The Kanto region...
A wide and vast place located near the coast of the continent. About one-third of the country's citizens inhabit this region.
And among them, one thing is common.
And that is the bonds between people and Pokémon.
Whether it be the land, the sea, the mountains, or even under the ground, pokemon can be found anywhere.
People and pokemons have been living together and had coexisted for a very long time.
Some people befriend pokemon as their friends, others think of them as partners in life and work.
But there are some people that stand aside pokemons and work together to battle with others.
These people are called...
Pokemon Trainers.
"Go get 'em Jolteon!"
A tall, blonde woman throws a semi-red and semi-white ball with a button high up in the air.
The ball opens up and a red light splashes over a small area before it materializes into a four-legged fox with spikes on its back and it's coiled in yellow as lightning sparks start emitting from it.
"Jolt."
The trainer on the opposing end, a well-built man with black hair and moustache, smirks before revealing his own pokeball and throwing it high up in the air.
"Flareon, it's time to show 'em what we've got."
Ironically, the other pokemon was again, a foxy one. Except that this time, its fur was blazing res and there was a cream-colored mane around it's shoulders.
"Flare!"
A middle-aged man standing at the side of the stadium- clad in a yellow t-shirt and black shorts with a flag in his hand- raises the flag and swipes it down.
"Battle begin!"
A board on the large screen in the stadium lit up before the view of the battle in a landscape format shows up on it. Along with that, the words 'FLAREON VS JOLTEON' was shown on the upper section of the screen.
Trumpets were blown and the blonde woman flicked her wrist before commanding her Jolteon.
"Jolteon, start with Discharge!"
Electricity started circulating around Jolteon's body and a great bit of it was continuously being concentrated on its spikes.
"JOLT!"
With a sharp and alarming cry, Jolteon discharged the gathered electricity and aimed it at the opposing pokemon.
"Use Protect, Flareon."
At the man's command, Flareon relaxed its body and its tail stood straight up before a turquoise like transparent barrier appeared in front of it.
The electricity from Jolteon ended hitting the barrier that Flareon had created. With no damage done, the electricity dispersed and the turquoise barrier disappeared.
"Flame Charge!" The man gave yet another command and Flareon revved up before charging towards Jolteon.
As it kept running, fire started building up from its mane and soon enough, Flareon was a burning fox that was running towards its opponent with great speed.
"Flare!"
"Hit them exactly as hard. Go Jolteon, Volt Tackle!"
It was as if Jolteon had mimicked its opponent's movements. Except this time, instead of fire, Jolteon was engulfed in electricity that it discharged from its body.
"Jolt!"
The spikes on Jolteon's back, and Flareon's mane stood straight up as both pokemon charged towards each other.
Noticeable, there was more electricity around Jolteon's body then the amount of flames around Flareon. However, Flareon's speed was increasing by the second, making it even more faster than before.
"JOOOOOL!"
"FLAAAARE!"
Both pokemons banged heads with each other at the final moment, creating smoke and sparks.
The heat of the battle was so much, that the trainers were simultaneously sweating.
However, the surrounding crowd around them showed no instances of tiredness as they jumped up from their seats and kept cheering on their favorite trainer from the stands.
But suddenly...
Everything went black.
A sigh could be heard as the focus was shifted towards a young man who was sitting on his bed with a remote control on his hand and a bored look on his face.
"Heck, this is so boring," he scoffed before flicking the remote from his left to right hand and placing it on the small table near his bed.
This man, Aeris Blackwood was a 14 year is old boy who was about to receive his first ever pokemon tomorrow from Professor Oak
Yet, ironically, he was pulling an all-nighter instead of going to sleep so he could wake up early.
And it didn't even look like that there was someone to put him to sleep.
Aeris's eyes fell on the small square-shaped clock on the wall and they immediately widened in surprise.
"Shit, I'll be so late tomorrow!"
Upon realizing his mistake, Aeris quickly shut off the lights and started covering himself up with the bedsheets before trying desperately to sleep.
But of course, sleep wouldn't come to him as like any other 14 year old, Aeris was very excited about receiving his first ever pokemon.
Somebody was finally going to come into his life. And lucky or not, that pokemon had to put up with him and his antics.
So with that thought in mind, Aeris finally found relief and fell drowsy before snores could be heard from the room, indicating that he was sound asleep.
Professor Oak was a very respected person in the Kanto region- or maybe even the whole world.
In Pallet Town- a remotely quiet village near the coasts of Kanto- the task of giving new trainers their first ever pokemon was entrusted to him.
