1. Starting A Dream
A Legend's Journey
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, or anything Game freak related.
A/N: I have read many fan-fictions and after much thought I decided to make one of my own. I hope you like it.
"Dad where are you come back!? I need to know why all this is happening." Silence.
I woke up. Well not necessarily woke up. I was being yelled at to get my lazy ass out of bed. I opened my eyes and shut them after the sunlight touched them. I looked at my alarm clock and saw that it was 7:15 A.M."Stupid alarm clock." I jumped out of bed and tried as fast as I could to get my clothes on. I stopped to look at myself in the mirror and smiled at my khaki cargo pants, black tee shirt, with my red belt hanging off my shoulders.
"You're going to be late," my Mother yelled as she noticed that I wasn't downstairs.
I picked up my gray hat as I ran down, but she stopped me before I could even clear the stairs. Though it would be more accurate to say she pulled me into a big hug and was slowly suffocating me with her chest. I tapped on her shoulders but she didn't notice and my face was starting to become blue. I started tapping her shoulder harder until I decided to bite her.
"Ouch. I knew what I was doing. I just wanted to hold you as long as I could. You know I'm going to miss having you home Markus," My mom pouted before handing me a pair of shoes and a small bag.
I smiled at her before putting on my belt and the shoes. There was a tag in one of them: These custom-made running shoes have spring enforced cushion that will add a little pep in your step.
I chuckled to myself and told my mom that I would come back later today. I needed one day at home before I started my journey. I grew up in this town, but I was ready for the adventure ahead of me. I walked the short distance through Pallet town to Professor Oak's lab. As I walked by the only unoccupied house, I became a little sad at seeing Ash's house in such disarray. It was a goal in my life to find out about what happened to him and his mom. I shook my head and continued walking towards professor Oak's lab. I walked inside the lab and my two childhood friends greeted me: Joey and Elizabeth.
Joey was muscular, had black hair that was put into a short ponytail, and had a tan skin tone. His brown eyes always shined in the light. Elizabeth had long blonde hair, long legs, and had a light well almost pale skin. Her eyes were a deep green almost jade really.
Joey waved me over to where they were sitting and Elizabeth smiled at me as I came over. I could feel my face heat up slightly and I was hoping she wouldn't notice. Joey and Elizabeth had always been my friends ever since I could remember, we had played together, went on vacations together, and now we were getting our first Pokémon together.
"What Pokémon do you want Markus?" Joey said as he looked at the Pokeballs by Professor Oak with a hungry look in his eyes.
"Well, I want a Charmander. You know I love Charizard's Joey." I asked as I looked at him with a look that said "duh."
"I always wanted a Bulbasaur," Elizabeth replied.
"That's good since I have always had a thing for water types," Joey stated as he stood up and tapped Professor Oak on the shoulder. "You think we can get started now Professor."
"Why yes Joey." The Professor said as he rubbed the back of his head. "Markus, Elizabeth why don't you both join us?"
Elizabeth flipped her blonde hair and fluttered her eyelashes at me when she turned her head in my direction. My face instantly went red and I helped her up with the gesture of my hand. She smiled at me and gave me a small hug of excitement.
"Ah, young love; It never ceases to amaze me." Professor Oak said dramatically.
Elizabeth immediately let go of me and her face turned beat red, "I was just excited."
I was somewhat sad at the loss of contact, but I didn't let it show as I stood beside Joey and looked up at the Professor. I was somewhat jealous at the fact that everyone was taller than I was. Even Elizabeth was, but that was expected since her mom was 6' 2'' and her dad was even taller. Joey was barely taller than I was, but he was still over me.
"Now since everything is ready and everyone is here we may as well get started." He showed us three devices that were sitting on a table next to a machine with Pokeballs. "These are your Pokedex's, they can record data on every known Pokémon and give you any information on that Pokémon. They have been customized to your accord and would probably be best if you each walk up and to receive them now. One at a time."
We looked at each other before Joey stepped forward and picked up his blue one. Elizabeth moved her blonde hair behind her ear and picked up her green Pokedex. I slowly walked up and picked up my black one.
"I'm sure the guys know about ladies first so... Elizabeth, you're first. Choose your Pokémon."
