Chapter 4: Green's Secrets & Weekend Cookout
*****
I realized that I have made the ages of my characters a little to young for their level of maturity so I am changing up their ages. Sorry for any confusion.
Jake - 6
Ash, Gary, Daisy - 4
Parents - Middle to Late Thirties.
*****
Dad walked back into the room in a bad mood after getting off the phone.
"Is something wrong honey?"
"No, just the usual, my team and I are being sued by a grief stricken family lashing out at the Pokemon Rangers who were not fast enough to find their son alive. It isn't a big deal because they are going to lose, the coroner put the time of death at a minimum of three hours before we even got the call. It's just frustrating."
Shaking his head he looked at us.
"We should start getting the house and food ready for tomorrow."
The three of us spent the next couple hours cleaning and cooking. We had pasta salad, potato salad, fruit salad, dinner rolls, basically everything you would want for a backyard barbecue ready before it was even dark out. The only thing left to cook was the meat that would be cooked on the grill the next day.
Later, as I was getting ready for bed, my dad walked into my room.
"Hey dad, did you need something?"
"Yesterday you mentioned something about a System. What did you mean?"
"Oh that. Yeah all the stories I've read about people awakening memories or being reincarnated usually involve the main character getting a sort of game system to make their life easier."
What my dad did next left me stunned. He reached out into thin air and a Pokeball appeared.
"Do you mean something like this?"
"H..how? Wh..what? Do you have a System dad?"
He burst out laughing at my flabbergasted expression. When he was finally able to stop laughing, he explained.
"My family line have been System holders for generations. Our family can trace our ancestry all the way back to when humans first appeared in this world. Part of why I was able to accept your situation so quickly is because of the stories passed down in my family."
My dad then proceeded to tell me a bit of the forgotten history of this world. Around 2000 years ago there were no humans in the Pokemon world, humans were brought here from a world that was dying. The God of this world Arceus made a deal with the God of the humans original world, in exchange for his remaining divinity Arceus would allow humans to be settled in his world, but not all of them. Arceus would only allow nine million to be brought over, one million for each of the nine regions he ruled over.
From each region one person, and his decendents, would be given a System in hopes that they would help their people survive. Over time the Blessed Ones as they came to be called began to die out fading into myth, in the end only one family of Blessed Ones remained, my father's family. Over the years the number of System holders in the family began to drop, for the last ten generations only one person in each generation inherited a System, this lead to a tradition being established where only a System holder could inherit the position of family Patriarch.
My father's uncle, my grand uncle, inherited the System and was appointed patriarch when the previous patriarch stepped down, and in his quest for power banished his brother, my grandfather, from the family. So, my grandfather moved from the Sinnoh region with his wife and two best friends, my mother's parents, to the Kanto region where they settled down in Pallet Town. I asked my dad what happened to my grandparents but he just said they have all passed away.
"And that's an abbreviated version of our family history. Now knowing all that, did you get a System son?"
"Yeah dad, I did. It's not the whole thing yet though."
"What do you mean 'not the whole thing'?"
"When my System activated it said requirements not met loading basic features. I have a Pokedex, Item Box, and Daily Missions section."
"I have those but I also have a shop and Survival missions section. Have you asked Allister about it?"
"Allister? Who's Allister?"
"You don't have Allister? He's like a guide who helps you navigate the System."
"Oh. A System AI, that must be one of the locked features."
"AI?"
"Yeah. It stands for Artificial Intelligence, like a computer that thinks for itself."
"That sounds about right but he is telling me to inform you that he is so much more than just a computer."
"Any idea's on how to unlock the advanced features on my System?"
"I have a guess on how I unlocked my System but Allister says I should not tell you because it could affect your growth."
"So I'll have to figure it out on my own. I can live with that. By the way, can you help me with my Daily Missions? I already scanned Growlithe into the Pokedex but the other two are a little difficult."
"I can do that. What are they?"
"The first is to explore a 1/4 mile radius circle around the house and the second is to find and eat a berry in the wild."
"No problem. If your System is like mine the daily reset is at 9 am so we'll go right after breakfast."
"Thanks dad, goodnight."
Sure enough dad woke me up bright and early, the bright is sarcastic because the sun wasn't even up yet, we had a quick bite for breakfast and then out the door, Growlithe my faithful companion right on our heels. Dad pulled a Pokeball off his belt and called out his Arcanine, Growlithe went up and nuzzled the Arcanine and I remembered that this Arcanine was my Growlithe's dad. I picked up Growlithe and my dad picked us both up and put us on Arcanine's back before hopping on himself.
He leaned forward and patted the Arcanine.
"Ready to go for a run buddy? Hang on tight Jake."
I held Growlithe with one hand and a handful of Arcanine's mane while my dad did the same for me.
"Let's run my friend."
With those words Arcanine dashed off, the only thing I can say is WOW, I remember my first time riding a motorcycle and this was so much better. Arcanine ran through the fields and forests around the house running between trees and jumping over bushes with my dad using nothing more than his knees to give directions. In no more than ten minutes Arcanine had taken us around the house multiple times in an outward spiral. Dad slowed Arcanine to a walk, nudged me and said.
"Check your mission."
"Oh right."
I pulled up my System and went to the Missions section and there was now a claim button beside it. I selected claim and got a System notification.
[Ding.....Daily Mission completed map features unlocked.]
I closed out my System and now in the lower left corner of my field of view was a mini-map.
"It worked now I have a map function."
