His name was Gray Trovel.
The alarm started blaring on Saturday morning and he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. With a yawn he slammed a fist down onto the enemy of every early morning and burrowed under his covers for a few more minutes until the realization of what day it was hit him. Today was the day that his Dad had promised to let him go searching for wild pokemon. A terrific explosion a occurred as the red and white sheets were thrown about the room and the boy fell on the floor in a heap, though it didn't stop him from groping around for his shoes. In mere seconds he was in the middle of something that resembled tying his shoes and brushing his teeth while wearing a backpack that was loaded far too heavily for someone of his age. Just when it looked like he would balance everything out and bolt for the staircase he became entangled in the sheets he had thrown about the room and tumbled out into the hallway.
"Gray?" His mother called once, "Gray! Don't think you're going to run off without finishing your chores, or breakfast! The weekend doesn't mean you're excused from everything young man."
With a groan the soon-to-be trainer freed himself from the trap of sheets and blankets, emerging with victorious energy as he bounded down the staircase. "Dad's waiting for me, got a snack in my bag."
That short announcement came as he bounded through the front door and slammed it behind him. There would be a price to pay later but at the moment Gray was too excited, every fiber in his ten year old body told him that today would be the one where he did more than just look for wild pokemon. He was going to find his partner this time, the one that would start his journey. Only a few more minutes of running would take him from the fenced yard and onto the street, his house was near the northern route heading out of Saffron city; the perfect place to look for a new friend. His sneakers beat the pavement with alarming speed for a boy so young as he vaulted from the path and into the tall grass, normally he would have stayed on the road but he new that his father was sure to be close by.
At the age of ten he was still living with his mom and dad in the Kanto region, Saffron city to be specific. With a head of choppy, black hair and a winning smile the boy found very little that he didn't love in life. While he hadn't yet left on his own pokemon adventure he had plans to go off and become the champion of the region and beyond like any boy his age but for the present he was stuck in Saffron city to wait for the right partner. That was something that his Dad expressed everyday and was probably the reason why his son was not out on the road training yet, catching a pokemon was all too easy just any partner wouldn't do.
Gray's Dad, Vincent Trovel, was a man with high standards that trained everyday with both pokemon and the use of martial arts; it was this expertise that held his place as the fighting gym leader. Even if it was only the secondary gym for the area the martial artist took great pride in running it and raising pokemon in his own, hands-on way despite the strange looks he would get from the neighbors. This morning was another one that would get him a strange look from everyone but his son; the boy burst through the tall grass to find his father clothed in a white Gi and meditating in the center of a meadow.
The sun morning was bright and there was a hint of cheerful intent that rode in the air. Gray's sneakers skidded to a halt just before crashing into his Dad, the added weight of the backpack made him sway on his toes wildly before he fell just short of the martial artist. To look at the two would be like looking in time, Vincent was just an older version of his son with years of agile muscle bolted to his frame and a thick scruff that rivaled any carpet. When the boy fell his father couldn't help but smile and open his eyes the smallest amount.
"I see you're excited." Vincent spoke with a hushed voice.
Gray quickly recovered and answered with fresh enthusiasm. "Of course!"
That yell triggered a shudder that traveled through the grass around them and had it erupting with pidgey and rattata, they scattered in every direction while Gray tried to turn in every direction and see them all at once. A quick slump set into his shoulders when he saw that he had succeeded in scaring everything away with that outburst, or so it seemed to the untrained eye. Even as the young boy unslung his backpack a pair of sharp eyes peered out from the edge of the grass, they narrowed a moment before a furrier evolution of the rattata lunged forth. With fangs presented in a threatening manner the incisors of the raticate became enveloped in an orange energy and he closed the distance to Gray in seconds.
Vincent had been observing the situation carefully in his own way and never thought to panic. While a wild Raticate wasn't common on route five he had more than enough firepower to take out the threat before it touched his son, so without even leaving his meditative pose he pushed his senses out into the earth. While he was no psychic he still had the latent ability to connect with things deeper and older than most through his years of training, he concentrated on one of the pokeballs that he had kept buried near him.
"Cage, I choose you."
While Gray was just noticing the airborne raticate a red light shot out of the ground in between himself and the violent pokemon. In less than a second the rodent was stopped dead in its' tracks by a muscular, blue body. Close in appearance to a human the Machoke was a heavy hitter when it came to dealing with threats, Gray had seen his father sweep entire teams with the blue contender before having named him after a favorite video game character: Jonny Cage.
The pokemon was his father's third strongest but probably the one that understood situations the best when he was called out, when he appeared Cage did not hesitate to stop the Raticate's hyper fang by sticking his wrist to the back of the raticate's mouth. From there the rodent was powerless to close his jaw and deliver the attack properly. The orange energy fizzeled out slowly without so much as a mark to the fighting type and his lizard-like face molded into something like a fierce grin. Even though Cage's height was four feet and five inches, considered short for his species, he was not short of power or intelligence. Before Vincent gave the order he had already focused the energy for his familiar counter.
"Revenge."
With a swift movement the Machoke ripped his forearm out of the Raticate's mouth to leave it dangling in midair while his other hand molded into a fist covered in red energy, not too different from Chi. Cage delivered an uppercut and sent the violent raticate tumbling through the air several yards and into the brush, an untrained opponent normally feinted from just one hit of the fighting pokemon. The blue fighter nodded at his handy work and turned around to catch Gray with a wild smile, others might have feared him but Gray had grown up with his father's pokemon as if they were true extensions of the family. A lot of people thought might have thought that pokemon were limited to the feelings commonly associated with a pet but it was obvious to see that the Machoke was happy to see the child and wasn't the least bit ashamed to show off for him.
