Chapter 5

Not even two steps later, Brendan was set upon by a wild Pokemon. This one had spiky fur with an alternating light and dark brown pattern. "Zag, zig zag!", the Pokemon cried aggressively. Brendan recognized this Pokemon as a Zigzagoon. He quickly took the ball in his hand and threw it at the ground in between the two of them. It burst open with a flash of bright light, which quickly materialized into the adorable blue creature it contained. "Kip!", she cried, locking her eyes onto her opponent. The two stared at each other for a few seconds while they sized each other up. Brendan yelled, "Quick, use Tackle!". Kappa ran towards her opponent, slamming into him with incredible force. The Zigzagoon shook off the blow and retaliated by Growling cutely at the Mudkip. Brendan saw his Pokemon slightly relax at the sound of its opponents cry, and prompted his Pokemon to loose another Tackle at it. Mudkip charged forward once again, albeit slightly less forceful than before. Kappa slammed into her opponent once again, knocking it to its knees. She ran back to her spot as her opponent recovered.

Now, the Zigzagoon was looking a bit haggard, and had some difficulty getting back on its feet. Once it returned to fighting stance, however, it let out another Growl at the Mudkip, once again lowering her attack. Brendan looked onto the battle with concern. He knew it would take a while to defeat the wild Pokemon if it kept using Growl, but he felt that he shouldn't run away from one of his first trainer battles. He decided to keep on whittling down his opponents health bit by bit. He commanded his Pokemon to Tackle the Zigzagoon a third time, which she carried out with unenthusiasm. The blow landed on the Zigzagoon, reducing its health to critical levels. The Zigzagoon responded with another Growl. Brendan let out a groan of frustration as he once again commanded Mudkip to use Tackle. This time, the blow landed square on the Zigzagoon, sending it flying and knocking it out. Brendan cheered as the Pokemon hit the ground. Kappa jumped in the air with glee as she felt herself gain experience. Brendan returned his Pokemon to her ball and continued on his way to the next city.

Three more Zigzagoons, a Poochyena, and a half an hour later, Brendan reached the entrance to Oldale Town. By now, Kappa was looking very worn and was about ready to fall over. If she were out of her ball, that is. At that moment, she enjoyed the state of relaxed hypersuspension she experienced inside her ball. Brendan himself was also suffering from a fair bit of fatigue from battling and walking through the grass. Unfortunately for him, he didn't have the luxury of a PokeBall for him to rest in. Not that he could if he did, but the idea still gnawed at the back of his mind as he kept walking. He knew that he should have used his only potion on his Pokemon a while ago, but he was banking on the hope that the nearest town had a Pokemon Center. His hope was realized when he walked into the limits of the town. He instantly recognized the red roof of the Pokemon Center. As soon as he caught sight of the building, he began walking towards it as fast as his legs would carry him. Once he reached the building, he walked inside and looked around.

The inside of the building was clean and welcoming, with an overhanging smell of bubblegum flavored children's medicine. The most prominent feature of the room was the main desk towards the back with a nurse and a healing machine. The nurse had bubblegum pink hair, and was wearing a blue dress with a white apron. The machine was connected to a very high tech looking computer, which in turn was connected to a large screen on the wall behind her. To the right of the counter was a PC machine, and beyond that was a map of the Hoenn region. To the left, there was a bookcase, a couple soft cushions to be used as seats, and a potted plant in the corner. On the left wall, there was an escalator which led up to what Brendan assumed was the second story of the building. There was a large glass table directly to the right of Brendan, along with more soft seat cushions. There were three other people in the building, but they seemed to be standing around and doing nothing.

Brendan walked up to the counter. "Hello, and welcome to the Pokemon Center!", the nurse cheered, "We restore your tired Pokemon to full health. Would you like to rest your Pokemon?". Brendan smiled wearily at the nurse, "Yes, please". "Great", the nurse replied, "Can I see your Trainer Liscence, please?". "Oh, uh, I don't have one", Brendan told the nurse, embarrassed. "That's okay, we can get you registered right now", she told him. She grabbed a couple pieces of paper and a pen from a stack next to the computer and handed them to Brendan. "How about you fill these out for me, and I'll get you set up for a Liscence, okay?". Brendan nodded in reply, taking the papers from the nurses hands. He walked to the glass table near the entrance and sat on one of the floor cushions. He relished the opportunity to sit down and rest for a brief moment before he set the forms on the table in front of him and began filling them out.

