FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

A/N: Okay, here we are. Second chapter, and a bit more plot development. Hope you enjoy. No, there's still no sex yet, so be patient. :P

Mirages & Bitmaps

Chapter Two: Introductions

Cici was awake early the next morning, rechecking all her gear one last time, and updating a few last minute files to her PokeNav. "Okay, looks like ah'm all set. Oh boy.." She swallowed, feeling nervousness running through her again. 'Calm down,' she thought to herself,'You've been to th' professor's dozens of times. This ain't no different.' Only this time, it WAS different. This time, she'd finally be getting a pokemon and this time, if she didn't feel that connection, that spark she was hoping for, she'd be stuck with it.

"Gah. Why's this gotta be so damned scary.."

"Getting cold feet?" her father asked from the doorway, causing her to jump in shock. "Yeek! Don't do that!" She said, hurling a pair of socks at him and giggling nervously.

He chuckled, hands in front of him in surrender "Easy, kiddo. Just came up to see if you're ready. I, um.. noticed your bike's not downstairs."

"Oh, yea. The avalanche got it,"She said, turning around and beginning to repack her things for the third time, looking almost frantic. "Happened th' day before when ah was comin' back from Prof. Oaks. Ah was travelin' along th' old cliff trails.."

"Well, I'll see about getting it out for you after you pick up your pokemon. You can stay one more night, can't you?"

Cici turned and looked at her father. He was happy for her, true, but there was just a hint of sadness to his voice. "Sure. It'll give me a chance t' learn what kinda Pokemon ah got anyways." She smiled and shrugged. "'sides, ah'm already a couple months late startin'. One more night ain't gonna hurt."

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Around 10 o'clock, Cici and her father arrived, parking the truck and heading up the path to Professor Oak's lab. The establishment was large, but quaint. A windmill was swirling on the tower to the east end, giving the whole place a peaceful feel to it.

"Hmm. Ah wonder what th' professor managed t' get? Maybe somethin' big an' powerful? Ah might have some trouble controllin' it..." She babbled all the way up to the door, her father just shaking his head and laughing. "It's been ages since I was here. I remember the day I first got my pokemon," He said, ruffling her hair before pushing the doorbell. A moment later, the intercom crackled and Oak's voice came through, "Hello? Who's that?"

"It's Cici, professor. Ah'm here t' pick up mah pokemon?"

"Oh yes, come in, come in!" he said, before the intercom shut off. Cici opened the door, and went inside, her father following after. Inside was a comfortably open living room, with a pedestal in the center. Cici looked around for a moment before calling out. "Professor? Where are ya?" she asked, the living room looking empty and the ajoining room likewise vacant.

"Back here," came Oak's voice from the pokemon storage room, the professor stepping out with a pokeball in hand. "Ah, right on time! Good, good. Now then, Miss Ceila, come, sit down. And hello to you, Mr. Monroe. How are things?"

Cici's father smiled. "Eh, I've been alright, Sam. Mostly just working," he said, shrugging a bit. "I came with Cici this morning because she asked me to be here." He grinned and ruffled her hair. "My baby girl's all grown up and ready to leave."

"Aw Dad, y' know ah'm still gonna call an' write." She said chuckling. "So.. is that mah pokemon?" She asked, eyeing the pokeball in the professor's hand.

"This?" The professor asked, chuckling. "No, this is one of the Beedrill I was running a test on. Your pokemon is over here," he said, directing them to the pedestal in the center of the living room, a slot opening on the top. From there, a pokeball slowly rose up. "Here we are. Go ahead, let it out and see."

Cici nodded, swallowing audibly and stepping up to the pedestal, grasping the pokeball in a shakey hand and lifting it. Her thumb clicked the button on the side, and a bright flash of light filled the room for a moment, before Cici opened her eyes to look at her new pokemon.

It was... odd. As if someone had tried to shape a bird through CGI, managed to color the surfaces a cool pastel blue and red, then simply got bored half way through and quit. "What... is it?" she asked, head tilting at the floating thing.

"It's called a Porygon," Oak said, chuckling. "It's a very unique pokemon. It was created shortly after the pokeball transporter system was first created. Several pokemon were to be sent through the system, but they didn't transfer, due to the system's sensitivity. It was discovered, however, that of the pokemon that had been used, many of their traits and DNA had mass combined digitally within the system and formed an anomaly. The technicians were able to isolate the anomaly and funnel it to the other end of the transporter, where it was 'downloaded' into a pokeball. Porygon here was the end result." He shook his head. "For all intents and purposes, it's a living pokemon computer. We've had it for a few years, but other than getting it to answer to a few commands, it doesn't do much."

