FicWad

Professor Oak looked down at the small group of children. It was almost eleven, and yet here they all were, in his lab, wanting their new pokemon to be healed. Normally his students would be half way to Viridian by now. However, normally he didn't have such a big class, so he supposed this was only to be expected.

He noticed the way Alex and Matt weren't talking. It wasn't Matt's normally surly and quiet disposition, or Alex's rather haughty disdain of people who weren't him, that was causing the cold silence, either. They were, as children sometimes do, Not Talking, with capital letters.

Scott was the unofficial spokesman, saying something mumbled about having had a few practice battles, and now could he please heal their pokemon?

"Of course, if you'll just hand them over," Professor Oak said, noticing that only the girl - whatsherface - had her pokemon out of her pokeball. Five pokeballs made it to the healing machine. The girl shook her head when he asked her if her squirtle needed it. "He's fine, but Raindancer doesn't have much psi energy left," was her statement.

The pokeballs were returned soon afterwards, and Oak moved to read the print out. He double-checked astonished.

"It says here that Mr. Drakan's bulbasaur had third degree burns on her face!" he exclaimed. "None of your pokemon knows any elemental moves yet."

"Check again sir," Alex said politely. "Corazon learned ember at the end of our practice battle."

"But, it says here she fainted."

"Yes, sir. Matt's bulbasaur defeated her honorably," Alex said, surprisingly calmly, and even genuinely. "She is a great credit to her trainer."

"Well, well," Oak mumbled. "Pokemon have started to evolve faster than normal, and in strange ways, too, recently. It happens about once every 100 years, or so. It's a cyclic thing, apparently. Pokemon evolution takes great leaps and bounds for some reason. We seem to be coming into one of those times," he seemed to be speaking more to himself. However, his audience grew restless and he remembered that he was still among real people. The professor cleared his throat self consciously.

"Ahem, keep me apprised of anything else out of the norm. I don't study the historical matters of pokemon evolution, usually, but what is happening in the here and now is of great interest to me, and I have a colleague who could use any information you gather."

They nodded solemnly, probably not hearing one word in ten. The pokemon of the known regions were well documented and surveyed. He knew the same was true in Orre, and the other regions connected to Orre, and that the three isles of Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn, were merely not as well connected with those to the south. There was no need for trainers to gather new information. There were always new things for scientists to document, but training was now a sport, only. They had no idea about collecting research.

"Very well, you may go," the professor sighed.

They trooped out of the lab, blinking in the bright sunshine. It was hard to believe that it was not even lunch time yet, so much had happened.

"So," Scott began, getting out his pokedex, and flipping open to the holographic map. "Where are we planning to go? I mean, we've all agreed to go to Viridian, but then I suppose we'll be splitting up, since not all of our starters are ideal for taking on Pewter."

"I'll be going to Cerulean," Adam volunteered, "but the fastest way is through Mount Moon, and coming down from the north. Although I'll not be challenging Pewter, I'm going by there. Anyone else?"

"Well, Matt and I have the best chance at Pewter, so why don't we keep you company?" Mel asked, getting a startled look from Matt. However, before he could object, Alex cut in.

"I'll be going cross country to cycling road, and then Celadon. From there I don't know."

"Well, I was planning on Celadon, too, so mind if I tag along?" Scott asked.

Alex gave him a look which stated quite plainly that yes, he did mind, but said simply, "Whatever you wish."

"I'll be off to Fuchsia," Chris explained, "So I'll be with you until you reach cycling road."

"Excellent," Scott turned off the map, and his pokedex. "Shall we meet in Viridian for dinner and compare what we've caught?"

A variety of nods and shrugs when around the circle. Scott stood up, and shouldered his pack. For someone with a pokemon who was allergic to daylight he was quite cheerful. He set off down the road, leading to the fields between Pallet and Viridian.

Alex soon followed, and Chris went after him. Adam was busy tying his shoelaces, Mel passed him. Matt, however, caught up with her, and pulled her to the side.

"What did you mean, "Matt and I have the best chance at Pewter?" Who are you to arrange things?" He asked, obviously annoyed.

"Sorry, I just assumed - well, with your bulbasaur, it made sense," Mel lied, realizing, a little too late, that their meddling probably wasn't the best thing, even if they had meant well.

