A Ruby Nuzlocke
Characters
Felix: a 13 year old brown haired trainer who wants to be a pokemon professor. Felix wears a t-shirt and slacks, preparing for her first day as an intern at a pokemon research lab.
Mom: Felix’s mom. Used to work as a Freelancer who edited documents before being sent to pokemon welfare and pokemon league organizations.
Brendan: Prof. Birch’s son. Looking forward to getting the go ahead to challenge the pokemon league and enjoys helping his father do fieldwork.
Prof. Birch: The leading Professor on Pokemon Ecology. Taking over the internship that Felix should have had with Prof. Elm.
Felix clutched the letter sent to her by Professor Birch tightly in her hand. She’d had to turn down the internship she’d gotten with Professor Elm when her parents had announced that her dad had been given his old home town Gym. Apparently the old gym leader had retired and of those who had applied her dad fit the slot the Hoenn pokemon league wanted.
And because of that now they all had to move. Out of Goldenrod city. Out of Johto entirely. To some small town called Littleplant or something like that.
Professor Elm had been nice enough to send a recommendation on to Professor Birch, who was willing to take her on as an intern. At least she’d be doing some studying, even if it wasn’t pokemon evolution. The letter said he studied pokemon habitat and distribution, which could be interesting she guessed.
The truck shuddered to a stop, the boxes she’d rested her book on jerking forward then back. The back door opened, light shining in.
Felix pushed herself up from the floor, feeling her legs shake from sitting on the truck floor for so long.
“Felix, we’re here, honey! It must be tiring riding with our things in the moving truck,” Felix’s mom, a tall woman with black hair that curled right as it touched her shoulders. “I really appreciate you making sure everything else got here.”
“Not like you gave me much of a choice,” Felix grumbled as her mom turned looking around at the scenery.
“Well, this is Littleroot Town. How do you like it? This is our new home! It has a quaint feel, but it seems to be an easy place to live, don’t you think? And, you get your own room, Felix! Let’s go inside.” Her Mom dashed to the small house the truck had stopped in front of.
‘I already had my own room when we lived in the apartment in Goldenrod,’ Felix thought annoyed. She followed her mom in, the house smelled faintly of fresh paint and lemon floor cleaner. Two of the mover’s Machokes were moving and organizing some of the boxes that came with the first truck.
“See, Felix, isn't it nice in here, too?” Her mom asked with a grin on her face.
“Well, I guess it's bigger than our apartment,” Felix offered. It was a nice house but she still wished she was back in Goldenrod.
“The mover’s Pokemon do all the work of moving us in and cleaning up after. This is so convenient!” Felix watched as her Mom busied herself with checking the kitchen cabinets, which had indeed been previously organized.
“ Felix, your room is upstairs. Go check it out, dear! Dad bought you a new clock to mark our move here. Don’t forget to set it!” Felix rolled her eyes as she headed up the stairwell. Her mom was so excited for the house, and had ignored Felix’s general lack of excitement.
After walking a bit down the hall Felix found a room labeled ‘Felix’s Room’ with the wooden sign her parents had gotten her a few years ago. The sign had a double helix design outlining her name. According to her mom the wood had come from Ilex forest, just south of Goldenrod.
Felix felt a little more homesick looking at the sign. Something about it made the move a little more permanent in her mind. She opened the door, to find a room bathed in sunlight. The faint smell of paint and floor cleaner was here too, but her bed, desk, and computer from her old room were already set up. It made her pause.
The room was certainly bigger than the room at the apartment, where she could almost reach her computer from her bed there. Now the computer was in the corner and the bed was against the other corner. It was…nice. It was a better space.
Felix forced a frown. A nice room wasn’t enough to replace Johto.
A bright red clock was on the wall with a small note from her Dad.
Hey Felix I know you weren’t big on the move, but I hope this helps a little bit. I look forward to seeing you once I put the finishing touches on the gym.
Felix huffed as she turned the clock around, setting it.
“Felix, how do you like your new room?” Felix snapped her head towards her Mom who was standing in the door frame, surprised.
Recovering quickly Felix grumbled out, “It's bigger than the apartment.”
