Adventures As A Pokémorph Part 1 and 2

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

“Come on, Josh today is finally the day! Wake the hell up!” my best friend Lila yelled, banging on my door for me to wake up.

“Ugh, what the hell do you want?” I asked, getting out of bed before opening the door. “It’s a Saturday. I’m trying to sleep.”

“Could you please put on some clothes!?” she yelled at me, turning around at the sight of me.

“Really?” I asked, rubbing my eyes. “I’m just not wearing a shirt. See I have pajama bottoms on,” I said, showing her that I was by no means naked. “Besides, you’ve seen me shirtless before. I don’t understand why it’s such a big deal. Also, you’re the one that barged in on my sleep time, so if you wouldn’t mind, I see a pillow over there with my name on it.”

“Come on. You can’t go back to sleep. It’s already noon,” she said, grabbing my hand. “Not to mention that today is the day, remember?”

“Huh, what day?” I asked her, desperately wanting to go back to bed. I was playing a new video game that I got myself as an early birthday gift late into the morning. I had legit fallen asleep maybe an hour ago.

“Today’s your eighteenth birthday!” she yelled, pulling out a small, wrapped box from behind her back.

“Oh shit, you’re right,” I said to her, trying my best to wake up. “Today’s the day, isn’t it?”

“It is,” she said excitedly. “Here, open up your gift. I made especially sure that you would like it,” she said as I opened it up to see a silver bracelet.

“Nice,” I said, slipping the bracelet on. Where did you get this?”

“It’s all the way from Galar,” she said, showing me that she was wearing one herself. “It came as a set, so I thought that we could both have one.”

“That sounds amazing!” I said, finally getting myself to wake up fully. “Let me get changed, and I’ll meet you downstairs.”

“Alright,” she said, leaving me alone to get changed.

I couldn’t believe that today was the day. Today was the day that I finally became a Pokémon trainer. I had to suffer through boring school for 18 years, waiting for this day, and it was finally here!

“Good morning, sweety,” my mom said the moment I walked downstairs. She had a bright smile across her face as always and was busy cooking my favorite, pancakes for breakfast.

“Morning, mom,” I said, sitting down next to Lila, who was already stuffing her face like usual whenever my mom cooked for her.

“Are you excited?” she asked me, laying a plate of her homemade pancakes out before me.

“I’ve been waiting for this day since I was 10,” I told her. “But today is finally the day.”

“I’m so proud of you for following in your father’s footsteps,” my mom said to me. “I remember when we first met, he was off to challenge the elite 4. True he didn’t win, but if he hadn’t, I doubt that he would have been kicked out and run into me. It was as if it was destiny.”

“Come on, mom, you’ve told me that story a thousand times already,” I said to her. She loved to reminisce about the day she and my father met. It was a bit much, to be honest.

“Well, you know your father,” she said, looking over at a family photo we took when I was 12.

“Speaking of dad, do you know if he’s coming home today to see me off?” I asked. It’s been three years since I last saw my dad. He was a Pokémon researcher and was always out studying Pokémon across the world. I read a few of the articles he wrote, and they’re amazing, but it just reminds me that he chose his job over staying with us. I was just hoping at this point that he would at least be able to see me off before I go.

“I’m sorry, sweety, but he can’t make it today,” my mother said to my disappointment. “He’s attending a research conference over in Paldea right now and won’t have time to make it back. He did say that he was sending a gift for you in the mail.”

“Alright… thanks for the pancakes,” I said, standing up.

“You barely ate. Are you sure that you’re alright?” she asked me worriedly.

“I’m fine, just not that hungry right now, “I said before giving her a hug. “I’ll see you tonight before I head off. Lila, are you ready to go?” I asked her, making my way to the door.

“Coming!” Lila yelled, finishing off her last Pancake. “Thanks again,” she said to my mother before hurrying after me.

“Are you sure that you’re alright?” she asked me as we began to walk towards the Professor's lab. He may be a bit weird, but since we lived on the outskirts of Sinnoh in a place known as Twinleaf Town, he was the only option for getting a starter Pokémon.

Around 10 years ago, he was actually the leading professor in Sinnoh, but as he grew older, he decided to take a slower role since he started to develop Alzheimer’s. It wasn’t anything too big since the only symptoms he had was short-term memory loss, but he didn’t want to risk anything, so he settled down here at one of his old labs. The Pokémon Association still respects him highly, so he is still able to hand out Pokémon to future trainers.

“I’m fine,” I said back to her. “It was a mistake to get my hopes up. Let’s just forget about him. Today is the day where our lives truly begin. “

“If you say so,” she said, sounding worried about me. We’ve known each other since we were kids, so there wasn’t much that I could hide from her, but I was telling her the truth when I told her that we shouldn’t care about him.

“Professor, are you home?” I asked as we entered his lab. “It’s Josh and Lila. We have an appointment. Professor Rowen?”

“Maybe he’s not him,” Lila said to me.

“No, if he weren’t, then his door would have been locked,” I said back to her.

“Are you sure that he didn’t just forget?”  she asked as we made our way deeper into the lab.

“I’m certain,” said, walking forward to see the professor, but to my dismay, he wasn’t alone.

“Thanks again, professor,” Mark, the biggest bully in town, said to the professor. When I looked closer, I saw that he had three Pokeballs in his hands.

“Mark, what are you doing here?” I asked him, blocking his way out.

“The professor was nice enough to give me all the starters he had on him,” Mark said, flaunting the Pokeballs in front of us.

“Professor, what is he talking about?” I asked the professor.

“Huh? Josh, my dear boy, don’t be greedy. You got your Pokémon last week along with Miss Lila. Mark told me that you were going to try to take them from me, so I decided that they would be in better care of someone as kind and sweet as him. Please, if you would leave, there are no more Pokémon for either of you.”

“Professor, Mark is lying to you,” Lila said to him. “He’s using your Alzheimer’s to steal all of your Pokémon.”

“Such nonsense!” the professor yelled back to her. “Get out of my lab before I call officer Jenny over here.”

“But-”

“Come on, let’s go,” I said, grabbing her hand.

“But Josh, our adventure,” Lila said, looking back at me with a distraught look on her face,

“There’s nothing that we can do,” I said, pulling her away from Mark and the professor and out of the lab.

“I’ll see you two idiots later!” Mark yelled, mocking us as we left.