[I know this chapter is pretty short, comparatively speaking, but it's really only meant as an introduction. :)]
The sun shone through the curtains of my bedside window, warming my face and waking me up. I opened my eyes and sat up in my bed, only to have the simple one story house I had renovated in the woods meet my sleepy, groggy eyes. As I woke up lying in bed, I smiled; this whole building was a point of pride for me. I'm lucky in a few ways. Since I lived near a river that was plentiful with fish, I was able to make a small amount of money every now and then by selling any extra fish I caught at a nearby village. I didn't make a lot of money, but I was able to put all of what I made towards the house, eventually bringing it up to standard. It wasn't much of a life, but I already had a roof over my head with modern amenities, and a pretty easy source of food. I liked the taste of cooked fish; it grew bland after a while, but I didn't mind. As for the seasons: the region I lived in never grew cold enough to make the flora go dormant, and during the summer I went around in as little as I thought I could get away with – less if I never left the house.
I sat on the edge of my bed in a haze trying to remember why I had a vague sense of importance about today. I got up and looked at my calendar only to confirm my suspicions: it had been seven years to the day since my tenth birthday. As everybody knows, the tenth birthday is an immensely important day for any little boy or girl aspiring to become Pokémon trainers. I leaned against my bed for a second, remembering that fateful day.
I had rushed through the morning with an excitement that only a ten year old can muster when they are going to become a pokemon trainer that same day. I dressed, inhaled breakfast, bade goodbye to my parents, and was out the front door in record time and made my way to the local pokemon researcher's ranch so I could meet my new partner and friend as well as get my pokedex. I ran up to the automatic door and skidded to a stop so that I could enter at a more reasonable pace – after all, my parents had raised me better. I walked inside and asked some of the various research aides where I could find the professor and with their help I was able to find her. (It was a rather large building, I kind of had to ask around.)
I came to the room she was in and wouldn't you know it, she was feeding the three pokemon to which one of I would be destined to befriend and take on my journey with me as my starter. As she presently had her back to me, I coughed politely to announce my presence. We introduced ourselves, and I found that she went by the name of Professor Elisabeth Forsythia. We exchanged greetings and I told her I was here for my starter and politely requested a Pokedex. As she went over to another part of the room with a terminal, I picked up one of the pokemon gently: one, because I didn't wish to accidentally injure the pokemon … and two, it was the fire starter. I smiled and took a step to steady myself, and accidentally stepped on one of the front paws of the water type and I stumbled and then landed on the grass type in a heap. Before the three Pokémon could become agitated at the clumsy uncoordinated kid I was, Prof. Forsythia returned them to their pokeballs. After that, it dawned on me that I wouldn't be able to get a starter as the three of them seemed to shy away from me from then on; she only had the three. I could feel tears begin to well in my eyes.
Before I could get emotional, she kneeled down and comforted me. As I calmed down, she informed me that I could simply go and catch a pokemon and it would then become my starter. That more than cheered me up and she gave me a full set of pokeballs, and a pokedex. I noticed that the pokedex was mostly full, so at least that was one thing I didn't have to worry about.
After that, I made my way home and sadly explained to my parents what happened. They understood because sometimes things like these happen, and they handed me a backpack that they had apparently gotten ready sometime beforehand and a set of stylish trainer clothes. I profusely thanked them and went to my room and changed into them. Before I could go, my mom took me aside and gave me quite a lot of money … they had apparently been planning for this day for years, hugged me and warned me that the money wouldn't last for long, that I should spend it wisely and find a source of income as soon as I could. I smiled and thanked her. I hugged her and my dad again, and ran off to start my journey.
I came back to reality of a low, rumbling growl from my lower abdomen; I looked down and my stomach began to growl louder signifying its pressing need for food. I eyed it with slight exasperation, "All right, all right! I'll feed you in a bit. Hold on." It quieted down as if in response. I sighed and grabbed my fishing rod after getting dressed. It was given to me by some nice old fisherman as thanks (After I had listened to him ramble a rather long story of him as a young fisherman in his prime) and set out on a slow walk to a nearby river then got ready and settled in to wait for something to bite. It would prove to be a long wait; it usually was.
The wind was blowing gently across the river, which was babbling a happy, quiet tune. The sun shone through the leaves of the tall tree I was lying against; it was a great day. It was some time before I gave up actively fishing for the time being. I found a couple of rocks and was able to fix the rod in the correct position before I laid myself against the tree I was sitting on and looked past its' branches into the deep blue sky and drifted off to sleep.
