In The Army Now
Every man's story has a beginning and an end. Some start their story from their birth. Others start theirs from their first success in life. Others still may start theirs at the very end of their life and work backwards. This is the story of one man, who in his lifetime, faces and survives impossible odds, fights against those who would kill him rather than capture him and even in the end, gets the girl. Who is this person? He was a nobody but now is someone. The only military gym leader in the entire Pokémon League : Lieutenant Surge. This is his story.
The rain was cold as the young man pushed his upper body out from the mud. And without missing a beat, he lowered his body back into the brown, wet, muck. The young man was dressed in only a pair of denim jeans and black boots. A taller, older man stood near the young man. The older man was dressed in army fatigues covered by a green rain coat, with thick black boots on his feet. The young man, not once, looked up at the older man's face. The young man's blonde hair was pasted to his face as he pushed his mud stained upper body up out of the mud once again. And again, not missing a beat, lowered his body down into the mud. The older man was looking at a stop watch. He clicked it off.
"Alright boy! Get up!" The older man barked.
The young man complied and stood at erect attention as quickly as he could. His arms were sore from his grueling exercise. The older man looked down on the younger man with a face full of contempt. The younger man kept his face emotionless.
"Alright. You did okay this time, but I expect to see better numbers next time around. They won't take any less and neither will I!" The older man barked and then spun on his heels and went inside a nearby house.
The younger man let out a deep sigh. He picked up a t-shirt that was draped over a small lawn chair and put it on his body in a futile attempt to guard his skin from the freezing rain as he slowly, and painfully made his way into the house.
The older man sat behind a desk in his study. A shiny brass nameplate sat neatly at the far end of his desk, facing the two chairs in front of it. "Major Montgomery Surge" was engraved on it. Montgomery had been in the Kanto military since he was a teenager, and he didn't even want to think of how many years ago that was. Being in the army was something that he was very proud of. It had made him an excellent pokémon trainer as well as a well disciplined human being, or so it was in his mind. His son, surprisingly, would stand there and take everything Montgomery would throw at him. Montgomery knew deep in his heart that his son would make an excellent soldier. The sounds of the bathroom shower filled the room. In exactly five minutes, the sounds abruptly stopped. Montgomery listened intently as he heard the footsteps of his son go from the bathroom to his bedroom and lastly, he heard the quiet closing of his son's bedroom door. Montgomery's wife had died at his son's birth so there was no motherly influence on him, and that was just as well. Montgomery had no mother either, and look at what it had done for him. His son didn't need any kind of bad influence and wrong thinking that a mother could put upon him. Before his son's birth, Montgomery and his wife were arguing about whether or not to put their son in the military. They had had an ultrasound so they knew that they were having a son. Montgomery was steadfast in his arguments to put HIS son in the military but his wife fought his arguments diligently. But now that she wasn't around to try to stop him, Montgomery had already put his son well on the path to the military. Even the General of his Company had a son in the army. Besides, Montgomery being top brass would probably give his son a few boosts in rank and maybe even get him his own platoon. That was what Montgomery wanted for his son : complete and total success. But as Murphy's law states, anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. And with the plans Montgomery had for his son nearing perfection, disappointment was sure to arrive. And it did just that.
The young man was walking around his hometown of Vermillion City. It was a nice day for a walk around town and the Major, as he called his father, had let him have day off. The young man walked around town hoping to bump into Sophie, his girlfriend. Sophie was an active pokémon trainer. She was a free spirit. Her only ambition in life was to see everything and go everywhere, not exactly in that order. She only stayed in Vermillion because she never had enough money to leave. So she stayed in town and worked as a waitress at a nearby greasy spoon called "The Grimer". It has an awful name but the food is great. The young Surge walked around town. Today was Sophie's off day so she would be wandering, probably looking for him. He turned a corner and there she was, on her cell phone as usual. She was dressed in a button down white shirt and wide leg jeans that hid plain white tennis shoes. Her brown hair fell down to her shoulders. Every time he saw her, she was talking to someone, most of the time her father, on a pay phone or her cell phone. He came up behind her and put his arm around her. She was startled and almost dropped her phone. She quickly ended her conversation and then turned and kissed him.
"How ya' doin' soldier boy?" She asked.
