Steps to Simplicity - Story Update + Dropbox File(4.17.2012)

[DrP]

So I was bored, so here

Chapter 14: Tegul MeilÄ— Merin
   We began our descent into the Cobalt Lake airport. It was huge. Mansions were piled along the north and east shores of the lake, situated in the hills. We were able to see Burgundy City off on the Southwest shore and the Northwest shore held the airport, surrounded by majestic pine trees, concealing it from the pristine late (where some people were having fun in boats, fishing and jet skiing). It felt like I was in the Pacific Northwest sans the rain, and I felt comforted that I was finally able to get away from the fast-paced travel with Professor Araragi. Our flight landed and got into a speed boat which took us across the 25 mile wide lake. We arrived at a small port where we disembarked and we walked up into the town. Shamrock Town was green, and it contrasted with the Pacific-Northwest vibe of the Cobalt Resort; Shamrock Town felt like an old Irish countryside town located on a lake. Professor Magnolia took my into a small building and it looked like a rustic, Celtic home. She led me down some stairs and into a large, modern room filled with research machinery and other devices.
   â€œWelcome to my research lab,” Professor Magnolia said. “It is small and cozy, yet we are the leading research lab in terms of Pokémon Type studies.” “That seems fairly different from what Professor Rowan does,” I responded. “Well, Merin is a different region,” Professor Magnolia said. “We don’t have special starters like the other region. All of our Pokémon native to Merin can be found in other regions.” “But are still different at least?” I inquired. “Absolutely!” Professor Magnolia answered. “So, for you I have prepared our three starters from Merin. You have Chikorita the Grass type, Charmander the Fire type and Mudkip the Water type.” Professor Magnolia all let them out of their Poké balls and they all stood together on the table. Mudkip jumped around a lot until it found a sink filled with water, where it proceeded to bathe itself, Charmander walked over to the computer and sat on the keyboard where he proceeded to yawn and Chikorita used her vines to swing from the suspended lamps from the ceiling. “Pokémon here in Merin are much more active than from other regions,” Professor Magnolia pointed out. “You are going to have an energetic bunch by the time you’re finished with your journeys through Merin. Have you chosen your Merin starter?” “I think I am going to go with Charmander, mix up my Water type starter a streak a bit,” I replied. “Plus I do know Charmander from the others much better!” “Well, here is his Poké ball,” Professor Magnolia hand me the ball. “Recall him and then we can transfer him to your ownership.”
   â€œProfessor!” a young girl suddenly came running in. She looked around my age, with long, flowing brown hair and hazel eyes that shone as deep as her deep blue jeans and grey t-shirt. She was fairly tall, somewhere around 5’10” and had the figure of a volleyball player. “What is it Charlotte? I am trying to get this new trainer acquainted with his new Pokémon!” “Oh, I’m so sorry!” Charlotte apologized. “Are you a new trainer starting out?” “Oh, no,” I answered. “I just finished traveling around in Sinnoh and I decided to venture someplace else to travel, and Merin hit my list.” “Merin is a beautiful region,” Charlotte said. “We have every element you can experience: a desert, a swamp, mountains, volcanoes, basically everything, well, almost everything!” “Glad to hear!” I quickly responded to prevent Charlotte from trailing on. Something about her seemed familiar. Charlotte expressed some urgency to Professor Magnolia who excused herself to go talk to Charlotte in her office.  I opened a note from Professor Araragi telling me where to go for my first gym battle: Juniper City, back down south by Amber City. She also wrote that my bike should be there by the time I leave tomorrow morning for down south.
   After fumbling around with Charmander’s Poké ball for five minutes, Professor Magnolia and Charlotte returned with a Pokémon in Charlotte’s arms, holding a Swanna in her arms. “Professor Magnolia, could you perhaps give me directions to Juniper City from here?” I inquired. “Of course,” Professor Magnolia answered. She brought me over to a computer and mapped me out a route to Juniper City. It was a pretty long route to get there, but I should get there in about three days at the latest. “You know, I am heading down that direction, perhaps we can travel south together,” Charlotte said. “I am not due in Crimson Town for a week, but I don’t have anything else to do until then!” “That would be really fun!” I said. “I could be a semi-local for once, though I am still going to take a lot of pictures.” “Oh, that’s fine with me!” Charlotte answered. By now, the sun set beyond the horizon over Lake Cobalt.
We went to dinner at a restaurant on the side of the lake and we saw street performers dancing on the sides of the Rue des Fleuves, the road that travels along the lake shore. “It seems as if I am sitting in a street café in Marseille or in Morro Bay,” I said. “The night air is beautiful and that guy with the fire Pokémon is kinda funny.” “He’s a fire breather, what did you expect?” Charlotte answered. “And the Morro Bay you’re referring to is the one in California?” “How do you know about Morro Bay?” I asked quizzically. “I tell people from back home about it and they have no idea what I’m talking about!” “Well, I’m not from around here,” Charlotte told me. “I grew up in Cambria and them we moved here when I was 10.” “How did you adjust?” I asked. “I have been going through the same thing, but I really don’t know what to do.” “I’ve been here for six years and I still haven’t quite adjusted yet,” Charlotte answered. “We will always be Americans, never Verdantians.” “I guess you’re right!” I replied still unsure a