"I like shorts! They're comfy and easy to wear!"
It wasn't as if it wasn't true. He did indeed like shorts, and they were most certainly comfortable and easy to wear. Although in retrospect, it was an odd choice of words to greet a stranger with, much less to challenge them to a battle. Ben briefly wondered if he'd put the boy off.
The stranger in question merely nodded, a young boy about his age with a ball cap, and drew a pokéball from his belt. Taking a few steps back and tossing it before him, causing a bright flash to erupt from the ball when it hit the ground and releasing the creature inside. An elated grin found its way to Ben's face as he recklessly chucking his own pokéball forward.
Minutes later, Ben found himself without his smile as he rushed in the direction of the Pewter City Pokémon Center, guided by the lights on its roof in the afternoon sky. He carried his battered and exhausted Rattata in his arms, and nearly tripped over his own feet in his panicked rush. Ben felt a lump in his throat as his mind raced, going over his very first Pokémon battle in his mind. It was nearly over before it began, and he could scarcely believe that both of his two Pokémon were beaten by his opponent's one. To add to the humiliation, it was one that Ben hadn't even recognized; a lean, lizard-like Pokémon with its tail lit aflame.
As he burst through the automatic doors of the Pokémon Center, Ben stumbled to the counter out of breath and ready to collapse, lifting the rodent in his arms. "Please," he managed to mutter between great wheezing breaths, as the nurse behind the counter appeared startled by the boy's demeanor and the stares from the few other patrons in the Center. "You have to, have to help him."
Quickly recovering her composure, the nurse whipped into action, snagging one of the Center's special pokéballs from behind the desk and recalling the rodent into it, placing it on the panel of the nearest recovery machine. As she configured the machine, Ben had pulled another pokéball from his pouch and set it on the counter. "Um, Miss," he stammered, but the Nurse had already snatched the ball and added it to the machine without even looking. Pushing a few more buttons on the side panel, she nodded to herself as it began to come to life, humming with electricity. Ben, in the meantime, had slunk off to a sofa in the corner of the center and collapsed on the soft, welcoming cushions.
He hadn't a minute of relaxation before a sharp cough caught his attention. Opening his eyes, he met with the unhappy stare of the nurse who'd just treated his Pokémon. At the moment, she looked like she had a mouthful to say, and indeed she did. "Young man, I hope you have an explanation. Your Pokémon don't look like they've been in anything rougher than a battle, but you had me worried about a real emergency!"
Ben's face turned a hue of crimson under the woman's scolding, embarrassed at how he reacted to seeing his Pokémon fall in battle. "I, um. I'm sorry. I just, I've never had a Pokémon battle before and I didn't realize…" As he stumbled through his words, the nurse's expression softened as she took a seat next to the boy.
"Don't worry; they're going to be alright. Just a little bruised and tired, that's all. You don't have to worry so much about your friends getting hurt in a battle, you know. They're a lot tougher than they look." Showing her warmest smile, she did her best to put the boy at ease. It was, after all, her job to make everyone feel better, she thought.
Ben breathed a sigh of relief, sinking into the couch as he stared at the ground, sulking. "I know that, I'm fourteen you know! But, I just thought I'd win my first battle. I didn't know it would be so tough," He pouted, folding his arms and doing his level best to look mean. The nurse thought it was as far from intimidating as could be. "I thought the Pokémon I got for my birthday last week would be stronger."
A sharp slap across the back of his head quickly brought Ben's face up in angry indignation, about to yell at the nurse before she interrupted him. "Now you listen and you listen good, young man," She was much better at looking mean, and had briefly caught the attention of the other two trainers chatting in the opposite corner. "How dare you blame your Pokémon for losing that battle! They fought their hardest for you, and you should be happy they even did that much! Pokémon are not your toys or something you just battle with, they're your friends! I don't know who told you otherwise, but you need to treat your Pokémon like they're your best friends in the world, or else you're going to wind up pretty lonely, mister!"
Ben shrunk in his seat. This verbal chastising was not what he expected out of the previously calm nurse. Thankfully, her expression had softened and her voice lowered before she spoke up again. "But I saw how tired you were when you brought your Rattata in here, which means you really did care about him. You're a good boy, I can tell. Now come along," she smiled, daintily bringing herself to her feet and walking over to the chiming recovery machine that housed Ben's Pokémon. "Your Pokémon are fighting fit. Just don't forget about what we talked about, okay?"