His laboratory was a modern farm so to say. It had a windmill, and the research facility looked like a barn house. But of course, the hundreds of yards that stretched behind his backyard was filled with thousands and thousands of pokemons.
And today, the day had come yet again where he would be passing on to trainers their precious starter pokemons.
"Now then..."
The Professor sat up from his computer seat and straightened his back before he pulled up a drawer from a nearby cupboard. Inside, a lot of pokeballs were aligned in rows of three- each row in glass cases.
Professor Oak took the closest case and picked it up before closing the drawer and placing the glass case on his study table.
"Let's see what we have here."
The Professor pressed a button on the side of the box, and the glass casing opened up automatically before the three pokeballs were on display.
The old professor grinned like a young child- pokemons always made him enticed- before he picked up all the three pokeballs in one hand and threw them up in the air.
"Come on out, you three."
The three pokeballs open up to reveal the three pokemons that trainers will be able to chose from as starters.
The Professor smiled yet again before patting the first pokemon.
It was Squirtle, a turtle-like pokemon that had a turning tail and a brown shell along with a blue body.
Oak grabbed a can from the table and opened it before popping a few pokemon food into Squirtle's mouth, who began immediately chewing it.
"There, there, eat up you lot."
Professor Oak affectionately smiled and scratched Squirtle's chin before moving onto the next pokemon, a relatively shy Charmander.
Charmander was a lizard pokemon who, like Squirtle, stood up on its two legs. Its body was crimson colored except of its front where it was peach. Charmander's face was oval and there was a burning gleam to its eyes. Additionally, a small fire also inhibited its tail.
This time, instead of popping the pokemon food directly into Charmander's mouth, the Professor patiently took a few of the food and offered them to Charmander by showing his palm to it.
"Come on Charmander, eat up."
The Charmander waited for a few seconds, and looked the kind professor in the eye before slowly moving its mouth towards the front and chewing on the food.
Seeing Charmander slowly starting to eat its food, the Professor smiled in victory before moving onto the last and final pokemon, a Bulbasaur.
Bulbasaur was a small, dinosaur-like pokemon who had an un bloomed bulb on its back. Unlike the other two starters, it stood on its forelegs in a hunched position.
This time, instead of the professor offering food to it, vines appeared from Bulbasaur's back and snatched the can of food from the Professor before dumping all the food inside its own mouth.
The Professor sweatdropped at Bulbasaur's actions.
"Well, you sure were hungry, weren't you?"
"Professor Oak," someone called from behind and the Professor turned around to spot Harry, one of his assistants.
"Yes, Harry?"
"Um, Professor, the ceremony for the middle-schoolers receiving their starters is about to start."
"Oh yes, yes," the Professor said thoughtfully before quickly returning the starter pokemons in their pokeballs and putting them back into their cases. "We should hurry then. I'm sure the young ones are eager to meet their first ever pokemon."
"So, Sylvia, what will be your first pokemon?"
Meredith Blakey, the town's ever most cheery girl smiled at the silver-haired girl who was sitting on the table with an excited look on her face.
"That's a secret," Sylvia points out with a wink and Meredith huffs before crossing her arms.
"At least give me a hint."
"It's not one of the Professor's pokemon, but one from Kalos. I'll tell you that it's a cute one though."
Kalos was a region that was faraway from Kanto. It's nicknamed the Region of Love and the modernized city of Lumios attracts a lot of tourist for the region, besides the presumed love charm of course.
"Of course it has to be cute, I mean, it's you after all."
That was true. With graceful silver hair and majestic blue eyes, Sylvia was treated no less than a princess in Pallet Town. The boys fell at her feet and the girls admired her and strived to be her. So of course, her partner had to be someone of equal cuteness and charm.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sylvia pouted at Meredith, and before the latter could answer, the door of the classroom slid open and in came Aeris Blackwood with his black hair as messy as ever, and his grey eyes shining with minimum excitement, even though he was jumping up from the inside, though he'd never admit it.
"And here comes the ever gloomy child of Pallet. Honestly, he's so different from you, Sylvia," Meredith commented, and Sylvia denied her claims by waving her hands in front of her.
"Come on, everyone's different. And after all, he doesn't have his parents remember."
Meredith sighed before reluctantly agreeing with Sylvia. "I guess not having people to raise you does make someone like that," she said, referring to Aeris who had quietly took up a seat in the corner of the classroom.
Sylvia and Meredith kept chatting for a few more moments. It was not until something or rather someone caught Meredith's eyes that she ended the endless conversation and nudged Sylvia's shoulders.
