All I could hear was the humming of the machine around me as it scanned me, courtesy of the wand that passed over me repeatedly as it scanned my entire body.
Currently I was inside of a massive pod that made me feel more than a little claustrophobic as it scanned my entire body from head to toe, all while a Nurse Joy analyzed the data it was collecting on a monitor nearby with her Chansey.
Thankfully the scan only lasted for a few minutes before the capsule opened with a hiss, and I was allowed to get up as I collected my new shirt and pants to put them back on.
"This is really interesting..." Nurse Joy said as she scrutinized my results.
"What's so interesting about them?" I asked while approaching her, both professor Oak and May were looking over her shoulder curiously as well.
"According to my results, you are 6 feet even, and weigh in at 214 pounds. It is quite a bit overweight for someone at your height, but that can be explained by your muscle mass." She explained before showing me a projection of my body. "The musles on your body are far more dense than they should be, especially since they barely seem to show outwardly. It actually makes me want to test your limits."
"So I'm like a Super Soldier or something?" I asked her, earning me three looks of confusion.
"Never mind." I said while waving away their confusion even as my mind continued racing with what Nurse Joy just told me.
"So basically, Noah is a lot stronger than a normal person?" The professor asked her.
"Stonger, faster, higher endurance. His body is in perfect health. And when I say that, I mean PERFECT." Nurse Joy said while pointing out various parts on the projection of my body.
"I would estimate his physical age to be late teens, twenty at the most, and there is no discernable wear or tear on his body that my instruments can pick up. It is literally like he was just born yesterday." She continued, prompting the professor, May and I to share a look.
"One reason for that though may be that your body has an slightly enhanced cellular regeneration as well. Wounds that could take weeks, or even months to heal properly can take much less time while leaving minimal to no scarring. Obviously, we aren't going to test any of that just now, I can only imagine the reaction I could get from the rest of my family if I started torturing a patient just to learn how he ticks."
"Thank you for that." I told her dryly.
"Don't mention it." Nurse Joy replied happily, either missing or ignoring my sarcasm altogether.
Nurse Joy only stuck around a little bit longer to make and give me a Medical ID Card, which I would only need to provide any hospital or Pokemon Center that I visited in the future to give them my information. Once that was done, she packed up her stuff and started her trip back to Viridian city before it got too late.
"So, any other plans for the rest of the day?" May asked as we made our way to the pasture behind the professor's lab now that my checkup was over, and I paused as I saw all of the pokemon present.
Almost all of them were small pokemon native to Kanto, Bellsprout, Pidgey, Spearow, Oddish, Growlithe, Machop, Caterpie, Kakuna and Venonat to name a few. Others however were pokemon from Johto, Hoppip, Sentret, Ledyba and Mareep. They all either walked or scurried through the tall grass that waved in the wind, or darted too and fro through the trees beyond.
"The professor says that only a few of these pokemon actually live here, the rest are wild pokemon that are just passing through." May said as I stared dumbly at all of the pokemon.
"And I don't suppose I can catch any of them?" I said wryly.
"I'm afraid not." The professor said as he appeared behind us. "Not only do I want the pokmeon to feel safe here, but having them here let's me study them in their natural habitat." He explained to us.
"That sucks." I said as Charmander joined us as well.
"Just another couple days, then you'll be able to go out and catch as many pokemon as you want." He replied with mirth, before suggesting, "However, why not have your first pokemon battle here and now?"
"!?!"
I looked at him in alarm as the professor suggested that, my heart thumping in my chest from excitement.
"Really?" I asked him warily.
"Really. I doubt May would say no." He replied, glancing towards her pointedly.
"That's right! But you better be prepared to lose!" May declared as he held up one of her own pokeballs, before tossing it up in the air. "Come on out, Squirtle!"
"Squirtle squirt!" The little turtle declared as it appeared, before focusing on Charmander.
"What do you say buddy?" I asked Charmander for his opinion.
"Char char!" Charmander declared excitedly, and it was decided.
Almost immediately May and I had been moved to a cleared area that could function as an arena, where the professor was officiating our battle and several of his attendants were gathering to watch as well. Even May's father and mother had gathered.
"This will be a basic one on one between May and Noah, using their Squirtle and Charmander respectively. No time limit. Begin!"
"Squirtle, use Water Gun!" May immediately commanded as soon as the battle began.
"Squirtle!" The little turtle replied, spraying a blast of water right at Charmander.
"Duck low, and charge at it!" I hurriedly countered.
"Char!"
Charmander cried in affirmation as he ducked under the stream of water, and then launched himself at Squirtle while it was busy with the attack.
"Now use Scratch with both of your claws!"
"CHAR!"
The dual attack assaulted Squirtle before it could try to defend itself, making it recoil lightly from the pain.
"Retaliate with a Tackle!" May quickly tried to counter.
"SQUIRT!"
Squirtle didn't hesitate as it slammed into Charmander with it's full might, sending my starter to the ground roughly.
"Roll with it, and return with an Ember!" I ordered him calmly, my mind racing with all of the different possibilities of battle.
Charmander rolled with the force of the Tackle as I commanded, ending up back on his feet before returning fire at the Squirtle with a barrage of burning coals.
"Squirt!"
The little turtle pokemon cried as it tried to shield itself from the attack, but still ended up being peppered by the coals all over it's body.
"Maybe you don't know about type advantages, but water types don't take very much damage from fire type moves!" May declared haughtily as the attack ended. "Fire types taking water types moves though... Water Gun!"
Once again, the little turtle fired a blast of water at Charmander, one that actually hit him this time.
"Char..." He cried in pain from the attack.
"Rasist it!" I told him encouragingly, even as I tried to think.
