"...And in othe...ount of dragon pokémon have in...ound the area of Mt. Amarth, the only active volcano remaining in the Gradifal region. Many are migrating from the below region of Kanto and the above region of Sinnoh, joining the few dragons already native to our region. This sudden migration is unknown in origin or reason, but many collectors and Dragon trainers of the region are delighted, and are thought to be preparing to storm the mountain in an attempt to capture them. This migration is similar to the Spearow and Taillow migrations from the recent years, which-"
What a story to wake up to. I always leave my radio on when I'm asleep. I don't know whether to be happy or appalled at the news. On one hand, there are going to be more Dragon type pokémon in my region. I like dragons. On the other, they're destined to be captured by collectors, treating them as trophies and prizes.
I sit up in my bed and rub my eyes. When the sleep is rubbed away and my eyes adjust to the light of day, I look around my room, finding my eyes drifting to the map of Gradifal on my wall. The pokémon in our region are made up entire of pokémon that have migrated from other regions, giving us a very mixed and mismatched variety of pokémon. North of Johto and Kanto, south of Sinnoh, bordered on the south-west by a desert, the prevailing winds of Hoenn greatly heating up the area near it. That's where I am. South-west. I like the weather here. Nice and mild, unlike most of the region, which is exceedingly cold. I live in Stave town, the smallest town in Gradifal. But I'm not complaining, I like how small it is. It's not as small as Pallet Town, but it's small. We've got houses, a pokémon research lab, which just opened, a pokémon centre, and a pub. A real pub. My dad, Jonathon opened it after he moved here from Johto, said he didn't want "any of that milk bar crap from back in Johto." I've never been out of Gradifal myself, but my dad tells me all about it. The differences, the similarities, the Pokémon. From the sound of it, I think I'd prefer it here, but I think I'll visit someday any ways. My mum, Hope, is from Kanto, daughter of a pokémon league champion. Apparently, him and his team are considered legendary even today. She doesn't talk about her dad much, probably because she didn't follow in his footsteps. She became a nurse, for both people and pokémon. She loves her job. I sometimes go to work with her when I'm bored and help out, and I can see how happy she is at work.
I'm Kasai Tatsu. My friends call me Kai. I'm sixteen years old. Tall, skinny, yet built, brown hair stuck up in several directions, blue eyes. I look to my left and see my usual outfit hanging on the chair by my bed. Blue jeans, white jacket, red shirt. There's a charizard on the back, but people rarely see it, as I rarely take off my jacket. Some people think it clashes a bit, but I like it. I throw the covers off me and stand up. I quickly put on my clothes and a pair of old shoes. I look over at my dresser and see my hat. A cap, black, with a little red semicircle over the peak, which is white. I chuckle as I pick it up. I'm not overly fond of it, but it's kind of an unwritten rule. Anyone who's anyone wears a hat around here.
I walk out of my room and into the hallway. I notice my older sister's door is still closed as I walk past on my way to the stairs. We wake up at around the same time, but I get dressed in an average of thirty seconds. It takes her at least ten minutes. Unless the balance of the world is out of whack, my younger sister will be already at the table, fully dressed, despite waking up the same time as me. I run down the stairs, skipping every second step like I usually do, and turn the corner into the kitchen. There she is, Lyra. Shorter than me, big brown eyes. Cute girl. Named after a friend of my dad's. I've always wanted to know how she does that. Dressed and down stairs quick enough so I don't see her. She's wearing her white beret and her black and white dress, with a red belt. She's wearing her pokéball necklace. That's her favourite outfit, so she's obviously expecting stuff to happen today. She's good at that, guessing days like that. Lyra turns to me and smiles.
"Hey Kai! I saved you some bacon. Dad nearly ate it before he went to work." I smile at my fifteen year old sister. She loves bacon. Her saving me some is the equivalent of her giving me a kidney. "Thanks Ly.", I say as I sit down. "When did dad leave?" "Oh, about..." Lyra looks at her watch. It's got a horsea on it, her favourite pokémon. I gave it to her for her twelfth birthday. "...fifteen seconds ago." I give her a look. "How long have you been at the table?" I ask with a grin. "Oh, you know, about thirty-five seconds." "So, you came down stairs, sat down, grabbed the remainder of the bacon from dad, and split it in half in the space of thirty-five seconds?" She just looks at me and giggles. "Kai, don't be dumb. I had all that done in ten. I took the rest of the time to relax." I smile and continue to eat my bacon. I like Lyra. She's probably my best friend, and not just because she's my sister. The small age gap worked out perfectly for us, as well as the fact that Lyra and I are very similar.
