Pokemon Worlds

Chapter 1

The Journey Begins

Dedicated to my friend Mike who helped me create this poke-verse all those many many years ago.

The dawn light broke through the curtains and peered into the room. It gently roused Mike from his sleep. With a smile he opened his eyes. Today was the day.

He sat up and scratched his short brown hair before leaping from his bed and quickly dressing in a white t-shirt and jeans. He hurried downstairs and gobbled up the breakfast that his mother had laid out for him.

Before she could even so much as say good-bye Mike had grabbed his backpack, flannel vest and headed out the door. Stopping only to throw a 'Bye mom! Love you!' over his shoulder.

Meanwhile, in a different household, an alarm buzzed. It urged it's owner to get up and greet the day. Today was the day after all.

A sleepy hand reached out and grabbed the clock before ripping the cord from the wall.

"J-S sleep now," a groggy voice sleepishly called out from a mound of covers before rolling over into a low rumble of snores.

Back outside Mike raced down the path to where he was supposed to meet his friends. A year ago they had agreed that they would wait and all start their pokemon quest together.

He rounded the last corner and looked ahead to old Doc Johnson's place. He saw Joe and his twin sister Kate waiting for him. Kate waved at him as she usually did. She wore black knee length slacks covered by a plaid thigh high skirt and a t-shirt that had 'Purple Lotus' written on it. The name of her favorite band. She kept her long black hair tied in a pony-tail most of the time but today she had let it down.

Joe was franticly jumping around from excitement. That was Joe, always full of energy. Joe was short for his age, a late bloomer. He had short black hair which he wore spiked-up and swept back. He wore faded cargo pants and a gray shirt that had 'sk8r 4 life' written on it.

Mike reached his friends soon.

"Hey Joe! Hey Kate!" he greeted them. "Oh, and happy birthday!"

The two thanked him.

"Bill isn't here yet, thank god, but he called to say he was on his way," Kate explained. "God know where J-S is."

"He'll be here," Mike reassured. "He's probably on his way."

The three friends waited until soon the fourth joined them. Bill had joined the group through J-S. Much like his friend he wore baggy jeans and usually had on one of several death metal t-shirts. He kept his hair in large spikes that he held together with strong, expensive hair gel. A cigarette hung on his ear.

Kate rolled her eyes as Bill walked up the hill, his hands in his pockets. He always had that stupid 'I don't care' attitude.

Mike waved to Bill as he approached. "Hey Bill, you see J-S yet?"

Bill shrugged not bothering to wave back. "Hell if I know,"

"Shouldn't you know where your master is?" Kate spat. Kate might not have cared very much for J-S but she hated Bill.

Bill frowned at her. "Shut up Kate-the-Dike-Queen!" he spat back.

"Come on guys," Mike said calmly. "Play nice."

Mike often had to play peace keeper between the two.

"So we ready yet?" Joe asked impatiently.

"Not yet," answered Mike. "We still need to wait for J-S to get here."

Joe whined and sat on the ground, playing with rocks.

The group waited. Minutes ticked by, the group waited. Many minutes ticked by, the group continued to wait. Minutes turned to hours, still the group waited.

The noonday sun hung in the air before Kate finally snapped the silence.

"Where the fuck is he!" she shouted rhetorically, clearly upset. "I don't feel like spending my entire 14th Birthday waiting on his lazy ass! We're supposed to start our Pokemon journey today!"

"I'm sure he'll be here soon Kate," Mike answered. "He's our friend, we can't leave without him."

"No Mike, he's your friend," Kate corrected. "And why you're still friends with him I'll never know."

"He's not that bad Kate," Mike reassured. "You just don't know him like I do."

"If he's not here in five minutes I'm starting without him," Kate said crossing her arms.

"He'll be here Kate." Mike continued. "Trust me."

Mike and J-S had been friends ever since before kinder garden. The two had met in the park one day. Some bullies were picking on Mike and J-S ran up to them and chased them away. Since that day they had been the best of friends.

They competed in almost everything. Sometimes Mike won. Sometimes J-S won. Other times there was no winner. But always the two stayed friends. When Mike's father had died it was J-S who helped him through it.

Mike was pulled from his thoughts by Joe shouting.

He looked up and saw J-S, finally, walking up the hill. He was dressed in his camouflage cargo pants and his hammer and sickle 'USSR' t-shirt. His wallet chain jingled while he walked as it hung from his belt loops. His short black hair was covered by a black backwards worn baseball cap. He also wore a pair of dark, angled sunglasses.

As he neared Kate crossed her arms and glared at him.

"You're late!" she growled. "We've been waiting for four hours!"

J-S threw his arms into the air and plastered a crooked smile on his face giving him the complete 'so what?' look which he had perfected over the years. He said nothing as he past his friends stopping at the door to doc Johnson's place to look over his shoulder.

"Well come on guys," he called out. "I'm not going to wait for you all day."

Joe burst out laughing before being hushed by his sister's stern look.

Mike smiled. The time had finally come for him and his friends to set out on their very own pokemon adventure.

Inside old doc Johnson's greeted the new adventurers. An old man in his seventies he had long since retired from practicing medicine. He now spent his time raising starter pokemon for new adventurers. He always wore an old lab coat that he had owned for as long as anyone in town knew.

"Right this way," he instructed going into the lab. "As you know raising pokemon is a big responsibility. Now that you're all fourteen years old, and passed your entrance exams, you'll be allowed your starter pokemon and started kits."

