001 – The Adventure Begins

Landon awoke early that morning, as he did every morning, brimming full with excitement for the adventures to come. He had been working as Professor Oak's aid on the ranch Oak owned on the outskirts of Pallet Town for several weeks, and had already seen all kinds of Pokémon he had never seen before.

Landon was of average height for his age, with blonde hair that stood up in a spiky mess all the time and an eternal cowlick on one side of the back of his head. He had blue eyes clear as the sky, and was spry and energetic for the ripe age of nine – make that ten. Today was Landon's birthday, and he was looking forward to this day being better than most.

He got dressed quickly, in some khaki shorts, a blue shirt with a thick white stripe running through the middle, and some tennis shoes. He reined his hair in as best as he could and bounded down the stairs.

"Morning mom!" he called as he burst into the kitchen.

His mother, a medium height woman with soft features and light brown hair hanging in gentle curls, gave him a warm smile. "Good morning, sweetheart. Did you sleep well?"

She put a plate of scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, strawberries, and toast before him, completing the breakfast treat with a glass of milk. Landon's eyes widened at the delectable feast laid out before him, and he began to dig in as he responded. "Yeah, I slept all right."

"You weren't too excited for your party tonight that you couldn't fall asleep?" his mother asked playfully.

"No way," Landon replied grandly. "I was so excited that I tired myself out." They shared a hearty laugh and continued to eat their breakfast.

After his meal, Landon gathered his backpack full of important supplies – extra clothes, basic first aid, some snack bars – and shot out the door on the way to Professor Oak's mansion. He ran through Pallet Town, which laid bathing in the golden morning light, just waking from its slumber. Several merchants were milling about, preparing their street-facing displays for the day. A few homes had residents in gardening gear, kneeling among the flowerbeds. Landon jogged past it all at a brisk pace, excited to learn even more about Pokémon today.

Professor Oak was a world-renowned Pokémon professor, and he was very busy. As such, he didn't have a lot of time to tend to his own grounds, and needed help in general to study the Pokémon that lived in the great garden behind his mansion.

As the resident professor in Pallet Town and the premier Pokémon scientist in the Kanto region, Professor Oak helped many Pokémon trainers by keeping their Pokémon for them. Since trainers may only have six Pokémon at a time on their team, Oak offered many of them a place for their Pokémon to play when they weren't traveling the world. This let the trainers keep their Pokémon happy and healthy and let Oak get valuable time studying the Pokémon they left behind.

Due to the huge number of Pokémon he cared for, as well as the large estate he owned, Professor Oak was always interested in anyone who wanted to help. He particularly enjoyed giving jobs to younger kids, so that they could begin to learn about Pokémon at a very young age. Because of this, Landon had been able to get a job working with him every day.

Landon looked up to see Oak's mansion, sitting on the top of a hill at the edge of Pallet Town. It sat gleaming in the morning sun, a beautiful white two-story building made of white bricks. The pristine lawn around it shimmered a golden-green, and the pale blue sky above completed a picture of beauty and serenity. Landon bounded up the concrete stairs leading up the hill to Oak's front door two at a time, finally coming to a halt on the doorstep. He was panting a little from his brief morning jog, and composed himself for a moment before ringing the doorbell. Several seconds later the door opened and Professor Oak was smiling down at him.

Professor Oak was a tall man with silver gray hair. He always wore a white lab coat over his clothes, and he had thick eyebrows above intense, black eyes.

"Good morning," the professor said, an edge to his voice.

"Good morning," replied Landon cheerfully, wondering what was wrong.

Professor Oak held the door open so that Landon could come in. Landon stepped into the foyer, feeling the light kiss of air conditioning upon his face. "I knew you'd be along soon," Oak said. "I need your help."

"Of course!" Landon replied. "That's why I'm here."

"I'm glad for it," sighed Oak. "I had a problem this morning. I was doing some research and three Pokémon escaped from my lab."

Landon was aghast. "Oh no!"

"I know! It's terrible." Oak shook his head morosely. "I'm sure they're all right, they haven't been gone for very long, but they're out there somewhere. I haven't gotten any calls from the residents of Pallet Town, but it might be too early. I just hope they don't get lost in the wilderness."

"Do these Pokémon belong to someone?" Landon asked.

