Chapter One: Welcome to Kanto, Makanui!
Release Date: March 25th, 2018
Author Note: After rereading the original chapter that I released, I found a couple of mix ups and grammatical errors that I couldn't let sit out there. I also didn't like the title of the original release. I guess that is what happens when I write from my phone and from my Chromebook. The style gets mixed up a bit. Anyway, I've read this chapter and fixed a few things. The chapter flows much better now. Please review and tell me what you think, I'd love the feedback.
Soaring through the clouds in the sky, swimming in the deepest depths of the ocean. On the highest mountain peak, down to the lowest valley. In forests deep and lush. In fields of grass and flowers. In towns and cities with people bustling about. You can always find pokemon. So many species known far and wide. So many more to discover. Everyone has their own journey. Their own story.
Let's begin ours.
"Hey, Cousin!" a larger man, with long black hair, exclaimed in excitement. His arm's were waving in the air over his head, trying to draw attention to himself. The ship — S.S. Lapras Maria — was anchoring in the port with a lot of the passengers looking out at the view of Pallet Town. Pallet Town was a town filled with plains and hills. Walkways scattered about, leading all throughout the fields. Houses with white picket fences and homey mail boxes containing the last name of the residents plastered on them lined the many paths that all led to the actual town. Shops, restaurants, hotels, and a massive Pokemon Lab made up the town with a couple of residential areas for lab assistants.
The fields, as well as the town itself, were well maintained as to be presentable to all of the trainers that came far and wide to get their first Kanto Region Pokemon. Some managed to bypass Pallet Town and press forward because of their Professor's giving them their Kanto Region Starters. Some preferred the ritual of gaining a starter pokemon and hearing what the professor had to say about the region. Some just didn't have a good enough of a relationship with their own professor and didn't want to go through the ritual of gaining a Kanto Region Starter, so they skipped out and caught a wild pokemon.
Makanui Tekah wasn't among either group. Having just turned sixteen a month prior, he was ready to set out on his first pokemon journey. His uncle lived in Pallet Town and the two of them decided it was as good of a region as any to begin. Stepping off of the ship, he noticed his uncle was still waving his arm's over his head. For a larger man, he sure did move a lot. Makanui didn't know the difference. Being from Ula'ula Island in the Alola Region, he was used to seeing everyone carefree and energetic. At least that was how most people were on the southeast island.
"You are looking well, little cousin!" Tito said with as much energy as he did trying to yell to him on the ship.
"Thank you. It's good to see you, Uncle Tito. How is Leilani?" From his clothing, it was easy to tell that Makanui was not from the Kanto Region. He wore a yellow button up shirt with blue and pink flowers designed on it. His button up shirt was undone and he wore a white wife beater underneath. Hanging from his neck was a small seashell. Blue shorts with yellow palm trees on the outside of either leg and flip flops. He didn't look like he was getting ready to set out on a long journey, rather he looked more like someone about to go on vacation.
"Why don't you ask her, little cousin?" Tito pulled out a pokeball and tossed it into the air, revealing a large white fox with flowing hair and dashing blue eyes. Seeing Makanui, the female ninetails ran over to him and started to lick his face. He pet her head in response.
"It's so nice to see you, Leilani!" Makanui said while laughing. She started rubbing her soft fur across his arms and prancing around happily.
"And how is Lanakila?"
Stepping out from behind Makanui was a little gray pokemon that was rubbing on its somewhat muscular arm. It looked up at Tito with a look of defiance, as if challenging him to make his move. To Lanakila, Tito was just a hariyama in disguise. Tito, being the one to catch the young machop and send it to Makanui as a birthday present, just laughed it off. His relationship with the pokemon was a complex one, but it didn't mean that they didn't have respect for one another.
"Well, little cousin. Let's not stand around here. We have to get going to the lab. Professor Bloom, along with the other trainers, are waiting for you." The four of them went down the center path and slowly made their way to the Pokemon Laboratory. Makanui did some sightseeing in the field, taking notice of all the various plants and flowers that weren't common in the Alola region. The fields smelled of sunflower, which was a pleasant surprise. The houses were typically two stories tall, but occasionally there would be one that was just one story. They didn't look much different than the houses where he lived, but it was still exciting to be here.
