FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Disclaimer- I do not own Pokémon, or anything to do with it. Except for this story, and my OCs, and the ideas I put into this.

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Chapter 4- Errand Running

POV- 1st, Christopher

I didn't know what to say. Professor Elm just hinted that he would give me a Pokémon. "Uhm, are you offering?"

"Sure! You do want one, right?" The Professor raised an eyebrow.

"I've always thought of having my own Pokémon partner. Which ones will I get to choose from?" He led me over to a capsule container, and clicked a button on the top, then typed a password on the keyboard that appeared under it. After a few seconds, the top split into three sections, and retracted to show off its contents: three identical Pokéballs.

"You will choose from these three Pokémon. Chikorita." He pointed to the left ball. "Cyndaquil." His finger hovered over the center. "Totodile." He gestured to the rightmost Pokéball. "Basically, the same three that all starting trainers here can choose from. So, which will you partner up with?"

I grabbed the center Pokéball. "I choose Cyndaquil. I've always liked Fire-Types."

Professor Elm nodded, and closed the container. "Would you like to let her out?"

"Sure." 'So, Cyndaquil is female...Got it.' I thought to myself as I pressed the center button, releasing the Fire Mouse into the Lab.

"Cyndaquiiiil~" She yawned, peering around. She noticed another human standing behind her, and shifted to face me. She saw her Pokéball in my hand.

"Cyndaquil, I'm your new Trainer." I knelt down, holding my hand out for her to sniff. She then pushed her head onto my palm, so I rubbed her fur.

"She seems to like you. Would you like to name her?" Professor Elm asked. I thought about it for a few seconds, still rubbing.

"Cynder. With a 'y'. How does that sound?"

"Cyndaquil!" She nodded, making me smile.

"Well then, you have a PokéDex, correct?" Professor Elm looked at me as I stood. I pulled out my PokéDex for him to see.

"Yup. The new model for the Kalos Region. My dad managed to get this for me from one of his friends, who happens to be a scientist in the Kalos National Science Facility."

"You should register her then."

"Right." I selected the scan option and held the device at arms-length towards Cynder. A beam shot out at her, and data appeared on the screen almost instantly, showing gender height, weight, 'Dex numbers from different regions, and the area in which they are normally found.

Once I finished, he nodded, then leaned in close as if to whisper something.

"May I ask you something?" Professor Elm looked at me seriously, and I could sense that this might be important.

I nodded.

"Well, recently, scientists like myself from all of the regions have noticed a slight change in Pokémon behavior. We have not yet made a public announcement on this subject, as it is very sensitive, and we are not conclusive that this is natural."

"What does this have to do with my PokéDex though?" I couldn't help but ask, glancing at Cynder as she sniffed around the table.

"I will get to that. Thing is, the Pokémon are becoming more... attached, so to speak, to humans. In other words, they are breeding outside their own species, willingly or not." He paused, presumably to let that sink in. I appreciated the pause, nonetheless.

'Really? How would that even work? Well, of course they would have genitalia, how else would they breed, but could they even produce an egg or a living being? Maybe the Human-Like egg group can, but not the others, right?'

"I know you may be wondering how this came to be. No one actually knows, not even the Champion, but we scientists and Professors think it's the work of another sinister Team, more powerful than Teams Rocket, Aqua, Magma, Galactic, Plasma and Flare. Now, can I have your PokéDex for a moment?"

"Here." I passed it to him, and he plugged it into his computer, where he clicked around on the computer. Meanwhile, Cynder had plopped down next to me, yawning all the while.

"Okay, done." He handed it back. "I just transferred a program onto this and unlocked another feature. This program will alert you if a Pokémon that is in its mating season, aka in heat, is within a mile of your current position. This is just a prototype that we scientists have been working on, but again, this isn't known about in public. The other thing I unlocked was what we call the Heat Index. On a scale from one to ten, this will tell you how aggressive a Pokémon is during its mating season. By aggressive, I mean how much it will want you to mate with it, and this will affect what they will do to make it happen. For a demonstration, why don't you try it out on Cynder?" She looked up as her name was mentioned.

