"Hello, there! Welcome to the world of pokémon! My name is Oak. People call me the pokémon professor! This world is inhabited by creatures called pokémon! For some people, pokémon are pets. Others use them for fights. Myself. . . I study pokémon as a profession.
"First, what is your name?"
The young boy Oak was speaking to gave him a quizzical look. "My name is Yellow."
"Right! So your name is Yellow!" Oak began when another brown-haired young boy appeared beside the older man. "This is my grandson. He's been your rival since you were a baby. . . . Erm, what is his name, again?"
Yellow scratched the back of his head. "His name is Blue, Oak. . ." Yellow began to wonder if these were the beginning signs of Alzheimer's when Oak startled him out of his thoughts.
"That's right! I remember now! His name is Blue!
"Yellow! Your very own pokémon legend is about to unfold! A world of dreams and adventures with pokémon awaits! Let's go!"
With that, both Oak and the boy Blue began to drift away from a very confused Yellow and to fade from sight.
Yellow slowly opened his eyes, allowing a rush of bright colors to assault his sight accompanied by a soft melody. He was staring at his T.V., and as he moved his fingers, he realized he was holding a SNES controller. He had apparently fallen asleep on the floor of his room the night before while playing a video game. Yellow slowly sat upright, moving bronze hair out of his face, then stretched.
"Hmm, weird dream. No more late-night RPG games for me," he commented to nobody in particular and sat hunched for a moment before stretching over to turn his SNES console and T.V. set off.
"It's way too early to be up," Yellow whined, and let himself fall back on the floor when he heard a small tune sound from the corner of his room, from his computer. "An E-mail. . . I can always read it later," he moaned and turned onto his side, closing his eyes. Not long after, a louder melody began playing from it. Yellow looked at his computer with a frown and rolled onto his other side for a moment before getting up, dusting himself off.
The computer screen flashed the words: PHONE CALL FROM: JACK.
Yellow's eyes lit up and he was suddenly awake. Jack was Yellow's friend who had left home a few months ago to start his pokémon journey. Jack, Blue and Yellow had grown up together, but Jack was the older of the three. Even so, Blue had a habit of picking on Jack, but Yellow was always by Jack's side, ready to defend him. Jack had been the quieter one of the three, so Yellow had worried for him when he first left, but he would occasionally call Yellow to keep in touch. He was incredibly intelligent for his age, however, and Yellow strongly believed this kept Jack from getting into too many problems while out on his journey.
Each time they talked, Jack seemed more and more confident, and his starter pokémon, his squirtle, seemed bigger and stronger. This time was no different, Yellow noticed, as he hung the earpiece from the computer around his ear and the PC screen flickered to show a young man with dark black hair holding a large shell to his chest, from which a blue, aquatic pokémon poked its head and limbs out.
"Good morning, Yellow," Jack's soft voice sounded as he smiled, a gorgeous ocean decorating the scenery behind him. "Hey, Jack!" Yellow smiled back, then looked at the squirtle. "Hey, Squirtle!" The pokémon smiled back and waved excitedly. "How've you guys been?"
Yellow watched as Jack placed his squirtle on the ground, pulled out an apple and gave it to the pokémon. It ran off with the apple and played with it like a soccer ball, bouncing it with his head; he obviously wasn't a big fan of eating breakfast so early. "We've been doing really well, actually," Jack said as he stood back up, Squirtle nodding in agreement in the distance. "Squirtle and I have gotten two badges already, actually," he continued and lifted a small, opened box with two badges inside, marking Jack's successful attempts at defeating two gym leaders, to show Yellow. "That's great, Jack! Kicked some butt out there, huh?" Yellow praised, then thought to himself. "Wait, two badges already. . . Where are you guys, anyway?" he asked, admiring the port behind Jack.
"We're in Vermilion City. I heard the gym leader here specializes in electric-type pokémon, so Squirtle and I are going to train a little bit before we decide to challenge him. Right, Squirtle?" Jack looked behind him as his squirtle took its first bite into the apple. "Electric? Don't electric-type pokémon have an advantage over water-types?" Yellow asked with concern. Jack nodded slowly. "Yeah. But I know Squirtle's got what it takes to beat him; it hasn't lost too many battles." Jack had grown up so much in a few months, Yellow noticed.
"So, Yellow. How about you?" Yellow scratched the back of his head. "I've been doing okay. Finally got that game yesterday I told you I wanted; I played it all night until I knocked out!" he replied, almost with pride. Jack looked him up and down. "All night? Yellow, did you just wake up?" Yellow chuckled slightly and nodded. "Yellow! I think you're late."
