Spring Rejuvenation
A fog settled over the still, cold water of the Pallet Town inlet. The cold, damp air sent a chill down the spine of an older man seated on a remarkably smooth rock nestled perfectly in the sand. The chill served only to compound his feelings of incredulity on what day it was, or rather what was going to happen this day.
No, it couldn't be real, could it? It certainly felt like a dream as he gazed upon the almost surreal shade of dark purple the slowly rising morning sun cast upon the water's surface, or the looming silhouettes of the surrounding evergreens poised as a perfect contrast to the orange hued sky. Yes, it certainly seemed like a dream, but alas it was not. Today the two boys he had watched grow up would be ready to get their own pokemon and go off and journey the vast Kanto region. He both dreaded and looked forward to this day, a curious juxtaposition only someone in a parental role could understand. Memories of times he had spent watching them play and offering wisdom about the world and its workings flooded his mind, so vivid that they seemed as if it all happened just yesterday.
A flock of pidgeys flew overhead, chirping a wonderful morning chorus. It was a signal that his time for reminiscing was over. It was time to come back to the present and look forward to the future. Taking one long, final glance at the natural beauty before him, he sat up, sighed deeply, and followed the lonesome dirt trail back to Pallet Town.
Red and Blue
Tap
Tap
Tap
Tap
Tap
"…"
"…"
"Oh come on."
The rhythmic tapping of rubber against linoleum echoed throughout the pristine interior of Pallet Town's pokemon lab. It bounced off the walls and into the irritated eardrums of one of the leading professor's (Professor Oak) assistants.
"Blue, could you please ease up on the tapping?" one of the assistants, a tall woman with blonde hair and thick rimmed glasses, said. She had just about enough of the ruckus.
"What? You mean to tell me you can't work through a bit of tapping?" Green scoffed. "If ya can't do that, then gramps outta cut you loose now."
The woman frowned and went back to her work, muttering angrily under her breath. Blue smirked and continued tapping his foot. He never liked that woman. She was always trying to find something to bug him about. Him! In his own veritable home away from home! He had spent way more years under the roof of his grandfather's pokemon lab than this lady, so who was she to boss him around in his own de facto home?
Creaaak…
Blue felt the crisp air of the early spring morning exhale onto the back of his neck before he could turn his head towards the slowly opening lab doors. Despite the morning sun's rays casting the figure in the middle of the doorway in a silhouette, Blue knew exactly who it was.
He sighed and placed his hands on his hips, "Oh, it's only you…I was hoping it'd be gramps."
"Hey Blue," the figure said simply, ignoring Blue's comment as he approached him. He never said much of anything, not recently at least. Blue raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms as he came face to face with his former best friend, Red.
"I should've figured it was you. You always come in second. Anyway, gramps isn't here. I'm actually surprised you were able to beat him, what with the way you drag your feet."
Red responded with only an annoyed grunt. Not even a word, no "shut up Blue," nothing. This irritated Blue immensely. Why had his former friend become a mute? He didn't know, and no matter how many times he tried to get under his skin to make him budge, it was to no avail. However, this wouldn't stop Blue from continuing to try.
"So…Quite a get up you got there, Red," Blue snidely remarked as he ran his eyes up and down Red's outfit. It was a simple, almost generic rookie trainer outfit. It consisted of light blue jeans, a red jacket with a black shirt underneath, a red hat, and a yellow backpack slung over his shoulders.
"All you need to complete it is a safety helmet and a baggie of paint chips!"
Red narrowed his eyes at Blue. Perhaps we was finally about to say something! Blue grinned with anticipation, but before Red might've said anything, the lab doors opened once more. Red shifted his attention away from Blue (much too Blue's disappointment), and focused on the new figure entering the lab.
"Why hello boys, I'm glad to see you're both here early," the figure said as he walked under a fluorescent light and came into view. The figure was tall and slender, with noticeable wrinkles under his eyes and thick, grey hair. This was Professor Oak; leading pokemon professor of the Kanto Region and Blue's grandfather.
