Disclaimer I do not own Pokemon or any of its characters.

Profile

Name: Jack Silver

Hair colour: Black, parted at the front.

Eye colour: Brown.

Height: 6'2''

Normal clothing: White trainers, blue or black jeans, white T-shirt, green jacket (long or short sleeve, depending on the weather) red and black backpack.

An Adventure Awakens

My name is Jack. Jack Silver. This is my story of how I became a Pokemon trainer. What you have to understand first is growing up, I was kind of a loner. I still am in some ways. So when other kids were talking about Pokemon, and who was battling who at the Indigo Plateau all the way over in Kanto, I didn't care. I didn't pay it any attention. I just….wasn't really interested I guess. So looking back, I guess that put me at a disadvantage when I frist started my training. So you may be asking if I don't care for Pokemon, why did I become a trainer?

Well, good question. I wish I could give just as good an answer. I guess…..the real reason was I wanted to travel. I'd lived in New Bark Town all my life and by the age of 16, I was getting a little tired of the place. But Johto is a dangerous place you see. Well I guess Kanto and Hoenn are too, but I've never been to either region. Without tranportation or a Pokemon of your own, walking around outside a town or a village can be close to life threatening. Wild Pokemon attack strangers, fearing for their young, their territory or just to prove themselves. The only way one can safely travel is to either train Pokemon yourself for protection or to own some kind of vehicle. And I didn't have the money for a vehicle.

Now don't get me wrong, I didn't hate Pokemon. I didn't dislike them even a little bit. Maybe when I was really young, I thought it was a fad that would pass. And by the time I was older and it was still going strong……..well all the other kids would know more than me so there wasn't much point in trying to get into it then. So I never saw becoming a trainer simply as my ticket to get out of New Bark Town. I was sure it would be fun to be a trainer, I was just also sure I'd be owned by every other trainer out there.

I talked it over with my parents. As you'd expect, there were reluctant to let me go. My mother more so. My father, though worried, thought this might help me be more 'outgoing' as he likes to call it……..sure.. They agreed in the end. But obviously, they didn't want me to rush into it. They agreed to let me go after New Year's was over. That way I'd get to spend one last holiday with them. Sheesh, talk about making leaving home more difficult than it already is…..

So, on the 15th of January, I woke up early. 6 am. See I like getting up early. Only thing is, I…….suck at it. Of course, special occasions are a different matter. But early as I was, by the time my parents were done with our 'last breakfast together', it was 7:30.

"Be careful out there Jack." my Dad said. "The world can be a tough place. If you run into trouble, you can always come home. We'll be here."

"I know Dad." I replied. "Thanks." I hugged him and turned to Mum. This could take a while. After she had sufficiently cracked every one of my ribs, she kissed my cheek and straightened my hair.

"Oh before I forget, your Poke Gear is back from the shop." she placed a small silver watch in my hand. "The house number is already registered. Don't forget to set the date." I nodded and strapped the Gear to my left wrist.

Half an hour of soppy goodbyes later(I hate to sound unkind, but I thought you might want to be spared the details), I headed on over to Professor Elm's laboratory. This was where I would get my Trainer card and my first Pokemon. I had to admit, I was a little excited. As I approached the lab, I noticed a boy about my age, maybe a little older, with red hair. He was peering in at the window. He saw me and gave me a nasty look. Call me a coward, but I hurried straight in. Well actually, don't call me a coward, just……..y'know, because.

Prof Elm met me. He was a tall man with brown spikey hair and glasses. He was the leading expert on Pokemon evolution, one of the few things about Pokemon that interested me at the time.

"Welcome Jack, nice to see you." he said. As much of a loner as I was, in a town as small as this, it was hard not to know everyone. That's why at the time, I still couldn't shake the thought of that red haired boy. I'd never seen him before. "So, you ready to choose your first Pokemon?"

"Yes, yes I am." I said nervously. I……get a little shy….sometimes….

"Well step right this way. I had three Pokemon to choose from, all very rare. However, another trainer arrived earlier and has already chosen one of them. So you only have two choices left." Damn, someone was earlier than me? Why did Mum have to draw out the goodbye? He gestured to a table with two Pokeballs on it.