"Late? For what. . .?" he asked sincerely. Jack held a ball colored red and white, a pokéball, up in front of him. "Shouldn't you be leaving Pallet Town today?" Yellow's eyes widened, at which Jack smiled. "I'll talk to you later, Yellow. Go get ready!"
The video feed flickered, then Yellow quickly hung the computer's earpiece back on its side and ran into his closet. He had been waiting for this day since Jack left and he had completely forgotten. He threw on jeans, an orange vest over his shirt and a cap to cover his messy, brown hair.
"My E-mail!" Yellow remembered suddenly right before making his way down the stairs, backtracking to his computer.
The PC screen read: 1 UNREAD MESSAGE - JACK
"Good morning, Yellow! I know you're leaving today and I don't wanna wake you up too early so I'm leaving you a message with a small gift I hope you won't be too stubborn to use! Squirtle and I are up early to go buy food and we're going to go train in a little bit; we both just wanted to wish you good luck on your new adventure! I know you'll have a lot of fun.
"I also know you have a tendency to sleep in sometimes, so Squirtle and I might give you a call after we buy our breakfast to make sure you're up in time, okay? If I don't get a reply, that is. Well, Yellow. I'll make this short so you can get ready; wouldn't want you to be late, buddy! Good luck; let's show Kanto what us trainers from Pallet Town can do!"
Yellow grinned as he read the E-mail; he grinned at the fact that, not too long ago, he was the one looking after Jack. He fixed his cap as he accepted the message's attachment. Next to the computer, in a small glass tube capped with mechanic disks, light flashed and crackled before a small spray bottle stood materialized in it. Yellow opened the glass tube and read the bottle: POTION - A SPRAY-TYPE WOUND MEDICINE.
"Thanks, Jack," he whispered. He walked over to his bed, where he had left his backpack ready the night before, placed the potion inside, and ran down the stairs as he threw the bag over his shoulder.
Yellow ran down the stairs into his house's living room, almost two steps at a time, where he saw his mom sitting at a table, watching T.V. He fixed his cap again and clicked his tongue. They had said their good-byes to each other the day before, but Yellow still knew it was difficult for his mom. It had been a long time since Yellow had seen her cry like she did.
He walked up to the empty chair across from his mom and sat down, avoiding eye contact, thanks to the sole television set. Four boys were walking on railroad tracks, and Yellow recognized it as his mom's favorite movie. There they sat for a few minutes, watching the movie, while Yellow tried to think of what to say.
"Mom," he finally began, but stopped when his mom turned to look at him, tears in her eyes. She stretched her arms over and held Yellow's hands firmly. "Right. All boys leave home someday," she said as she turned to look at the television set, "it said so on T.V." She and Yellow laughed quietly to themselves.
She let Yellow's hands go to quickly wipe her tears and she smiled. "Professor Oak, next door, is looking for you." Yellow walked over and hugged her. "Thank you," he said sincerely, dropped his backpack by his mom's feet, and made his way to the front door. "I'll be right back."
Yellow placed his hands behind his head as he walked outside and toward Oak's house a few feet over. Pallet Town is a very small town in the Kanto region, although it's beautiful in its own right. Lush grass carpets the whole area and trees protect it from the East and West. Just North, a path develops that leads into a neighboring city, and to the South one can find an ocean. Yellow always reasoned this ocean was what kept Pallet Town so green. He used to resent living in such a small town, but now he was filled with mixed feelings about leaving it behind.
Yellow knocked on Oak's front door and called out for him a few times before a young lady answered. Yellow recognized her as Daisy, Oak's grand-daughter. "Hi, Yellow! Blue is out at grandpa's lab," she told him sweetly. Yellow smiled a big thank you. Blue wouldn't be at Oak's lab without Oak; he has nothing to do there on his own.
Yellow wished her a good day as they said their good-byes and Yellow made his way to the professor's lab. It's never too hard to find; it's the largest building in Pallet Town right in front of Oak's house. Yellow walked into the lab quietly, feeling out of place in a room of Oak's aides and shelves upon shelves of books on different topics in regard to pokémon.
As Yellow walked further in, he noticed Blue standing by a table, longingly eyeing a red and white ball that stood alone on the table. "Hey, Blue!" Yellow called out and ran over. "Yo, Yellow!" Blue broke his gaze to greet him back, waving his arm. "Hey, have you seen your grandpa?" Yellow asked as he reached Blue.
"Gramps isn't around! I ran here 'cause he said he had a pokémon for me."