They passed a couple of people on the way to the lab and Tito introduced them to Makanui. He saw some pokemon he had never seen before, which was very exciting. Like the woman — Mrs. Baker, as she was introduced — had a pokemon called Golduck with her. Lanakila wasn't very intrigued by the water-type. He was mostly just interested in other fighting-types. Then there was the large boulder like pokemon — Golem, if he remembered correctly — that was just rolling around in some flowers while his trainer ate his lunch on a bench along the path. Lanakila actually showed interest in the large boulder-like pokemon, but Makanui somehow managed to hold him back.
Once they got past the field, they saw even more pokemon. Some from the Kanto Region. Others from the other various regions. The streets of Pallet Town were a bit busier, people hurriedly going around the shops worrying about nothing but their own needs. A pokemon battle broke out between two people that bumped into each other. Tito stopped to watch just long enough for him to see one of them using a rattata while the other used a bellsprout. Makanui was really interested in the altercation. He loved seeing any and all battles. Not only that, but rattata was purple and looked very different from the Alola counterpart that he grew up knowing.
"Use Tackle!" the trainer with the rattata commanded.
"Counter it with Vine Whip," the other trainer said in a calmer tone.
Tito didn't notice that he left his nephew behind and continued going. Makanui didn't even notice. The battle had just begun and he didn't want to miss any of the action. Especially with things heating up. Rattata was resilient and pushed through the vines that kept whipping him and gave a bellsprout a powerful tackle. Bellsprout, follwing his trainer's orders of course, went back on the offensive when it started to grow in size and begin an onslaught of pelting the poor rattata with its enlarged vines.
"Don't lose out, use Quick Attack!" the trainer still sounded very excited while being much calmer than the other trainer.
Makanui was lost in the battle. Everything but the two pokemon and their trainer's were drowned out and the world faded to black. Lanakila's focus was just as intense, except he had red aura surrounding him and his face had an intense stare. He wanted to join the battle. Makanui suddenly felt that the battle was getting further away, until it was out of sight. The world came back to view and he noticed that his uncle was dragging him by his arm.
"What are you doing, Uncle Tito? The battle just started!"
"Sorry, little cousin. We have more important matters to attend. Professor Bloom has other trainers that arrived here last week waiting on you. I told them I would get you in there right away."
Makanui knew how stubborn his uncle was and decided it was better to not argue. Plus, he would be able to see some good battles with the new pokemon that the other trainers obtained today. Lanakila would no doubt want to battle one — if not all — of them. Finally at the other side of Pallet Town, they came across a large building that sat on a large hill the overlooked even the fields. There were at least three flights of stairs leading up to it. Tito stood at the base of the stairs and pointed up to the doors. "I'll wait right here for you, little cousin. There are a couple of things that your grandfather wanted me to give you before you set out."
"Thank you, Uncle Tito. I'll be back with my new starter." Makanui ran up the stairs, with Lanakila following close behind him. Despite the fact that he was wearing flip flops, he moved pretty easily and had a good pace. As he made it to the top, the sliding doors of the pokemon lab opened on their own and he walked into the lobby. It wasn't very spacious. There were two couches on either side of the door with a coffee table in front of them. Each table had a potted plant on it for decoration. The ceiling in the room was pretty high up, with two ceiling fans rotating slowly and keeping the room at a comfortable temperature.
There was a woman in a pink dress behind the counter on the other side of the room. She looked up from the paperwork she was filling out and gave him a welcoming smile. Makanui couldn't help but notice that she was a very beautiful woman. She couldn't have been much older than he was, but somehow he felt that she wasn't as young as she appeared. "You must be one of the trainers we were waiting for. You can come ri-" — she was interrupted by psychotic screaming coming from outside. The glass doors behind Makanui opened and another boy, easily the same age as Makanui, burst into the room and ran up to the counter. A dust trail along his path.