"The three choices were Chikorita, the grass Pokemon, Cyndaquil, the fire Pokemon and Totodile, the water Pokemon. The other trainer chose the Chikorita. So, which of the remaining two would you like?"

Well that was easy enough. I'd always had an appreciation for fire and to be honest, I've never been too fond of the water.

"I'll take the Cyndaquil." I said. Prof Elm nodded, handing me one of the Pokeballs and my new Trainer card.

"A good choice." he said. "Listen, before you go, there's favour I'd like to ask you."

"Oh?"

"I have a friend called…..Mr………Mr Pokemon."

"Mr………Pokemon?" That….wasn't right.

"Well………..yes. That's not his real name, he had it changed………legally….."

"Oh………..kay then."

"As you can probably guess, he's something of a fanatic when it comes to Pokemon. Anyway, he's always raving about discoveries he's made, only this time he says it's real."

"I bet he says that everytime." I thought.

"I would go along and see, only I have to wait to hand out this Totodile to the last trainer and I have no idea when he is meant to turn up. So I was wondering if you could go instead? If the trainer shows up quickly I can call you back on your Poke Gear."

As he said this, he snatched it from my wrist and entered his number.

"Well….I guess I could do that…"

"Thank you, thank you very much! He lives just north of Cherrygrove city, it shouldn't be too hard to find."

"Okay, I'll be back soon." I said. On the way out, one of the Prof's aides gave me a potion in case Cyndaquil got hurt. Luckily, I knew the way to Cherrygrove, having gone with Mum a number of times for shopping. Only thing is, we'd always taken the car. God knows how long it'd take by foot.

Still, I decided it was time to take a look at my Pokemon.. I took the Pokeball from my belt and pressed the button on the front. It opened and a flash of white light spewed out and landed on the ground. It reshaped into a sort of mouse shape and faded into black and yellow. This was it. My Cyndaquil.

"Cynda! Cyandaquil quil!" the little Pokemon chirped. It had four red spots on its back. I crouched down and looked at it.

"Hey there." I said, trying to sound as friendly as possible. "So…um……score any…..hot lady Cyndaquil lately?" Cyndaquil just looked at me confused. Then I realised. What gender was this thing? Gathering the little mouse up in my arms, I ran back inside the lab. Prof Elm looked up in surprise.

"Not back already?" he asked. I shook my head.

"No, no, I was just….wondering something."

"Yes?"

"Um….what gender is this Cyndaquil? I…can't tell." Prof Elm laughed, though not unkindly.

"That Cyndaquil is a female Jack."

"Oh." I said, looking down at it….her. "Um….sorry about that lady Cyndaquil comment…..I uh…..wasn't trying to….imply anything or……" She just chirped her name again. I swear to God she was laughing. She reached up and started licking my face… She certainly was affectionate. I rubbed her head and returned her to the Pokeball. It was time to get out there and do it! I know, that sounded lame….

It was a strange thing. Leaving New Bark Town I mean. I mean sure, I'd left it before by car, but never on foot. It felt strange to be out here. Almost…..lonely…..in a way. That was weird. I'd never felt lonely before… Wanting companionship for the first time since……….ever……….I guess…..I called Cyndaquil out again. She chirped again and gambolled around my feet. Cute as it may have looked,she kept tripping me up. And everytime she did she laughed.

After a while, I noticed the grass was getting thicker. And it was rustling, which was surprising seeing as there wasn't any wind….. A moment later, without warning,a small purple rat jumped out of the grass and lunged at me. In a flash, Cyndaquil jumped up and tackled it out of the way. I knew that this was a Rattata. We'd often had problems with them coming into the town and stealing food on market days.

"Guess it's time for my first battle." I thought to myself. "Cyndaquil! Tackle it!" She charged at Rattata and slammed into it, full force. The Rattata went flying back and hit a tree. "Hit it again, quick!" One more hit and the tiny rat was knocked out cold. I picked it up and hid it in the grass. Didn't want some car running it over by accident. As I stood up, it dawned on me. I had just battled another pokemon for the very first time ever. Okay, so may it wasn't that dramatic, but come on, I was a newbie.

