Pokemon Fan Fiction / Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Pokemon 1-5-1 ❯ The Story Begins... ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter 1 -The Story Begins…

<Swish, swish, swish… shlump… plop… swish, swish, swish… shlump… plop…>

"Boooooooooring…" A young adolescent boy groaned as he swished a mop back and forth across the tile floor of the lab. "Why do I always get stuck mopping the floors every day?" he complained with a sigh.

Hey. In case you're wondering who that grumpy teenager is, that's me. Or, at least, that was me ten years ago.

"Finally! Finished at last!" The boy exclaimed as he finished his chore.

After unceremoniously tossing the mop into the broom closet, the boy headed toward a window in order to rid himself of the dirty mop water.

His name, and my name for that matter, is Rick Lancing. Why was I mopping the floor inside a Pokemon laboratory, you ask? The answer to that is simple…

Rick opened one of the windows and dumped the water down into the courtyard as he had done countless times before. This time, however, the splash of the water hitting the ground was accompanied by a loud yelp.

I was one of Professor Oak's Aides.

"Rick!!" Prof. Oak bellowed from the courtyard below the window.

"Oops… err.. sorry Professor. I didn't see you there," apologized Rick meekly.

"Don't worry about it," Prof. Oak said with a sigh, "could you throw me down a towel?"

"Sure thing!" Rick answered before disappearing into the lab.

Moments later, a towel soared out from the window, landing over Professor Oak's head.

"Thank you.. Rick" muttered Oak.

"No prob!"

Obviously, I wasn't the best aide he had, but the Professor was a friend of the family and felt he owed me the opportunity to support and to prove myself. You see, my father, who was a pokemon trainer, ran off with a female trainer when I was young. Rumor was he had become a gym trainer in some far off town. As for my mom… well, you'll find out about her later.

After giving Oak time to dry off and cool down, Rick called out "Hey professor, do you mind if I take off for now? I'd like to run home and check up on mom."

"Go ahead," consented Oak, "But be back here by noon. I have a few more tasks that need completed before the new trainers arrive this afternoon."

With a groan, Rick closed the window.

Oh, I forgot to mention, unlike most kids in Pallet Town, I had absolutely no interest in becoming a Pokemon trainer. I actually didn't care much for Pokemon, thanks to my father, and only worked at the Pokemon labs because no one else would hire a troublesome teenager.

After removing his lab coat, combing his short, dirt blonde hair, and straightening the dark blue t-shirt and black jeans he wore, Rick exited the lab and headed down a small path which went passed the Pokemart and, eventually, lead to his house.

Up until then, that day had been just like any ordinary day in the town of Pallet. Of course, I wouldn't be telling you this if it had remained an ordinary day. On that day, my life would change forever. From that day on, my actions would affect the future of the world for both human and pokemon alike.

+++++++THE NIGHT BEFORE+++++++

A flash of lightning and the distant rumble of thunder heralded the coming of yet another summer storm to Viridian City. Rain was the last thing the city needed, its reservoir was already filled to the brim. But few could care that another storm was coming… it was four in the morning and any normal person would be fast asleep. The first droplets of rain began to fall from the clouds, dampening the vacant streets of the city. The streets, however, were not entirely empty.

The faint pitter-patter of feet signaled the coming of a small creature, running as fast as it could, as if a fearfully horror pursued it. The creature stopped just passed the crest of a hill and turned for a moment; listening intently in the direction it had come.

"It went this way… I think" A not too distant voice called.

`Those evil men are still on my tail', the creature thought. Then, wasting no more time, it turned and continued running deeper into the heart of Viridian City.

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'Oh no, A dead end'

The creature came to an abrupt halt. On three sides the walls of buildings blocked its path, trapping it in a small alley. The small pink cat-like creature spun frantically around, searching for an escape route.

'If only I could get this thing restraining my psychic powers off, I could fly out of here…' it thought, desperately tugging at the device fastened around its neck.

Seeing no other way, the creature headed back the way it came. But it was too late; three men had just rounded the corner and blocked the creature's only means of escape.

"Well, well, well," the center man said with a grin, "Looks like our little fugitive is out of places to run."

The men inched closer to the creature, driving it back against the wall. A streetlight revealed the men as members of Team Rocket; two men wearing black uniforms with a red R on the front (the typical Grunt attire) and the man who had spoken wearing a red uniform with a black R (worn only by Team Rocket's Lieutenants).

"It's all over ya, ya dang little nuisance. Time ta take ya back to the hideout," grunt one threatened, extracting a pokeball from his pocket and enlarging it. This, however, was no ordinary pokeball. It was pure gold with a silver M engraved on its face.

