A/N: This fic is based off my Randomized Nuzlocke run of Fire Red. There will be some references to my other story "The Adventures of Ash Ketchup" here and there just as an FYI. Chapters will likely be shorter as well. Hope you enjoy! =D
~Chapter 1: New Beginnings~
Bag? Check.
PokeWatch? Check.
Hat? Check.
Underwear? Check-a-roonie!
"Alright! I'm all set!" I exclaimed aloud to no one in particular. Today was an important day in my life as well as the lives of many naive ten year olds. For you see, today was the day that I was to get my first pokemon...at least here in the Ranto Region. Okay okay...I guess we need a little backstory here. Let me flip on this decades old Nintendo Entertainment System while I explain.
"..."
"GOD DAMN IT! WHY WON"T YOU TURN ON?!"
Ahem. Sorry about that. As I was saying, my family and I just moved here to the Ranto from a little region called Sandwich. I was a pretty accomplished trainer there, having earned eight badges and all that jazz, but then for some inexplicable reason, my mom decided that she was tired of sandwiches and relocated us. Due to some backwards ass Sandwich Region customs, I was forced to leave my Pokemon with Professor Yew. This was difficult to take at first, but we communicate almost daily through Skype so it's no big deal.
But then we got here in Ranto and I found out that there's a one year waiting period for any "out of state" trainer. During this period of time, trainers aren't allowed to challenge any gym leaders or catch any wild pokemon (though apparently slave pokemon are fine as evidenced by the house maid Mr. Mime). You may also be wondering why this region is called Ranto and why it sounds so familiar. Well I'll tell you. The more widely known Kanto Region lies to the north of Ranto and the two regions are very similar. A little too similar in my opinion. In fact, if you look at any map you'll see that they're darn near identical! But we live in a world where fuzzy monsters can kill us at any time so who am I to complain right?
There does seem to be a rather interesting difference though. Professor Kao who lives in town does a whole bunch of research on what he calls the "Randomizer Effect" which seems to be localized to the Ranto Region. Essentially pokemon are randomly scattered about in all routes and areas. Instead of fighting a Pidgey in Route 1 for example, you might encounter an Ursaring or a Slaking...or a Spinda. The Gym Leaders take advantage of this and switch their pokemon around every so often to keep trainers on their toes as does the Elite 4 and Champion.
"Freakin Mario man you're not supposed to jump into the endless abyss! GAH!"
Back on point, this also means that starter pokemon are randomized. But instead of choosing, a pokeball is selected based on the last digit of your trainer ID. Hey don't judge, I read up on Ranto customs and what have you, don't all trainers? There is a rumor out there as well that I don't really feel like talking about because it sounds too horrific to be true...let's just leave it at that for now.
"Honey! Hurry up or you'll be late!"
"Ok Mom!"
That would be my mom. Nice lady, big fan of pokemon even though she doesn't have one aside from our slave Mr. Mime. Her husband (my dad!) is always off somewhere on an adventure. He reminds me of Finn the Human from that show Adventure Time hehe.
The door flew open as I scrambled down the stairs, hoping that I wasn't too late to nab a pokemon from the lab. Noticing my mom sitting there with a stoic expression on her face, I waved at her hesitantly.
"All little boys go out on adventures...it said so on the TV..."
"Uh...I'm not a little boy though. Whatever. Bye!"
Walking around the small town, I noticed my fat friend Bob, standing around as he usually does.
"Hey Bob! How goes it?"
He turned to me and scratched his bulging stomach, a sight which nearly made me throw up on the spot.
"Oh hey Timb (hey that's my name!), it's goin pretty good. Just starin out at this little lake thing we got goin on over here."
"Cool cool man. I'll be sure to have some potato chips handy next time we meet, but now I gotta run off and find Professor Kao. See ya!"
Checking into the lab, I was dismayed when his assistants shooshed me out, telling me that Professor Kao was out researching in the field. Determined to find him, I walked around a bit before deciding to head up the distinct patch of grass to the north of town. Before I could, however, a hand violently yanked me to the ground.
"HEY! I'm gonna kick your a-oh it's Professor Kao..."
"Timb! Don't go into the distinct grass! There are wild pokemon there! Come with me to my lab!"
Seconds later, we were inside the nice, air-conditioned lab. Dressed in his familiar lab coat, Professor Kao motioned me to come further inside.
"Alright Timb, today's your first day as a pokemon trainer!" he exclaimed heartily.
"Uh no it's not you weirdo."
Ignoring my disdain, he continued. "Well it looks like you're all packed up and ready to go, but first I have a few questions to ask you."
"Fire away I guess."
"Excellent. First, are you a boy or are you a girl?"
"Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"
Today was going to be a long day...
Professors really need to have their visions checked if they can't determine what gender we are. Like seriously. Thanks for reading as always! Don't forget to leave a comment (if you want of course) and stay tuned for the next chapter!