"Well, don't assume next time, okay?" He said beginning to walk away.

"So, you're not going to Pewter then?" Mel called after him.

He turned back. "You were right, it's the most logical choice. Of course I have to go."

Matt continued walking, then, bringing out his pokeball, and tossing it up and down dissolutely.

"What was that about?" Adam asked as he jogged up to the stationary Mel, and Lapis.

"He wanted to make it clear that I wasn't to interfere with his plans," Mel answered. "C'mon, I want to get catching things."

Adam grinned, his pichu perched on his shoulder, rather than his head this time.

"Bolt has the advantage over the Bubblebrain, here, you know. Most of the pokemon between Pallet and Viridian are birds."

"Hey, I might find an ekans. It's late enough in the summer for them," Mel replied. "And there were some sightings of jigglypuff recently. Not to mention the multitude of rattata."

"Well, you're not going to catch anything before lunch at this rate," Adam grinned, before beginning to jog along the road. "Last one to catch a pokemon is a rotten egg, Wash Pot!"

Laughing, Mel followed, with Lapis bringing up the rear, thoroughly convinced that humans were insane.

~~~

Melamine licked her lips. There it was; her first pokemon, a pidgey. She poked Lapis's shell, and pointed. Getting out her pokedex was an automatic action, she needed to know the stats, and whether to capture, or not. Mel had turned off the voice, preferring to read the information as it scrolled across the screen, and not scare any wild pokemon.

Proto_Holo_Prog Activated flashed across the screen. A flash of light made Mel shield her eyes, as the pidgey looked up in alarm.

"Pidgey, the small bird pokemon. This pidgey has a high attack, and high special defense, fair speed, low special attack, and low defense," a mechanical voice told Mel.

She was looking up at a flickering genderless person, with black hair, and deep purple eyes. He (she?) was being projected from the pokedex like the holographic maps, and three-D layouts. "Suggested move combination, tail whip, then tackle," it continued.

The pidgey had already scuttled into the grass as the hologram was speaking.

"How do I turn you off?" Mel wanted to know desperately.

"Just tell me to turn off," was the mechanical reply. "When you stop for lunch perhaps I can introduce you to my wide range of features."

"Turn off," Mel said, before sighing. That thing had scared off her first pokemon. This was not a good start. "C'mon, Lapis, let's catch at least one pokemon before we stop for lunch. Which way did the pidgey go?"

The turtle looked up at Mel and shook his head. Why bother going after the bird? The pidgey hadn't done them any harm.

Mel, however, took this as a "no I didn't see which way the pidgey went" rather than the refusal it was.

"Oh well, we can continue searching then," Mel said, starting off.

Lapis hit is broad forehead, and called after Mel: "That's not what I meant!" However, since Lapis could only speak pokemon, and Mel could only listen in bewilderment, all she heard was "Squir, squirt, squir!"

They waded through the tall grass of the field. There was a road that wound carefully around the natural pokemon habitat, however once someone got into the thick blades of vaguely yellowed grass the field seemed to become an endless ocean. The other young trainers were all lost to view.

"Yarghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Mel jumped at the sound of the strangled scream close by. She ran in the direction of the sound, Lapis following less easily on his stubby legs. A pidgey rushed out of the grass straight for them. It stopped in a flurry of sand, not certain where to run to, or whether it should fight.

Mel reacted instantly.

"Lapis, tail whip!"

The pidgey at that moment decided to rush the human and the squirtle, on the basis that anything was better than staying to face whatever had made that feral scream.

Lapis, on seeing the feathered pokemon bearing down on him lost all of his scruples, and pivoted to smack the pidgey in the face with his blue, curled tail. The bird tumbled backwards head over tail feathers.

"Finish it off with a tackle!" Mel said, as Lapis rushed for the disoriented pidgey. He hit the pokemon straight on, and knocked it to the ground where it lay, fainted.

Mel didn't bother catching it, however. She ran for the source of the noise. There was a small clearing in the grass, and Chris was trying to crabwalk away from the flickering hologram standing above him, telling him the stats of pidgey.