bit. “At least I can see so many signs of home,” I answered. “Just look at this. ‘The French Dip Burger’ and ‘Poulet au gris’, these seem interesting.” “They combine the French influence with modern food,” Charlotte pointed out. “Unlike Sinnoh’s total influence from France, Merin has adapted much earlier than Sinnoh and has become the most American oriented place in the Verdant Republic.” “How so?” I asked intrigued. “Merin holds the Verdant Stock Exchange and all major corporations are based out of cities here, mostly in Azure City. The American technology companies have their Oceania HQs in Chestnut City, where it’s basically the only technology companies and the Air Force base as well.” “So this area slowly became Americanized,” I pointed out. “So were basically like Canada?” Charlotte laughed, “Of course we’re not Canada, but we’re close!” We continued talking after our food came and exchanged phone numbers. It was the first time where I saw normal cell phones rather than those crazy Poké Gear phones. When I saw her take out that HTC phone, I went nuts… and better yet, it was running Android. I thought to myself, “I think I may just like Merin the most after all!”
We walked along the lake shore and then returned to Professor Magnolia’s lab for coffee. Professor Magnolia’s lab employs more than 300 people and is the location for the Verdant Research Institute for Pokémon. This is where people go to school after they receive their Undergraduate degree in Pokémon Biology and Research. All the current Professors plus the ones that have retired teach classes over the internet here or come for special guest lectures. It is no wonder that each Professor is extremely busy. Professor Magnolia’s lab has its own Starbucks and a small food court on the bottom level. I should mention that Professor Magnolia’s lab looks like a coffee cup (not a mug) that is five stories high and has an underwater entrance from Lake Cobalt. Professor Magnolia employs the majority of Shamrock Town’s working population. I was extremely excited to meet all these people, especially since they are from all around the world. Every geographical region, similar to a viticultural area, has a Pokémon professor. The State of California has almost 100 professors, Texas almost 300. It is all based on land with population second. We went to the top floor, Professor Magnolia’s personal floor. We sat out on the balcony and looked at the stars and continued to reminisce about California.
I kept on thinking that this was going to turn into a romantic scene that is extremely cliché in romantic comedy movies, but it didn’t, and it was based on the reason that I really didn’t care much. She was also a few years older than me and I didn’t really understand at the time because at this age, dating someone older than you are pretty bad, but when you graduate college, then you can date someone three or four years older than you and society will accept you. Well, just maybe. We talked about our Pokémon journeys and my recent travels across Sinnoh and my encounter with a Merin Gym leader. She looked at me funny when I told her about my meeting with Anastasia. It was probably because Charlotte was a gym leader, too. Well, I would find out later, but I was just listening to Charlotte complain that Anastasia got her job handed down from her father and not like normal Merin gym leaders are chosen; they are chosen by a series of logical puzzles and battles to determine the best fit for the job. Charlotte told me that each of the Merin gym leaders symbolize a certain trait of a hero or of a person of great stature. Each of the gyms has a specific task that one must complete in order to meet the gym leader. According to Charlotte, it’s what makes Merin so “extraordinary in Pokémon battling”.
We continued talking about some of the gym leaders I might face and then we went back inside to finish helping Professor Magnolia complete her study of Bellsprout leaves and the photosynthesis effects that come from them. It turns out Bellsprout process photosynthesis differently than normal plants: they take in spores (along with sunlight) that are erupted every so often (usually in a Pokémon battle) that release huge amounts of oxygen into the air. After turning out the lights in the common room, I watched some TV that was airing that same morning on the West Coast in the United States. I just dozed in and out while watching, thinking of the long journey that I will start early in the morning. It was kind of nice that Charlotte was going to show me around. It was even better that she was going to explain to me the Route system in Merin because it was just a little bit different than most of the other regions in the country. I got up and got ready for bed and collapsed right into bed and I swear I don’t remember anything that happened after that.
When I woke up in the morning, it was still dark outside and I got ready. When I stumbled out of my pitch black room, all the lights on the floor were turned on and Professor Magnolia was in a spandex suit doing Yoga in front of the television and Charlotte was hunched over the counter watching the TV with a cup of coffee. “Morning!” I said sleepily. They both looked at me and Charlotte grabbed a cup of coffee for me and answered, “Morning!” with a smile on her face. We stepped outside where Dawn was coming and the sun slowly crept out of the hills and over Ferne Town, which is the next town over.
Charlotte grabbed my hand and pulled me down 4 flights of stairs and we left quickly on our bikes, heading east on Route 142, looking at the lake side and watching trainers train their new starters and watching the flocks to Taillow and Pidgey and the Mareep and Zigzagoon play in the grass. I was off to a great adventure in Merin, with someone who knows how I feel about this place, how awesome it may be, but has struggles adjusting to a place that truly isn’t your home.
==End Ch 14==

