Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Chimera Saga: Forged Path ❯ Future in Limbo ( Chapter 2 )

Chimera Saga: Forged Path
Chapter 02: Future in Limbo
By: Izumi Ryu
Chimera Saga concept by: Theo 'Blitz' Leung
Disclaimer: Pokemon characters, creatures, and settings belong to Nintendo, Game Freak, and others involved with the creation and promotion of the franchise. This is a fanwork with no intent of monetary gain. Original characters introduced in this story belong to the authors of the Chimera Saga collaborative series, in which the characters do require permission for use in other works.

The professor was already awake as the morning light started to shine over the town, already looking over reports while his breakfast sat to the side. You could already hear wild pokemon already active around the town. Very few people were even up yet, those that were had already leaving for Viridian City, the nearest major city in the region. Otherwise, only trainers were coming into town and children were just waking up if they weren't still asleep. 

That was when someone knocked on the laboratory's front door. The professor looked confused, not expecting anyone to show up this early. He even expected Daniel later than this. He got up from his computer and walked into the next room where the entryway was. When Oak opened the door, he saw Daniel standing in front. If it weren't for his eyes, you would almost miss how tired he looked considering he still carried himself normally. "Hello, Professor."

"Daniel? What's wrong? Did you stay up too late?" the Professor asked, obviously concerned by the boy's early arrival.

"Something like that," Daniel told him, being stubborn against his fatigue. He tried to avoid eye contact with the professor. "I'll be fine once I get going on chores."

The professor shook his head. He wanted to send the boy home to get some sleep, but something about Daniel's expression made him think that was a bad idea. As curious as the scientist was, he decided to ask later. "Alright, but grab some breakfast at least," the Professor told him, thinking that would keep him up better than the adrenaline the child seemed to be running on. "I've got some left in the kitchen, still."

"Thanks, Professor," Daniel accepted, the growling from his stomach only now reminding him he didn't have anything this morning.

Oak looked at the boy as he walked past him, wanting to ask what happened. He could tell something was wrong, but Daniel also held this look as if he didn't want to talk about it. I can probably guess where the problem is coming from, but what happened? Oak asked himself.

Going back into the study, the professor went over to the video phone and called Daniel's mother, her image showing on the screen. She looked more tired than normal as she greeted. "Hello?"

"Hello, this is Professor Oak," he greeted.

"Oh, hello, Professor. If you're calling about what Daniel did, I..." she started.

"I'm calling about Daniel, but not about that. As brashly as he acted, he still did the right thing. I'm more concerned about him now. What happened after he got home last night?" he asked.

"Just forget it. I don't want anything to do with that...child," she told him, pausing on the last word as if she was trying to keep herself from using an expletive. 

The professor didn't miss the pause in mid sentence. "Ma'am, he is your son. Why aren't you..." 

"He's no son of mine. He never was," the lady interrupted before the screen cut off as she abruptly hung up the phone. 

The professor froze for a moment, surprised by the reaction. "What was that about?" Oak asked. He thought he'd ask Daniel after they got the work they needed done first. As worrisome as this was, the lab had to come first, and Daniel looked as if he wanted to do everything he can to separate his work form his personal life.

After having eaten, Professor Oak showed Daniel around on what needed to be done. Most of what he was doing was merely feeding pokemon. At first it seemed easy, taking carts of the food out to various pokemon on the range. The only reason it took so long was because there were so many. 

The Geodude that Daniel had saved the other day followed Daniel and the professor around for awhile. The rock pokemon looked concerned at Daniel. Even though Daniel seemed to be moving well, he seemed to have a thousand yard stare, as if he was only half awake. When Daniel finally offered the rock-type some food, it only shook its head, declining it.

"That Geodude seems fond of you," the professor told him. Daniel just nodded absently as he continued to walk towards the next herd of pokemon. Oak frowned at this. Daniel was more out of it than he let on. Then the professor noted something seemed to be walking towards them. It looked like a massive cross between a cat and a bear. It looked rather happy as it approached and Daniel wasn't paying attention to it. "Look out!" the Professor warned.

Daniel and the cart of the remaining food suddenly bumped into something soft yet large. He fell to the floor and the cart tipped over, spilling the food on the ground. He looked up at the massive pokemon who seemed to consider Daniel along with the food. "A...Snorlax?" Daniel asked.

"Get away!" a voice shouted. Without warning, a torrent of rocks rained down on the Snorlax, the force actually knocking it down. Daniel looked back at where the attack came from and seeing the glaring Geodude. "You can be patient and get your food later..." the rock-type growled.

"It's fine," Daniel told it. "You can lay off the attack. It didn't mean any harm."

The professor seemed impressed by what he saw. That Geodude's Rock Slide was powerful. Why did it let a bunch of kids mess with it yesterday? he asked himself.