"And here comes the hottie of class 3-B," Meredith gestured before whistling.
Sylvia turned around to spot yet another out of the crowd person of Pallet. If Sylvia was treated like a Princess, then this person was treated like a Prince.
He was Stephan Goldberg, the golden boy of Pallet Town with as much golden hair as his golden reputation and brown eyes.
"Hi, Sylvia," Stephan greeted her upon meeting.
"Hi Stephan, what's up?"
"Nothing much," Stephan shrugged before a few guys snatched him from Sylvia and initiated a conversation with him.
"You guys should really start dating," Meredith suggested with a disappointed shake of her head.
"Oh, shut up! We're just friends!"
Meredith rolled her eyes before face palming the table.
"And most of the love stories start like that."
Meanwhile, Aeris was deep in thought as he kept his eyes trained outside the window, an everlasting looming expression on his face.
"These guys are so carefree," he muttered, and glanced at the classroom before shifting his view back to the window. "I wish I could be like them."
"Now then, it's time for you guys to receive your first ever pokemon," the teacher announced and everyone cheered with gleeful faces as the teacher nodded towards the window, gesturing for someone to come in. "You can come in, Professor Oak."
The classroom door slid open and the respected Professor of Pallet Town stepped inside and smiled at all the eager students.
"Hello everyone, I'm Professor Oak."
While most of the kids cheered, a single boy stood out from the crowd and said something that made the whole class laugh out hysterically.
"We all know, gramps, we see you in TV everyday 'ya know?"
Professor Oak sweatdropped at his own grandson while the teacher glared at the student.
"Gary, behave!" she ordered coldly and Gary gulped before saying a quick 'sorry'.
Like Stephan and Sylvia, Gary was equally regarded like royalty in Pallet. Being the Professor's grandson, he was regarded as a prodigal child who'd surpass others as a pokemon trainer.
Unlike most though, he didn't regard Aeris as a gloomy orphan, but instead, befriended him and regards him as rivals.
Appearance wise, Gary had spiked mahogany hair and olive eyes. He was tall, and was pretty popular among the general female. However, he was more of the laid back type then the cool and serious guys that girls usually fell for.
"Now, if that's settled," the Professor said, and sighed before regaining his smile and presenting a box with a glass case on the teacher's desk. "Today, all of you will visit my laboratory and select your starters from this set of three pokemon."
The pokemon grabbed the three pokeballs and pressed their buttons before Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle appeared before everyone. The 14 year old children were beaming with delight.
"This is Bulbasaur, the Grass and Poison type pokemon," he said and introduced Bulbasaur who gave everyone a little show by playing with its vines. Many of the students were enchanted by its vine play.
"Then here, is the Fire type pokemon, Charmander." At the Professor's instruction, the relatively shy pokemon emitted a small fire from its mouth. Some of the kids were enchanted by its fire.
"And last but not least, the Water type pokemon, Squirtle." Squirtle impressed everyone retracting into its shell before coming back out in a matter of seconds.
"So there you have it everyone. These are the three starter pokemons that you could choose from- Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander. Be sure to chose wisely who you'll be selecting, as one of these pokemons will be the one to decide your fate."
The middle-schoolers roared in delight as Professor Oak smiled at the enthusiastic trainers and went on to give a few more description about pokemons and some tips about when they would start their journey.
"Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle, huh?" Aeris muttered as a thoughtful expression appeared on his face. "I'll have to chose carefully since one of them will be my first pokemon."
Professor Oak's backyard was as big as one would expect of it to be. Lying on the edge of Pallet, his research facility expanded to a part of Pallet Woodlands and had every kind of habitat for every kind of pokemon.
"Alright everyone, here you have it. All the pokemons that trainers from Pallet Town have caught are all here. Why don't take a stroll around and see them while we ready the pokemons?"
"Alright Professor," everyone said in unison as the Professor nodded his head with a smile before walking towards his laboratory.
"So, Aeris, have you decided which pokemon you're gonna get?" Gary asked thoughtfully.
"Not really," Aeris shook his head in reply. "I'm not really sure which one to chose. They all look pretty strong to me."
"Oh well, make your choice quickly though," Gary advised him. "I already know which one I'm picking, it'd be a bummer if you ended up not getting one because you were confused."
"You don't have to worry," Aeris said with a triggered expression. "I'll figure something out."
"Of course you will," Gary crossed his arms and said tauntingly while the former glared at him.
