Pokemon L: Year 1 episode 6

Year 1

Episode 6: Nicholas

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Rolling from a region’s coast to the inner city is not always a short and quick trip, but we were lucky to make it to Violet City after a few hours, when the sunset event was finishing still. We came running into the city through a quiet asphalted road, surrounded by some autumn trees, the sky was navy blue mixed with a little bit of a pink-ish red; a calm atmosphere indeed…

“This feels a bit awkward…. you know?” I mumbled to Furret, who was resting on my neck while looking at her new and strange environment, Charlo still in his pokeball “Walking here by my own, with nobody to watch over me, here in a different region… quite shocking! Glad my aunt is here, phew… maybe that’s why my dad was so confident about sending us here! He knows this region as if it was home, well… he used to live here when he met mom…” I said with some nostalgia.

The next thing I saw was quite pleasant. A pretty calm city, with small buildings but a colorful violet touch as the name honored, pretty soft white lights turning on in the middle of the dusk, it seemed like a good place to live.

Furret and I wandered, I’ve always liked to look at new places… travel, taking a walk around in the way of getting to my aunt’s house. The floor had a nice “colonial” pattern, silver and gray, some small shops working, individually, selling some souvenirs and what seemed to be like delicious desserts, it all seemed so attractive!

“Well now… Oran Avenue, house 15?” I told to myself as I checked her direction on my Graphi-on, I started looking for her place.

I had not seen my aunt in ages, ever since I was 8, she must not be older than… 42 years old.

“Here it is” I said as I saw a small-looking pretty house, there was a classical black iron fence surrounding the place, a path made out flat stones embedded to the floor, and a pretty green Oran berries tree in the yard.

I changed into a happy expression rushing over the entrance.

”WHO”. A sound stopped me before I could ring the entrance’s bell.

“AH!” I screamed and jumped back, Furret quickly tried to hide in the bag.

“Who” a pair of red creepy eyes glared at us, soon I noticed it was the body of a bird, a Pokémon.

“Wh-what is that?” I said a bit surprised while looking at it.

“It’s a Noctowl, dear” A woman’s voice sounded as the house’s door opened. “Welcome Archell!” She greeted.

“Aunt!” I shouted and immediately hugged her. “It’s been ages!”






Once inside we took a rest in the living room, the inner house was pretty nice; red couches and illuminated spaces, we sat on the couches and started the meeting.

“You’ve got a nice place aunt, thanks for letting me stay” I said as I took a sip of tea she served to me in a pretty teacup.

“You’re always welcome, and look how much you’ve grown! Now you’re even here in Johto all by yourself. I hope you feel free to come and stay here whenever you need it during your journey Archell” She was expressive.

“Thank you, again” I said a bit embarrassed… “By the way… is that Noctowl outside yours?” I asked while staring through the window behind me.

“Oh yeah, my old friend, Nocturne, he’s a pretty old boy, I’m sorry if he scared you, he doesn’t trust strangers at all” She said calmly while drinking some tea.

“Oh…”

“Archell, sweetheart…” My aunt put on a serious expression.

“…Eh?” I listened.

“Where will you go next? Are you challenging some gyms?” She asked.

“O-oh…. That… well, yeah I guess…! But now that you mention it, I have no idea where to start… also, professor Elm seems to be waiting for me over New Bark town as my dad said so I should be heading up there soon…” I said a bit unsecure, hiding my real plans to myself.

“I see, well…” She smiled “You’ve got a lot to do… why don’t you train tomorrow morning a little and so you get to know the surroundings? I know you like to see new places” She suggested.

“Nice idea! I’ll get to it!” I said in excitement.

“Well, I’m giving you my guest’s room tonight, it’s pretty small but I guess you’ll feel comfortable there” She finished her tea.

“Thank you again” I said doubtful “Aunt… how is this city’s gym leader? Well… more like all gym leaders in general…” I asked, looking for a subject change.

“Hm…” she thought for a second “cold”

“Cold?” I echoed.

“They won’t give you any contemplations, and some can be quite rude” she complained, “Some have trained for years, while others are recently appearing, one of them is Apolo, this city’s gym leader” my aunt explained.

“And… do you know him?” I was curious.

“Ah, no I don’t really do… but news tell dear, his father gave him the lead of the gym and then quit, about half a year ago, they both had a familiar problem and they didn’t get along. Apolo was a bit superb towards his father and thought of having an independent life, his father got tired of his whining and decided to leave, leaving him in charge and teaching him what a true responsibility is, he’s had a really hard time managing the gym and it has even lost it’s nice touch and structure… but he has been getting better and learnt his lesson it seems” She narrated.