I'm a lot closer to Lyra than my older sister, Yuki. Yuki and I get along great, but she treats Lyra and I with more motherly than sibling qualities. We don't mind though, it's nice to have a mother figure around since mum is always at work. I don't hold it against her, and she's not a bad mother or anything. She just works a lot, and that's fine. She loves work. Dad's rarely around too, but it's okay. He makes up for it any time he is. Yuki, Lyra and I are all happy with each other as our main family. Mum or dad cook the breakfast in the morning, Yuki, Lyra and I do any jobs we need to around the house, we spend time relaxing. We talk with each other, Lyra and I mostly about Pokémon. Yuki is persistent to see if I've got a girlfriend. Yuki usually cooks lunch. She's an amazing chef, although I'm pretty damn good too. Lyra can make bacon, but that's about it.
About eight minutes after Lyra and I finish breakfast, Yuki walks down the stairs. Eighteen years old. Taller than me, skinny, and if I'm to trust my guy friends, exceedingly good looking. She's wearing a red shirt and a black skirt. Her make-up is perfect, yet noticeable, as always. I don't even think Lyra wears make-up. Yuki walks into the kitchen and reaches into the cupboard and pulls out a box of cereal. Some fibre health stuff. Nobody in the house eats that stuff but Yuki. She walks over to the table, where Lyra and I are discussing our perfect teams, and sits down. "So darlings, good morning." She always does that, call us "darlings". Well, it changes, but it's always a pet name. We don't mind, it's kinda nice. "Good morning, Yuki." Lyra and I say at the same time, and then shoot each other a glance to say "Hey, don't do that." We both know we will. Speaking simultaneously is a habit of ours. I quickly jump in so I can speak next. "How'd you sleep, Yuki?" Yuki smiles warmly, as if I'd just said the nicest thing ever to her. That's a thing with her, she takes everything as if it's the greatest thing ever. I like that about her. It makes it really difficult to get on her bad side. "Very well, thank you darling. How about you?"
As I open my mouth to answer, Lyra interrupts. "He slept quite well. He had the dream about becoming a trainer again. His Treeko evolved in this one." I turn my head and stare at her. "It really bloody scares me when you do that. Seriously, stop it." Lyra giggles and punches me in the arm. "As if you could actually stop me." Yuki laughs and rubs both Lyra and I's arms affectionately. "So, what do you two plan to get up to today?" Yuki asks us. "Waterfall," Lyra and I say simultaneously. We had no previous discussion about this. We just both said what we wanted, and it turned out to be the same. It always happens, we rarely disagree. And when we do, it's solved in about three seconds. The only thing that we consistently differ on is Pokémon. She likes water and Ice types, I'm more of a Fire and Dragon man. She's being sensible, really. Water types are easy to find in Gradifal, and Ice pokémon are more tha abundant. Fire types are rare, and dragon types are close to impossible to find outside of Mt. Amarth. Maybe that's why they appeal to me, they're unique.
"Well, you two enjoy that. Look after each other. I've got to go, I've got my interview with the Professor today." She kisses both on the cheek, first me and then Lyra. "Bye darlings, don't get up to any trouble." And with that, she walks out the door. She's got an interview with Professor Hawthorn, the local Pokémon professor. She's been his understudy for months now, and she's hoping to get a proper job at the research lab. I'm almost completely certain she will. Nobody's taken a shine to pokémon knowledge as much as Yuki. She's a genius when it comes to that stuff. I turn to Lyra and grin. "Shall we get right to it then?" "I believe we shall." She says with a smile. We both get up and head for the door, me opening the door and letting her out. I'm kind of a gentleman. We walk, side by side, through the town, passing the rows of houses around ours, eventually getting past them. We're headed for the waterfall on the outskirts of town. It's just a small dip below a river, but there's a cave as well, and we like to explore it. We talk on the way there, mostly out usual argument about types of pokémon, but with a few family and social matters thrown in as well.