"Roll out of the way!" I yelled out, and Charmander tried to do just that. "Now return with another Ember attack! Even without the type advantage, it'll still hurt it!"
"CHAAAAAAR!" Charmander roared as he peppered Squirtle with an even stronger attack than before.
"Power through it and use another Tackle!" May declared with a tone of finality.
"Squirtle squirt!"
The little pokemon cried as it charged directly into Chamrander's attack, still being peppered the entire while as it charged right at him.
"Look out!" I yelled to Charmander in warning, but it was for naught as Squirtle slammed into him.
"Chaaaaaar!"
Charmander cried out from the hit as he fell, before collapsing altogether and didn't get back up.
"Charmander is unable to battle! May and Squirtle win!" Professor Oak declared, ending the match.
"Alright Squirtle! We won our first battle together!" May declared as Squirtle returned to her side happily.
"Squirtle squirt!"
"Charmander!" I cried while hurrying to my starter's side.
"Char..." He groaned tiredly, exhausted from the battle.
"You just rest now." I told him, recalling him to his pokeball before whispering to it. "And we will NEVER lose again."
***
"Remember to try and take in as much air as possible when you breath. Feel the oxygen filling your entire body, fueling your fire." I told Charmander patiently.
"Char char!" He replied with determination, before closing his eyes as he focused on his breathing.
"Haaa... Ahhh..."
"Haaa... Ahhh..."
For several minutes all I could hear was the sound of Charmander breathing, like he was in a meditative trance.
This had been the norm since our battle against May two days ago, the two of us working to get stronger before we depart on our journey tomorrow.
"Still at it?" May asked quietly from behind me.
"Yeah." I answered while giving her a brief glance. She looked beautiful as well today, but I needed to focus on Charmander.
He continued breathing in and out as I instructed him diligently, holding each breath for a second to let the oxygen fully fill his lungs. And then, there was a change.
"!!!"
Both May and I watched as instead of just another breath, Charmander breathed out a puff of smoke.
"Again." I told him quietly, and Charmander did the same, with slightly more smoke now.
The next several breaths Charmander took and exhaled had more and more smoke, before I was sure I saw a few sparks within it.
"Now hold it." I told him as Charmander took in his next breath, and he did as I commanded.
"Picture your fire." I told Charmander next.
"..."
"Imagine the raging inferno within you, flames that will consume everything. Even water."
"..."
"Now unleash it! Burn everything in your path!"
"CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
""...""
May and I both deadpanned as, instead of an inferno, all Charmander unleashed was a puff of smoke.
"That was some inferno." May remarked with a smirk.
"Shut up." I said playfully, before turning serious. "Chamander will get there someday. Even Lance and Leon will have no choice but to acknowledge him."
"Leon? The Champion of Galar?" May asked curiously.
"Yeah. Isn't he supposed to be the strongest trainer in the world?" I asked her.
"Well, yeah. But I didn't think YOU would know about him." May pointed out.
I frowned as I realized the truth of what she said, but that was nothing new.
Over the last several days I had shown time and again just how much knowledge I had about this world and several of the people in it, even though I shouldn't. The most extreme example of this was when the professor and I got into a discussion about the Legendary pokemon, who were being considered akin to gods that even had cults of followers all over the world.
Professor Oak had been most interested when he told me about the cult of Mew, which was based in a nation to the north called Rota, and then I started going on about Mew itself and how unserious it was compared to it's reputation. I had gone on about the Legendary pokemon for several minutes before noticing the looks I was getting from everyone around me.
"I didn't know about the True Alphas though." I pointed out to May, who nodded slowly in agreement.
The True Alphas were pokemon that were thought to be from the very first generation, the actual children of Mew itself.
Naturally, I was a little skeptical of the idea at first. After all, what about the prehistoric pokemon that existed before the pokemon that we had today?
But the professor patiently explained to me his own theories on the subject. The first one being that Mew had more than likely birthed numerous True Alphas over time since the earth first started harboring life, pokemon created specifically to thrive during whatever climate the world was experiencing at the time. For example, Swinub during the Ice Age.
Meanwhile, he also beleived that several of the True Alphas had also changed over the thousands of years since their creation. The prime example of this was when the professor showed me comparisons of Donphan now, and their ancestors in ancient times, known as Great Tusks. They were obviously the same pokemon, or at least related, but there were numerous key differences between them as well.
And then, as if all of that hadn't been mind blowing enough, the professor also proceeded to tell me that Viridian Forest was one of the few places KNOWN to house a True Alpha, the original Beedrill. I had been more than a little stunned to learn that.
"I can't wait..." I told her suddenly.
"For tomorrow?" May asked wryly.
"Yeah. There's so much out there to explore and discover. So many places to see and pokemon to catch."
"I know. And we're going to see them all. Together." May said, before she surprised me by slipping her hand into my own while interlocking our fingers.
I was surprised by how small her hand felt compared to mine, as well as feeling incredibly soft and delicate. May herself meanwhile had a slight blush to her cheeks when I looked at her, which I decided not to point out.
"Char char!"
Charmander suddenly called up at us, making me look down at him.
"Of course. You'll be with me every step of the way as well." I told him seriously, and he beamed happily in response.
...
I awoke before the sun even rose the next morning, too restless to go back to sleep and wait for the alarm to go off. Instead, I immediately got up and got in the shower before dressing and collecting my few meager possessions into the bag the professor gave me yesterday.
Meanwhile Charmander was busy fussing over his scarf to make sure it was sitting on his neck perfectly, before we had both finished our preparations.
"Well, it's time to go." I finally said, and opened the bedroom door to officially start our journey.