Subject: [PW!] Another new journey Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 15:38:37 +0100 From: Jeroen te Strake <joeno@sevspace.com> Organization: 404 - Not Found Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon From somewhere far away, Brad heard something beeping. He looked around the dark, damp cave. He could see the shapes of Zubats flying above him, a Paras scuttling away, and rocks that he had identified as Geodudes and even an Onix that were resting, perhaps sleeping, on the ground. There was the beeping again. Interesting, none of the creatures reacted. He looked around to locate the source of it again. He suddenly noticed the cave had become even darker, and.. where had the Pokemon gone to? It had become warmer. He had his eyes closed. The beeping again. He slowly opened his eyes, and looked at the white wall of his room. "Ah yes. A wonderful day again." he mumbled to himself. He pressed the button on his Hoothoot alarm (It was said to be as accurate as the real Pokemon, and you couldn't really get more accurate (as far as the time was concerned) than a Hoothoot, right?) and stepped out of bed. Minutes later, Brad sat at the table, eating his breakfast. A cornflake variant that, for some reason, had a dressed-up Politoed as mascot. It was a bit disgusting, when you thought about it - who knows in what way it might have been involved in the production process of it. He quickly grabbed a book to distract himself from the image on the pack, something with information on several Pokemon, and opened it to the Politoed section. He skipped over the familiar information - water-type, evolves through the influence of a King's Rock, hypnotic powers, yadda yadda. Aaah, its cry gathered Poliwags and Poliwhirls apparently. That had to be interesting for a trainer - send out your Politoed, and Poliwags and Poliwhirls were suddenly helping you as well. Odd. After finishing breakfast, he grabbed his coat. He took a notepad and a pencil, and looked through the notes he made last time, observing a Sentret. Funny creatures. He put both in his pocket, together with a Pokeball he had gotten for his 10th birthday, but never wanted to use. The Pokemon always were happy where they were, it seemed to him. He shouted upstairs to his mother. "Mom, I'm out again." He waited for a moment. "Yes Brad. Don't be late!" "I won't!" He replied as he walked out the door, going in the direction of the Lake of Rage. He knew about a spot there, where hardly anyone came. There always were some Pokemon there, however. He took a spot, partially hidden in the bushes to not disturb them, and waited. Moments later, a Natu hopped in. It pecked at the ground a bit, and Brad made a few notes. Suddenly, the Natu looked at him, and hopped to him. For a moment, Brad wasn't sure whether it had noticed him, but after it hopped to him, and started pecking at his shoes, it was pretty obvious. "No, no, little one, just go back." As he held out his hand to push it away, it jumped on his hand. Brad put him back on the ground. "No, really, you don't want that. You'll feel much better out there." Natu hopped on the ground near him as Brad turned around and walked away. However, after walking away a bit, he heard something closely behind him. "Natu!" He turned around, and saw the Natu just behind him. "No, look, go away, have fun for yourself." Natu looked at him, and tilted its head slightly, looking sad. Brad looked at it for a moment, biting his lip. "No.. No, I can't." He was about to walk away, as he heard a sad cry. "Na.. tu..." He turned around again. "Oooh, alright then." He said as he lifted the bird, who immediately leaned against his breast, apparently happy. "You can stay for a while. But, I guess we'd better make sure no-one else will catch you out there." He took out the Pokeball. "You're the first Pokemon I've ever caught. Let's try to make it a good time." He held up the Pokeball. "Go in then." It opened, and Natu entered it in a beam of light. Brad held up the Pokeball as he walked home. The very Pokemon he's ever caught. The first he's ever been that close, and had such a contact with one. And then a psychic little bird like Natu. He tried to remember what he knew about it. It couldn't fly yet, as he had seen. It can climb tree trunk to search for food, though, although this creature wouldn't need to worry about that. It evolved into Xatu, apparently. As he got home, he released Natu from his Pokeball, who darted around, staying close to Brad, who looked in his library on information about Natu. Every time he found he something, he looked at the bird at the same time, who darted around happily, looking at everything in the house. "Natu!" He was amazed at how different it was to see the creature, compared to how it was described in the books. It was much more.. natural and interesting. Not only the facts, but also, the emotion of it. As he closed the book, he saw a map of Johto on one of the pages, and wondered whether those areas were the same. More than just facts, but more, just like that bird that was currently pecking a bit at the bookcase. "Hey, get away from there!" The bird turned and looked innocently at Brad. He tried to look angry, but failed, and quickly picked up Natu. "Just.. don't do it again, okay?" And as he looked at the bird, he made a decision. "Mom, do you have a moment?!" His mom didn't worry as much about this as he expected, and not much later, Brad was packing. "I'm really starting to wonder how all those other places really look, Natu." He said as he filled a backpack he had searched up with clothes and other things he thought he might need. He slung it over his shoulder as he turned to face Natu. "Alright, let's go. I'll keep you safe here." He said as he held out Natu's Pokeball, recalling it. He said goodbye to his mother, and stepped out of his house, ready to face the world, or at least, so he thought. - Jeroen