"Good, now let's find you a berry bush. Arcanine do you smell any berries around here?"
Arcanine raised his head and sniffed a few time and started walking off to the right. A few minutes later we stopped at a large group of berry bushes. There had to be about ten different types of berries here. My dad helped me down from Arcanine's back.
"All these are edible go ahead and grab one."
I walked over to one bush because I recognized these berries, they were oran berries. In the game they could restore ten hp to you Pokemon. I picked one and put it in my Item Box, then pulled up my System and move to the Inventory tab selected the oran berry and read the item information.
[Oran Berry: A slightly nutritious, non-poisonous berry with a sweet, mellow flavor, has no other notable effects.]
After reading the Item description I pulled the oran berry back out of my Item Box and ate it. My dad was giving me a questioning look so I explained.
"The Item Box provides a item description so I wanted to double check if the berry was edible."
I opened my Daily Missions once again and selected claim on the last mission.
[Ding.....Daily Mission Completed map markers unlocked.]
I closed my System and now saw a little berry symbol on my mini-map. That was kind of cool. Was it just berries or did it have markers for other things as well?
"Are you ready to go back?"
I nodded so we got back on Arcanine and raced back home. We had been gone for about a half hour and the sun was just starting to come out. When we could see the house I saw mom standing on the front porch with her arms crossed. Looks like we're in trouble. As we got closer I put a big smile on my face and waved happily at her, her face softened a bit and she appeared a little less angry.
"You could have asked if I wanted to go for a run too, you know."
"Sorry Em, I wanted to have a little father son time with Jake. How about tomorrow, all three of us?"
"I guess that's fine, let's get everything set up. It's almost eight and everyone should be here around one."
We finished the last minute preparations and there was still a few hours until anyone arrives so I asked if I could play my SNES in the living room. Mom gave me permission so I went and started playing the classics like Donkey Kong County and Super Mario until the first guests arrived. The first ones to arrive were Red, Delia, and Ash around 12:45, Red joined my dad in the backyard by the grill, Delia joined my mom on the couch in living room, and Ash sat next to me on the living room floor.
"Want to try Ash?"
I asked while hold out the controller.
He nodded and I showed him what buttons to press to play the game, he wasn't very good but he is only four. About ten minutes later there was a knock on the front door and my mom went to welcome in the rest of our guests, and just like before Blue joined the men out by the grill, Beth joined the women on the couch, and the two kids Gary and Daisy joined Ash and I in front of the television. Before there was an argument about who got to play I hooked up the second controller, I first offered it to Daisy but she shook her head so I handed it to Gary after showing him what buttons to press. Ash hadn't gotten any better but Gary was just as bad, it was kind of funny to see the rivalry that they already had with each other.
"Mom, I'm going to take Growlithe outside for a bit before the foods ready."
"Ok Jake, don't go far."
"I won't, I'll stay in the backyard."
As I stood up I noticed Daisy get up as well but she didn't follow me, she went and sat on her mom's lap, as I walked to the back door with Growlithe I didn't notice that Daisy's eyes followed me the whole way.
** Daisy's POV **
Mommy said we were going to a friend's house but I didn't want to go. Everywhere we go it's boys, boys, boys, why don't any girls live around here? Gary's always teasing me about not having any friends, how am I supposed to have friends when there are only boys in this dumb town.
We got to mommy's friends house and sure enough, no girls, just two boys sitting on the floor playing a dumb game. One of them looked over and I froze, he was beautiful, dark green hair with eyes an even darker shade of green than his hair. He tried to hand me something and I just shook my head lost in my own thoughts. He sat down beside Gary and I sat down next to him, I just wanted to look at him, I couldn't take my eyes off him.
A few minutes later he stood up and I did the same, he said something about going outside but I just went over and sat on my mom's lap turning my head to stare at him. What has gotten into me?
** Unknown POV **
I woke to a strange smell in the air. I uncurled my long body from around the sun warmed rock I had wrapped myself around and raised my head to taste the wind. Food. I could taste it in the air, following the wind I made my way towards my next meal.
** Jake's POV **
As I walked out the back door I could hear and smell the Tauros steaks and burgers cooking. I don't know what seasonings my mom used to make them but the smell was amazing. I walked over to my dad while Growlithe ran into the grass to do his business.
"Those smell really good dad."
"That they do Jake, your mom still won't tell me her secret recipe. If she ever tells you make sure you don't forget it, she makes the best burgers in all of the Kanto region."
As he was talking he flipped the burgers one last time and cut open one of the steaks. Judging them to be done he piled the burgers on one platter and the steaks on another. Red and Blue each grabbed a platter as my dad turned the grill off and we all walked back inside along with Growlithe who had joined us at some point.
"The foods ready!"
There was a thundering of feet as Ash and Gary ran into the dining room followed more calmly by the three women and one young girl. All four of us kids were eating happily and quietly while the adults chatted about the day to day happenings. Then the topic changed to something that sparked my interest.
"Hey Green. Blue and I were talking the other day and both of us are getting the urge to do a bit of traveling again. Have you changed your mind about hanging up your traveling shoes?"
Two sentences made all the chatting stop, even the other three kids started paying attention.
"No, I'm more than happy with how my life is right now, I don't have any desire to return to adventuring around the world."
Trying to ease the tension in the air I called out.
"Mom I'm done eating can I go play outside? Ash, Gary, Daisy do you want to come too?"
Beth quickly added that that was a great idea and all four of us kids plus Growlithe ran into the backyard.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone