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Viridian City is an ideal, picturesque city in the high-tech Kanto region. With the Pokemon lab in Pallet Town to the south and the wild Pokemon-infested Viridian Forest to the north, Professor Oak has opened the Pokemon Academy - a school for new trainers to learn the ropes and help on his Pokedex Project. However, not all is as it seems, with the sinister casino owner Giovanni taking a surprising interest in an extraterrestrial visitor...
Chapter 1: An Unearthly Trainer, Part 1
The serene nature of Viridian Forest was truly a beautiful sight. Undisturbed by man, the tall trees filtered out nearly all the sunlight, but the few rays that penetrated created a stunning effect, with various bug Pokemon - Weedles, Caterpies, and others, being drawn to it. In a small clearing in the middle of the forest, where the grass was less tall, less light was in, and the Pokemon were scattered, wind began to blow out of nowhere, scattering the leaves and any few Pokemon that might be there. Inexplicably, a silver cylinder began to appear, with a distorted wheezing-groaning sound accompanying it. As it faded in and materialized, the wind calmed down. The door creaked open, and smoke began to pour out. It opened just another crack, and a young man fell out onto the grass. His features were in flux, his face a nondescript mess, but he quickly settled into a youthful figure, with blue eyes, dirty-blonde hair, and a medium-height, slim stature.
After several minutes, the boy began to wake up. Clutching his head, he staggered to his feet and looked around.
“Where am I?” he asked himself. “More to the point, who am I and how did I get here?”
As he turned around and peered into the forest, his eyes seemed to dart right over the capsule he arrived in. Slowly regaining his posture, he began to walk in the direction of the light at the nearest end of the forest, narrowly avoiding the Pokemon, who almost seemed to be avoiding him as well. He looked around as he walked, trying to get an idea of where he was and recognize his surroundings, but quickly gave up as nothing looked familiar. He glanced at a small bug Pokemon scampering away from him, as he could see light peering into the forest through an opening. Finally stepping out of the forest, he found himself on a large route, bordered by trees on either side, with a city in the distance. He began to walk towards it.
“I’ll never survive the night outside when the temperature drops. I’ll need to find - “
His train of thought was interrupted as an old man in a white lab coat with grey hair ran up to him. “Hey wait! Don’t go! Wild Pokemon live in the tall grass! You’ll need your own for your protection. Here, come with me.”
The old man reached for a red-and-white ball on his belt as he cautiously walked alongside the boy, who reluctantly followed him, through the grass. Once they had almost reached the far end of the grass, a purple rat jumped out from the grass. The boy stepped back, as did the man, who drew the ball and tossed it at the ground.
“Bulbasaur, go!”
A small green dinosaur-shaped creature on four legs with a bulbous plant on its back appeared from the ball, staring down the rat, as the ball bounced back into the man’s hand..
“Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip!” the man called, and from the plant, two vines reached out and slapped the rat, sending it flying back - it was knocked out. “Good job,” the man said back. “Return, Bulbasaur!” he shouted, holding out his ball and pressing a button on it. A red beam from it struck Bulbasaur and it disappeared. The man put the ball back on his belt and sighed.
“That could’ve been worse.”
“Thank you for your help, Mr….?” the boy asked, trailing off.
The man stared at him quizzically - there was no way anyone in Kanto didn’t know who he was. His ego somewhat bruised, he responded, “I am the Pokemon Expert, Professor Oak.”
“Nice to meet you, Professor, I’m - “ the boy trailed off again. “Grateful for your help.”
Oak raised an eyebrow at the odd response but shrugged it off. “Come on, let’s head into the city.”
The boy nodded and walked into the city alongside Oak. They turned left upon entering the bustling city and walked up to a large building.
“Young man, I suggest you enroll in the Pokemon Academy Trainers’ School,” Oak said, gesturing to the large building.
“What do I get from joining?” the boy asked, not wanting to be rude to the man who had helped him, but still desiring more information.
“Well, you get your own Pokemon, and learn the skills necessary for your adventure,” Oak responded, dumbfounded that the boy didn’t already know this.
“The Pokemon must be these strange creatures. But many of them are hostile and dangerous, and it would be good to have one and know how to use one for my protection.”
“Besides, there are dorms to meet other Pokemon - “
“I’ll do it,” the boy responded, cutting him off.
“Well, splendid!” Oak exclaimed. “My grandson Gary is at the registration office, see him for the form.”
The boy nodded, smiled, and walked away. Oak strode back into the building as the boy reached the window. Another boy with brown, spiky hair, bearing a resemblance to Oak, stood at the window.
“Gary?” the boy asked.
“That’s right!” Gary responded. “You’re here to sign up?”
“Yes.”
Gary smiled and handed him a form. “Just fill it all out and hand it back.” Gary then handed over a clipboard and a pen. The boy walked away, placing the paper on the clipboard and glancing at the questions. The first one asked for his name.
“I’ll need a name, or at least an alias. How about… Will.”
Smiling at the name, he quickly wrote it down. The next question asked for his date of birth. “Somehow I get the feeling they wouldn’t believe the answer. If I could even remember it.”
Will turned to Gary. “How old do I look to you?”