Nodding, Ben solemnly pulled his Rattata's empty pokéball from his pouch, switching it in from the Pokémon Center's rental ball, feeling somewhat ashamed. "I won't. Thank you, miss." Tucking the pokéballs back into his side pouch, he quickly zipped it up and fled the Center, hoping to escape any further embarrassment.
An hour and 50 pokédollars later, Ben found himself sulking in the nearly deserted Pewter City museum, looking at the fossils of long deceased Pokémon, trying as hard as he could to forget his loss against the boy with the cap. Staring at the exhibit of what was apparently a Kabutops (Ben had thought it looked like a dinner plate with two knives had grown legs, quite frankly), he sighed, muttering a dejected "I don't get it."
"Well, it's a fossil. From a long extinct Pokémon, you see." Ben looked up to see a young man in about his early twenties staring at the exhibit. The man turned to him with a grin that reminded Ben of a fox. "Or were you talking about something else?"
Hesitating for a moment, Ben decided he had nothing to lose by telling the stranger the story of his first Pokémon battle. He described the boy with the cap and his loss, but leaving out the embarrassing flight to the Pokémon Center and subsequent chastising by the nurse. The man's grin faded away, nodding during the retelling of the tale, and making various "I see" and "Go on" remarks throughout. When Ben had finally finished recounting the story, the man folded his arms and lowered his head in thought for a moment before speaking.
"Well, a loss is just a loss. Pick yourself up and try again tomorrow. There's no reason to get so hung up on getting beat by one guy. I mean, every Pokémon battle has a winner and a loser, so you have to be one or the other, right?" Ben bit his lip, about to pick at the man's words, before a loud crash and the sound of shattered glass being spilled from upstairs diverted his attention.
The man was already running to the stairs, carefully creeping up them as Ben came up beside him, eliciting no more than a quick "Shh," and a muscled arm barring his path. Kneeling behind the cover of the staircase, Ben and the man listened to a heated conversation on the second floor.
"I know you have it hear, damn it! Don't screw around with me!" Was the first voice, gruff and very agitated by the sounds of it.
"I-I can't just give it to you! It would ruin our research! Please, you can't do this to us!" Another man's voice piped up.
"You will, if you don't want to be lunch for this damn Zubat, you four-eyed piece of crap!" The first voice again.
"Kiriririiiii!" A sharp, piercing cry came from above, surprising Ben. He noticed the aforementioned Zubat quickly darting back to the direction of its trainer.
"Oh, shut up you stupid animal!" A loud whap was heard, and the Zubat cried out again, this time in more pain than alarm. Ben gritted his teeth and balled his fists, rushing past the young man on the stairwell.
"Hey, fatso," Ben yelled, hopping up onto the second floor of the museum and sweeping the room with his eyes. A burly man in a black suit and beret with a bright red R on the front had what looked to be a scientist by the collar in one hand, with a frantic Zubat darting around him. "Who gave you the right to treat your Pokémon like that!?"
The large man narrowed his eyes, throwing the scientist to the ground. "Can it, brat! Zubat, get that little punk if you want to eat tonight!" He barked at the Zubat, who seemed to reluctantly follow the order. Ben had already reached into his pouch, feeling for the right pokéball.
"Ratsy!" Ben yelled, tossing the ball out as a Rattata exploded from it. "Quick, quick attack!" The small rodent replied with a quick yelp and a blindingly fast leap into the air, intercepting the diving Zubat and tackling it out of its flight path. Landing on the linoleum floor, Ratsy quickly spun around; gaining a view of the fluttering Zubat and the beast of a man that was his trainer.
"The rat, you idiot! Get the rat! Gah, supersonic!" the large man barked, with the Zubat letting out a resonating cry in the direction of Ratsy.
"Ratsy, focus energy! Get ready!" Ben ordered his Pokémon, covering his ears while he did. Ratsy looked shaken, but his resolve tightened and a fire shone in his eyes as he stared the Zubat down, tuning out the piercing sound. It's piercing cry not having an effect, the Zubat dove in to the rodent, ignoring its trainer who shouted at it to stop. "Now, bite it, Ratsy!" In a flash, Ratsy had slipped around Zubat's dive and sunk it's fangs into flesh, as the bat fell to the ground in a heap, the Rattata gracefully landing on its feet. Ben couldn't help but grin as the realization dawned on him. He'd just won a Pokémon battle!
