Pokemon: The Road to Absolution

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Nathan's heart was trying to break through his ribcage as he sprinted up the hill towards his house at the north side of Pallet. He exploded through the front door, ignoring his terrified mother as her hoarse reprimands chased him up the stairs. Dolls of various pokémon watched him from a shelf with glassy eyes, silently judging as he rammed a few belongings into a rucksack. He dug into his pocket, trying to decide whether or not he should put the stolen pokéball into the bag with the rest of his hastily gathered supplies. He decided against it. The pokéball had shrivelled to a quarter of its original size as he had run away with it. He had felt his hand cave in around the spherical object, how it had suddenly fit more snugly into his palm.

Only now could he inspect it for a brief moment. He must have accidentally pressed the small button in the centre, some kind of a locking mechanism, perhaps. All of this trainer stuff was so new to him.

Carefully sliding it back into his pocket, where it could have been a mere pebble from Olivine beach, he took the stairs two at a time, nearly tripping at the bottom.

"What's gotten into you?" his mother cried.

"Sorry, Mom, I'm in a bit of a hurry at the moment," he cried. His hand froze on the doorknob as he took in the worried lines etched across his mother's face.

"I'll tell you what it is... a couple of boys in the neighbourhood said that a ninetales had given birth a few weeks ago and the owners are thinking about giving the vulpix away to good homes, and I thought... well, I thought I could at least take a look."

"Ok Nathan, but I'm dishing up dinner and it'll go cold!"

"I'll heat it up or something!" he yelled over his shoulder as he stepped outside.

His mother might have said something in reply, but Nathan didn't hear it over his slamming of the door. He swivelled on the spot, half expecting to see Professor Oak standing in their small front garden, arms folded across his lab coat, each thick eyebrow twitching like a fainted caterpie. There was nobody around.

He wasn't going to wait about for the punishment that would follow. At the same time, he had no idea what he was going to do. A notion crept into his mind. Leaving Pallet for a couple of days would offer time for this whole thing to blow over. Oak might not understand, but he would be less angry, perhaps.

Nathan stared up at the evening sky and noticed a pidgey wafting through the trees.

He decided there and then. He would make his escape to Viridian city. There would be a place for him to stay at the pokémon centre, now that he was a trainer.

A pokémon trainer, he thought to himself in a moment of realisation. He idly fingered the pokéball in the pocket of his jeans. Yes, he was actually a trainer, at last. Light danced across his eyes. The guilt he had been feeling began to evaporate. He would have stolen that pokéball a hundred times over if it meant he could finally feel this amazing.

Nathan set off at a fast march towards the outskirts of town. He could already see the trees of the route that connected his town with the city.

As he made it onto the path, he found his hand returning to his pocket, his eyes scanning the tall grass. To the east, trees bisected the orange canvas of a setting sun; to the west, the murky shade made even the shrubbery appear as a sleeping snorlax.

Past warnings from the professor trickled into Nathan's ear.

Don't go into the tall grass, it's dangerous.