"And don't you dare go into that tall grass while you're out, young man!"
"Yes, Mom." Zoran growled, shrugging his tattered backpack onto his shoulders as he headed out the door.
"I mean it! The gods only know what are out there, romping around, waiting to attack the first thing they see!"
"Yes, Mom, I know. They taught us all about it school." He knew he wouldn't be seeing his mom again for a while, and somehow he knew that if he didn't look back at her, he would be alright with that fact. Without even saying goodbye, Zoran dashed out of his yard and over to the house that was next to his. Out there, standing in his neighbor's yard, was a blonde-haired girl with fierce blue eyes, also holding a tattered backpack.
"You ready to go, Zor?" She grinned, rocking back and forth on her heels. If Zoran hadn't known her better, he would have thought that this girl was having some kind of sugar high. Without waiting for a response, she bounced off onto the wide, worn-out, dirt path that served as the village's main road. Once, a countless amount of years ago, roads and pathways were hardened with things called cement and asphalt, but a few decades after The Incident, those once-common words became foreign to many.
"Eris, do you really think this is such a good idea?" Zoran asked, trotting to keep up with the girl's rapid pace.
"Oh, hush," Eris grinned, "You worry too much. This is going to be awesome! Think about it: you, me, just like those great tamers they tell stories about in school!"
Zoran had to admit, the life of a tamer did seem nice: roaming across the globe, battling rivals, collecting and training those...those [i]things[/i]. Upon thinking these thoughts, Zoran's mind started to wander, making him slam into Eris when she came to a sudden stop.
"There it is," she whispered excitedly, "There's the tall grass."
Just a few yards ahead, the pitiful dirt path spilt abruptly into two different directions, making a "T" shape in the road. Were Zoran and Eris to continue walking straight, they would have entered a field, larger than the human eye could see, covered with weeds and grasses that easily surpassed the teenager's waists, and in some areas they were even taller than their heads. This was the tall grass, and it completely surrounded Zoran and Eris' tiny village, except for the dwindling dirt path that made the "T" shape. There were monsters out there, or so they had been told from a very young age, monsters that would attack and kill you on the spot. Nobody in the village dared to go out in the tall grass, and whenever they heard the stories of tamers and adventurers who explored these areas, they would turn up their noses with disgust and say how foolish they were.
The tamers were people who experienced these so-called dangerous creatures face-to-face, capturing them in expensive, high-tech balls that would shrink to fit in the tamer's pockets with a push of a button. Because of these pocket-sized containers, the creatures were often referred to as Pocket Monsters, or occasionally Pokémon for short. These monsters- these Pokémon- were exactly what Eris and Zoran were after.
"So how exactly are we going to do this?" Zoran whispered.
"I dunno," Eris shrugged, "I was just going to run in there and hope for the best."
"Yeah, but if we do find a Pokémon, how will we capture it?"
Eris grinned mischievously. After looking around to make sure nobody was watching, she slipped off her backpack and opened it, showing Zoran the contents inside. At first, Zoran saw nothing special: a water bottle, some money, a notebook... And then he saw them. There, carefully hidden at the bottom of the bag, were two shiny, brand-new, Pocket Balls.
Zoran gasped. "Eris, how did you ever-?"
"Afford it?" She replied, "It took me a lot of saving up to do, but after almost a year, I was able to get the most basic one." She glanced around once more to make sure nobody was listening, and then she leaned in close, her forehead almost touching his. "I only had enough money for one, and since we wanted to do this whole explorer-thing together and I knew you didn't have the money, I stole one for you."
"You- You what?!" Zoran hissed, his eyes growing wide. "Do you know what they'll do if somebody finds out?"
"Which is why nobody will find out," Eris shoved the Pocket Ball in his hand and dragged him towards the edge of the ominous-looking field. "You ready to do this thing?"
Zoran looked at the stolen Pocket Ball with guilt, but then, upon remembering how badly he wanted a Pokémon to love and train, he nodded.
"Alright," Eris said, tensing up as if getting ready to run, "on three we'll dash in there and grab the first Pokémon we see! One... Two... Thr-!"
"Hold it right there!" A voice yelled from the right of them, somewhere on the thinning path that cut through the tall grass. The two teenagers turned to see a man with graying hair and a long, white lab coat. His bushy eyebrows were furrowed into a suspicious glare, and his fingers curled tightly around what was once commonly known as a computer bag. "Walking off into the tall grass, eh?" The man growled, walking over so he was about ten yards away from Zoran and Eris.
Before Zoran could stop her, Eris took a step forward and confronted the man. "Yeah, we're walking into the tall grass! We're going to capture some Pokémon so we can teach the world that Pokémon really aren't bad, and there's nothing you can do to stop us!"
The man looked at Eris for a moment, and then at Zoran, before giving a low chuckle. "You want to train Pokémon, eh? Well, you're certainly not going to get one by running off into the grass like that." He cleared his throat, stepping forward. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Professor Birch, I work at the lab down the road."
"Oh, I think I've seen it before," Eris said suddenly, "You study different kinds of Pokémon, don't you?"
Birch nodded. "Yes, I do. I was on my way to your village's school to see if they would allow me to do a presentation." He glanced at his computer bag. "I'm trying to educate people on the true nature of wild Pokémon, and the fact that they can be domesticated and trained to help us. In fact-" He set his bag down, unzipping the zipper. He reached a hand into the bag, gingerly taking out a bundle of Pocket Balls. "- I brought some of my Pokémon with me."
Eris gasped. "Oh, can we see them? Please, please, please!"
Birch stared at her for a moment, then at the Pocket Balls in his hands. Then he turned back to Eris and said, "You really love Pokémon, don't you?"
"Of course! We love Pokémon more than anything! Don't we, Zoran?"
Zoran nodded in agreement. "More than anything."
There was another pause from Birch, and then he set the Pocket Balls on the ground, pushing the buttons on the front. Suddenly, they sprang open, revealing more than a dozen small Pokémon. "I'm looking to adopt out these Pokémon. They're well-behaved, and listen to commands well, but I've done all the research I can on them and I just don't have enough room in my lab to keep them anymore. Since you two are so passionate about these creatures, and are obviously willing to go put yourselves in harm's way to get one," at this, he made a vauge gesture towards the grass, where Zoran and Eris were planning on plunging into, "I figure that you've certainly got the hearts to have ones of your own."
Hearing this made Zoran's heart pound against his chest in a rush of excitement. They were going to get Pokémon! Real, live Pokémon! He looked at the faces of the Pokémon, their eyes shining up at his: some mischievously, some sweetly, others meekly. Whichever one he chose, he knew he would love and care for it more than anything he ever had before; that it would be his partner for life, and they would face the wonders of the world together as equals.