"Cage! That was awesome!" Gray immediately gave the Machoke a fist bump, something that he had taught each of his father's pokemon as the acceptable greeting of anyone they met.
Cage put his fists on his hips, posing like a wrestling champion for a moment to bask in the compliment.
Vincent rose from his position and stretched before retrieving the pokeball that Cage had erupted from. The older martial artist repeated the process and dug four more pokeballs out of the ground that had surrounded him at the directions of the compass, an odd practice that he adopted when meditating in wild territory. When the balls were stowed safely in his belt he folded his arms and looked around to make sure that no other threats were in the area, but it was unnecessary as the most dangerous thing now was the reflex game of 'slap' that Gray was trying to play with Cage. Vincent shook his head and smiled at the sight, if the pokemon was serious he would not only be able to catch the boy but would break his hands like dry leaves it was like watching a gentle titan play with the child.
"Well, when you two regain focus we can start." The father announced in a matter-of-fact tone that caught the attention of both pokemon and child.
"I'm ready! I know we'll find something this time." Gray said.
Cage only nodded and growled an affirmative. His bright eyes shone with understanding of the task that occurred every weekend, it wasn't meant to be a training day but an outing to look for something that was compatible with the boy. Perhaps even better than Vincent the Machoke understood the value of the connection between the partnership that trainers and pokemon had, just to settle for any random pokemon as a first to raise would be a waste. The first pokemon was always the most trusted and usually the most powerful that a trainer raised, Cage knew that by looking at the other two pokemon that Vincent trained though he bore nothing but respect for them.
"I think we will, now let's see if we can avoid the raticate while we look for something a bit friendlier."
"What was wrong with him anyways?"
"The raticate?" Vincent led the way through the tall grass while Cage walked beside the small boy like a bodyguard. "I'm not sure, he could have been defending something or he could have just been aggressive, some of the stronger pokemon can get like that when we disturb them."
"Oh..." Gray stayed silent for a few minutes and looked between the muscle bound Machoke and his father. "Is a pokemon like that stronger than others?"
Vincent kept moving, another pidgey fled from the presence of the humans and a Jigglypuff rolled out of the way before it could be given a second thought. They were moving away from the road and into the forest, while the pokemon were occasionally stronger there they were also more diverse and he wanted to find something different for Gray. Anyone could start out with a pidgey or a rattata, even a bellsprout while it was a good pokemon was still too common. It might have been silly or prideful but Vincent felt that there was a special pokemon out there for his son and to let him settle for something else would ruin the friendship he would have with that team that was in his future.
"Not at all. The strongest pokemon are those that have strong hearts. Sometimes that makes them act aggressive to protect something but it's a different kind of aggressive. Like the difference between a martial artist and a bad person on the street. The bad person tries to take what he wants because he is bigger or scarier while an ideal martial artist trains to be stronger to help people around him or to do good in general. Understand?"
While the explanation was in good order with what Vincent wanted to teach the child he knew that nothing like that could hold his attention yet. Gray's head started spinning in every direction again when they entered the woodline and moved out of the sun, the gentle breeze touched the leaves and grass in a way that made everything seem alive. Caterpies were up in the trees and movement could be seen all around as the ten year old took everything in with a gaze that reflected how much the world of pokemon called out to him. Though it did seem that some of the speech had sunken in over the last month because Gray wasn't dashing like mad towards whatever he saw now but watching it while they walked, looking for something that would stand out and shine a little brighter.
"Sure do! I just wish we'd find something soon..."
In truth Gray was more concentrated on a Pigeotto that chased a Meowth out of its' tree but he understood the gist of what was being said. They weren't in the woods to look for just any pokemon, there was one out there that was meant to be his very best friend and that was the one that they needed to find. Quite suddenly Gray stopped short and stared off to his far right, he craned around the Machoke as the speech died on his lips. If he hadn't been out so many times in the last few months then the boy would have reached straight for a pokeball to throw at the flash of movement that he saw but his father had given him enough long talks to relieve him of those ideas.
"Dad..." Gray managed to whisper as his feet rooted to the spot and he pointed at another flicker of yellow movement.
However, Cage and Vincent had already stopped and crouched lower to the ground. A smile tugged at the martial artist's face as he placed the yellow movement, it belonged to a pokemon that was quite rare in that neck of the woods even if it wasn't his favorite type. He looked cautiously at his son and motioned for him to duck down as well while he tried to make the decision to see if they could even get close enough to put a positive ID on the pokemon. Vincent felt that he already knew what it was and the thought of its' typing made his heart sink a little but he was able to push that aside, if it meant that his son's intended pokemon was going to be this one then he had no place to argue.
Gray stayed as quiet and still as he could but it was obvious that he was having a hard time just watching as the edge of a yellow tail kept flitting from tree to tree. He pulled tighter on the straps of his backpack and scooted over to Cage's side, he didn't know enough about pokemon to identify it by just the movement and color but it wasn't something he had seen before. The boy searched the face of the blue fighter as if looking for an answer but he only saw a steady gaze from Cage that depicted concentration. Gray looked at his father and saw the same thing, he quietly wondered if they had found something strong... or aggressive.