"You damn brat!" The angry yell broke Ben's concentration as he realized the burly man was now charging at him. "I'll strangle the life out of you, you little-" A surprise haymaker from the side caught the man in the jaw, sending him to the floor. Standing next to his unconscious body was the young man from before, kissing his fist and shaking it in the air.
"Sorry, big guy, but battles stick to Pokémon. Those are the rules. You alright, kiddo?" Ben opened and closed his mouth a few times, looking between the two men and his Rattata, who was proudly beaming after its first victory. Footsteps from behind caused Ben to look over his shoulder, seeing two security guards bound up the stairs, apparently alerted to the situation by video cameras.
The youngster turned back to the young man, still nursing his fist. "Are you kidding? I'm great! I just… We just won our first battle! And we stopped a bad guy! I mean… He was a bad guy, right?"
"Most certainly," came a timid voice that had gone ignored up until now. The roughed-up scientist picked himself up off the ground, quickly approaching Ben with an outstretched hand, frantically shaking his hand. "Why, if you hadn't come along, that thug would have made off with precious research materials! I can't thank you enough, young man!"
The man with the fox-like grin chuckled, loitering over and ruffling Ben's hair. "You're one heck of a Pokémon trainer, kid. I happen to be a trainer, myself. What say we have a friendly battle, huh? Ah, outside the museum of course," The man looked back at the security guards, who were in the process of arresting the man in black, and returning his Zubat to its pokéball. "Don't worry about this mess. The guards know what happened from video cameras and the scientist fella, there. C'mon." Anxious, the man patted Ben on the back, half-pushing him down the stairs and out of the museum before anyone else could get a word in, with a little Rattata bounding after the two.
Now, Ben found himself standing across from the fox-like man in an empty lot next to the museum, about to make or break his one-and-one battle record, although he wasn't quite sure just how he'd come to this. "One on one, okay? Remember, this is just a friendly battle! Don't sweat it!" The man called to him, the unnerving grin on his face again as he casually tossed a pokéball up in the air, repeatedly catching and heaving it.
Ben nodded slowly, reaching to his pouch and retrieving the ball containing his second Pokémon, shaking his head at the Rattata by his side that seemed ready to go again. "Sorry Ratsy, but you had your turn. Fair's fair, right?" The rodent seemed dejected, but otherwise made no objection and settled down next to his master's feet as the boy lobbed his pokéball into the lot. "You're up, Fang!" Grinning even wider, the fox-like man mirrored Ben's throw, both pokéballs exploding in bright light at the same time as they released their Pokémon before bouncing back to their owners. Fang was visible first, an Ekans who quickly coiled itself up and hissed at its opponent, a staunch Geodude.
"Let's get started, then! Tackle, Geodude!" The man ordered boisterously, hands on his hips. The Geodude obediently charged in Ekans direction, homing in on the snake with quickness that betrayed its rocky image.
"Stop it with glare, Fang!" The snake hissed at its opponent again, narrowing its eyes and baring its fangs, suddenly appearing much more menacing. The Geodude paused, flinching at the sight of its foe up close just long enough for Ben to issue another order. "Now hurry, hit it with poison sting!" Fang obeyed, spraying the Geodude with poison needles that seemed to mostly bounce off of its stony body.
Even with the advantage supposedly taken away, Ben was surprised to see his opponent in even higher spirits. "Ho, we have a battle on our hands here! Alright, new plan! Defense curl, Geodude! Don't let it hit you, and then…" Ben swiftly ran through Pokémon encyclopedias in his mind, trying to remember what types of attacks Geodude used, before he realized what was about to happen.
"Wrap it! Wrap it now, Fang!"
"Rollout!"
Geodude slammed into Fang, causing the Ekans to hiss in pain, but before it could continue on its path, the snake Pokémon had slithered around the living boulder, squeezing it tight. "Just keep wrapping, Fang!"
The fox-like man frowned. "Pound away, Geodude. Let him have it," for a few minutes the fight continued at this standstill, with Geodude wrapped up by Fang, arms flailing at the Ekans that squeezed at it, though apparently doing no damage. "Just a little more, come on… Huh?" Slowly, the Geodude's attacks began to falter, until its arms fell limp to the ground. Fang quickly slithered away from the boulder, coiling itself up a few feet back, hissing at the fallen Pokémon. The fox-like man could only stare dumbfounded as he walked over to inspect his Pokémon.
