Chapter 1: How Things Work Out
"He… He really is going with this, isn't he?"
"It really seems like it."
"I just want him to be safe. I can't bear to see him get hurt…"
"That's not the truth, is it?"
"…"
"You just don't want him to leave…?"
"…I don't know what to think anymore…"
"I'm sure he can take care of himself. He has the blessing of the world by his side, after all…"
"I hope you're right…"
The sun shone bright in the early morning sky. The sky, a soothing turquoise blue dotted with puffy white clouds, invited the new day cheerfully. Sunlight streamed through the window of the cozy little room where a frail, green-haired boy slept wrapped up in his thick blankets. His eyes were shut lightly, and he breathed calmly through his nose. A piercing ring broke through the sounds of the birds chirping outside, and the boy slowly opened an eye and grunted. Warily lifting his hand up, the boy shut off his alarm clock and glanced sleepily at the time. Almost immediately, his eyes snapped open, and he cried out. The boy jumped to his feet and rushed out of his room.
He threw on his clothes and cleaned himself up in the bathroom, then shot out into the kitchen where his mother was cooking breakfast by the stove.
"Wally! Are you going already?" Wally's mother had a bewildered expression on her face, and she came over, grabbed Wally by the shoulders, and sat his down with a place full of food in front of him. "The least you could do is eat up!"
"Oh, thanks, Mom." Wally timidly smiled at his cheerful mother, and then he relaxed and began to eat. Stopping for a moment, Wally glanced up at his mother, "Wait, does Dad know about this at all?"
As she washed the dishes, Wally's mother tilted her head to the side and spoke over the rushing water, "No, Wally! Your father's still asleep; I'll try to keep his busy as long as I can, so you'd better hurry up! If he catches you leaving, then he'll probably bar you within your own room!"
Wally was sure that his mother was only half-joking, but the other half was indeed true; in fact, his father would probably almost literally kill Wally if he found out about this.
This was the day where Wally will begin his adventure.
Wally scarfed his food down as quickly as he can, for the fear of his father waking up, thought he wouldn't since he never wakes up until the afternoon on the weekends, and nearly choked and gagged in the process, and Wally stood up slowly and pushed his chair in without making much of a sound at all.
Wally walked over to where his mother was finishing up with the dishes and wrapped his arms around his mother, who soothingly played with Wally's thick hair. "I'll see you soon, Mom. I'll make you proud!"
"You already do, Wally. You could only make me more prouder." Wally's mother whispered, tears forming in her eyes.
Unwilling to see his mother cry, for Wally may hesitate to leave, Wally burst through the front door of his home, calling out one last farewell along the way. Wally was ecstatic. Today was the day Wally is able to start his adventure. In the region he lives in, once you graduate from your high school with higher-than-average grades, then you qualify to go on a Pokemon adventure. Not only are you given your very own Pokedex, if you manage to fill it up well and raise your own Pokemon well, you'll be qualified to enter college for no cost at all. And today was the day Wally received his first Pokemon from the Gym Leader next door to him, who supported this program. Today was the beginning of Wally's adventure!
Wally dashed as quickly as he could to the gym, his shoes slipping along the dirt. Though Wally was weak and thin, he was a born runner, so a long adventure like this was a joy and not a chore for him. He finally reached the gym with an enthusiastic smile on his face and came colliding against the front glass doors of the gym, the sliding doors unable to open fast enough to the energetic Wally. Groaning, Wally stepped back and checked his nose to see if it was injured, then slowly walked through the glass doors. He was welcomed by the bright ceiling lights installed into the roof, inviting Wally in with the intense warmth. Leaning against the wall in the back was Norman, his hands in his pockets and looking bored. Once Wally came in, Norman stood upright and greeted Wally with a grin.
"Had an encounter there with my doors, eh? I guess you must be hyped up about getting your first Pokemon today!" Norman said cheerfully, punching Wally playfully on the arm. Wally rubbed it and laughed casually.
"Well, let's get started. Take this." Norman said, handing Wally a single Pokeball that was shrunk to the portable small size.
Wally grinned, his eyes shining bright with wonder and glee. "Is this my first Pokemon-"
"No, it isn't." Norman interrupted. "Your first Pokemon will be the first one your find in the wild outside the boundaries of the city. The Pokemon in that ball is for you to borrow for the time being to catch that Pokemon."
