Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald were three trainers from a small town in the south of Kanto, the region in the southeast of Japan where Pokemon are believed to have originated. The three had been friends ever since Emerald had moved from Lilycove City, a major port in Hoenn, to Pallet Town. And Sapphire, the youngest of the three kids, had a birthday tomorrow… when they were all planning to leave Pallet Town to compete in the Pokemon League and go on a journey that they would never forget in their lives.
They had all wanted to do this together from a very young age. Once, when they were five years old and were playing in the park, Ruby mentioned his ultimate dream. "When I grow up, I'm going to be a Pokemon Master!" Emerald laughed. "As you have said probably a billion times!" He continued to ride on his swing in contentment.
But Sapphire actually agreed with him, despite having never mentioned the topic before when Ruby or Emerald brought it up. "I can't wait to get my Pokemon! We'll work together and be like a family! And we'll keep travelling until we have all eight Kanto Badges!" she enthused.
And Emerald, not wanting to be left out as always, laughed. "Well, I'll go too, as well, then! It'll be nice if both of you come with me n my journey! Let's all go on a Pokemon adventure when we are ten!"
And although they all matured quite a bit in the coming five years, notably expanding their vocabulary, all three of them still wanted to travel together when they were ten years old. They had been educated at Viridian School together, and they had always played together. Now, they were going to go on a Pokemon Journey together too, and collect all eight Badges of the Kanto League!
This is the story of Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald. They were to go on a long and potentially treacherous test of their training skills. But will there be a pot of gold at the end of their road?
I ran over to Professor Oak's lab after school on the 22nd of April. I still remember the date. Ruby and Emerald were already 10, but that day was my 10th birthday, which meant we were all authorised to go on a Pokemon journey whenever we wanted to! And personally, I wanted to go as soon as possible! New friends, no school, excitement… what 10 year old wouldn't want to go? So after saying goodbye rather hastily, I quickly ran over to the Professor's office, with Ruby and Emerald in pursuit.
"Okay, so I trust you've all come here today because you know you will receive your starter, yes?" Oak asked us. We all nodded politely. "Well, I have some things to give you first." I looked on in anticipation, looking forward to whatever could help me achieve my dream.
"First, I will give you this device. I call it the Pokedex. It's a talking companion that will register advice given the current situation and what you say to it. But its primary use is to allow you to register Pokemon to the Pokedex! There are 151 Pokemon in Kanto- or so it is believed- but nobody has ever been able to see them all, never mind catch them. A few have never been seen by anyone! When I was younger, it was my dream to capture every Pokemon in the entire region! But I never managed it! Wouldn't it be great if one of you three managed what I was never able to do?" Emerald seemed very interested in this information. As for myself… it was nice to know we had a source of knowledge in our pockets, but I didn't want to go around looking at all the Pokemon around. That wasn't my dream! I wanted to be a Pokemon Master!
"And secondly, I want to give you these; 10 Poke Balls and 10 Potions. They will help you during your Pokemon adventure's early days, but be warned; powerful Pokemon have to much HP for regular Potions to heal them, and you'll need upgraded Pokeballs to catch powerful Pokemon, otherwise they will escape." Now this really was great news. I wasn't looking forward to buying all the Potions, Pokeballs, Repels and Antidotes I would need to start off my Pokemon journey without my partners getting hurt. Now the burden was much less heavy, meaning I wouldn't have to spend too much before victories allowed me to accumulate money.
"And now, of course, you get to choose your very first Pokemon!" This was the bit I was really excited about. I would get my very first partner! "Come on, Sapphire, you can come first!" Oak enthused.
I paused. Who should be my first Pokemon, when all is said and tone? Charmander, the Fire-type Pokemon, would turn into a huge fire dragon! But then again, it was very hard to train, and it typically didn't get a good Fire-type move for ages! Bulbasaur, the Grass-type Pokemon, was strong against the first three Gyms! But it was weak until Level 10, when it learned Vine Whip, and Venusaur wasn't as powerful as the others! Squirtle, the Water-type Pokemon, had a hard shell for defence and learnt good moves throughout. It hit a rut in the middle of her route, against the Electric and Grass typed gyms, and its main advantage was the most difficult challenges, the Cinnabar and Viridian gyms… which one should I choose? All three were very tempting!
I made my choice, smiling down at the buddy I had chosen. "I choose you, Squirtle! You can be my first Pokemon!" I smiled at my new Pokemon, which regarded me cautiously. I was worried... would it like me? What if my very first Pokemon hated me so much that I would be a laughable failure of a Pokemon trainer? Maybe I am one already... I always seem to lose everything I do... I continued being friendly to the Pokemon in front of me. Maybe I could earn its affection? But that wasnn't necessary, because after seeing how nice I was being to it it jumped on to my lap and smiled at me. The Squirtle was so cute! I knew that the little buddy would be her travelling companion for a long time, and I was really happy with her choice! "Come on, Squirtle. We'll be the best team in the world, won't we?" I whispered to it.
