Pokémon: The Argus Chronicle

By: Proteus-92

Chapter I: Northspring Town

The young man sat alone in the back of the truck. Outside, he could hear the drone of an engine as the truck made its way down the road. It was very dark in the back of the truck, with only a few slits on each side in the rear providing light and fresh air. Needless to say, it had become burning hot in the back of the truck soon after the young man had climbed in, feeling like a sauna. Every now and then, the truck would hit a bump in the road, jostling him and the forest of boxes surrounding him.

Before long, the young man felt the truck slow to a stop, followed by the drone of the engine suddenly coming to a halt. A few moments later, the doors in the rear of the truck swung open. The young man hadn't adjusted to the sudden light, so all he could see were two blurry figures standing outside the truck. He heard one of the figures say "Machoke!" The other replied, "Yeah, go ahead and start unloading the boxes on that side." The voice then said to the young man, "Come on kid, wake up. We're here. You can pile out now." The young man's vision finally adjusted to the light; he could see that the first figure was a man in overalls and a red cap. The other was a Machoke, lifting up a tall stack of boxes with little effort. Eager to leave the stuffy truck, he went to the door and hopped out.

At once, a wave of relief washed over the young man- the air outside, while still warm, was far cooler than inside the truck. He looked around; a small cluster of houses surrounded him, about five in total, with another, much more modern looking building. Behind him, off in the distance, he could see the flat, blue expanse of the ocean. In front of him was a small two story house. The Machoke was already carrying his tall stack of boxes toward the front door; the man in the overalls followed, carrying a much smaller stack of boxes. As the two entered the house, a third person stepped out- a woman in a long white dress. She looked around momentarily before spotting him, and made her way over to him.

"Oh, here you are, Zack," his mother said. A moment passed before she asked him, "Well here we are… Northspring. So, what do you think of it so far?"

"It's nice," he replied. "I think I'll really like it here."

"That's good. I was worried that you wouldn't like it since it wasn't as big as Olivine." She paused for a moment. "You're probably exhausted from having to ride up here with all our things. Why don't you come inside and see your room? It's a lot bigger than the one you had at the apartment."

"Really? That's something I gotta see for myself." Zack's mother returned to the house, and he followed. He had been inside for only a few moments, but already, Zack could see that the first floor of the house, by itself, was bigger than the apartment he and his mother had lived in in Olivine City. The Machoke he had seen earlier set down his stack of boxes in a wide space off to their left and began to head for the door again; the man, meanwhile was busy putting together a small TV stand, aided by a Machop. "Don't worry miss," the man said to Zack's mother, "We're almost done here. We just need a few more minutes to finish setting everything up."

"Alright, thank you," she replied. She then said to Zack, "It's nice that we don't have to set up everything all by ourselves- those Pokémon movers are certainly convenient. Anyway, what do you think of the house so far?"

Zack replied, "Well, it's a lot bigger than the apartment was, that's for sure. It'll be nice to have all this space." He then asked, "Mom, is it alright if I go change my clothes? It was like a furnace in the back of the truck." His clothes were soaked with sweat, and he doubted he smelled all that great either.

"Of course. They've already finished setting up everything upstairs."

"Okay." Zack was just about to head up the stairs when his mom called, "Your room's on the left side!" He called back, "Okay, thank you Mom!" He headed up the stairs- at the top were two doors on the left and right, with only a few feet between them. He opened the left door and stepped into the room beyond. It was his room, there was little doubt about that- his bed, his desk, his dresser… all of the furniture that had been in his old bedroom was there. But this room was easily three times the size of his old bedroom, giving it a very empty feel. Aside from the furniture, the only other thing in the room was a modest pile of boxes in the middle that held all his belongings. He pulled out one labeled "Clothes- Zack" and opened it- sure enough, it was full of his clothes. He searched through the box, looking for something new to wear. Soon, he pulled out a red t-shirt, and began searching for something to go with it. There were plenty of pairs of pants ion the box, but Zack passed over all of them- Argus was famed for its year-round warm weather, so he doubted he would have any need for them.

Eventually however, he did find something- a pair of black shorts. Zack liked shorts- they were comfortable and easy to wear, though the cold weather at Olivine kept him from wearing them very often. He kicked off his shoes, undressed, and put on his new outfit. He looked at himself in the dresser's mirror- his reflection looked back. He took after his mother a great deal- they had the same face, the same grey eyes, the same brown hair, and even the same curly hair. He was pale, but he figured that this would be as good a place as any to build up a tan. The outfit wasn't bad, but it still seemed like it was missing something. So, he reached back into the box and pulled out a black hat, with a white Poké Ball on the front, before putting it on and looking back in the mirror. Perfect. He smiled and gave the mirror a thumbs-up; his reflection did the same.

"Hey there Mister Trainer," a girl's voice suddenly said from behind. Zack cried out in surprise and began to turn around, but stumbled over his own feet, falling on his back. There was the sound of laughter and the voice continued, "Oh I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" Zack quickly got to his feet and looked over to where the voice was coming from- a girl, standing by his bedroom door. She was about his age, with black hair and bright blue eyes. She wore a dark blue tank top, a white pair of shorts, and a hat much like his own, but white with a black Poké Ball on the front. "It's been a long time, hasn't it Zack?"

