Monochrome

He was from Nuvema Town. Fourteen and a half. A lanky five feet seven inches, he always dressed in a black tee covered up by with a partially zipped blue jacket. He always wore a maroon cap peaked with the emblazon of a Pokeball in black over his wild, messy brown hair. He usually had an oolong grey colored bag slung over his shoulder, and constantly put on brown colored pants.

His name was Hilbert Ebony, but most people called him 'Black'. It was certainly not because of his personality, but rather due to his last name Ebony. Ebony was another term for black, after all. Black was a quick-minded and passionate boy, rearing up to be the greatest Pokemon trainer of the Unova region.

Black was a mere four years old when he moved to Nuvema Town; he had lived in Sinnoh before this until his parents decided to move to Unova. At the age of three he started to understand the concept of what Pokemon were, and he was utterly fascinated by them. Since then, Pokemon had been his passion, his goal. And at the age of four was when Black met three children of similar age as him, Cheren, Bianca, and Hilda.

He loved to hang out with his friends, and talk about Pokemon and what fun would the battles bring. A year after his migration to Unova, he even persuaded the ditsy Bianca to sneakily take her father's Pokemon so that they could try a real battle. However, although Black's plan was well planned, Bianca was not as careful as Black would like her to be. Her clumsiness ultimately led to her father finding out about the children's plans, and needless to say, Black was scolded harshly for convincing Bianca to steal.

'But it's not stealing,' the five year old Black protested, 'it will teach us all, and help us properly communicate with Pokemon!'

'Nonsense!' Bianca's father, a stout man with greying hair and a mustache, roared. 'You do realize that my princess Bianca might be hurt?'

'But, dad – ' Bianca started to defend Black, but her father waved her of, indicating how much he spoiled her. 'If you want to know so much about Pokemon, use your own!' Bianca's father growled, and Black sighed, defeated. But Black followed whatever Bianca's father had said, and asked his parents for a Pokemon to call his own.

Black's parents thought him too young to wield the responsibility of a Pokemon, but they told him they would get him Pokeballs for his seventh birthday. Black was overjoyed then, and carefully waited the two long years, all the while discussing strategies with Cheren, Bianca and Hilda.

The time spent with each other let one another know about their personalities. The trio thought Black was a determined boy who stood up for his dreams and never backed down. To Black, Cheren was a bit lofty and arrogant, as he came from a well-to-do family, but he was protective of his friends, showing how much trust was between them. Bianca was a ditsy and clumsy girl but she was a kind and caring person, always fussing about their injuries and taking it onto herself to clean their injuries if they had gotten any. And Hilda, Black found her pretty; she was the intelligent one of the group, the most charming out of the quartet. She was also extremely sociable, having lots of friends, but sticking to this bunch.

Spending time with this group, and lots of Pokemon education, time passed fairly quickly and soon it was Black's seventh birthday – the day he would actually obtain his first set of Pokeballs.

'Happy Birthday, Black!' His friends and family chanted as he blew the fiery hot flame off the candle wax, eagerly checking out what kind of presents he got. The results were thrilling. Twenty Pokeballs from his parents, a book about Effective and Ineffective Moves from Cheren, a hundred dollars Poke money from Bianca and a hat from Hilda.

After receiving all the presents, Black enthusiastically beckoned his friends to join him in the tall grass, while his parents shouted at them to be safe. Their first few steps on Route One started, with long blades of grass looming all about them.

They spotted a bunch of Pokemon, Lilipups, Patrats, Purrloins, all of them cute and cuddly menageries. Black decided that he would try and catch a Lilipup, as Hilda had found them extremely cute, and he wanted to impress her, even if it was just a little.

'I will catch that Lilipup,' Black had said, 'I will be the best Pokemon Trainer in Unova!' Hilda had beamed at him, and Bianca and Cheren supported him with their thumbs up.

He plucked out a Pokeball from his satchel, and threw it, with all his might, at the small little Lilipup. The ball hit home, but immediately bounced off its body, unable to capture it. The small creature did not even bat an eye after that.

'Eh? Why can't it be caught?' Bianca, the ditsy one exclaimed. 'I should have weakened it first before trying to capture it,' Black muttered. 'Either way, it's still gonna be my Pokemon!'

Suddenly, something tripped Cheren, knocking him off balance, landing in a rather painful position – his backside. Bianca and Hilda giggled, while Black was put hard not to laugh. Cheren blushed and tried to defend himself, saying that something knocked him off his feet, but his friends were too busy laughing to even bother with his words.

Just then, Bianca had the same treatment as Cheren – her balance wobbled, and she fell onto the ground, letting out a cry of pain. Hilda and Black looked around, and found the culprit responsible for tripping Cheren and Bianca.

Poking its snout above the ground, three feet away, was a mole. A Pokemon named Drillbur, to be exact. Black let out a whoop of joy in witnessing a rarer Pokemon in the area and hastily threw a Pokeball at it, but the Drillbur was far too swift, digging straight down the grass and hiding from plain sight. The Pokeball, however, hit Lilipup's head, causing it to cry out. Lilipup's cry was not unnoticed by its kin, and soon a bunch of Lilipup gathered, only to part to make way for an enormous Stoutland. The Lilipup whimpered to the Stoutland, as if telling the Stoutland about the Pokeball hitting its head. The Stoutland in turn glared at Black and Hilda's direction, bounding over to them, growling.