“I don’t know, thirteen, maybe fourteen.”
Will nodded and then asked, “What’s today’s date by the way?”
Gary looked a little confused but answered anyway. “September 28, 1998.”
Will nodded and went back to work on the sheet. “Thanks.”
Quickly thinking of a date between thirteen and fourteen years in the past, he settled on writing September 13, 1985. The other questions, such as gender and various personality inquiries were relatively easy to answer. Finally, the two final questions came - town of origin and PokeGear emergency contact number. For the first one, he wrote “N/A”, and for the second one, he wrote 10-0-11-0-0-0-2, before scribbling it out and handing the sheet back to Gary.
“Thanks. I’ll give this to the Professor.”
Will nodded and moved to stand in front of the building. His eyes were quickly drawn to an attractive brunette in a blue shirt and red miniskirt with a yellow pack slung over her shoulder who was approaching. Will didn’t know why but he suddenly wanted to meet her, more than a little struck by her beauty. He started to walk in her direction - but suddenly, out of nowhere, a young boy with black hair, a red sweatshirt, yellow-and-black shorts, holding a backpack in his right hand, cut him off and walked up to the girl.
“I noticed you were walking alone,” the boy said.
Will unconsciously balled up his fist at this, not a fan of the interaction. He watched the girl’s nonchalant facial expression from afar as she giggled.
“And I noticed you with at least three other girls back at the Pokemon Center,” the girl responded.
“And none of them are as dazzling as you.”
Will balled up his second fist at this, his hearts thumping in his chest.
“You probably get that a lot. The name’s Gold,” the boy said. “Yours?”
“Leaf,” the girl responded. “Beat it, buster.”
Gold chuckled to himself as Leaf walked away. “Works every time.” He turned around and saw Will. “Welcome to the Academy, I’m - “
“I know who you are,” Will said irritably and pushed past him, going after Leaf, but when he caught up to her, she was on the other side of the building, alongside a crowd of many others around their age, in front of a podium, with Professor Oak standing at the mic. Gold ran up to them as well.
Professor Oak began. “Welcome everyone, to this semester of the Pokemon Academy Trainers School. I’m sure you all know who I am,” Oak said, briefly locking eyes with Will. “But for those who don’t, I am Oak, the Pokemon Professor, and I will be educating you on the wonders of our world; on training Pokemon, and learning more about them. You will learn what it is to be a trainer, you will all receive your own Pokemon, and eventually, you’ll even go out on your own journey. In the meantime, I will assign dorms for you all to stay in the Trainers School during our semester.”
Professor Oak began reading off names, two-by-two. Will couldn’t help but be slightly disappointed when he heard that Leaf was paired with someone named Crystal, and not him. He tuned out for a short time before starting to listen again.
“... Brendan and Drew, Dorm 9… Will and Gold, Dorm 10.”
Will and Gold looked at each other in shock as they were assigned to room together.
“What?! I can’t possibly be forced to live with this fool,” Will thought to himself.
“Please report to your assigned dormitories immediately to meet your roommate,” Oak said. “Good luck everyone. Dismissed.”
The crowd quickly erupted into chaos as people shuffled along towards the dorms or each other, though Will was not happy to be rooming with Gold. He stepped into the building and strode through the crowded hallways until he reached the boys’ dormitory wing. He browsed through the doors, until he found the correct one. As Will opened the door, he saw Gold already sitting on one of the beds with a smirk on his face.
“I see you weren’t too far behind,” Gold sneered as Will shut the door behind him.
“Where I am in relation to you is of no consequence to me, save that you remain well out of my affairs.”
“Including your romantic affairs?”
Will flushed slightly, but quickly regained his composure. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Keep telling yourself that, but you’ll never get a girl with your clothes fitting so badly.”
Will glanced down at his clothes - his jeans for example were two sizes too big. He dashed into the adjoined bathroom and peered into a mirror, his shirt was hanging too far down as well.
“How peculiar. I remember them fitting just fine before. I suppose I’ll have to get new clothes.”
Will stepped out of the bathroom and glanced at Gold. “I suppose there must be an apparel shop nearby. A decent tailor, perhaps. Something plain and simple.”
“I wouldn’t know, I’m not from around these parts, but you wouldn’t be the first person I’d give directions to.”
“I’ll be back,” Will said, walking over to the door.
“Don’t be too long, Slowpoke!” Gold called after him. “The Prof’s doing a lecture soon!”
However, Will didn’t hear the second part of Gold’s shout as he was already long out the door, headed off campus to look around Viridian City. From the doorway of the Pokemon Academy building, he looked around, but couldn’t find anything appearing to be what he was looking for, so he just began aimlessly walking around the city.
“You seem lost,” a kindly middle-aged man who bumped into Will, said.
“You could say that,” Will began. “In more ways than one.”
“Well how can I help?”
“You could start by pointing me to the nearest clothing shop.”
"They tend to be inside Pokemon Centers," the man said, gesturing to a red-roofed building with a PokeBall logo. Will smiled and nodded as he walked over to the building and stepped inside. He saw a pink-haired nurse across from the entrance, next to a large Pink Pokemon, but then spotted the clothing stand and ran over to it.