She smiled at everyone and walked up to the Pokeball for Bulbasaur. Joey walked right up after her and picked Squirtle. I threw my hands in my pocket and picked Charmander.
"Okay everyone open up your Pokedex and register so that you can officially become a Pokémon trainer," he said as he started typing something up on his computer.
I opened up my Pokedex and it asked me to register.
Name: Markus Cross
Hometown: Pallet Town
Age: 14
Badges: None
Pokémon:
Charmander
The Lizard Pokémon
The flame on its tail indicates Charmander's life force. If it is healthy, the flame burns brightly.
"So it's official," Joey said to himself.
"Yep. I'm heading home would anyone like to come and see if my mom could whip us up something?" I asked as I looked at them.
"As long as there's some actual whip I'm all for it," Elizabeth said as she looked back at Joey.
"I don't have any plans so I might as well. You never know maybe she put together a party." Joey said as he picked up the pace and started walking in front of the pack.
As we walked to my house, I noticed that everyone seemed to be home despite it being the middle of the day. I didn't say anything aloud, but I thought it was a little suspicious.
"Hey, my parents are home," Elizabeth said in surprise.
"Well, they had to come back sometime." I pointed out.
"Maybe you're right," She muttered under her breath.
As I opened the door to my house, I noticed that the lights were off. I flipped the switch and was greatly surprised. Everyone in town was inside and as soon as the light came on everyone yelled surprise and streamers fell from the roof. Elizabeth smiled and went to hug her parents. Joey went around greeting everyone and I just stood in the door for a moment until Elizabeth pulled me inside. She didn't look where she was going and we both tripped to the couch. She pulled my brown hair on the way down and I almost screamed.
"You need a haircut and stop standing like a Stantler in headlights. This is probably a farewell party you know." Elizabeth giggled as she sat and looked at me for a moment. I looked into her eyes and felt my stomach flutter. Something rolling across the room captured our attention and when we looked at each other, we blushed and went to look at the cart in the living room.
There were three different cakes and three different flavors. I liked chocolate, Joey liked red velvet, and Elizabeth liked strawberry. We stood looking at the cakes for a moment not wanting to ruin them. Mine had red icing and had black sprinkles decorating the top. Around the rim were flames dancing around almost touching my name. It had my name in the middle stretched all the way across. Joey's cake was a typical red velvet cake with white icing just as he wanted with his name in bold letters with a waterfall etched into the cake and bubbles around the rim. Elizabeth had green icing on hers that matched her eyes. She had a small vine like artwork that went around the cake and ended at the beginning of her name. Her name was in a plant like fashion with vines coiling around some parts of her name and spreading out towards the outer rim.
"These cakes are beautiful Claudia," Joey's dad said loudly.
Everyone around the room smiled and nodded in agreement. I cut my cake first starting at the edge and slowly cut around my name in every slice. Joey and Elizabeth did the same and we gave everybody a slice until it only had our name left. I cut mine in half while Joey and Elizabeth cut theirs' in thirds. After everyone ate their slice, my mom told Elizabeth to turn on some music. She walked to the kitchen and I followed her. She was looking around in the cabinets and pulled out cups and a bottle of alcohol. She gave one to me and I raised my eyebrow. She saw my look and walked away giving everyone a glass.
"Since you three are old enough to go out and live your life. Doing who knows what. I guess you're old enough to drink." She said proudly as she raised her glass. "I would like to make a toast to my son, Elizabeth, and Joey, for starting their very own journey like most of us did."
Everyone nodded their heads and raised their drinks before drinking them. I looked at mine and sipped a bit of it. ""It's sweet."" I thought as it slipped down my throat. I drank the rest of it and wanted more. While some people went dancing around the makeshift dance floor, I asked my mom for some more. She smiled and gave me the rest of the bottle.
I poured myself a cup and turned when I felt someone tap on my shoulder. "You don't mind if I get some huh?" Elizabeth said as she came into my view.
"No problem. I'll even pour it for you." I tipped the bottle and filled her cup up to half before putting the bottle down on the table.
"Thanks," She replied as she walked back to the party.
Joey walked up to me and put a hand on my back as he smiled at me.
"What's up Joey having fun?" I smiled as he nodded and gave the bottle to his parents.
"This is a great party. The whole town is here and everyone looks so happy." Joey was smiling so hard I thought he was gonna get stuck like that.
