I own no Pokemon characters. Credits to Game Freak.
-Prologue: Welcome to the World of Pokemon!-
"Hello there!"
A graying man greeted a class of young children with open arms. Knowing who he was, thanks to their parents, nearly all of them sprang from their seats and rushed over to see him, face to face. Some of them tugged the sides of the man's white lab coat, but luckily for him, no one messed with his lilac shirt, which was tucked neatly in his beige trousers.
"Yes, it's so nice to meet you all," he said with a chuckle, before ushering everyone back to their seats. "You're all probably aware, but my name is Professor Samuel Oak. I'm sure your parents would refer to me as 'Professor Oak' or 'Professor', but feel free to just call me 'Oak'."
The six year olds all liked this Oak guy already. He seemed so casual and friendly around them all, despite his high position. Their usual teacher insisted on them calling her 'Miss'. She caught a cold, though, so she couldn't make it today. With no other teacher available to take her place, Professor Oak volunteered to fill in for her.
The Professor reached into his lab coat pocket for a Poke Ball, a round capsule that was red on top and white at the bottom. He pressed the circular button at the middle of the ball to enlarge it. The children around him looked on in awe, yet they knew what would happen, thanks to seeing their parents do it often.
"As you must know, this world is inhabited far and wide by the creatures we call 'Pokemon'," Professor Oak said, before lightly throwing the Poke Ball upwards. It opened up, sending a red beam of light out in the front of the classroom. Nearly everyone let out 'oohs' and 'aahs' as the light morphed into a bird. The light itself faded away, but an actual bird remained.
It was so large, its head reached up to Professor Oak's shoulder. A red and yellow crest stretched out of its head and reached the floor. Its plumage was brown with a cream underbelly and its beak and legs were pink.
"Pidgeot, my boy. Please say hello to everybody," Oak said to his very first Pokemon companion with a smile. Pidgeot hollered cheerfully to the little humans in front of him.
A brown haired girl at the front rose from her seat and walked up to the avian. Shyly, she petted the bird, who let out a content 'purr'.
"Well, it seems that my friend's taken a liking to you," Oak told the girl.
"R-Really?" As she began to stroke Pidgeot's crest, she couldn't resist the urge to smile.
"He's a very social one, always ready to greet new people he meets," the Professor said. "Anyway, for some people, Pokemon are pets, kept for company or protection. Of course, the Pokemon must be willing to stay with the person, while the person must be willing to take care of the Pokemon. But that doesn't just apply with those kinds of people. Others battle Pokemon with each other. There must be trust between Trainer and Pokemon, in order for them to perform to the best of their ability."
Definitely more interesting than learning numbers, no one could deny.
"As for me, I study and research Pokemon."
"Re...search?" the girl currently next to Pidgeot repeated slowly. The word was new to her, as it was to the other students.
"That's right," Oak replied. "Pokemon are such mysterious creatures. We don't know everything about them. Pokemon Professors want to find out what they're truly like, how they truly act. Myself, I'm most particularly interested in the relationship between Pokemon and humans, how they treat each other. But enough about me. I should get to know a bit about you all."
He looked around the class, eager to pick someone to kick things off. Some of the children immediately shot their hands up, but others were less than confident. As Professor Oak looked around, he heard thumping next to him. He turned around to see the same girl jumping up and down with her hand raised.
"Oh, alright," Oak chuckled. "Why don't you introduce yourself to me?"
"Of course!" she chirped. "My name's Leaf. Nice to meet you!"
"Why, thank you, Leaf," Professor Oak said with a smile. "Now, would you like to tell me one thing about yourself?"
"Well, I really like your Pokemon!" Leaf chimed, ruffling Pidgeot's crest. The bird responded by nuzzling his face against the girl's.
The Professor laughed heartily. "And Pidgeot really likes you, too!" He then turned around, his eyes meeting with those of a boy in the front row. "How about you, young man?"
"Well... My name's Red," the boy answered shyly. He placed a hand on his mouth and cleared his throat, then managed a smile for the Professor. "Daddy named me Red because he wanted me to be like a fire."
"Oh ho! And do you what it means to be 'like a fire', Red?"