Locking eyes with the clerk, he said, "Give me what's in the fashion these days," Will said. "I'm... a foreigner, trying to blend in."
"Right, that'll be two-thousand dollars," the clerk responded cheerfully.
"Ah. I don't have any of the local currency, or many money at all, really."
Will instinctively reached into his pocket for what he imagined was a cylindrical-shaped instrument, but it wasn't there. He shook his head, but then the clerk piped up again.
"Wait a minute! I saw you outside, you're one of the new students at the Pokemon Academy! Don't worry about it, the Professor set up a 3000 dollar expense account for each student, but since you're our first costumer from there today, this one's on us."
Will smiled as the clerk handed over the clothing items. "Pleasure."
"There's a changing room right over there, sir."
Will nodded and walked inside. He quickly stripped down, taking off his old clothes and putting on the new ones - a white dress shirt, tuxedo, and dress pants that made him look fancy. As he looked at himself in the mirror, he examined his own features as if he had never seen them before. “Those eyes are piercingly blue, hair’s a bit wavier than I’d like…” he mused, running his hands through it. Noticing it was quite unkempt, he quickly grabbed a comb and combed it until it looked nice, slicking back his dirty-blonde, brown hair in an attractive way. Once he was done, he turned and walked out of the Pokemon Center. Now roughly familiar with the layout of Viridian City, making it back to the Academy was a cinch, but when he stepped inside the building, he could already see students making their way down the hall, presumably towards the lecture hall Gold mentioned. Will decided to go with the flow and follow them closely.
Meanwhile, Professor Oak was not even inside the Pokemon Academy building, instead headed in the opposite direction - up Route 2 and towards Viridian Forest. Ever since he had met Will, he had noticed something suspicious about the boy, but was hoping for his suspicions not to be confirmed. Oak passed through the gate into the forest and held a PokeBall at the ready in case he were to be attacked by any of the local Pokemon.
Normally, Oak would observe the movements of the local Pokemon with fascination - he could even see a Weedle scurrying across the ground in the corner of his eye, a Caterpie scampering away from a Pikachu, but this time, he had an altogether different priority. As the forest got thicker, allowing fewer of the sun’s rays to stream in, the fact that his students were headed to the lecture hall without him did little to weigh on his mind.
Finally, he reached a secluded clearing in the forest, and gasped slightly as he saw the silver cylinder that Will arrived in, standing before him.
“Impossible! They can’t have found me!” Oak exclaimed to himself. “Not after all this time...”
Still holding out hope that this capsule was not what he thought it was, he approached it. Despite the fact that smoke was no longer pouring out of the doors, the area still smelled strongly of it. Oak pushed the door open slightly and looked inside - the interior was very dark, but undeniably, bigger on the inside - the walls dotted with roundels that were all-too-familiar to Oak. He quickly pulled the doors closed and stepped back, his emotions a flurry of shock and horror.
“I could just leave, strand him here… if only this thing were in good enough shape to fly… no…” Oak mused, shaking his head. “Well, there’s nothing left for me to do but to keep doing my job… and wait.”
Oak swiftly turned back around and began the trek towards Viridian City.
Will continued to make his way through the bustling hallway, determined to get to Oak’s lecture on time. However, as he spotted Leaf from behind, her cute white hat concealing some of her auburn hair, he quickly made his way to her. However, given the fairly crowded nature of the hallway, she tripped, and dropped everything - her books fell out of her arms, and the items from her bag, including Potions and other utilities, fell out as well. Will quickly rushed over to her and caught a brief glimpse up her skirt at her black lace underwear. His face quickly flushed red. As Leaf stood up, she was blushing. Will quickly extended his hand to help her, and she gratefully took it.
“D-did you see - “ she asked before being cut off by a curt,
“No,” Will quickly lied, shaking his head and looking away.
Leaf couldn’t help but giggle a little bit at his reaction. “I’m Leaf. What’s your name?”
“I’m Will,” he said, locking eyes with her before smiling a bit. “Nice to meet you.”
She smiled and nodded. “Come on, Will, you can walk me to class.”
“S-sure!” Will exclaimed, a bit more enthusiastically than he had hoped to show. His face was bright red as he and Leaf walked through the hallway. By this point, the corridor was much quieter - many of the students had already reached Oak’s large lecture hall. As they walked, he managed to sneak in a couple glances at her face.
“She’s rather pretty,” he thought to himself. “No… that’s too weak a word.” He then shook his head. “N-no… I can’t allow myself to become attached to these - “ He stopped for a moment. Leaf stopped as well and turned to face him.
“Are you okay?” she asked, a little bemused as to why Will had suddenly stopped walking.
“Y-yeah, I’m fine…” he responded, somewhat sheepishly and embarrassed at having lost his train of thought like that.
“The hall’s just through here,” Leaf said, smiling as she led the way inside. Will quickly followed her. The lecture hall was packed with students as the pair entered. At the bottom of the lecture hall, Oak was standing in front of a wide table with plenty of Poke Balls.
Will and Leaf quickly sat next to each other. As Will glanced at Oak, he couldn’t help but notice something oddly familiar about the old man, but he shook it off as Leaf whispered in his ear, “I think he’s going to give us our Pokemon.”
