Chapter 1: The Beginning of the Beginning (x2)
A/N: This is something I will continue. Hopefully.
The bright, burning star rose to declare a new day as the small, crescent moon tucked itself underneath the horizon. Streaks of marigold light shot across the sky, illuminating the world. Packed between two hills and an overgrown path lies a small town, known as 'Little Root'. Inside a small house near the outskirts, a young man rose from his slumber, and began to prepare himself for the day's events. After all, it's not every day you begin your Pokémon adventure.
Atom dressed himself nicely in a plain white t-shirt with light blue jeans. His tied up his pure white sneakers and threw his one-strap bag over his shoulder. He looked himself up and down in the mirror. He was around 5'10, which was good for a 17 year old, and had dark brown hair to accompany his light brown eyes. He was physically fit and athletically built, which was only going to get better with years of travelling. He strapped on his fingerless gloves, then turned around, grinning, and ran down the stairs to the ground floor as fast as his feet could take him. He probably would have barreled right out the door, if not for a women in her late forties stopping him by blocking his path.
"Excuse me young man, where are you going in such a hurry?" she asked him.
"Mom!" Atom exclaimed," you know what day it is! What are you doing? I have to get to the lab!"
"You're not going anywhere without breakfast! Go to the table!" she said, pointing at him with a spatula, very threateningly.
Atom took the spatula threat very seriously, and rushed to the table to eat his food as quickly as possible.
"Oh you animal." Amelia said, watching her son devour his food, "you eat just like your father."
Atom flinched at the mention of his father. He had abandoned his mother and him only two months after the birth of his only child. Atom never liked to think about him. He always felt anger bubbling deep within at someone who would simply abandon his family for his journey. If Atom and his father, who he had no information about, met then Atom would be sure to make blood spill.
Atom finished eating and rose from the table. His mother smiled at him, and pointed towards the door.
"Come back when you get your Pokémon. Then we'll say our goodbyes."
Atom grinned at her, and then left the house. He took off as fast as he could, his destination already in sight. Professor Birch's lab was the biggest building in all of Little Root, which wasn't saying much. However, with its metal walls and large fields (for the Pokémon), it stood out like a sore thumb.
Atom ran completely undisturbed. No one usually left their comfy homes in the morning in Little Root. The only reason to leave would be to visit the grocery store, but there was always time for that later. When Atom finally reached the building he wasted no time in knocking and waiting. Instead, being late like he was, he simply burst in screaming:
"I'm here!"
Three people stood twenty feet ahead of him. The one in the middle, standing a bit ahead of the other two, had greying brown hair with sharp blue eyes full of years of knowledge. He was dressed in a white lab coat with a brown undershirt, along with a torn pair of cargo pants. He held in his hand three red and white spheres with a small circle at the front; Pokeballs. This was the star of Little Root town; Professor Birch.
Atom's good friend Brendan stood on the right, grinning at him. He was an inch taller than Atom, and with a heavier build. He wore a black jacket with red stripes on it along with a pair of black shorts that went down to cover his knees. He had white trainers on and a green bandanna to accompany his green single-strap bag. He also wore a white to give off the illusion that he had white hair. Atom had known Brendan since they were both children as he was one of the only two youngsters who was Atoms age apart who lived in Little Root. He was the Professors son and knew a lot about Pokémon, but Atom always managed to be better than him. As a result of this, Atom was known as the 'Prodigy of Hoenn' by the Professor. His black eyes were full of amusement as he stared at Atom.
To the right of Atom was the last friend of Brendan and Atom; May Maple. May wore a red bandana (why the two of them liked bandanas was a question Atom found un-answerable) to split her light brown hair into two parts. She had a bright red t-shirt and a pair of white and navy blue shorts. She wore white and green gloves and snow white sneakers. She also had a belt of sun yellow to hold her Pokeballs and other accessories. Atom had met May around the same time as he met Brendan. She had moved in from Petalburg where her father Norman worked as the gym leader. She was kind and optimistic until it came to food. If anyone ever messed with this sweet-tooth's lunch, they were in for a hard time.
"Look who finally showed up!" Brendan called, grinning at him. "Sorry," Atom apologized, "If I skipped breakfast I would have suffered death by spatula." Behind them, the professor gave a light chuckle. "Yes, that sounds like Amelia. Nevertheless, I'm glad you're here. Now as you all know, today you get your starter Pokémon, and today you start your journey."
All three of them nodded. They had been studying about this for years, preparing themselves for this very day. This was the day that changed it all. It was the day that changed them.
"Before I give your future partners, I would like you all to have these." Professor Birch held out three small, rectangular devices. He then proceeded to hand them out to all three of his students. The device had a small camera on the back, and when flipped open showed a small screen around two inches big alongside a series of buttons. "This are Pokedex's. A Pokedex contains a wide data base of information about the Pokémon in this region. These will assist you in finding out which Pokémon are which. These will also tell you which moves your Pokémon knows and serves as your trainer ID. To top it all off, I recently installed a GPS system into it. So navigating cities shouldn't be too much of a-"
The Professor was cut off by a loud beeping noise coming from the device in May's hand. She dropped it fast, yelping, and jumped back in surprise as the Pokedex began speaking in a monotone voice:
"I am a Pokedex designed by Professor Birch to serve as the personal assistant of May Maple, age 17, of Golden Rod City. Current Residence of Little Root Town, the region of Hoenn. Father is Norman Maple, Member of The Gym Leaders Association, Petalburg division. Mother, Caroline Maple, and sibling Max Maple reside with May. If lost, I cannot be replaced and cannot serve another human."