"Right. Here goes nothing." I opened the scanner, and scanned the Cyndaquil at my feet.

"Cyndaquil, the Fire Mouse Pokémon. This normally timid Pokémon can ignite flames on its back to protect itself. They are very loyal to their Trainers. Heat Index: 2."

Upon conclusion of the PokéDex entry being read, I slid it closed, putting the device into standby, and faced the Professor.

"So that's the only addition to the entry?"

"Well, I can tell you one more thing about the Heat Scanner, as I call it. If you have the Pokémon that it detects registered in your Dex already, then it will tell you what the Pokémon is, and remind you of the Heat Index reading." He scratched his chin as he explained.

"So, is that everything?" I pocketed the device, bent down to pick up Cynder, and then placed her on my head as I stood up.

"I think I covered everything. In case I forgot to tell you something, I registered myself as a contact on your PokéDex."

"Cool. I guess I should get going then." I had just turned to leave when Elm called out to me again.

"Oh! Christopher! I just remembered! I need you to go and pick up something from a friend of mine out on Route 30. You're fine with this, right?" I nodded.

"It's the least I could do after you provided me with all of this, including my new partner, Cynder."

"Cynda." She started to nibble on my hair, seemingly content for now.

"Route 30 has two paths: the left side will take you to Dark Cave and then to Violet City, and the right side is a small forest that will take you to a lone house. My friend's name is Mr. Pokémon. I suggest that if you have any questions on Pokémon that you ask him while you are there. He has a lot of free time, so don't worry about bothering him too much."

"Thank you again, Professor. I'll come back as soon as I have what you want me to get. Good bye!"

"Good bye Christopher!" We waved to each other before I exited the lab, heading to Route 29 just beyond the lab.

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POV- 3rd, Christopher

Christopher unlocked the door to his home, and stepped in. As he headed to the kitchen to fix up some food for Cynder and Moonshine, he allowed the Cyndaquil to wander around, if she promised to not burn up anything.

He finished making the food just as his Pokémon was about to hop up the stairs. He whistled for them to come over, and nearly jumped out of his pants when Moonshine suddenly appeared next to him.

"OH ARCEUS!" He shouted, then calmed down. "Jeez girl, don't do that! Anyway, your food is over theeeerrrre, you already ate it didn't you?" He looked at her bowl and sighed, as it was indeed empty. "Ahead of me again, I see. Ah, here's Cynder." Chris picked her up, placing her on the counter so she could eat what he put out.

"Absol?"

"This is my partner, Cynder. We might travel the Johto region together, if mom will let me, although I don't have to ask, since I know she'll let me go. I just need to make sure that this house will still be here for me to come back to. So, Moonshine say hi to Cynder, and Cynder say hi too." Chris observed them as they greeted each other in their native tongues, though Moonshine looked a bit sad for some reason, then finished his own lunch. "Once we finish here, we should get going to Mr. Pokémon's house. We need a few days to get there and back, and the sooner we get back, the better." Moonshine rubbed her head on his leg, then looked up at him.

"Don't worry. We'll be back safe and sound. I promise."

---

Chris stood facing Route 29, his hometown behind him, and a sleepy Fire-Type on his head.

'I never thought I'd be leaving my home like this, though I need to go and retrieve an item for the Professor first before I can start my official adventure.' He contemplated the choice he made to travel around the Johto region, and the only downsides he saw were him possibly getting raped, and how his mother might feel.

His sister wasn't the best with mother-daughter relationships, so Chris and his mother ended up working together on most things. Without her son around, she would either have to attempt to work with her daughter, do things herself, or get someone else to do them. She might even have to hire a housekeeper to make sure the house stays clean. Not to mention the Absol that lived there as well.