"No, thank goodness. As you know, I used to be a trainer myself, and I have some Pokémon of my own. These were some rare Pokémon I recently acquired."

Landon frowned, wondering where they could be. "What Pokémon were they?"

Professor Oak motioned for Landon to follow him into the next room. The sitting room was a spacious room with large, plush couches, a television, and a coffee table. On the coffee table, Oak had laid some photographs. He picked them up and handed them to Landon.

The first contained a picture of a small quadripedal creature. It had short, stubby legs with tiny claws on them, teal skin with dark blue markings, big red eyes, and a large green bulb on its back.

The second picture contained the image of a reddish-orange skinned lizard on two legs. Its stomach was a tan color, it had big blue eyes, and at the tip of its tail burned a flame.

The final photograph depicted a small blue creature. It also stood upright on two legs, with a curly tail to balance. It had a tan belly, brown eyes, and a big brown shell on its back.

"Those are the Pokémon," Oak narrated as Landon took in their appearance. "They're rare Pokémon unique to the Kanto region. The first is a grass type called Bulbasaur. The second is a fire type named Charmander. The last one is a water type called Squirtle. They're rare and valuable Pokémon, and they're very young so it's not good to leave them wandering around in the wild or in town without any supervision."

Landon nodded. "So you need me to find them and get them back?" he asked.

"That's right." The professor handed him three round objects. They were Poké Balls, white on bottom, red on the top, with a black line dividing the hemispheres and a silver button on the front. These sophisticated devices were used to capture and transport Pokémon. "These three Poké Balls belong to those three Pokémon. You can use these when you find them to contain them and keep them from getting loose again."

Landon took the Poké Balls with determination. Today's assignment was by far the most crucial. This was certainly not feeding the fish or watering the plants. Rare Pokémon were on the loose.

Just then, the phone rang. Professor Oak looked up hopefully, and Landon understood that it could be information regarding the lost Pokémon. Landon sat patiently as Professor Oak went into the other room to answer the phone.

While he was alone, Landon sat staring at the three Poké Balls, thinking of the task at hand. Professor Oak had said that these were young Pokémon, so anything was possible. While many young Pokémon were naturally docile, and these didn't look particularly hostile, he knew he would have to be careful. Without a Pokémon of his own to protect himself, he was going to have to be very cautious and hope that none of these Pokémon felt like fighting.

Oak returned, a look of hope playing over the tension drawn on his face. "I just got off the phone with one of the shop owners in town. They said they've seen a fire Pokémon on the roof and were wondering if we'd lost any."

Landon looked back at the picture of Charmander and nodded. "Which way?"

Professor Oak showed Landon the way to go, and Landon set off, running with much more speed and purpose than he had done on his morning jog to the lab. He never would have guessed that his adventure today would be so much more challenging and important than the daily duties he'd grown to expect.

He approached the shop in question in only a few minutes and saw immediately the problem. A small crowd had gathered to stare at the roof and there, on the weathervane, was the fire lizard Pokémon.

The Charmander was clinging to the weathervane tightly, and it looked terrified. Landon was shocked that it had climbed to the roof of the building and gotten stuck, but he knew he had to get the Pokémon down no matter what. He sprang into action, rushing forward, pushing through the small gathered crowd. Once he'd gotten to the front of the crowd, he held up one of the Poké Balls. "Charmander, return!" he called, prompting the Poké Ball to shoot a beam of red light from the button on the front. The beam streaked toward Charmander, but did not reach it. Landon needed to get closer.

He turned around to the shop owner. "Is there any way I can climb up on the roof?"

The owner didn't look too pleased at the thought of having a Pokémon and a child stranded on his roof, but he realized that these Poké Balls meant that Professor Oak himself had sent this boy. He pointed to a stack of crates near the corner.

Landon ran to the crates and scaled them quickly, too quickly to discover if they were particularly stable footing or not. He was on the roof in mere seconds, and he crouched low to avoid tumbling off the steep slant. He crept toward the Charmander, which stared at him with fear in its eyes. It obviously wasn't sure whether to be more scared of the height or this mysterious newcomer. Landon continued to inch forward until he was almost close enough to touch Charmander. Then he held out the Poké Ball and tried to recall Charmander.

