It was my tenth birthday, and I was finally going to get my first pokémon...

That's how the story would have started for any other kid in this world, but not for me. My story goes a bit differently. It was my tenth birthday, and I was expected to look forward to getting my first pokémon.

My mom and dad came up to my room with cake and some presents and woke me up with the regular birthday song that had been sung every year for as long as I remembered. I didn't have anything against it, it just felt odd to me, and that feeling had grown stronger for every time I'd heard it.

"Happy birthday, sweetie," my mom said. I didn't really like it when she called me that. "did you sleep well?"

"Well, sure..." I replied. I knew that they expected the answer to be the opposite, but birthdays weren't such a big deal to me.

My dad sat down on my bed, unwittingly trapping my legs between the mattress and the duvet. He always did that. "I've got three presents for you, which one do you want?" They were wrapped in red, green and blue paper, so that the symbolism wouldn't be lost on me. I knew that I would eventually get them all, he was just curious as to which starter pokémon I was going to choose. Even an idiot would realise that.

"Dad, I'm not-" I started, but I stopped myself as if not to hurt his feelings.

I didn't want a pokémon.

The whole concept of pokémon felt glorified to me, everyone around me seemed to see the world through rose tinted glasses. They were just essentially wild animals, albeit intelligent ones. What gave us the right to trap them in little balls and have them fight for us? I was expected to look forward to getting my first pokémon, but I didn't.

"The blue one, I guess..." I said weakly. He smiled and handed me the present. The blue present contained a backpack with a squirtle's shell embroidered on the back, it was actually pretty neat. I did get the green and red gifts as well, inside were a starmie themed survivor kit and a pair of running shoes with little rapidash silhouettes on the sides.

"You just can't wait to get rid of me, huh..." I muttered under my breath.

"Don't forget to visit the Pokémon Lab on your way home, sweetie." my mom said.

"Sure thing." I said, making a measly effort of feigning excitement.

I brought my new presents to school that day. Some kids from sixth grade teased me for the Rapidash shoes, claiming that they were "sissy girl pokémon." One of them took out his bulbasaur and had it lift me up with its vines by my new backpack until I slipped out of it and fell to the ground. They all laughed and tried taunting me into jumping up and down to get back my backpack, but I didn't humour them. When they realised that I was no fun to keep teasing, they threw my backpack into a nearby pond.

"Happy birthday, emo kid." they said as they laughed and left. I didn't cry. I had learned to hold back my tears by now, but the lump in my throat was still there, so if I had spoken then, I would have sounded like a crybaby.

I waded out into the pond and retrieved my backpack, the embroidery had been torn off across the shell, making it look like there was a big crack in it. I liked it better this way, but I knew that my parents would inquire about it when I got home. I didn't want to tell them about the bullying, I felt like I was enough of a burden on them already, being the way that I am.

I didn't go back to school that day. My stomach hurt from the falling earlier, and I noticed that I had cut my face. I took out a small mirror from my survivor kit and tried hiding the bruise with my bangs, but they weren't quite long enough. I decided to walk out into the forest and hide until the bleeding stopped and it wasn't as visible.

I walked until I came down to a river and walked alongside it for a while, I hadn't been this far from home before. I knew that it was dangerous to walk around without a pokémon, but I didn't really have a choice as I didn't want one, and the bullies using their pokémon against me wasn't helping me change my mind about them either.

I sat down by the edge of the river after having walked a while, I started throwing some rocks into the river. A school of goldeen gave me a mean look, which made me laugh a little, but I respected them and stopped. I saw a caterpie that had fallen into the river, struggling to keep afloat. I waded out into the river and lifted it up and took it ashore. I figured it didn't make much of a difference, as my shoes were still soaked from the pond.