“Now you have more room to put your stuff!” Her mom agreed, looking around, “Good! Everything’s put away neatly! They finished moving everything in downstairs, too. Pokemon movers are so convenient! Oh, you should make sure that everything’s all there on your desk,” she said as she walked away.
Felix frowned as she checked the desk, though it looked that everything was indeed in order, the tape that labeled where everything went was even still on the desk under the items.
“Oh! Felix, Felix! Quick! Come Quickly!” Felix sighed as she headed out of the room and back down the hall wondering what had gotten her mother even more excited than just the house.
“Look! It's Petalburg gym! Maybe Dad will be on!” Felix moved quickly towards the TV despite herself. It’d been a few weeks since she’d seen her dad, since he’d had to go to Petalburg to set the gym up after he’d been designated by the Pokemon League of Hoenn.
“The HPHA and the Pokemon League have stated they are still determining what caused this tragedy, and have asked that the public not assign blame to the trainer or Gym Leader Norman until further investigation has finished...We brought you this report from in front of Petalburg Gym,” News Caster stated with a steady tone. There was a News Bulletin below with the question, Pokemon Death at Gym Raises Pokemon League Safety Questions.
“Oh…It’s over. I think dad was on, but we missed him. Too bad,” Her Mom sounded despondent, likely the concern of the news settling in.
“I thought gyms were super controlled spaces?” Felix asked as commercials began to play.
“They are,” Her mother said with a nod. “One of the certifications for even unofficial gyms are safeties and continuing training on pokemon CPR and Emergency Care. I used to edit the Goldenrod Gym’s Safety Manual before it would be forwarded to the Pokemon League.”
“So something went really wrong?” Felix asked her mom.
“Yes, Pokemon battle deaths are rare. Gym Leaders are trained to even turn down trainers whose pokemon are significantly under the weather.”
The news came back on talking about a submarine being worked on in a city called Slateport when Felix’s mom spoke again. “Oh, yes. One of Dad’s friends lives in town. Prof. Birch is his name. He lives right next door, so you should go over and introduce yourself,” she suggested.
“Mom, I’m going over to Prof. Birch’s lab, not his house. Prof. Elm was able to get me an internship with him after you and Dad had me turn down the offer I got to intern with Prof. Elm!” Felix snapped. “Don’t you pay attention? Or were you too excited about the new house?!”
“Felix!” Her mom pushed back, “Your Dad’s opportunity to become a gym leader where he grew up is an amazing opportunity for all of us!”
“It’s an amazing opportunity for you and Dad! You get the house you always wanted-Dad’s off in another town running a Gym! I was going to be studying pokemon evolution! I’d already prepped study guides for the information I’d need to be familiar with for studying evolution! Ecology isn’t the same! I’m going to be behind the other interns!” Felix pointed out as her emotions became heated.
Felix grabbed her backpack, which had been unpacked and hung up by the front door. “I’m going to the lab.”
“Felix slammed the door, ending the conversation with her Mom. She let out an exasperated groan. Go next door to introduce herself? What was she 5? How unprofessional. And mentioning that her Dad was friends with Prof. Birch? Maybe that would have been cool to learn when she was actually applying for internships and could have planned for it. But her mom made it sound like she got the internship because of her Dad’s connections. IF she had even paid attention to the stress about the move when Felix found out she had to give up her dream internship.
Felix walked down the road, looking for the Lab. After asking a few people she was directed to a large building on the south side of the town. It wasn’t what she’d thought a Lab would look like. One part of the building looked like a green house, a small stream was directed into another part of the building. A small tower had windows open to the outside. The door to the lab was cracked open.
“Hello?” Felix called as she stepped in, “Pro. Birch?” The main room was bright with a few bookcases holding binders, and a large machine with a clean chamber in the center of the room. A man with a white lab coat, coke bottle glasses, and black slacks was typing on a computer.
“Hunh? Prof. Birch? The Prof’s away on fieldwork. Ergo, he isn’t here,” The man said, stopping his typing and turning towards Felix.
“Fieldwork?” Felix asked, walking in, holding the letter of acceptance that she’d been holding the whole way from Johto. “I was hoping to start my internship today. I’m Felix,” she said, handing the letter to the man, probably one of the research assistants if not another intern.
