His eyelids parted slowly as the bright morning sun intruded its rays through the windows. The fresh scent of Saturday air, mixed with the alluring aroma of his mom's homemade pancakes were more than enough to force Jason out of bed and down the stairs. There he greeted his mother the way he usually does on Saturdays, by munching down her fabulous cooking with ravenous hunger and determination.

"Well," she said sarcastically, "good morning to you too Jay-Jay!"

Jason took a break from his animalistic feast to glare at his mother, registering the much-hated nickname.

He groaned, "Mom I'm 15 now, if you hadn't noticed, I don't need t-"

"I'm just so proud of you honey!!!" She interjected, "I can't believe you're already 16! You're going to make a great pokecoord-"

"Mom, I already told you…" it was his turn to interrupt.

She pouted, "But…but it's so dangerous being a trainer…"

"I know mom, but it's my dream, I mean…Ash Ketchum's been the Pokémon master for over 6 years now! Someone has to beat him sooner or later, and I'm going to be that trainer!"

His mother sighed; she knew she wouldn't be able to talk Jason out of it; he'd been training his Pokémon for battles since he was 5.

"Well, if you're going to be a trainer, you're going to have to register with Prof. Ken and get a starter first."

Jason choked on his pancake bite, "But! But I don't need a starter! I've already got Shadow!"

"I know honey, but you can't enter any leagues unless you're registered, and that won't happen unless you take a starter with you."

Jason groaned, "Fine, but it better get comfy in that pokeball, because I'll probably never use it." As he finished washing off what was left of his pancake genocide, his mom kissed him on the cheek, "Shadow's not gonna get you through everything Hun, it couldn't hurt to have a few more Pokémon with you."

The aspiring trainer couldn't help but smile, "We'll see Mom, we'll see."

After changing out of his pajamas, packing his gear for the road ahead, and wrestling himself out of his teary-eyed mother's crushingly heartfelt embrace, Jason walked outside and took a deep breath of the fresh Matroh air. He smiled, it all starts today. He puckered his lips together and let out a unique whistle that seemed to pierce through the air around him and faded as quickly as it came. Before he could even take another breath, Jason felt a familiar nudge against his leg. He looked down and his eyes met with those of his best friend and first Pokémon, Shadow, his Absol.

Jason grinned, "Hey there Shad! You sleep well?" His Pokémon smiled and nodded happily.

"Ab-Absol!"

"That's good," said the trainer as he scratched Shadow behind the ears.

As they started to make their way towards the Pokémon lab, Jason started talking to his favorite Pokémon, as he does often, "So Shadow, y'know I'm supposed to register as a trainer and stuff right?"

The Absol nodded at this curiously obvious question, something was up.

"Well, there's a problem…"

"Sol?"

"See, I can't register officially unless I take another Pokémon with me too, to join us…"

Shadow quickly became territorial, "Sol! Ab-sol! Sol!"

Jason rubbed his hand up and down his prized fighter's back, "Don't worry buddy, it's not replacing you, as long as we stay at the top of our game we won't even need it!"

Content, but still suspicious, Shadow nodded and walked on with his master towards the lab.

The Starbeach town Poke-lab is renowned as one of the best in the entire Matroh region, and today, it was opening its doors for eager wannabe-trainers ready to make their mark on the world. Once officially registered as a trainer, one is able to battle gym leaders and earn badges for entering Pokémon leagues and tournaments. After filling out and turning in a form, you are given a pokeball containing your starter Pokémon and three other empty pokeballs and are promptly sent on your journey.

Jason, being the eager beaver that he is, was among the first in line, he turned in his registration early so he simply needed to grab a "Starter bag" and be off. Luckily for him he already had his well trained Absol, so naturally he was pretty confident in his own abilities. As a bonus, his family was close with the head professor, Ken, so Jason was sure to have much more "luck" with the "random" starter he received.

He approached the counter that had the sign "Starter PKMN" above it, on the other side of the marble the professor was handing out bags to excited trainers.

"Hey there Ken, got any Fire-Types left, I could really use one." He said with a wink.

Ken smiled, "Sorry Jason, I appreciate your effort, but no special treatment."

With that, the busy professor handed him a bag curiously marked "Jason" and sent him off with some encouraging words.

As he exited the compound, Jason looks around the outside field where trainers were eagerly discovering what starters they had received. It was quite a sight. There were four trainers already trading Pokémon amongst themselves, a boy was cuddling with his Treecko against a large oak tree, two others attempting to battle their Piplup and Charmander, and still two more were yelling for one of the professors, apparently their Bulbasaurs had started mating.

He chuckled to himself, "Amateurs," he thought, "I could take every single one of you and have you crying back at home with ease." Despite the urge to ignore it and move on, Jason couldn't help but find out what his "Starter" was. He pulled out the pokeball marked with "S" and tossed it to the ground, the impact activating the release function on the sphere. The ball snapped open and a flood of light enveloped the nearby area in front of it. The light started to take form and eventually, a Shinx stood where the light was previously, smiling happily at its new master.

"SHI!"

Jason picked up this new addition to his team, no special treatment huh? The little electric Pokémon began to smile and laugh with what seemed to be careless joy, "Aww, it's kinda cute. What do you think we should name it Shadow?"

Jason's Absol was the least bit impressed by this little critter's apparent "cuteness", he grunted, "...Sol."

Jason put the Shinx on his shoulder, which promptly jumped atop its new master's head and nuzzled itself in Jason's jet black hair. It was asleep in seconds.

"Come on Shadow," Jason pleaded, "I told you he's not replacing you, and who knows, maybe you'll grow to like him, just give him a chance." Shadow, still unsure about this odd little puffball snoring soundly on Jason's head, nodded.

"Ab…sol…"

Jason smiled "Thanks bud, you're the best."

The now official Pokémon trainer looked up at the road ahead, route 316, the path to his first badge, and grinned with a fierce determination. He had been working since he was 5 to be a trainer, and chose when he was 10 to try and be the new Pokémon Master. Now here he stood, 16 years old and ready to start his journey.

He stepped on to the dirt road to Ishtale village, and walked, his closest partner Shadow by his side and his new party member Shinx asleep on his head.

And so the journey began.