It certainly wasn't my last. The path to Cherrygrove was full of wild Pokemon. Rattatas, Sentrets and Pidgeys were attacking me constantly. Cyndaquil proved herself to be very strong. After one fight, I swear she grew just a tiny bit bigger. I would later come to learn that this meant she had leveled up. There were a few people around but none of them challenged me to battle. I wish I could say something more exciting happened here, but I'd be making it up. Of course, if you want me to make it up I could always tell you about how a Lugia and a Ho-oh flew down out of the sky and……nah, gonna stick to the truth.

By the time I reached Cherrygrove, I was tired and hungry, but according to my Poke Gear it wasn't even 8:30 yet. I decided that meant Prof Elm could wait at least for a little while before I returned. Before heading to the Pokemon Center, I returned Cyndaquil to her Pokeball. Prof Elm said she was a rare Pokemon, and I didn't want to risk someone snatching her and running off.

As I apporached the Pokemon Center, an old man came up to me. He took one look at the Pokeball on my belt and his lips peeled back into a friendly smile.

"Aha, a rookie trainer are we?" he asked. That may be true, but he didn't have to say it…. "Not to worry, everyone is a rookie at first." I guess he must have seen the offended look on my face. "I could give you a few tips if you'd like."

"Oh…um…alright, that's very…..nice, thank you." That's very nice. Yes, that's what I came up with. Well nevermind. I was a rookie and I really did need all the help I could get. So he put his hand on my shoulder and lead me towards the Pokemon Center.

"This is a Pokemon Center." he said. "Now, you probably have heard of them." Well….yeah. "They heal your Pokemon for free." For free? Never knew that, that was good news! "You can also trade Pokemon here and deposit or withdraw them on the PC." Also very good info, I really shoulda been writing this down.

Next, he took me along to another building, similar in design, but it said 'Pokemart' on the side.

"This is a Pokemon Market." he explained. "It's like any shop really, only it sells items for trainers, such as potions, Pokeballs, Pokemon food and so on." So that's what they sold there, always wondered that. He pulled me along again and pointed to a road leading out of the town.

"That is Route 30. This leads up to Violet City and beyond. Mr Pokemon's house is on the way." Bingo!

"Mr Pokemon…" I couldn't help but laugh. Why someone would change their name to Mr Pokemon….. The old man laughed too and led me further on. We stopped by the Cherrygrove lake. On the small rock in the middle, there was a man fishing.

"That man there is fishing for water Pokemon. Some Pokemon can only be found in the water." Oh great, this didn't mean swimming, did it? He led me on again to a small cottage."

"And this, this is my house. Well that's all the things a budding trainer needs to see." I shook his hand.

"Thank you, I never knew Pokemon Centers healed for free."

"Not a problem my boy." he glanced at my wrist. "I see you have a Poke Gear. You could probably do with this." He handed me a small card, just a little smaller than the face of my Gear. "That is a map card, insert it into your PokeGear and it will display a map of the region you are in. You can use it to find your way around."

"Wow! Thank you sir!" I have to admit, that was pretty damned cool. After the old man went inside his house, I inserted the card. A new optioncame up on the Gear's menu screen. I selected it and a 2-D hologram of a map of Johto flashed up. The pathways were marked in yellow and the cities were red circles. My position was indicated by a black reticle. I pressed the red circle the reticule was highlighting and the words came up 'Cherrygrove City'. I pused the next circle along and it said 'Violet City'. Man this was cool!

Anyway, I headed over to the Pokemart. Inside, it was a nice little place. It was a branch store, but it had a nice cosy feel about it. I checked around the shop, noticing all the items had little labels, explaining what they did. That was handy. I bought a few potions. 200 credits each isn't a lot of money, but I didn't have much on me. There were other items, such as 'parlyz heal', but I didn't want to stretch my money too thin. I was also confused to see that their were no Pokeballs. When I took the potions to the counter, the man explained that they were out of stock..

"Damn" I thought. "Guess I'll have to wait before building up an actual team." Still, couldn't be helped. I left Cherrygrove and began my journey northwards……um….north, I mean north.

