Chapter 1:
Content warning: Cursing, minor sexism, and adult beverages being consumed by adults.
I walked down the stairs to the living room of my home. My mom was waiting at the table. Her messy frazzled blonde hair matched mine, as we both tended not to brush it as often as we should. Her Falinks were all over the place, its six bodies cleaning various parts of the room, or just chilling.
“Good morning Erick.” She said, There was a tone of voice that I couldn’t quite place about her. For now, I ignored it, walking to the kitchen and starting up the stove.
“Morning mom. Want anything specific in your omelet today?” I asked. I’d been making her breakfast, lunch, and dinner ever since I was a boy. I found out cooking was my passion, and Chex and I had been working on becoming professional cooks ever since.
“The usual is fine.” She said, There was something almost fake about the way she spoke. I heard her make her way upstairs as I began to crack some eggs in the pan.
“Chex, would you grab the moomoo milk from the fridge?” I asked. The farfetch’d did so as I whisked some peppers into the pan. Chex threw me the milk, which I caught without even thinking about it. I was in the zone, my arms moving into autopilot. Soon enough, breakfast was ready.
“Before we give some to mom, here you are Chex.” I handed him an omelet of his own. He smiled at me, setting his large leek to the side and starting to eat. I walked into the living room with my own plate and my mom’s. “Mom! Breakfast!”
Mom walked down the stairs holding…
Was that my bag?
“Thank you, sweetie. Please take a seat. We have something to talk about.”
“Mom I- What is this?” I asked, a little frantic “Mom I-”
“Sit. Your ass. Down.” Mom said firmly. I sat, and gave her the omelet I made for her and sat. “Erick, It’s been six years since you turned ten, and you still haven't left. You haven't gone on your pokemon journey.”
“Because I don’t want to!” I repeated, exasperated. “Not everyone needs to leave the house when their ten! I don’t even want to be a trainer! I want to be a chef! Like dad!”
“Don’t you dare speak about your father!” My mom yelled. I stopped dead in my tracks. “Your father was no man to look up to.”
“I just-” I searched for the right words in my head. “I just love cooking. I don’t want to go out and fight random kids on the side of the street. I don’t want to leave home before I’m an adult! And I don’t want to make Chex fight!”
“That Farfetch’d of yours is a fighting type.” My mom scoffed, joking in a way. She then shifted into a more serious tone. “I’ve let you loaf around this house for six years more than I should. Erick, you need to go out on your own. Professor Elm is starting a new program today, giving partner pokemon to kids who are delinquents. Who haven't left home yet. Kids like you-”
“I am not a delinquent!” I shouted. Chex Growled slightly. “And I already have a partner. Caught him with dad when I was seven.”
I immediately realized I had gone too far. Mom looked at me, shocked. Her face white.
“Get out.”
“What? Mom I didn’t mean it I-”
“Go to Elm’s. Get another partner. Then we can talk.” She said under her breath. It was more of a whisper.
~
I arrived at Professor Elm's Lab to see two other kids about my age. One was a girl with short red hair and freckles all over. She was fidgeting with the sleeve of her letterman jacket. She seemed very nervous. The other kid was wearing a clean light orange button up shirt. They were looking at themself in the camera of their phone, combing their hair. They turned to me, and smirked a bit.
“You here for the J.A.D.E. Program?” They asked.
“The- The what?”
They rolled their eyes at me. “The ‘Johto Advancement of Delinquents Education’ program.”
“I guess.” I sighed. Chex leaned his head against me.
“Interesting Farfetch’d you got there.” The Kid said. “You must be from Galar.”
“Yeah.” I sighed. “I’m uh, Erick by the way. This is Chex.” Chex made a nod of approval.
“Shank.” They smiled back, shaking my hand. I almost laughed at the absolute ridiculousness of their name. “So are you here just for not leaving the house, or something more… Interesting? I mean, you have a partner already, yet you’re in this program, so what is it?”
“I didn’t leave. I don’t ever want to if I’m being honest I just didn’t want to upset my mo-” I was cut off by a shriek. Chex was staring a little confused at the ginger girl, who looked mortified. Chex seemed to shrug and walk back to me, and Shank laughed.
“Sorry Malls!” They smiled. “Molly over there is here because she wouldn’t leave home either. She’s afraid of Pokemon.”
“And you?” I asked “Why are you here?”
“Cybercrimes.” Shank laughed slightly. “I kept trying to buy shiny pokemon on the black market.”
“You can just… Do that?” I was a little taken aback.
“Yeah.” Shank said, absentmindedly. “But that’s the least interesting thing about me! I collect premier balls, I’m an Iono superfan, and one time, I met the Marnie in person.”
“Marnie?” I asked. “The one from Spikemuth?”