"Do you think Yuki will get the job?" asks Lyra. "Of course she will. She's the most deserving of all the applicants, plus, the professor really likes her. Lyra nods in agreement. "I didn't see Baxter this morning, Ly. Where is he?" Baxter is our pet. He's a Poochyena, given to us by a friend of my dad's for his birthday. My dad was delighted. He loves Baxter. He's a good pet, really affectionate. I don't think he could ever be taught to battle though. Not that he needs to. My dad has stopped him evolving twice already. He's thinking about getting him an everstone. "Oh, he went with dad to the pub. Probably hoping for scraps." I chuckle. Baxter loves food almost as much as Lyra and I. And Lyra and I really love food. "Sounds about right. Hey, did you hear that Hagane is coming back tomorrow?" I say with a smile. Hagane Youkou is my best friend, other than Lyra. He comes from Hoenn, and his visits his grandparents there for one month every year. I'm really looking forward to him coming back. "Oh, is he? That's good, I get someone to steal you from me for a while." She says, sticking her tongue out playfully. She actually gets jealous of Hagane. Not that she needs to, my time with her only suffers very slightly when he's around, and I always try to include her too. She just doesn't like not spending time with me. She hasn't got too many friends. Why? I have no idea.
We come to the waterfall, and Lyra immediately runs up to her favourite rock and climbs on top. She just likes sitting there. I make my way for the edge of the small pool created by the waterfall and look in. I like looking into the water. We sit in our separate areas silently, as we always do for the first while of the waterfall. It's not an awkward silence. We're just comfortable not speaking. I stare deep into the water, looking for nothing in particular. The only pokémon I've ever seen in here was a pretty measly Magikarp that ended up floating down the stream a little later that day. Occasionally I find a water stone in the pool, which I always secretly collect. I've got three at home. I plan to give any I find to Lyra when she gets her first pokémon, just in case she ever needs them. We both plan on going on Pokémon journeys, hopefully together, if the timing is right, but dad won't let us go until we catch our own pokémon in the wild. He says he doesn't want us being handed a pre-basic trained lab pokémon. He wants us to bond with our pokémon right from the start. Both Lyra and I have one pokéball each. She usually leaves her at home, because she thinks she'll never need it around these parts. She's not interested in the pokémon around our town, which are mostly Rattatas and Tailows. I'm not either, I just keep it on me, just in case.
I look around the pool a little more, and notice a small blue object sitting among the rocks. It looks like a shell or a stone, but I can't be sure. "Hopefully, it's another water stone." I think to myself. I reach into the water and touch it. Bigger than my hand. Size of a baby, the water must have distorted how it looked. Not a stone, any ways. It feels more like a shell, but it's sort of semi-scaley. I can't figure out what it is. I touch it a little harder, and suddenly it unfolds. I jump in shock and fall back from the pool, before quickly looking right back into the pool. I look around for it, and when I find it, I really look at it. I gasp aloud when I realise what it is. A Horsea. Lyra's favourite pokémon. Without taking my eyes off the pokémon, which is doing the same to me, I try to get Lyra's attention without scaring it away. It could easily swim down the stream and escape. "Lyyyyraaaaaaaaaa." I say softly, but noticeably. "Did you bring your pokéball with you today?" Lyra sits up, confused. "Um...no. Why?" I quickly reach to my belt and grab my pokéball, which I then roll along the ground towards her. "Pick that up, and get your ass over here." Lyra jumps down from the rock, picks up the ball, and walks slowly over to me. "You're freaking me out Kai. What..." She stops mid sentence when she sees what I'm talking about. "...Nooooo!" She exclaims in disbelief. The smile on her face is unbelievable. It looks like a capitol d. "How...what...oh Arceus!" She exclaims. "Ly, shut up and listen. You need to be ready. I'm going to reach in a flip it on to the land, so it'll be less likely to escape. You need to react FAST. Just use my ball and catch it, I'll take yours when I get home. Got it?" Lyra nods excitedly.
I count to three, and then quickly put my hands under the horsea and flip it onto the land. Poor thing gets scared half to death, but it'll be fine. Lyra, without missing a beat, throws the pokéball. Unfortunately, the Horsea hops out of the way, and is flies over my head. I leap into the air and catch it, before quickly turning around and throwing it at the Horsea again. I'm a much better shot than Lyra, it'll be easier this way. The ball hits the Horsea in the back as it tries to escape, and activates, sucking the pokémon inside. It lands with it's signature bump, and then wobbles. Once. The look of anticipation on Lyra's face is one I've never seen before. Twice. Her smile grows ever bigger as the ball wobbles. Thrice.
"CLICK."
