Chapter 1.

I sat there shivering in the chilly room. My arms pale, my heartbeat an infinitely slow pace. I slowly sat up in his bed, looking around myself once, then twice to make sure that everything was normal. Calm down Gold. I talked to myself like how I did when I was younger. This is your room. I recalled the nightmare so vividly, however, that it seemed like reality. The Haunter's laughing in my ears as they chased me, cackling madly through the streets. I shivered again at the terrifying thought.

Outside, suddenly, the Dodrio crowed. Damn. Time to get up. Shaking my head, I climbed out of my warm bed and onto the cold, barren ground, dashing for my clothing. I put on my shirt and pants, buckled my worn-out leather belt, and then put on my favorite yellow hat, the only thing I had left of my brother. I took a quick glance into the mirror. I saw a slightly scruffily dressed young guy, with jet-black hair and a cocky grin. Perfect. Downstairs, I heard my mom creating a masterpiece out of fresh Dodrio eggs. Maybe this won't be such a bad day after all.

As soon as I walked down the stairs, Mom, a plump middle-aged woman with light brown curls, approached me and gave me a big hug.

"Hi son! Today, Professor Elm called by. He wanted you to go over and run an errand for him." I nodded as I furiously stuffed the eggs down my throat, wasting no time eating. I turned to leave, but stopped as my mother called out to me again. "Oh right. Your PokeGear just arrived back from the store. You should take it with you."

I smiled. I had been waiting for this PokeGear for months, as I had won it in my schools annual lottery. Our small family was too poor to afford one, and I was glad I didn't have to wear out Mom's pockets anymore. I turned to leave, but was stopped by a clicking sound. I turned around and laughed, seeing my mom beckon me forward with her finger. I sighed resignedly, and gave myself over to her embrace.

"Mom!" I pleaded jokingly. "I'm already seventeen years old. I can take care of myself."

She just smiled and pushed me off towards the doorway.

As I walked out of my small wooden house, I stepped onto the crisp green grass outside my home. That was the benefit of living in this tiny town. Despite the lack of anything really interesting happening in the town, it was cheap and had plenty of living space for the few residents. The sun beat down on my back, warming me as I ran towards Professor Elm's lab.

I swung the door open without knocking and hopped in. Professor Elm was a revered professional in his field, but to me, he had always been a friend. I looked for him around the quiet lab and found his iconic brown tuff of hair sticking out from behind a computer.

"Elm!" He looked up and around until he saw me. His face lit up and beckoned me forward towards him.

"Gold. How nice to see you. How has April been?" I smiled. "She's been fine. She told me this morning you had something for me to do?"

He nodded. "Yes. I have something extremely important." We walked through the halls into a small white door on the side that I had never noticed before. He pressed his palm on it, and green rays of light shot from his fingertips to the sides of the door, which beeped and opened.

The room itself lit up as we walked in, and I saw why it was kept hidden so well. Inside the room were tons and tons of pokeballs. There were the standard red ones, issued to new trainers, as well as Great balls, a stronger level, and many other pokeballs I had never seen before. Elm walked to a corner of the room, where a small glass case stood. He tapped the red button on the front, and the glass case slid open, revealing a small, red tablet. He grabbed it and handed it to me.

"For my new research, I need to research an unusual occurrence." He began. "Recently, I have received calls that fully evolved Pokemon are evolving again, becoming extremely powerful and rare. I need to do research on this, and that's where you come in. Use this Pokedex to record every Pokemon that you see, and eventually you'll probably find one of these rare Pokemon evolutions."

He smiled. "I also called you here for a different reason. As we both know, you were not able to afford to start a Pokemon journey due to financial troubles. Well, I thought that maybe you would want to start one now?" His eyes twinkled as I roared with joy. Since I was small, I had always really wanted to become a trainer, but it cost too much to apply for a license, almost as much as my mom's annual salary.

He held out from who-knows-where three red pokeballs. "I would like you to choose your starter, if you're going to accept this journey."

"Do you think I would say no?"

I poked at the Pokeballs as I debated which one to take. Having helped Elm so much, I knew what starters there were. The pokeball that had a small teardrop on top of it was Totodile, a slightly overwhelming crocodile Pokemon. Most Totodiles that had been given to starters were quite aggressive and playful, and many a novice had left the lab screaming with a Totodile bite on their arm. Nah. Too aggressive.

I next recalled my information about Chikorita. Chik was a cute and adorably friendly dinosaur pokemon with a ring of peas around it's neck and a leaf on its head. It's final evolution, Meganium, was extremely useful and could singlehandedly either wipe out an army with it's deadly poisons or heal one with it's soothing smells. Maybe, but seems a bit passive.

Finally, I looked at the small, warm pulsating pokeball. Inside it held the firey squirrel, Cyndaquil. It had a small flame on the back of it's back, but the flame was harmless if it liked you. It was usually a bit reclusive, but once you got it to like you, it loved you. I smiled as I made my choice.

"Come on out, Cynd!" I whirled the pokeball in the air like the trainers did in the videos, and immediately caused a crashing lamp to fall to the ground.

Professor Elm tried to look stern, but he was stifling a laugh. "Young man, we do not use our pokemon indoors. Go outside!"

I went outside and released my new pokemon. Cyndaquil popped out in front of me, and I marveled at new Pokeball technology. A pokeball turned the registered Pokemon into pure energy and brought it to an "alternate dimension" where all the other Pokémon that trainer owned were. It meant that the Pokémon didn't have to always stay with the trainer, but could still be called on on a moments notice.

As Cyndaquil came out, he squinted into the bright sun. I looked at it and saw it was obviously a baby, due to the tiny pores that were on the side of it. It took a shaky step, tripped on a pebble, and fell.

I rushed forward to the crying Cyndaquil and picked it up, cradling it in my arms. "It's fine. You're safe here."

The Cyndaquil looked up at me with large, tearful eyes, and I laughed. "Come on buddy, let's get you patched up."