Chapter 1: First steps

It's the 1st of may. The alarm clock's ringing, telling me it's eight o'clock. I'm already awake however, since this has been a day I've been looking forward to for about a year now. My name is Jasper by the way. It's my birthday. You probably think that this is the day when I turn 10 years old, that this is the moment where I can finally start my own pok mon journey. I'm actually quite some years older, 6 to be precise. Yes, that's right, I'm a 16 year old guy, who hasn't even gone off into the world to start his pok mon journey. The reason is pretty simple, I like to be home, with my mother, in Twinleaf Town. It's a small town in Sinnoh and to be honest, there's not a lot of stuff happening here. My daily routine consists of me helping the locals here. After giving it some thought however, I've now decided that I want to go to Sandgem Town, to meet with professor Rowan. Not to get my starter pok mon however, I actually want to become his pupil. I've heard a lot of stories lately about people going out on their own journey, not knowing how to deal with the outside world, the wild pok mon they could encounter and how they should deal with different environments. This is why I want to learn from the professor, so I will know how to survive out there.

I quickly get dressed and walk downstairs. I see my mother already baking some eggs. ''Goodmorning mom!'', I say to her. ''Goodmorning honey, you ready for today?'' Of course I'm ready, and thus I tell her so. I sit down and my mom's already handing me a plate with two loafs of bread with the eggs put on top of it. I quickly thank her for the food, eat it as fast as I can, so I can then start to get ready to go out. I hear my mother warning me for this, but it doesn't come through. As I chew down the last bit of bread, I quickly brush my teeth and get dressed. I grab my backpack, which I prepared the evening before, give my mother a kiss and start to head for the door. ''How long will you be gone?,'' I hear her asking me. ''I'm not quite sure,'' I tell her. ''But I will definitely keep in touch with you. As I see her eyes watering, I quickly turn around and head for the door, trying to conceal my own tears. This is the moment where it all starts. The moment where I will spend my time at other places than home. I feel motivated however, and thus I grab my bike and start to head for Sandgem Town.

It took me two hours to get to Sandgem, counting the 30-minute break I took as well. But now I've finally arrived. The lab of professor Rowan isn't really hard to find, as it's one of the first buildings I come across as I ride into town. I put my bike in the stand next to the building and open the door of the lab. The lab itself isn't really spectacular, as the professor is known as a very serious man, who's more interested in his work and the results he gets from it, than showing off to the people how incredible his work really is. I walk inside and see a man and a woman, both young adults, in lab coats talking to each other. They turn to me and ask me if they can help me with something. ''I'm looking for professor Rowan,'' I tell them. ''I want to become his student.'' ''How wonderful!'', the woman says. ''New faces are always welcome here! My name is Alice and this is Jordan.'' She points to the man standing next to her. ''Nice to meet you, my name is Jasper,'' I introduce myself. ''Where's the professor?'' ''The professor is in the backyard, where the pok mon that we take care of live. You'll probably find him in the forest area,'' Jordan says. I thank her and start heading for the backdoor.

As I open the door, I see a grassy field spreading out in front of me. As I take a few steps forward, I see a sign with a map of the backyard. As I look at the sign, I quickly realize that calling this area a backyard is quite the understatement. Looking at the map I see the area's divided in different sections, supporting living conditions suited for different types. Luckily the forest area is pretty close by and I start walking left, where it should be according to the sign. While heading to the forest, I see a lot of pok mon around me. The grassy plains where I begin is an area suited for a lot of different pok mon. I look around me and see a bunch of Shinx and Budew playing with each other. Further beyond I see some ponita racing with each other and a few munchlax relaxing in the sunlight. As I walk further the environment changes to the forest that I'm looking for. In the trees I see different kinds of bug pok mon, but als a few Aipom swinging from the branches. I spot a man in a lab coat. Because he's been on tv a lot I recognize him as professor Rowan. I see him studying a group of Wurmple up in the trees. As I start to walk towards him, I see him putting his finger to his mouth, to tell me I should be quiet. As he starts looking at the Wurmple again, I start to do the same. Then I see something very intriguing, they start to glow. I see them glowing brighter and brighter until the moment that they start to change their form. This must be evolution, I start to think to myself. As I see them finishing their change, I see that they changed into two different pok mon. Suddenly I hear a voice next to me. ''Interesting pok mon, aren't they?,'' the professor says. ''Wurmple require almost no effort to evolve and depending on their personality, they evolve into either Silcoon or Cascoon. But let me introduce myself, my name is Rowan and I'm a professor mostly interested in the concept op pok mon evolution. I want to know why pok mon evolve, what the depending factor in their evolution is and why some pok mon don't evolve. Now tell me, what is your name and what can I do for you?'' ''My name is Jasper sir,'' I tell him. ''I would like to become your student and learn from you.'' ''I see,'' the professor says. ''It seems that I have a free spot for you, so follow me back to the lab.''

We walk back to the lab and when we enter it I see the professor walking into a chamber. When he comes out, I see him holding a lab coat in his hands. ''You're first going to need this, I think the size will fit you.'' I take the lab coat and start to put it on. It indeed fits me perfectly. ''Now, in order to finish your initiation, you're going to need one final thing,'' I hear the professor say. ''And that's your own partner pok mon.'' That's something I didn't expect. ''I thought only starting trainers get a starter pok mon?'' I ask the professor. ''You're going to need a pok mon that helps you with the research you'll do here and a pok mon that you can learn from as well. Now as you can see,'' the professor says while standing by three pokeballs. ''There are three pok mon here that you can choose from. Normally starting trainers the come here can choose from Chimchar, Piplup and Turtwig. For you I have three others however. You can choose from the follow pok mon: Ralts, Snorunt and Eevee. All three of these pok mon are very interesting because they can evolve into different types of pok mon.'' As I hear him say this, I see the three pokeballs opening themselves and, together with a white flash, three pokemon corresponding with the ones named by the professor, coming out of them. As I look at these pokemon my choice becomes very simple. I've been a big fan of Lucian, whose a member of the Elite Four. His main pok mon is a Gallade. Ralts being it's pre-evolved form, makes the choice definite. ''I'd like Ralts to become my partner professor,'' I say. ''Very well,'' the professor responds as he hands me Ralts' pokeball. ''I think you two will make a fine team. I look at Ralts and see him looking mysteriously at me. With the pokeball in my hand I ask Ralts to return into it. I see a red flash coming from Ralts, and then going into the pokeball. Meanwhile I have only one thought within me, and that is that I'm looking forward to the adventures I'm going to have together with Ralts.