It didn't work. The red light shot out toward Charmander, but while it hit the Pokémon, it seemed to have no effect. Landon stared at the ball in disbelief for several seconds before realizing that it must belong to one of the other lost Pokémon. He then pulled another ball from his belt and pointed it at Charmander. This time, the red light that shot out engulfed Charmander, and in seconds Charmander's form shrunk down and disappeared, the light sucking back into the Poké Ball.

Landon stared at the Poké Ball, which now contained a fire type Pokémon, in near disbelief. This was the first time he'd ever used a real Poké Ball to catch a real Pokémon. Sure, he'd played with toy Poké Balls when he was younger, but never had he actually used one to catch a real Pokémon. Well, perhaps he didn't catch Charmander, but this was close enough.

He snapped back to reality and realized he needed to get down safely off the roof. Landon wasn't particularly afraid of heights, but he was keenly aware that falling from this distance would probably yield a broken limb. He scooted back across the roof the way he'd come. It seemed to take much longer than when he'd been leaving the edge to chase after Charmander. At last, he felt his foot brush the edge of the roof. He turned and saw that he was near the crates he'd scaled. He lowered himself gently down onto the topmost crate and felt it wobble underneath him. He stood uncertainly for several seconds. Getting down was always harder than getting up, but he realized that it was better to go for it than to sit there and wait for the tower to tumble. With that, he bounded precariously down the stack of crates, landing safely, if not unsteadily, on the ground below.

He looked up to see the crowd of people staring at him, many with pale faces and sweat on their brows. Apparently Landon's feat had been a bit more harrowing than he'd realized. He gave everyone a good-natured wink. "Piece of cake," he said reassuringly, and ran off to seek the other Pokémon before anyone could accost him for being reckless.

He resisted the urge to stare at the Poké Ball containing Charmander and dream of what it was like to have his own Pokémon. He searched throughout the town for quite a while with no success. He finally decided to take a break from his aching feet – just a quick break – and catch his breath on the waterfront.

Pallet Town was a small town, certainly no industrial center or home of the arts. It was a peaceful place that simply boasted a favorable climate and some of the cleanest air in the world. However, it also sat on the edge of the ocean, and while the beaches of Pallet Town weren't the most impressive, the waterfront, a concrete and wood dock built along a stretch of beach, was one of the most relaxing places in town. There, with the quaint homes and green grasses of Pallet Town behind and the shimmering waves and salty breeze in front, true relaxation could be found.

Landon sat in a bench on the waterfront, feeling immediately the relief in his aching legs. He looked out at the shimmering waves, somewhat less relaxing after his harrowing morning wrought with unfinished business, but relaxing nonetheless. He then heard something: A splashing, and a strange voice. He stood and went to the rail at the end of the waterfront, and was shocked to find that just below him was swimming Squirtle.

The turtle Pokémon was swimming lazily, lying on its back and idly kicking while enjoying the sun and the water. Landon felt a little bad snapping it out of its happy relaxation, but he knew he had a job to do, and he didn't want to let Squirtle get away too quickly. He pulled another Poké Ball from his belt, praying it was the right one, and held it out facing Squirtle.

"Squirtle, return!" he said. Squirtle's eyes popped open in surprise, but by that time the red light had begun to engulf it. In moments Squirtle had vanished, returned safely to its Poké Ball.

"All right!" Landon said, feeling more energized than any amount of sitting and relaxing would have allowed. "All I have to do is find just one more and I'll have saved the day!"

He ran off with renewed vigor. He had searched most of the town, and now that it was getting close to midday, he figured that if Bulbasaur was lost somewhere in town, someone would see it and call the professor. That meant Landon needed to be sure that Bulbasaur didn't escape and get lost in the woods. He ran to the edge of town near Professor Oak's mansion and continued across the great grassy expanse toward the edge of the forest beyond. It was a wall of trees that looked dark and ominous. Here, the trees grew so thick that they blocked out the light of the sun. Landon hoped Bulbasaur hadn't run in there. If it had, it would take many people scouring the forest to find it, and even then, they might not. The forest was thick and untamed.

