Chapter 1: The Beginning
"The time is now 8:45 in the morning and the sun is shining. Today's weather is..." I rolled over and hit the snooze button. "With a chance of rain. Now, if we look over Vermillion City, you can see..." I rolled over and turned my alarm off. I stretched and turned over to look at the clock.
"What the hell?" I stretched again. "It's nine o'clock... Oh crap! It's nine o'clock! I'm gonna be late!" I jumped out of bed and threw some on some blue jeans, an Avenged Sevenfold tee-shirt, socks, my green DC sneakers, and ran downstairs. "MOM! I'm heading out now!" I yelled into the kitchen. I grabbed my hat and opened the front door to run out.
"WAITTTTTT!" my mother yelled after me. I stopped short and almost fell over trying to turn around. "You forgot your backpack, son." That's my mom... always two steps ahead of me. "Inside, there's a couple sandwiches, your WALLET," I checked my pocket. I didn't realize I left THAT behind. "a comb, and a change of clothes. Good luck, son," she said as she kissed my cheek.
"I love you, mom!" I yelled as I turned and took off again.
"I love you too!" she yelled back but her voice was trailing off in the distance.
"I can't wait to get to Professor Oak's lab!" I knew no one was around but I couldn't help but say it out loud. I feel as if I'm a LITTLE to excited to be getting my first Pokemon. I was starting to get out of breath, so I slowed myself down to a walk. "Wow, I forgot to eat breakfast," I said as my stomach growled. I opened my backpack and pulled out a zip-lock bag. "Hmm... Chicken salad! Sweet!" I opened the bag and took my first bite of this delicious concoction my mother prepares so well. I get so indulged in my food that I slam head first into a tree. I hear laughing from in the tree, so I looked up to see my younger sister, Michaela, sitting in the tree reading.
"Wow, bro. I always knew food would be your downfall," she closed her book and jumped out of the tree. "So, you ready to get our first Pokemon together?" I almost fell backwards. Did she really just say TOGETHER?
"Whoa, sis. Did you just say, TOGETHER?" I was stunned.
"Yes, I said together. Did mom forget to tell you that I was coming too?" I looked at her face skeptically. Just then my phone rang. I looked at the number. It was my mother.
"Hello?" I answered my phone.
"Hey, baby. I forgot to tell you. Michaela is going with you on your journey," wow my sister wasn't lying.
"...So I've heard."
"Yeah, sorry I forgot to tell you."
"It's okay. I love you."
"Love you too."
"Bye."
"Bye," I flipped my phone shut and turned to my sister. "Fine. Let's go. You owe me a sandwich, by the way," I started chuckling. She smiled and put her book into her shoulder bag. Then we turned and walked down the road.
About twenty minutes of walking, talking, joking, and playing around, we reached the gate of Professor Oak's lab. We stopped, almost as if we were shocked to be there. I looked at my sister and wrapped my arm around her. I looked back to the lab. "Let's go sis." We began walking up to the lab when I noticed a conspicuous man sitting on a wood about two hundred feet from the front door smoking a cigarette. As we passed him, I grabbed my sister and pulled her tighter. "I don't like the way he looks," I leaned over and said to Michaela.
"Neither do I," she responded quietly without even looking at the man. "Come on. Let's go get our first Pokemon!" she quickened her step. I had to quicken my step to keep up with her, but I really didn't mind because I was getting my very own Pokemon. Michaela reached out and put her hand on the door knob, but before she could open it, we heard Professor Oak's voice from inside.
"Come in. I know you can't possibly wait to receive your very own Pokemon!" He seemed so enthusiastic. It was a little bothersome actually. Nevertheless, we entered and walked up to the Pokemon Professor. "Oh, I wasn't expecting two of you. Oh well. I have three Pokemon you two can choose from. Now, who will pick first?" the professor asked sincerely. I couldn't help myself from speaking first.
"Go ahead sis. You deserve it," I sort of pushed her forward a little bit and waited for her to choose. I looked at the three poke balls that Oak had in his hand, praying that my sister and I got decent Pokemon to start off with.
"Okay, and what is your name?" Oak asked.
"Michaela Kay," she seemed ecstatic to be standing in front of the Professor.
