Rise of a Rocket

Deviantart



Prologue: Memories long forgotten


The room was small. It wasn't so small to be a cell but not a large luxury chamber either, sparsely furnished with only a grey bed and a dull metal dresser against one wall. Currently, its inhabitant was standing in front of the dresser, rummaging through a drawer for something...
He stood tall at nearly six feet, dressed in a clean white lab coat over the professional black uniform the members of his rank were assigned. The shining red letter pin on the right side of his chest gleams in the light of the chamber as he continues his search, tossing his head sharply to fling the long blonde bangs out of his eyes.
"Where is it..." he mutters to himself, reaching his arm deeper into the drawer, "I can't leave for the day without my com-link..."
In his searching, his hand brushes against something near the back of the drawer. It had a similar feel to what he'd been looking for and so he pulled it out to examine it. It wasn't the communicator he needed, however. It was a framed photo, one of he and his parents when he was little standing in front of a small yellow house that looked to be part of a row of similar dwellings.
He pauses to look at it, backing away from the dresser to sit down on the bed slowly.
His sneasel, whom had been waiting patiently for him on the floor, jumps up on the bed beside him to look at the picture.
He glances over at the pokemon, "This was the day I got you. Earlier in the day." he explains, pointing to the older man standing beside him in the photo, "My dad. He had your poke ball in his pocket the whole time." he sighs, staring at the face of his father and remembering...
"What happened, Suzie...?" he asks his sneasel softly, thinking back to that happy day in his childhood and the series of events it would spark...

Deviantart

Chapter 1: Anticipation


"Say cheese!"
The photographer's flash momentarily blinds the young boy standing beside his parents outside their new home. He groans softly and rubs his eyes to remove the spots floating in them, looking up at his father.
The man stood tall at six and a half feet, broad shouldered and strong from a youth spent working hard. His dishwater blonde hair had been tamed for the occasion, combed over to one side with only a few rebellious strands poking out here and there. A gentle breeze comes along and moves his white lab coat slightly, also succeeding in ruffling the scientist's hair to its usual level of muss.
"Martain." A soft female voice calls, drawing the attention of the scientist to the woman beside him. She had dark blue-violet hair and bright green eyes. She also wore a lab coat, although her's remained unbuttoned to accommodate her protruding pregnant belly, "We should head back inside. Jackson seems to be getting antsy." She continues, smiling to the man.
Martain nods, looking down to the small boy, "You've been a good sport, Jack. Waiting for the photographer so quietly."
Jackson holds his gaze to match his father's for a few seconds before looking down again. He just wanted to go back inside to be away from the flash man.
The woman turns toward the house, reaching out for Martain's arm, "Come on. Let's go back inside." She reaches down with her other hand to take Jackson's and lead both of them back into the house.
Inside, the modest home was brightly decorated with balloons and banners. One had shiny lettering that spelled out 'Happy Birthday' as it hung over a table containing a poke ball shaped cake and two wrapped gifts.
Jackson's eyes light up and he smiles, excited about finally getting to the reason there had been a photographer outside. Today was his birthday. He lets go of his mother's hand and trots over to the table, soon finding that its contents were high above his reach. As he tries to reach up toward one of the brightly wrapped boxes, he's scooped up into his father's arms and held against a shoulder.
"Anxious, are we?" Martain asks playfully, smiling at the young boy, "These are for later when the other guests arrive."
Jackson frowns and groans annoyedly, "How come I gotta wait?" he asks, leaning over Martain's shoulder to try and reach one of the packages. Two small steps away from the table by the adult scientist foil the attempt, however, "Grams has to be here. Don't you want Grams to see what you got?"
"She can see later." Jackson replies, still frowning. The sparkling gifts were so close, just out of reach…
"Tell ya what. If you can wait just a little longer, I'll give you an extra special gift." Martain replies, "But you have to be patient and wait for everyone to get here and then for everyone to leave again, okay?"
Jackson sits back against his father's arm, looking him in the eye, "What is it?" he asks, his youthful curiosity piqued.
"It's a surprise." The scientist smiles, "I'll say it'll be well worth the wait but you have to be patient. Can you do that for me?"
Jackson frowns slightly in thought, pondering only briefly before replying, "I guess so."
Martain smiles at this, "That's my boy." He replies, setting Jackson back down on the floor before walking off to finish preparing for the party, leaving the young boy to occupy himself with an eevee pokedoll sitting on the couch. He seemed to hold a play battle with the eevee against the other pokedolls on the furniture, a baltoy and a machop are the targets for his 'training'.
Martain chuckles softly, going about what needed to be done.