"Dear Mom,
I know ever since dad died, you've been really upset and I've stayed around to keep you company and to comfort you. Tomorrow is my 14th birthday and I think its time to leave Isolu City and start my pokemon journey. I remember the night dad died, the day before I was supposed to start my pokemon journey. I really wanted to get going on my own, but stayed to console you. I'm upset as anyone about dad's death, but its been four years now and I think its time for both of us to move on. I'll be calling at least once a month and you know my cell phone number so you can call me whenever, I'll always be there to talk. I'm leaving right now to go to Professor Ply's lab to choose my starting pokemon. Please call me when you read this. I love you mom.
Sincerely,
Your loving son, Pete"
This is the letter Mrs. Swervlin picked up off her kitchen table on one Sunday morning. As she read it, tears filled her eyes and she went to pick up the phone and called her son.
"Hello?" picked up Pete Swervlin
"Pete, is that you?" said Pete's mother sobbing.
"Mom!" Pete exclaimed, "I'm so glad to hear from you! I've had the best day so far! First I chose my starter pokemon, I chose a-"
"Pete?"
"Yeah, mom, whats up? Are you ok?"
"I'm fine," she said with tears still in her eyes, "But why did you leave? So suddenly I mean, we didn't even talk about it."
Pete sighs, "Well the truth is, I don't think I'd be able to say goodbye to you in person…It would be too depressing. I can't imagine how you must've felt when you read that letter. I'm sorry."
"It's okay, as long that I know that you're alright. So it seems you've had an exciting day so far?" she said while drying up her tears.
"Oh, yeah," Pete said, "This morning I went to Professor Ply's lab to pick up a starter pokemon. There were three choices. The first is a Plantsar, which is a grass/poison type pokemon that sort of looks like the piranha plant from my old Mario games, except it is smaller, the head is green, it has two small bud-like tails and its teeth are much less sharp. The second is a Mrewtad, which is a water/psychic pokemon. It looks like a frog, but it only has one eye. The third starter pokemon is an Onaclov, a fire/rock pokemon. It looks like a small volcano with a cave at the bottom of ii for its head to come out (like a turtle) and it has two claws, one on each side of its body."
"Wow, those all sound so cool! It must've been a hard choice!"
"Actually, it wasn't"
"Oh?" said Pete's mom inquiringly.
"Well when I got to the lab, Professor Ply said that Onaclov wasn't feeling well and that it hasn't poked its head out of its cave in weeks. So I went to go talk to it and try to cheer it up. After talking for a little while and telling Onaclov about my life, about dad's death, and how I'm just now starting my pokemon journey, I began to cry and then it came out sympathetically trying to cheer me up! After that I had to choose Onaclov as my partner."
"Of course. Did anything else happen since then?" asked Mrs. Swervlin, the tears were completely gone now.
"You bet! After leaving the lab, I ran into Josh Edwards-"
"Josh Edwards? The quarterback of the Isolu High School varsity football team last year?"
" Yeah, that's one. He saw me walking out with Onaclov in my arms. He asked me if Onaclov is my first pokemon. I replied truthfully and then he started teasing me and telling me how he was already an expert trainer. He told me last summer he went to visit his cousin in Johto and ended up in competing in the Pokemon League challenge and ho he came in the top 16. He then continued to say that he returned to Grytu to compete in the Grytu League challenge. The challenge is you have to travel all across Grytu and gather 8 badges by battling your pokemon with gym leaders. Once all 8 badges are obtained you can enter the Grytu League! He said you can sign up for the challenge in Forruvia City, which is where I am now!"
"Awesome!" his mom replied, "Did you sign up for the challenge yet?"
"Yeah, I just finished when you called."