I heard Emerald pointing his Pokedex as my Squirtle, completely oblivious to the dirty look I was giving him… was he totally insensitive to what my Squirtle felt? It wasn't fully friendly to us yet! What if it turned its back on me because it thought that we were just trying to lull it?
"Squirtle, the tiny turtle Pokemon. The water-type starter in Kanto. In the face of danger, this Pokemon sometimes retreats into its red shell. This Pokemon is 40 centimetres tall and it weighs 11 kilograms, making it a bigger and heavier Squirtle than average. This is a male Squirtle. It knows Tackle and Leer." Squirtle, after listening to this, decided to use a Tackle attack on Emerald, knocking him to the back of the room and giving him a headache. "Bad Squirtle!" I reprimanded, although I was still worried. I knew that I couldn't spoil Squirtle; I needed to teach it what it should do, and what it shouldn't. "We don't attack people unless they've done something very bad, understand?"
"Squirtle!" he replied indignantly. I had a feeling that he thought that Emerald was dangerous. I was hoping that he still saw me as a worthy Trainer...
"Alright, Squirtle." I approached, trying a different tactic. "I know you're afraid of Emerald right now, but he didn't mean you any harm. You shouldn't attack people when you're scared; try to judge people by their actions instead, OK?"
Squirtle, who could evidently see what I meant, gave a sheepish grin and jumped onto my lap.
"Well, now that that commotion is over, can I pick my Pokemon?" Ruby asked.
"Sure, go ahead!" Professor Oak replied, glad we were finally moving onto the next Pokemon trainer.
Ruby seemed to be deep in thought, thinking about his options. Charmander the fire-type, or Bulbasaur the grass-type? I don't know what I would've chosen if I were in his shoes. Eventually, he made his choice, gesturing to the Salamander Pokemon. "Come on, Charmander, you're mine now." he told the Pokemon, releasing the Charmander onto the floor. It looked around its surroundings,recognising this was still the Pokemon Lab he had been raised in, except that there was a boy who claimed it as his own Pokemon.
Emerald, as curious as ever, scanned Charmander with the Pokedex.
"Charmander, the lizard Pokemon. The fire-type starter in Kanto. This Pokemon is born on volcanoes, and they use Ember attacks to defend themselves. This Pokemon is 62 centimetres tall and it weighs 9 kilograms, making it an average-sized Charmander. This is a female Charmander. It knows Scratch and Growl."
Charmander didn't seem shy at all; unlike my Squirtle, she was happy to be scanned, standing in front of us. She must be a confident Pokemon.
Meanwhile, Emerald was sitting patiently, waiting for us to finish. I blushed slightly upon noticing this; had I inconvenienced him? I didn't ask to go first, but maybe I should've offered for somebody else to do it instead so that they had the choice? Oak, apparantly noticing this too, called out to him. "Hey Emerald, I know there's not much variety, but you get a Pokemon too! Come on!" Emerald went up to the table and picked up Bulbasaur, releasing him from his Pokeball.
"Don't worry, Bulbasaur, I was going to choose you anyway! Welcome to the team!" he told his Bulbasaur. "Do you want to be scanned?" I rolled my eyes. So now that it's his, he cares what the Pokemon think? He should've asked that question to Squirtle or Charmander as well! Regardless, Bulbasaur nodded in response to his trainer. "Bulbasaur!" I heard the Pokedex entry play for Bulbasaur.
"Bulbasaur, the seed Pokemon. The grass-type starter in Kanto. This Pokemon has a bulb on its back that will bloom into a flower when it evolves. This Pokemon is 70 centimetres tall and it weighs 7 kilograms, making it an average-sized Bulbasaur. This is a male Bulbasaur. It knows Tackle and Growl." I would have to develop a counter to Bulbasaur with a new Pokemon. A bird or a bug would do the trick for that Pokemon. And Squirtle would definitely beat a Charmander once it learned a Water attack, right?
"Alright then you three, thank you for coming but it's about time you went out on your journeys!" Professor Oak exclaimed. Ruby, hastily thanking the professor, ran off. How typical. "I've got to go and catch up to that little pest. Bye, Professor." I told him, smiling as I politely left the building, actually behaving unlike Ruby, who I could see running off into the distance. "And thank you for everything!" I heard Emerald say to Professor Oak. But once we left the building, nothing could stop us. We were going on an adventure with Pokemon, and it was going to be the best years of our lives! Onto Route 1 and Viridian City, and a new adventure! Bring it on!
AN: Alright, there's the first chapter. It isn't too long, but it introduces the three main characters and gives them their Starter Pokemon. Next, you can expect to see some Pokemon action on Route 1 and in Viridian City!