"I'm so so so so so sorry that I'm late Maple! I was so excited last night that I couldn't sleep, and next thing I knew my alarm was going off and I was late! I ran as fast as I could!" The boy wasn't screaming, but he had an intense feel to him. He had on a yellow, black, and white baseball cap that resembled an ultra ball. He wore a sleeveless vest that had a folded high collar that matched his hats coloring almost exactly. Blue jeans and red sneakers completed his outfit. His pale green eyes met with Makanui's red tinted black eyes for just a moment before turning his attention back to the woman behind the counter, Maple.
Maple started to giggle as she put her hand over her mouth. "It's okay, Titus. We were still waiting on Makanui here to arrive."
Makanui blushed for a moment in embarrassment. He didn't realize that his arriving today meant that other trainers had to wait for him. Before he knew it, Titus was staring at him again. His stare just as intense as his tone of voice. Makanui didn't pay him any mind. "Please, just call me Maka. Makanui just feels too formal," he blushed again as he spoke.
"Certainly, Maka!" Maple responded with a pleasant tone. "Now please, both of you, follow me. Professor Bloom is waiting for you with the other three."
"Three? I made four people wait on me? I'm so sorry!"
Titus shot in front of him and made direct eye contact. "Makanui, don't worry about it. I waited an entire month for you to arrive and I don't mind at all. I would have waited another month if it meant that you would battle me."
Makanui didn't really know what to think. He was intrusive and intense, but there was something that was familiar about him too. He had a presence that just felt like someone he would get along with. He was upbeat and enthusiastic. Good qualities, Makanui thought.
The two of them followed Maple through one of the doors in the back of the lobby, which led to a large room that was surrounded with bookshelves that scaled the walls up to the ceiling. There were large tables on either side of the room with a combination of opened books and notes that looked like random scribble and would pretty much be unreadable by anyone other than the professor or her assistants. The bookshelves seemed to also separate the room in half by forming their own walls and doorway in the center of the room.
After crossing between the two bookshelves that acted as an entrance to the other side of the room, Makanui's eye caught a tall woman with flowing red hair and a white lab coat. She wore a pair of rectangular glasses and she had her hands on her hips. "It's nice for the two of you to finally arrive. I'm Professor Amaryllis Bloom."
"Professor Bloom used to be a trainer before she started pokemon research. She was one of the founding members of the Kanto Region Pokemon League and was its very first Champion," Maple explained. "She gave up battle some thirty years ago and dedicated her life to helping trainers begin their journeys here in Pallet Town."
Professor Bloom bit her button lip and started to blush. "Please, Maple. Do you have to introduce me that way to everyone that meets me?"
Maple giggled to herself and turned away, also blushing. "Everyone should know how great you are, Professor," she quickly ran out of the room to resume her post in the front lobby.
Makanui looked around the room some more while the two of them were talking and noticed a contraption next to the Professor. There were three holograms hovering over it. One was an orange lizard with a flame on its tale. Another was a blue turtle with a brown shell. The third was a light blue dinosaur with a large yellow-green seed affixed to its back. Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur; Makanui subconsciously named them in his mind. There was a display in front of each of them that stated their abilities and their move sets. It also had a list that Makanui wasn't familiar with.
"What's an egg move?" he asked aloud. He didn't realize until now that the Professor was actually talking and probably explaining things already. He had a real issue with focusing on more than one task at a time. "I'm sorry, I was just looking at the display next to you and must have gotten lost in thought."
Two of the trainers in front of the professor were girls, one of which was laughing. She had short, auburn hair and wore a black sleeveless top with a white mini skirt. Black leggings went down to her ankles and she had on red shoes. The other girl just gave him an irritated glare. She had medium length black hair and wore blue jeans with a frilly pink top.
The boy in the group didn't even turn to face him. Like Makanui, he had a darker skin tone. Unlike Makanui, whose hair was a bit on the longer side and tied back in a ponytail at shoulder length, this trainer had short hair that was spiked a bit. His clothing was a little different from Makanui's, wearing a plain black t-shirt and black shorts with a pair of white sneakers.