“Oh the intern for Johto? Norman’s kid?” Felix grimaced at the reference to her Dad. She didn’t want a position she got just because someone knew her Dad.
“Yeah that’s me,” She said with a small smile. “I was originally going to Intern with Prof. Elm but my parents didn’t want me staying in Johto when they moved.”
“Oh that's a bonus in our books. One of the biggest questions are why certain areas are more likely to see higher increases of pokemon evolution compared to others. You probably have a few ideas we might want to look into,” he told her with a smile.
“Likely Prof. Birch is going to have you helping with the fieldwork. Oh, let me explain what fieldwork is. It is to study things in the natural environment, like fields and mountains, instead of a laboratory. The Prof isn’t one for doing desk work. He’s the type of person who would rather go outside and experience things than read about them here.
“But this means you have a good foundation to start asking questions we might take for granted, or pointing out things we may have not been aware of in other areas of pokemon study.
“Prof. Birch sometimes takes lunch back at his house, you might want to stop in there to see if he wants to take you out for his second round of fieldwork today.”
“Oh…My mom said we were neighbors, I guess I could go check there,” Felix said politely. She was frustrated to be told to go back to where her mom had suggested in the first place.
“Good Idea! If you miss him you can come back here and I can show you the note transcription and data entry until he gets back.” The assistant offered.
Felix walked back towards the new house, moving faster since she had an idea of where she was going this time. The house next door had a mailbox that had the name Birch, written on the side.
Felix knocked on the door, hoping that this wasn’t going to look unprofessional.
A woman with long red hair opened the door. “Oh, hello. And you are?” she asked in a cheery tone.
“I’m Felix-” Felix began to introduce herself when the woman’s eyes lit up.
“Oh, you’re Felix, our new next-door neighbor! Hi!” The woman opened the door wider showing Felix in.
“Yes, I was actually sent here by Prof. Birch’s assistant back at the lab? He said he sometimes stops by before going out to do more fieldwork,” Felix explained.
“Oh yes, though today he told me he was going to take lunch out in the field. He’s been watching a pack of poochyena and he thinks he may have identified how their pack structure differs from other canine pokemon. He said something about them not being canine at all,” Birch’s wife shared before she changed the subject.
“We have a son about the same age as you. Our son was excited about making a new friend,” she shared. “With a town this small most of the kids grow up knowing each other, but while the other kids were playing Brendan was hanging out in his Dad’s lab.”
“So he likes studying pokemon too?” Felix asked.
“Oh yes, he’s been badgering his dad to let him go out and help in the field for years. He’s upstairs, you might as well go introduce yourself. He might have an idea of where exactly his dad is.”
Felix groaned internally. Sure it was cool that there was another kid her age, but if Birch had his own kid helping with research she likely was going to get stuck with grunt work. She was wishing even harder to have been allowed to remain in Johto.
Felix headed up the stairs and to the room that Birch’s wife had directed her to. Inside was a boy with brown hair under a white beanie. “Pokemon fully restored…Items all packed, and…Hey! You…Who are you?” he asked, noticing her in the doorway.
“Sorry to disturb you, your mom thought I should introduce myself to you. My name’s Felix,” she told him as she waved.
“Oh, you’re Felix, aren’t you? Moved in next door, right? I didn’t know that you’re a girl,” he said with a nod.
“Yeah, I get that a lot. Felix isn’t exactly a typical girl’s name,” she replied. He didn’t seem too bad. Maybe he wasn’t as favored or spoiled as she feared.
“Heh, yeah. Dad, Prof. Birch, said that our new next-door neighbor is a gym leader’s kid, so I assumed you’d be a guy,” he mentioned as he continued to pack his bag.
“What does my dad have to do with being a guy or girl? There are girl gym leaders you know,” Felix pointed out with a frown crossing her arms.
“You got a point there!” He said bashfully before he stuck out his hand, “My name’s Brendan. So, hi, neighbor!”
They shook hands and Brendan continued, “I’m getting ready to go do some field survey for my dad. Huh, Hey, Felix, don’t you have a pokemon? I bet we could do the work twice as fast, but you really want a pokemon with you just in case.”
