“Sure,” Jacob replied to the girl. He figured it might be nice to have a companion for a while. Jacob and Oshawott walked into Lumiose, City. It was the largest city Jacob had ever been in, and Jacob was awestruck for only a moment. He and Oshawott continued further into the city, looking for the pokemon center. They made a wrong turn, however, into a rather dark alley. Jacob immediately wanted to leave the area, but something caught his eye.
Only several feet from him, a man, dressed entirely in red stood with a Barbaracle, looking over a young boy on his knees, an unconscious Fennekin at his feet. The man looked hostile, and Jacob intervened.
“Leave that kid alone,” Jacob shouted. “Osha, Oshawott!” Oshawott repeated angrily. Jacob stepped forward, approaching the two. The man in red looked up, irritated, but his expression quickly changed into a confident smile.
“How about you hand over all your pokemon?” the man in red addressed Jacob. Barbaracle stepped forwards, menacingly.
“Alright then,” Jacob mumbled aloud. “Helioptile,” he called as he dropped a pokeball, revealing the electric-reptile pokemon. Helioptile did not frighten the man in red, and Barbaracle continued to advance. “Helioptile, use quick attack!” The pokemon rushed forward, glowing white, but Barbaracle simply knocked the pokemon away with his hand. “Helioptile, use thundershock!” Helioptile fired a bolt of electricity at the Barbaracle, and it hit. But Barbaracle continued walking forward, through the attack. It wasn’t strong enough. “Again!” Jacob ordered. And Helioptile sent another bolt of electricity, this time with more energy, and it hit again, but it was not enough to stop the Barbaracle.
“Ha,” the man in red laughed. “Your pokemon are weaker than this child’s! Barbaracle, let’s end this.”
“Helioptile, use thundershock; put everything you’ve got into it!” Once again, Helioptile sent a bolt of electricity slamming into Barbaracle, and once again, the pokemon continued to push through the attack. Helioptile, held up his attack this time, and all of a sudden, the attack became thicker. The bolts expanded, and Barbaracle stopped in its tracks.
“What...” Jacob whispered to himself. He pulled out his pokedex and pointed it at Helioptile. “Ah, Helioptile learned thunderbolt,” Jacob thought to himself. “Great job Helioptile,” Jacob said. “Keep it up; keep using thunderbolt!” Helioptile nodded, and Barbaracle fell to its knees before dropping to the ground. The man in red was stunned. Jacob looked at him wryly. “Good work, Helioptile. Come on back,” Jacob said as he recalled his pokemon. Jacob gave a nod to the boy before heading back onto the main road, looking for the pokemon center.
It wasn’t long before Jacob found the pokemon center. He handed his pokemon over to Nurse Joy, and then sat in the lobby with Oshawott waiting. They had been waiting for about a half hour when a man in a lab coat walked up to them. Jacob didn’t recognize the man, and was wary after his experience with the last stranger he came across in the city.
“Hello?” The man asked. Jacob stared at the man for a moment before responding.
“Yes?”
“You’re the man that protected that child down the street, no?” Jacob wasn’t sure how he should respond; should he tell the truth? Maybe this guy was working with the other one. Maybe the man dressed in red went to the police and lied about what happened, making him out to be the villain. He decided to tell the truth, but say as little as he could.
“Yes, that was me. Can I help you?” The man smiled at Jacob.
“Perhaps I can help you,” the man replied. “My name is Professor Sycamore. I work here in Kalos, generally with low level trainers, helping beginners and the like. That boy you helped; Thomas was his name. I had just given him his first pokemon yesterday. Apparently, there has been someone stealing the pokemon I give to new trainers. I wanted to thank you for helping me find and get rid of him.”
“Yea of course,” Jacob replied, relieved. “I mean, it was no problem.”
“Well, I’ve done a lot of work with pokemon, ya know, and I was thinking that I could thank you by helping you out. If you could, I would first asses your pokemon. How would you feel about a pokemon battle?”
“Uh, yea of course!” Jacob replied. “Just one second.” He looked over to the door that had just opened with his pokemon in their pokeballs. He walked over, picking up one in each hand. “Alright, let’s battle, but where?” Jacob asked.
“I’ve got a place, just a block away from here. Come on.” Jacob followed the man out the door of the pokemon center. It wasn’t a far walk to the professor’s lab. Jacob hadn’t been in a professor’s lab since he was ten years old, and got Oshawott. Professor Sycamore’s lab was significantly different from the one in Unova; three stories high, it would’ve towered over the one in his home town.
Once they were inside, Professor Sycamore led them to a room that had a wide open space in the center. “Here we are,” the Professor declared. “This will work. Go!” He threw a pokeball into the center, and a Fennekin appeared.
“Ready, Oshawott?” Jacob asked as his pokemon leapt from his shoulders. “Osha!”