Yellow nodded. "Oh, yeah. We're starting our journeys together, aren't we? Alright, well, I'm gonna go look for him. If you see him, tell him I was here!" He turned to walk, looking at the ball on the table one last time as he left.
Pallet Town is incredibly small, but paradoxically enough still very spacious. Yellow spent a few moments looking around outside for him to no avail. "He's probably out researching pokémon in the wild," he murmured as he made his way North. It was the only real path out of Pallet Town; if Oak really was out conducting research, they'd run into each other there.
Yellow took just two steps into the grass that lay on the path North of Pallet Town when a familiar voice called out behind him, "Hey! Wait! Don't go out!" He turned around to see Oak running at him. "That was close!" the researcher sputtered once he reached Yellow. "Wild pokémon live in tall grass!" he lectured. Yellow was about to apologize when he heard grass rustling next to them. "Oak. . ." The professor nodded quietly. "Yes, Yellow. A wild pokémon."
A small, yellow rodent jumped out of the tall grass at them with red cheeks that seemed to spark with electricity and black-tipped ears. It seemed slightly chubby and had horizontal brown stripes on its back which complemented the brown on the tip of its zig-zagged tail that seemed to resemble a thunderbolt. Yellow stood in front of Oak, ready to defend them both. "That's a wild pikachu," Oak said behind Yellow, and moved him out of the way. "This might work." Yellow turned to see Oak holding a red and white ball in his hand, instantly recognizing it. He saw one that looked exactly like it at Oak's lab and in Jack's hands earlier this morning. A pokéball.
Yellow moved behind Oak, and watched the professor toss the ball at the pikachu that had just leaped at the two. He watched as the ball opened on a hinge and trapped the rodent inside. The ball fell to the ground, shook a few tense seconds, and soon lay still.
"All right! Pikachu was caught!" Oak exclaimed and sighed out of relief. "A pokémon can appear anytime in tall grass. You need your own pokémon for your protection," he continued to lecture, then fell into deep thought. Yellow stepped away from the grass slowly.
"I know!" Oak cried out suddenly, surprising Yellow. "Here, come with me!" he asked, and started making his way to the pokemon lab with Yellow following close behind, consantly apologizing to the professor and trying to explain why he was where he was. He fell silent as they entered the lab, though.
"Gramps! I'm fed up with waiting!" Blue whined at the sight of Oak, who gave him a confused look as he walked by him. "Hmm? Blue? Why are you here already? I said for you to come by later. . ." Oak replied. "Ah, whatever! Just wait there."
Yellow snickered, but was interruped by Oak. "Look, Yellow! Do you see that ball on the table? It's called a pokéball. It holds a pokémon inside." Yellow knew this already, but decided he had caused the professor enough trouble already and kept quiet. "You may have it!" Yellow looked up with a wide grin. "Really?" Oak nodded. "Go on, take it!"
As Yellow began to walk to the pokéball, Blue spoke up. "Hey! Gramps! What about me?"
Oak shook his head. "Be patient, Blue, I'll give you one later. Yellow, go ahead! It's yours." With that, Yellow walked over to the ball quietly and reached out for the the pokéball.
"No way!" Blue yelled out and pushed Yellow away and against the wall. "Yellow, I want this pokémon!" he said as he took the pokéball. "Hey!" Yellow cried out angrily. "That's mine!"
"Blue! What are you doing?" Oak interrupted. "Gramps, I want this one!"
"But, I. . ." Oak thought for a minute, "Oh, all right, then. That pokémon is yours. I was going to give you one anyway. . ."
Yellow stared in disbelief. He hadn't even started his journey yet and he had his pokemon stolen by Blue already. "Yellow, come over here," Oak asked and motioned for Yellow to go over.
"Yellow, this is the pokémon I caught earlier. You can have it. I caught it in the wild and it's not tame yet," Oak warned. Yellow nodded, a bit worried. "I know I can tame it, professor Oak," he tried to assure both the professor and himself as he outstretched his hands to receive his first pokémon. "I know so, too," Oak agreed as Yellow nodded a thank-you and turned to walk out with his new pokéball in hand.
"Wait, Yellow!" Blue exclaimed suddenly. "Let's check out our pokémon! Come on, I'll take you on!" Yellow smirked and held onto his pokéball firmly. "I'm down," Yellow accepted and turned to face Blue, backing up slightly. Professor Oak nodded at Yellow behind Blue, obviously giving his consent. Yellow's new pokémon may not be tame yet, but he is a pokémon trainer. It has to listen to him; Yellow had never heard of a pokémon disobeying its trainer's orders.