"Turn off," Mel said.

"Voice print not recognized," the machine replied. "The pidgey are omnivores, eating almost anything that comes to hand, perfering nuts and berries - for the most part - over bugs as opposed to their cousins, spearow, who prefer meat. They are scavengers, rather than predators. However they are not as voracious as murkrow, nor as vicious as spearow."

"Tell it to turn off, Chris," Mel told her obviously shocked friend. Raindancer was teleporting around the hologram, trying to kick at it, only to pass through the photons.

"Turn off?" Chris tried.

"Thank you for using me. Perhaps when you next break for lunch I can tell you about my useful features," the genderless hologram replied, switching off.

"That was weird!" Chris said, struggling to rise, and pick up his pokedex. "Good thing I didn't check out the stats of that ekans before I battled it."

"It scared away my first pokemon," Mel admitted.

"Who would put such a stupid function on a pokedex?" Chris wanted to know. "Is there anyway that we could turn it off for good?"

"I guess we'll find out when we check out the other useful features," Mel shrugged. "I don't even know how to turn them on again. Anyway, how did your battle with the ekans go?" This part of Chris' day sounded far more interesting than the weird hologram.

"It was sweet! I let Raindancer do her thing. The teleport combined with a kick flail kind of thing isn't very powerful, but she can keep it going for so long, and nothing can touch her," Chris gushed. "I caught the ekans once he fainted. I don't really need to catch anything else. I was considering catching a pidgey, or a spearow, just because bird pokemon are so useful, but I don't think so. I probably will catch a nidoran once we reach Viridian however. The path to Victory Road is littered with them. True it would have been easier to catch them in the spring, but I'll probably find at least one."

"Nice," Mel agreed. "Has Raindancer learned anything new yet?"

"Not really," Chris admitted, "But look!"

He pulled up a few grass stems. Raindancer landed next to Chris. She then opened her large eyes, which glowed electric blue, and raised her hands. Three of the grass blades vanished, to reappear two inches away from the pile.

"Cool," Mel said politely, not certain what good that would be.

"Yeah, it's pretty intense," Chris said. "I mean, it takes a ton of concentration to teleport stuff that you aren't directly touching. So, how many pokemon have you caught?"

"None," Mel replied. "But I haven't had much luck finding them."

"Hey, that happens sometimes. How about battles?"

"One, with the pidgey you were thinking about capturing. It's probably flown away now. I should have captured it when it fainted."

"Well, that's cool," Chris told her. "Why don't we check out the useful features? There's nothing else to do. After that I can take you to where I saw a spearow nest."

"Yeah, but how do we tell the pokedexes to turn on the useful feature section?" Mel wanted to know.

Lapis nearly hit his head in exasperation at the slowness of his humans on the up take. Raindancer had begun sleeping again, so he prodded her.

Hey, did I ask you to wake me Bubblebrain? /The psychic asked, her mental voice thick with sleep. /I need to rebuild my psychic reserves, you know.

/Look, where's the nearest wild pokemon? /Lapis repiled with brusque thoughts to the psychic type, ignoring Raindancer's grumbling.

/It's a group of rattata five feet into the grass over there, /Raindancer told him, picking up on his plan, as she over heard the humans trying to reactivate the holograms by banging on their pokedexes.

/Teleport into the middle of them, at least one ought to run this - /but Raindancer had already left before Lapis could finish his orders.

A raucous chorus of chattering scolding errupted from the grass and three rattata burst into the open. Mel and Chris whirled, their pokedexes opening automatically, and the holograms appearing next to the machines, talking in a monotone.

The rattata did not look amused to find strangers in their field, moreover, strangers with talking boxes that wouldn't shut up. They charged forward, beady eyes narrowed, and the biggest of the three looking at the packs on the trainer's backs with interest.

Lapis jumped in front of his trainer and her friend, whirling around with a tail whip, knocking all three rodents back. Raindancer teleported in a moment later, lashing out with clawed legs while she was in the air. She connected with the big ratatta, as the two smaller, and more agile ones ducked out of the way, and tore towards Lapis.

