Regeneration: A New Pokemon Story

Despite Popular Beilief.....

     The more time I spent in Sandgem, the more I began to question the name. As I sat in the Cafe waiting for our order I realized the "Sand" part was no confusion at all. The caked "dust" around the Professors building wasn't really dust at all, just the congealed sand that had blown up from the nearby lake. The sand covered the town in a thick blanket of fog anytime there was so much as a slight breeze. Even as I sat in the booth of the so called "Cafe" (which was no more than the downstairs section of an apartment building,) sand carpeted the floor thickly.
     Three heavy mugs were passed around our booth. I stared down into the rich foam of a capachino, the dark coffee had left it's trace on the white foam, the horizontal line centered around the smaller circle resembled that of a Pokeball. Lifting the warm mug up to my lips, I drained the sweet and foamy mixture down about an inch. This coffee may be the only reason that this place is called SandGem
     Dawn glared at me from her seat on the other seat of the booth, she was sandwiched between the wall and the Professor, huddled over her mug like a disproving gargoyle. Professor Rowan to a sip of his plain black coffee and turned to her,
     "So Mara-"
     "Dawn." She interupted.
     "Right, Dawn, what did you call this meeting over?"
     "Well. According to Monkey Boy here."
      I interjected that my name was Austin, to which she glared, mumbled "what ever," and continued,
     "The Miss-haps are on the ground again. And near by. They've been collecting Starlies."
     "Hmmm, a little too close for comfort, do we have eyes on them?"
     "Uh no, drones are still offline" Dawn pulled out her Pokedex and began tapping away. "Would you like to Scramble, Professor?"
     "No no, that's completely unecessary. Austin has to go back home to say farewell to his mother, you can follow along and meet these thugs head on." He waved steam off of his coffee and took another sip. Dawn had been steeping a tea bag in her mug for awhile now, she froze while the tea bag dripped down into the cup.
     "You can't be serious."
     "Despite popular belief I can be serious, in fact, at the moment, I am." Professor Rowan stood up, and gestured for us to do the same. "Dawn, please take your fellow apprentice to the Pokemart, and a quick stop at the local Medical Center for his Chimchar."

     I missed the Cafe as soon as Dawn and I stalked out. "I'm no one's damn apprentice, I've been helping him out from the start and he's just gunna-"
     "Language Sweetheart." I mumbled, although it was a little louder than I had expected. Ever since the 6th grade my voice dropped harder than the economy. Even though it's high when I get nearvous, my voice tends to carry.
     "I'm not your sweetheart, and I'll curse when ever I feel like it got that scrub?" She yelped over her shoulder as she marched on.
     "Sorry, sorry, it's just something Reggy says to me, it just kinda came out." I explained, Reggy always said that if I cursed, because he knew it wasn't a habbit of mine to curse. It wasn't that I had a problem with it, I just didn't.
     We slowed down as we reached our destination. A large white building covered in a mesh of grown up vines, topped with a faded red roof. In the center of the roof was a red cross, surrounded by a Pokeball shape.
     Cold air blasted into our faces as we walked in. Dusty cots lined the rooms and machines beeped and buzzed ever once in awhile. A slender man sat at a high desk in the center, his black and white tux contrasted the dingy lobby as if he were in the wrong place.
     "Can I help you today?" He said in a nasally tone. His eyes darted to Dawn and back to me, then he nodded, pointed his finger to his right, and in a gravelly voice, "The Poke center is that way."
     Dawn tugged me along by my sleeve as we dodged IV's and wires, and navagated our way through a dimly lit hallway, to a small room with yellow carpet and red counters. I jumped at first when I saw the desk in the center, in which a skeleton sat, slouched against a desolving office chair. Dawn cleared her throat and bellowed loud and clear, "We request assistance! "
     Sparks flew from the skeletons spine, which showed just enough light on the wires that hung loose from its frame. The Skelton was metal. It sat up straight and looked at us with buzzing eyes that zipped and hummed everytime they darted around. In a mechanical, monotone drone, it proclaimed, "Accessing Nurse functions."
     Little panels all over the robots body flipped open as little lens extended out. With a few more sparks and a musical chime, the skeleton lit up and became the projection of a woman. It, She, was a fair skinned adult, probably in her mid thirtys. Courteous laugh lines framed her ruby red lips, and fantastic braids arched from her head and formed intricate loops and shapes of pink.
     "Good morning" sang a sultry voice, "Welcome to the Pokémon center!" She giggled and continued, it was a nice giggle, but disturbing thoughts of the skeleton undeneath still crept along my skin.
     "We restore your tired Pokémon back to full health! Would you l-l-l-l...." She began to loop and glitch on the word, the projection flicked on and off, exposing her skeletal frame. Dawn stepped in from of her, and in an exaggerated tone, emphasized "YES!"
     "L-l-l- Ok! I'll take your Pokémon now, it will only take a few minutes." The projection returned, and she held out her hand. My mind blanked for a little while and I did nothing but blink. The same smile still lingered on the nurses face, squinting her eyes up and every once in a while flickering. Dawn nudged my arm.
      "Right right." I took out my Pokéball and set it carfully down into the nurses hands. With an inhuman twirl of her torso, she dropped the Pokéball into a tray, and slid it into a small machine. With the wurl of a fan, the machine began to flash and smoke and rumble, and then like an old oven, dinged. The tray slid out, and the nurse handed me the Pokéball.
     "Thank you for your." The nurse began, but in the blink of an eye the projection was gone, and like a puppet with snipped strings, the skeleton collapsed into the office chair as a pile.

