Chapter no.6

It took me a little bit longer than usual to actually recall the peculiar device that I was holding in my hand. I continued to look at it for a while longer, and for some reason, I was able to temporarily block out the fact that it was even present in the room with me. The Poké Ball struck me as strange... oddly foreign. During my lifetime, they were covered in a camouflage pattern or in warning labels that threatened the user with impending doom if the item was used in an incorrect manner.

Jennifer's voice contained a few traces of humour as she offered me some sound advice by telling me, "The sooner you open it, the sooner you'll see what's inside." I only gave her a quick glance up, but even that was enough for my cheeks to start turning a light shade of pink. Correct, the reason I was here in the first place was to prevent something from happening, and in order to do that, I had to pose as a fitness instructor.

To say that staring blankly at a Poké Ball wasn't exactly something everyone did would be an understatement.

"Right." I gave Whiskers a single nod of my head and then lobbed the ball forwards, watching as it simply rebounded off a cupboard that was directly across from it, bounced across the floor, and rolled into the hallway. At that point, Whiskers decided that it was just a game and chased after the object. "It didn't work," I stated in a straightforward manner.

Jennifer's voice was a little hoarse when she told her friend, "You're using it wrongly." She gave a single whistle and Whiskers ran back into the room with a Poké Ball in her mouth. The strange humming sound was heard once more as Jennifer scratched behind the creature's ears after it had dropped the object and given it to Jennifer, who was waiting for it.

She started to explain it to me, and at the same time, she showed me how to enlarge it by pressing the button that was in the middle of the screen. "And then once more to reduce its size. However, in order to free the creature that is held captive within, you will need to literally summon it to the surface."

I gave her words some thought for a moment, and then I reflected on the various occasions on which I had observed trainers of my time using Pokémon. They would yell out inane phrases as they hurled the balls forward, which caused the creatures inside the spheres to burst open and reveal themselves. When I looked back up at Jennifer, I felt a sense of complete disbelief wash over me. "You've got to be kidding me..." I rolled my eyes and groaned, having a general understanding of what she meant. "Do you really expect me to be one of those idiot goons who yell, 'Pokémon X, come out!'?"

"Well, I guess that's one way to put it," the speaker said. Jennifer gave an innocent shrug while her hair was bouncing behind one of her ears. "Every trainer has their own unique approach to what they like to refer to as their 'battle cry.'" She pressed the button on the sphere without thinking, causing it to continuously increase and decrease in size. I will freely admit that I could not have cared less about the thoughts that were going through the head of the Pokémon that was contained within.

She was explaining something to me with that look of superiority that adults adopt when they are in the role of teacher. "It's something built into the technology they're made with," she said. "The devices come with software that can recognise your voice if you speak to them. That way, they are aware of what you intend to do; otherwise, you run the risk of throwing a ball that already contains one Pokémon at a wild Pokémon, resulting in the capture of both of those Pokémon in a single ball, which is, believe me, a very messy situation." To my astonishment, she did not appear to be the least bit queasy at the thought. Instead, she simply shrugged her shoulders and petted her cat, as if she were talking about the sunrise that had just occurred that morning.

She continued by saying, "Some people can do it mentally instead," although her tone suggested that she was less confident in her knowledge of such a subject. "It has something to do with human's natural abilities or something... it varies from trainer to trainer, but supposedly those that work especially with psychic types can learn how to give commands to the Poké Balls without ever speaking." [Citation needed] "It's something to do with human's natural abilities or something." She repeated the motion of pressing the ball into my hands while flashing what appeared to be another fake smile. "So, alas, it looks like you're going to have to be one of those'screaming goons.'"

I repeated my focus on the ball that was currently resting in my palms. It was inevitable that it would happen when I was still adjusting to my new surroundings, wasn't it? Something had such a deep-seated hatred for me that it would trick me into thinking I could adjust normally, and then it would throw a total curveball at me.

I inhaled deeply and sucked up every last drop of pride and self-respect I had for myself before taking a deep breath. If I was going to have to continually embarrass myself in this strange world, I suppose the least I could do is start by acting like an idiot in front of the woman who was watching out for me.

"Uh... whoever you are, please introduce yourself!"

Before I did that, I don't believe I'd ever experienced feelings of being so embarrassed and stupid. Even the humiliations that the more experienced recruits in training camp inflicted on the newer, less experienced ones were unable to make me feel as ridiculous as they did. And as part of that hazing, I was subjected to a multitude of things that rendered it impossible for me to ever take myself seriously again.