Checking my map to make sure I was heading the right way, I didn't notice a group of people up ahead until A loud, high pitched squeak came out from below me. I jumped back in surprise to see I had trodden on the tail of a Rattata. It was looking at me indignantly as its trainer scooped it into his arms.

"You mind?" he asked, kind of rudely…….though I can understand, given I had just stepped on his Pokemon…. "We're about to have a battle here!"

"Sorry, I….didn't see you." 16 years of being a loner can make one a little shy around others.

"Maybe you ought to get a Hoothoot to be your guide Pokemon!" said one of the girls. Call me overly sensitive, but it did hurt when they all started laughing. I know a tougher person would have challenged them to a Pokemon battle, but me, I just walked away.

To cheer myself up, and give myself some more 'civilised' company, I called Cyndaquil out again. I fed her a few berries I had picked from some trees along the way and she trotted along happily beside me, chirping a little tune to herself.

Before we were ready, a brown worm Pokemon jumped out at us and butted Cyndaquil with its horn. I knew this was a Weedle, we had had an infestation of them a few months ago. I ordered Cyndaquil to attack, but the sneaky Weedle hit her with a Stringshot attack, pormptly trapping her. It then fired a purple needle from its horn, hitting Cyndaquil square on. She screeched in pain and I swear even to this day, she developed just a slight purple tinge.

"Hold on Cyndaquil!" I yelled. I had no idea how to get rid of this Weedle! I could have attacked it myself, but wouldn't that be Pokemon crueltly? Suddenly, a voice rang out.

"Charizard! Flamethrower!" I snapped my head around to see a middle aged man standing next to a large orange winged dragon. That thing was huge! Well……compared to all the other Pokemon I'd seen….The dragon, who I guess was Charizard, opened its mouth and a long stream of fire spewed out, hitting the Weedle dead on. With the Weedle knocked out, I gathered Cyndaquil up in my arms.

"Thank you!" I said to the old man. "I know I should have been able to deal witht hat muyself, but I just started you see and-"

"Oh, so you must be Jack then." he said, cutting me off. "Prof Elm told me he had already given away two of his starters. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is-"

"Look, I hate to be rude, but I think something's wrong with my-"

"With your Cyndaquil? Yes, it's been poisoned." I looked down at her in shock. Poisoned? What the hell was I supposed to do? "Not to worry." he said gently. "I have a Full Heal right here." He took Cyndaquil from my arms and pulled a bottle from his pocket. He pointing the nozzle at her and sprayed the fliud lightly over her. The purple tinge faded and she chirped weakly at him.

"Is she-"

"She'll be fine. Though she is still weak from the battle and I don't have the means the help her here."

"Oh…."

"But my friend, Mr Pokemon does. He lives just around the corner. I had just left, but I'm sure he won't mind if I ask him a small favour."

"Thank you, thank you very much." Saved from the Weedle, Cyndaquil put right, shown the way to Mr Pokemon's house…..everything was coming up Jack!

"Now then." the man said, as he called his Charizard back. "Once again, allow me to introduce myself. My name, is Professor Oak. And am I correct in assuming that you are Jack Silver?" I nodded, shaking his hand and we walked on together.

"So……..Mr Pokemon, huh?"

"Yes…….he had his name legally changed."

"So I've heard."

Two mintues later, we arrived at a small cottage. Prof Oak went up and knocked on the door. A short man in a suit answered.

"Sam?" he asked. "Leave something behind?"

"No, no." Prof Oak replied. "This young boy's Cyndaquil was hurt in a fight. I was able to heal her a little, but I'm short on Full Restores, I was just hoping we might be able to borrow your healing machine."

"Not at all Sam, not at all. A Cyndaquil, eh? Rare Pokemon that one. Very rare." He looked at me. "So you're the trainer. What might your name be?"

"I'm Jack Silver." I said. "Prof Elm gave me that Cyndaquil this morning and asked to come and see you. He said you had something to show him, but he couldn't come himself."

"Couldn't come eh?" he muttered, taking Cyndaquil from Prof Oak. "More likely he just thinks it's not worth the trouble."