Will opened his mouth to ask her a question as Oak spoke up, his loud voice filling the room. “Welcome, everyone. Welcome to the Pokemon Academy. In this course, you will learn the basics of Pokemon training, and will be prepared to go on a journey of your own, if you wish. My grandson, Gary, will be assisting me in teaching you all. For this purpose, each of you will begin your entrance into the world of Pokemon by choosing one of your own.”
Oak turned around and walked behind the table before turning back around to face the class and continued. “Set out here are many rare Pokemon from across several regions. I’ll call you down, row by row, to pick your Pokemon. They will be your partner. Take care of them!”
As Oak began calling the rows, starting at the bottom, Will and Leaf watched apprehensively. Being at the top, they had a fair amount of time to wait, but Will contemptuously glared at Gold as he grabbed a Poke Ball. Pressing the button to send out the creature inside - a cute blue and white echidna with fire on its back.
“A Cyndaquil!” Gold exclaimed. “Cool!” he continued, as he proceeded back to his seat.
Will and Leaf glanced at other trainers as they picked their Pokemon - a young boy in a red hat as he got a Charmander, a blue-haired girl in yellow shorts and a magenta top that could be considered the height of fashion in Johto receiving a Chikorita, and several others. As Oak finally called the top row, Will and Leaf stood up.
“Besides protecting you, what do these Pokemon really do for you?” Will asked as he walked down with Leaf.
Somewhat surprised that he would ask such a question, Leaf quickly formed a reply. “Well, to defeat all the Gyms and challenge the Pokemon League!”
“But… why?” Will asked, worried that he was alienating her with a question that should be so obvious.
Leaf raised an eyebrow, bemused at his earnest confusion, but answered anyway as they walked up to the tables with the Poke Balls. “For the prestige, I guess.”
Will nodded and looked around before grabbing a Poke Ball. Leaf did the same. Together, they both picked them up and sent out their Pokemon. Will had sent out a floating yellow creature with a small, pale snout and two, pointed ears, and closed eyes.
“Congratulations, you now have the Psychic Pokemon Abra,” Oak said, looking into Will’s eyes and not paying attention as Leaf had sent out a blue turtle Pokemon with a brown shell.
“It’s a Squirtle! So cute!” she squealed as she bent down to look at it. Excited by her, Will ran over. “I’m gonna name him Blasty!” Leaf announced.
“Blasty…” Will smiled. “Nice ring to it.”
“Thanks!” Leaf exclaimed. Their faces both reddened as they realized that all eyes were on them. They were about to walk back to their seats, when Oak announced -
“Everyone, class dismissed. Will, could you stay behind for a moment?”
“Of course,” Will said, nodding, as everyone started for the door.
“See you later, Will!” Leaf said, picking up Blasty as she walked out.
Will held out his Poke Ball and pressed the same button he used to sent out the Piplup, and a red energy beam struck Piplup and caused it to disappear as the beam retracted into the Poke Ball. As the last students filtered out of the room, Will turned to Oak. “What can I do for you, Professor?”
“I could ask you the same question.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“I think you do. They sent you, didn’t they?”
“Who?” Will asked.
“Them,” Oak said, gesturing up at the sky. “They want to bring me back.”
“Professor, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“He seems utterly clueless. I can’t even sense any deception from him like I can from other Time Lords. Whatever he’s not telling me, he’s even hiding it from himself,” Oak thought to himself, looking over the boy. “I’ll have to keep a close eye on him. If he is here for what I think he is, he must have extraordinary mind control.”
“You can go, Will,” Oak said.
Will nodded and walked away, feeling a strange sense of familiarity from the old man. Oak's face softened slightly. He could feel trouble surrounded by the boy - he had a troubled past, but didn't seem to inherently be a threat.
Giovanni of Team Rocket was not a patient man. As the stern businessman and leader of Team Rocket sat in the chair usually reserved for the President of Silph Co., petting his Persian, he irritably clacked his foot in the office, his aged features hiding a handsome visage of years fast, as he wore a dull grey suit which complemented his brown hair well. His subordinates were thirty seconds late. Thirty-one. The door then swung open, and the buxom, ginger admin Ariana, and the sniveling bearded Petrel with his pretentious purple hair entered, leaning forward, both admins sharing the same red R emblazoned on their shirts as Giovanni.
“You know I don’t like to be kept waiting,” Giovanni stated plainly.
“Some urgent new information arrived, sir,” Petrel said.
“Well, what is it?” Giovanni asked.
“Silph’s satellites registered an orbital contact a few hours ago,” Ariana said.
“I don’t like to be bothered with asteroids and meteors,” Giovanni said, shaking his head and turning around.
“That’s the thing, sir,” Petrel began. “It’s not a natural phenomenon, it was moving too fast.”
Petrel nodded and Ariana pushed a few keys. Giovanni turned around and saw a curve, representing the path of the object, on his screen. Within a few seconds, the object had appeared right on the edge of the range of the satellite, well into the solar system, and fallen onto the surface of the planet in west Kanto.
“We believe it to be of interstellar origin,” Ariana said. “Extraterrestrial.”