Mr. Monroe raised an eyebrow, looking a bit indignant,"Wait, you expect her to actually work with a- a broken pokemon experiment?" He asked, sounding almost angry

"Easy Dad," Cici said, leaning in close to Porygon and scrutinizing it. It's eyes looked glazed, as if it weren't all there; not unlike a Psyduck. "Hmm. Ah got a few ideas on what t' do. Think ah could borrow yer computer, professor?" She asked, standing and looking over at Oak. "I, uh.. Of course." He seemed a bit taken back, half expecting her to actually throw a fit about it and demand one of the orginal starters. "And just what are you going to do?"

"Well, you said Porygon's a livin' pokemon computer. You tried accessin' it like a computer?" she asked, settling at the computer station and accessing the wireless connection.

Oak looked flabbergasted. "Well, no, er.. it was assumed that it would behave like a normal pokemon so.."

"Well, ah think ah... got it!" she said, grinning. "Jackpot. Ah got a connection through th' wireless." She said beaming. Oak looked simply amazed. "What... how?"

"Well, if it's a livin' computer, it's only natural that it'd be pretty advanced. So it may be actually tryin' t' communicate, just not in th' way we'd expect. So, ah tried th' wireless and bingo! Instant connection. Now," She said, cracking her fingers and beginning to type. "Lemme see what we got on this thing." A few taps on the keyboard and a list of folders scrolled across the screen. "What the heck? Professor, ah'm suprised this thing's even workin' at all right now! It's systems are in complete disarry! Look, most of th' files are fragmented."

Oak just looked a bit embrassed. "Er.. yes. Well, you seem to be the one with the answers here. what do you suggest?"

"Well, ah'm connectin' to it's CPU, but th' file system is corrupted and nearly useless. No wonder you only got a few simple commands from it." She settled back in the chair and frowned. "It needs a new operatin' system installed on it." She hrrmed, rubbing her chin, before looking at Oak. "Saaaay... You don't have a spare copy of the OS yer usin' do ya?"

"Now see here young lady, the software running in my computer is only for use in a licensed lab like mine! I can't simply give you a copy of it." he said, arms crossed.

"Well, if you want this Pokemon t' actually make an progress, it needs a new OS. It's current file structure won't handle anythin' new." She countered, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, but it's completely out of the-"

"How much would a disc of it cost?" Mr. Monroe piped up from behind them, looking at the professor. Oak raised an eyebrow, rubbing his chin,"Er.. well, if I were to purchase, it wouldn't be much.."

"Well, can you?" Mr. Monroe asked. "Because the way I see it, both of you get something out of this. She gets a pokemon that she wants and actually works, and you get updates on a pokemon that, till now, you thought was 'broken'." Cici's father said, raising an eyebrow.

Oak looked back and forth between them, before sagging,"Well, I suppose. But I'm warning you, young lady: This operating system is VERY valuable and mustn't fall into the wrong hands. To have it do so would jeopardize every Pokemon data station across nearly every region. Do you understand?"

Cici nodded eagerly,"No worries professor. Just t' be safe, ah'll keep th' disc here wit' you. No one would think of stealin' it from me if it's here and safe, right?" Oak nodded in agreement. "Quite right. Now, let me get you an access key and you can get started downloading a disc." Cici grinned eagerly. THIS was what she'd wanted. Something that allowed her to be true to her inner-geek, while training a pokemon.

She couldn't wait to get started.

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Soon Cici was bouncing along home in the truck with her father, her pokeball clutched in one hand, a pokedex in the other. The professor had given her one of his latest models of the pokedex, programming it with all of her information and registering it to her. 'That pokedex is basically your identification. So keep it close at all times.' Cici agreed; sound advice indeed.

"Once we're back, I'll see about digging your bike out,"Her father said, as they stopped for a traffic light. "You'll need to show me where it is though."

"Sure. Ah'll put mah stuff away when we get back and we'll get out there an' get it," She said, smiling at her father widely. She could still hardly believe her luck. She'd managed to get a pokemon that wasn't the typical starter, and even more, a computer styled pokemon, of all things! The thought made her giggle again.

"Easy kiddo. You still have to get started. Thought about where you're heading first?" Mr. Munroe began driving again, looking left and right as he pressed the accelerator. "Well, kinda,"She said, fidgeting a bit. "Up toward Viridian City first. From there, ah'll decide where t' go next." Which was actually true, mostly. Her true destination was somewhere around that area, and once she was on her way, she'd have time to decipher the information in her files to figure out where to go from there.

"Well, be careful. If you're going to take the gym challenges, you'll wanna get a move on." Her father glanced over at her as they finally pulled into the driveway, the truck coming to a stop.

"There's no rush,"She said, grinning. "Ah gotta capture an' train pokemon first before even thinkin' about takin' on th' gym leaders or th' league. Can't just rush in after all."

He smiled at her and ruffled her hair again. "That's my girl. Always planning. Just don't spend all your time planning. Actually get out there and do some stuff, okay?"

"Ah will daddy, ah promise." Cici smiled.

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Next: Adventure on the horizon!