There was a deafening sound of an explosion followed by a sudden burst of bright light, and all of a sudden, an odd Pokémon appeared in the air in front of me. It was a grey creature that had its origins in Sinnoh, and it was known as a Starly. It flitted around for a while before letting out an unexpected battle cry and then swooping down to attack me. The next thing I knew, Jennifer was screaming, and I was holding a now-dead Starly's twisted neck in my hands. I had felt my instincts flood my senses and take control of them, and I had felt them take over.

I took a few deep breaths as I continued to stare at the lifeless bird. There was nothing I could feel for it; it was simply lifeless. Jennifer finally stopped yelling and pushed the Pokémon away from me while muttering some words that I couldn't understand.

It goes without saying that she acted a little strange around me for a while.

Jennifer quickly impressed upon me knowledge of how to travel around the world, how to look after myself in these day and ages, along with multiple explanations of what year it was, what hadn't happened yet, and what still needed to happen. I was seemingly forgiven quickly, and Jennifer quickly impressed upon me knowledge of how to travel around the world.

For instance, I was apparently supposed to allow some idiotic creep to build dreams of starting a new organisation of criminals, only for that idiotic creep to be beaten down by a ten year old trainer in the following few months. It was believed that it would serve as a lesson to the criminal underworld, after which there would not be any additional major threats of this nature for a number of years, until one emerged in a different part of the world. I will freely admit that I did not fully comprehend all of her explanation; all that I remember is that it started with the letter 'I.' In the end, there was a limit to the amount of new information that I could process.

Later on that day, I found myself sitting on the grass in her garden, my feet dipping in her pond as I reflected on what had transpired to me during the course of the day. A world that is not ours and a different time. As a result of Jennifer's reaction, I realised that it was socially unacceptable to cause harm to a Pokémon... despite the fact that doing so would become common practise in a few years.

I didn't have the heart to tell her how many people and Pokémon I'd killed, and she didn't want to know either, so I didn't tell her.

However, her pet was content; he gorged himself on the scraps that were left over from the Starly. It would appear that this made him favour me quite a bit, and all of a sudden, the creepy creature started skulking around my body in search of another meal. I glared at it and waited until I could creep away before I left. It had the skills of a hunter and was able to find its own food. But as for me, I had to figure out where I belonged in this world.

Or more accurately, what would have been Alex's had he not died.

I stayed there for a while, pondering the possibilities of how things would have been different if they had been able to successfully kidnap him. After he would have vanished in front of my eyes, I would have been reprimanded for my actions, and it's possible that he would have taken that Starly and put it through the "modern day" system of fighting.

Jennifer reassured me that it was not a feral competition after I pointed out to her that it was getting these beasts to rip and tear into each other. I explained that I thought it was a feral competition. She referred to it as "experiential evolution," which meant that they grew and learned through the process of fighting. The Pokémon would recover from its wounds and gain knowledge from them, which would allow it to recover faster and defend itself more effectively the next time it was attacked. After that, those characteristics would be handed down to their children, and so on and so forth.

The age-old philosophical question of whether or not humans have the right to claim ownership over such creatures was brought up once more by this. Even though we had technology on our side, our opponents could change and adapt in a matter of months, while it would take us at least a few decades to do the same.

On the other hand, it did lead me to an insight at the time that I needed to have. In all honesty, I couldn't care less. Even though I didn't want to be forced to kill on a regular basis, that doesn't mean I have a soft spot for animals or people in need. The lack of compassion was the first lesson you learned when you entered the military. If you stopped to give someone a burial or to pay your respects to the dead, you would quickly find yourself reunited with the person who had passed away. The same holds true for philosophy; it planted the seeds of doubt, and doubt can be the path that leads to your demise.

I heaved a sigh and wriggled my toes in the murky water of the pond before jerking back in disgust as my toes came in contact with something slimy. As I stood up and braced myself for the creature to attack, I heard Jennifer's footsteps approaching from a distance as she entered the garden.

It emerged from the water slowly, and as it did so, I could feel my guard beginning to relax. It was a small tadpole-like creature that was blue in colour and had a large leaf growing out of its back. It blinked as a few gnats swarmed around it before spitting small globules of water at them. It then watched with a strange sort of hollow interest as the creatures drowned.

As a result of such actions, I found that I was increasingly interested in the creature. It looked up at me, blinked again, and then waddled over to where it had been killing and eating the tiny flies it had just caught before continuing to do so.

I was aware that the world I had grown up in had changed, and that the Pokémon I encountered now were not as wild as the ones I had encountered in my youth. When I was growing up, even common Pokémon like Magikarp and Hoppip were considered to be dangerous. That was my home. I was in a crouching position next to a Lotad, who did not appear to be bothered by the fact that I was there.