(It should be noted that this story begins approximately 3 or 4 years before Ash Ketchum begins his Pokemon journey. Although the setting is Johto, only a few of the 100 new Pokemon will be mentioned, and none of them are officially part of the pokedex outside of Johto yet.)
Introduction:
My name is Joseph Ehlle, and I am the leader of Crimson Town Gym. Crimson Town is a small town in outer Johto, and up until I, and my good friend, May Redfield, opened our gym/breeding center/Pokemon sanctuary, this town wasn't known for too much, except for a small Pokemon center. To get to Crimson Town, you have to come from Azelea Town and pass through the Ilex Forest, until it becomes the Brushfire Woods. You then continue through the Brushfire Woods, and you will eventually reach Crimson Town. It's a few days travel. I know – I passed through the entire distance, on foot, with only my 2 Vulpixes, Flamefox and Firestorm, when I began my first Pokemon journey, in Johto, 5 years ago. It's been a long journey to become a Pokemon champion and then a gym leader, but it's always been my dream. Now that I have realized that dream, I'd like to write about how I got here. Of course, I couldn't possibly include every junior trainer battle and every wild battle, or this would drag on forever. So, I will try to maintain the focus to key events on my 5 year journey to destiny. With that in mind, here's an entry from my personal journal during my second Pokemon journey, which was in Kanto:
It's early evening. We just scored a badge at Celadon City Gym. Erika's Vileplume and Tangela had put up a good fight, but in the end, it wasn't enough. Flamefox and Firestorm were magnificent, as always. Now that we had won, I decided to give myself and my Pokemon a much needed rest. We found a nice grassy area overlooking a lake. I love times like this - when I can let all of my Pokemon out and we can just relax. I sat under a tree, admiring my rainbowbadge as I held it up to the sun and the individual crystals of color glistened in the sunlight. Just a few more badges, then I'll battle the Elite Four one more time, and finally return home to open my own Pokemon gym! Over in the lake, Lapras was swimming around, while Vaporeon swam around, shot up in the air, and dove back into the water. Vaporeon loved to swim even back when she was an Eevee. We had a rocky start because of that, too, but I guess it was a sign of her eventual decision to evolve into Vaporeon. In a grassy spot nearby, Tauros is grazing, and my Fearow is perched in the tree above me, sleeping. And over near the woods, the pride of my team, Flamefox and Firestorm, are chasing each other around and wrestling with each other, just like they did when they were both Vulpixes. The look in their eyes is that of pure joy. The bond of brotherhood between them is just as strong now as it was when I first got both of them. Firestorm's decision to evolve into Ninetales changed his battling skills significantly, but it didn't change his personality much – he's still the same fiesty Vulpix in a bigger body. Flamefox was always more easy going than Firestorm. I'm glad that Flamefox never showed any interest in evolving. He's content to be the best Vulpix he can be, and personally, I never want him to evolve, because I love him the way he is. Seeing the two of them playing together reminded me of the unusual circumstances of how we all first met and became friends. I got the two of them before I even had my trainer's license! We had come a long way since I started about 2 and a half years ago. Now I'm closer than ever to realizing my dream of opening my own gym and putting Crimson Town on the map!