“This could interfere with our plans. Send discreet operatives there, and I want the area monitored. Search for the object. I will consult with our associate.”
Giovanni waited for the two admins to leave and shut the door before he reached for a hidden button under his desk and pushed it.
Chapter 1: An Unearthly Trainer, Part 1
The serene nature of Viridian Forest was truly a beautiful sight. Undisturbed by man, the tall trees filtered out nearly all the sunlight, but the few rays that penetrated created a stunning effect, with various bug Pokemon - Weedles, Caterpies, and others, being drawn to it. In a small clearing in the middle of the forest, where the grass was less tall, less light was in, and the Pokemon were scattered, wind began to blow out of nowhere, scattering the leaves and any few Pokemon that might be there. Inexplicably, a silver cylinder began to appear, with a distorted wheezing-groaning sound accompanying it. As it faded in and materialized, the wind calmed down. The door creaked open, and smoke began to pour out. It opened just another crack, and a young man fell out onto the grass. His features were in flux, his face a nondescript mess, but he quickly settled into a youthful figure, with blue eyes, dirty-blonde hair, and a medium-height, slim stature.
After several minutes, the boy began to wake up. Clutching his head, he staggered to his feet and looked around.
“Where am I?” he asked himself. “More to the point, who am I and how did I get here?”
As he turned around and peered into the forest, his eyes seemed to dart right over the capsule he arrived in. Slowly regaining his posture, he began to walk in the direction of the light at the nearest end of the forest, narrowly avoiding the Pokemon, who almost seemed to be avoiding him as well. He looked around as he walked, trying to get an idea of where he was and recognize his surroundings, but quickly gave up as nothing looked familiar. He glanced at a small bug Pokemon scampering away from him, as he could see light peering into the forest through an opening. Finally stepping out of the forest, he found himself on a large route, bordered by trees on either side, with a city in the distance. He began to walk towards it.
“I’ll never survive the night outside when the temperature drops. I’ll need to find - “
His train of thought was interrupted as an old man in a white lab coat with grey hair ran up to him. “Hey wait! Don’t go! Wild Pokemon live in the tall grass! You’ll need your own for your protection. Here, come with me.”
The old man reached for a red-and-white ball on his belt as he cautiously walked alongside the boy, who reluctantly followed him, through the grass. Once they had almost reached the far end of the grass, a purple rat jumped out from the grass. The boy stepped back, as did the man, who drew the ball and tossed it at the ground.
“Bulbasaur, go!”
A small green dinosaur-shaped creature on four legs with a bulbous plant on its back appeared from the ball, staring down the rat, as the ball bounced back into the man’s hand..
“Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip!” the man called, and from the plant, two vines reached out and slapped the rat, sending it flying back - it was knocked out. “Good job,” the man said back. “Return, Bulbasaur!” he shouted, holding out his ball and pressing a button on it. A red beam from it struck Bulbasaur and it disappeared. The man put the ball back on his belt and sighed.
“That could’ve been worse.”
“Thank you for your help, Mr….?” the boy asked, trailing off.
The man stared at him quizzically - there was no way anyone in Kanto didn’t know who he was. His ego somewhat bruised, he responded, “I am the Pokemon Expert, Professor Oak.”
“Nice to meet you, Professor, I’m - “ the boy trailed off again. “Grateful for your help.”
Oak raised an eyebrow at the odd response but shrugged it off. “Come on, let’s head into the city.”
The boy nodded and walked into the city alongside Oak. They turned left upon entering the bustling city and walked up to a large building.
“Young man, I suggest you enroll in the Pokemon Academy Trainers’ School,” Oak said, gesturing to the large building.
“What do I get from joining?” the boy asked, not wanting to be rude to the man who had helped him, but still desiring more information.
“Well, you get your own Pokemon, and learn the skills necessary for your adventure,” Oak responded, dumbfounded that the boy didn’t already know this.
“The Pokemon must be these strange creatures. But many of them are hostile and dangerous, and it would be good to have one and know how to use one for my protection.”
“Besides, there are dorms to meet other Pokemon - “
“I’ll do it,” the boy responded, cutting him off.
“Well, splendid!” Oak exclaimed. “My grandson Gary is at the registration office, see him for the form.”
The boy nodded, smiled, and walked away. Oak strode back into the building as the boy reached the window. Another boy with brown, spiky hair, bearing a resemblance to Oak, stood at the window.
“Gary?” the boy asked.
“That’s right!” Gary responded. “You’re here to sign up?”
“Yes.”
Gary smiled and handed him a form. “Just fill it all out and hand it back.” Gary then handed over a clipboard and a pen. The boy walked away, placing the paper on the clipboard and glancing at the questions. The first one asked for his name.
“I’ll need a name, or at least an alias. How about… Will.”
Smiling at the name, he quickly wrote it down. The next question asked for his date of birth. “Somehow I get the feeling they wouldn’t believe the answer. If I could even remember it.”
Will turned to Gary. “How old do I look to you?”
“I don’t know, thirteen, maybe fourteen.”
Will nodded and then asked, “What’s today’s date by the way?”
Gary looked a little confused but answered anyway. “September 28, 1998.”