Elizabeth jumped on Joey's back and I laughed as he went down like a rock.
"Alright, guys lets go upstairs and talk for a minute. This is serious business."
They both looked at me surprised and we all went upstairs. I swung open my door I sat at my desk, Joey walked over to the wall and propped up on it while Elizabeth walked to my bed and sat down.
"Where do you plan on going when you start your journey?" Joey said as his whole demeanor changed.
"I guess I would go to Pewter city to challenge the gym leader," I said as I took off my gray hat and laid it on my desk.
"So you really are going to challenge all the gym leaders," Elizabeth said almost tearfully.
"Yeah. Don't worry Elizabeth we will see each other every so often." I said as I picked invisible dust off of my hat.
Joey looked at me for a moment and narrowed his eyes. "Are you serious about this Markus? I mean dead serious."
I looked directly into his eyes "Yes I'm serious. I'm going to be the best and no one is going to stop me from achieving my final goal."
Elizabeth looked between us and waited to see what would happen.
Joey closed his eyes and walked over to me with his hair over his eyes. "Then you are truly the man your mom wants you to be."
I quickly perked up and gave him a bro hug. "Thanks for understanding Joey and Elizabeth I know this will be hard for you too." I pulled Elizabeth to us and hugged her.
"Alright, Joey your goal. What is it? You both know mine, but I don't know yours." I said as I got serious again.
"I'm going to become an important man and live to help others," Joey said as he stood up straight and puffed out his chest.
"How hard are you willing to work towards your goal?" Elizabeth said as she got interested.
"I'm not going to die to achieve my goal. What's the point if you're not going to be around to live in the world you made?" Joey sounded adamant and I respected him greatly for it.
"Now, what about you Elizabeth?" I looked at her closely. "What is your goal?"
She popped up and gave us a radiant smile. "I want to travel the leagues and see what the world really is like."
"That's a wonderful goal, Lizzie. How are you going to achieve it?" Joey asked.
"Easy. I'm going to get my Pokemon strong and use the money we win to fund my adventure. I'm going to document the whole thing and maybe someone will sponsor me." Elizabeth was smiling so hard that Joey and I had to join along with her.
"Alright, guys let's make this a party we can remember." I showed them both out of my room and I looked back at my room with a big smile.
After the party kicked off Joey and I pulled out a karaoke machine from the spare room we used as a storage room. Everyone got up to sing a song but as the night went on people started to slip out to go home. I started picking up the trash that was left over.
I saw my mom cleaning up and saw that she was really sleepy. "I think you should go to bed. We can handle this. Right? Guys."
Joey gave a thumbs up and started moving the karaoke machine back to the storage room.
"Of course we'll help you out. This party was for us anyway. It wouldn't feel right if we made you clean up everything by yourself." Elizabeth said as she moved the chairs back to the kitchen.
"Well, are Elizabeth and Joey staying over?" My mom said as I helped her up the stairs.
"I'm staying. I don't really feel like going home." Elizabeth said as she rearranged the chairs.
"I'm going back home. My folks probably want to talk to me before I leave tomorrow." Joey explained.
"Okay let me know if you need any help." She walked upstairs and I heard her bedroom door shut.
After an hour of cleaning living room was almost clean and Joey was putting dishes in the dishwasher.
"Hey, man I'm going to go ahead and head home. Think you and Elizabeth can finish?" Joey said as he picked up his coat and went to the door.
"Yeah; you can go. We got this" I said as we did our signature handshake. Before our hands met, we both pulled back and put one foot forward. We brought our hands back and clasped them together before pulling each other into a side hug. "Hey! Starting tomorrow, we will be rivals. We may be friends but don't expect me to go easy on you."
"I wouldn't want it any other way." He looked me in the eye and I felt his grip tighten a bit. "Tomorrow I'll be waiting."
I smiled and patted him on his back before he left. Elizabeth and I finished cleaning up the house and started to walk toward my room.
"You remember that time you and Joey tried to swing into that pool and hit the pavement," Elizabeth said as she stifled a giggle.
"We thought we could make it," I said defensively.
"Yeah, but you tried 8 times. The first 2 should have told you." She said as we made it to my room. "Oh! Is that mattress still in your closet?"