BEEP-BEEP
"Aw man, my cell phone has a low battery, I gotta go, I'll talk to you later mom, bye"
"Bye"
After signing up for the Grytu league challenge, Pete recieved a map of the Grytu region which showed all the cities that had gyms and all of the other towns in between. Pete looked at the map to see where the closest gym was. It turned out that there's a gym in Forruvia! An anxious Pete rushed to the pokemon center to get on the computer to find information on the Forruvia gym leader. After doing some research Pete found out that the Forruvia gym leader, Julia was a specialty on electric pokemon. Pete was glad about this because he had an advantage, since Onaclov is a rock type, all of the electric attacks won't work. Pete knew that he just couldn't just walk in the gym and beat Julia, though. Pete went over to a grassy plain just outside the city, to train and perhaps catch a wild pokemon. Once at the field Pete saw a wild Eevee. He sent out Onaclov and challenged Eevee to a battle.
"Onaclov, scratch"
As Onaclov scratched Eevee, it responded with a tackle, which didn't do much due to Onaclov's rock-hard volcano shell. Then before Pete could announce his next attack, Onaclov released small flames from its volcano at Eevee, Onaclov learned ember! With that ember attack, Eevee became burned. Seeing his chance, Pete threw a pokeball at Eevee. The pokeball shook a few times and then stopped, Eevee was caught.
"Caught your first pokemon, I see," said a voice behind Pete. Pete turned around, it was Josh Edwards.
"Yeah, I'm out here training for the Forruvia gym."
"Haha, what a coincidence," responded Josh, "I just beat the gym leader and I'm on way to Jurox Town now, for the next badge"
"Wow, I bet she was tough, huh?"
"Well, maybe for someone like you, but for me it was a piece of cake," gloated Josh, "You're probably not even that good of a trainer."
"Hey! Take that back, I'm a great trainer!"
"If you're so great then how about we have a one-on-one battle!"
"You're on, Onaclov, go!"
"Go Tri-Vine!" said Josh as he released his grass/poison pokemon that looked like a Plantsar with three heads.
"Woah, whats that?" asked Pete
"Why don't you just look in your pokedex, genius?"
"Um, whats a pokedex?"
Josh chuckles, "Professor Ply didn't give you one? Then again, I'm not surprised, he said he only gave them to up and coming trainers who looked promising. A pokedex is like a portable encyclopedia that tells you all the data of a given pokemon"
"Wow, sounds pretty cool, I wish I had one" said Pete
"Well kid, I'll tell ya what, if you can beat me in this battle, I'll give you mine" replied an over confident Josh.
"Alright! Even more incentive to win this thing. I'll go first! Onaclov use ember"
As a tiny stream of fire was moving toward Tri-Vine, Josh commanded, "Tri-Vine, dodge it and use vine whip to bring it closer to you and then bite it!"
The vines of Tri-Vine brought Onaclov right in front of Tri-Vine.
"Onaclov, scratch at it and then use ember," Pete said as Tri-Vine opened its main mouth to bite Onaclov
The fire coming from Onaclov's volcano hit Tri-Vine right in one of its mouth and sent it flying backwards.
"Finish it off with tackle, Onaclov!" exclaimed Pete.
With that Onaclov charged towards Tri-Vine knocking it unconscious.
"Good job Onaclov! We won!" said Pete triumphantly, "Now I believe you have a pokedex that belongs to me?"
"Yeah, yeah whatever," repsponded Josh tossing the pokedex to Pete, "I'm on my way to Jurox Town now, to win my second badge, later loser"
As Josh left, Pete turned on his new pokedex and asked it about Tri-Vine. The pokedex responded:
Tri-Vine: The Three-Headed Plant Pokemon
Tri-Vine is the evolved form of Plantsar. It is almost identical in appearance to Plantsar except that its buds are now tails and on each tail there is a head exactly like the original.
"Wow, Josh already evolved one of his pokemon," Pete thought.