"Okay. Judging by looking at you, I see that you'd like a Pokemon you could cuddle with at night. Am I right?"
"Yes sir," once the words left her mouth, Oak outstretched his hands.
"Go ahead. Pick one," my sister hesitated for a minute and reached for one.
"This one," she said with hop in her voice. She opened the poke ball. A Cubone emerged from the ball. My sister started to tear up. "I love Cubone!"
"Good! I'm glad. How about you, young man. What's your name?" Oak asked his question without looking at me.
"Max Kay. She's my younger sister," I almost shuddered. I was so nervous.
"Okay, Max," he started and turned to scan my figure with his eyes. "Just by looking at you, I can see you desire a loyal Pokemon that will never leave your side. Correct?"
"Yes sir," Again, Oak outstretched his hands towards me. He tilted his head letting me know it was okay to pick one of the two remaining Pokemon. I reached for the one I couldn't take my eyes off of. It was almost as if it was calling to me.
"Ah. That Pokemon will do you well," he smiled and put the last poke ball down on the table behind him. What does he mean?
"I'm sorry Professor. What do you mean?" I asked concerned.
"Well, go ahead. Open your poke ball." I pointed the ball about five feet in front of me and the ball opened. At that very moment I knew the Professor was right.
"Houndour..." I whispered. One of my favorite Pokemon. "Professor, thank you so much," now I was almost in tears.
"Yes Professor. Thank you!" Michaela exclaimed. "I can't believe that we finally got our first Pokemon!" my sister said as we turned around to leave. "Good bye, Professor," we turned around.
"Good bye, sir," I said.
"Good bye you two. Make sure you talk to my aide before you leave, though," Oak waved. My sister and I began walking towards the door. We see the aide and we make a beeline for him.
"Sir?" I asked as I looked at the two belts with five poke balls each. "Are those for us?"
"Yes, Mr. Kay. These two belts are for you and your sister. As are these Pokedex's," he handed the belts to us and gave us the Pokedex's. We put the belts on, I put my Pokedex in the front of my back pack and my sister put her Pokedex in her shoulder bag. We turned and started walking towards the front door. I put my hand on the door and pushed it open. My sister and I walked down to the gate.
"Okay, lets look at the map and see how to get to Pewter City and face Brock," I looked at Michaela and began to trace the road through Viridian City and the Viridian Forest.
"So... What are we waiting for? We should head out. HOWEVER, you and I need to catch some more Pokemon before we decide to face off against Brock," she was right. Fire versus rock doesn't really work well. "We should definitely get some Pokemon in the forest."
"You are right!" I shut the map and put it back into my bag.
We began walking down the street and turned down a street with an arrow saying "Viridian City." As we begin to walk down this path that is encompassed by woods, Michaela turns towards me.
"So Max," she started but then she caught glimpse of a lake. "Max, there might be Pokemon there!" she started to run towards the lake. Just then, I saw two other trainers by the lake as well. I ran to catch up to her but I was to late to stop her from getting the attention of the two trainers.
"Hey! You two look like trainers! Well, I guess me and my brother have to teach you two newcomers just how to battle!" The older brother spoke so quickly.
"Let's go then!" I yelled. "One on one or two on two?" I asked as my attitude quickly changed from nice and brotherly to pissed off and ready to fight.
"This is gonna be a one on one. You and me and your sister and my brother. Let's go!" he yelled and then threw a poke ball. "Go Paras!"
PAAARRRRAAASSSS!
"Hmph. Go Houndour!" I threw my poke ball and watched as my Pokemon emerged from the jail cell it deals with all the time.
HOOOUUUNNNDDDOOOUUURRR!
"Paras, tackle that dog!" my opponent yelled to his Pokemon. "Take it down!"
"Houndour, dodge and bite the hell out of that crab!" I shot back.
"Paras, use stun spore!"
"Houndour, back up and use flamethrower!" I chuckled as the flame surrounded Paras. Paras then fell over and fainted. "Yes! We won, Houndour!" I knelt down and outstretched my arms. My Houndour ran up and jump into my arms and licked my face. I stood up and turned to my sister. "Go for it sis!"