Lapis knocked them back with another tail whip, before charging into the fray himself. One of the small rats ducked expertly, before darting in to slam into one blue leg, trying to catch the water pokemon off balance.

Raindancer teleported ontop of Lapis as he fell, knowing it was the only safe place from her opponent's lashing tail and heavy shoulder.

Hey! /Lapis complained through a mouthful of dirt. /What's the big idea?

Raindancer didn't answer, teleporting off her partner, and landing squarely on the large rattata's back. He growled as the abra landed, asking for help from his compatriots in a series of squeaking "rat rat ta!"

They had Lapis down, however, and weren't going to give up their prize. Both smaller rodents were on the hard smooth shell, scrabling at it, and biting it with as yet undeveloped teeth.

Mel acted, commanding Lapis: "Roll over!"

He pushed into the ground with his right set of paws, and his round shell quickly over balanced, sending the rats crashing to earth, his greater weight on top of them.

Mel cheered and turned to hug Chris, who was watching the battle between his lighter, nearly defenseless starter and the largest rodent. Raindancer appeared out of nowhere, the next moment, and promptly kicked the rat in the jaw, teleporting back on top of him.

The rat had enough, playing the same game as Lapis he rolled, forcing Raindancer to teleport off. Looking around he decided that the food was too well guarded, and at least one of his cronies was out for the count. Lapis had risen from his victims, and only one was skulking painfully back to the shrubbery.

The large rodent followed suit as he saw Chris take out one of the dreaded capture balls and enlarge it. Chris threw it at the fainted rattata as Mel sent another one after the fleeing leader.

Her face went bright red as the pokeball landed in the grass three feet to the left of her intended quarry. Obviously her aim was a little off. The tall grass swished as the last pokemon made good his escape.

She turned to see Chris picking up the pokeball he had thrown with a satisfied look on his face. The holograms on their pokedexes were still activated, but silent now, as there was nothing to document.

Chris stowed his rattata away, before turning to Mel. "Not exactly what I'm interested in, but if I train him up a bit do you think I could get a good trade for him?"

"Possibly," Mel said, "but rattata aren't really rare. You won't be able to get much unless you meet a breeder who likes his stats."

"True, hey, which one did you catch?" Chris wanted to know.

"None of them," Mel sighed. "I missed."

"You missed?!" Chris began laughing.

"Hey! It's not funny!" Mel said, going red again.

"Oh yes it is!" Chris hooted. "How can you miss? Pokeballs are designed to home in on fainted, or wounded wild pokemon. What did you do? Throw it behind you?"

"It landed right over there," Mel said pointing to the offending grass.

Lapis wallked over and picked it up solemnly, before handing it back to his trainer. Mel put the pokeball back in her pack with a sigh. "I need throwing lessons. At this rate the only pokemon I will have is one stupid enough to touch a pokeball's capture button."

Lapis crossed his arms, and said something in pokespeech. /And me. /Raindancer translated.

Mel smiled, "of course, and you. At least we haven't yet lost a battle."

"Hey, I resemble that remark!" Chris said indignantly.

"Would you like the holographic program to turn off?" questioned one of the holograms before Mel to retort.

"Y or N?" continued the other.

"N!" Mel exclaimed. "We have some questions for you. How can we turn you on without flushing out wild pokemon?"

"Say turn on," her hologram replied.

"Okay," Chris said, looking as if they should have known that, "so what were the useful features you were mentioning?"

"1. Turn on options: a) Proto_Holo_Prog activates at wild pokemon sightings. On. b) Proto_Holo_Prog activates to the command turn on. On.

"2. Turn off options: a) Proto_Holo_Prog turns off after delivering information. Off. b) Proto_Holo_Prog deactivates when command turn off is used. On

"3. Personality options: a) nuetral. On. b) friendly. Off. c) caring. Off. d) curious. Off. e) cheerful. Off.

