?! Well, you’re gonna have to give me a million more if I beat you to the professor’s place! See ya!” He bolted away like a Ninjask, while I quickly fumbled back onto my feet and chased after him. We ran all the way to the edge of Twinleaf Town.
“Wait, wait… we should wait for my mom,” I gasped. “She has a Pokémon so we can get through the tall grass!”
“Jason, Jason, Jason, I’m not planning on going straight to the professor’s lab.”
“That’s not what you were saying a minute ago…”
“Never mind that! Besides, I heard that Professor Rowan is this really grumpy, really old, and really mean dude!” I gulped, as Barry pressed onward, “Besides, did you see the news last night?! About the red Gyarados?!”
“That was in Johto,” I replied flatly.
“Well I know that! But I’m going to find a red Gyarados of my own and catch it!”
“How? You don’t have any Pokémon or Pokéballs,” I said, suspiciously.
Barry frowned. “You really know how to have fun, don’t you? Well, I’m gonna go to the lake and find me a Gyarados! You can either sit there and wait for your mom, or watch as I become a living legend! Whichever works for you, I suppose!” He dashed towards Lake Verity. I stood still for a moment as I glanced from Twinleaf Town to the lake. A gust of wind blew through the grass, carrying fallen leaves that were just starting to turn yellow in color with it across the field. I grumbled as I gave in and ran towards the lake.
“I knew you would come to your senses! Now then,” Barry said, cracking his knuckles. “Let’s find this red Gyarados!” We walked over to the lake and Barry immediately began looking around while screaming, “RED GYARADOOOS!”
I stood on a rock next to him and stared out into the lake. I used to love sitting on this very rock with my mother or Barry when I was younger. We would love to watch the water in the distance, or try to see the Goldeen and Magikarp swimming around in the shallow waters nearby. I stared around at the sunlight reflecting off the lake, and then my eyes settled on a patch of tall grass. There was a briefcase lying in the middle of it. I turned my head towards Barry, and called him over. “Barry! There’s a briefcase in that tall grass!”
“Huh?”
We both walked over to the edge of the tall grass. The case was resting in a tuft of cattail, and was partially in the water.
“What do we do?” I asked, turning to Barry, “If we go in there, we could get attacked by wild Pokémon.”
Barry thought for a moment, making an almost comical thinking expression as he rubbed his chin with two fingers. “I’VE GOT AN IDEA!”
We quickly went through about seven failed ideas. We were sitting at the edge of the grass then Barry suddenly stood up “Alright, I’ve had enough.”
“Uh…” I mumbled, as I sat up and glanced at Barry.
He walked towards the grass, “We go in and grab the briefcase! We’ll be in and out! Faster than any Pokémon can blink!”
“W-wait!” I grabbed his arm, “We don’t have any Pokémon! We can’t defend ourselves!”
“That’s why we gotta be quick! Now come on, Jason!” We stood at the very edge of the grass.
Barry took a deep breath. “Ready, Jason?”
“No! This is dangerous, Barry! My mom isn’t even here,” I shouted incredulously, shaking my head rapidly.
“It’s gonna be fine!” Barry grinned, trying to reassure me with little success, “Now let’s go!”
I didn’t let go of his arm, and as a result I was launched with him. The tug of my weight caught Barry off guard, and he tripped and fell face-first into the mud. However, he was strong enough that I was heaved into the air. I tried to land, but skidded across the mud hidden beneath the tall grass, causing me to slip and fall onto my butt. As this happened, I accidentally kicked the briefcase into the lake, and it began to float away.
Barry immediately yelled, “JASON, THE BRIEFCASE!”
I quickly got back onto my feet and reached out, barely grabbing the handle. “Phew… that was a close one.” I dragged the case back to us. “Now to get out of he-”
We heard something screech, “STAAAR!”
Suddenly, a pair of Starly swooped down from the nearby trees and began pecking at us. We both began yelping in pain, “Argh! Ow, ow!”
“Ow! Gah! HEY! OW! JASON, OPEN THE BRIEFCAAASE!!
“Why! It doesn--OW! It doesn’t belong to us! Ngh!”
“JUST DO IIIIIT!!!”
I swung the briefcase at the Starly, but they both avoided it with ease by flying backwards. I haphazardly unhooked the hinges in the moment I had. The case flung open and three pokeballs rolled down towards us. “Pokeballs?!”
“Pokeballs! Jason, please tell me there are Poke-AAAOOOOWWWW!!”
The Starly dive bombed us, slamming into Barry and I. Barry grabbed one of the Pokeballs. “Wait! Those aren’t ours!”