"Hey, watch out, there's a pokemon over there that's running wild," a student said and warned everyone.
Aeris tilted his head in confusion and asked Gary about it. "A pokemon running wild? Now, that's new."
"Why don't we check it out, Ar?"
Aeris thought about the suggestion for a moment before agreeing with Gary. Well, anything could be done to pass time.
"I guess, we could."
When Aeris and Gary arrived at the site where the supposed wild pokemon was, they saw several people lined up near a part of the lake where water type pokemons were.
After passing through them, Aeris and Gary saw a small, yellow rodent, who was shocking and zapping a bunch of bull-like pokemons, namely Tauros, whenever they came near to it.
"What's up with that pokemon?"
Murmuring started from the crowd.
"That pokemon is weird. Why is it attacking the others?" Meredith asked Sylvia.
Sylvia narrowed her eyes at the yellow rodent and realized something- it was standing near a tree that had a hole in it.
"It seems like it's guarding something."
"Huh? Guarding something? Well, I don't see anything."
"You see that Gary," Aeris asked his only friend. "That pokemon is trying to stop those Tauros from getting near what's inside that tree."
"I do see that, but what's inside that tree anyway?"
Gary's question was answered when a small caterpillar crawled out from the hole in the bark.
"Look, it's a Catterpie," someone said from the crowd.
Upon seeing the small, caterpillar like pokemon, the Tauros' temper flared.
One of them tried to get near it, but as soon as it was on the rodent's radar, the Pokemon chanted something before releasing electrical discharges from its body.
"Pikapika Pikachu!"
The Tauros took severe damage and its eyes rolled to the back of its head before the rodent's attack died down.
"Tauuuuuuuu!"
The crowd were whispering about the rodent pokemon. Something like how it was 'wild', 'untamable', and 'crazy'.
Aeris realized that although the yellow pokemon was hearing all of that, it paid the others no heed as it stood firm to protect the Catterpie from the Tauros.
A few more charges from the Tauros were resumed. The rodent ended up electrifying all of them. However, when they 5th one charged at it, it was enough tired and was late to respond to the attack. Thus, getting hit by the Tauros as its body flung from the grounded and landed on the water of the lake.
Everyone's eyes widened open as the electric rodent tried desperately to swim back to the surface. However, no one stepped up to help.
"Pikapika! Pikachu!"
"That pokemon," Aeris exclaimed, taking a few steps forward. "At this rate, it'll drown in the water."
To everyone's shock, Aeris dashed towards the lake and quickly dived down on the water before swimming towards the sinking pokemon.
While the others stood rooted on their spot with open eyes, Aeris reached towards the helpless pokemon and rescued it before swimming back to the surface with the rodent in its arms.
Gary was the first one to get to the panting Aeris and the rodent that had its eyes closed while taking deep, rushed breathes.
"Quick Gary, take it towards the Professor," Aeris said and hurriedly handed the mouse over to Gary while his feet were still underwater and his clothes soaking wet.
Gary immediately nodded at him and picked up the pokemon before quickly running towards the direction of the Professor's laboratory. The Tauros had been looking at the incident with pity, and feeling sorry for it while the Catterpie had tears in its eyes. All were too shocked to say anything.
When Aeris arrived at the laboratory, he spotted Gary, Professor Oak, and his assistants near an incubator in which they were keeping Pikachu in.
Professor Oak was noting down something on his notepad when Aeris had appeared. His clothes were now changed as he was in a fresh new clothing.
"How's the pokemon Professor?"
Upon hearing Aeris's voice, the Professor put down his notepad before smiling at the worried child.
"Pikachu's all fine," the Professor said. "You don't have to worry about it. It'll be all fine in just a while."
Upon hearing that, Aeris sighed in relief. "Thank God!"
"Great job out there, Ar," Gary praised and patted Aeris's shoulders. "That was really awesome."
"Well, it wasn't much..."
"That was a remarkable work indeed, Aeris. Not only did you immediately went into action to save Pikachu's life, but you even succeeded."
"A Pikachu? So that's what it's called," Aeris claimed as he approached the incubator where Pikachu was sleeping and looked at it with worry. "I hope it'll get well soon."
"Don't worry about that young man. When you're a trainer, you'll get to see even more harsh experiences. In the meanwhile, why don't we get all of you your starter pokemons. I'm sure you're excited to meet your first ever pokemon partner."
"Okay, Professor," Aeris said with a nod and Oak smiled before leading Aeris and Gary towards where the others were, all impatient for receiving their first pokemon.