Pokemon: Advent Of The PokeCore - Johto

Part 2 - Mr Pokemon and Silver

It was a small house, with pale pink walls and a few loose roof tiles. Between the trees, it would have been easy to miss. 

Stark knocked on the door and an elderly gentleman with a cane and bowler hat answered. 

“Ah, Stark!” The gentleman said. “It seems today is the day of surprise visits.”

“I’m not so sure my visit is a surprise, Mr Pokemon,” Stark said, raising an eyebrow. “My dad said that you wanted us to pick something up for him.”

“Yes, yes. I remember now,” Mr Pokemon chuckled. “Why don’t you come in? We were just having a fascinating conversation about…” He stopped talking and peered over Stark’s shoulder. “Who is that with you?” He asked in a way that made it seem as though he wasn’t sure if Kai was nothing more than a manifestation of his imagination. 

“Oh, this is my friend, Kai,” Stark said.

“I see,” Mr Pokemon muttered. “Are you also a Pokemon Trainer like Kai?”

“I guess,” Kai stammered. “I mean I do have Pokemon but I haven’t battled much with them.” His Growlithe raised a quizzing ear as he said this.

“He’s just being shy,” Stark said, putting a brotherly arm around Kai’s shoulder. “He was able to hold his own against some Bird Keepers in Cherrygrove City. And he doesn’t even have a PokeCore!”

“How wonderful!” Mr Pokemon beamed. “Please, you must both come in.” He stepped aside and allowed the two young trainers to enter. The house seemed even smaller now that they were inside, although that may be due to how much clutter it contained. Every desk service was cluttered with collections of stones and coins, and stacks of magazines were piled against the walls, some of them nearly reaching the ceiling. Kai glanced at some of the covers as he walked through. Some of the titles were in a language he couldn’t understand. 

There was no sign of any kitchen or bedroom, but there were some desks in the center of the room. Sitting at one of them was none other than Professor Oak, humming to himself as he blew on a mug of, presumably, coffee. His gaze was fixed on the computer screen in front of him, but he turned around as they approached him.

“Greetings, boys,” he beamed. “It’s good to see you both made it here in one piece. From what I hear, the Bird Keepers have been rather active around here lately.”

“Hi, Prof,” Stark said. “Yeah, those chumps aren’t as tough as they think they are.”

This prompted a jolly laugh from Oak. “That’s great to hear! And I’m assuming this friend of yours is the Kai that I’ve been hearing so much about.”

“You know about me?” Kai asked, surprised.

“Of course! Professor Elm speaks highly of your ability to raise Pokemon. He feels that you have the potential to be a great Trainer. And since you were able to make it here, it seems that his faith has been well placed.”

“See, Kai. I knew you could do it,” Stark said, giving him a thumbs up.

Kai glanced between them, not sure what they were talking about. It was starting to sound like he’d passed some sort of test. 

“I just came here to collect a package for the Professor,” Kai said hastily.

For a second, Professor Oak looked confused. Then he snapped his fingers. “Oh, yes. The egg!”

“Yes, the egg!” Mr Pokemon exclaimed, as though suddenly remembering they were all there. “I need to have it delivered to Professor Elm as soon as possible. This is a ground-breaking discovery!” He rummaged through a pile of containers on his desk and brought out the egg. It was white and spotted with blue and red triangles.