For the next few days Pete trained with his Onaclov and Eevee in the surrounding areas of Forruvia City. Onaclov learned smokescreen and rock throw as Eevee learned quick attack and bite. Pete was happy with his training so he went to the Forruvia Gym to challenge Julia for his first badge. As he approached the gym, he saw a whole bunch of people wearing all green clothes running past him with large sacks in their hands. When Pete got closer to the gym he saw a girl running out the gym yelling "Stop them!" Pete went up to her and asked her what was going on.
She replied, "Well, someone had just defeated me in a battle, so as a gym leader I had to give him a badge. As I gave him the badge he said 'Wow robbing this gym was easier then I thought it was going to be.' Then he pushed me down to the floor, tied me to a pole, and then I just watched as a whole bunch of people wearing green came out the back room wear all the pokemon are kept running out the door with all my pokemon!"
"Oh no! Thats horrible. Are you ok?" responded Pete realizing that this girl is Julia, the Forruvia Gym Leader.
" Yes I'm fine but my pokemon aren't. You have to help get them back!" said Julia.
Pete nodded, "You got it"
With that Pete rushed in the direction he saw the green mob running. As he neared the exit of the city he saw the green gang being blocked by a small girl, around Pete's age, and her pokemon, a Mr. Mime.
"Hey, twerp get out of our way before we decide to hurt ya," said one of the goons in green.
"No! I'm not gonna let you get away with all those stolen pokemon," said the girl, "Mr. Mime, keep up that barrier so they can't get past!"
"Mime, mime"
"Alright twerp, thats it, we're havin a battle."
"But Mr.Mime doesn't know any physical attacks yet..." said the girl.
"Well thats too bad, isn't it?"
"Hey! Leave her alone, if you want a battle, battle me!" intervened Pete.
"Oh great, another twerp, whatever, let's go, Go Grengel!"
Pete used his pokedex:
Grengel: The Green Glob Ghost Pokemon
Grengel is thought to be made up of a jello-like substance. Not much is known about Grengel because they only seem to approach and befriend people who are mean, evil, and/or morally corrupted.
" Hmm, Go Eevee!"
"Grengel, use psybeam!"
"Eevee, dodge it with quick attack!"
Eevee dodged the psybeam and rushed towards Grengel. When Eevee had hit Grengel, it went through his jello-like surface. Eevee was inside Grengel's body! Both the trainers, and both the pokemon were slightly shocked.
Thinking quickly, Pete said, "Eevee, bite your way out of Grengel's body!"
Eevee did so and hopped out of the jello-like Grengel. As soon as this happened, Grengel fainted and fell over.
"Damn! Fine whatever we don't want these stupid pokemon anyway...But don't think you've seen the last of Team Solar!" said one of the guys in green as they left the town with the sack of pokemon left behind. .
"Wow, I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't come along. Thanks," said the girl.
"Yeah, no problem," said Pete nonchalantly, "You're the real hero though, keeping them held up for as long as you did"
The girl blushed, "Yeah, thanks. My name is Sandy, by the way."
"Nice to meet ya Sandy. I'm Pete from Isolu City."
"Isolu City... wow thats a good two hour trip to Forruvia isn't it? What brings you out here?" inquired Sandy.
"Well, I'm in the Grytu League Challenge, so I'm traveling from town to town collecting badges."
"Oh wow, how cool. Have you challenged Julia yet?"
"I was on my way when I saw those Team Solar goons steal the pokemon from her gym. Speaking of that, I should go return her pokemon. See ya later." Pete said as he picked up the bag filled with pokeballs.
"Actually, if you don't mind, can I come with you and watch your battle with Julia?" asked Sandy
Jack replied, "Sure."
The two then returned to the gym met up with Julia and they told her everything that had happened with Team Solar.
"Thank you very much," said Julia, "To the both of you. With out you two all of my pokemon would have been gone, and I would've had to shut down my gym."
"Your welcome." replied the both of them.
"Yeah, it's a good thing you didn't have to shut down your gym, because then I wouldn't have been able to challenge you for your badge!" said an excited Pete.
"Oh, you want a gym battle? Fine, you've more then deserved it."