There was another thing he would miss: the companionship of Moonshine. He always had a soft spot for her, especially since he had practically grown up with her. He even bathed her, took her on walks, and fed her. She was the last Pokémon his mother caught before she withdrew from the life of a Trainer to be with the man she loved, his father, and then raising a family with him. Just because she backed out though, doesn't mean he did. In fact, he rose in rank a few months after she gave birth to Chris, and became the second member of Indigo Plateau's Elite Four: James Leon.

But enough about that, for now.

Chris breathed in the fresh air blown in from the Route, and sighed.

"This'll be the first time I've set foot out of New Bark. This will be our trial, then when we get back, we'll get to leave for a long while." Chris patted Cynder's head once he said this. "Ready for the first part?"

"Cynda!" She agreed.

---

"Gee. It sure is boring around here." Chris quoted.

"Cynda."

"Aww, c'mon. You could at least try."

"Quil."

"You're no fun..." He said playfully, but she pulled on his hair anyway. "Ow! Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" They were around halfway through Route 29 by this point, and it was pretty dark outside. Chris hadn't battled once the whole day, since this Route had no Trainers, and he was just tired from the walking. "Do you think we should stop for the night?" His partner yawned in response. "I guess that's a yes." He glanced around, trying to find the best spot to camp for the night, and found an Oran Berry tree just past the tree line on the right of the path. "Cool. Food and under cover of the trees." He angled his walk to the round, blue fruit as he slid off his pack to grab the bag with the tent inside.

Cynder sat down, watching as Chris set up the tent and built a small fire pit. He set two sticks aside, and sat next to her.

"Cynder, could you light the wood please?"

"Cyndaquil." Her back caught on fire, and she launched a few small Embers at the wood, instantly igniting it.

"Great! Now I can roast these Oran Berries." As he said it, he held out the sticks over the fire with two Oran Berries each on them. He sat like that for a few minutes, rotating the stick every now and then so the Berries wouldn't burn, before he pulled them back, a glazed coating on the outside. "My dad taught me how to do this one time when the Elite Four went on vacation. He wanted to take me camping, since we haven't done any real father-son bonding. At the time, I really didn't want to go, but then again, I had never left New Bark for anything. Plus, I was only ten." He gave one stick to Cynder, and took a bite out of one of the Berries on his. "He told me to always carry a pocket tool or knife with me whenever I went into the forest, since anything could happen, and I might have to defend myself. He taught me so many things on that trip, even though it was only for three days. By the time I got back, I could basically cook any type of Berry, I knew which ones were dangerous to eat raw, and I could even track Pokémon." He took another bite. "Those days were tiring, but fun."

The whole time Chris spoke, Cynder listened. Whenever he took a bite, she did as well. Now that she got to know him a bit more, she couldn't help but think about her own dad.

"Oh, you're done already?" The Cyndaquil hadn't even noticed that she had finished, and set the stick down.

"Cyndaquil."

"Hmm." Chris looked up at the sky while Cynder left for the tent. "I wonder what my dad would think about me taking the Gym Challenge. 'Kid, you think just because you can cook berries that you can win a Gym Badge? Maybe, but you need to be a strong Trainer, not just mentally, but physically as well. Most importantly, you need to treat your Pokémon equally, and with respect.' Yeah, he'd definitely say that!" He held up a hand. "I'll be a great Trainer. Everyone will see."

He sat for a bit longer before heading into the tent with Cynder to get some sleep.

A/N: Consider this a late Christmas gift. Or a gift for what you celebrate at this time of year. (If I sound a bit rude, I'm really sorry! Truly!)

Okay, sorry if this is shorter than what you expect. I really wish I could grab a physical form of writer's block and destroy it. Then maybe kick my own rear for being so lazy, and for procrastinating a lot. Man, I need to pull myself together.

Until next time!

Next chapter: Chapter 5- Errand Running, Part Deux