“Oh”

“Well, why if it’s getting late! I should prepare a delicious dinner for you all, feel free to go upstairs and get comfortable, you’re at home here sweetie, also let me give you some money for your travels later” And then she headed to the kitchen.








Who

Well as you may understand, sleeping was a hard job that one night…. It was my first night in Johto after all, and I just had so much going around my head.

Who

The real reason why I was here was not to become a master, or to meet new people, and I just had gotten into something that could possibly help… or could just take me away from my doing and consume my time. But now everyone had faith in me… faith for something I was not even sure I wanted to do… even my aunt would believe in my supposed goals.

Who

Whatever the case was I was just still a newbie and I wondered… was I going to make it through all of this? I always considered myself pretty mature and independent, kind of cold like these leaders… but the age and experience was quite big between me and my future opponents, and I was starting to doubt about-

WHO

“Dang Noctowl…” I muttered on my bed with sleepy-irritated eyes.






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Furret hid in the green grass of the park, waiting for the right moment to strike under slight morning sun. Charlo was carefully looking around trying to spot her movement.

And so she leapt straight towards him in silence, but not enough to pass by unnoticed.

“Grr” Charlo turned around and tried to counter, but it was too late, too slow; Furret had broken his defenses and tackled.

I sighed “Aaand… again”

It was a quiet morning and so, Violet city sure was a calm place on Sundays. I decided I would bring my Pokémon to a park near route 32, open spaces and few wild Pokémon… perfect for some practice.

“I’m glad you had spent a lot of time with Oak…” I said to myself, referring to Charlo “Training Pokémon is sure a hard job… at least starters already have training experience…” I complained.

“Ooore?” Furret muttered innocently while sitting on Charlo, he didn’t seem very comfortable that way.

“I’m glad at least bonds with Pokémon make it easier, like they say: they can read your thoughts at some point when synchronizing in battle, but I still have a lot of work to do… at least Furret understands me” I smiled.. “Alright guys let’s…” I stopped as soon as I heard an intriguing noise.

I turned around and heard what I thought was an excited multitude, it was the first time I heard such a fuss in middle of this huge calm. “What’s going on there?” I mumbled when I saw a crowd of people getting piled up at the other side of the park…

“Ladies… ladies, calm down” I heard a man’s soft voice once we got there and I started to get curious, it was a dude with a green/brown long and short Pokémon, kind of like furret… a Quilava beside him, maybe his partner.

He seemed very young and confident, and for some reason he had decided to dye his hair with a navy blue color. Wearing a black shirt and dark jeans, he seemed to be doing nothing but presume about himself.

“Calm down everyone, I’ll show you when I’m back in the world of TV, no need to rush it now…” He spoke.

“Who is this?” I asked, kind of loud and naively.

Then everyone gasped and turned to me, I got embarrassed enough by this.

“HOW COULD SHE NOT KNOW WHO THE GREAT NICHOLAS IS!?” Some random person screamed from the other side of the crowd…

“Eeeeeeeeeeh….” I seriously wanted to hide in that moment. “No, I don’t, I’m new here” I said trying to sound like I knew what was I talking about.

“Hey girls…” This famous guy apparently named Nicholas said “…And little fans” he looked at a few younger boys in the crowd that apparently admired him “No need to make such a fuss, I’ll get to it” He said.

Ugh, this guy I thought.

“My name is Nicholas, the famous Nicholas Garrison from Goldenrod city, Pokémon trainer and kind of a retired actor” He said politely, though with a bit of lack of humility.

“And also from a rich family!” Some kid screamed.

“And handsome too…” The girl next to me said.

“And maybe a bit sassy too” I blabbed.

“Well you said you’re new around here didn’t you? Maybe you’d want to ask for an autograph before I go…”

“No thanks” I said in disgust “I don’t need an autograph from some presumed unknown boy”

Everyone started to mumble stuff about me in that moment, I got really uncomfortable, I used to be a very defensive person then, harsh maybe, but for my own cause I would just defend my dignity in vain. Anyway… my normal self was getting to me at last after I had been really passive for days.

“Hm, I see then, there’s no need to be so rude though, I’m sure you’re just a newbie anyway… aren’t you?” He asked, everyone else started to laugh at me.

“W-what! I’ve been training for years!” I exaggerated, including my non-valid years with Furret “I have experience enough to defend myself, hmph” I crossed my arms.