"Sorry, Professor. I messed things up badly..." Daniel apologized as he slowly got up, looking around at the food scattered across the ground. The Snorlax started shoveling a lot of it into its mouth.

"Hardly, that wasn't your fault. You seem to be tired anyway. We'll go get lunch soon anyway," the old man told him.

"It's already that time? I lost track," Daniel looked down and shook his head as he noticed his own shadow had shrunk from this morning's lower sun.

"Time tends to pass pretty quickly while working," the Professor told him, patting him on the shoulder. "You honestly lasted a lot longer than I thought you would."

"Told you, I'd last if I kept moving." Daniel just shrugged but he wasn't very convincing with the way he seemed to stare blankly.

"Yeah, until you walk into a Snorlax. How could you not see him coming?" Rocker asked, only heard by the professor as nothing more than various combinations of grunts of its own name.

"I'm not sure. Everything was a blur at that point," Daniel scratched the back of his head.

"I didn't say anything. Were you talking to that Geodude?" the Professor asked.

Daniel didn't think twice about how odd it looked. His head was as much of a blur as it could be. "Yes, I was. Is there a problem?"

Just what I need. He's hallucinating, Oak thought to himself. The Professor helped pick the cart back up. "Let's go get lunch. After that, you need to rest." Daniel could only nod in response. That wasn't a request, that was an order. At this point, Daniel could not argue. He felt like crashing and sleep deprivation was kicking his butt.

After having a quick lunch, Daniel had literally crashed on the couch in the Professor's study. Oak was not going to complain at the time. The boy looked like he desperately needed it. He took the opportunity to continue more reports on his studies while out in the field. Other than the boy's breathing, the day seemed peaceful enough for at least a few hours, the silence providing the quiet he need as the clicking on his keyboard dominated the room.

It had gotten into the evening hours when Professor Oak heard a knock on the front door. He got up from his computer and approached the door, curious as to who would be here now. When he opened the door, Ryna was standing on the doorstep looking distressed. "Professor, where's Daniel?" Ryna asked.

"Calm down, Ryna. He's fine. He's asleep on my couch right now," the professor told her. "What's wrong?"

"When I went to his house, his mother slammed the door in my face when I asked about him," she told the older man, practically pushing her way into the lab as the professor took a couple of steps back. "I heard rumors of Daniel leaving his home last night. Did he come here last night?"

Professor Oak shook his head. "He didn't arrive until this morning, earlier than expected. He looked tired but assured he'd be fine."

"And you honestly believed it?" Ryna asked, glaring at the older man.

"No...but what could I do? He was headstrong about working. I would have sent him home, but it didn't seem like a good idea either."

Ryna looked down for a moment, as if contemplating something. "Sorry, professor. You did the right thing."

Professor Oak smiled. "You're worried about him. That's understandable, Ryna. He needs you more than anything now."

Ryna paused for a moment as the professor's words sunk in. "I wish I could take him with me. He's going to be bored sitting around here."

"Really, there's nothing holding him back from leaving. Just because he can't train pokemon doesn't keep him here," the Professor told her. "However, it wouldn't be good for him to leave without a goal."

"Daniel's just been like that as long as I've known him," Ryna explained. "He always seemed bored but never had a dream of his own."

"Well, he's dreaming now," the professor chuckled. "Though, I wonder if he wasn't while we were out. He even hallucinated talking to that Geodude he saved."

Ryna froze for a moment, wondering if it would be a good idea to tell the Professor about Daniel's little talent. "That wasn't...a hallucination."

The professor looked at Ryna curiously. Ryna only looked back as if Oak hadn't gotten the clue. "Wait, he can understand pokemon like you can?"

Ryna nodded. Oak was among the few people that knew she could pull the same thing. "Please don't tell Daniel I told you though. I promised to keep it a secret. He got tormented enough without people knowing that."

The professor was about to say something when he heard a loud yawn from the study.He opened the door to the study to check in on him. Daniel had been sitting up on the couch with a confused expression on his face. When he saw Oak looking at him, he nearly jumped. "I'm sorry, Professor, I didn't mean to fall asleep...I...I..."

"Daniel, obviously you needed it," the old man said with concern in his tone. Ryna had followed the old man and peeked around the corner. "However, you owe us an explanation." 

"Us?" Daniel asked, looking up at the professor, then noticing Ryna right behind him. "Oh..." Daniel buried his head in an open palm. The professor walked in and sat on one of the neighboring couches. Ryna next to Daniel.

"Daniel, what happened last night?" Ryna asked.

"Mom'll tell you she kicked me out. I would say I walked out. It was kind of a mutual agreement on that one," Daniel explained, never removing his head from his hand. "Needless to say, I'm not welcomed back, not that I want to."

"And you were gone all night?" Ryna asked surprised. Daniel looked at her with a confused expression. Ryna sighed, realizing Daniel wouldn't have known about the rumors. "Word gets around fast here."