"How do you know my name?" he asked, ignoring what she had said.

"Hey, is that any way to greet an old friend?" she asked.

"Who are you? Do I know you?" Was this some kind of joke? This girl claimed to know him, but he didn't remember anyone like her at all.

The girl frowned at him. "You really forgot about me? It's only been two years."

Two years? Zack thought to himself. What had happened two years ago? He struggled to remember- so much had happened before he and his mother had moved away from Olivine City. But something came to him. A very good friend of his had moved away while they were still in Olivine, but he couldn't remember exactly who until…

"Megan?" He asked. "Megan is that you?"

She nodded, smiling. "Your mom didn't recognize me at first either." Before Megan knew it, Zack ran up to her and hugged her tightly. "I can't believe it's really you!" He said excitedly. "When you moved away I thought I'd never see you again!" Megan hugged him back. "It's good to see you too, Zack," she said, before gently pushing him back and asking, "So how come you moved here to Argus?"

Now, Zack's smile faded. "Well, you know that herb store my mom had back in Olivine? Business really started to go down not long after you moved away." He sat down on his bed. "We were gonna get evicted from the apartment, but mom had an idea. We'd move here to Argus, and restart the business."

"Well, why here?" Megan asked.

"Mom read online that herbal medicines are really popular over here. That, and tourists- mom says that they'd buy anything."

Megan sat down on the bed next to him. "That is true."

Zack then asked, "What about you? How did you end up here?"

"You remember my dad, right?"

"Professor Cypress? Yeah I remember him."

"Well, you know how my dad had to go away a lot for work? It turns out he was going here for research. He got so busy, that he couldn't come back to Olivine to visit anymore, so he moved my mom and me into a house he bought here."

"What kind of research does your dad do?"

"I'm not sure- he doesn't really talk about it all that much. He says it's important though, so I try to help him out." Megan looked down at a strange device strapped to her wrist. "I'm sorry Zack, I have to go. You should say hi to my dad, see if he recognizes you. He should be in the lab right now- it's that big, fancy building down the street. I'll see you later." She stood up and left his room. Zack stood up as well, and left his room. Downstairs, he saw that the movers had left; his mom was there, unpacking one of the numerous boxes littered around the room. When she saw him, she said, "I got quite the surprise when I found out your old friend Megan was living here. Does that mean Professor Cypress lives here too?"

Zack replied, "Yeah. Actually, I was going to go over and say hi to him."

"Make sure to say hi to him for me too. And don't be gone too long- I'll be starting dinner in a few minutes." Zack stepped out. In front of him, not too far away, he could see the modern building he had seen earlier- presumably, this was the lab. He made his way over to the building- it seemed to be entirely made up of some kind of opaque, blue glass. Almost entirely- there was a small section where the glass was clear. As Zack approached, it slid open, and he stepped inside- the lab was filled with numerous computers, desks, and all kinds of complex-looking machinery. Only one person was inside, an elderly man in a lab coat, standing in front of one of the complex machines. Zack approached him.

"Um… excuse me," Zack said to the man in the lab coat. "Are you Professor Cypress?" The man turned toward Zack and replied, "I'm sorry young man, I'm not professor Cypress; I'm just a lab assistant. Professor Cypress is doing fieldwork on Route 50 if you need to speak with him."

"Oh. Okay." Zack was just about to turn to leave when a thought occurred to him. "Hey…" he began, "if you don't mind me asking, what kind of research do you do here?"

"I certainly don't mind at all. In fact, it's good to hear that one so young is interested in our work. First, let me ask you something- do you know about the resort here in Argus?"

"The Ultra-Luxe? Yeah I know about it- it's supposed to be world famous."

"Well, when they were first building the resort, they had to contend with all the wild Pokémon. Their solution was to round all of them up, capture them, and re-release them into the wild elsewhere. Of course, they weren't able to do this to all the Pokémon here- flying type Pokémon migrate here every winter, there are plenty of water types in the surrounding ocean, and some rock and ground types still live in some of the island's caves. But for the most part, the Argus Islands were one of the few locations in the entire world that had no wild Pokémon. But that all changed about fifteen years ago, when trainers who came to the island began complaining about the lack of Pokémon for them to catch. Some scientists heard about this, and decided to conduct an experiment on how well Pokémon integrate into environments that have no wild Pokémon. So with permission from the resort, the scientists captured wild Pokémon and rereleased them into Argus."

"Where did the Pokémon come from?"

"They were imported from the Kanto and Johto regions, primarily. If the re-integration was successful, there were plans to import Pokémon from other regions, such as Hoenn and Sinnoh. Anyway, the scientists released the wild Pokémon here fifteen years ago, but only in the last seven years has anybody actually observed the results of the integration. Professor Cypress volunteered to do just that, so we set up our lab here in Northspring Town. We head out into the field regularly, observe the Pokémon, record our observations, and send them to our colleagues elsewhere."

"So, how is the re-integration going?"