"Gramps, what took ya so long?" Blue said impatiently, instinctively tapping his foot once more.
"I woke up quite early to watch the sun rise over the sea and muse over the coming events of today…I must have gotten carried away. That is neither here nor there, however. I know you two have been very excited for today, so I will not keep you waiting any longer. Follow me please…"
Professor Oak walked past them further into the lab. The two boys followed close behind until they reached a table with a metal stand holding up three pokeballs. Their smooth surfaces gleamed under the overhead lights, almost as if greeting the two, young soon-to-be trainers.
"Inside these three pokeballs are Kanto's official starter pokemon," Professor Oak said as he rolled a projector into the center of the room. He switched off the overhead lights and switched on the projector. The first slide was a rather drab, olive green background titled "The Starters of Kanto."
"The first starter…" Professor Oak said as he switched to the next slide. "Is a fine pokemon known as bulbasaur."
The pokemon on this slide stood close to the ground on four legs, and had a large, bulbous seed growing on its back. Its skin was light bluish with sparse spots dotting its body.
"This pokemon is both a grass and poison type. As you know, if you studied beforehand," Professor Oak narrowed his eyes at Blue, "The grass typing is quite effective against water types, but fares poorly against fire types. This little gal is also quite easy to raise, and very-"
"Come on, gramps. Can you hurry this up?"
"Be patient, Blue," Professor Oak replied sternly as he switched to the next slide.
"This next pokemon is known as charmander…"
The pokemon on the screen this time was bipedal and looked like a lizard. Its skin was orange and a large flame burned at the tip of its tail.
"Charmander, as you can plainly see, is a fire type," Professor Oak said. "It's strong against grass type pokemon, but falters under water types. He's also quite difficult to raise, I must say, but if you're patient you'll be quite please with what this pokemon can become. Now, onto the last slide…"
Professor Oak switched to the last slide. This final slide had an image of a short turtle pokemon with a cheerful expression on its face and an impressive, curled tail.
"The last starter of the Kanto region is none other than squirtle. Squirtle is of course a water type, and by now I don't think I need to tell you what types this pokemon is strong and weak against. It's definitely one worth raising."
Professor Oak switched off the projector and turned the overhead lights back on.
"So that's it for the slides. Now it's time for you two to choose which pokemon you'll take with you on your journey," Professor Oak said. "Red, you choose first."
"Hey gramps! No fair! Why does he get to choose first?" Blue protested, flashing a quick frown at Red.
"Be patient, Blue. You'll have your chance to pick too," Professor Oak replied. Blue groaned and crossed his arms.
"Fine, whatever," Blue said, turning his head toward Red once again. "I don't need to be greedy like you. I'm mature! Go ahead and choose, Red."
Red walked forward and studied the three pokeballs. He leaned forward slightly and peered at the second pokeball before taking it into his hand and turning towards Professor Oak.
"I choose this one, professor," Red said.
"Ah, so you've chosen charmander, the fire type," Professor Oak replied, nodding in approval. "He's a bit tough to raise, but I'm confident you have the patience to raise a fine pokemon like this."
Red nodded and walked back to his original position.
"Now Blue, it's your turn to choose a pokemon," Professor Oak said as he gestured at the two pokemon left on the stand.
"Finally," Blue muttered as he walked up to the stand and looked at the remaining pokemon.
"Since you've chosen a charmander, I think I'll choose bulbasaur," Blue remarked as he grasped the pokeball containing bulbasaur. "I wouldn't want to make things too easy for me!"
"So you've chosen the grass type bulbasaur," Professor Oak said, stroking his chin. "Interesting…Well she's quite easy to raise, and she'll definitely be able to keep up with you, Blue."
"She and I won't have no problem dealing with Red or any other chump that tries getting in our way," Blue said with a confident grin as he raised the pokeball up to eye level and studied it carefully. It gleamed under the light and ran smooth underneath his fingers.
