Hello, reader, thank you for clicking on my fic! This is the first chapter so it moves a bit slow, it's not too action-packed, but bear with me it'll get better.
Please please please review! i want to know what i can do better, and i might even add things to the story at your request.
Chapter One
A long time ago there was a sleepy old town that lied nestled in a dense forest, surrounded by trees on all sides. To the west lied a rigid mountain range, and to the left, a quiet river. Don't go looking for it these days though, all you'll find is a large lake, formed from a crater left by… well, if I told you now, it would ruin the story, sorry.
Anyway, I bet you're wondering why I'm telling about this. The reason is, this is where the story of a great pokémon trainer begins. That trainer's name was Jacob. But he preferred just "Jay". He would go on to save the world. But before we get to that…
The night air was brisk and gusts of chill blew the tall grass surrounding the town nearly horizontal.
A nearby bird pokémon, Hoothoot, cooed quietly.
"I'M GONNA BE LATE!" Jay sat up in his bed, eyes shooting open. He hurriedly threw on a nearby pair of pants, a black t-shirt and his cap and bolted down the stairs.
His father stood in a dark purple bathrobe in the kitchen, brewing some coffee, as he did every morning. He was a very tall man, six-foot-eight, his short hair was just on the edge of graying and his face was gentle, covered with light wrinkles.
"Dad!" Jacob yelled as he tumbled down the stairs, "Ow! Why didn't you wake me up?!"
His father watched, amused, as his son ran into the door. "Ack!"
"Because it's five a.m., Jacob." he chuckled, pouring his coffee.
Jay looked at the clock on the wall, a farfetch'd clock, (the wing with the leek in it was the minutes hand.) which indeed read, 5:05.
Jay breathed a sigh of relief. He sat down on a stool at the kitchen table and rested his head on his hands.
His father looked at him with a smile. "Your pants are on backwards, boy."
Jay looked down and, sure enough, they were. "Aw, jeez."
"You nervous, Jay?" his father inquired, looking genuinely concerned.
"I've never been more nervous about anything in my life dad!" Jay said, desperately, "I don't think there's anything else I could be if I wasn't a pokémon trainer! And there's only ten spots! Out of the whole south -western area of the region, there's ten trainers who are gonna get pokémon. How do I know I'm good enough?"
His father sighed deeply. After a long silence he said this:
"You don't."
"Thanks for the encouragement, dad."
His dad chuckled. "Let me be real with you for a second, son." he scooted closer to Jay. "When I was fifteen, back when I lived in Kanto, I got my starter for free. You know, before all this ceremonial stuff and contests just to get a pokémon, I showed up to Oak's lab, I handed him my ID badge and he gave a Bulbasaur…"
"Wait, dad, do you mean-"
"Buh-buh-buh, let me finished." he interrupted, "I set off on my journey to become a gym leader. And two months later, I came back home. I was hungry, I was tired. My feet hurt and my wallet was empty.
"I had wanted it so bad, I thought more than anyone in the region. But, son, you know how many gym leaders there were?" Jay sensed the rhetorical question and remained silent. "Eight. And do you know how many trainers there were out there? Thousands. I didn't have the stuff. I became a cook. A damn good one I might add, but, nonetheless.
"But, Jay, if there was anyone that I thought could make it out there, in that hell of an industry, it would be you."
Jay smiled at his father. After a while he asked, "Dad, that Bulbasaur that you got, was it-"
"Bulba-bulbasaur!" a sleepy creature called as he waddled out of Jay's Dad's bedroom.
"-Buddy..?" Jay smiled as the old friend sauntered up to him. Jay picked him up and petted the bulb on his back.
Jay's dad sipped his coffee, "Yeah. Oak offered to take him off of my hands but after all the shit we'd been through there's no way I was gonna let him go."
"So," Jay scratched under Buddy the Bulbasaur's chin, "He never evolved, even after those two months?"
"Not even a little." They both laughed. "I haven't battled with him since so he may never be a Venusaur… but he's okay with that. Aren't ya, Bud?"
"B-u-l-b-a…" Buddy dozed off as Jay was petting him.
Jay set him down on the couch.
"Anyway, kid," His father stood up. "You gotta get some rest before the ceremony starts. You want some sleep."
"But, dad," Jay protested, "There's no way I'm gonna get any sleep. My adrenaline's pumping so fast I might burst!"
"Well, it's either that or coffee."
They kept no cream or sugar in the house so the coffee was always so bitter you might as well eat a handful of coffee beans.
"Ehh. I'll pass." Jay said as he headed upstairs to his bedroom.
"Get some rest Jay, you'll need it."
"Will do, pop."
He did not.
The sun peaked out just over the mountain range that Jay could view from his window. It painted the cloudless sky all different colors. A flock of pidgey flitted among the trees around town
Jay stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom off of his bedroom. He was nearly six feet tall. Only a few inches to go. He had thick, medium-length black-brownish hair, and green eyes, just like his dad. The comb in his hand was currently fighting a losing battle against the cowlick on the top of his head. "Just- come on! Maybe if I wet it again…? Damn it, it just- you know what, to hell with it. Hat." he slipped on his blue and white cap.
He sat on his bed tapping his foot rapidly.
"And… seven o'clock!" He slung his backpack onto his shoulder and ran down the stairs.
He saw his dad, now dressed, leaving his own room.
"You didn't sleep, you little shit."
Jay grinned. "Sorry pa, gotta catch the bus!"
"Here, take this sandwich, you're gonna get hungry."
He snatched it hurriedly. "Thanks, dad! Love you, bye!"
"Good luck!" he yelled as Jay burst out the door.
He sprinted down the street of the town he'd lived in all his life. All fifteen years of his life. He breathed deeply. It all lead up to this. There was no way he could wait another year for this opportunity.
He reached the bus stop. He was the first to arrive.
Jay waited for thirty minutes until the bus arrived. He remained the sole passenger at the bus stop. When he climbed on the bus he saw only four other passengers.
"Pretty packed, sure you got room for me?" Jay joked to the bus driver
The bus driver's turned to Jay, unimpressed. "Take a seat, please."
Geez. Tough crowd. Jay thought as he took his seat towards the middle.
It was a long bus ride, stopping in nearly any community it passed. Even the small ones with only a few houses. The bus slowly filled up.
Jay kept praying that no one would sit next to him, lest he be pestered with their whole life story, all their struggles and why "they were gonna be a pokémon master!" What does that even mean?
His prayers stopped working though, when a short, skinny blond kid with large glasses that made his blue eyes appear larger than they were, popped a squat next to him.
Don't introduce yourself, please don't introduce yourself. Just leave me alone! He thought in his head.
The kid adjusted the bag at his feet and stuck his hand out to Jay, "My name's Jesse, and I'm gonna be a pokémon master!"
Ugh.