Titus laughed out loud, drawing the attention to him. "All starting trainers get to pick an egg move for their starting pokemon. Egg moves are moves that all pokemon are born with. They have many copies of each pokemon, so you can always get exactly what you're looking for. Allowing us to choose the egg move lets us have diverse starters that fit our battle styles. Its really cool."
"How right he is," Professor Bloom added. "We want you to be very comfortable with your starting pokemon. So not only do you get to name your starter, you get to choose one that will have a move tied to it for the rest of its life. Like your machop there. His egg move is Close Combat. Its a good move offensively, however it sacrifices defense for power. It really shows me the type of pokemon that machop is."
Lanakila started flexing his muscles, showing off in front of the Professor. He felt that what she said was a compliment and he loved receiving compliments. Makanui placed his hand on his head and gave him a small pat. Though there is something that he didn't understand. "How did you know that Close Combat is his egg move?"
"Years and years of research. It would take months to explain the subtle differences between a machop born with Close Combat and a machop born with a different egg move. You have to have the eyes and knowledge to be able to see these types of things."
All five of the trainers tensed for a moment, all thinking the same thing: she is dangerous.
"So, before you choose your first pokemon, I'd like to give you all a special item," she pulled out a watch that's outer design looked like a pokeball. "This is a Pokewatch. It has many functions, but more importantly, it allows you to document the pokemon that you come across along your journey. You can keep track of your own pokemon on it as well. It also allows you to trade pokemon that you have stored away as long as the pokemon in your party are at full health. It has a cool holographic feature so that you can see pokemon and the map of Kanto in 3D. You can check out the other many features in the information log."
The professor handed out the watches to the five trainers and then turned her attention to the holographic images floating. "These are the three starter pokemon in the Kanto Region. Like we stated prior, you can choose the egg move you want on the display below the pokemon. After that, you will obtain your very first pokemon. You can give them a nickname anytime you'd like. I'll allow each of you to choose your pokemon in the order of arrival. Bane, that means you are the first one to go."
Bane slowly walked over to the device with a slouch to his shoulders. He went directly to the blue turtle, swiftly chose an egg move, and then received his pokeball from the device. He placed it on his belt and went back to where he was originally standing in front of the professor.
"Kale, it is your turn next." The angry looking girl went over to the machine and chose Bulbasaur after looking through each of the three pokemon. She took the pokeball and immediately called her new pokemon out. Bulbasaur looked up at her with a pleasant smile and rubbed his head against her leg. The angry expression on her face melted away and she couldn't help but squeal. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! You're so adorable!" She picked the seed pokemon up and carried it back to where she was standing, rubbing her cheek on its cheek.
The girl that was laughing to herself didn't wait for the professor to say her name. She walked over to the holograms, studied them for a moment, then she also chose squirtle as her starting pokemon. She released squirtle from its pokeball and it seemed to match her personality perfectly. A devious smile crossed its mouth and it followed her quitely.
"Next it would be," — she paused for a moment, — "Makanui. Did I pronounce that correctly?"
Makanui blushed before saying, "yes ma'am. But please just call me Maka." He didn't await her response. He walked over to the holograms and instantly chose the only pokemon that had not had a trainer yet: charmander. He wasn't really sure what drew him to the little orange lizard, but he was more than happy to select it. Deciding its egg move was also crucial. He decided on the move Dragon Pulse. He wasn't exactly sure why he chose it, other than the move just sounding cool. As the pokemon popped out of the tube, he grabbed it and admired the little flame on the top of it for a moment. He looked at Lanakila who seemed to eagerly await him calling out the lizard pokemon, but he decided that he wanted the first meeting between the three of them to be a bit more private.
"Last and certainly not least, Titus. Go ahead and choose your starter."
The silence in the room was drowned out by a weird howling noise that came from Titus. "Waaaaa hooooo e!" He couldn't help but be excited that he was going to not only start his journey, he was also going to get to battle other trainers. "I choose bulbasaur, and he will start with the egg move Giga Drain," he said aloud. Nobody responded, but he jogged over to the hologram machine and excitedly took hold of the pokeball containing his very first pokemon. "I did it! I'm now a trainer! Next stop, Indigo Plateau!"