“I don’t have a pokemon,” she told him. “I’ve been too focused on my studies to really want a pokemon.”
“Do you want me to catch you one? Aw, darn, I forgot…Dad said he needed the data as soon as possible to submit to the league to see if he could get more funding. I’m not going to have time to focus on catching anything,” Brendan told her apologetically.
“That’s alright, I’m sure Prof. Birch can set me up with something tomorrow if we’re going to be doing fieldwork,” Felix told him.
“Alright. Some other time I’ll show you how to catch a pokemon, okay?” Felix nodded.
“I’ll see you tomorrow at the lab then?” Felix asked.
“Yep! Tomorrow!” he told her as they headed down the hallway and waved bye to Prof. Birch’s wife.
Felix walked around town, not wanting to go back home yet. She was disappointed that she didn’t get a chance to talk to professor Birch and didn’t want to deal with her mom’s total infatuation with the house and town again. If she’d been back in Johto she bet she’d have a beginning assignment right now.
She heard a loud commotion that knocked her out of her thoughts coming from the outside of town. A smaller kid was looking down the road concerned. “What’s going on?” Felix asked the kid.
“I can hear someone shouting down the road here. What should I do? What should we do? Somebody has to go help…” The kid told her.
Felix didn’t have any pokemon, but she’d been drilled on how to handle out of control pokemon by her dad before. Without thinking too much Felix sped down the road, turning her head every few steps to make sure she wasn’t catching the attention of a pokemon while she headed towards the sound of the yelling.
“H-Help me!”
Felix skidded to a stop as a man with brown hair and matching beard, white lab coat and tan shorts dashed out of the bush, a grey dog like pokemon hot on his heels. He caught sight of Felix as he took a stick and put it between him and the pokemon, using it to fend off bites.
“Hello! You over there! Please! Help! In my Bag! There’s a poke ball!” Felix jumped into action. A pokeball could catch the pokemon or at least distract it enough for them to get away. She pulled at the bag’s strap and three balls rolled out, all with buttons indicating they were full. A snap from the pokemon biting on the man’s stick changed her plan. She’d never been in a pokemon battle before, but she’d seen her dad do it plenty of times.
She tossed the third ball into the air, watching it burst open as a small blue pokemon jumped out. “Mudkip!” it cried as it tackled the offending pokemon.
The grey pokemon growled as it jumped forward ramming the mudkip with its own tackle. The mudkip looked surprised, not expecting the agitated pokemon to fight back.
“Tackle it Mudkip!” Felix found herself shouting, not wanting the blue pokemon to be hurt from shock, and giving the man plenty of time to get back to his bag.
The Mudkip jumped into the grey doglike pokemon again slamming it into a tree. The grey pokemon lay unmoving as Felix made her way to the man, helping him up off the ground. “Whew…I was in the tall grass studying wild Pokemon when I was jumped. You saved me. Thanks a lot!” He said with a smile before turning in the direction of the grey pokemon, his smile turning into a frown.
He made his way quickly back towards the pokemon, placing his hand on its shoulder, something not advised with wild pokemon, especially pokemon that were previously agitated. “That couldn’t have been that bad of a hit, knock the wind out maybe…”
Felix made her way over, realizing when she got closer how harshly the pokemon was breathing.
“Poochyena should be able to take a hit like that, I don’t like the sound of its breathing,” the man muttered to himself as he pulled a bandage out of his bag and began wrapping it around Poochyena’s muzzle and around the back of its head, fastening a makeshift muzzle. He scooped it up, cradling it, trying not to disturb where it might be injured.
Thinking about what the assistant said, and seeing him tending to the injured wild pokemon Felix had one guess as to who this man was, “Prof. Birch?”
“Oh?” He was surprised to see Felix watching him. “Yes?”
“I’m Felix, your assistant told me to come find you,” Felix informed him.
“ Hi, you’re Felix!” he greeted trying to go in for a handshake before he remembered the injured pokemon in his arms. “This is not the place to chat, so come by my Pokemon Lab later, okay? I need to get this poochyena set up on observation. Maybe even contact a pokemon center to have them evaluated.”