“Hell yeah dude.” Shank grinned
“I’m from Spikemuth too!” I smiled.
“Uh, so uh, Guys…” Molly stuttered, interrupting us. “Should we, uh, g- go inside?”
“I suppose.” Shank huffed. They were about to open the door when a group of three kids burst out on their own. They looked about ten, and they were holding a Cyndaquil, Chikorita, and Totodile respectively. I watched them walk away, and struggled to hold back my expression of annoyance.
“D- Don’t like watching other kids get to go on their adventures, huh?” Molly said quietly. “I can uh, relate.”
“Something like that” I sighed.
We walked into the lab as elm was crouched over something. He was clearly working hard, piercing something together that I just couldn’t quite see.
“Mister uh, Elm?” Shanks laughed awkwardly. Elm groaned without even looking up.
“Intern!” He yelled. A girl who couldn’t have been older than seventeen with dark skin and a large mess of curly black hair on her head, as well as a golden geodude with black rocks poking from it floating right behind her ran in.
“Yes sir?” She asked hurriedly. Her demeanor was very anxious.
“Make yourself useful and show the charity cases over to the Workroom B for me. I have my important meeting in Workroom A.” He slurred. I noticed a few empty bottles of ‘Budew lite’ around his workspace. “After that, you can get me another beer. Oh, and remember, you’re prettier when you smile.”
“Of course sir” She said, smiling, and then she led us over to a side room with light blue wallpaper. The second we were out of Elm’s view, she started to mutter all kinds of profanities about him. She left us alone in the room, and we stared at each other for a moment.
“That was certainly something that just happened.” Shanks laughed slightly. He glanced over to the table in the center of the workroom. “Oh look! These must be the pokemon Elm’s going to let us use!”
We all glanced over with a mixture of nervousness, excitement, and dread as we saw three labels in front of the premier balls, which were sitting in an open briefcase.
“Iron… Bundle? Iron Hands? Iron Valiant?” Shank read. “What are these things?
“No clue.” I said.
“Maybe it’s a nickname?” Molly suggested. I sighed.
“Well, I have literally no clue what they mean, but who wants what?” Shank grinned. I appreciated their energy if nothing else.
“I suppose I’ll take bundle.” Molly said. I was surprised to see her choose first, as she was most definitely afraid.
“Well, I’m curious about ‘Iron hands’, so that leaves you with ‘Valiant’” Shank grinned. I sighed and looked over to Chex, who did a ‘thumbs up’ best he could with his free wing. I shrugged and picked up the ball. The second I did, I felt a deep understanding in my chest. Whatever was in this pokeball was afraid. It was angry.
But more than anything, it was alone.
Suddenly a loud shout could be heard from outside the room. “You scatterbrained good for nothing woman!” Elm shrieked. “You’ve embarrassed me in front of a client! Get those losers out of there, now!”
“O- Oh. Should we put these back then?” Molly asked. “Sounds like they aren't ours.”
“Hand them to me, I remember what order they were in!” Shank said hurriedly. “Quick!”
Just as we did, Elm’s intern burst in through the door. “This is coming out of your paycheck!” Elm was screeching.
“Please, come with me.” The intern said. We followed her out of the room. She seemed to not notice the pokeballs on the table had even been tampered with. I sighed in relief, and we swapped Workrooms to Workroom B. along the way we passed an older man wearing a suit. There was some sort of red emblem on his breast pocket, but I couldn’t quite make it out.
“Now, I’m going to seal the deal with my client in there, and you are going to show these shitstains that I care about the community, so the government will get off my ass about the starter pokemon, and if you fuck up one more thing today, I’m going to make it known to every seaport in Johto that you are never to leave this country. Do I make myself clear?” Elm seethed, practically spitting all over his poor intern. She stared defiantly back at him.
“Crystal.” She said. Elm left to go meet with his other client, and the intern sighed. Her geodude gave her a hug, and she turned to us three. “Hello J.A.D.E. Program.”
“What’s good?” Shank grinned. Their feet were on the table as they had made themselves comfortable. “He seems like a joy to work for, by the way.”
The intern smiled softly at the sarcasm. “My name is Shannon Dawson. I used to be a trainer, but my dream in life is to study regional forms. This is my partner, Nugget. She’s a geodude from Alola.”
“Is she shiny?” Shank asked.
“No shit, sherlock. Back off by the way, I know exactly why each of you is here.” She nodded to Nugget, who clicked a button, beginning a powerpoint. “Welcome, you three, to the first batch of the J.A.D.E. program. You three are the kinds of kids that would be targeted by the likes of team rocket to join their ranks.” She flashed to the next slide, showing a photo of Shank’s face. It was a picture of them flipping off the camera next to several women in bikinis, a pile of money, several masterballs, and five bikes scattered around the room “You’re Rambunctious.”