Will nodded and went back to work on the sheet. “Thanks.”
Quickly thinking of a date between thirteen and fourteen years in the past, he settled on writing September 13, 1985. The other questions, such as gender and various personality inquiries were relatively easy to answer. Finally, the two final questions came - town of origin and PokeGear emergency contact number. For the first one, he wrote “N/A”, and for the second one, he wrote 10-0-11-0-0-0-2, before scribbling it out and handing the sheet back to Gary.
“Thanks. I’ll give this to the Professor.”
Will nodded and moved to stand in front of the building. His eyes were quickly drawn to an attractive brunette in a blue shirt and red miniskirt with a yellow pack slung over her shoulder who was approaching. Will didn’t know why but he suddenly wanted to meet her, more than a little struck by her beauty. He started to walk in her direction - but suddenly, out of nowhere, a young boy with black hair, a red sweatshirt, yellow-and-black shorts, holding a backpack in his right hand, cut him off and walked up to the girl.
“I noticed you were walking alone,” the boy said.
Will unconsciously balled up his fist at this, not a fan of the interaction. He watched the girl’s nonchalant facial expression from afar as she giggled.
“And I noticed you with at least three other girls back at the Pokemon Center,” the girl responded.
“And none of them are as dazzling as you.”
Will balled up his second fist at this, his hearts thumping in his chest.
“You probably get that a lot. The name’s Gold,” the boy said. “Yours?”
“Leaf,” the girl responded. “Beat it, buster.”
Gold chuckled to himself as Leaf walked away. “Works every time.” He turned around and saw Will. “Welcome to the Academy, I’m - “
“I know who you are,” Will said irritably and pushed past him, going after Leaf, but when he caught up to her, she was on the other side of the building, alongside a crowd of many others around their age, in front of a podium, with Professor Oak standing at the mic. Gold ran up to them as well.
Professor Oak began. “Welcome everyone, to this semester of the Pokemon Academy Trainers School. I’m sure you all know who I am,” Oak said, briefly locking eyes with Will. “But for those who don’t, I am Oak, the Pokemon Professor, and I will be educating you on the wonders of our world; on training Pokemon, and learning more about them. You will learn what it is to be a trainer, you will all receive your own Pokemon, and eventually, you’ll even go out on your own journey. In the meantime, I will assign dorms for you all to stay in the Trainers School during our semester.”
Professor Oak began reading off names, two-by-two. Will couldn’t help but be slightly disappointed when he heard that Leaf was paired with someone named Crystal, and not him. He tuned out for a short time before starting to listen again.
“... Brendan and Drew, Dorm 9… Will and Gold, Dorm 10.”
Will and Gold looked at each other in shock as they were assigned to room together.
“What?! I can’t possibly be forced to live with this fool,” Will thought to himself.
“Please report to your assigned dormitories immediately to meet your roommate,” Oak said. “Good luck everyone. Dismissed.”
The crowd quickly erupted into chaos as people shuffled along towards the dorms or each other, though Will was not happy to be rooming with Gold. He stepped into the building and strode through the crowded hallways until he reached the boys’ dormitory wing. He browsed through the doors, until he found the correct one. As Will opened the door, he saw Gold already sitting on one of the beds with a smirk on his face.
“I see you weren’t too far behind,” Gold sneered as Will shut the door behind him.
“Where I am in relation to you is of no consequence to me, save that you remain well out of my affairs.”
“Including your romantic affairs?”
Will flushed slightly, but quickly regained his composure. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Keep telling yourself that, but you’ll never get a girl with your clothes fitting so badly.”
Will glanced down at his clothes - his jeans for example were two sizes too big. He dashed into the adjoined bathroom and peered into a mirror, his shirt was hanging too far down as well.
“How peculiar. I remember them fitting just fine before. I suppose I’ll have to get new clothes.”
Will stepped out of the bathroom and glanced at Gold. “I suppose there must be an apparel shop nearby. A decent tailor, perhaps. Something plain and simple.”
“I wouldn’t know, I’m not from around these parts, but you wouldn’t be the first person I’d give directions to.”
“I’ll be back,” Will said, walking over to the door.
“Don’t be too long, Slowpoke!” Gold called after him. “The Prof’s doing a lecture soon!”
However, Will didn’t hear the second part of Gold’s shout as he was already long out the door, headed off campus to look around Viridian City. From the doorway of the Pokemon Academy building, he looked around, but couldn’t find anything appearing to be what he was looking for, so he just began aimlessly walking around the city.
“You seem lost,” a kindly middle-aged man who bumped into Will, said.
“You could say that,” Will began. “In more ways than one.”
“Well how can I help?”
“You could start by pointing me to the nearest clothing shop.”
"They tend to be inside Pokemon Centers," the man said, gesturing to a red-roofed building with a PokeBall logo. Will smiled and nodded as he walked over to the building and stepped inside. He saw a pink-haired nurse across from the entrance, next to a large Pink Pokemon, but then spotted the clothing stand and ran over to it.
Locking eyes with the clerk, he said, "Give me what's in the fashion these days," Will said. "I'm... a foreigner, trying to blend in."
"Right, that'll be two-thousand dollars," the clerk responded cheerfully.
"Ah. I don't have any of the local currency, or many money at all, really."
Will instinctively reached into his pocket for what he imagined was a cylindrical-shaped instrument, but it wasn't there. He shook his head, but then the clerk piped up again.
"Wait a minute! I saw you outside, you're one of the new students at the Pokemon Academy! Don't worry about it, the Professor set up a 3000 dollar expense account for each student, but since you're our first costumer from there today, this one's on us."
Will smiled as the clerk handed over the clothing items. "Pleasure."
"There's a changing room right over there, sir."
Will nodded and walked inside. He quickly stripped down, taking off his old clothes and putting on the new ones - a white dress shirt, tuxedo, and dress pants that made him look fancy. As he looked at himself in the mirror, he examined his own features as if he had never seen them before. “Those eyes are piercingly blue, hair’s a bit wavier than I’d like…” he mused, running his hands through it. Noticing it was quite unkempt, he quickly grabbed a comb and combed it until it looked nice, slicking back his dirty-blonde, brown hair in an attractive way. Once he was done, he turned and walked out of the Pokemon Center. Now roughly familiar with the layout of Viridian City, making it back to the Academy was a cinch, but when he stepped inside the building, he could already see students making their way down the hall, presumably towards the lecture hall Gold mentioned. Will decided to go with the flow and follow them closely.
Meanwhile, Professor Oak was not even inside the Pokemon Academy building, instead headed in the opposite direction - up Route 2 and towards Viridian Forest. Ever since he had met Will, he had noticed something suspicious about the boy, but was hoping for his suspicions not to be confirmed. Oak passed through the gate into the forest and held a PokeBall at the ready in case he were to be attacked by any of the local Pokemon.
Normally, Oak would observe the movements of the local Pokemon with fascination - he could even see a Weedle scurrying across the ground in the corner of his eye, a Caterpie scampering away from a Pikachu, but this time, he had an altogether different priority. As the forest got thicker, allowing fewer of the sun’s rays to stream in, the fact that his students were headed to the lecture hall without him did little to weigh on his mind.
Finally, he reached a secluded clearing in the forest, and gasped slightly as he saw the silver cylinder that Will arrived in, standing before him.
“Impossible! They can’t have found me!” Oak exclaimed to himself. “Not after all this time...”
Still holding out hope that this capsule was not what he thought it was, he approached it. Despite the fact that smoke was no longer pouring out of the doors, the area still smelled strongly of it. Oak pushed the door open slightly and looked inside - the interior was very dark, but undeniably, bigger on the inside - the walls dotted with roundels that were all-too-familiar to Oak. He quickly pulled the doors closed and stepped back, his emotions a flurry of shock and horror.
“I could just leave, strand him here… if only this thing were in good enough shape to fly… no…” Oak mused, shaking his head. “Well, there’s nothing left for me to do but to keep doing my job… and wait.”
Oak swiftly turned back around and began the trek towards Viridian City.
Will continued to make his way through the bustling hallway, determined to get to Oak’s lecture on time. However, as he spotted Leaf from behind, her cute white hat concealing some of her auburn hair, he quickly made his way to her. However, given the fairly crowded nature of the hallway, she tripped, and dropped everything - her books fell out of her arms, and the items from her bag, including Potions and other utilities, fell out as well. Will quickly rushed over to her and caught a brief glimpse up her skirt at her black lace underwear. His face quickly flushed red. As Leaf stood up, she was blushing. Will quickly extended his hand to help her, and she gratefully took it.
“D-did you see - “ she asked before being cut off by a curt,
“No,” Will quickly lied, shaking his head and looking away.
Leaf couldn’t help but giggle a little bit at his reaction. “I’m Leaf. What’s your name?”
“I’m Will,” he said, locking eyes with her before smiling a bit. “Nice to meet you.”
She smiled and nodded. “Come on, Will, you can walk me to class.”
“S-sure!” Will exclaimed, a bit more enthusiastically than he had hoped to show. His face was bright red as he and Leaf walked through the hallway. By this point, the corridor was much quieter - many of the students had already reached Oak’s large lecture hall. As they walked, he managed to sneak in a couple glances at her face.
“She’s rather pretty,” he thought to himself. “No… that’s too weak a word.” He then shook his head. “N-no… I can’t allow myself to become attached to these - “ He stopped for a moment. Leaf stopped as well and turned to face him.
“Are you okay?” she asked, a little bemused as to why Will had suddenly stopped walking.
“Y-yeah, I’m fine…” he responded, somewhat sheepishly and embarrassed at having lost his train of thought like that.
“The hall’s just through here,” Leaf said, smiling as she led the way inside. Will quickly followed her. The lecture hall was packed with students as the pair entered. At the bottom of the lecture hall, Oak was standing in front of a wide table with plenty of Poke Balls.
Will and Leaf quickly sat next to each other. As Will glanced at Oak, he couldn’t help but notice something oddly familiar about the old man, but he shook it off as Leaf whispered in his ear, “I think he’s going to give us our Pokemon.”