The girl with the devious grin started giggling, along with her squirtle. Kale shot him an angry glance before going back to cuddling her bulbasaur. Bane simply stared at the floor, saying nothing.
Makanui then realized something. "Bane," he said, "I thought I recognized you. You recently challenged and lost to my grandfather in the Alola Region, didn't you?"
For the first time since Makanui walked into the room, Bane took his attention away from the ground and moved his eyes over to Makanui. Initially, Makanui thought that Bane's eyes were calm and collected. But that was far from the truth. He was focused and angry. "You are that man's blood? I'll see to it that you are thoroughly crushed for the humiliation that I had to endure from that loss. It was the first battle that anyone has ever defeated me."
The intensity that Titus had was nothing compared to Bane's. Bane was aggressive and angry while Titus was excited and happy. The two of them were very different. "I don't know what you're talking about. I have nothing to do with my grandfather's battles. He is a different person. Being blood relatives doesn't make us enemies."
Bane went back to staring at the floor. Kale took a couple of steps away from him and the other girl continued to giggle to herself.
Professor Bloom wasn't really interested in any farce between the new trainers. She wanted to get back to her research and that required getting them out of her lab. "Alright you five, move along. Just remember, you can be anything. Pokemon don't just have to battle. And you don't have to just be a trainer. You can do anything you set your mind to. Oh, and one last thing. Next week, on television, there will be an exhibition match between my son, Kanto's very own champion Bartholomew and Hoenn's champion, Cassius. I don't want to tell you what to do, but this battle could be a very good learning experience for all of you. I wish you all the best of luck."
Descending the stairs, Makanui went straight toward Tito. "Tito, there is an awesome battle that is going to take place next week. I NEED to see it."
"Slow down there, little cousin. I was waiting to tell you about that. You can watch that in any pokemon center. Let's go back to my place for tonight. I have a bed set up for you and everything."
"Thanks, Uncle Tito. Oh, yeah. Let me introduce you to my new partner." Makanui tossed the pokeball he had clipped to his belt and out popped the orange lizard pokemon.
"Charmander. Char char," the charmander said, apparently introducing himself.
"Nice to meet you, little cousin. Make sure you take care of Makanui and Lanakila. They will need someone looking out for them."
Charmander looked pleased and nodded his head in agreement. The group was about to turn and head toward Tito's house when they were alarmed by someone screaming.
"I challenge you to a battle! I don't care if we have the same pokemon. I just want to train him!"
Tito started to chuckle. "Sounds like one of those other trainers is really getting into things."
Makanui knew exactly who it was. The intensity and excitement in his voice was all he needed to hear. Just as he turned to see which of the trainers was getting challenged, he caught site of another one of the trainers standing directly behind him. A black sleeveless shirt, tan skin, black shorts, and white sneakers. Short black hair that was spiked, over a menacing glare. It was Bane.
"I challenge you to a pokebattle," he said. He didn't take his eyes off of Makanui. "I will restore the honor that was stolen from me by your grandfather."
Lanakila was cracking his neck and stepping forward when Makanui stopped him. "You'll have your chance to face other pokemon later. Right now we need to let Charmander handle this. They are both newer pokemon." Lanakila wasn't very pleased by this, but he backed down with a deep exhale. Makanui turned his attention to Bane and became lost in his own world. Everything went black. His senses were heightened and the world seemed to no longer exist.
"Very interesting, little cousin. I'm so happy I get to witness your first pokemon battle. Though, there is something familiar about this other trainer. He has the look of an experienced trainer."
As Tito was talking, Bane called forth his squirtle who had stepped in front of charmander. Like Bane, he had an intense look about him. That was something that Makanui was noticing about these starter pokemon. All of them had similar personalities to their trainers. As if these pokemon were bonded to their trainers for life. It was something he would have to ask about another time. "Grandpa defeated you in the Alola Region Pokemon League. You blame me for it. So I guess we will have to get this battle out of the way, one way or another."
"I'll judge this battle, little cousin. Remember to be careful. If he was strong enough to reach the old man, then he won't be beaten easily," as he spoke he made his way to the middle on the sidelines. "This will be a one-on-one battle. The last pokemon standing is the winner. Begin."