“I’m actually free now,” Felix told him as she picked up his bag. “I can help.”
He simply nodded and they walked back into town. Prof. Birch walked quickly, wanting to get the wild Poochyena back to his lab before it woke up. “So, Felix, I've heard so much about you from your father,” he mentioned as they turned a corner, the lab finally coming into sight.
“Oh,” Felix bit her lip before adding, “I hope it wasn’t just because you knew him that you were willing to let me intern,” she pushed. “I can show you my test scores on the tests I used to get a slot with Prof. Elm.”
“Oh, no I know all about those. Your father did mention them, but I was sent a personal email from Prof. Elm. Don’t get me wrong, I would have offered you an opportunity just on the information Elm sent me alone. But your father mentioned how you pursued everything you could to set yourself up to jump into professorship. And I couldn’t just let you fall through the cracks because your parents moved. Especially not when I already trust another kid with the same type of work I’d need from you.”
“What type of work?” Felix asked as they entered the lab, watching as the professor set the Poochyena into a small cubby. He set some parameters, extra oxygen, temperature control, as he tried to set an ideal location for the Poochyena to recover.
“I need to have some field reconnaissance done a little further from the lab. While I can take time to spend weeks in some areas the League wanted some information for standard trainer movements. I’ve heard that you don’t have your own pokemon yet. But the way you battled earlier, you pulled it off with aplomb! I guess you have your father’s blood in your veins after all! So you’re perfect for the job.
“You already have a scientist’s brain, and being able to battle will help protect yourself from wild pokemon,” he said with a smile before turning to his assistant, “Keep an eye on the Poochyena’s stats and can you reach out to the HPHA and see if we can’t get a house call. I want to finish setting Felix up.”
“Oh, yes. As thanks for rescuing me, I’d like you to have the Pokemon you used earlier,” Prof. Birch continued to Felix, "It's going to be important that you have some form of protection and Mudkip has taken a liking to you.”
“Professor, I haven’t wanted to be a trainer. I wanted to be studying Pokemon. If I’d wanted to be a trainer I would have let my dad give me one of his,” Felix pushed back.
“I know you’re hesitant but you saw what happened out there when I forgot to carry pokemon with me,” He explained. “And that mudkip was part of a group I was evaluating for new trainers. But it listens to you and you have good instincts with it. It can only help your studies.”
“How would training help my studies?” Felix asked, crossing her arms while glancing down at Mudkip. It looked up at her with a hopeful expression.
“We study the ecology of wild pokemon primarily. Understanding how pokemon grow is something that comes naturally to trainers. Since there are questions about what encourages wild pokemon to evolve. Think of it as an extension of fieldwork.”
“Mudkip!” the mudkip cheered, placing its front feet on Felix’s leg.
That did it, the well reasoned argument from the professor was already a good argument to have a pokemon. Mudkip’s little cry was too cute to ignore. “Alright, I guess Mudkip would be a good fieldwork partner.”
“While you’re at it, why not give a nickname to that Mudkip?” Prof. Birch asked, “Afterall if he’s going to be a fieldwork partner you can’t just call out ‘Mudkip’ if you find a group of them.”
Felix thought for a while before settling on Oxudercin, based on the scientific name for them. After showing the Professor that she could indeed call out the name or a shorter ‘Oxy!’ when necessary.
“If you work at Pokemon and gain experience, I think you’ll make a darn good trainer, on top of a good fieldwork researcher,” Prof. Birch told her.
“My kid, Brendan, is out on Route 103 studying Pokemon. It might not be a bad idea for you to go see Brendan. What do you think? There’s still plenty of time in the day and it would give you a chance to really bond with Oxudercin,” He offered. “Or you can come back in the morning if you’d like to start your internship then. I’m sure you’re tired from the move.”
“No, I’d like to get started now. Where is route 103?”
“Great! You’ll go out of town on the north side, keep heading north until you hit Oldale town. From there Route 103 will be to the north. Brendan should be happy, too. Get Brendan to teach you what it means to be a trainer, and see if you can’t help with his wild pokemon notes,” Prof. Birch shared.