Will opened his mouth to ask her a question as Oak spoke up, his loud voice filling the room. “Welcome, everyone. Welcome to the Pokemon Academy. In this course, you will learn the basics of Pokemon training, and will be prepared to go on a journey of your own, if you wish. My grandson, Gary, will be assisting me in teaching you all. For this purpose, each of you will begin your entrance into the world of Pokemon by choosing one of your own.”
Oak turned around and walked behind the table before turning back around to face the class and continued. “Set out here are many rare Pokemon from across several regions. I’ll call you down, row by row, to pick your Pokemon. They will be your partner. Take care of them!”
As Oak began calling the rows, starting at the bottom, Will and Leaf watched apprehensively. Being at the top, they had a fair amount of time to wait, but Will contemptuously glared at Gold as he grabbed a Poke Ball. Pressing the button to send out the creature inside - a cute blue and white echidna with fire on its back.
“A Cyndaquil!” Gold exclaimed. “Cool!” he continued, as he proceeded back to his seat.
Will and Leaf glanced at other trainers as they picked their Pokemon - a young boy in a red hat as he got a Charmander, a blue-haired girl in yellow shorts and a magenta top that could be considered the height of fashion in Johto receiving a Chikorita, and several others. As Oak finally called the top row, Will and Leaf stood up.
“Besides protecting you, what do these Pokemon really do for you?” Will asked as he walked down with Leaf.
Somewhat surprised that he would ask such a question, Leaf quickly formed a reply. “Well, to defeat all the Gyms and challenge the Pokemon League!”
“But… why?” Will asked, worried that he was alienating her with a question that should be so obvious.
Leaf raised an eyebrow, bemused at his earnest confusion, but answered anyway as they walked up to the tables with the Poke Balls. “For the prestige, I guess.”
Will nodded and looked around before grabbing a Poke Ball. Leaf did the same. Together, they both picked them up and sent out their Pokemon. Will had sent out a floating yellow creature with a small, pale snout and two, pointed ears, and closed eyes.
“Congratulations, you now have the Psychic Pokemon Abra,” Oak said, looking into Will’s eyes and not paying attention as Leaf had sent out a blue turtle Pokemon with a brown shell.
“It’s a Squirtle! So cute!” she squealed as she bent down to look at it. Excited by her, Will ran over. “I’m gonna name him Blasty!” Leaf announced.
“Blasty…” Will smiled. “Nice ring to it.”
“Thanks!” Leaf exclaimed. Their faces both reddened as they realized that all eyes were on them. They were about to walk back to their seats, when Oak announced -
“Everyone, class dismissed. Will, could you stay behind for a moment?”
“Of course,” Will said, nodding, as everyone started for the door.
“See you later, Will!” Leaf said, picking up Blasty as she walked out.
Will held out his Poke Ball and pressed the same button he used to sent out the Piplup, and a red energy beam struck Piplup and caused it to disappear as the beam retracted into the Poke Ball. As the last students filtered out of the room, Will turned to Oak. “What can I do for you, Professor?”
“I could ask you the same question.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“I think you do. They sent you, didn’t they?”
“Who?” Will asked.
“Them,” Oak said, gesturing up at the sky. “They want to bring me back.”
“Professor, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“He seems utterly clueless. I can’t even sense any deception from him like I can from other Time Lords. Whatever he’s not telling me, he’s even hiding it from himself,” Oak thought to himself, looking over the boy. “I’ll have to keep a close eye on him. If he is here for what I think he is, he must have extraordinary mind control.”
“You can go, Will,” Oak said.
Will nodded and walked away, feeling a strange sense of familiarity from the old man. Oak's face softened slightly. He could feel trouble surrounded by the boy - he had a troubled past, but didn't seem to inherently be a threat.
Giovanni of Team Rocket was not a patient man. As the stern businessman and leader of Team Rocket sat in the chair usually reserved for the President of Silph Co., petting his Persian, he irritably clacked his foot in the office, his aged features hiding a handsome visage of years fast, as he wore a dull grey suit which complemented his brown hair well. His subordinates were thirty seconds late. Thirty-one. The door then swung open, and the buxom, ginger admin Ariana, and the sniveling bearded Petrel with his pretentious purple hair entered, leaning forward, both admins sharing the same red R emblazoned on their shirts as Giovanni.
“You know I don’t like to be kept waiting,” Giovanni stated plainly.
“Some urgent new information arrived, sir,” Petrel said.
“Well, what is it?” Giovanni asked.
“Silph’s satellites registered an orbital contact a few hours ago,” Ariana said.
“I don’t like to be bothered with asteroids and meteors,” Giovanni said, shaking his head and turning around.
“That’s the thing, sir,” Petrel began. “It’s not a natural phenomenon, it was moving too fast.”
Petrel nodded and Ariana pushed a few keys. Giovanni turned around and saw a curve, representing the path of the object, on his screen. Within a few seconds, the object had appeared right on the edge of the range of the satellite, well into the solar system, and fallen onto the surface of the planet in west Kanto.
“We believe it to be of interstellar origin,” Ariana said. “Extraterrestrial.”
“This could interfere with our plans. Send discreet operatives there, and I want the area monitored. Search for the object. I will consult with our associate.”
Giovanni waited for the two admins to leave and shut the door before he reached for a hidden button under his desk and pushed it.
