Jon Chapter 02
Chapter 2-Splitting the difference
Matt woke first and was also the first to get his things cleared up. He was hoping to catch Jessica and ask her about her plans before she left. Jessica was still not awake so Matt just sat and waited in the lobby for either Marc or Jessica to wake up. After a few minutes Matt started to get bored and let his meowth out of its pokeball. The meowth stretched and starting milling around the lobby, letting its curiosity run free. He hadn’t been let out of the pokeball to roam for a few hours now, and it felt good for it to run free.
Surprisingly the meowth brought back a shiny coin from somewhere within the poke-center. Matt had no idea what it was used for, since the coin was very different from the poke-dollars often used by nearly all commercial industries. The meowth went back to chasing its shadow across the smoothly polished floor of the poke-center. It was rather amusing to watch this cat Pokémon to walk in one direction, but as it noticed its shadow from one of the windows it felt compelled to give chase.
As the doors opened automatically, the meowth ran out and Matt soon was chasing his Pokémon out into the streets. Thankfully there was no traffic at this point in the morning, but it was still a bit stressful to see his favorite Pokémon running pell-mell for no obvious reason. It wasn’t until he looked up, that he understood; his meowth was chasing a sentret that had wandered into town on its own. Matt’s meowth was gaining ground, and it had almost caught up with the sentret when the pursued Pokémon turned and hopped onto the tip of its tail scared.
The meowth stopped short and started rearing up for an attack. Meowth jumped, and the sentret was thrown off balance by the attack. The two were soon locked into scuffle and it was hard to Matt to decide what to do, if he called back his meowth he wouldn’t be able to catch the sentret or get any real information. On the other hand, he didn’t want meowth to get injured so early in the morning. Luckily for Matt meowth managed to break free and the sentret turned to face it rather than running.
With this golden opportunity, Matt pulled out his Pokedex-regional analyzer. Unlike most Pokedex, this one would actually track the individual Pokémon no matter where it went once it was identified. The pokedex clicked and then blipped as a light registered the particular data on his device. Just as a little red light flicked on, the sentret scurried away and was gone into the tall grass. “Guess that’s the best chance we can get for now.”
Matt walked back to the poke-center and noticed that Marc was now eating his breakfast. Matt had been so busy just keeping up with his meowth that he had forgotten to get a breakfast and his grumbling stomach didn’t hide that fact. “Is that a large Pokémon, or your stomach Matt?” Marc had just finished drinking his juice box, and had started packing up his rice bowl and chopsticks. Jessie had just walked out in her shorts and a blue t-shirt. She was carrying a small stuffed snorlax doll with her as she rubbed her eyes. Her vulpix looked very lively and was ready for another day of travelling. “Wow, do you guys always wake up this early? I couldn’t bear having to normally start my days like this.” She said as she sat down at the table with Marc. She quickly snatched a slice of bread from Marc’s breakfast tray. He decided to just ignore it as she took the other two pieces of bread, just glancing but otherwise unperturbed.
“I just saw a sentret; well meowth actually started chasing it and I just followed along.” Matt started to explain, but the other two seemed a bit more interested in just waking up, simply nodding in agreement to what he was saying. Matt went back to the room and got some snacks and sat down beside his brother. He didn’t have many snacks left, so would have to pick some up before they left for the day’s journey.
“So, Jessie, where do you plan to go once you’re all packed and ready?” Marc asked casually. “I think it best to check out the ruins in Wheatland before heading to Cascades. I don’t have much data on ghost-type Pokémon so maybe I can see what I can find.” She was just finishing with the last slice of berry-bread. “How about you guys? What are you plans now that it’s about time to head out?”
“You know, now that I think about it, maybe a ghost type would be a good addition to my team. You never know what might happen out there. You wouldn’t mind if I tag along with you do you?” Matt really didn’t have much experience with ghost types either, so thought it might be a good chance to make a friend and learn some new things as well. “Sure. Just don’t cause trouble for me, ok?” Marc, reclining now just sighed and thought for a moment.
“Well, I guess this is where you and I part ways Matt.” Marc had in a way already decided that it was best for both of them if they split and took this journey at separate paces. “We can cover more ground and get more research done if we take different routes.” “I’ll call mom, and give her the details.” Matt wanted to do something to make things work out as easily as possible.
“We’ll call you if we make any progress.” Matt and Jessie made a final check on their bikes and Marc was loading a few things into his bag. It was a good day; if a little cool for May. There was a light breeze from the East, but otherwise it felt like a nice day for taking a trip anywhere. Matt waved to Marc as he and Jessie started down one of the bike paths out of town. The route seemed a little unfamiliar at first, but thinking back he and Marc had taken this route some years back. He couldn’t immediately remember why they hadn’t taken this path until they were out of the city limits.
After a few kilometers they stopped at a rest-point to check the map and see how much progress they were making. Jessie’s vulpix had been riding for most of the ride in the front basket on her bike. The vulpix looked very content as it let the wind whip through its hair and tails. The vulpix was now sitting next to Jessie as she looked over the map on one of the benches. It started to nudge Jessie to pet it, and Jessie absentmindedly started rubbing its forehead. Matt couldn’t help but be a little jealous of the bond they seemed to share, but he had only just recently acquired a Pokémon of his own.
Matt’s meowth was clawing the back of the bench and then started to wander around. Matt was already sensing that his meowth would probably wander off if it was given half a chance to do so. “Jessie, how long have you had your vulpix? You two seem really close.” Jessie looked up and asked him to repeat the question; she had been lost in thoughts for the moment. “Oh, you mean Venus? I’ve had her since I was 5. My dad got her for me so I could have someone look after me if I decided to go on walks.”
“Venus? Well she certainly is cute.” Matt said. “She’s not cute, she’s beautiful. That’s why I call her Venus. What do you call your meowth?” “I haven’t thought about a name for him yet, I just caught him a few months ago.” Jessie narrowed her eyes and listened very intently for a moment. “I guess that’s ok, since you haven’t known him long. But, if he’s going to be your main companion you should really think about giving him a nickname. He may start to be resentful if you don’t show enough love and support.” “I’ll try to come up with a good name.” Matt responded.
He really liked his meowth, but he hadn’t quite given a nickname any thought. The road became harder to bike down as they crossed an old bridge and onto a dark road. The trees were so tall here that they shaded the entire route, and the road was no longer paved or even well maintained. They could see a few weedle crawling along, as well as a kakuna or two hanging from the trees, but not much else.