"I'm sure he will think differently when Jack delivers it." Oak replied. "Now, I really must get going. But before I do, Jack, there's something you should have." he pulled what looked like a red palmtop from his pocket and handed it to me. "Now that, is a Pokedex. A little invention I've worked on. When you see a Pokemon you are unfamiliar with, this will tell you its name. It will show information on any Pokemon you have captured. For example." He opend the Pokedex and tapped a few buttons. Then he showed me the screen. It was displaying information about Cyndaquil.

"Wow! Thank you sir!" He smiled and left. I turned to Mr Pokemon who had placed Cyndaquil on a healing machine. He then turned to me.

"Now then. It's time to show you what I'd like you to take back to Prof Elm." he walked over to a cupboard and opened it. From it, he pulled out something wrapped in a towel. He came back and placed it on the table. He removed the towel to reveal an egg underneath. "Know what this is?"

"I……don't."

"I'm not sure myself. But I have a feeling this has something to do with Pokemon. As Prof Elm is the leading expert on Pokemon evolution, I believe he is most qualified to examine it. Will you take it back?"

"Of course. Just….how fragile is it?"

"Surprisingly tough. But still………I'd take care if I were you." He handed it to me and I gently slid it into my backpack. I was intrigued…but it was hard to be excited when I had almost no idea what this egg meant. Anyway, once Cyndaquil was healed, he returned her to me and I called her back into the Pokeball. I bade him goodbye and left the cottage. I hadn't gone very far when My PokeGear started to ring. Looking at my watch, I could see it was from Prof Elm.

"If he's calling to say that he's on his way, I swear I'm gonna stick this egg right up his-" but before I could finish that thought, his voice came through the Gear.

"Jack! Forget about Mr Pokemon, we have a problem here!"

"Professor? What's going on?" In the background, I could hear something that sounded like glass breaking.

"Just get back here NOW!" Then the line went dead.

"The…hell?" Carefully slinging my bag on to my back, I started to run, heading back in the direction Cherrygrove. Whatever the problem was, it sounded very bad…

By the time I reached Cherrygrove, I had a sinking feeling. Whatever the problem was, he had needed me right away. Whatever it was, there was no way I'd get there in time. Heading for the road that led back to New Bark Town, I collided into someone, as I fell, I hard to sort of twist around, making sure not to fall on the egg. Grazed my hands doing it. Hurt. Like. Hell.

"Who the hell are you?" I looked up to see the person I crashed into was a boy with long red hair. Why did he look so famili…….the boy standing outside Prof Elm's lab! It was him! I stood up, gingerly dusting my hands off.

"I'm Jack. And who might you be?"

"Jack eh? So you're the weakling the professor gave the Cyndaquil to." Oh that just hurt. "Well I too have a Pokemon and it's a lot stronger than yours!" ………..so?

"How do you know my name?" He didn't answer. He took out a Pokeball and threw it in the air. A flash of light later, and a small blue crocodile….thing…..was standing there. I checked my Pokedex. It was a Totodile. Where had I heard that name before?

"Battle me and I'll tell you who I am." he said. Shrugging, I released Cyndaquil to fight. Bystanders gathered round, ready to watch an entertaining battle.

"Cyndaquil, tackle!" I ordered. She nodded and ran at the Totodile. The boy smirked.

"Totodile! Water gun!" The Totodile opened its mouth and a jet of water fired out, hitting Cyndaquil hard. I looked at my Podkedex to check her health. It had dropped down to less than a quarter! I was in trouble…

"Now, water gun again!" The blue brat fired again and Cyndaquil was knocked out cold. Yep. Not only had I lost my first battle, I hadn't even been able to put up a good fight. I'd been totally owned.

"Cyndaquil!" I called. I ran over to her and picked her up gently.

"Hah!" the boy laughed, calling back his Totodile. "I knew you were weak. You should spend more time training and less time worrying over how happy your little mouse is. My name's Eric. Remember that when you hear about the next Pokemon Champion." And with that, he walked off, making sure to kick me in the head as he went by. Son of a….

TO BE CONTINUED…