“Well what better plan do we have!?”
I hesitated and grabbed one of the remaining Pokeballs. We threw them into the air simultaneously. Bursts of light erupted from them. Suddenly, a Turtwig appeared in front of me, and a Chimchar in front of Barry. “WOAH! A CHIMCHAR!”
“A TURTWIG!? The Professor’s supposed to hand these Pokémon out, right?!”
“It doesn’t matter right now! Chimchar, attack!”
“Chim!” Chimchar jumped up and scratched the Starly that was attacking Barry. I saw my aggressor loop in the air and dive. I braced for impact, but just before it hit me, Turtwig jumped up and blocked the attack with its shell. “Tuuurt-TWIG!” Turtwig stared back at me and our eyes met. It’s hard to explain, but in that small moment, I felt something with Turtwig. “Turtwig, Tackle!”
“Chimchar, use Scratch!”
Chimchar jumped over the Starly and scratched its back. Turtwig slammed into the other Starly head-on.
“Staaar-LY!” Starly tackled Turtwig, and it skidded back a little in the mud. The other Starly flew around in a circle overhead, and swooped down at Chimchar. “Do it again, Chimchar!”
“Keep it up, Turtwig!”
Chimchar grabbed the Starly as it swooped down, but was knocked onto its back. Turtwig blocked Starly’s attack with its shell, before slamming into Starly yet again. Both Starly flew up into the air and flew around in a circle, before breaking apart and swooping down at us.
“Chimchar, grab it and use Scratch!”
“Turtwig, block it and use Tackle!”
Chimchar seized Starly’s wings this time, the force of the attack dragged it back a little in the mud. Meanwhile, Turtwig turned around and jumped, its shell facing Starly. Starly bashed into Turtwig, but Turtwig managed to flip midair and slam Starly down to the ground. Chimchar recovered its strength and slashed Starly across the face with one hand, as Turtwig recoiled and slammed down onto Starly from above. Both of them lay on the ground- fainted. Turtwig and Chimchar turned around and beamed at us respectively.
We bolted out of the grass quickly, not risking a second attack, and stared at the Pokémon. We both burst out laughing, and we each hugged the Pokémon we had sent out. “You were GREAT Chimchar! Absolutely GREAT!”
“Amazing! Good job Turtwig! I don’t think I could have done it without you!”
Footsteps marched into the opening, and we both stopped laughing abruptly. A girl who looked to be about our age with long dark-blue hair under a beanie and fierce blue eyes stomped into the clearing, “And just what do you think you’re doing with Professor Rowan’s Pokémon?! You no-good thieves!”
“H-hey wait!” I protested, as I jumped back to my feet, “We were only using the Pokémon to protect ourselves!” Turtwig jumped out of my arms and examined my shoes.
“Yeah!” Barry continued getting up as well, “We were trying to get the case out from the tall grass, but we were jumped by a couple of Starly!” Chimchar climbed up his back and onto his head.
She gasped, “You USED the Pokémon in there!?” she turned to the side and mumbled, “Oh my gosh… What’s the Professor going to say…” She suddenly walked off, as though in a daze.
“What was that about?” I asked Barry.
“I don’t know. I… I don’t even know what’s going on right now. We should get out of here.”
We walked out of the opening and back onto Route 201. Just outside of Twinleaf Town, the weird girl from before was talking to a tall old man standing next to my mother. Barry’s mom was also there. When they saw us, they both ran over to us and scooped each of us into their arms respectively. “Are you okay Jason?” My mother asked me in a panic, “I heard from Professor Rowan’s assistant that you were attacked by a Starly!”
“I’m okay Mom. All thanks to Turtwig.”
“Twig!” Turtwig cheered, proudly. In the background, Barry struggled to break free from his mother, insisting that she was choking him. “Ahem.” Professor Rowan’s voice seemed to break through all the commotion. Professor Rowan stepped forward, examining Barry and I closely. “It seems my Pokémon have taken quite a liking to you two.”
“Chimchar, Chim!”
“Twig, Turtwig!”
“Hmm… So that’s how it is.” He stepped back and turned to his assistant, “Dawn, I’m going back to my lab!” He turned around on the spot and headed down the trail. Dawn shot a confused look at the professor, gesturing at Turtwig and Chimchar, and then turned around as well, saying “W-Wait for me Professor!” She turned back to us and quickly said, “You two had better come visit the professor later tonight! His lab is in Sandgem Town, at the end of Route 201.”
She turned and darted to the professor’s side. She was skipping by his side as they both departed down towards Sandgem Town.