'A MasterBall! No! I can't let them take me back there! I must get away… I've got to…'

Hope seemed to drain from the creature all at once. It was useless so long as the strange device kept its psychic powers at bay.

'I can't be caught again… I won't be caught again!'

Suddenly, the creature's eyes began to glow a dim magenta color, startling the three Rocket members. Then the device around the creature's neck began to glow the same color. As the three men watched on, smoke started to rise from the device before it finally burst into countless pieces and fell to the ground before them.

Freed from the restraint, the creature surrounded itself in a blinding ball of pink light and slowly rose into the air. It hovered in place for only a second before shooting off into the distance at a great speed. The bedazzled men stared after the pink ball for some time before recovering from their shock. By then, rain had begun to fall at a steady pace.

"Shit… SHIT! How did it over-power the Psychic restraint!?" Grunt two bellowed, exasperated and astonished.

"I don't know," the Lieutenant answered coolly before turning to his comrades, "I do know that the boss isn't going to be pleased though."

"Man… we're dead if we go back to headquarters," grunt two whined, "I'd rather stay out here in this storm than go back and face the wrath of Giovanni!"

"If ya did that Giovanni would have ya hunted town in a matter `a days. Ya'd be better off goin' back ta face his wrath," warned grunt one.

"Yeah, and we best get back as soon as possible," added the Lieutenant, "the sooner we tell him the bad news, the less severe our punishment… I hope.'

Hesitantly, the Rockets turned and head back to their hideout.

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Rick made his way down the winding path to the laboratory slowly, his eyes on the ground ahead of him. Checking up on his mom hadn't eased his mind one bit. He had arrived at his house only to find her lying in the middle of the living room floor surrounded by numerous empty beer bottles and, on the whole, completely disheveled.

'This is bogus…' he thought, 'working all day just to support my mom's drinking habit…'

He kicked a small rock as he ventured away from the sidewalk, making his way to the small path behind the PokeMart.

'We barely get by as it is and she has to go and blow her paycheck on booze! This isn't how I expected to spend my life… supporting a mom who's drunk ninety percent of the time…'

"There's got to be more to my life than this…" he said to himself out loud.

A faint sound coming from the alley behind the PokeMart startled Rick out of his dismal thoughts. He froze in mid-stride and listened intently, not sure whether he really heard a noise or if it was his imagination.

He heard the noise again. Something was rustling through one of the dumpsters. Rick quietly crept up to the dumpster and peeked in. He caught a glimpse of what appeared to be the tip of a pink tail disappear beneath some papers before retreating a few steps.

'An alley cat,' Rick thought at first, `…no, it couldn't be. I've never heard of a pink cat before.'

The rustling noise suddenly ceased as if whatever was in the dumpster knew it had been discovered. Rick held his breath, expecting some rabid beast to jump out and maul him to death. That didn't happen, much to Rick's relief. Instead, the head of a small, pink, cat-like creature slowly peeked out from the dumpster, its large blue eyes filled with fear. A sense of overwhelming pity filled his heart.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you," Rick said softly with a smile, something telling him that, whatever the creature was, it meant no harm.

The creature mewed happily then rose into the air, giving Rick a chance to study it more closely. Recognition instantly stuck him.

"I know what you are! You're a Mew, aren't you?" he exclaimed, "I remember professor Oak talking about you in one of his classes. You're supposed to be one of the rarest of all pokemon."

The mew Rick received in answer almost sounded like a yes to him. He never pondered this as other questions formed in his mind.

"What is a rare pokemon like you doing rummaging through a dumpster in Pallet Town?"

No sooner had Rick asked the question when a soft feminine voice penetrated his mind, saying {{to get away from the evil men…}}

The fact that Mew had suddenly spoken to him telepathically didn't unnerve Rick like it would of most people. It was almost as if he had expected it.

"What evil men?' Rick asked.

{{The evil men that took me away from my home…}}

"Why would someone want to do such a thing?"

Mew paused, as if remembering something painful, then answered {{they wanted to use me in their experiments…}}

"Experiments!" Rick gasped, feeling enraged by the thought of someone doing such a thing to any living thing. "What kind of experiments??"

Mew said nothing more on the matter, stating that the pain was too much to recall the horrors of its captivity. Rick nodded understandingly then thought for a moment before reaching a conclusion.

"I know a place where you can go and be safe until you can find a way to get back home," he stated after nodding his head, as if confirming his own thoughts.

{{Really?}} Mew exclaimed hopefully.

"Yeah. There's a man who lives just up this hill who takes care of pokemon. I'm sure he'll be more than happy to give you shelter from those evil men."