"Yeah but I'll let you have the bed... this time," I said as I rolled it out.
"We could always share the bed," She said as she looked at me with a smile on her face.
"I... I... I..." I was lost for words, but she found the ones I was thinking.
"I'm just teasing Markus," She said as she laid down on my bed.
I sighed and laid down on the small mattress. "Well I'm going to get up early tomorrow but Elizabeth can you believe it. We're going to be going on our own Pokemon journey just like our parents."
"I can hardly believe it myself. I've always wanted to see the world and now I can. I guess you should get some rest. I wouldn't want to keep you up all night." She said as she turned away from me and pulled up the covers.
I sighed and turned off the light before looking at my clock. "Tomorrow is gonna be a new day and new adventures. I can feel the excitement in my bones."
Get Get Up! Get Get Up! Time to get up! You should really really Get Get Up! Get Get Up! Time to get UP!... (Insanely Loud Guitar Solo)
"Okay, you stupid alarm clock!" I said as I slammed it and unplugged it before chucking it into the closet. "I knew I shouldn't have bought that clock."
"Well, I might as well get my day started," I said to myself. I put the mattress back in the closet and put on my clothes. I reached for my gray hat but decided against it and put on my red belt. I clipped my Pokeball to it and looked at it for a moment. I shook my head and continued walking to my closet. I picked up my new running shoes and slipped them on before I closed it and looked at the mirror. It felt weird as I looked around my room for the last time. Elizabeth was still sleeping and I thought for a second before going over and trying to wake her up.
"Elizabeth, Liz, Beth." I sighed and moved her hair behind her ear so I could whisper into it. "I'm about to go."
"YOU DON'T HAVE TO YELL!" She said as she rose up and slapped me. She looked around to find where I was, but she didn't see me.
"Backward, homicidal maniac." I thought as I rose up off the floor. "I didn't yell!" I emphasized by rubbing my cheek and looking in the mirror to see a big hand print. "Monkey hands."
"What did you say?" She said as she pulled my brown hair. "Huh, I don't hear anything." She let go of my hair and looked at me with a smile. "Pavement muncher."
I looked through my drawers until I found what I was looking for. "Here's' my Pokedex." I said to myself. "If you want. You could come with me to Pewter City.
"Sorry but I'll catch up with you later," Elizabeth said as she brushed her hair in my mirror.
"Alright, then I guess it's time to head off." I pocketed my wallet and I.D before I stopped and looked back at Elizabeth. I walked behind her and gave her a big hug. "The world's big Elizabeth but you can always contact me if you need to."
She blushed hard and took a few breaths before talking, "I know Markus and I know we're ready for the real world. I'm going to go talk to my parents and maybe we'll meet soon." She turned and hugged me back before letting me go and walking down the stairs.
I picked up my gray hat and put it on backward. "It's time to face the real world." I switched off the light and closed my doors as I went downstairs.
"Markus I have some things for you." my mom called to me. "Here's a journal and your new bag."
"What was wrong with my old bag?" I questioned as I looked at the foreign object.
"Other than the fact that it looks like it went through a war and lost," She said as she pointed to a tattered, worn down, red backpack. "Both of the straps are even missing."
I cast my head down and picked up the new gray and light black bag. I got the few things out of my old pack: two potions, 2 Oran berries, and an extra set of clothes; and put them in my new bag. I looked at the new bag and found that it had more zippers than my old one, which meant more storage. "Thanks. Mom, I appreciate this I really do."
"Have fun and remember to call every now and then." she said as I hugged her.
"Yeah I'll make sure to let you know what goes on in my journey; Professor Oak too." I closed the door behind me and walked to the beginning of Route 1.
"Is the world going to end. You're actually on time." Joey said as he propped himself on a tree.
"You lean on everything is that a new trend. You ready to get your wallet and hand me out some bills when you lose." I said as I thumbed my Pokeball.
"Maybe, maybe not. This is going to be a battle between rivals." Joey said as he slowly bounced his Pokeball in his hand.
We looked into each other's eyes and each threw out a Pokeball.
"Go Squirtle!"
"Charmander let's go!"
A/N: How was it? I redid this first chapter after I found some inspiration and I'm going to continue to do so. I hope you enjoyed it and PLEASE REVIEW. This is my revised one and I want to know if it's any better than the last.