There was silence for several seconds, with Ben balling his fists up and excitedly bouncing in place. Even his Rattata seemed particularly excited. "Well I'll be. You actually beat my Geodude! That poison was pretty clever, kiddo."
Immediately, Ben jumped into the air, punching it as fiercely as he could. "Yes! Haha, you did it Fang! I knew you could do it!" He ran over and scooped up the startled Ekans, who in short order had wrapped itself around Ben's arm and perched its head nervously on the boy's shoulder, who was too caught up in complimenting both his victorious Pokémon for their respective battles to notice the man digging in the pocket of his vest and pulling out a small metal case.
"I thought you were the real deal, kid, and my hunches are always right," The man walked over to Ben, his grin replaced by a genuinely happy smile. "Don't worry about that kid that beat you earlier. Trust me, he's something special. But then again, you are too, huh?"
Ben paused, looking up at the man, curiously examining his face. "Mister, just who are you?" This only caused the man to laugh hysterically as he plucked a small badge from the container, sliding it back into his vest pocket and offering the badge to Ben.
"Me? I'm a guy that really likes rock Pokémon. But most people just call me Brock." He flashed the fox-like grin again, holding the badge up for Ben. "Here you go, kid. You've more than earned this Boulder Badge. You're a lot better at battling than you give yourself credit for. Maybe you should take the Pokémon League Challenge, see how far you can go?"
Ben tentatively grabbed the badge, inspecting it carefully as he mumbled a response while Fang slithered up his arm, loosely hanging around his shoulders. "Wow… You really think I could? I mean, the Pokémon League, that's, uh…"
"Pardon me for interrupting…" A timid voice pardoned itself for interrupting, belonging to a familiar scientist who carried an unfamiliar brown package under one arm. "But am I to understand that this brave young man is going to challenge the Pokémon League?"
Ben's eyes darted between Brock and the scientist, then his Rattata bounding up and down in front of him, and the Ekans lazing around his neck. Finally, he looked back at the scientist. "That's right! I'm going to take all the gym challenges, nothing can stop me!" Brock simply laughed, as the scientist smiled at the boy.
"I'm sure you'll do quite well. As a matter of fact, I'd like your assistance, if you're going to be travelling. You see, this package here," the scientist motioned to paper-wrapped package under his arm. "Is to be delivered to a colleague of mine on Cinnabar Island, and I'm afraid I just can't trust anyone to deliver it, especially not after that thug tried stealing it today." Ben cocked an eyebrow at the man, while Brock only nodded in deep thought, understanding the situation immediately. The scientist simply continued.
"What I'd like, young man, is for you to personally deliver it to the lab on Cinnabar. If you're taking the Pokémon League Challenge, it would most certainly be on your way, and I'd be in a great debt to you. And with what you've done for me today, I'm certain I can trust you," The scientist paused, smiling and waiting to invoke a reaction, though neither man said anything. "Well… what do you say? I'm sure my colleague will make it worth your while."
Ben grinned, returning his Pokémon to their pokéballs, before walking up to the scientist and shaking his hand fiercely. "Mister, you got a deal! I'll take it to Cinnabar right away, and then challenge the gym there!" Snatching the package from the man's arm and pocketing his new gym badge, Ben tore off in a sprint to the edge of Pewter City, waving as he ran. "The next time you hear my name, it'll be as the Champion!"
Brock, meanwhile, only shook his head and laughed. "Nice kid. He's got a lot of guts," patting the dumbfounded scientist on the shoulder, he watched Ben run off. "Wonder how he's going to get to Cinnabar by heading east, though."
The scientist stared, coughing after a moment. "I hope I didn't just make a terrible mistake…"
"Don't worry, that kid'll get there somehow."
"I suppose," the scientist shook his head and turned around, starting back towards the museum, where the police had arrived and were taking the Team Rocket Grunt into custody, while Pokémon Center officials seized his abused Zubat. Stopping suddenly, the man turned around. "What was his name, again?"
Brock simply laughed.
A rapidly cooling chicken dinner sat untouched on a little dinner table in a little house in a little neighborhood of Pewter City. The woman sitting across from it, eating her own dinner glanced impatiently at the wall clock.
"I swear, that boy is going to be in so much trouble when he comes home…"