After many a thank you, Rick finally settled Mew down enough to get it to come him up the small path leading to professor Oak's lab (hidden under his shirt, of course, just in case a wandering trainer got any ideas about catching a rare pokemon.).

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Giovanni leaned back in his chair behind the large mahogany desk that occupied one corner of his dimly lit office. There had been one too many setbacks as of late and the leader of Team Rocket was none too pleased with the incompetents that worked for him. With a sigh, he stared at the battered old notebook that had occupied his thoughts since it was found inside the Silph Company laboratories by a Rocket spy several months ago. Its contents would elevate Team Rocket to new heights in crime. The theories within the notebook had been proven to be true after countless tests and now it was time for the next step in the brilliant scheme formulated in Giovanni's mind. All that was needed was one more component… a component that was foolishly allowed to escape.

A Persian jumped onto Giovanni's lap, as if sensing its master's discontent, and received a gentle pat on the head in return.

"Soon, my pet, our plans will come to fruition. It will take more than a blundering imbecile to stop Team Rocket's accent to the top of the world," Giovanni said as he petted the cat pokemon.

"Perrrrrrrrsian," It answered as if in agreement.

Giovanni returned to his thoughts for a short time before having them interrupted by a knock at his office door.

"Come in," he beckoned and in walked the three Rocket's Giovanni had sent to retrieve the escapee (despite their resolve to report as soon as possible, they put off approaching their boss until morning.).

"Ah… I see my gophers have returned carrying a full MasterBall… I assume," the Rocket leader guessed.

The Lieutenant hesitated a moment before answering, "Well… you see.. It's like this…"

"I have no patience for back talk," Giovanni interrupted, "give me the MasterBall immediately."

With a less than enthusiastic look on his face, the Lieutenant turned to the grunt carrying the MasterBall. He extracted it from his pocket and handed it to the boss, a nervous sweat already pouring from his forehead. Giovanni enlarged the pokemon capturing device and clicked the opening mechanism. The ball sprung open but nothing appeared. A frown formed on the lips of Giovanni, increasing the uneasiness in his three underlings.

"And where, pre-tell, is our fugitive?" the Rocket leader asked in an irritated tone.

"You see… it's like this," the Lieutenant began, "we had it trapped behind the PokeCenter but…"

Giovanni held up his hand, halting the flabbergasted Rocket in mid-sentence, "No need to explain. The little nuisance somehow released itself from the restraint and flew away. I knew this the very moment it happened…"

The three Rockets stood stunned, not expected the boss to know about the incident already.

"You couldn't do anything about that. It is a powerful creature, after all, and one should expect mishaps such as this," Giovanni explained, "therefore, it would be foolish to give punishment over such a matter."

The Rockets seemed ready to burst with relief and gratitude but were stopped, as Giovanni continued, "Not coming forward with such vital information as soon as possible, however, is unforgivable. For that, you will be punished."

Any gratitude the underlings had felt moments before instantly fled from them as several guards walked into the office and restrained them.

"Take these three to the brig until they can be dealt with properly," ordered Giovanni as the guards escorted the pleading Rockets from the room.

After they had been led away, a man wearing a light blue uniform with a black R on the front (the colors of a Rocket General) entered the office and saluted his boss.

"You wished to see me, sir," the general stated.

"Brett, you are one of my most trusted generals. I should have handed this assignment to you in the first place, but I was foolish enough to entrust a rabble of idiots with such a top priority mission," Giovanni said with a shake of the head.

"You can count on me, sir," assured Brett, "what mission do you wish for me to carry out?"

"I want you to find the fugitive pokemon, Mew," the Rocket leader answered, "and bring it back here so that we may finally commence with Project Zero."

"It may take a while since the target could be anywhere by now," the General commented.

"I thought ahead for just such a situation," Giovanni said as he took a device out from a filing cabinet, "I had a homing device implanted behind Mew's left ear. Use this transmitter to track it."

"Yes, sir, I will capture the fugitive and return here with it immediately," Brett declared then, after receiving the transmitter, turned to leave.

"One more thing, General," Giovanni called to Brett, "I want you to take Project 001 with you."

Brett turned around with a dubious look on his face.

"Are you sure about that, sir?" he questioned.

"Yes. Mew has over-powered the Psychic restraint we had it fitted with and can now battle at its full potential," explained Giovanni.

"Understood, sir. I will have Project 001 accompany me."

With a salute, General Brett exited the room leaving Giovanni sitting at his desk, Persian still on his lap. The Rocket leader stroked the silky fur of the cat pokemon, a slight grin on his face.

"Soon, my pet… very soon we shall hold this pitiful world in our iron grip…"

TO BE CONTINUED…