Within minutes, Brendan had written down all of his required information onto the forms. He grabbed the two papers from the table and walked back to the counter. "There. All filled out.", he said to the nurse. She briefly looked over the sheet before saying, "Looks good!". She placed the documents onto a special device connected to her computer whiched scanned the documents and compiled their information. She turned back towards Brendan as the machine booted up behind her. "Now then, one more thing before you become a licenced trainer", she said, "I'm going to need you to turn around and grab the edge of the counter behind you". Brendan did as he was instructed, albeit somewhat confused. "Now, this might pinch a bit...", she told him. Before he could react, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck. He felt his entire body seize up for a brief moment, paralyzing him in place before he collapsed onto the ground in front of the desk, wracked with agony.

"What the fuck was that?", he screamed, his neck searing with pain. "Calm down", the nurse replied in a soothing voice, "I just implanted you with a TID". "A what?", he asked her in the most controlled voice he could muster. The nurse smiled, "A Trainer Information Device. It's an implant that's attached to your spinal cord. It sends information about your Pokemon directly to your brain". Brendan grabbed the edge of the counter and lifted himself off of the ground. He felt the pain begin to subside, but it was quickly replaced by a pounding headache that was descending upon his head. "You better sit down", the nurse suggested, "The pain was from the syringe I used to inject you, but the headache is from your brain adapting to the implant. You're gonna have one hell of a migraine for the next ten, fifteen minutes". Brendan groaned as he stumbled over to a cushion close to the counter. He layed his head down on the cushion, and closed his eyes to ride out his migraine. He could barely piece together a single thought, so he decided to pass the time by counting to 10 over and over.

After roughly 100 10-second intervals, Brendan opened his eyes and lifted his head off of the cushion. His migraine had faded away, leaving him with an almost abnormal sense of clarity. "Ugh...", he groaned as he rose to his feet. The nurse was presently attending to another person at the desk. She looked over to Brendan. "Oh, look who's finally recovered", she said with a grin. She grabbed a card off of the counter and handed it to him."Congratulations, you are now officially a Pokemon Trainer". He grabbed the card from her hands and looked it over. The card contained his full name and his ID number, along with the Liscences registry and expiration date. The Liscence also featured a full body picture of Brendan, along with a few official looking symbols. "And by now", the nurse said to him, "Your TID should be fully functional. Why don't you give it a try? Pull out a PokeBall and look for yourself".

Brendan reached into his bag, pulled out his Pokemon's PokeBall, and looked at it. To his surprise, a large compilation of information floated around the ball. Everything from his Pokemons name and species to the contest capability of her moves was displayed in an orderly fashion. He discovered that she was level 7, she knew Tackle, Growl, and Mud-Slap, and she had a Mild nature. He also discovered that his Pokemon only had 5 HP left, which reminded him of why he was there in the first place. He walked back up to the desk just as the last person left. "Alright, now that I'm officially a trainer, can you please heal my Pokemon?", he asked her. "Of course!", she replied, "Can I see your ID for a moment?". Brendan gave her his ID card, along with the PokeBall he had in his hands. She placed the PokeBall into a slot at the top of the healing machine behind her, and put his card into another slot on the side. It made a loud whirring sound as it scanned Brendan's card, then emitted a series of tones as it healed his Pokemon. A screen behind the nurse flashed as the machine operated.

Once the machine had finished, she removed the ball and the ID card from it. She handed them both to Brendan. "Thanks for waiting", she told him,

"I restored your Pokemon to full health". Brendan took his items from the nurse and placed them into his bag. "Alright, thanks Ms., uh...", he trailed off awkwardly. The nurse smiled at him. "Joy. Nurse Joy". "Ah, right. Thanks Ms. Joy", he said, relieved. He began to walk to the door, slinging his backpack farther up on his shoulders as he walked. "We hope to see you again!", Nurse Joy called behind him. "See ya!", Brendan shouted back. As the door slammed behind him, Nurse Joy heaved a sigh of weariness. "Fuckin' newbie trainers", she said under her breath. She pressed a green button on her computer keyboard. The words "ON BREAK" appeared in bold red letters on the screen behind her. She emerged onto the other side of the counter and walked towards the door, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of her apron as she did so.