“I have trained for over seven years already, but if you’re as good as you say, why don’t you try to show me?” He smiled, his Quilava seemed to read his thoughts and stepped forward.

I growled and backed off, but only to prepare myself mentally “Alright then, Furret you go” I told her in a serious command.

“Nicholas is going to battle! He’s going to battle! YES!!!” The fans didn’t stop cheering for him. They even opened up a huge space for us, deep inside I knew I was in trouble, but my pride and decision kind of got in the way.

“Ladies go first” Nicholas winked.

“Prepare a quick attack!” I stood up in rage for his gesture and spoke as expert as I could seem to be, but I was nervous as heck, barely trembling.

Furret ran with speed for an attack, she must have understood the importance of the situation the way she moved, but she could still feel my anguish in a way that made her doubt.

“Quilava, flamethrower” Nicholas quietly snapped.

“Kriu” Quilava moved forward and let a regular stream of fire come out its mouth.

“Don’t let it get you Furret, hit the target!” I yelled.

“Ooor” Furret dodged the recurrent fire streams with little grace; her paws seemed to be having a hard time with the fire embers, but still going until she managed to give one last leapt ready to strike.

“That’s it! Slam Quilava!” I thought I was saved, but…

“Flame wheel” Nicholas commanded on a serious moment.

Quilava backed off like lighting and gave a great jump before Furret could even do anything, covering itself up in a sea of flames that came out its mouth and leaving only dust and ashes behind; Quilava was now a ball of fire.

I had no time to command anything anymore.

Furret got hit, directly, critically like when you play dodgeball and you get hit on your stomach without mercy. She was blown away a great distance without even complaining once.

“Dang it, Furret…!” I hurried to pick her up, she could not move a bit.

“Oh… sorry, maybe that was too strong for you…” He apologized, I still can’t tell if it was sarcasm.

“You… jerk…!” I was tearing up while looking at Furret’s seared coat.

“Hm? What jerk? I just did what every trainer does! Battle, you shouldn’t have been so childish and disrespectful to me in the first place”

I remained silent.

“Nicholas has won the battle! He’s truly the best!” His fans started to applaud and scream again.

“Heh… hey everyone! Guess where I’m going next? That’s right! Headin’ back to the big ol’ city!” He spoke to the multitude, completely ignoring me.

Everyone seemed excited about it.

“You sure don’t wanna miss my entrance… I’ve got business to do yet so, please, mister and misses stalkers… the show is over” He shrugged to the disappointed crowd.

“Hey, Furret?” I mumbled, not paying attention to anything else while he had been talking “Furret, are you okay?”

“Or” She said gently.

Nicholas suddenly showed up, Quilava next to him. “Need a hand?”

I was not sure what to do, nothing else but frown at him intrigued.

“Maybe we have to try this again sometime else” He gave me an ashamed smile.

“Why are you here? Isn’t your people waiting for you?” I held up my barriers.

“Ah them… yeah I’ve become pretty popular with the time, to be honest I don’t even know where did all of them come from but boy, it’s cool having fans” He presumed again “But out of that, I’ve been told before  I can be pretty heavy with it sometimes, I want to show people I’m not just another dumb face more, so… I want to at least say: my apologies if I made you mad”

I got up with Furret on my arms. I noticed everyone was already gone.

“Well… I’m sorry too” I said while looking a way, a bit grumpy.

“Nooow… if you excuse me, I’d love to stay but I don’t want stalkers behind me” He started to walk away, then stopped for a minute. “Oh, try not to be so aggressive, you’re gonna have a hard time if you keep it up, girl” He waved off a goodbye.

I sighed.







“Your Pokémon are in perfect conditions, it was nothing serious” The nurse from the Pokémon center said.

“Thank you” I took Furret on my shoulders and Charlo beside me.

“Oor or, oreee!” Furret smiled to my depressed face.

But I was way too ashamed of myself to even respond.

“Furret, I’m sorry” I petted her “I think I messed it up back there… I just don’t like that kind of people at all” I said to myself. “I doubted of myself, and so I made you doubt, and I didn’t even consider Charlo in”

“Ar?” Charlo growled softly.

Maybe that day wasn’t my best day yet, but it was just a day, and even though I accepted my defeat I still had a whole lot to learn, but while I would just believe I was right in my actions, while I would feel like so many things were unfair to me and I had to take attitudes… like those rage bursts towards people I would reject, what Nicholas stated were the truest words spoken; this journey was not going to be easy at all for me.

But you’ll know more about those feelings of mine, soon, sometime when it may be important to know.

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Pokémon L - Series
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