Heart of Gold

Luca and I set off with some water and snacks. Cherrygrove City was only an hour away by walking, and the main road was embraced by clumps of tall grass, fir trees, and blackberry bushes. Luca brought his marill, Buddy, along with us. I let Ulric walk at my side out of his pokeball. He extended vines from the knobs at his neck and grabbed blackberries as we walked.

"So what made you want to do the Pokemon League Challenge?" Luca asked.

I had to be honest. Luca knew me well enough where he could tell when I tried to hide something. "This is going to sound stupid, but do you remember the book I had you read last year?"

"Which one? You tried to get me to read a lot of books."

"The one about the girl and he arcanine tracking down the killers of her parents."

Luca laughed. "What does that have to do with anything?"

My face heated. "The point of the book was the girl going out, traveling, and finding herself. I want to go out and have adventures in the same way."

"But the Pokemon League?" Luca said. "There's eight gyms out there. I don't know if we could do that in one summer."

"We? Who said you could come along?"

Luca crossed his arms. He was eight inches taller than me and built from sprinting in track. Luca was a fourth Japanese like me, and also shared the same birthday as I even though we were unrelated. His black, short hair was always unkempt from running, and his eyes, grey like the color of rainclouds, looked people straight on with the unique confidence and charm only Luca seemed to possess. "I decided I was coming along," he said. "Besides, Professor Elm has been complaining about not having enough field workers to go out. While you're doing your Pokemon League stuff, I'll go do research for him."

"That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," I said. "Professor Elm is understaffed as is. He needs your help back there. What will your - your -"

Luca went stiff and I knew I tread on unsteady ground. "Dad will let me go out," he said, his voice brisk. "I'm eighteen. I can legally do whatever I want."

Buddy and Ulric chased each other in front of us. I looped an arm around Luca's in apology and he nugied my head. "Maybe it'd be better for you to come along with me," I said quietly.

"Yeah, we both have oni in New Bark Town," Luca said.

---

We passed Cherrygrove, a quaint town with sakura trees, and headed to the suburbs outside of it. "The address should be around here," Luca said. "Oh, there's the number!"

We knocked on the door and a middle-aged man in a brown suit let us in. He introduced himself as Mr. Pokemon, served us tea, and guided us to the table, where a white egg with blue and red shapes sat under a heating lamp. I figured that must've been what we were here to pick up. "I've got another guest here," Mr. Pokemon said. "I hope you don't mind."

As he said this, an elderly man with graying hair appeared from the living room. "Oh, hello," he said. "You must be Professor Elm's students."

Luca and I recognized him simultaneously. Even without his lab coat, his Kanto accent and famous persona gave him away. "Oh, you're Professor Oak!" I said. I switched to my best honorific Japanese. "I'm honored to meet you."

Luca and I shook his hand and I told Ulric to heel. New pokemon at the lab knew basic commands, even if they didn't know a moveset yet. Luca did the same to Buddy. "We're not students yet," Luca said. "We're just volunteers, but yes, we do work for Professor Elm."

"You know, he was my own student back in the day," Professor Oak said. He sat down in the chair aside from us. I always thought the phrase was just a cliche, but Luca's eyes truly sparkled at the prestigious professor. "Your pokemon look very healthy. I'm glad he has his own lab running now."

Something clunked against the window, startling us. Buddy, the marill, pricked up his ears. "I hope it's not those darn youngsters," Mr. Pokemon said. "They like to run about these parts."

"Don't worry about them," Professor Oak said. "I'm sure they only want our attention. They do that in Kanto, too."

My pokegear rang and made me flinch. "Oh, I'm very sorry," I said. "Excuse me."

Embarrassed, I stepped out of the dining room and answered. Professor Elm's voice came at the end. "Hey Astrid." He sounded out of breath. "I need you and Luca to come back to the lab."

"Sure, why?" In the dining room, I heard Luca and the professor chatting. "We just got to Mr. Pokemon's house."

"I think it'd be best for you to get here in person. Something terrible has happened. Let Mr. Pokemon have the phone."

My stomach plummeted to my feet. Ulric, who'd been staying under the table, bleated at me as I came back. "Excuse me, Mr. Pokemon," I said. "Professor Elm wants to talk with you."

He took the phone, left, and I nudged Luca. "We need to go back to the lab, Professor Elm called," I said. To Professor Oak, I said, "I'm very sorry. I'd love to talk with you some more, but we have an urgent matter at home."

"What is it?" Luca asked as Professor Oak said, "Don't worry about it. I'm sure Professor Elm has his reasons."

Mr. Pokemon returned and put the egg in a padded bag for us. His motions were articulate and not wasted, just like I'd seen my mom do when she came back from the pokemon shelter and a pokemon passed away. "You'd better go," Mr. Pokemon said and handed the bag to me. It had backpack straps so I looped them around my shoulders backwards like I had a pouch for a kangaskhan baby. "I'm sorry you couldn't stay longer."

We said goodbyes, I hurried to put on my shoes, and we speed-walked down the path. Luca's face was solemn. The sun made a descent over the trees above us, the sky a pinkish red. "So did Professor say what hap-" Luca started.

"Hey!" a voice said.

We stopped, and a figure stood along the brambles. He emerged into the waning light, a shock of dark red hair on his head. "Hi," Luca said. "Can we help you?"

The boy's expression was not friendly. He wore a black high-collared jacked with red highlights, and his face was all angles; a sharp chin, pointed nose, and piercing amber eyes. Ulric made a low growling noise. "You can help me," he said. In a silver flash, he had a knife in his hand. "Give me that egg."