“I’ll begin,” Professor Sycamore said. “Fennekin, use ember!” Fennekin opened her mouth and released a blast of fiery embers flying towards Oshawott. The attack hit knocking up smoke. When the smoke cleared, Oshawott stood, more or less unharmed.
“Oshawott, use water gun!” Oshawott fired a beam of water at Fennekin.
“Fennekin, dodge!” The fire-fox pokemon jumped out of the way with ease. “Now, use tackle!” Fennekin rushed at Oshawott, preparing for a collision.
“Oshawott, aqua jet!” Oshawott became covered with water before firing himself directly at Fennekin. The two attacks collided, and it was Fennekin who was sent falling to the ground. “Now Oshawott, use water gun!” Oshawott ended his aqua jet attack, and sent another beam of water forcefully flying at Fennekin. The attack hit, and Fennekin was slammed into the ground. When the attack ended, Fennekin was unable to move.
“Well done,” the Professor said. “Let’s see how you do against this one!” From his second pokeball, a Chespin appeared. “Chespin, use vine whip!” From Chespin’s back two vines extended, grabbing Oshawott. With Oshawott unable to move, Chespin’s vines lifted him into the air, before slamming him on the ground. Oshawott stood, but was injured; the attack was, of course, super effective.
“Oshawott, use water gun!” Oshawott fired a beam of water again. It hit, knocking Chespin back, but not doing serious damage.
“Chespin, use rollout!” The grass pokemon rolled up in a ball before flying towards Oshawott.
“Oshawott, use razor shell!” Oshawott removed his shell from his chest, and swung it forward, hitting Chespin’s rollout attack. The force from the collision sent both pokemon falling backwards. Chespin stood, but Oshawott remained on the ground. “Oshawott,” Jacob thought out loud as he picked up his fallen teammate. He walked back to his position, and placed Oshawott next to him. “Take a rest. Flabebe,” he grabbed a pokeball. “Use fairy wind!” Flabebe appeared in front of Jacob before releasing a powerful gust of wind, which knocked Chespin to the ground. The pokemon tried to stand before collapsing, unconscious.
Professor Sycamore recalled Chespin before releasing his last pokemon; Jacob already knew what it would be. “Froakie, use water gun!” The frog pokemon released a beam of water, smaller than Oshawott’s but still with power behind it. Flabebe was hit, and fell to the ground before the attack was over. But she rose again, relatively quickly.
“Alright, Flabebe,” Jacob said, thinking. “Us...” But Jacob did not finish his thought. Flabebe began to glow white. Jacob was unsure what was happening until his pokemon began to change shape. “Flabebe…” he said as his pokemon grew twice as tall.
“Floette,” the pokemon said, happily.
“That’s great Flabebe, I mean, Floette!” Jacob was ecstatic. Floette was the first pokemon he ever had that evolved.
“I knew your pokemon would be strong,” Professor Sycamore stated, very matter-of-fact-ly.
“Floette, use magical leaf!” Floette released several glowing leaves, almost as large as her herself, and sent them flying at Froakie. With one hit, Froakie fell to the ground, defeated. “Great job, Floette!” Jacob said, running over to his newly evolved pokemon.
“Your pokemon definitely like you a lot,” Professor Sycamore said, walking over to Jacob. “I know you treat your pokemon well. I would like to give you a gift,” he said. “The pokemon you just battled; you can have whichever of them you like, just like a new trainer would get. In exchange, I have something I’d like you to do.”
Jacob thought for a moment before responding. “No thank you. I mean, thank you for the offer, but I prefer to capture my own pokemon.” As he said this, Floette used Aromatherapy, covering he ground with a pink mist. After a few seconds Oshawott sat up. “I know these pokemon aren’t easy to find…”
“Very well,” Professor Sycamore responded. “But I hope you will do me this favor anyhow.”
“What is it?”
“Well, one of my lab assistants here have asked if they couldn’t get some experience outside the lab, and I was thinking maybe you could take him around; let him follow you. He’s about your age and his name is Kevin.”
“Uh…. Sure I suppose,” Jacob responded. “Can I meet him now… or…”
“I’ll send him to the pokemoncenter first thin tomorrow morning. So, what are your plans while you are here?”
“Well, I’d like to battle the gym,” Jacob answered, picking up Oshawott in his arms. Professor Sycamore’s face became a bit more serious.
“You shouldn’t fight the gym here yet; our gym leader is too strong for a trainer as young as you. You’ll need to go to Ambrette Town. Trust me, the gym leader there is much more open to… younger trainers like yourself.”
Jacob did not feel good about the way the professor was speaking with him, but he was well aware he wasn’t the strongest trainer. “Well, you know this area better than I do.” Jacob looked out the window; the sun had already started to lower in the sky. “It’s getting pretty late. We should get back to the pokemoncenter,” Jacob said motioning to Oshawott and Floette.
“Very well,” the professor responded. “I’ll see you in the morning.”