"Okay. Cubone, it's your turn to shine!" Michaela shouted and threw her poke ball.
CUUUBBBOOONNNEEE!
"Go Serviper!" the younger brother launched his poke ball in the air.
SSSSSSSSEEERRVVVIIIPPPPEEERR!
"Cubone, Bonemerang!" my sister shouted as she adjusted her glasses. Cubone threw the bone it carries as hard as it could.
"Serviper, dodge and use poison fang!" my sister's young opponent looked as if he was in tears. It seemed as if this youngster never wanted to battle. I mean, NEVER wanted to battle with his Serviper. Nevertheless, here he was and his Serviper shot towards my sister's Cubone.
"Come on, Cubone! Move!" my sister looked scared for the first time since we talked about getting our Pokemon. Cubone, however, just crossed her arms and stood there. Cubone looked at Michaela and seemed as if to wink. All Cubone did was hold out her arm and right as Serviper was about to bite Cubone's arm, her bone came back and hit Serviper in the face. The opponents Serviper hit the ground as Cubone caught the bone.
"M...m...m...my... Ser... Serviper!" the youngster burst into tears as he ran to his Serviper's side. The older brother ran to his brothers side. "We have to bring him to the Poke-center!" The older of the siblings picked up the Serviper and put it over his shoulders and he picked up Paras and his brother and ran off toward the town.
"WELL, after that experience, we should rest here for a bit, Max. What do you think?" my sister looked very shaky. I decided not to take the risk of her passing out or fainting. It was getting pretty hot out. I looked around to see if there was any more trainers around to try to take us on. Michaela sat down. "Come on, Max. It's lunch time anyway. Let's let our Pokemon out and eat a little."
"You're right, sis. Well rest here for a bit. It is a long walk to Viridian City," I sat down next to my sister and pointed my poke ball to the grass in front of me, "Come on out of this cage, Houndour."
HOOOUUUNNNDDDOOOUUURRR! Houndour came out and walked over to my side. After sniffing the ground and determining that the spot was fine, he plopped to the ground and curled up against my leg. I subconsciously started patting his back and belly.
"You too, Cubone. Come on out," my sister said as she pointed the poke ball towards the ground a few feet in front of her.
CUUUBBBOOONNNEEE! Cubone emerged and sat down with her bone in her hands. Cu-cu-cubone. Cubone began talking to my sister as she was taking a sandwich and some food for Cubone. Cubone glanced at us and walked over to my sister and sat on her lap. Cubone! Cubone was obviously happy with my sister's taste of Pokemon food.
"Here you go, Houndour," I placed a small bowl of Pokemon food in front of my companion. He picked his head up and licked my face and then proceeded to start eating his food. "Wow, I guess you were hungry huh boy? Okay, time for my seafood salad sandwich." I took out the last piece of food that I will have from home in a long time. I opened the bag and took my first bite of my meal. However, I looked up just in time to see a small group of Marill and Azurill. I put my sandwich down and nudged Houndour and then my sister to look at the group. "Houndour, sneak up and tackle one of the Marill," I whispered.
Houn-houn-houndour. Houndour got up and slowly started to walk behind the group. Thankfully the Marill haven't seen him yet. Just as he got about ten yards away, he started charging at one of the Marill. One of the Marill turned and got hit right in the stomach. As both Marill and Houndour landed, Houndour grabbed Marill with his teeth and shook his head so Marill flew in the air. Right when Marill hit the ground, I picked up a poke ball from my belt.
"You're mine now, Marill!" I threw the poke ball at the downed Marill. Marill disappeared into the ball and hit the ground. The ball started shaking side to side. "One... Two... Three..." The ball stopped and the poke ball was still. "Yes! I caught Marill!" I ran up and scooped up the poke ball and ran up to Houndour. "We did it! We caught Marill!" I began to pet Houndour and we walked back to my sister and Cubone. "Still eating, I see," I smiled as Houndour and I began to eat again.
"Nice job, bro. At least now you can give Brock a better challenge," she started laughing. Houndour started growling and I hit my sister in the back of the head. "Ow! What was that for?"