After Brendan exited the building, he looked around at the rest of the town. Beyond the Pokemon Center, there were a couple houses and a PokeMart, all juxtapositioned parallel to one another. The entirety of the town was set along a 4-way crossroad that, curiously enough, only went down 3 different paths. He began to walk towards the center of the town, when suddenly, a man wearing a PokeMart uniform ran up to him. "EXCUSE ME!", the man said enthusiastically, "I WORK AT THE POKEMART! CAN I GET YOU TO COME WITH ME?!". Brendan nodded apprehensively, and the two of them walked to the PokeMart. The man turned around when they reached their destination. "THIS IS A POKEMART", he continued, "JUST LOOK FOR OUR BLUE ROOF". Brendan continued to nod, looking around to make sure he wasn't the only one seeing this. "WE SELL A VARIETY OF GOODS, INCLUDING POKEBALLS FOR CATCHING POKEMON". The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a potion. "HERE", he said as he handed it to Brendan, "I'D LIKE YOU TO HAVE THIS AS A PROMOTIONAL ITEM". Brendan took the potion from the man and stuffed it into his backpack. "A POTION CAN BE USED AT ANY TIME, SO IT'S MORE USEFUL THAN A POKEMON CENTER IN CERTAIN SITUATIONS!". Brendan nodded again, "Well, thanks for the potion and the long, loud speech, but I really must be going". Brendan turned and walked in the opposite direction. "HAVE A NICE DAY!", the man called behind him.

Brendan began to walk towards one of the exits to the town, passing a sign as he did so. "OLDALE TOWN: Where things start off scarce", he read aloud as he walked by. He walked to the edge of town and tried to walk onto the grass outside, but he was quickly stopped by a man with long black hair and wearing thick glasses. "Aaaaah, Wait! Please don't come in here!", the man shouted in caution. Brendan raised an eyebrow, "Why not?". The man rolled his eyes in reply. "I just discovered the footprints of a rare Pokemon! I need to finish sketching them!". Brendan looked at the ground, but the only footprints he saw were human. Skepticism quickly spread over Brendan's face, making the man even angrier. "Look, just wait until I'm done sketching them, okay?". Brendan sighed in frustration before walking away from the man and back towards the center of town. He sat down next to the sign he had passed and rested for a moment. He saw that the nurse he was talking to earlier was leaning up against the side of the Pokemon Center, smoking a cigarette. He decided to go back and ask her for directions.

He walked up to the nurse. She took a long drag off of her cigarette as she saw him coming closer. "Hey", he said to her as he came within talking distance, "Do you know where Route 103 is?". She looked at him and smiled. She pointed in the direction of the sign Brendan was sitting at and said, "Over that way". He turned his head and saw the path leading out onto a long, grassy stretch just past the sign. He laughed sheepishly, "Oh, alright. Thanks". The nurse took one last drag off of her cigarette before dropping it on the ground and stomping it into the dirt. "Oh yeah, one more thing", she told him, "I forgot to tell you that your TID is connected to a GPS system. It'll tell you whenever you walk into a new location, so you won't really get lost anymore anymore". He smiled at her, "Oh, cool. Thanks!". The two both went their separate ways, Brendan heading towards Route 103, and Nurse Joy walking back inside the Pokemon Center.

Brendan continued walking towards his destination until he reached the edge of town. The slightly beaten path of the city gave way to the overgrown grass of the route, marking the boundary between the two. Brendan cautiously tool a step over the border. To his surprise, a box appeared in the top-left corner of his vision, marked with the words "ROUTE 103". He took a step back into the city, and the text changed to "OLDALE TOWN". He took another step forward, causing the text to change again. "Hmm", Brendan remarked. The box quickly disappeared, causing Brendan to turn his attention to the route in front of him. He could vaguely make out the shape of May on the other end of the route. She looked as if she was occupied with something in the patch of grass in front of her. She had his back turned to him, and she looked as if she hadn't seen him yet. Quietly as he could, Brendan began walking up the route, determined to catch her by surprise.

Today is my birthday. I'm turning 17 today. Next chapter is going to be a sex scene, whenever I sit down and write it. That is all.