The Beginning

Chapter Two

Charlie was in Elm's lab. It had been three days since the reading of the will and Charlie had come to get some answers.
He was sitting, facing Professor Elm, who was stirring his coffee. So far, only pleasantries had been exchanged.
Charlie noticed that there wasn't much memorabilia to his father around the lab, which upset him slightly, but work is work as his father used to say.
"I'm terribly sorry about your father, Charlie. He was an excellent man. Couldn't have asked for anyone better."
"Thank you, Professor" Charlie said quietly.
Elm took a sip of his drink, took a deep breath and resumed talking. "I believe your father said that you should come to me for answers?" Charlie nodded. "Well, then. Ask and I'll try my hardest to answer them."
Charlie didn't know where to start. "OK then. My father said that he knew he was going to die. What did he mean?"
Elm thought for a second, and then responded. "Charlie, your dad was more than just my assistant. In fact, he wasn't really my assistant at all. I sent him away on, how should I put this? Missions." Elm looked straight at Charlie, expecting a reaction, but all Charlie did was keep looking down at his lap. Either he was very shy, or just didn't want to show how curious he really was. "Have you ever heard of an organisation called Team Rocket?" Charlie nodded, looking up slightly now. "Well, I heard a rumour that they were planning to steal something from my lab. I didn't know what to do, so I sent your father, Gold, to infiltrate the organisation and find out how to stop them from stealing my technology."
Charlie understood, although it was hard to believe. His father was like a spy!
"Shall I carry on?" Elm asked? Charlie was looking straight at him now, hanging on to every word.
"Yes, please, Professor."
"Right then. So Gold was there for about a week and he'd found out enough to stop them. However, they had discovered who he was, so tried to catch him. I'm sorry to say they did. He was very brave, though. He didn't reveal anything to them about my lab. But they don't like stubbornness at Team Rocket so they," Elm swallowed hard. "They shot him, Charlie. I'm so sorry." Elm broke into a fit of tears. "It's all my fault! I never meant to tear your life apart! Forgive me? I know I don't deserve it, but please, try."
"It's OK, Professor. I'm sure my father knew what he was getting himself into." But it wasn't OK. Charlie wanted to break down and cry too, but he needed to find out more. "What about the explosion? I thought that that killed him."
"That was a cover up. We use Voltorbs to power a lot of equipment here, and one exploded, taking out the whole east wall. I thought it was the best way to conceal what had really happened." Elm said through tears. Charlie waited a minute before doing anything else. He felt a film of tears forming over his eyes.
"He said that he'd left me something." Charlie said eventually.
Elm sniffled and opened one of his many drawers in the desk. He pulled out a Poke Ball and handed it to Charlie, who was awestruck. A Pokemon? That was the surprise? Charlie said a silent thank you to his dad. "Open it." Elm urged, suddenly looking less teary-eyed. Charlie obeyed.
He pressed the button on the centre of the ball and a beam of brilliant white light erupted from inside. Charlie shielded his eyes from exposure to the light, and when it cleared, there stood a small, brown, mouse-like Pokemon.
"Sandshrew!" it called out.
Charlie stared at it for a moment then smiled. "Hello, Gold."
"Take care of him, Charlie. Make him strong enough to take down Team Rocket and avenge your father!" Charlie was shocked at Elm's words, but for some reason, Charlie knew that's what he wanted.
"I will, Professor, I promise."

Charlie raced home and up into his room, ignoring his mother. He released Gold and let him get used to Charlie's room. Then, Charlie went into the cupboard in the upstairs corridor and reached right to the top. He found his Tepiggy bank and pulled out about 1000P, which he slipped into his pocket. He was excited now. Charlie no longer felt the pain that his father's death had caused. He was going to avenge his father. And he was going to do it soon.

Author's Note: I know it seemed a bit short and all over the place, but I was kind of in a rush to write it for this week's update. Expect a nice, structured Chapter Three!