Bane wasted no time to jump into battle mode. "Squirtle, use Tail Whip," his command was calm and thoughtful, as well as unexpected. Makanui really expected for Bane to go straight on the offensive.
"Charmander, use Growl, then charge him and use Scratch," Makanui said in return. He felt lucky that he took the time to check out his PokeWatch and figure out what moves his charmander actually knew, besides Dragon Pulse, beforehand.
Squirtle wagged his tail at Charmander and Charmander Growled at Squirtle. Then Charmander rushed the little blue turtle and raised its claws above its head, a gleam from the sunlight showing just how sharp his claws really were.
"Dodge," Bane said calmly, "then counter with Tackle."
The squirtle ducked under Charmander's attack and then shot forward, slamming his head into the lizard pokemon's chest and forcing him back.
"Now use Tackle again."
Makanui hesitated for a moment, but snapped back to reality quickly. "Dodge it and use Scratch."
Charmander did a juke like move, just in the nick of time, and the squirtle flew past him. He spun around quickly and swung his right claw toward squirtle.
"Block it with your shell," Bane said in a calm tone once more. "Then use Tackle again." Even though squirtle was new to battling, he kept the same calm facade and listened to orders without question or hesitation.
Charmander hesitated a moment, just like Makanui did, and that was what allowed Squirtle to actually block the attack. Squirtle didn't wait to turn around to use Tackle, he dived backward and smashed his head into Charmander once again. Charmander rolled back and landed on his back. He let out a little whimper as he stood up, panting a bit.
Makanui didn't know what to do. Squirtle was able to dodge and block all of his attacks. He tried thinking of a way to get Scratch to land and could not come up with anything. Then he realized he had one move left. If this move landed, Squirtle would surely be too injured to block any additional attacks. "Charmander, use Dragon Pulse!"
Bane's eyes lit up for a moment. "Block it with Mirror Coat."
Charmander opened his jaw and blasted a light energy from his mouth. The energy wave was made of purple, pink, and white energy that seemed to change from one to the other in waves. The energy wave changed into the shape of a dragon and headed directly toward Squirtle. Squirtle's entire body was covered by a flickering light and its face showed pure determination. The dragon shaped blast connected and absorbed into the flickering energy around squirtle, only to reflect back at Charmander in the shape of an energy ball. Makanui didn't have time to react when it stuck Charmander and an explosion sent the fire-type flying and landing in front of him. Charmander didn't move at all.
"Charmander! Are you okay!?" Makanui called out, running over and taking hold of his pokemon.
"Charmander is unable to battle. The winner is Squirtle," Tito announced.
Bane had cleared the distance and stood over Makanui. "You hesitated too much. Dragon Pulse is strong, I'll give you that. But if you ever want to win a battle, you need to learn to react to your opponent. You need to have faith in your pokemon and then they will have faith in you." He turned away, looking toward route one. "If you want to get revenge, I'll be waiting for you in Indigo Plateau. Learn from this battle."
Makanui didn't react to him. He was more focused on his injured charmander. Tito had walked over and sprayed the injured pokemon with a Potion. Charmander opened his eyes and cried out faintly.
"He will be okay, little cousin," he said with a smile. "This is what being a trainer is all about. Let's head over to my house and let him rest. We can eat and get those things your grandfather sent for you."
Watching them walk away, from the top of the stairs of the lab, was the girl with the devious grin. "This will be interesting," she said to her squirtle.
After obtaining his first pokemon and learning a valuable lesson with his first defeat, Makanui heads to his uncle's house to let his charmander have a much deserved rest. With the exhibition match starting soon, what awaits him? How will he deal with his first loss? Find out next time!
Author Note: Welcome to my world. You'll notice throughout the series that there is some differences between these pokemon and the pokemon from the anime and the game. Every pokemon is born with an egg move and every pokemon has the ability to learn one TM. Then they have their four level up moves. That is the plan that I have for the future of this series. I hope you all enjoy. Also, next chapter be prepared to learn about one other difference in worlds. You'll be pleasantly surprised.