Daniel shook his head. "Figures, people are just too bored here." Then he looked between the two. "I couldn't leave town since I was expected to help with work here. I just wandered before finding a spot to train for a while. I didn't have a place to sleep and I wanted to burn off all the frustrations from what happened."

Ryna looked a little mad, like she felt betrayed. "You could've come to my house! Mom and I would've..."

"No..." Daniel interrupted her. "She wouldn't allow it, remember?"

Ryna nodded before looking down. The previous night, her mother seemed glad when she told her Daniel got expelled from school last night. The woman refused to believe that Daniel wasn't a bully. 

"It still would've been better than staying up all night," Professor Oak finally spoke up. Oak rubbed his chin for a moment then looked over at him. "I spoke with your mother this morning. One of the things she told me was that you were never her son. What was that about?"

Daniel looked down. "She rudely informed me I was adopted, as if using it as an excuse to get rid of me."

"So what?" Ryna asked. "It's not that big of a deal. She still adopted you. Why?"

"What does it matter? The reason she threw it out was stupid in the first place. I honestly don't care."

"Well, that explains what happened. So what are you going to do now?" The professor asked, trying to anticipate what his answer would be.

"I don't know. I need to find some means of settling somewhere, but after that..." Daniel just shrugged as if that finished his sentence.

The professor shook his head. Daniel knew how to take care of himself but he didn't know where he wanted to go. "You can stay here, Daniel. I need as much help as I can get right now, and it would be more convenient for you."

"I don't want to impose, Professor. I..." Daniel started.

"It's not a problem, but I do have one condition," the Professor looked at him seriously. Daniel fell into one of his blank looks, the same one he gave when expecting a punishment. "You are to take the exam to get your trainer's license. You will study for it during your free time if you need to."

Daniel's eyes widened. "But...professor. You know I would never be allowed to train pokemon even if my life depended on it."

"Who do you think I am, Daniel? Among the officials, I have more influence than any official." Oak pointed out, reminding them that his prestige as a professor of pokemon made his opinion worth more.

Daniel just gawked at the professor, then looked back at Ryna. Ryna just smiled at his expression and nodded, as if she had been waiting on this. "All right. I'll do it then," Daniel said as he turned back to the professor. "If you can get me in."

Daniel had lost track of time, but he figured at least a week had passed since he started living in the lab. On top of doing the various hard labor chores, the Professor had entrusted him with monitoring his experiments. It didn't take much, just watching over an item or reading some kind of meter. It wasn't the most difficult job, but Daniel always found some interesting things as he did so.

"Daniel," the professor walked into the room Daniel was reading yet another meter on. "I can take things from here. You go rest. Your exam is tomorrow."

Daniel looked up at him with the last sentence with a bit of surprise. Like Daniel had expected, his application to take the exam fell under resistance. However, like the professor said, he got Daniel in anyway. The professor had actually ripped apart every objection that was sent his way and went over the officials' heads. "Let me get the readings on this last one, Professor." 

Daniel wrote down the number the meter read before handing the notebook to the professor. "Here's the numbers. Need me to throw anything together for dinner?"

"Just make yourself something. I'm fine for now," Oak responded. Daniel shrugged it off and left the lab room and into the main entrance hall, heading into the kitchen. 

A knock on the door got Daniel's attention. He walked up to the door and opened it only to see Craig and Tyler standing in front of the door. Tyler looked terrified while Craig just looked on in surprised. "What are you doing here?" Craig asked with a glare.

"Working for the professor, you got a problem with that?" Daniel returned the glare. "What do you want?"

"Believe it or not, we have business with the professor, so get out of our way, retard," Craig shot back, pushing Daniel off to the side. As Craig walked past, he looked back at the boy. "I heard some rumor about you taking the trainers' exam."

"And?" Daniel asked. "So what if I am?" 

"I'm surprised they let you in, dumbass."

"I'll be right behind you, mama's boy," Daniel glared.

Craig flinched as if Daniel had struck a nerve. Then, he gave the boy a sharp glare that promised death. "If we cross paths, I'll crush you," Craig growled.

"I'd like to see you try," Daniel told him. However, Craig's glare at him slightly unnerved him. Craig may have been a jerk, but there had never been that much malice in him.

"You two, don't start a fight in here," Professor Oak spoke up as he entered the room.

"He's not worth it anyway," Daniel told him, walking off to the kitchen. He figured getting something to eat would help him calm down. He had too important of a day to waste his time with the brat. He couldn't help but notice Tyler's glance at him, as if wanting to say something, but not wanting to speak up in front of everyone. Tyler seemed to have remained silent the whole time, not wanting to get caught between the two. Daniel just shrugged it off, not wanting anything to do with either of the boys. He believed Tyler was just as guilty as Craig anyway.