"No... But Daddy says it's a good thing."
"Indeed it is," Professor Oak said. "Your father wants you to be strong and he wants everyone to know you for it."
"Cool...!"
Next up was a girl beside Red. The blonde was a rather small girl, even for her age.
"Uh... My name's... Yellow," she said in a more timid voice than Red's. There was a slight pause, as she shied away from the Professor's line of sight briefly. "I like-"
Before Yellow could finish, however, the swinging of a door interrupted her.
"Teach, sorry that I'm late!"
And there was the voice of a newcomer. Well, latecomer. Everyone turned to see a spiky brown haired boy, who noticed the adult in the room and widened his brown eyes.
"G-Gramps!?"
"Oh, you're in this class, too?" Professor Oak chuckled as he turned to speak to the other children. "I'm sure you all know this young man. Of course, I would, too, being his grandfather. He's... Uh..."
Within seconds, he placed a finger on his chin and looked upwards in deep thought.
"Uh... Huh... What was his name again?"
"Wha...?" The child's mouth was agape. How could Professor Oak, one of the greatest minds in the Kanto region, forget his own grandson's name!? "Gramps, it's Bl-"
"Oh, I remember now! His name is Gary!"
"It's Blue!" 'Gary' whined, like the six year old that he was. "You know, like the sky!?"
"Huh... Can't the sky sometimes be orange? Perhaps-"
"No, I mean-"
"Please, don't interrupt your grandfather when he's speaking, Orange."
As the other kids laughed away, Blue buried his head in his hands.
One night, three years later...
Pallet Town was always a calm, peaceful place to live.
Maybe it was the fresh grass that never seemed to lose its green, since it was always well looked after. Maybe it was the fact that it was a relatively small town, resulting in not as much noise.
Pallet Town wasn't a metropolis. It wasn't like Saffron City, where the hustle and bustle of busy workers seemed to be the only thing that existed. Neither was it an exotic island town, like Cinnabar Island. Neither was it a busy port, like Vermilion City. However, since it was near an ocean route, there were a couple of boats that took passengers to and from Cinnabar Island. The people of Pallet Town found their hometown to be a nice, cosy one to live in and they wouldn't give it up for the world. Because it was so small compared to places like Saffron, people could truly get to know each other, being relatively short distances from each other. As such, there was a sense of unity.
This was especially apparent in a particular group of four friends.
Tonight was 'sleepover night' for said group. The stars adorned the night sky and seemed to twinkle even brighter than before. Well, that was what it appeared, anyway, to the blonde of the group.
For a moment, Yellow could have sworn she saw a streak of light speed by. She couldn't hide the shocked look on her face. Her friend beside her took notice of Yellow's reaction. After realizing what that was all about, Leaf turned around and excitedly called for her other friends, the two boys of the group. One of them was interested in what Leaf had to say, while the other just wanted to get back to pummeling him at his video game.
"Look up there!" the brunette said, pointing to the night sky. Just like that, another streak of light passed by.
"A shooting star?" Red was surprised at what he saw. It was quite a sight. "Mom told me about these."
"They say that if you make a wish before it disappears, it will come true," Yellow spoke softly. With that said, she clasped her hands, closed her eyes and began to make a wish.
Blue was not convinced. "Ha ha! Come on, Yellow! What are you, five? That's just a bunch of garbage!"
"Aw, Blue...! Don't be like that!" Leaf playfully pouted. "Who knows? You might be proven wrong!" She then brought her hands together and closed her eyes.
Blue rolled his eyes. "I really don't get this," he said as he turned away. "You agree with me, right, Red?"
As the spiky haired boy sat down and picked up his controller, he was expecting his best friend to do the same. He didn't. In fact, Red didn't say a word.
"Red?"
He turned back around, but couldn't believe what he was seeing. Red, too, clasped his hands and was making a wish!
Blue sighed.
At the same time, as much as he didn't believe in the whole 'wish upon a star' junk, he didn't want to be the odd one out. Besides, if Red was willing to go along with what the girls were doing, there must have been some sense in it. Reluctantly, Blue got up and slouched against the wall. After glancing to the open window next to him, he closed his eyes and made his wish.
