Chapter 1: Send off! Journey begins!
It was a sunny day in fuchsia city. Pidgey and Spearow were flying overhead and the sounds of the natural bug and grass Pokémon from the area could be heard
"JOE! WAKE UP! YOUR GOING TO BE LATE!" until that happened. The townsfolk in the area were shaking their heads.
"Looks like Joe over slept again."
"I know, fourth time this week too. I wonder what he does all night." A random person said.
"ALRIGHT, I'M UP, I'M UP! Sheesh, guy can't catch a break around here."
"Well it's a two day trip from here to Pallet town where you get the registration for becoming a trainer. You said you were going to get your license this year." The boy's mom said
"yeah, I wonder which one I'll get though. Bulbasaur is able to learn attack that suit most situations, but in its stats it's stamina leaves much to be desired while not growing in said area much after evolving into an Ivysaur. Charmander is more of an offensive hitter, but its defense against physical and special attacks aren't that good" his mom rolled her eyes at him "and finally is Squirtle. The all around player what it lacks in Stamina until it evolves is made up for by the offensive and defensive attacks that it can learn" Joe finally finished
"Ok mister critic, I hate to say it but I'm gonna have to stop your rant. You still have to get dressed." She said
"Eh?" Joe looked at himself and saw he was still in his pajamas. So he went back upstairs to get changed and grab his pack. He looked in the mirror and put a comb through his hair. He had Medium length black hair and Cyan blue eyes. He wore a white short sleeve shirt under an open blue hooded jacket, faded blue jeans and a pair of Running shoes as he called them. In all honesty they were just a pair of Adidas shoes, white with dark blue mixed in. Grabbing his wallet with all of the money he saved over the years he went downstairs and got ready to go. His sister Jessica was at work, she didn't want to become a trainer and instead started a little gift shop with the help of the Safari Zone warden, Baoba(did I spell the guys name right?). His Father Keith worked in Almia region and came home when he could; his father was a Ranger after all. His little brother and sister were at their Friends houses due the sleepovers they had constantly.
When he said goodbye to his mother, Maria, he set off going through civilian roads to get to the next few towns before getting to vermillion city where he would catch a ride one of his friends set up for him which would take about a day to get from point A to point B. and going on the bike path to Celedon city was his first objective, to get from Fuchsia to Vermillion; one has two options available. Option one is to go on the bike route to Celedon, cross from there and into Saffron city and head south to Vermillion. Option two is to go on the ocean side route, pass by the fishing critic's house and then the Diglett Cave. Joe of course chose the former because he wanted to stop by the department store and pick up a few Items: your average potions, Poke dolls for a quick escape from a wild Pokémon, Pokémon food for when he got his starter and other various supplies for long 'in the wild' trips (sleeping bags, human food, matches, Etc.) he got on his Bike and started on the route when he was close to Celedon there was a commotion down on the road since this was a Nature area not many travelers aside from people with bikes came down this road. Joe saw two people standing in back of the truck they had. What they were shouting about shocked him. He went to an area where he couldn't be seen.
"So what do you think the boss wants with this tiny thing? It can't even back up that pathetic little growl it let out earlier." Said thug #1
"I don't know Jack, I don't make the orders I follow them. Just get the damn tire out from in there and put it on. We have a schedule to keep." Thug #2 said
When he looked past the two he saw several cages with Pokémon in them. He had to do something. He remembered his fathers words 'son, when the option comes to help an innocent Pokémon, an inanimate object can be replaced, a life can't, however. One small move can make a difference.' He got out of his hiding spot and charged at them with his bike in both hands.
"HEY UGLY!" both of the thugs turned around only to be hit with a bike Joe took the keys from the one that was called 'jack' and unlocked all of the cages. Pidgeotto, Donphan, Heracross, Sneasel, and finally Ralts. The Ralts however looked to be poisoned.
"ugh…..brat your going to regret that, Sandslash get out her and hit him with a poison jab!" a Sandslash came out of the truck and just as Joe got out of the truck as well he was hit with a poisoned claw, courtesy of Sandslash. It hit him and cut the side of his shirt but it stung and would only get worse if he didn't get to a Pokémon center. Dodging the rest of the jabs he started running with Ralts in his arms straight to Celedon.
When he made it, the effects of the poison jab that was used on him was really kicking in, his breathing was a bit labored, his vision getting blurry. He barged in. as luck would have it Officer Jenny and Prof. Oak was also there talking about something. They were startled when a boy came in with a Ralts in his arms. Nurse joy, Jenny and Oak rushed over to him as he collapsed.
"Please help Ralts...poisoned by... thugs..." Joe muttered as the effects fully kicked in, and he blacked out.