"4. physical appearance options: a) gender: a1) female. Off. a2) male. Off. a3) androgenous. On. b) body type: b1) ectomorphic. On. b2) endomorphic. Off. b3) mesomorphic. Off. c) hair color: c1) black. On. c2) red. Off. c3) blonde. Off. d) hair style: d1) short. On. d2) long. Off. e) eye color: e1) blue. Off. e2) purple. On. e3) red. Off. f) clothing: f1) shirts: f1a) t-shirt. Off. f1b) sweatshirt. Off. f1c.) turtleneck. On. f2) pants. On. f3) footwear: f3a) sneakers. Off. f3c) sandals. Off. f3d) boots. On. g) color: g1) shirt: g1a) black. On. g1b) blue. Off. g1c.) red. Off. g2) pants: g2a) black. On. g2b) blue. Off. g2c.) red. Off. g3) footwear: g3a) black. On. g3b) blue. Off. g3c.) red. Off. h) skin tone: h1) pale. On. h2) medium. Off. h3) olive. Off. h4) dark. Off.

"You may sort through, and choose different options in your pokedex," the hologram finished.

Mel and Chris blinked. "Um," Mel began, searching through the list that had popped up on her display screen, "Disable 1a, please?"

"Of course," the hologram said, and filekered, as it adjusted its settings.

"Wow, you mean that worked?" Chris said, before repeating the command to his hologram. "And when you're done, turn off."

His hologram flickered out of existance. Mel was still scrolling through options.

"Mind if I get out lunch?" Chris asked.

"Fine with me," Mel replied absently. "Okay, disable 3a, and enable 3 - d. Yes, I think d will be the best. And, um, the andro-gen-yous thing is a little weird. Disable 4a3, and enable 4a - er, 2? Sorry, but I'm just not used to the idea of a female pokedex function. And the eyes, what do the blue look like?" Mel wanted to know.

"Blue?" asked her now male hologram. "What command is that? I'll try to remember it for next time, but I don't know a blue command."

"Oh, right," Mel looked at the screen. "Disable 4e2, and enable 4e1."

The irises of the hologram swirled, losing their purple hue, and becoming a vivid azure. Mel had to look away, the glow was so intense. "Akk! Go back to purple! Go back to purple!"

"Purple is 4e2, I take it?" the hologram asked.

"Yes," Mel told him.

The hologram nodded, and his eyes became purple again. Mel grinned. This was kind of fun. He seemed to be catching on, quickly. The hologram grinned back. "Want to try 4e3?"

"Um, sure," Mel looked down at the display. "Yeah, I'd kind of like to see what red eyes look like."

Blue drained from the purple, until the irises were the rich deep red of pomegranet seeds. With his black get up, and black hair, the red eyes actually suited the hologram, in Mel's opinion. The hologram was no taller than she was when she stood on her tiptoes. He looked rather like her father's mischeious houndour with the grin twitching at the sides of his mouth.

"You need a name," Mel decided. "How does Chrono Hermes sound?"

"What would the name be used for?" Chrono asked.

"Um, so you could be different from all of the other pokedex holograms. Names identify people?" Mel suggested after five minutes worth of standing still at a loss.

"Oh," the hologram said, as in the background, Chris snorted into the sandwich he had unwrapped, and was chewing thoughtfully.

"It's just a machine, Mel," Chris said. "They don't have thoughts or feelings. They don't understand the concept of names, except in binary. And why did you name it after your father's guard houndour?"

"He looks a bit like Chrono," Mel defended.

"I don't see it," Chris shared a laugh with Raindancer.

Lapis snuck the lettuce out of Chris's sandwich, and bit into it. He didn't understand the humans that had appeared out of thin air, but he didn't like the psychic boy's tone with his trainer.

"Should I turn off now?" Chrono asked.

"Yeah, turn off," Mel told him.

She sat between Chris and Lapis, and dug her lunch out of her pack. Chris watched as she shifted around her different items. "What have you got in there? The Celdon Department Store?" he asked.

"I just believe in being prepared," Mel replied. "I've got five pokeballs, two great balls, an antidote, a paralyze cure, an awakening, some bitter berries, one full restore, a couple of potions, no more burn heal, since I gave mine to Matt, remind me to get another one when we reach Viridian."

"Mel, Lapis isn't likely to get burned! He's a water type, remember?" Chris exclaimed.

"And I've got to get some rope," Mel concluded.

"Why? Not planning on any mountain climbing this soon, are you?" Chris asked in a tone of voice that clearly didn't want to know.

"You never know what could happen," Mel defended her preparedness.

"How are you managing to carry all that?" Chris wanted to know, "and your squirtle has swiped your lettuce."

