A Natural Occurrence [Pokemon]

Chapter 1: Expectations

Chapter 1: Expectations

7 Years Later

Well that was unexpected.

The wave of water flooded over the battlefield, sweeping away everything in its path. My Rhyhorn stared up at it defiantly. That’s my Rhyhorn. Always thinking he can take on the world. The wave came crashing down, and I didn’t see what happened to my Pokémon in the explosion of water.

The wave faded out until nothing was left but a few puddles. My Rhyhorn lay in one such puddle, his eyes closed. “Good job, Spike,” I sighed, returning him to his pokéball.

“Now you’ll think twice about challenging everyone you see, huh, kid?” gloated my opponent. He was a young man, way older than me, but he was a stranger to the town. I didn’t know him, and I hadn’t known his skills when I challenged him to a battle.

“Whatever,” I grunted back. I turned to start walking off, but he stopped me with a hand.

“But that’s a pretty cool Pokémon you have,” the young man said. He had lost the gloating look. “I’ve never actually seen a Shiny in real life before.”

“Yeah, he’s pretty cool,” I agreed, grinning. Instead of the usual browny-grey colour of everyday Rhyhorns, Spike was more of a copper colour, a rare occurrence in the wild. A Shiny Pokémon.

“All right, good,” the young man said, patting me on the shoulder. “I’d best be off to explore your wonderful town. See ya.” With that, he left.

I sighed and looked at the ground, thinking over the results of the battle. What had I done wrong? I didn’t dwell on it, though. There were other things to do – the most important of which was to heal Spike.

I strolled through the town to the Pokémon Centre. The walk only took a couple of minutes, as I knew the route well.

“Welcome back, Hamish!” the receptionist said. She knew my name, but I’d never actually taken the time to learn hers. I’d heard it mentioned before, though. Happiness, or something. “I heard that your Dad is facing a new challenger right now!”

“Mmm,” I grunted. My Dad would probably smash the challenger into the floor. He does that a lot. I handed my one pokéball to the nurse, who took it with a smile and placed it into a machine behind her. The machine flashed once, and a picture of Spike appeared on a screen above it.

“This should only take a minute,” the nurse said. It’s not like I didn’t know the drill. I’d been here before, more times than I’d like.

The machine beeped and the nurse handed Spike’s pokéball back to me. “I hope to see you again!” she told me. I, on the other hand, hoped not to be back here anytime soon.

When I stepped outside, I noticed a crowd forming around a large building next to the Pokémon Centre. Its walls were a polished white metal, the roof coloured bronze. I knew two statues stood beside the entrance, but the crowd was blocking them from my view. I sighed again and decided to see what the commotion was about.

Pushing my way to the front, I got a clear view of inside the building. A standard battlefield, much like a soccer field, dominated the space. On one end was the young man that had bested me in battle before. Facing him on the opposing end was an ogre of a man. He stood tall, with alarmingly broad shoulders. His bulk was further distinguished by the long grey coat he wore, which came down to his ankles. Most of his face was covered by a clean, grey beard, which seemed to grow alive every time he moved his mouth to shout a command at his Pokémon.

My father, the Steel-type Gym Leader of this town.

He shouted something and his Aggron suddenly leaped forward, pulling its hand back. The fist glowed before it came crashing into the guts of his opponent’s Blastoise. The Blastoise was launched backwards, its shell cracking the wall when it collided with it.

Well, my Dad wasn’t crushing the challenger into the floor this time. He was crushing him into the wall.

A boy about my age nudged me from the side. “Your Dad’s pretty cool,” he said, looking at me sideways. “Why aren’t you like that?”

I rolled my eyes and pushed my way out of the crowd. I was like that, wasn’t I? Well, probably not quite that good. Average wasn’t good enough though, apparently. Everyone expected big things from me, but I wasn’t good enough.

But I expected big things from me, too.