"Well considering the fact that now YOU need to catch a water or grass Pokemon to make sure you can even challenge Brock, I'm not to worried," I took another bite of my sandwich. "You think Marill wants to swim?" Houndour looked at me and nodded his head. "Okay then. Come on out and enjoy the water, Marill." I threw the poke ball and Marill emerged in the water.
Marill Mar! Marill began splashing around and playing in the water. Mar Mar Marill! Marill looked at me with cheer when I began to get up and walk over to her with a handful of food for her. She jumped out of the water and started bouncing over to where I was standing. I bent down and placed the food on a paper plate and smiled when Marill took her first bite.
"Look at those flowers, Max!" my sister exclaimed. "They look so funny. I wonder what kind of flowers they are..." she motioned to Cubone to go with her and off they were. A whole thirty yards away from us. Cubone got to the strange flowers first and she leaned over to sniff the flower. The flower then leaned back and slammed forward knocking Cubone to the ground. "Whoa! Cubone, watch out!" Cubone rolled over and shot up. She ran behind Michaela's leg to hide for a moment. "What are these things?" My sister took out her Pokedex and pointed it at these new, strange looking Pokemon.
Lileep, the sea lily Pokemon. Lileep is an ancient plant that disguises its tentacles as flowers to attract its prey.
"Hm, a Lileep huh? Okay, then. Cubone, use Bone Club!" Cubone ran towards the Lileep and jumped into the air ready to slam the Lileep with the bone like a tomahawk. Lileep, however, didn't so much like the idea. When Cubone was ten feet away, vines shot out from Lileep and shot towards Cubone. "Cubone, bat those vines away!" Michaela shouted. Cubone slapped one away, then the other and was just feet from Lileep. "Now, Cubone!" and with that, Cubone slammed the bone down on top of Lileep and the flower hit the ground so hard it rattled the Pidgy out of the trees. My sister grabbed a poke ball and threw it at Lileep. The Lileep disappeared into the ball and the ball hit the ground and began to shake from side to side. "One... Two... Three! Yes!" my sister did it. She caught her first Pokemon.
"Nice job, sis," I called to her. "Hey, it's getting dark. What do you say we camp here tonight?" I said to her after putting Marill back into her poke ball. "I saw a store about ten minutes back that sold tents. What do you say?"
"Sure!" she exclaimed. "We'll go together. Come on, Cubone." Cubone ran over to her and they ran over to Houndour and I and we began walking to the store. "We really showed those trainers, huh!" my naïve sister spoke proudly.
"Yes, but don't think that it will always be that easy. Brock is no pushover and neither are the other gym leaders. Plus, trainers along the way will get tougher and tougher. I know that we're going to travel together but be aware. I can't always help you in a battle. You need to train hard if you want to become co-champion with me," I smiled at my sister as we walked. "Hey look there's the store. Let's go!" As we entered the store, we notice that strange man again. Houndour and Cubone were safely back in their poke balls and we quickly grabbed two tents.
"Is that all?" the young woman behind the counter asked.
"Yes, ma'am," I responded.
"That will be twenty-five dollars and thirty-three cents." I handed her the money and we grabbed our tents and quietly but quickly left.
"What's with that guy?" Michaela asked.
"I don't know, but it's getting darker. Come on let's go," we quickened our pace until we reached the lake again. "Houndour, come on out boy," I pointed the poke ball at the ground and out came my puppy. "Do you mind starting a little fire, boy?" I scratched behind his ears. He looked at the pit and blew a small amount of flames until the fire was started. "Thanks boy." Houndour stretched out next to the fire and watched me put up my tent. "Need help, Kay?" I asked not realizing that she had Cubone helping.
"No it's okay. We're almost done," she smiled. We finished putting our tents up and we sat near the fire with our Pokemon. "It's getting late. We should go to bed."
"Yeah, you're right. Come on, boy. Let's go to bed." I rubbed Houndour's belly and we got up and walked into my tent. "Good night, sis," I zipped up my tent and I began to change into my pajamas.
"Good night, Max," she said as I heard her zip up her tent. "Good night, Cubone," she said as she kissed Cubone's head and she put her head down and began to fall asleep.
"Good night, Houndour," I said as I was lying down to get some sleep. Houndour curled up against my side and we fell asleep slowly, listening to the wildlife.