     "Well that was..." I searched for the right word as we walked out of the Medic Center.
     "Disturbing? Don't worry, only the low budget centers are like that." Dawn readjusted her bandanna, "Once you get to Jubilife where there are more trainers, you won't have to see the frame, or all the glitches."
     "So wait, all Pokémon Centers are like that?"
     "Well, yeah, they are all holograms running on programs. The nurse that you see is a representation of the Head nurse of Siloh. She has done alot of work in the feild of Pokémon medicine."
     "Alright then... well where to next?"
I asked, rotating Chimchars Pokeball around in my fingers.
     "Pokemart, we need to get you set up with some gear." She gestured ahead to a small building, with a bright blue roof. The building was high up off of the ground and ballenced on cinder blocks, waterlogged wooden steps led up to the crooked door.
     "You can't be serious," I mumbled.
     "Despite popular belief I can be serious, in fact, at the moment, I am." Dawn snuggly grinned as she echoed Professor Rowans words. She led me up the creaking steps, and pushed me through the flimsy door. The inside was decorated with dream catchers, wind chimes, beads, several burning sticks of incense. Old shag carpet covered the floor, and shelves lined with bottles stacked on the walls.
     Two guys hooped and hollered as we walked in, "Dawn! What's up!!! Who's the newb?!" One with a baseball cap half yelled.  The other, who had a messy mop of copper red hair jumped over the table and hugged Dawn in a bear hug, and then turned to me. Despite my complaints, he turned on me, and embraced me in a hug that was just as sincere.
     "I'm Ken " said the one in the baseball cap.
     "I'm Dan " said the red head. They both saluted at the same time, and in a flat tone, simotaniously qouted, "Welcome to our Pokémart! Can we help you with anything today?"
     "Yeah you can, I need you to hook us up with the newbie pack." Dawn pulled a small card out of he back pocket and handed it to Ken.
     "Another freebie? You've got to be kidding me! That makes the second one today!" Dan moaned as he snatched the card away and scanned over it.
     "Well I guess the Professor could just stop funding this little buissness of yours...." Dawn leaned against the counter.
     "Yeah yeah, we know, we know." Ken said, he knelt down and pulled out a small crate, and from that he took out a heap of metal cables and set it down on the counter, along with 5 Pokéballs, 3 spray bottles, and one small grainy stone.
     "What is all of this?" I said, picking up part of the metal heap.
     "About 5000 yen worth of equipment, that you are getting for free, thanks to our benafactor," Ken said as he began messing with the cabels. Dan held his hands up as if he were reading a letter. "Signed with love, He who has no consideration for buissness, Professor Rowan."
     "What does it do though?" I said,
     "Pull out your Pokédex." Ken said, holding up the cables. I did as he said, and opened up the small metal case. Words showed up on the screen saying "New attachment available,  connect?" I pressed the accept button, and a blue light lit up in the middle of the cables. Ken handed the metal mess to me by the two hooks it hung from. "Clip these to your belt." I took the hooks and felt the weight buckle my arms down a bit. I couldn't tell if it was lighter or heavier than I thought it would be. The pile of cords stretched out into a horizontal, much less tangled conglomeration. I slung it around my waist and hooked the clips onto my belt.
     Suddenly with a twisting jolt, the wires snaked around and began hooking into my belt and around my thighs. As I watched, the self aware tendrils wrapped around and formed small, three fingered hands, three on each side of me. I felt my bag unzip, and watched as Dawn took out my Pokeball, and place it in one of the metal holds. The metal fingers gripped the ball tight, and the remaining holds clossed.
     "Woooaahhh..." I said as I looked around at the metals cables that had now become a perfect structure.
     "This will hold all of your battle Pokémon, it is linked to your Pokedex, so you can always check on their status. " Dan flicked the sore spot where The Professor injected the small device into me.
     "Now," Dawn said, putting the other supplies into my bag, "Lets go catch some Pokémon. "