“I spent a whole afternoon photoshopping that.” Shank whispered, winking at me.
Shannon flicked it to the next slide, this time it was Molly’s picture, a school picture from a year ago. Her smile made her look like she was under an active threat “Unsure.”
Finally, it switched to my own face. A picture of me and Chex cuddling under a heap of blankets I’d taken for Instagranbull. “And most of all, Lazy.” She changed to the next slide, with three question marks. “You haven’t left the house to go out on your own pokemon journey. You haven’t applied to Elm’s office to get a starter of your own. Luckily, your parents did that for you.” She flipped to the next slide, it was a picture of champion lance. “Lance has issued this program as a way to prevent crime in Johto, requiring each professor to patron three older kids into their own journey. As such, you three will be given starter pokemon, Running shoes, and the older model of pokedex.”
Shank sighed. “Cool. Great. I’ll take Cyndaquil then.”
“Not so fast.” Shannon smiled weakly. “The government didn’t exactly fund us well enough to breed you fresh starters, so you three are getting some of Elm’s old research pokemon he no longer needs.”
“So we get trash?” Shank asked, annoyed. I sighed and Chex let out a grunt. Molly seemed a little relieved.
“No pokemon is trash.” Shannon snapped. Molly jumped out of fear. “Journeys are not about being the strongest. They are about following a dream. Any pokemon can be strong if you train with it enough.”
“W- What are the starters then?” Molly asked. Shannon looked at her and smiled a bit.
“Sorry for snapping, I’m just having a hard day.” Shannon said. “Your first starter option is from Galar, She was used to help Elm collect data on the eating habits of pokemon, and is known for eating the occasional tin can.” Shannon laughed, tossing out a pokeball containing a cramorant with a few gray feathers. It looked up at us and squawked, before sitting down contently.
“Next, we have a fiery little boy, he helped Professor Elm research evolution methods! He’s known for being a bit stubborn around the office, but he’s very food motivated.” She said, releasing a small Salandit who looked up at us curiously.
“Finally, we have a pokemon that was used to test resistance to heat. Turns out that sunlight and fire are two very different things!” She released a Maractus, who immediately tried to pet the salandit, before he burned her. “She really likes fire types.”
“So to recap,” Shank said. “We have a really old bird who eats trash, a Salandit who can’t evolve, and a Maractus who loves the one thing that kills it?”
“Yup” Shannon smiled. “But each of them is in their own right a fantastic partner, and I’m sure would be a great edition to any team if you gave them a shot.”
I noticed out of the corner of my eye, that Chex had gone over and started playing with the Salandit. I chuckled to myself slightly. “I guess I’m taking the little guy.” I smiled. Shannon looked down and saw the two playing and smiled.
“Very good! You gonna nickname him?” She asked. I looked down at him and he and Chex looked at me. I stared into his purple eyes, and smiled.
“Pepper.” I decided. “His name is Pepper.” Pepper smiled and came up to me, nuzzling his head into my foot. I hadn’t wanted to get a new partner, but the little guy was just so cute, and he and Chex got along. It was better than nothing.
“You really did choose the worst option there bud.” Shank smiled. “I’ll take the Cramorant, whom I will affectionately nickname Crammy.”
The Cramorant jumped up and into Shank’s lap. “Hi Crammy,” He said. I let out another laugh at the absurdness of Shank’s naming skills. They smirked at me. “Don’t judge me.”
“I- uh.” Molly was shaking slightly. The Maractus slid up to her and put out one hand. Molly timidly shook it.
“Would you like to name her?” Shannon asked.
“Pricilla.” Molly said. Pricilla did a little dance of approval.
“Well then, you three are ready.” Shannon smiled.
“Yeah! And you can stop talking to us like you’re more than a year older than us!” Shanks responded with mock enthusiasm.
“Stop harassing her, she probably gets that enough from Elm.” I smirked. She laughed slightly
“No, it’s quite alright.” Shannon laughed. “I get it. I am only seventeen. Just saving money to move to Alola to study regional forms down there permanently.”
“H- Hopefully the professor up there is nicer.” Molly laughed slightly.
“That’s the dream.” Shannon said. She grabbed a box for each of us, containing an old ‘Oak edition’ pokedex and a pair of running shoes. We thanked her, and left the room. Just as we were leaving, I saw Elm’s client leaving with the same briefcase that was holding those premiere balls from earlier. We thanked Shannon and exited the lab as well.
“I wonder what was in those Premiere balls.” I said as we walked down a sidewalk on our way home.
“Won’t have to wonder much longer.” Shank smirked. They reached into their pocket and pulled out three premiere balls…