Wally stared at Norman quizzically. "Huh? You can't just give me the Pokemon?"
"I wouldn't want to. If you yourself catch your first Pokemon, then you'll learn how to do something new without having to sit back and just watch, right?" Norman replied nonchalantly. "Besides…" He spoke, clearing his throat and glancing the other way. "I ran out of Pokemon to give, so you'll have to make do with what you catch."
Wally ran a hand through his green hair and sighed. "Alright, alright. I'll go catch one. I won't be gone long."
"Oh, wait! I forgot to give you a few things!" Norman called out, stopping Wally. Wally immediately stopped in his tracks and glanced back at Norman with a confused expression on his face.
Norman reached deep in his pockets, grabbed Wally's hand, and placed six Pokeball in Wally's palm. "These you need to use to catch the Pokemon, of course. It wouldn't be fair if I sent you off with nothing to use." Norman grinned and ruffled Wally's hair. "Be on your way, now. I'll look forward to seeing what you catch."
Wally smiled cheerfully and thanked Norman. Wally ran towards the door, and as the two glass panes retreated, Wally came in contact with the surprised expressions of a boy and a girl. Wally cried out and tried to stop, but he was too late and performed a full-on tackle against the couple. Lying sprawled on the ground among the bodies and limbs, the three teenagers groaned. Norman stood over them with an amused expression crossing his face.
"Oh! Sorry, sorry!" Wally cried out, crawling along the polished floor to fetch up the dropped belongings of the two trainers. The two teenagers exchanged baffled glanced, then helped out in picking up the items. As they crawled about, Wally picked up the two dropped Pokeballs of the trainers and raised his eyebrows. So, these two were beginning their quest, as well! It was easy to tell since they had a few potions and the Pokeballs were brand new.
Wally stood up and handed all of the belonging back to the two new trainers, apologizing for slamming into them again. This time, Wally had time to carefully examine the trainers, and he was surprised.
"Brendan? Is that you?" Wally stared in awe at the male trainer, who stared back with joy sparkling in his eyes.
"Wally! My good buddy! I can't believe we get to see each other again!" Brendan laughed and slapped Wally's shoulder.
Wally and Brendan used to be close childhood friends in Petalburg City. Brendan was forced to move far to Littleroot Town while they were both still in junior high. Since they were still children, they had no communication whatsoever between them, so their friendship snapped off from there. Now they were face-to-face with each other again.
"How've you been, Brendan? Man, it's been a while since we've met!" Wally smiled.
"I know! It's been about five years since we messed around! Don't you remember that joke I played involving you and that girl-"
"I'd prefer not to talk about that."
"Oh, sorry. Ah, I forgot to introduce you two. This here is May, a friend of mine form Littleroot." Brendan spoke, placing his hand lightly on May's shoulder. May smiled softly and waved her hand lightly. Wally nodded back at her. "This, May, is Wally, a long-time friend of mine from this city until I moved."
"So, you're both going on a quest, aren't you two?"
"Lucky guess!"
"Hey, it's pretty obvious! I guess we're going to be competing the whole way, eh?"
"Ah, you're going to get credit, too?"
"Yup! I'm going out to catch my own Pokemon right now!" Wally said eagerly, unable to hold his excitement back any longer.
"Catch…? I thought they just gave the Pokemon to you…" Brendan muttered. May nodded along.
"Oh…uh…well…yeah…" Wally said, nodding his head towards Norman. The gym leader averted his eyes skyward.
May spoke up for the first time during the conversation, "Hey, mind if we come along? We could teach you the basics; besides, I want to see what you catch, too!"
"Sure! That'd be great, guys." Wally said.
"Well, let's go, then! About time we leave!" Brendan clenched his fist in front of his chest.
The area west of Petalburg was beautiful. The tides were fresh and glistened blue from the sun sparkling off of them. The water flowed and moved ever so gracefully with the faint sounds of roaring tides echoing far out in the distance. The waves touched along with the deep blue sky, as if blending in and making it all the more grander. The long strings of pale clouds continued to float through the sky, and the pure white sand that stretched out along the beach were silky soft to the touch. Up on higher ground, the elevated level provided for some great view across the beach. The road was paved with large stones with smooth sides, the grass growing along the pathway as green as it could be. Tall trees stretch heavenwards with the wind blowing through the thin, delicate leaves. The canopy of leaves shaded over the large amounts of tall grass below, where many wild Pokemon rustled endlessly through.