"Go!" Blue shouted, throwing a pokéball above him. The ball broke open and flashed a light that hit the floor before Blue, which materialized into a small, brown pokémon. It stood on four legs, and boasted a small, gorgeous mane of a lighter brown color which covered the fur on its neck. Its bushy tail was tipped in the same color as its mane. "An eevee," Blue explained, watching Yellow examine the small creature.
"I knew that," Yellow retorted. "Go!" he yelled and threw his own pokéball, out of which the same rodent which had tried to attack him earlier materialized onto the ground. "Let's do this! Pikachu. Um. Attack!" Yellow shouted, suddenly fully aware that he didn't know which attacks pikachu could use, or if it could even fight at all. The small, chubby pokémon turned to look at Yellow, somewhat confused. "Eevee! Tackle it!" Blue commanded as the obedient creature leapt at the pikachu. Yellow watched as his pikachu closed its eyes and growled. He thought it was in fear, but realized the eevee seemed to slow down slightly as it made contact with his pikachu.
"So you can growl," Yellow said as he got onto one knee to caress the pokémon that had been pushed by his feet. "What else can you do?" he asked sympathetically. The small rodent pushed Yellow away as its red cheeks sparked.
"Probably nothing else!" Blue taunted, drawing Yellow's attention back to the eevee which was now sitting down. "It won't even listen to you, huh? Eevee, tackle it again!" The brown pokémon immediately jumped onto all fours again and began to dash at the pikachu with its head lowered.
"Pikachu! Growl again!" Yellow commanded. His pokémon growled bravely and braced for impact. Pikachu stood its ground as it was pushed back this time, refusing to fall back. Either his pikachu was better prepared for this attack or eevee was getting weaker. The small rodent's cheeks sparked again.
"Pikachu. . .?" Yellow thought for a moment before his mind brought him back a few weeks. "Try using your electricity. Thundershock!" Yellow yelled out, suddenly remembering a pokémon documentary he had seen one time on electric pokémon. If he remembered correctly, thundershock was a weaker electric attack some pokémon learned early in their lives. He was sure this pikachu knew it, and his suspicions were confirmed as the rodent closed its eyes and sparks began building in its cheeks. "Pika!" the rodent cried out and ran at the eevee. It released a small discharge of electricity when it got close enough, and the eevee wailed slightly.
"No, Eevee! Tackle it down again!" Blue ordered, but the brown pokémon refused to move. Or, rather, it couldn't move. Yellow looked on in confusion as Oak stood by Blue's side. "Pikachu paralyzed your eevee with that attack," he explained to Blue. Yellow had honestly completely forgotten they were still in Oak's lab, but that didn't even matter now.
"Good job, Pikachu! Attack it with your thundershock again!" Yellow's pokémon began to charge electricity, run up to the eevee and it shocked the eevee again. This time, the small brown pokémon fell to the ground. "Blue, be careful. That was a critical hit. Pikachu hit your eevee's weak spot," Oak explained to a surprised Blue as Yellow's smile widened.
"Eevee. . . Tackle it," Blue continued and the brown pokemon weakly stood up.
"Pikachu! Finish it off! Thundershock attack once more!" Yellow cried out.
In a small flash of light, the battle had ended with Yellow's pikachu standing over Blue's eevee which lay sprawled about.
"What? Unbelievable! I picked the wrong pokémon!" Blue cried out. Yellow ran over and kneeled to grab his pokémon. "Good job, Pikachu!" His pikachu didn't seem too thrilled to be held by Yellow, though, as it tried to push him away, then jumped back onto the floor, sparks filling its cheeks.
"Okay! I'll make my pokémon fight to toughen it up!" Blue held his pokéball in front of him as eevee returned into it as a ray of light. Yellow carefully watched and did the same, returning his pikachu back into its pokéball. "Yellow! Gramps! Smell you later!" Blue said as he made his way out of the lab, chin high in the air.
Just as Yellow stood, however, a small flash of light shone and his pikachu appeared behind him. "Would you look at that!" professor Oak exclaimed, "It's odd, but it appears that your pikachu dislikes pokéballs. You should just keep it with you; that should make it happy! You can talk to it and see how it feels about you."
"Sure thing," Yellow replied, looking at the pikachu. It almost looked mad at Yellow, like it resented him, but he knew it wouldn't let him down. It did just win him his first battle, after all. "Thank you! Bye, professor Oak!" Yellow exclaimed and made his way for the door, his pikachu running behind him.
