Heart of Gold

Professor Elm let me take the pokemon home. He called it a chikorita, a quadrupedal, grass-type pokemon with a large leaf on its head. I named him Ulric after one of my favorite characters in a book series.

Professor Elm walked me next door to talk with my parents about taking on the pokemon. Luca hovered behind me like a ghastly. He knew that I was planning something and wanted to pounce on me about it, but he wouldn't make a scene in front of my parents or Professor Elm. His stormy eyes burned the back of my shoulder-blades when we settled on my sofa. "Astrid, you've got that look on your face again," Dad said. "And you have backup. What's going on?"

Luca's knees bounced next to me on the couch. "Professor Elm let me have a pokemon," I said. I'd practiced this speech fifteen times in my head before planning my announcement. "I've been thinking for a while I wanted to do something over the summer before college, and I've decided on taking the Pokemon League Challenge."

My parents fell silent, which I didn't expect. Whenever I tried something new they'd usually make a joke out of it. So how's the unicycle going? You're not tired of the idea yet? Haha! Instead, my dad rubbed his chin and my mom looked like she was calculating a hard math problem. "Is this why you wanted your pokegear fixed so badly?" Mom asked.

"I wanted to have something to communicate with you," I said. "Since I would be going out all summer."

This stuck my parents like a thorn in the rump. "You have a plan, right?" Dad said. "You have camping gear? Do you know how to make a fire?"

"Will you have enough money? You need to save for college," Mom said.

"You haven't shown interest in the Pokemon League before! You never even watched the show during battling season," Dad said.

"You're planning on all summer to do this? What about volunteer work?" Mom said.

Professor Elm cut the onslaught with a few waves of his hands. "Mr. and Mrs. Natsume, I, like you, haven't had much time to think on this, but I have an idea to propose. I would like to send Astrid on an errand to Cherrygrove before she goes out. That way she can get used to traveling and have time to spend with her new pokemon."

"I'm going with her," Luca said.

"Luca, you have to work at the lab," I said, shocked. What was the Professor going to do without extra hands?

"I like the idea of Luca going with her," Mom said. "It'd be much safer for her to go with a friend."

"First, can we see this new pokemon?" Dad said. "Let me have a look at it."

My dad, a pokemon groomer, was poised to judge the health and beauty of any pokemon that crossed his path. I swallowed and sent Ulric from his pokeball. He appeared in a flash of white. Dad squatted in front of him and gave him a once-over, I could tell he was looking at Ulric's body-mass and height, checked Ulric's eyes, under his leaf, his plant knobs around his throat, and petted him. "Fuzzy like a peach," Dad said. Ulric bleated and bounded to me. I lifted the chikorita onto my lap, pleased that Ulric was already comfortable with me. "I don't like grass-types though."

Mom chided him; Dad was always fond of rock-types. "What's this errand of yours?" Luca asked Professor Elm.

"I have an acquaintance nicknamed Mr. Pokemon," Elm said. I stroked Ulric's head and felt tiny hairs covering his skin. He was like a peach. "He emailed me a couple days ago saying he found a pokemon egg. Usually he raves about a lot of things, but he insists it's real this time and I should check it out for my research. He lives just outside Cherrygrove. I can give you his address and send you two over there to pick up the egg for me."

"Let's do it!" Luca said. Even though I was worried about both of us being gone from the lab, I was glad Luca was going with me. I knew he'd harangue me about my Pokemon League Challenge though.

Ulric looked up at me with amber-red eyes. "Be back in time for dinner," Mom said. It was such a mom-ish thing to say I almost laughed.

Luca stood up and motioned to the door. "Thanks Mom, Dad," I said.

Luca eyeballed me and I knew I wasn't going to buizel out of his grasp without an explanation. I knew that leaving would bother him, I knew that leaving would bother my parents, but didn't know if I could face Luca. He and I were the twins born in different families. "Just come home safe," Mom said. "We want you off at a good start."