"Now that you have your pokemon, I want to give you both a device that will help you on your journeys…" Professor Oak said as he presented the two each with a small, red, handheld device.
"Those are known as pokedexes," Professor Oak said as Red and Blue both took one. "They are an invention of mine. Use them to scan any pokemon you come across and data will automatically be gathered from them. For quite some time I've wanted to record every pokemon in existence onto this pokedex, but I'm an old man. Too old to go out and trudge up mountains or cross the seas like in my youth. That's why I'm entrusting you two with them."
"Leave it all to me, gramps!" Blue proclaimed before turning towards Red. "Sorry Red, but you won't be necessary for this task…"
A thought manifested into Blue's head as he spoke. A wide, conniving grin formed across his face as he remembered a certain item his sister had that could give him a slight advantage over the mute.
"I know! I'll borrow a map from my sis!" Blue proclaimed. "Now I won't waste any time trying to find my way if I get lost, which is practically an impossibility. I'll even tell her not to lend you one, Red. Don't bother coming around to my place after this!"
With that said, Blue turned and headed for the exit, "Smell ya later, Red!"
…
Daisy
It didn't take long for Blue to head back home. The morning was still too cold and early for the residents of Pallet Town to bother getting out of their sheets, so roads were empty. They were a perfect track for Blue to sprint home full speed. The Oak house itself wasn't too far away in the first place. In fact, the Oak house wasn't far away from any other place here in Pallet Town. The town limits could be a stone's throw away from any house or building, depending on who was doing the actual throwing. This meant a close knit community, and in a close knit community news travels at the speed of light. It was perfect for a hen like Blue's older sister, Daisy. She had the scoop on everybody in town, nothing got past her. So it was no surprise to Blue that she already knew what pokemon Blue had chosen.
"Picked a bulbasaur, huh," Daisy remarked as she twirled the cord of the home phone in rhythm with the involuntary shaking of her crossed legs.
"Sure did," Blue said bluntly as he tried to catch his breath. "Sis, you still got those town maps, don't you?"
"Yeah, sure do," Daisy replied, half listening to him and half listening to the phone. "You should take one with you so you don't get lost."
"Well that was the idea," Blue rolled his eyes. "So where are they?"
"They're up in my room," Daisy replied, holding her hand over the speaker. "Pick one up for Red while you're at it. He'll need one too."
"Pfffft, yeah right…" Blue scoffed, but as he headed for the stairs, he felt a grip on the back of his green vest pulling him backwards.
"Hey, what gives?"
"What do you mean 'yeah right?'?" Blue frowned, still holding her palm over the speaker. "Want him to get lost too? He's your friend! What's wrong with you?"
"I can't stand him anymore. He's become a mute, jerk," Blue replied as he went to get up, but once again he was pulled down by Daisy.
"Mute jerk or not, he's still your friend!" Daisy scolded. "He could get hurt if he gets lost, you know. Do you want that, huh?"
"…No," Blue sighed.
"Good, then go get one for him too," Daisy said, punctuating the end of the conversation by removing her hand from the speaker and continuing with her conversation.
Blue sighed once again and finally went upstairs and into Daisy's room. Her room was a bit messy on account of recently moving back home not too long ago. Her closet was open and half filled with clothes, and half were empty hangers. A few scarves and a winter weather jacket were strewn across her pink bed comforter. No map, however. Blue then turned his attention to Daisy's desk and found on it a few photos of her and college friends posing in front of a far off Mt. Coronet. Underneath the photos were the maps. Two in fact, which made Blue mutter how lucky Red was. He rolled them both up and carried them off under his arm back downstairs.
"Smell ya later, sis," Blue said hurriedly as he headed for the door.
"Be careful, Blue," Daisy replied with a warm smile. "…And don't forget to give Red a map, okay."
"Yeah yeah, I'll give it to him when I see him," Blue spat out rather hastily before leaving the house.