This is the first Pokèmon story I've ever written, but I do enjoy the games and the Trading Card Game. This story is fictional, obviously, but I don't refer to Ash or any of the other known characters, besides the Gym Leaders. The Story is set during the time of Red/Blue or Leaf Green/Fire Red, so the only Pokèmon are Bulbasaur to Mew, seeing as how these were my favorite games. Please Review and comment. Enjoy.
Laughter. That's what I heard when I woke that morning. My mother was downstairs, laughing. That could only mean one thing. My father was home. I smiled as I slowly stood up, wiping any sign of sleep from my eyes. I stood and dressed, wearing my favorite "Golem Rocks!" shirt my father had bought me on one of his trips to Pewter City. He was a salesman, and a good one at that. He sold packaging machines all over Kanto, so he was barely home. Now, my family was like every other family in one respect. We all loved Pokèmon, but we were different because we didn't revolve our lives around it. Well, except for me.
I loved watching the televised Pokèmon battles, but my mother thought it was pointless My father thought it was just a childish dream, even if I was 16. He told me that most trainers started younger, and I didn't even have my own Pokèmon yet. That didn't deter me, though. I wanted one day to be a formidable force on the Pokèmon battle circuit. I only needed a Pokèmon and the will to train it.
I walked down the steps, taking two at a time. I walked into my kitchen, a smile plastered on my face. Arcay yipped and licked my face.
"Arcay," my mother scolded half-heartedly. The Growlithe trotted back over to my mother and sat at her feet, happy as usual. Just because she thought being a trainer was a stupid idea didn't mean she didn't have a Pokèmon to call her own. She had a Growlithe she named 'Arcay', just in case she decided to buy the firestone and let him evolve. My father, on the other hand, had a water Pokèmon. A Golduck, to be exact. They say opposites attract. My mother had adopted the Growlithe from a shelter for abused Pokèmon and my father had inherited Golduck from his father, who was a small time trainer on the side. He figured my father could use a water Pokèmon since he was growing up Vermillion City. We were currently living in my father's childhood home. When my grandfather died, he gave my father Golduck and released his others into the wild since he had no one else to give them to.
"Morning, Mom, Dad," I said as I opened the refrigerator. They continued to talk, both of them nodding in my direction. I grabbed a carton of milk and poured a bowl of Porygon squares and sat next to my father.
"Now, Vade," he began, a very serious tone in his voice, "I know next week is your birthday," he said and I nodded. "I won't be here." I wasn't upset. It was normal. Plus I was turning seventeen. Birthdays weren't as special as they used to be. "But," he said, smiling, "I decided I wanted to give you your gift now." He left the room. I could hear him rummaging around in the living room, looking for something. I heard the unmistakable sound of a Pokèball opening and my heart skipped a beat. I looked at my mother, a smile plastered on my face. She smiled back at me, confirming my suspicions.
My eyes darted back to the doorway, and my father walked back in, smiling. Trailing him was, well, it was his Golduck. It was carrying a box. That was the noise I heard. Golduck being let out of his Pokèball. Golduck set the box in front of me, and stared at it intently. I reached forward, disappointed. It was probably a sweater or something. I shook it, and heard nothing inside, and my heart sank lower. I pulled off the wrapping paper, while Mom, Dad, Golduck and Arcay watched. It was a small, nondescript, brown box, taped at either end. I pulled it open, and pulled out the contents. It was a towel. A yellow towel. I managed a slightly enthusiastic 'thanks' and set it on the table and resumed eating my Porygon Squares.
"Well," Mom said, extremely pleased, "unfold it. Let me see how it looks." She smiled again and looked at my father.
"I found him near Lavender town. Thought you'd like it." He smiled too.
"Him," I asked, laughing a bit as I reached for my gift. "You got me a male towel?" I laughed. "You're crazy." My dad nudged Golduck as I lifted the towel to let the bottom fall. Golduck lunged forward and grabbed something that had fallen from the towel. He looked up at me, smiling.
"Golduck helped," my dad said. Golduck held out his hand and opened them, revealing a red and white orb with a black line circling the middle. My heart truly skipped a beat. I reached for the Pokèball, my hands trembling. I had waited for this my whole life, but had never expected it to happen.
"What's inside," I asked, staring at it. I pressed the center button, and it doubled in size, ready to release the Pokèmon within.
"Yeah, Jeff," Mom began, "what's inside? I'm curious." Dad just smiled.
"You'll have to open it to find out, now won't you?" Golduck echoed him by nodding.
"Golduck," I prodded, "what's inside? You can tell me." I smiled and laughed a bit, still estatic from the gift I had received. Golduck just crossed his arms and shook his head. "C'mon, you can tell me," I said. He repeated himself.
"Why's he not talking, Jeff," My mom asked, looking at Golduck peculiarly. "I mean, you didn't teach him to speak for nothing." Dad laughed.
"I told him he couldn't say a word until Vade opened his Pokèball." He smiled at me. "Go on, Vade, call it out." My eyes wandered from my father back to the Pokèball in my hands, then back to my father. I firmly pressed the center button on the Pokèball and it top popped open, and a red light shot forth, and with it my first Pokèmon.
When the light finally dispersed, I was staring at a small, four-legged, purple Pokèmon with a horn protruding from its forehead.
"Oh, how cute," my mother cried, rushing forward to hug it. "It's a male Nidoran!" She hugged it, but never once did its eyes leave mine. It stared at me, as if sizing me up.
"It may be a little complicated at first," my dad began, "because I was the one to catch it, but over time, he'll come to trust you as if you were his original trainer."
"That's what happened between your dad and me," Golduck said. "Your grandfather caught me as a Psyduck and raised me to what I am now, and handed me off. I was skeptical at first, but I saw your father really loved and cared about me. It really helped when I used the rest of the experience I had built up to learn how to speak your language." He smiled at me as well.