Doc Johnson stepped to a large computer. "Now if you'll all step this way and insert your trainer licenses into this device the computer will analyze the test scores you got last week and match you up with a pokemon best suited to your style of training."

Mike was the first to step up, eager to get his pokemon. He inserted his card. The computer beeped and booped as lights flashed. A few moments later a bell dinged and returned the card. With a mechanical voice it called out "Pikachu" and dropped a poke ball into the receptacle.

Mike was overjoyed as he picked up his poke ball. He had gotten the pokemon he had dreamed of since he was a child.

Kate was next. She placed in her license the computer did it's thing, and it called out "Vulpix". Not exactly what she had hoped for but she was happy with her result.

"How fitting," Bill laughed. "The bitch got a bitch!"

Kate growled at him.

Bill butted his way to the head of the line. "Let me show you what a real trainer gets!" he called out as he slid in his card. The computer once again did it's thing and called out "Venonat".

Kate lost her composure and erupted into laughter. "How fitting," she said in a mocking tone. "The insect got an insect."

This brought a chorus of laughter from everyone.

Joe was next. As he waited for the computer to make it's decision he almost looked like he could explode from anticipation. When it called out "Machop" he jumped and cheered. Not so much because he was happy with his result but more because he now had his very own pokemon.

Last, but certainly not least, J-S made his way to the computer in silence. He slid in his card already knowing the pokemon he would receive. For months, before he took the exam, he had studied past results from past trainers. His search yielded results and he knew exactly which answers to give to get him the best pokemon.

When the computer called out "Larvitar" it came to a surprise to everyone save J-S. Even old doc Johnson was impressed. It was very rare indeed for a new trainer to be given a pokemon with such potential.

J-S took his new pokemon and walked past Mike. With a crooked smile he whispered "Mine is better." to his rival. Mike simply smiled, happy that J-S seemed to get the pokemon he had wanted.

Now that everyone had their pokemon doc Johnson handed it out the new trainers their pokedexes and poke balls as well as some potions and a couple of antidotes.

The group of five left the lab shortly after. Mike let his Pikachu out of it's ball.

"What's up Mike?" Kate asked.

"I'm going to let Pikachu walk around with me," he answered. "Just like Ash does."

Ash Ketchum. Mike's long time hero and idol. Since he was a little kid playing in the sandbox Mike would dream of emulating his favorite trainer. A veritable pokemon master.

"Only dorks do that!" laughed Bill.

Kate glared at him and as if to spite him she let her Vulpix out of it's ball.

Bill laughed. Kate's actions only seemed to strengthen his statement.

Not to let his friend look foolish, and mostly to shut Bill up, J-S also let out his Larvitar from it's ball.

The group walked down the road together. Joe was rambling on about everything and nothing all at once with Mike.

"So is anyone going to name their pokemon?" he asked, finally asking something useful.

Kate paused thinking about it. "I never though about it. " She thought for a moment thinking up a good name. She looked down to the Vulpix in her arms. "How about I name you Sasha?"

The pokemon smiled at it's trainer and cried out happily at it's new name.

"What about you Mike?" Joe inquired. "You going to name Pikachu?"

Mike smiled and shook his head. "No, Pikachu is fine."

"Naming pokemon is stupid," injected Bill. He was about to say something else and more then likely rude but was suddenly sent flat on his face by a smack to the back of the head from J-S.

Kate looked at J-S. "So I take it from that little display of force that you're going to name your pokemon?"

"He is Weapon," J-S said. "He will be my instrument of destruction."

The group stopped cold.

"Are you serious?" Mike asked worriedly.

"Of course," J-S replied. "Pokemon are nothing more then tools to be used to defeat ones opponents. The name 'Weapon' is as fitting a name if ever there was one."

"That's not true!" Mike interjected.

J-S walked up to him and placed his hand on Mike's head. He towered over him, always having been tall for his age.

"Of course it is," he reassured. "Why else do we train pokemon but to fight each other."

"We train them to be our friends and through the power of friendship we can-"

"Oh Mike," J-S interrupted. "You are such a child. Clutching to such beliefs like a security blanket. We train pokemon to fight. We make them stronger to win. And if the other pokemon is so weak that it gets destroyed then it's the other trainer's fault for not raising a stronger pokemon."

J-S turned and began to walk away, letting his words sink in.

"You're wrong!" Mike shouted out. "I'll prove it to you. I'll show you that strength and power pale in comparison to the power of friendship!"

J-S stopped and turned to face his friend. He laughed. "We will see who is right alright. When we meet again at the provisional tournament I'll be the one to mop the floor with you. Then I fully expect you to admit that I was right."

"What do you mean when we meet again?" Mike asked. "Aren't you coming with us?"

J-S's expression turned stern. "No, I refuse to be the Brock to your Ash. You might be content with living someone else's legend but I'm going to forge my own. I'm going to make my name famous. You see I decided a long time ago that I was going to become the worlds most powerful pokemon trainer. I'm afraid that you and your childish philosophies will only slow me down."

He turned and began to walk away again, followed closely by his lackey Bill. "So long Mike. Once you decide to be humiliated be sure to look me up. I'll most likely be in the hall of champions."

Kate growled. "That arrogant jerk!" she spat. She turned to Mike. "Don't let him get you down Mike."

But mike wasn't down. Quite the opposite in fact. He was smiling. Mike had been challenged by his rival. A challenge Mike happily accepted.

Mike Kate and Joe soon after departed on their own journey. Where J-S and Bill headed east towards the wilds, they headed west towards Route 101 and their first steps on their pokemon adventure.