"His shirt is ripped and the only poison attacks I can think of that would do that kind of damage in a short time is poison jab and poison fang. It doesn't look like the latter." After inspecting both Nurse joy went to get an antidote while chansey Helped Jenny put Joe on a 'pull out in emergency' bed with Ralts. Nurse joy came back with the antidote and injected it into the boy, and Ralts. Afterwards she took Ralts to the Pokémon recovery room. Officer jenny looked through his wallet for a type of Identification and found an old Ranger deputy card
"Josiah 'Joe' Middleton Ranger deputy to Almia top ranger Keith Middleton" Jenny said aloud.
"Then he must also be the one that was appointed to come to my lab in about two days. Hm…"
"Whats wrong professor?"
"He reminds me of Ash."
"Huh? Care to elaborate?"
"In the sense that he does what he can to protect the wellbeing of the Pokémon, putting said Pokémon before himself." The old professor stated.
Jenny smiled at that. She had met ash once or twice, when she was in the area of the Squirtle Squad incident. "Well, that's true. I can definitely see that in him. What are you going to do when he wakes up, though?"
"I still have business I need to attend to so I'll be staying at least until Five P.M. tomorrow. If he's anything like ash as I stated he will want to wait until he knows that the Ralts is safe, which if my guess is right should be about three o'clock tomorrow afternoon, but then again I'm not a doctor so it's merely a guess. When all is said and done I'll take him with me to my lab so we can get the paperwork filled out and give him his license as a trainer." Oak replied
"Alright, will give me enough time to get some questions in." Oak nodded and went off to the department store
Next Morning
'Ugh…what happened? Lets see Bike route, thugs, and' Joe's eyes widened "RALTS!" he exclaimed
"Is fine, and good morning, Joe. My name is Samuel Oak. The one you were going to meet in pallet. Nurse Joy told me to let you know that Ralts is going to make a full recovery by this afternoon." Joe sighed in relief
"If you don't mind me asking, Professor, why are you in Celedon?" The elder started laughing.
"You see, like my colleagues in the other regions I have my share of Contacts that help with my discoveries and give me the information to help in my studies. My contact had come across a LIVE Kabuto and had it caught. Due to most of the ancient Pokémon being extinct we have to hope that we can find the fossils to restore these Pokémon and hopefully put them in a natural environment to help them reproduce. Said environment is already set up at the lab so that when the Pokémon becomes strong enough it will be able to survive on its own and be released into the wild. The studies on these ancient Pokémon are just to study the likes and habits ingrained into the DNA of the Pokémon and how it lives." Joe looked at him with a dead pan look
"In English Professor."
"Sigh, my friend came across a Kabuto and I came to study it and hopefully put it in an artificial environment until it can survive on its own."
"That actually makes more sense."
[A/N: I'm sorry to interrupt this broadcast but I need to let the viewers know that I will not be doing the Pokémon talk like how Pikachu always does this whole 'pika pikachupi' thing I will just have them talk like their thinking. Think of it as a sort of telepathy]
Nurse joy came into the room around two thirty-five P.M. Joe was already dressed and on the waiting bench before that happened and when she came out, Ralts was right beside her. Joe saw it and went over
"Well Joe, Ralts is ready to go." She said with a smile on her face
"Heya Ralts, I'm Joe, the one that helped you get here" the Ralts looked up
'Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it' it then proceeded to hug his leg.
"Joe while I hate to break this up. Officer Jenny still has questions for you and we still have to get to the lab." Oak said
With Jenny
Joe came to Jenny's office with Ralts, since it wouldn't leave him for some reason
"Okay, I want to make this clear, this is not an interrogation. I am merely asking for a police report on what happened so we can resolve the entirety of the matter and not just sweep it to the side." Joe nodded "what happened to get both you and Ralts poisoned like you were?"
"I don't know what completely happened before my appearance on the scene, I was coming to Celedon from the Bike route and saw a truck with two suspicious guys staring on the inside and talking about Ralts and a tire. What I can guess is that they received a shipment of Poached Pokémon and were tasked with bringing them back to the boss. When I looked past them I saw that they had the caged Pokémon in the back of the truck, the Pokémon I remember seeing were Pidgeotto, Donphan, Heracross, and this Ralts. Ralts however was already poisoned. Taking a chance I grabbed my bike and threw it at them, knocking at least one unconscious and the other one getting hurt. I took the keys to the cages from thug that was getting the tire out and released the Pokémon, Ralts couldn't go anywhere on its own because of its status. When I grabbed Ralts the thug that was still awake called out a Sandslash and had it use Poison jab on me. I only got out with just a tear in my shirt and a small nick, but I guess that's all that it took, after I got to the Pokémon center I blacked out." He finished. Officer Jenny smiled
"Thank you for the report; I'll have some of my people working to catch the culprits. You did a good thing putting Ralts before yourself, and it seems that it wants to stay with you, a person and soon to be trainer it can trust. Prof. Oak is probably waiting for you outside so you both can get going." Joe gave her a grateful look before heading out with Ralts.