However, as Landon approached, he saw a familiar sight. The blue tint of Bulbasaur's skin made its bright green bulb glint even stronger in contrast to its surroundings. Rather than blending in to the grass as it had from further away, Bulbasaur's body made it stick out like a sore thumb.

The Bulbasaur was resting peacefully, soaking up the sun with the bulb on its back at the edge of the forest in the sunny field. Landon guessed that Bulbasaur had run into the forest and realized that it was too dark for its purposes, returning to sunbathe here in this field.

It was almost comical that Bulbasaur had been this close. Landon could actually see the professor's lab from here. Bulbasaur might've been the last one to be found, but he was actually the closest to home. Landon let out a silent chuckle as he removed the final empty Poké Ball from his belt.

At the light clicking noise this caused, Bulbasaur stirred. Landon froze for a moment, before holding the Poké Ball out toward the Pokémon. "Bulbasaur, return!"

But Bulbasaur was too fast. Bulbasaur's eyes flashed open at Landon's first word, and with stunning speed it dodged the ray of red light. Landon grimaced and tried again, but Bulbasaur dodged the Poké Ball once more. Landon decided to throw the ball. He knew that empty Poké Balls were thrown to capture wild Pokémon, but he vaguely remembered being told that this was also a way to return a Pokémon to its ball. Landon had been throwing toy Poké Balls for a long time, so he took aim and hurled the ball at the stubborn Pokémon.

Not even close.

Landon's aim wasn't as sure as he'd expected it to be, in large part because Bulbasaur was warily dodging around. Landon might've practiced throwing Poké Balls throughout the years, but never on a moving target. The ball bounced uselessly, several feet from Bulbasaur, and lay still in the grass.

Landon could have kicked himself. Now he needed to get the ball back before he could recapture Bulbasaur. He took a deep breath, readied himself, and began to move cautiously but purposefully toward the Poké Ball.

Bulbasaur was onto the ruse. It lunged aggressively toward Landon, causing him to take several steps backward. Bulbasaur had certainly not attacked Landon, but the threat had been enough for Landon to stop advancing on the Poké Ball.

What can I do? Landon thought to himself. I have to get Bulbasaur back, but how can I get it to stop attacking me?

Then a thought dawned on him – a thought so crazy that it just might work. If this Pokémon wanted to battle him, then Landon would use the other Pokémon he had with him to accept that challenge.

Landon reached back, grabbed a Poké Ball, and prayed he wasn't undoing all the work he'd done this morning. "Squirtle, go!" Landon called, throwing the Poké Ball toward Bulbasaur. It bounced in front of the Pokémon, then opened and spewed forth brilliant white light. The light took the shape of Squirtle and faded to reveal the Pokémon.

"Squirtle!" It called, happy to be out of the Poké Ball.

"Squirtle, we've gotta get Bulbasaur back into its Poké Ball," Landon called, realizing that he didn't know any of Squirtle's attacks. He could've kicked himself again. He was really making a mess of things.

Bulbasaur didn't have the disadvantage of an uncertain trainer. It lunged at Squirtle with a powerful Tackle attack that sent Squirtle careening backward with an indignant cry.

Tackle was one of the most common Pokémon attacks, Landon realized. He was willing to take the risk. "Squirtle, use Tackle attack!"

Squirtle nodded its agreement and launched its body at Bulbasaur, knocking the opposing Pokémon back. They began pushing at each other and Landon tried to inch toward the discarded Poké Ball. However, out of the corner of its eye, Bulbasaur saw what he was doing. Bulbasaur gathered all its force into a huge push to end the stalemate and sent Squirtle flying. It then ran toward Landon and stood threateningly in between him and the Poké Ball.

Landon growled under his breath, remembering to return Squirtle to its Poké Ball lest it run off while he was preoccupied. He then grabbed the other Poké Ball on his belt and threw it out. "Let's do it, Charmander!"

The lizard appeared in a brilliant flash of light. It hardly looked more confident than it had earlier. Landon called out to it, "Charmander, use Tackle attack!"

Charmander turned to look at him in confusion. The Bulbasaur let out a mocking cackle. Landon grimaced. Obviously, Charmander didn't know Tackle attack. But if not that, then what?