"Mom! I'm home!" Yellow shouted as he burst through the front door of his house, his pikachu struggling to keep up behind him. His mom was watching the end of her favorite movie. "Yellow," she greeted as she got up from the kitchen table. By the tone of her voice, he could tell she was still worried. He didn't get the chance to comfort her, however.
"Yellow, if you drive your pokémon too hard, they'll dislike you," she said, looking at the rather worn-out pikachu. Yellow smiled; she didn't let her emotions get the best of her this time. "You should take a rest," she finished. "Okay, mom," Yellow submitted. It was about noon either way, Yellow hadn't eaten and he thought it best to eat one last home-cooked meal before setting out.
Yellow sat back in his chair for what would be the last time in a long while. In the corner of the room, his pikachu had slowly begun to wake up from its nap. "Thanks, mom," he said as he got up to hug her. "Oh, good! You and your pokémon are looking great!" she said as she hugged Yellow one last time and looked him over. He stretched over to pick his backpack up and walked over to his pikachu. "Come on, Pikachu," he prodded at it until it seemed finally awake. "Mom, I really gotta go now," he said, and started walking toward the door, a very sleepy pikachu dragging behind. She nodded at him. "Take care now!" she exclaimed. Yellow winked and straightened his vest out. "Of course. You, too."
"Route 1 Pallet Town - Viridian City," Yellow mused as he passed a rather old sign. "So Viridian City's our first stop. Pikachu, we're finally starting our journey!" he exclaimed. The chubby rodent didn't seem too thrilled. Yellow clicked his tongue in response. "Come on, Pikachu. I know you gotta feel kinda excited. You have an amazing trainer, after all!" he laughed out. Pikachu wasn't listening, though. Just a few feet ahead of them, grass shook slightly.
"What is it, Pikachu?" Yellow asked. Pikachu stayed alert and seemed to ignore Yellow altogether, sparks building in its cheeks. "Pikachu?"
From the shaking grass, a brown, winged pokémon hopped out. "Pidgey!" it announced abruptly and stared blankly at the trainer and his pokémon as it extended its wings. "All right, our first wild pokémon!" Yellow burst out. "Pikachu," he started as he was about to issue a command. His pikachu didn't need his orders to start the battle, though. It sprung at the wild pokémon, shocking it with a shock of electricity. With just that, it flapped its wings a few times helplessly and collapsed to the ground.
"Wow. Uh. Good job, Pikachu," Yellow stammered, almost disappointed at how quickly his first wild battle had ended, but still impressed. The pikachu stood up with its chin in the air, obviously proud of itself. Yellow began to slowly wonder if he really did have to ability to tame such a strong pokémon, but his attention was dragged from his thoughts to a man who rapidly approached them.
"Hi!" the man greeted them. Yellow hadn't even realized he was nearby. "Hi," he replied nervously. Did this man want a battle?
"I work at a Pokémon Mart!" the man continued. "It's a convenient shop, so please visit us in Viridian City." Yellow accidentally let out a disappointed sigh; in all honesty, he had begun to look forward to another pokémon battle with a trainer. The man seemed to have interpreted his reaction differently. "I know, I'll give you a sample! Here you go!" the mart employee said as he stuffed a small bottle into Yellow's hands. He didn't have to read it to know what it was. A potion, just like the one Jack had given him. "Thank you!" Yellow said as he placed the bottle into his backpack. "I'll check the Pokémon Mart out in Viridian City while I'm there," he finished as he turned to continue traveling up Route 1.
"That was nice of him, huh, Pikachu?" he asked, placing his hands behind his head. His pokémon ignored Yellow and sniffed on ahead. "You know, you're too serious," he said and marched on ahead of his pikachu, who began to spark electricity from its cheeks and it ran to catch up. Yellow chuckled as his pikachu ran ahead. "You can't handle falling behind, huh?"
His pikachu stopped, though, as another pokémon crossed ahead of them. Another pokémon rodent in appearance, but purple in color. Its underside had cream-colored fur, though, as did the area around its mouth and its whiskers.
"Thundershock!" Yellow cried out. He wanted to shout out the command this time, at the very least. His pikachu stood in front of Yellow and began to concentrate the electricity building in its red cheeks. The rat pokémon stared at Yellow's pikachu carefully. "Piika!" it yelled out, now fully charged and ran to shock the wild pokemon. The wild pokémon seemed to valiantly suffer the attack and waved its tail almost cutely. "Is that its tail whip attack? Don't let it get to you; Pikachu, finish it!"