Not that it would come true by just asking for it, though... He knew that he would have to work to make his wish a reality.
Afterwards, everyone opened their eyes. Blue was about to ask what everyone wished for, but realized that part of the superstition was that if you told someone your wish, it wouldn't come true. There was a brief moment of silence, before Red and Blue jumped right back to their video game. Leaf and Yellow sat next to each other and watched as the plumber and hedgehog on screen resumed their brawl. The exchanges seemed endless and the number of matches piled up, until there was a knock on the door.
"Red! It's time for you and your friends to get to bed!"
"Oh... Yes, Mom! Just a minute!"
Red's mother had been pretty lenient with his bedtime, considering that he invited his friends over. Not to mention, it wasn't a school night, which meant he and his friends were allowed extra playtime. However, all good things had to come to an end.
After wrapping up the last match, Red switched off the console and TV, while Leaf went to turn out the lights. As much as Blue wanted to continue playing, he supposed that there would be plenty of time tomorrow. Yellow stretched her arms and gave a long yawn before tucking herself in her sleeping bag, just as the other three did (well, Red had the pleasure of tucking into his actual bed).
"Hey, guys?" It was Leaf who spoke up, getting everyone else's attention.
"Is everything alright?" Yellow asked.
Leaf smiled. "I'm fine. I was just wondering something. When we become old enough to get starter Pokemon... What will you choose?"
There was silence, as the others were thinking of what to say. No one had ever asked them that question before, mainly because they still had to wait a couple more years until Professor Oak could give them a starter Pokemon. But what were their personalities? What were they capable of?
"Can we only pick from Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle?" Blue asked.
"I think so," Leaf answered. "Why? Don't you like any of them?"
"Oh, I'd be fine with any of them! It's just... Gramps keeps going on about how there's so many Pokemon out there, so why can't one of them be my first? Besides, big and strong Pokemon are just waiting to be given to me!"
Red shook his head. "Really, Blue... Maybe those particular three are easiest for us to look after."
"I like all three of them," Yellow said with a smile.
"Me, too," Red replied. "But I also wonder what other Pokemon are like."
"Oh, we'll meet them eventually," Leaf assured him. "And we'll all be friends with them, just like we're friends with each other!" The last part made the other three feel warm and fuzzy inside. Leave it to Leaf to assure them that they'd be friends forever!
"Well, that much is true," Red said. "Even when we leave on our journeys, we won't forget each other, will we?"
"Oh, I hope not," Yellow responded.
Blue grinned. "Same. You guys would be lost without me."
The hushed discussion continued. Stories and ideas were bounced around here and there and the four were trying so hard to keep a quiet tone. That just goes to show how close they were to each other.
And they had no plans to fall out with each other.
Fast forward another two years and you'll find that they still shared the same bond, even with their Pokemon journeys underway.
Author's Notes
Hello and welcome, one and all, to my novelization of Pokemon: FireRed and LeafGreen!
Pokemon is one of my favorite series. Ever. In fact, that's the main reason why I wanted to write this novelization! I remember the first time I played Pokemon LeafGreen and took a look at Venusaur on the box art. Naturally, I gravitated towards Bulbasaur when it came to picking a starter. Venusaur actually became my favorite Pokemon for a while, until I played the other games and grew appreciation for other Pokemon. The big guy's still in my top ten, but nine others have trumped it since the days of old. Perhaps I've have a top ten list in one of my later A/Ns...
Actually, in the 'general info' section of my profile, you can find out what my current favorite Pokemon is. Believe me. It's not likely to change! :)
As for this project... Boy, is it looking to be a mighty one!
Months back, I had a few ideas swirling in my head as to how I'd go about it, some of which I put on paper (well, more like 'typed on screen', but you know what I mean). I decided to mix elements from FRLG, Yellow, Origins and the regular anime. There's also an idea from the Adventures/Special manga (that idea being one of the four characters introduced in this prologue), as well as a few of my own ideas.
I've worked pretty hard on this one, so I sincerely hope you enjoy it. Like I said, it's gonna be a long one, so buckle up for the ride!
-Have a great day, week, month, whatever, and stay upbeat, y'all!-