The caterpie looked thankfully at me, smiling with its eyes. "You're welcome, buddy, now be on your way." I said, smiling back. The caterpie looked a little sad, and looked towards the other side of the river, I followed its gaze and saw another caterpie on the other side of the river. "I'm not a taxi, y'know..." I sighed, but still decided to lift my newfound friend up and carried it across the river. Both the caterpillars were very happy to be together again, the other caterpie presented me with an oran berry, as well as a discarded pokéball that someone had probably dropped.

I nodded my head as thanks, and they did the same, then they crawled into a nearby bush. I put the pokéball and the berry in my ruined, yet still neat backpack. The school bell rang in the distance, and I noticed that the sun was starting to set, so I decided to start walking back towards the village.

I walked for a good amount of time and it was getting dark rather quickly. I stayed close to the river, but I didn't remember which glade I had come from. I walked away from the river, thinking that I knew the general direction, but no matter which way I walked, I wasn't getting back onto the road. I realised that I was lost. I tried keeping my cool, I knew that panicking wouldn't do me any favours. I had become rather good at controlling my feelings, thanks to those idiots back at school.

I sat down by a tree, deciding to wait until my eyes had gotten more used to the dark. Maybe I would be able to see further in a few minutes, I thought. It was starting to get cold and my feet were still wet. Even if it was summer, wet clothes were sure to get cold at night. I didn't know what time it was, or where I was. I was terrified.

Then I remembered the survivor kit. I took my backpack off and dug it out, it had a few bumps, but was still intact. I opened the star shaped box and found a big lighter. After gathering some nearby branches, I managed to make a fire pretty quick. It wasn't big, but it was enough for me to warm my wet legs. I took off my new shoes to put them near the flames and crept up close to the fire myself as well.

I thought about my parents, if I stayed out here they might get worried. Or maybe they just assumed I'd gone to meet the professor after school and had set out on an adventure immediately. Maybe they didn't think much of it at all, maybe they just wanted me out of the house.

I did owe them ten years of rent, kinda...

My eyes started to tear up, I thought that it might be better if I just disappeared in the woods and became a phantump, or got dragged off into the sky by a drifloon. Nobody would miss me anyway.

Then suddenly I heard a rustle in a nearby bush, and something black bolted past the fire. I grabbed my shoes and stood up. My heart was beating like crazy. Then, before I had time to react, the ground started shaking. A rhyhorn came from the same direction as the black thing had. It ran straight through my fire, kicking the burning twigs, making them scatter all over the place, sending a whirlwind of embers into the air that proceeded to slowly fall down to the ground, singeing the grass. Then silence.

Going against my common sense, I decided to pick my things up and run after them. I still have no idea what I was thinking at that time. I picked up a flashlight from my backpack and used it to light the way as I followed the trail of trampled forest. I was very curious about what the rhyhorn was chasing, but if I had stopped running then, my legs would have folded beneath me because of all the fear that I was suppressing at that moment.

I slowed down when I started hearing growls and stomps ahead. When I heard that they were just ahead, I put my shirt over the flashlight to dampen the light from it, and sneaked closer to the source of the noises. I peered out from behind a tree and saw that the rhyhorn had cornered a black, cat-like creature against a thick log. It could have jumped over the log and kept running, but it seemed too wounded to do so.

The rhyhorn reared back and tackled the other creature, sending it hurtling against the log. It was hard to make out, but there was blood where it had hit, as well as on the assailant's horn. The black animal was not visibly moving anymore, yet despite that, the rhyhorn charged up for another attack, most likely a finishing blow. I figured that the rhyhorn had more sensitive senses than me, and could tell that the nearly dead creature was still alive.

What happened next felt as if I was watching myself from behind my eyes, but the me that I saw performing the actions was another person entirely. I picked up the pokéball I found earlier and threw it at the black pokémon. I had terrible aim, but somehow I still managed to hit it, and it was absorbed into the pokéball. The rhyhorn had started sprinting, and didn't notice the creature's disappearance and charged straight through the log, ripping it apart, and continued for a few more metres. Then it turned around and looked my way. I froze and held my breath. It stared at me, at least that's how it felt. Then, moments later, it gave away a snort and ran off into the forest. Its footsteps became more and more distant, until they disappeared completely.