"Very well, as a matter of fact. All the Pokémon that were introduced here are flourishing."

"That's good to hear. Thanks for all the info- I'm going to find Professor Cypress now."

"Don't forget, Professor Cypress is on Route 50- just head directly east from here and you should come across him eventually."

"I won't forget. Goodbye!" Zack called as he exited the lab. At the front door, he looked around, trying to figure out which way was east. He remembered looking at a map of Argus, and the fact that Northspring was surrounded on three sides by the ocean. In front of him, to the left, and to the right, he saw the sea; presumably, Route 50, the only route out of the town, was somewhere behind him. So, he rounded the lab and headed out of the town.

However, it wasn't long before he heard someone shouting down the path. Soon enough, he saw a person in a lab coat standing on a high tree branch. At the base of the tree was a fairly large, purple Pokémon- Zack recognized it as a male Nidoran. Despite the fact that the man was far out of its reach, the Nidoran stood at the base of the tree, growling up at him. Now that he was closer, he could hear the man's calls for help more clearly.

"Help!" The man called. "Somebody help! I require assistance!" The man took notice of Zack and called out "You! You there! Boy! Help me!" He pointed to a section of the ground some distance from the tree. "My bag is in the grass over there! There's a Poké Ball inside! Use the Pokémon in there to get rid of this Nidoran!" Zack hurried over to the spot where the man had pointed; as he had said, there was a satchel lying in the grass. He opened it, to be met with not one, but three Poké Balls. He grabbed the first one he saw- it had a label on the front that said "Cyndaquil." Taking it, he ran towards the Nidoran; when he was a few feet away, he tossed the Poké Ball, calling out, "Go Cyndaquil!"

When the ball hit the ground, it opened with a burst of white light. A few moments later, the light reformed into a small, blue and tan creature, with a long snout and a plume of fire on its back. Excitedly, the small creature said, "Cynda!" but the fire plume on its back flared up when it saw the Nidoran. The Nidoran had turned its attention away from the man in the tree when it heard Zack's shouts, and growled angrily "Nido!" when it laid its eyes on Cyndaquil. This wasn't Zack's first battle with a wild Pokémon, but without knowing what the Cyndaquil was capable of, he'd have to limit himself to using basic attacks. So he called out, "Cyndaquil, Tackle it!" Cyndaquil charged the Nidoran, hurling itself into the foe's side. Zack was surprised by the Cyndaquil's strength; despite the fact the Nidoran was a fair bit larger, he was still able to knock it off its feet. Undaunted, the Nidoran quickly climbed to his feet, and attempted to skewer the Cyndaquil with his horn, but he was able to avoid the assault. "Cyndaquil, Tackle it again!" Cyndaquil charged again; the Nidoran attempted to stab him with his horn once again, but Cyndaquil dodged again, striking the Nidoran directly on the side of its head. The Nidoran was knocked off his feet again; but this time, he was also knocked several feet back. He attempted to rise to his feet again, but wavered, and fell to the ground, unconscious.

At once, Zack picked up the Cydaquil and hugged it tight. "Good work, Cyndaquil!" he said happily; the small Pokémon replied "Cyn-da!" happily in return. He then heard a rustling sound off to the side; he looked to see the man climbing down the tree. It was the first time he had gotten a good look at the man; the man wore a plain brown t-shirt and jeans under a lab coat. Zack couldn't help but notice that aside from his brown eyes, the man bore a striking resemblance to Megan. Or perhaps it was the other way around- that Megan bore a striking resemblance to the man. Of course, Zack recognized him; a few grey streaks had appeared in his hair since he'd last seen him, but there was no mistaking it.

The man in front of him was Professor James Cypress.

"Thanks for helping me out back there," Professor Cypress said, holding out his hand. "I'm Professor Cypress, from Northspring Town." He didn't seem to recognize Zack at all.

Zack put down the Cyndaquil and took the professor'shand, giving it a firm shake. "No problem," he replied. "I already know who you are."

"Well, I'm glad to see that my reputation precedes me."

"It's not that. We've met before."

"We have? I don't remember anyone like you."

Zack supposed he would have to drop a more obvious hint. "Yeah, I guess it's been a few years, but we did meet before. In Olivine City."

"Olivine?" The professor was silent for several moments, before a look of realization spread across his face. "Zachary! I hardly recognized you! When did you get here?"

"We moved in today. I was just as surprised to find out you and Megan were here."

"It's a good thing you came when you did. I still can't believe I didn't recognize you sooner- it was so obvious from the way you battled." He paused. "Say, did you ever get a chance to compete for badges while you were still in Johto?"

"No. A bunch of things came up, so I never became a registered trainer."

"That's a real shame- I had a feeling that you would've gone far, Zack… you know, it wouldn't be right to let your talents go to waste. How would you feel if I told you there was a way you could help my research?"

"I'd be glad to help in any way I can."

A wide grin crossed the professor's face. "Great! You should head over to the lab. I just need to take care of a few things at home and I'll be right there." Zack turned to walk back to the town when Professor Cypress said to him, "Hold on just a second Zack." He looked back. "You can keep the Cyndaquil. I think you've earned it."