Prologue: The Professor's Request
Jon kept his eyes trained on the screen in front of him, watching his character's movements as he input the commands on the game controller. Okay, now jump… Use the Down + A swipe in midair and… YES! Tabuu is gone! "Jon! Don't you have to help the Professor with his field research?" Jon's mom called into his room. "Darn, I would've forgotten had you not reminded me," Jon yelled back. "Let me save this game." After watching the credits to Super Smash Brothers Brawl's Boss Battles mode, Jon shut off his Wii and headed out of his room, but not before making sure to check the item storage program on his computer, finding a Potion. Could come in handy. The Professor did say I was supposed to get my first Pokémon today. With excitement running through him, Jon headed downstairs.
I wonder if the professor is in his lab. Jon headed over to the large yellow brick building at the south end of town, but found only the professor's 15-year-old grandson, Blue. "What, it's only Jon? Gramps isn't around," Blue commented. "Hey, just because you're his grandson doesn't give YOU the right to treat me like some kind of lowlife. I am 20, you know," Jon replied. "It makes no difference to me," Blue said. "Check the grass around Route 1. You know he sometimes does fieldwork out there, even if he is getting a bit old."
Well, for once he decided to be helpful, instead of being his usual teenage snobby self. Deciding to take his rival's advice, Jon headed north towards the route out of town. Before he could even touch the first patch of grass with his foot, he heard the voice of Professor Oak. "Jon! What is the first rule of being a professor's aide?!" "I know, I know, never go into a location used for fieldwork alone-more specifically without you or one of the lab's Pokémon. But you weren't around, and Blue said he thought you were out doing fieldwork." "I was bringing some new research journal issues from the lab over in Cinnabar," the Professor replied. "But as I said before, I've been thinking that it might be a good idea if you had your own Pokémon. You've learned all that you can about this world and its creatures from me, so it's time you started learning from experience."
All right! I've been waiting for this for so long! Jon and the professor headed back inside the lab, where they found an impatient Blue. "For crying out loud, Gramps, I'm fed up with waiting," he commented irritably. "Just wait a little bit longer," Oak replied. "Jon is older, so he gets the first choice of Pokémon out of these three I caught during my travels. Go on and pick one, Jon." "Hey! Gramps! No fair! What about me?" Blue protested, his frustration growing with every single word. The professor sighed before replying, "Like I said, be patient, Blue. I'll let you pick once Jon has made his choice."
Jon walked over to the small table across from the professor and reached his hand out to grasp the middle Pokéball. I made this choice in my mind years ago, he thought, picking up the Pokéball and releasing the Squirtle inside. "An excellent choice. This is really a very energetic Pokémon," the professor declared. "Will you nickname it?" "Yes, sir, I will," Jon replied. Releasing his Squirtle from its Pokéball, he noticed it had features that he knew were common in males of the species. Well, I honestly had a better nickname ready for a female, but when it comes down to it, the gender really doesn't matter that much. Turning to the Squirtle, Jon said, "I'll call you Percy. Is that okay with you?" "SQUIR!" The little blue Pokémon responded excitedly. "I'll take this one, then," Blue said, moving next to Jon and picking up another Pokéball. Hm, that one had the Bulbasaur inside it, as I recall… Leave it to Blue to pick the Pokémon that has a type advantage over mine. Oh well, if I can find a TM for Ice Beam…
Pushing these thoughts out of his mind, Jon prepared to head out of the lab when Blue stopped him. "Wait, Jon! Let's check out our Pokémon! I challenge you to a one-on-one battle!" "Fine by me, but not in the lab. Let's head outside to Route 1." The two young men headed to a patch of grass outside Pallet Town, where they faced each other on opposite sides of a makeshift field.
"This battle between Jon and Blue, rookie trainers of Pallet Town, will now begin," Prof. Oak declared, watching the battle from an area outside of the field. Despite never having had a Pokémon battle before, I know what to do. I would think that Blue's Bulbasaur will be faster than Percy, but I'll go ahead and try attacking it anyway.
"Percy, use Tackle," Jon ordered. Surprisingly, Percy moved first and scored a moderately powerful hit on his opponent. "Bulbasaur, Tackle as well," Blue commanded. Ugh, a critical hit. I'll have to be more careful from here on out. The two Pokémon traded another two sequences of Tackles before Jon decided to use his Potion. I'm still surprised by the fact that for every exchange in this battle, Percy has moved first. "Grr, he healed his Pokémon," Blue muttered in frustration. "So what?" Jon replied. "It's a legitimate tactic, and the right thing to do to prevent your Pokémon from dying in battle." "I'm just annoyed that you decided to play smart," the professor's grandson retorted." "Bulbasaur, tackle attack!" "Percy, Tackle it as well." The two Pokémon slammed into each other, flying into opposite ends of the grass patch. Jon could tell that Blue's Pokémon was getting tired. Now one more... "Finish it! One more Tackle!" Percy slammed into the dinosaur-plant hybrid Pokémon with its shell, putting it down for the count. "What! Unbelievable! I picked the wrong Pokémon, even if it did have the type advantage! I'm going to go train this thing to make it stronger! Smell you two later!"
Musing over Blue's odd choice of parting words, Jon was about to head out of the lab when the professor stopped him. "I need you to go pick up a package for me that was recently delivered to the Poké Mart in Viridian City. Could you and Percy take care of that?" "SQUIRTLE!" Jon's Pokémon answered excitedly, before he could even reply. "I guess that's a yes. Let's get going, Percy!" With those words, Jon left the lab, headed straight for Viridian City.
