"Welcome to 'Pokémon Now'" blared the announcer's voice over the television "With your host, Professor Hornbeam!"
An elderly man stepped in front of the camera. He had grey hair, balding on top, with a long grey beard. He was wearing a long white lab coat over a grey shirt and brown trousers, and big round glasses sat in front of his eyes.
"Hi there. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Professor Hornbeam, and I'm the regional Pokémon professor here in Hibernia. The world we live in is populated with both people and Pokémon. We live together, work together, and when the time comes, we battle together. Pokémon are amazing creatures with incredible powers, but they are also great friends to us humans. In the fast-paced industrial world of today, not only are Pokémon indispensable partners, but we must not forget that they are also our partners in life. That's all from me tonight, I must get back to my study. I hope each and every one of you watching learn the great power of the bond between Pokémon and humans one day, if you haven't already that is".
The show ended and the television began to show commercials, but 10-year-old Jason had stopped paying attention. He had messy red hair and piercing grey eyes. He lived in the tiny snowy community of Snowdrop town, the same place as Professor Hornbeam, and tomorrow, he would be getting his very first Pokémon! He could barely contain his excitement. Jason's dream was to enter the Hibernia League and become a Pokémon champion. His dad was, and still is, an amazing trainer who had won the Hibernia league back in the day. The only question now was; which Pokémon would Jason choose for his first? With thoughts of gym battles and new Pokémon swirling through his mind, Jason crawled into bed and fell fast asleep.
The next day Jason sprang out of bed. He pulled on his grey t-shirt and his red and black jacket over it, and a pair of blue jeans. After lacing up his red running shoes and grabbing the grey backpack by his bed, he sprinted downstairs and past his mom in the kitchen, disappearing out the door. The ground, as usual, was covered in a light dusting of snow, but that didn't stop the eager young boy from running at full pace towards Professor Hornbeam's lab. When he arrived he burst in through the door, grinning from ear to ear. That is, until he saw who else was there. Bruce, the town bully, was also getting a Pokémon today it seemed. Bruce sneered when he saw Jason enter the building. "Come to see me get the best Pokémon ever, loser?". Jason's blood boiled, but he ignored the jibe.
"Ah, it's good to see you Jason" said the Professor. "Are you ready to start your Pokémon adventure?"
Jason nodded vigorously. The Professor led the two boys over to a table with three pokeballs on it. Professor Hornbeam picked up the pokeballs and released the Pokémon inside, then described the three of them to the two boys. The first one looked like a green egg with white patches and two eyes, as well as a bunch of vines at the bottom. The second was vaguely oval shaped and almost completely engulfed in fire, with only four black legs not in flames. The third was a dark blue and shaped like a squashed ball. It was covered in navy spikes and a single eye on a stalk came from the top of it.
"This first Pokémon is Shellvine. It's a grass type. Then we have Koalurn, a fire type. And finally, Urkinn, the water type. Jason you can pick first".
Jason thought long and hard about his choice. Eventually, he decided to go with Shellvine, the grass type.
"Fine" said Bruce "then I want this one". He pointed at Koalurn, the fire type.
"You've both made excellent choices" said the Professor "Then again, I'd say that no matter which Pokémon you picked! Oh, there's a few more things".
He then handed the two boys each a pokedex and five pokeballs.
"The pokedex has information on every Pokémon in the region. Those pokeballs can be used to catch wild Pokémon".
"Hey Jason, I bet my Koalurn can beat your wimpy Shellvine" jeered Bruce.
"We'll see about that, let's battle!" retorted Jason.
Outside, the two new trainers prepared to battle. Bruce ordered Koalurn to use Scratch.
"Dodge and use leer!" shouted Jason.
Shellvine just got out of the way of the scratch attack and used leer on Koalurn, lowering its defence.
"Now use tackle!". Shellvine launched itself at Koalurn, scoring a direct hit.
"Now Koalurn, use scratch" commanded Bruce.
Shellvine was too close to dodge and was knocked back by the scratch.
"Now follow up with growl" shouted Bruce
"Shellvine, use leer to stop it growling!" said Jason
Shellvine glared at Koalurn, breaking its concentration and stopping the growl.
"Koalurn use scratch!"
"Shellvine use tackle!"
The two Pokémon met in the centre of the battle field, creating a cloud of dust around them. When the dust cleared, Shellvine was still standing while Koalurn had fainted.
"The winners are Jason and Shellvine!" announced Professor Hornbeam.
The victorious duo cheered and hugged each other. They'd won their first ever Pokémon battle! Bruce raged and complained but nobody really payed any attention to him. Professor Hornbeam invited both the boys inside to heal their Pokémon. Once that was done, Bruce ran out the door, shouting about becoming the strongest trainer in the Hibernia region.
"You should visit your mother before you leave on your journey" the Professor said to Jason.
After going home and saying goodbye to his mother, Jason was ready to set off on his adventure. He had his new Poketch on his wrist and Shellvine's pokeball on his belt. As he reached the path down the mountain towards Newbloom Town, he couldn't help looking back at his hometown. He'd lived his whole life so far in Snowdrop town and it felt weird to be leaving. He knew it wasn't forever though. One day he'd return, with the Hibernia league trophy in his hands. Taking a deep breath, Jason put one foot forward, and took the first step on his journey to be a Pokémon master!