Merlin had been there through those times when the only way to stave off the winter's chill was to huddle by fires and build thick walls to keep the wind from entering. He could remember the days when the rule of sword and sorcery was at its peak, and when kings ruled the land. Life had been different then, and every day had been one of hard work and constant toil was to be expected. Life had been both simpler and harder then, and was many times very short.
But now the chariots had given way to cars, and the upper class had mansions and glass towers rather than castles. Now, he could look out a window of solid glass from a building that had central heat, and air conditioning. Food came from grocery stores, instead of what the locals had grown. Medicine had become a major force to be reckoned with.
And he was now known as 'Professor Oak'. It was a name, and one that he gladly took, for he had little reason not to. After all, if he were to walk freely under his true name, the populace would mob him, and unscrupulous fools would try to claim his knowledge for themselves. Things were better this way, even if he was still widely known. But people only had a deep respect for 'Professor Oak's' authority, and would be hanging on every word that 'Merlin' made. If he wanted people to listen, and he wanted them to really listen, then this ruse was necessary.
He had to find his Heir, didn't he. Even the mighty and wise Merlin could not last forever. All it would take would a simple mistake, an accident, or an illness strong enough to take him on and the knowledge that he had would be forever gone. What he knew needed someone who could take up the role of guardian of the knowledge, and that person would have to be a special individual, and only a few of those were spread across all of time, never mind just one era or area.
Until the time when he could find that person would come, he would have to settle for guiding the youths who came to him to learn about pokegirls, and to start their own journeys. So many of them had passed by him over the years, and he hoped that once he could no longer be 'Oak', he'd have done some good for them. Even now, he was about to be starting off a new batch of young people on their first steps to follow the path of pokegirls.
Most would be going on to become members of the group of pokegirl summoners that history would probably see as a single unit. That wasn't to say that they would be unworthy, or unable to receive consideration for what they'd done, but they were not going to be the sort that one just happened to remember just by hearing their name. Of course, there were some whom did stand out at the moment, for their own reasons. He could remember one of them, as he was a very intelligent young man, but his downfall was arrogance. The boy was too wrapped up in who he was, and never considered the work that he had to do to get to the levels he thought he'd go to. One the other end, there was Ash, who had a big heart, and self confidence to spare, but the boy wasn't the most cautious soul, and could quickly get over his head.
In fact, that did remind him of himself during his youth.
However, he didn't have time to reminisce at the moment. There were things that he had to do, and soon he'd have plenty of young people to attend to, while:
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(Posted Tue, 26 Jul 2005 05:37)
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