"It's not heavy. The egg is the heaviest thing," Mel told him. "And my lettuce is still here, see?" she opened her sandwich.

Lapis swallowed the last tail end of Chris's lettuce, before snagging Mel's lettuce from the open sandwich. Mel sighed at the same time as Chris.

"I just can't win," the commented unanimously, before yelling "Jinx!" at the same time. They glared at one another. "I said it first!" both children yelled. "Jinx!"

Ten minutes, and a final agreement to a mutual pinch, later Chris asked to see the egg. Mel brought out the incubator. Chris looked at the shell.

"It's really pretty," he observed.

"It's a lot rougher than it looks," Mel replied. "I don't know what it's going to be, sadly. My mother wasn't there to tell me."

"You don't have to tell me," Chris rolled his eyes, handing the thick cylider of the incubator back to Mel. "Mom was never home."

"Your foster mom?" Mel asked, putting the cylinder back on her pack. It was common knowledge that Chris was from the Viridian orphange.

"No, Mrs. Farra's always there. Mom," Chris shrugged, rising. "She was always running around, trying to find "special trainers." She spent more time them than she did with us. I mean it was great that she would - some of those kids were pretty freaky, and probably needed her, but I can relate to the over working parents syndrome."

"Yeah," Mel said, rising as well.

You know, /Raindancer commented, /one of the ironies of this is you would be one of the "special trainers," Rivermind.

"I wish you wouldn't call me that," Chris told her. "It's impossible for someone to be taken seriously when they're named "Rivermind." How many famous trainers are going to admit to the name Rivermind? I ask you. Can you see Koga being called Rivermind?"

A poison using ninja is hardly a good example. Look at Will of the Johto Elite Four, now he's what I call a great trainer.

"He wears a mask all the time, afraid to show his face," Chris scoffed. "Next you'll be telling me to emulate Sabrina."

You could do a lot worse! Raindancer sounded extremely annoyed.

"Worse?! She went insane over ten years ago and killed people! Sure, people say she's all better now, but she's still a freak!" Chris yelled back at his partner.

And so are you! Or have you conveiently forgotten that you have psychic powers as well?! Raindancer's voice exploded in their minds.

Mel and Lapis were looking at one another. "Um, should we go somewhere else?" Mel asked.

Don't bother. Rivermind, we'll discuss this later! Raindance promised, fuming as she returned herself to her pokeball.

Chris breathed out. "Well, I promised to show you where some spearow were nesting, didn't I? C'mon."

Mel shrugged to Lapis, and then continued walking with Chris.

"What are you going to do now that Raindancer isn't talking to you? I mean, if a wild pokemon ambushes you?" Mel asked.

"She'll come out to protect me, besides the rattata and the ekans I caught should probably have enough health left to help me in a pinch. However, once I show you the nest, I'll leaving for Viridian and the pokemon center," Chris promised his friend.

"Alright, thanks," Mel told him.

They walked through the long grass, listening to the chirp of pigeys and the far off hum of beedrill wings over the flowers in the gardens of Pallet. The yellow and green blades rustled ocasionally, parting before the two, and closing in behind them with reassuring swishing sounds.

The sun beamed down on them between fluffy white clouds against the azure sky. It was the perfect late summer day, warm and lazy. In two weeks there would be a chill in the air, as autumn made its scheduled appearance. However, two weeks was a long time, when summer was concerned, and there was always the possibility of an Indian summer.

None of these thoughts engaged the two children, however. Mel was on the look out for any pokemon to battle, wanting to increase Lapis' strength. She was also surruptitiously trying to practice throwing motions for pokeballs. Chris was looking for the tall elm tree. Tall trees dotted the landscape, but the elm was where the spearow had made their nests.

"Hey," he finally told Mel. "It's over there."

The tree that he pointed to had a spearow sitting in the branches, and Mel nodded. "Alright, Lapis, let's do this," she told him, moving closer to the tree, as Chris waved a farewell, and ran off through the grass.

~~~

Hello my dear readers, I do know that there are some of you out there, so I'm not discouraged. More training to come, and then we'll run off to Viridian before the storm breaks. See you at the next chapter.