With Oak on the road
Prof. Oak had a nice car to get to the other towns in. there were a few Highways only meant for quick transportation from towns like Saffron going into Pewter City, since the only way from Cerulean city was . When they finally arrived in Pallet town things were more peaceful.
"Well, welcome to Pallet town, Joe. It may not look like much but there is a lot of nature in this area and is also where trainers start their journeys." The Elder said.
With ten minutes of arriving in pallet they came upon a Pokémon research facility A.K.A. Prof. Oak's lab. Behind it was a huge nature preserve with many types of Pokémon ranging from Spearow all the way to a Lucario, Pokémon of different Shapes and sizes, it was amazing.
"Wow…..there's more Pokémon here than what I've seen in the Safari Zone. But I guess that's to be expected huh."
Ralts looked up at him and said 'yeah, I think I saw a gallade even.'
"Well lets go in and get everything sorted out, shall we?" the Professor proceeded to usher them into the lab. Inside the lab was a person moving boxes of what looked like reference material to a desk. He had medium black hair with a red headband, a green short sleeve shirt and a pair of brown khaki shorts as well as normal Nike shoes (black and white color scheme).
"Welcome back professor, the material is where you want it now, Prof. Ivy called earlier asking for reference work on the Sinnoh native; Garchomp."
"You told her to contact Gary didn't you?" Oak asked.
"Yes, I did. You don't mind if I take a break do you, I've been up since five." The boy said
"Very well, oh before I forget. Joe this is Tracey, my assistant and an excellent sketch artist. Tracey this is Joe, the new trainer I told you about."
Sticking out his hand he gave a greeting. "Nice to meet you Joe, is that Ralts by chance yours?"
Joe took the hand and gave the ceremonial greeting shake [A/N: this is just what I call it.] "Unfortunately its not, I'm not a trainer yet, but the little guy seems to want to follow me around. I think it feels a lot safer around me because of the incident that happened the other day." Ralts hid behind Joe's leg when Tracey crouched down to get a better look.
"It's definitely shy, but it doesn't look like that's its nature. well... if I've learned anything, it's that Pokémon tend to warm up around people that are with it often. Oh well, guess it can't be helped at this time, can it?"
"Joe if you'll follow me we'll get your picture taken and you license printed out."
They went to a Room with a camera and equipment for getting the license printed out. Once the trainer card was taken care of the next matter was getting him registered into the trainer database and getting the bar code put on the back of the card. After 10 minutes of that they were finally done and next came the big step.
"Now is the first official step of becoming a trainer, Joe. To receive your very first Pokémon. These three poke balls are the Kanto starters the blue tape is Squirtle, the Red is Charmander, and the green is Bulbasaur. Take your pick but only one of course."
Joe looked at the poke balls contemplating which one he would get. When he noticed that Ralts was still next to him. "Professor, has there ever been any cases in which a trainers first Pokémon is something other than the starters?" he asked
The professor looked at him like he had grown a second head, but then calmed down a bit when he saw the Ralts. "Yes, there has been one case. About three or four years ago, I forget, but the Trainer was Ash Ketchum. His first Pokémon was a Pikachu and from what I saw the two have bonded marvelously and grown strong enough to take any competition. In fact he was in the top five at the Johto silver conference." Joe went wide eyed at that. "He's currently in Sinnoh. Why do you ask?"
"I've weighed my options and if possible I'd like to take Ralts as my partner" Ralts snapped its head up at the statement.
'R-really? Y-y-you want m-me to be your partner?' it asked
"Well do you see another Ralts in this room?" Joe asked with a smile
"I suppose that this can be allowed." The old professor said with a smile "do you want to give your Ralts a nickname?"
Joe thought about that for a moment before answering "Luce (lu-say), if I remember right, it means 'light'"
"That sounds like a good name. Here this Poke ball will be used for the Ralts to identify it as yours, along with that, there is the beginners five-set poke balls and Pokedex, your already registered for the Indigo League so with this you'll be all set." Giving the poke ball to Joe, he gave the Pokémon an assuring smile before Joe crouched and Ralts put its hand on the center of the poke ball. A red light enveloped it and it went into the poke ball.
With everything taken care and being set to go, Joe left pallet with the fond memory that this is where his journey begins. First stop, Viridian city
[A/N: well this was actually pretty fun to write. I saw a few fics and never saw one with a Ralts as the starting Pokémon, as someone once said (I forget the name) if you want to see a story that badly, write it your self.
(next time, on Pokémon light:
Joe: what! Why are you being merciless Luce already lost
Trainer: your Pokémon is weak
Joe: Luce, I'm sorry)