Coming Up: Chapter 15: Pines and Fines

[DrP]

After much deliberation with my right and left brain, I have decided...

Project Steps - The story titled "Steps to Simplicity" has hereby been canceled INDEFINITELY due to.

1) Lack of interest
2) Lack of interest
3) Lack of interest


I have marketed the story, I have told many people. I'm not like Apple Inc where I release a device and I don't really have to market it (but if I do, I make a crapload of money).

Good luck reader with your future endeavors

[SlowPokemon]

xD You really want to emphasize the fact that age later does not matter with dating.

Good chapter, nice avoidance of cliches, and don't cancel because of lack of interest of all things.

Also, my father is thirteen years older than my mother lol.

[DrP]

That wasnt meant to be a date... and they are only 4 years apart if that.

My mom is 10 years older than my dad.

It shouldnt be a huge problem. I may write more. we shall see

[DrP]

So, I'm done with this story.

If I can get 5 people here saying that they read this, then I'll continue.

I've marketed enough times. I'm not apple where I can release a product with out marketing it and it'll sell like crazy.

(Slow, you may need to help me get people... and when you say that your writing is better than mine, you're just being modest, you know? Your writing is like, 10x better than mine)

[SlowPokemon]

Ohoho, shameless flattery, eh? Well I will certainly help, even though your writing is superior to mine.

BTW. I have.

[Winter]

I have.

[DrP]

Any other takers???

[dahans]

I read it... I must admit I don't understand the french words xD. But the story was good! I am not so much into literature, but your story was really interesting! Pokemonstories ftw!

[DrP]

New Poll on the Topic... Please vote.

[Jub3r7]

Keep going.

[DrP]

Im so bored, im gonna write another chapter!

[DrP]

Well, a new chapter is underway, and probably won't be completed until the end of june or after both my econ papers are completed!

[Oritendo]

very nice story drpamplemousse.

[DrP]

--
Nik puts on a turban and holds up a sealed envelope to his forehead.

He lists off five names.

He opens the envelope.

"Five people who want another chapter!"

(I wonder who they might be)
--

I feel like I've lost my writing edge, just not finding the right words to describe everything. books rely on descriptive details to make them amazing, however I feel for even my novel (which is 9 months from having any semblance of editing done to it), I am losing my touch entirely. I realize when growing up, free time dwindles and all I remember is the time I did nothing and wish that I did something. Now, as I travel to a place that is going to be raining a lot (according to TWC), I may have a sit-down with Steps to Simplicity and my other novel and do a hard edit, however it won't be easy. (Now I know why people hire secretaries) -- I fear when I reach employment and my 70-80 hour work week, I still remember the times I have been able to sit and think. Someday, I hope, I can actually finish a writing work.

Sincerement,
DrP