"Zeke? Ze-ke,? Wake up, honey!" said a woman's voice.
Zeke Gardner woke up to his mother standing above him. She smiled, kissed him on the forehead, and told him to come down for his special birthday breakfast.
Still in a sleeping trance, the boy changed out of his blue pajamas and into his aqua jacket and jeans, attire for the early Anistar City spring weather. However, after five minutes of heat, decided it too warm to keep the jacket zipped like usual.
After ripping the page off his calendar, he realised the occasion: his tenth birthday. Filled with excitement, he rushed down the stairs to the kitchen table, devouring his french toast in one bite. He began to rave to his parents about which pokemon he should choose as his starter. "I should choose Fennekin, to keep everyone warm. No, Froakie, so I could be a ninja. Or Chespin, I love plants..." He went on and on.
His father placed his hand on Zeke's shoulder: "I'm sorry Zeke, you're not getting a pokemon this year." He said. Zeke's face fell into a mixture of sadness and surprise. "What? Why?" He exclaimed, almost angrily. His mother spoke up: "Professor Sycamore got a little sidetracked with those Team Fire, or Flame, something like that, guys who just took over the Pokeball Factory, so he couldn't get the pokemon. Besides, your father and I think you need to do a bit of... Maturing, before we let you out into the world. We'd hate for you to get all the way to Geosenge, get scared, and not have us near you."
Zeke silently put away his plate and walked outside, where he was greeted by Samantha, his best friend. "Happy Birthday Zeke! So, who are you gonna choose as your starter? I think you should choose Chespin: Chesnaught's the strongest of the three. Hey, you might even get to be an Ace like me!" She said. Samantha was a year older than Zeke, and a battling prodigy, and as a result, very overconfident and egotistical.
Zeke explained the situation to Samantha, gaining him a mere "I'm sorry for you". She then offered to have a snowball fight with him at the edge of Mamoswine Road, to which he accepted.
As they dug through the snow creating snoweballs, Zeke felt something soft touch his hand. "Hold your fire!" He shouted, as he dug out the frozen object. He eventually dug out a foot-tall furry frozen object with a white-pink 'button' on the front. After Sam examined it, she realized what it really was: a frozen Baby Swinub!