From: Grift60056 <grift60056@aol.com> Subject: [PW] Poliwag in Pallet Town Date: Wednesday, April 14, 1999 12:52 AM (I know this is a bit too long for a PW begining, but bear with me. I promise to try to make 'em smaller.) "Hmmm.." Joel Benton dug out the Pallet Town tourist booklet he bought at the bus station and opened it, checking the picture on a page, seeing it matched the house that rested on the hill he was facing and nodded. "Yep, this' the place," he said, looking up at the house and back down to the book, reading the notation under the picture, " 'The home of Professor Oak, esteemed Pokemon scientist and the starting point of many trainers' journeys.' " After stuffing the booklet back in his jeans pocket checking his watch with the sign on the gate to make sure he was there at the right time, he started up the hill to the house. He got to the door, took some time to straighten his glasses, T-shirt and open cotton shirt, and pressed the doorbell button. After half-a-moment of waiting, a man with grey hair (sticking up at an angle at one side) and in a lab coat opened the door. "Yes?" "Professor Oak?" "Yes. Can I help you with something, young man?" "My name is Joel Benton. I'm here for my first Pokemon. I am supposed to come here, right? Am I in the wrong place?" Professor Oak smiled. "No, this is the correct place. You don't live here in Pallet though, do you." Joel shook his head. "Nope. There's no one like you in my town, so I came here." Professor Oak moved aside to allow Joel in. "Well, come right in and let's get you started," he said with a smile. Joel smiled as well and walked in. "Wow, you really got a cool setup here, Professor. Isn't that a G-79 Electoral Analyzer?" Professor Oak turned to look at the machine Joel was referring to and turned back, smiling. "Why yes," he said, showing his surprise in the tone of voice, "I didn't think someone your age would know about it." Joel smiled. "My dad has the same thing back home. It helps him with his research." "Your father...he wouldn't by any chance be Professor Christopher Benton from Verdant, would he?" "Uh-huh. He told me he's met you before cause of what he does. Oh, and don't worry, he already gave me a speech before I left about keeping quiet about Verdant." The Pokemon professor's smiled again as he said, "Ahhh, good. It could be dangerous if the wrong people found out about the large amounts of elemental stones scattered all around the mountains surrounding Verdant. Especially a group like Team Rocket. But let's not think about that. I'd be happy to help the son of a fellow colleague in the scientific community get started as a trainer. Did you have any particular Pokemon in mind?" Joel almost bit his lower lip, as a mental uh-oh flashed across his mind. He wasn't sure how the professor would take it if he told him that he knew little about Pokemon. Unlike other towns and cities that included some manor of class about Pokemon training, Verdant Town only covered Pokemon basics, due to the few kids actually living in the town, not to mention Verdant was part of a Pokemon-free zone, something else that had brought a few more scientists to the town. If the professor knew that he barely knew anything about Pokemon... "Oh, um, naaah. I'll go with any Pokemon you'd think would be good for me." Professor Oak walked over to the round, glass-domed pedestal and leaned over to press a series of numbers on it's metal side. "I think I may have just the one for you, " he said as the dome opened in the middle, the glass sides sliding into the pedestal. At the same time, Joel noticed one of three circular slots opening up on the round, flat metal top. From the uncovered hole up came an object Joel recognized from what he knew about Pokemon: a Pokeball. Professor Oak handed it to Joel. "Go ahead. Open it," he said. Joel almost asked the professor how when he noticed something like a button set between the bottom white half and the top red half of the ball. He pressed it lightly and jumped from the bright flash that came from the ball as the red top flipped open and let loose some sort of energy. It leapt to the floor and changed, becoming a small, black, round thing, with eyes set in the top of it's body, a small beak-like mouth near the eyes, a very thin tail with flat film-like skin set wide around it, small feet with almost no legs connecting them to it's body, and weirdest of all, a big white spot almost covering it's front, with a black swirl covering most of the spot. Joel blinked, not sure what to say, not to mention what it was. Luckily for him, Professor Oak decided to speak up. "What do you think, hmm? The Poliwag is a good Water-type Pokemon. He should be fun and easy to train." "Oh, um, that's