Silence filled the laboratory, all eyes glued to the small device on the floor. It lay on the hard, cold marble, seemingly dead despite its outburst only seconds earlier. May broke the silence with the question on everyone's minds:
"How does it know so much about me?!" she yelled. The Professor scratched the back of his head and muttered, "It's necessary to have all your information on the Pokedex May. It's your ID card for the rest of your life. Wrong information can get you arrested for fake identification."
May huffed in annoyance, but it seemed like she accepted the explanation. Once she had retrieved her Pokedex from the evil clutches of the dreaded floor, the Professor continued with his explanation.
"Now for the part you all have been waiting for." The Professor grinned, before reaching into the folds of his coat pocket and producing three red and white orbs. "You're Pokémon." Atom could have almost felt the excitement radiating from his friends, if not for being consumed in excitement himself. "You all have seen pictures and are probably familiar with all three of these, but its time you saw your starters for real."
The Professor threw all three Pokeballs into the air, and as soon as they reached the apex of their respective journeys, they all popped open into two halves only connected from the back, and a huge, blinding white light erupted from within each of them. All three flashes curved downwards and began to materialize into the creatures that inhabited the planet; Pokémon.
The first light materialized into a small, bipedal creature of a forest green colour. It had short, stubby legs and arms with three fingers and toes. It had the physique of a ninja, if one existed at only two feet tall. It had a long, bushy tail around one foot long, that was cut by a line down the middle into two halves. Another line was used to separate the top of its head into two stubs, one above each eye. A crimson colour occupied its underbelly, and large yellow eyes with a small black slit for irises showed off the reptile's intelligence. The second light materialized into a small, quadrupedal, sky blue, chubby creature with a cream underbelly with stretched all the way to its back and became a large tail fin. This accompanied a similar, large, fin-like, protrusion atop his head, but this time the same blue colour as its main body. It had fat, sun-orange cheeks with three spikes sticking out of them. A smile wider than the horizon stretched across from one cheek to the other, and small, playful eyes stared at the three kids. It looked like a fish hybrid Pokémon, standing at around one and a half feet tall on all fours. The final flash formed a creature around the same size as the first, but a fiery orange colour and three, tall bright yellow feathers erupting from its head. It had no arms, instead yellow coloured fur was present where arms were expected. However, it had powerful looking, sharp talons at its feet. A wide yellow beak replaced a mouth, and the chicken resembling Pokémon watched all three humans nervously.
The Professor gestured towards all three Pokémon with pride. "These will be your friends that will accompany you on your journeys. These three will define you as a Pokémon user. They are all very powerful and talented, and any one is a good choice. This green fella is called Treeko." Treeko looked up at the mention of his name, and took a battling stance. "He's crazy fast, and uses that speed to make himself a lethal weapon. He packs a fair punch, especially when he grows. He is a grass type Pokémon, and has control over said element. He can use this to his advantage, or his enemy's disadvantage." He said, grinning.
"There's no need for the lecture dad, we're up to speed with these particular Pokémon." Brendan interrupted, holding up a hand to stop the Professors explanation. A smile stretched across the old man's face, and he held out an arm to ruffle his child's hair. "That's my boy, knowing all about Pokémon. You take after me so much I doubt your strength as a trainer."
"Dad!"
"I was just joking kiddo." He grinned. "Now, I believe the time has come for you kids to pick a Pokémon." Atom and his friends stepped forward and examined the three creatures standing before them. The blue one, Mudkip, had a look of excitement in her eyes as her eyes glanced from trainer to trainer, wondering who her own would be. The red one, Torchic, had his eyes shifting between trainers, showing nervousness. It took a few seconds before finally Brendan knelt down in front of Mudkip and held out one hand.
"Hey there little guy, you look like a tough one. What do you say me and you go on an adventure? One where you and I both get stronger. I'll make sure you become a strongest Pokémon out there!" he asked, smiling. Mudkip squealed happily before leaping into Brendan's open arms, sending him and his father into a fit of laughter. Atom, however paid no attention to this interaction, instead making his decision and dropping down to one knee, right in front of Torchic.
Torchic immediately flinched back in fear, causing Atom to raise both his hands in a universal sign of peace. "Hey don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you." Torchic didn't drop its nervous expression, but didn't move from its position either. "At least that's better than jumping at the mere sight of you." Atom thought. He smiled before continuing with his speech, "I know you're nervous about going on a huge adventure with some guy you just met, but you don't have to worry. I promise I'm going to take very good care of you and I'll never abandon you. I just want you to obey me. There will be times you will get hurt and there will be times we'll lose battles, but I'm always gonna be here for you to pull through with me. I'm going to make you stronger and stronger until eventually, you'll have to look after me! I hope you'll come with me on my Pokémon Journey. What do you say?"
Torchic stayed silent for a few, stretched, painful seconds during which only thoughts of rejection crossed Atoms mind. However, Torchic surprised him by stepping forward and nuzzling his leg. Atom laughed and embraced the tiny creature, much to its pleasure.
Atom rose with Torchic on his shoulder and checked on his friends. To his surprise, he found Treeko resting in May's arms, and Brendan receiving Mudkip's Pokeball. After handing out the starters' Pokeballs to their respective trainers before starting up on another lecture.
"Listen you three, take good care of these Pokémon. Don't push them too far in battle, they're also living creatures. I want you all to remember that at all times."
The three new trainers nodded to show their acknowledgment to the fact. The Professor looked up to say the last thing before his students began their journey.
"Which one of you can deliver a package to the Pokemart in OldDale for me?"
Atom was out the door before he could even finish the sentence.