Then the real me returned to be in charge of my body.

I fell to my knees and gasped for air. I cried softly, to not attract the rhyhorn again. I was more terrified now than I'd ever been before. I crept shakingly, still crying, towards the log that was split in half, looking for the ball I had thrown. I reached around in the dark, not thinking about the flashlight I had, I got splinters, some big as needles. I was afraid that it had been stepped on during the assault, and that all I would find was shattered pieces of it.

Then amidst all the thorns, I felt something round and smooth. I picked it up and held it close to my racing heart. I saw something in the distance, it was a light. I stood up and started running. More lights. A town!

I sprinted through an arch, straight into the town square, I looked around hastily to try and find a pokémon center, but in my frenzy, I couldn't see one. I pulled out a blanket from my backpack and put in on the ground in the middle of the square and tried opening the pokéball, but I didn't know how to do it. I pried and pulled as hard as I dared, and finally managed to hit the mechanism that opened it, but I didn't have time to reflect upon what I did to open it right then. I gently laid the pokémon on the blanket and emptied my backpack next to it. My water bottle and med kit clattered against the cobblestone, the latter cracking open and spilling its various utensils onto the ground, making even more noise.

I fumbled the bottle open and grabbed a piece of cotton, pouring some water into it, then I examined the black animal, illuminated by street lights. I started cleaning the bloodiest spot, but the blood quickly soaked the cotton, making it turn red. The blanket was slowly darkening as well, I realised that cleaning had to wait, I had to stop the bleeding.

I grabbed bandages from the ground and started wrapping them around the bleeding areas, the chest, the neck, a leg, the back... I wrapped them firmly, but not so tightly that it would stop the circulation. I had no idea what I was doing. When I ran out of bandages, I tore pieces from my t-shirt to wrap the rest. It was cold, but I didn't care.

I leaned down in front of its nose and listened, it was breathing heavily. As was I. I had done everything I could, but was it enough? I slumped over next to it and just looked at it for a moment, then I saw the oran berry. I reached towards it and tried feeding it to the pokémon, but it wouldn't open its mouth. I put the berry in my mouth and chewed it slightly, then spat it out into my hands and smeared it around its mouth and on its nose. It weakly started licking the berry juice from around its mouth, I felt relieved, if even very slightly.

I poured some water into my palm and gently put it in front of its mouth, and it drank a little. I got it to drink two more palmfuls of water. I leaned in next to it and whispered to it, while lightly petting it.

"Hang in there... I'm not sure if you are going to make it, but I won't leave your side..."

It opened one of its eyes slightly, as if to say that it believed my words.

I heard a door opening behind me, and a woman stepped outside. I tried calling for help, but my voice wouldn't carry the words, only a pathetic whimper left my lips. She seemed to understand me perfectly, though.

She picked up the blanket with the black pokémon inside and grabbed my hand. She ran, leading me around the corner of a nearby house and towards a building with a red roof. The doors slid open with a hiss as we approached, and we ran inside. There was a nurse behind the counter right ahead of us, talking to a young trainer and smiling. Her smile quickly faded as she saw the bloody rag, and she gestured towards the door to the right of the front desk and ran ahead of us, holding the next door open as we rushed further inside the pokémon center.

In front of the fourth door, the woman who was carrying the pokémon said "Sorry, but only medical staff are allowed beyond this point. Wait here, ok?"

I nodded, but she didn't see it as she was already running through the door together with the nurse from the front desk.

I looked at my hands, they were smeared with blood and small tufts of black fur. My ears started ringing, and I lost my balance. The trainer from the front desk walked in through the third door just as I was falling, and nimbly caught me right before I hit the floor. The trainer spoke to me, probably asking if I was alright, but I couldn't answer. The voice sounded like there was a thick veil of water between it and my ears. The trainer's panicked face is the last thing I remember before blacking out.