She always called him "soldier boy". It was her pet name for him but he didn't mind it at all. He didn't have any kind of pet name for her. It kind of irritated her that he didn't call her any kind of pet name, but she tolerated it. She also knew his father as the "Major".
"Not bad. The Major let me off today." He said.
"Well that's good. Wanna go with me to catch a pokémon?" She asked.
Sure why not? I'll just sit back and watch, like I always do. They'll just issue me a pokémon at boot camp. I'd like to catch one of my own, but no. I don't have a licence to do that.
"Sure. Lets go." He said.
They walked on outside of town. They came to a wooded area that was full of tall grass. They moved through the grass until they found a small clearing. This was their place. A fallen log, a tree with their initials carved into it, by his pocket knife, and a large boulder. This was the place of many a night of blissful kisses and just plain time wasting. He could never think of a more perfect place or a more perfect girl to waste all that time with. An ekans popped its head up above the tall grass. Sophie noticed it and squealed with glee. She hadn't caught an Ekans yet. She leapt out of his grip and grabbed at her bag and ran off into the grass, dropping a pokéball in the process. He picked up the small ball and hesitated to run after her. She knows the way back. If anything happens, I'll just run to the rescue and scare off whatever's causing trouble, again. Even though he loved Sophie, she was a royal pain in his...
"Pikachu."
Surge looked down and saw a small yellow mouse looking back up at him. He recognized it immediately as the mouse of the electric variety. It was small for a pikachu. For some reason, it liked him. He tried to shoo it away with his hand but the creature dodged and returned to its spot. It thought he was playing a game. It hopped up in his lap and tried to push its little hands into his face. He let out a chuckle as the pikachu lost its balance and fell. He caught it before it hit the ground.
"You're a friendly sort aren't you?" Surge said.
The pikachu hugged him. That was the clincher. Surge had to keep this pikachu. Who would've thought that a friendly pokémon would just fall into my lap?
"The Ekans got away." Sophie said.
She looked at the pikachu in Surge's arms and squealed again.
"Oh it's soooooo adorable!" She said.
She tried to pick it up but the pikachu growled and held on tightly to Surge.
"Well that's certainly rude." Sophie said.
Surge lifted the pokéball that Sophie dropped.
"You dropped this when you chased after that Ekans." He said.
Sophie took the ball and then looked at the pikachu.
"I'll show you how to capture a pokémon." She said as she handed the ball to him. "Now pikachu, you just stand still, he's gonna capture you."
"I am?" He asked.
"Pika?"
"Yep. Just toss the ball at the pokémon. Um, pikachu, just let yourself be captured okay?" Sophie said.
"Pika." Pikachu nodded.
Surge tossed the ball at the pikachu. The ball made contact and opened. The pikachu turned red and became nothing but a small glob of red light. The red light was then sucked into the pokéball. The ball snapped shut and fell to the ground, the button on the ball had turned red. The ball began to shake violently for a few moments. The ball abruptly stopped shaking and the button became gray again. Surge approached the ball and lifted it. He turned back to Sophie.
"Congratulations soldier boy. You just caught your first pokémon." She said.
And it would be his only pokémon, ever, at least until it evolves.
Surge was standing at full attention in front of the desk. The Major looked down on his son with a face full of anger. The pokémon his son had just presented him with was sitting on his study desk. It had short circuited his desk lamp.
"What the hell do you call this?!" Montgomery asked.
"It's a pokémon I captured, sir!" Surge shouted.
"This isn't a pokémon! It's a mouse! What the hell do you expect to do with a mouse!?" Montgomery barked.
"It's a pokémon, sir! And I plan to train it, sir!" Surge shouted.
Montgomery sank back into his chair. He brought his right hand up to his forehead and rubbed it. This was not going according to his plan. Montgomery expected his son to get a military issue pokémon. A pokémon that had at least some training. And what does he bring? An untrained wild pokémon.
"Sophie put you up to this didn't she?" Montgomery asked.
"Sir, I..." Surge started.
"Don't argue! You're going to boot camp tomorrow! Have your things ready by dawn! And if you really think you can turn this mouse into something useful, then take it along with you. But I warn you, you'll get a better weapon from a military issue pokémon! Dismissed!" Montgomery barked.
Surge collected his pikachu and left the room quickly.