Sparks fly from the red and white ball. It's caught. I caught the Horsea. Lyra squees in happiness, and absolutely sprints towards the ball. A Rapidash would feel threatened by her speed right now. She skips along the ground to pick up the ball and gets up again in one quick move, and then turns around and runs towards me. I did not foresee the consequences of catching her first and favourite pokémon for her. She jumps on me and hugs me, wrapping her legs and arms around me like a Slakoth. A glomp if there ever was one. I fall down onto my back, Lyra still hugging me. "!" Lyra screams happily. She says some other things, but my ears can't understand the frequency her voice is at. "It...it was no problem, Ly. It's your favourite, after all. Not like I was going to let it get away." Lyra gets up and runs around, holding the ball as if it's holy. "I can't believe it! My first AND my favourite pokémon at the same time! This is incredible!" She stares at the ball, and then holds up her pokédex to the ball. I forgot mines. "Lyra, it's a horsea, we already know that." I say, confused. "I want to find out the gender." She replies. The pokédex loads for a second, and then Lyra squees again. "A girl! It's a girl! I'm going to name it Bubbles!" She runs over to me again and hugs me. "Thank you Kai, thank you."
Just then, I hear a muffled, high pitched whine followed by a bubbling noise coming from the cave behind the waterfall. Lyra and I both look at it, confused, before she lets go of me and I go to investigate. I come to the mouth of the cave, and then immediately notice something. "There's a big pile of rocks here! Must have been a small cave in!" I hear the noise again, coming from inside the rocks. Without thinking, I start dragging rocks off the pile, making it smaller. I don't know why, I just do. Lyra's too busy staring at her pokéball, but that's understandable. I keep moving the rocks, the noise getting louder, until I come to a particularly big rock. I strain and lean back in an attempt to move it. As soon as I wedge a crack between the big rock and the others open, I seem to get some form of help, as the rock tips back. I manage to flip the rock over, and I immediately feel a sharp pound to my chest. I'm hit, like a punch, with so much force that I fly out of the cave and through the waterfall, into the pool. As I'm sinking, I grab whatever hit me in the chest in some form of panic. Long and smooth. I kick my legs, swimming towards the shore, moving both myself and carrying whatever hit me. As I near the edge, I feel Lyra grab me and pull me out of the water. I splutter and fall back, still clutching the mysterious assailant. With my eyes closed, I breathe heavily in and out, in an attempt to recover from the shock.
"Ly...Lyra, what the hell happened?" I'm answered with silence. "Ly?" I open my eyes and look at her. She's standing to the right of me, her hand over her mouth in shock. She's staring at my chest. I quickly release my arms and look down too. I do the exact same thing she does. I was right. Long and smooth. It's also blue and shiny. Soft and delicate. Amazing and beautiful. I can't believe what I'm looking at. I didn't even think it was possible. Lying on my chest is a Dratini. A weak, semi-conscious Dratini. It must have been trapped under those rocks for days. I just saved it.
I'm so wrapped up in wonderment and the beauty of the pokémon, that I temporarily fail to realise that this pokémon is hurt. Without a word to Lyra I stand up, still holding it, and wrap it around the back of my neck, hoping to support it. I start running towards town, Lyra realising what I'm doing and quickly following me. I run as fast as I can, which luckily is pretty damn fast. The town draws closer quickly, and as I rush into it, the houses become a blur. I don't even check if Lyra is keeping up, I just keep running. I come to the Pokémon centre before I realise it, and I run through the automatic doors. I rush to the counter and look for someone. "Excuse me," I shout, "I need help here! This pokémon is hurt!" A nurse, one of the Joys, comes around the corner behind the desk. "Oh my goodness!" she exclaims, "What happened?" "I found it in the cave by the waterfall. Some rocks had collapsed on top of it and it's been there, from the look of it, for a few days. Quick, it needs help." Joy nods, and I hand her the Dratini. It bubbles sadly as I hand it over. The nurse puts it on a bed and wheels it along. I look behind me. Lyra is right there. Looks like she kept up. "Come on then," she says with a smile, "You're not leaving that Dratini behind, and I'm most certainly not missing this chance to tell mum about my first pokémon. I'll go find her, and then I'll find you." I smile at my sister, before running off after the Dratini.
When I find it, it's hooked up to a machine. I can't remember what it does, but little electrodes are placed all over it. A little bag of fluid is connected to the Dratini, probably to combat dehydration. I stand at the bedside and watch Joy work on it. She doesn't even notice me. The dratini does though. It's still semi-conscious, and it bubbles as I walk in. After the bubbling, Joy turns and sees me. "You got him here just in time." She says with a smile. "Another few hours, it would have been done for. But, we can treat it. All going well, he should be fine by morning. You saved his life, sweetie." The Dratini, apparently male, seems to open it's eyes a little more and make a happy sounding blurb noise at that sentence. The nurse smiles again and touches my arm. "And I'm pretty sure he knows it, too."
The Dratini moves his gaze towards mines, which was already focused entirely on him. I smile at him. He seems to smile back.