I had a dream.

Something diappeared.

I felt sad.

I felt responsible.

I tried looking for it.

But it was nowhere to be found.

It was gone.

I tried touching it.

But it was not there.

I put my hands around it.

I couldn't see it.

It felt warm.

It wasn't there.

I felt cold.

I embraced it.

Ice filled my lungs.

I inhaled deeply as I awoke. I was in a bed. I sat up and looked around. I saw the sun through a window. I didn't know where I was. Everything was white. The bed, the walls, everything. I threw the cover off me, it landed on the floor. I got out of the bed and stepped onto the floor. I sat down in pain, my ankle hurt. I must have strained it yesterday-

It all came back to me in a flash. I got up and stumbled out of the room, trying to find my way to the front desk. My hands were covered in band aids, and I had another one on my cheek. I limped through the corridors until I finally met the nurse from yesterday. She looked surprised.

"Are you alright?", she asked.

"Where is it?" I asked, paying her question no heed.

"Oh, I'm heading to see her right now. Follow me."

She noticed my limp and helped me walk by holding one arm on my shoulder. "Her..." I thought to myself, "It's a girl?"

We entered a room further down the hall, and there she was, sleeping.

"She was in a pretty bad state, if she had gotten in just an hour later, she might not have made it," the nurse explained. "I don't know how she sustained those injuries, but the care she received before coming in might have made all the difference. You did good." she smiled.

I sat down next to the bed the pokémon lay on and cried. I was relieved for the first time since this all started. I closed my eyes and just cried, out of joy, out of sadness, out of anger, out of exhaustion... I felt something wet on my cheek aside from my tears and opened my eyes. She had awoken and sat right in front of my face and licked my tears. I didn't know what to do, but she just bumped my cheek with her head and snuggled close to me. I hugged her gently. I was happy.

Then I realised that my parents didn't know where I was. I asked the nurse if there was a phone I could borrow. She handed me a cellphone from her belt. I dialed my home number and my mother picked up, seconds later.

"It's me." I said.

She sobbed and asked where I was and how I was. I told her that I didn't know where I was, but that I was safe and sound in a pokémon center. She asked an overwhelming amount of questions, so I handed the phone over to the nurse. She walked out of the room, passing the young trainer from yesterday on her way out.

"Hey, how are you feeling? You kind of just fainted yesterday..."

"Oh, um, I... I'm fine." I stuttered.

Another person also entered through the door. It was the Pokémon Professor! He walked up to the bed and started talking to the young trainer.

"Ah, there you are. Is this the one who came here last night?"

"Yeah." he replied.

"I recognise you... Weren't you supposed to come to my lab yesterday for a starter pokémon?"

"Yes..." I replied.

"You never showed up", he continued, "and now you seem to already have a pokémon, despite never receiving a starter."

"It's a long story..." I sighed, "What pokémon is this?"

The trainer looked at me like I was crazy. "You've caught a pokémon, but you don't even know what kind it is!?"

I pouted.

"Now, now," the professor reprimanded him, "not everyone can be expected to know the names of them all." He paused and looked at the black pokémon. She curiously looked back at him. "This one is rare to encounter in this region, but it is definitely an umbreon."

"Umbreon..." I repeated.

"Anyway, you have not yet applied to be a trainer," he said. "Would you like to keep your umbreon?"

Yesterday I would have never said yes, but in this short time, I had gotten so attached to this creature that I didn't have the heart to say no. I nodded.

"Then, here is a case for your badges, as well as a short manual I've compiled on basic things to consider. Just answer a few questions, and I'll come with your ID to you in a few days."

"Okay." I said, accepting the case and the pamphlet. I wouldn't have dreamt of things turning out this way in a million years, but I felt happy, and excited.

"Now, excuse me for asking this, but..." the professor grumbled.

"Are you a boy or a girl?"