Wally entered the area first and shielded his eyes from the blinding sunlight. Brendan and May came after and looked about the area in awe.
"Hey, this place looks nice! We should come to the beach sometime!" May spoke up, pleased with the area.
"It really does look nice… I've never been to this area before…" Brendan said, amazed.
"Well, you'll be seeing many more places that you've never seen before, so get used to it." Wally called out and made way for the tall grass.
"Uh, you know what you're doing?" Brendan spoke nervously.
"Of course I do! How hard can it be, really, to kick a Pokemon's ass and throw a ball at it?" Wally pushed aside the grass and glanced through. Finding nothing, he dug deeper into the underbrush in search of a wild Pokemon.
"You really have no idea what you're doing…" Brendan sighed. May giggled beside him as she watched Wally get swamped by the grass.
"Be quiet… Ah!" Wally cried out and fell back, landing flat on his back in surprised at the Pokemon that hopped out in front of him.
"You okay?" May yelled, pushing her way through the grass and helping Wally up. May looked up at the Pokemon and gasped.
"What? What is it?" Brendan said. He stopped at where May and Wally were crouched at and stood there, stunned. "Holy crap!"
In front of the three trainers was a single Pokemon that only came up to your thigh. It had a large, cap-like head with short arms. The Pokemon had a blue exterior that gleamed as peacefully as the ocean, and the color seemed to flow and move like the tides.
"Hey, isn't that a Ralts?" Wally asked Brendan, looking up at him. Brendan stood there frozen, his mouth gaping over and a dumbfounded expression in his face. May seemed just as equally shocked as she crouched there with her hand gripping Wally's arm painfully and keeping her eyes intently on the Ralts.
"I-it's a Shiny Ralts!" Brendan finally cried out, his voice soaked in astonishment.
Wally looked puzzled. "What's that?"
"It's…similar to an albino human, except for humans; the Pokemon are just different colored. They're also extremely rare anywhere in the world." May whispered quietly into Wally's ear.
Without any hesitation, Brendan pulled out his own Pokeball. "I'm gonna catch that thing! At least I'll have something to really brag about."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Wally stopped Brendan by grabbed onto his arm. "I said I was going to catch the first Pokemon I see, and that happens to be that thing. It's mine."
"Hey, I claimed it first!" Brendan shouted back.
"What're you talking about!? I practically claimed it ten minutes ago!" Wally argued.
"Stop it! Guys!" May separated the two arguing guys by pushing her arms between them and shoving them apart. May rubbed her forehead with her gloved hands and sighed. Looking up, she glanced between the two glaring faces and finally said, "Look, Brendan, Wally doesn't have a Pokemon yet, and Norman did tell Wally to catch the first Pokemon he sees. Really, it's only fair and you'll have another chance, Brendan!"
Brendan glanced eagerly at the blue Ralts, then looked perturbed. Throwing up his hands, Brendan let out a deep sigh. "Fine! Enjoy your damned Ralts!"
"Heh." Wally murmured. Detaching the Pokeball from his belt, Wally threw it into the air. With a blinding flash of light, the Pokeball opened up and out flew a Zigzagoon that lazily clawed at the ground. "Zigzagoon, tackle that thing!"
The Zigzagoon glanced sleepily at Wally, barked, and immediately rushed in and delivered a full-powered tackle against the Ralts. The Ralts was flung back and landed headfirst into the ground. It was planted into the ground, its head acting as support.
"Eh… Do you think I got it…?" Wally muttered tiredly.
"You haven't caught it yet…" May laughed. Wally looked from May, then back at the Ralts. He stuck his hand into his pocket and pulled a Pokeball out, pressing onto the switch on the front to allow the ball to grow to its normal size.
"You're mine!" Wally cried out and threw the ball. The red and white Pokeball whirled through the air before it came in contact the Ralts. Glowing red, the Ralts turned into a red bolt of pure energy that was absorbed by the ball. Flashing for a few seconds, the Pokeball grew serene, and Wally came over to claim his prize.
Wally's eyes were bright with happiness, and he was giddy to the point where he couldn't help himself. He caught his first Pokemon.
His adventure had officially started.