(IV) Starter

Isaac stared at the large crate that came up to his waist. He placed his hand on top of it and felt the contrast between the cold metal and hard rubber plastic coating each of the corners of the box.

He grabbed the slip of paper that was lying on top. It was a long thin sheet of paper with weird writing on it that he couldn't understand. The yellow ticket had dozens of intricate symbols along its four sides.

After securing the ticket with the berries on his jacket in the cave, he removed the clasp keeping the chest closed, and raised the lid as light emerged from the box.

A building fanfare rang inside his ears as the light subsided revealing his rewards.

『Starter Kit Contents:』

『Trainer's Outfit』

『Trainer's Bag』

『Pokétch』

『PokéSpecs』

『Pokéballs x10』

『PokéFood x 14』

『Potion x2』

Isaac looked at the contents with absolute disbelief, "Pokemon..?" He whispered, his gaze fixated on the ten iconic pokéballs lying in a small pile next to the two spray bottles that looked like the similarly iconic potion.

The young man, thinking he must be dreaming reached up and pinched his cheek and yelped in pain. The bewilderment gave way to excitement as he determined that pokémon must be real!

He picked up the two weeks of pokémon food and placed it with the berries he had gathered. They looked like pretzel bites but were a lighter shade of tan rather than brown and were not covered in salt. He turned and looked back at the contents of the chest, unable to contain his excitement.

He quickly stripped down until he had nothing on but his boxer briefs, socks, and a small string necklace with a rare stone hanging against his chest. He ran over, picked up a black form-fitting t-shirt, and put it on, pulling his necklace out from underneath. Over the top, was a long sleeve grey button-down shirt that he left open and rolled the sleeves up to his elbows. Another layer was the button-down black vest with white designs on the seams and across the back.

He put on the two pairs of fingerless leather gloves and the Pokétch on his left wrist. He had matching black pants and boots that he put on and fastened a belt to his pants. The belt was magnetic and had six slots for pokéballs.

He grabbed the bag, slung it over his shoulder as it rested against his butt, and adjusted it, putting in the ten pokéballs and two potions before closing it. The last piece of clothing was a dark-grey cloak that he fastened around his neck and came down to his ankles.

The last object was the PokéSpecs. Isaac reached down and picked them up, causing the Starter Crate to turn blue and disappear. He took off his broken glasses and put on the PokéSpecs.

Surprisingly, when he put them a system notification appeared.

『PokéSpecs and Pokétch detected! Would you like to synchronize with the system?』

『[Yes]/[No]』

Isaac reached up and tapped the [Yes] which prompted another status bar to appear and after it was completed the updates were listed by the system.

『PokéSpecs updated to have PokéDex functionality.』

『Pokétch updated to have all and expanded features.』

The PokéSpecs were more like a visor than glasses or goggles and had two pieces that attached to Isaac's ears and the translucent visor could be raised and lowered. He raised it out of his sight and looked down at the Pokétch.

He twisted the dial and scrolled through the applications before stopping at the calendar. August first. He checked the date and realized that suddenly there was a lot of time on his hands...

He received another notification right after this as the previous reward of ₽5,000 was received and he placed it within the wallet that came with the bag. He looked over at the ticket and grinned, excited about what the second part of his reward was.

'If the first half was this amazing, I can't wait to see what I get from this reward!' He excitedly thought with glee and a big grin plastered across his face.

***

Meanwhile back at the destroyed village, the rains had put out all of the fires and the invaders had left the scene of the wreckage. The three small lights shone and disappeared, leaving Mew, Celebi, and Jirachi in their places.

"What happened here?!?" Jirachi looked worried as it quickly surveyed the hellish landscape.

"It seems we were too late..." Mew reluctantly said, sadness filling its eyes as it stared down at the disturbed rubble the trio was floating over.

"How are we supposed to find him when we don't know what he looks like???" Celebi complained, "What if he's already dead?!?"

Mew shook its head and calmly replied, "He's not dead, but he might be in trouble, let's split up and see if we can find clues as to what happened here!"

Celebi and Jirachi nodded and turned around as the trio started investigating the village's ruins. However, their search was short-lived as three wisps appeared, one dark blue, one light purple, and the last a deep black.

The three mythical pokémon quickly huddled back together as Palkia, Dialga, and Giratina menacingly encircled the smaller pokémon. Mew turned to Celebi who nodded.

Palkia, Dialga, and Giratina began charging [Hydro Pump], [Flash Cannon], and [Aura Sphere] respectively. Different colored energy began to gather in front of the three behemoth's mouths.

Celebi began gathering power with it as both Mew and Jirachi jumped in front of it unleashing two powerful [Protect]s that shielded the trio.

The trio unleashed their powerful attacks as they converged and a massive cloud of dust was kicked up in a small explosion.

Palkia, Dialga, and Giratina stared menacingly at the epicenter of their attacks as the dust began to settle, returning visibly to an empty small crater.

"Curses… They got away again!" Giratina muttered to itself.

***

Six cloaked individuals were riding stop the backs of a group of Pidgeot, Fearow, and the leader ahead of the group, a large Starmie.

They were floating high above the clouds flying at high speeds. Their mission was a success and the group was in high spirits. The pokémon too were filled with the elated mood of their trainers.

After traveling a massive distance they descended into a mountainous ravine that split the continent in two.

"I wonder how the boss found this place!" One of the men shouted over the raging winds.

"No one will ever discover us out here!" Another man yelled laughing maniacally, "We'll never get caught!"

"Shut up, you two!" The leader spat turning around and shaking her fist. The group continued their descent toward the mountainside as a humongous structure barely came into view in the shadows of the mountains.

The six pokémon landed on a massive concrete helipad and the mysterious figures hopped off, walking into the facility as red beams shot out of their hands, arcing toward the pokémon, recalling them into their pokéballs.

The five lackeys followed their leader as they passed through a series of automated glass doors entering the facility. The leader removed her hood revealing her slender face with pale purple eyes and matching purple hair slicked down with a widow's peak at the front, and four cowlicks spouting out the back.

Her tall slender form deftly paced through the complex. She took off her cloak to reveal her grey coat with a black-outlined mantle, with a red Team Rocket logo etched onto the left part of her chest. She had a matching skirt and a pair of thigh-high-heeled black leather boots.

Her five lackeys removed their cloaks, revealing the traditional black Team Rocket uniforms with a big red "R "on the chest, gray gloves, boots, and black caps.

They entered a large dimly lit room and saw a huge desk with a matching luxurious plush chair. Sitting in the chair was a large imposing silhouette smoking a cigar and stroking a big Persian.

All six knelt before him and saluted with their heads down shouting "Hail, Giovanni!"

***

Isaac grinned as he picked up the yellow slip of paper and noticed something appeared on his PokéSpecs, prompting him to pull down the visor.

He stared at the ticket as the windows that were previously floating in front of him flooded onto his visor.

『Starter Roulette Token 』

『This one-time use slip is redeemable for one of five different Kanto Pokémon that have been determined suitable as a Starter.』

———

Chapters are uploaded daily. I'll be releasing 3 more chapters today to make up for the fact that I didn't upload on Mon, Tues, and Wed and because PMA has already received its first feature, so stay tuned for those!

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