He looked Charmander up and down. Surely Charmander would know some fire attacks, but which ones specifically were beyond Landon. There were lots of fire attacks that various Pokémon could learn, but that didn't mean every fire Pokémon could use every fire attack. Plus, these Pokémon were all babies, and didn't yet have many powerful techniques. The Charmander probably didn't know how to use any fire techniques.

He saw that Charmander's little arms had tiny claws on them and realized that he knew another Pokémon attack that many Pokémon knew. Trying it was as likely as anything was.

"Charmander, use Scratch!"

Charmander looked nervous and fearful, but it thankfully obeyed, closing its eyes and waving its claws around in the air. Bulbasaur was still having a hearty laugh at Landon's expense, and Charmander's claws raked across Bulbasaur's face, right between its eyes, in the middle of a laugh. Bulbasaur's eyes popped open, rife with shock. The last thing it had expected was to be attacked by this timid Pokémon. It staggered back in surprise and a little pain, as Charmander continued an onslaught of Scratch attacks. Anger flashed across Bulbasaur's face and it began trying to counter attack, but Charmander's onslaught was too persistent, and Bulbasaur was continually being pushed back.

Landon saw an opening and dove forward. Bulbasaur took note and tried to free itself from Charmander's claws, but this time Landon was quicker. He slid on the grass, snatching the Poké Ball in one hand. In the same motion, he twisted his body upright, turning in Bulbasaur's direction. "Bulbasaur, return!" The red light shot forth once more, and this time it caught the stubborn Pokémon and returned it safely to its Poké Ball.

Landon breathed a sigh of relief. Charmander looked as though it had just seen a ghost, and Landon graciously returned it to its Poké Ball as well. He then began to walk back to Professor Oak's mansion.

He arrived back at the mansion several minutes later, and the door opened to reveal Professor Oak looking harried.

"Oh, Landon, you're back," he said with great relief. "Did you find one of the Pokémon?"

Landon let a big smile play across his face as he presented all three Poké Balls. "I caught them all!" he said, grinning ear to ear.

Professor Oak looked stunned, but quickly recovered and took the Poké Balls from Landon with delight. "Oh, Landon, thank you so much!" said the professor. "This means a lot to me."

"It was no problem," Landon lied, remembering that he had a huge grass stain on his shirt from his recent altercation with Bulbasaur.

Oak looked at the balls containing the three Pokémon. "I just got these Pokémon the other day as a gift from my grandson, and I'm sure he would have been unhappy to hear that I'd lost them."

Landon nodded his agreement. He'd forgotten Oak had a grandson. The kid had left Pallet Town several years before to begin his own Pokémon adventure, and Landon had been a little too young to really have known him.

"I owe you big time," Professor Oak continued with evident sincerity. "I'll make this up to you somehow."

Landon blushed. "Aw, come on professor. I'm supposed to help you out around here. It was the least I could do."

"This was beyond the call of duty, young man," Oak retorted. "I will have to find a way to reward you."

Landon shrugged, embarrassed by the praise. "Well, you could come to my birthday party tonight?" he suggested hesitantly.

Professor Oak's eyebrow rose. "It's your birthday?"

"Sure is!"

Oak smiled lightly. "And how old will you be?"

"I'm ten years old today," Landon declared proudly.

"Ten years old," Oak repeated, a mischievous glint in his eye. "And you say you have a party tonight?"

"Yep, at seven."

"All right, I'll tell you what I'll do," Oak said. "I'm going to insist that you take the rest of the day off. You look like you did some hard work getting these Pokémon back and you deserve it."

Landon tried to protest, but the professor would hear none of it.

Oak continued. "I'll be more than happy to come to your party tonight. In fact, I'll get you a nice present to thank you for your hard work today and show my appreciation for all that you've done for me as my lab assistant. Now go home and have a good rest of the day."

Landon felt so sheepish after having received such glowing praise. He gratefully accepted his day off and turned to walk home. He would figure out what to do with the rest of his day before his birthday party in time, but first he had to get home and talk to his mom. Of course, she needed to know that there'd be another guest at the party that night, but really, he couldn't wait to tell her all about his first real adventure with Pokémon!

Who's That Pokémon?

#001 Bulbasaur

Grass/Poison Type

Seed Pokémon

2'04", 15.2lbs

Pokédex: For some time after its birth, it grows by gaining nourishment from the seed on its back.