I don't remember much before I started my pokemon journey, but I do remember a recurring dream I had many times. A man is yelling at my mom while she screams back. It is an evil man who wants to take me away. I can only assume these are projections of what I think of my father, the way he left Mom when I could barely walk. At least, that's what I assume happened.
Everytime I would ask Mom about my dad when I was little, she seemed to get really uncomfortable and told me to go play somewhere else. Eventually, I stopped asking and got the message. My dad had done something to my mom and whatever it was, it was bad. If I could, I'd give my dad a punch in the gut just to let him know how I felt.
I shouldn't be complaining though, the two other kids in my town, Pallet Town, had it way worse than me. One is a girl named Green who, rather than have her mother be mildly uncomfortable at the mention of her father, her mother goes into hysterics and needs to be given some sort of medication. Despite this, Green holds no ill will against her father. Go figure.
The other kid, Blue, doesn't have parents at all and instead he and his sister were raised by their grandfather, the famous Professor Oak.
To be honest, Blue's kind of a jerk but every time I say this Green goes and defends him saying, "Cut him some slack, Red. He's miserable." Personally, I don't think that constitutes how he acts, but I'll be nice to him as long as it makes Green happy.
I awoke to the sight of my mother smiling ear to ear. She had something wrapped in paper in her hands.
"Happy Birthday, Red!" she said, handing me the paper-wrapped thing. "I got this for you."
I unwrapped the paper and smiled. It was a crimson pokemon league cap, complete with logo.
"Thanks, Mom. I love it." I said, quietly.
She looked ecstatic. I bet that made her day.
After gulping down some breakfast, I headed to the pokemon lab. Apparently, Professor Oak had a present for me as well.
"Ah, Red! Come in, come in!" Oak said, gesturing for me to come inside.
Stepping inside, I could see that Blue and Green were standing there. Green had a look of excitement, while Blue simply looked bored.
"O-oh...Red! Happy birthday!" Green greeted. "Here."
She handed me a little clay figure of a Pikachu on a surfboard. I smiled. Green was always good with her hands so I bet she made that herself.
"It's not much, but I thought you would like it." she said.
"Thanks, Green. I appreciate it." I responded. That made her blush.
We stared at each other for I don't know how long, not knowing what to say, when the sound of Blue's voice snapped us back to reality.
"If you two are done making googly eyes at each other, some of us would like to get to picking our pokemon?"
"Shut up, Blue." I said, anger rising in me until I realized what he had said. "Wait, pokemon?"
"Yes!" Professor Oak chimed, "I'm going to give you three a pokemon, and Red, since it's your birthday I'm giving you first pick."
Blue groaned. "Of course he favors you, Red."
"Shut up, Blue." I said again.
"Just pick your damn pokemon, hotshot."
I looked at the three pokeballs sitting on the table, each neatly labeled with the name of the pokemon inside. "Bulbasaur" said the one on the left, "Squirtle" the one on the right, then my eyes fell to the center one. I picked it up gingerly and pressed the button in the middle. Before me stood a small lizard pokemon with a flame at the end of its tail.
"Ah, so you're going with Charmander then, Red?" Oak said smiling.
"Yes, I think we'll get along nicely." I said back.
After Blue and Green both chose their pokemon, Professor Oak gave us our Pokedexes and sent us on our way. When we were about to step into the tall grass, however, Green stopped us.
"I think we should take the first step together." she said bluntly, then locked arms with us and pulled us onto the route. Blue fell flat on his face.
"You think you could, oh, I don't know, not pull me through the mud?" he said, as he spit out some grass.
"Oopsie. Sorry, Blue." Green apologized, then shot me a look for laughing.
And so started our pokemon journey. We had no idea what lie in store for us, but maybe that was a good thing. After all, if I would have known what trials lie in store for me, I may not have left at all.