good, Professor," Joel said, flashing the Pokemon scientist a big smile. He bent down on his knees and looked at the Poliwag. "Hey, how's it going? I'm Joel." "Poli, Poliwag!" The Poliwag bounced on his small feet towards Joel and actually smiled at him with it's little beak. Joel decided to take it as a good sign and patted the top of the Poliwag, smiling back. "I think he likes me," he said as the Poliwag closed it's eyes and nuzzled into his hand. "Yes, Poliwags are quite friendly, which adds to their beginning Pokemon potential. Before I hand you your PokeDex and other Pokeballs, would you like to give him a name? You can do it later if you wish, but I have no problem adding the information to his Pokeball and the PokeDex for you." "Ummm.." Joel looked at the Water Pokemon, wondering what he could call him. Then he looked at the Poliwag's swirl. He looked up to the professor and said "I know it's probably an unoriginal and typical name for him, but is it ok if I call him Swirl?" Professor Oak laughed. "Of course, young man. You can name him whatever you wish." He picked up the Poliwag's Pokeball. "I'll be right back, " he said, turning to a table. Joel looked back at the Poliwag and smiled at him. "So, is Swirl ok with you?" The Pokemon bounced up and down a few times and spoke up with a happy tone, "Wag!" Joel couldn't help chucking. "Ok," he said, "Swirl it is." He picked up Swirl and stood up, holding him in his arms. He walked over to Professor Oak to see what he was doing. Professor Oak turned around, the Pokeball in one hand, and a red, book-sized metal object in the other. "Here you are. Registered his name on his ball and the PokeDex. Ooops, can't take this and carry him at the same time. I'll retrieve him for you." The professor held the ball at Swirl, the button facing forward. Joel's eyes widened as he saw a tight red beam shoot out of the ball and envelop Swirl. The Pokemon then seemed to disappear in the beam and it shot back into the Pokeball, leaving Joel an armful of nothing. Joel was then handed the ball in one hand and the PokeDex in the other. "Oh, and here.." The Professor turned around, missing Joel's surprised face as the Pokeball actually shrank in his hand, going from softball-size to the size of a golf-ball. He was about to say something when he saw the professor turning around again, this time with six more small Pokeballs in his hand and decided not to speak about what he saw. "Here's six more Pokeballs. You can buy extras at Poke-Marts in different cities if you need to, " said Professor Oak. Joel put Swirl's ball in his shirt's one pocket and took the other Pokeballs, dumping them in his free jeans' pocket. "Well, that should be all. If you need to contact me, my number is in your PokeDex. Any questions?" 'Yeah, ' Joel thought, ' about a zillion of them.' Instead, "it's ok, Professor Oak. Thanks for everything." "Well then, I'll see you out then. I bet you can't wait to get started on your journey." Professor Oak's words echoed in Joel's ears as he walked down Route 1, the road that the tourist guide said most beginning Pokemon trainers took to leave Pallet Town. He was looking at the PokeDex, thinking, 'How can I get started when I don't know how he sucked Swirl back into the Pokeball or how to turn this thing on?' He couldn't see any clearly marked on/off switch when he opened the protective cover. "Let's see..these here are speakers I think..this here on the side is probably volume control.and this small grill on top of it..hmmm..On?" He smiled as the screen flickered on, a little beep coming from the speakers set in the flip-top cover. "Now what?" He thought for a moment, then said "Poliwag." "Poliwag: A Water Pokemon who, despite short legs, is very agile. It's attacks however are limited until it can evolve, thus when it achieves arms and legs," the PokeDex said through it's little speakers. On the screen, a picture of a Poliwag appeared, looking a lot like Swirl. Joel used the directional pad on the device to move a small arrow on the screen to a bar and pressed what he hoped was the Ok button when the arrow was over the words Additional Topics. His eyes widened as he saw a long list of topics scroll down the screen, more then it could show. In the Wild, Attacks, Special Moves, Grooming, Feeding, Mating, the list went on and on. "All this..for ONE Pokemon..and there's more then a hundred of them.." Joel said with a downcast face. He liked reading, but not so much! He sighed and looked at his shirt's pocket where Swirl's Pokeball was. "Hope this road isn't short, cause it looks like I got a LOT to read and learn.." TBC..(..hopefully if the other PW writers don't flame or lynch him out of the newsgroup)