Bianca and Cheren were horrified for their two friends, as Stoutland began to sniff Black and Hilda, to determine which of them had more fear, probably trying to guess the culprit that attacked Lilipup. The other Lilipup and Herdier gathered close by, watching the event.

Stoutland took a sniff at seven year old Black; he was afraid of Stoutland's great presence but was keeping his cool, holding his fear in. Stoutland decided that it liked the boy, and moved on to Hilda. It then took a sniff at seven year old Hilda, who was close to whimpering in fear, and let out a primal roar that shook the ground slightly, and alerted Drillbur. Drillbur was upset that its peace had been disrupted by Stoutland, but did not make a move; it simply poked its head above the ground. The other three had their gaze focused on Stoutland, but Black noticed the black mole Pokemon sneakily witnessing.

Stoutland steadily went closer to Hilda, who in turn backed away, slowly. She was extremely afraid of the large terrier Pokemon in front of her and did not notice her surroundings, so she accidentally tripped on one of Drillbur's dirty traps. Really, dirty dirt traps. Black, seeing this, locked eyes with Drillbur, who was smugly watching them about to get pounded by Stoutland. Black decided he wanted to wipe that smirk off Drillbur's face, and threw a Pokeball at the surprised Pokemon, who did not react fast enough to dodge.

The Pokeball shook a little, vibrating, as the mole tried to break free, but ultimately to no avail. The Drillbur had been captured by Black. 'Alright, mole,' Black whispered to the Pokeball, 'I know we've been off to a rough start, but I'd like you to be my friend.' Saying this, Black hurled the Pokeball toward Stoutland, releasing the Drillbur from its shell.

The Drillbur grinned slyly, and dug away from the scene, probably trying to get away, whilst Stoutland watched, averting its gaze from Hilda, who was sweating heavily with fear. Then suddenly Stoutland stumbled a little bit, probably due to Drillbur's digging. Stoutland, no longer interested in Hilda, roared loudly and stomped its massive foot on the soft earth, causing tendrils of vibration to scatter whilst its family watched. By now, a bunch of Pokemon was witnessing the spectacle, and they were watching the four children. Three were immobilized in shock and fear, while the bravest one of the lot was doing something rather reckless.

The moment Stoutland stomped on the earth, Drillbur popped out from the immense force, and Stoutland charged at it, headbutting it painfully into the air where it squealed in agony. Feeling like he could not watch any longer, Black hurtled toward Drillbur, catching it like a cushion, but stumbling under the weight of the mole. Stoutland was rushing toward them, about to take the both of them down, when Black returned Drillbur into its Pokeball, taking the full brunt of Stoutland's Take Down.

Black shrieked in pain, while Cheren had started moving toward Stoutland with a branch, trying to get its attention off his friend. Bianca was also up and moving, but she was holding her head and running around in circles, trying to think of something. Hilda, however, grabbed Black's satchel and threw a Pokeball at one of the Lilipups, hoping to get the attention of Stoutland. Not surprisingly, it worked, and Stoutland left the aching Black on the ground, while Drillbur guiltily pounded on the Pokeball, wanting to help its new master, Black, who had cushioned his fall and protected him from the Take Down.

Stoutland was about to do a Take Down on Hilda when rain started to fall from the sky. A thunderstorm was brewing, and all the Pokemon started to hurry to find shelter. Stoutland stopped charging, and glared at the four friends, stopping at Black. It wagged its tail like it was trying to salute Black's bravery, and trudged off. Bianca, Hilda and Cheren took Black's belongings and carried him back to his house. However, before they lifted him from the ground, a dark figure atop a cloud passed by them.

When Black's parents saw him all bruised and muddy they had screamed and they had grounded him from going to the tall grass, while the parents for the other children merely shouted at them to get themselves clean, they were as dirty as a trash dump and smelled like mud.

However, lying on the bed, Black smiled to himself. He took a lot of effort to raise his bruised hand to grab the Pokeball on the table beside his bed, and lifted it up, grinning at the Drillbur, who guiltily looked away from its master.

'Aw, c'mon, mole, we gotta be friends anyways, you're my pal now, you hear me? You're my Pokemon! I'm officially a Pokemon trainer today –' Black paused to cough for a bit. 'You're my buddy now, mole. I gotta think of a nickname for you. You like to dig a lot, don't you?'

Drillbur nodded excitedly at the sound of the word 'dig'. Digging was its life, its job, the thing it was best at.

'Well then, I'm gonna call you Drill from now on! Man, can't wait 'til I actually get a Pokedex.'

The mole Pokemon stared at him blankly.

Black started to explain. 'It's a device that helps me identify what kind of Pokemon a Pokemon is. I don't understand, though. Other regions a few trainers can get their Pokedexes at age ten, I have to wait until age fourteen.' Black grumbled a bit at the last sentence.

And so, Drill was Black's first Pokemon. For many more to come.

NEXT ON MONOCHROME – WHITE'S PROLOGUE!

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