This world is inhabited by creatures called Pokemon. We humans live alongside Pokemon as friends. At times we play together and at other times we work together. Some people use their pokemon to battle and develop closer bonds with them. My name is Serena. My friend and lifelong rival is Lucas. What do I do? Well, I am a Pokemon trainer.
"Despite the exploration team's best efforts, however, the rare, oddly colored Pokemon eluded detection. The rumored red Gyarados failed to appear, even fleetingly, to the crestfallen team…" It was a regular Tuesday morning; I was watching the News about life outside my boring little town where nothing ever happens. The town's name is Twinleaf. I would look outside at the clear blue skies with the white fluffy clouds and the same old tall dark green trees and wonder to myself if anything will ever change. I got up out of bed and took a couple weary morning steps. I put on my usual little outfit with the light blue tank top and the navy blue flannel I wore over it, with short jeans and tights that went up to my thighs, with small black shoes. I looked in the mirror to see my long blonde hair in curls and my big blue sparkling eyes. I brushed the dirt off of my chest and looked at my skinny legs wondering what I would look like if I was obese. I shuddered and shook the thought out of my mind.
"Don't forget about the hat," I murmured to myself as I slipped the turquoise trucker hat onto my head. My hand went upwards and felt the light blue pokeball that was stitched into the hat. I looked down at my seashell bracelet then up to my necklace with a moon and a star on it. I brushed my teeth and walked down the old steps to find my mom awaiting for me to wake up.
"Serena! Lucas came calling for you a little while ago. I don't know what it was about, but he said it was an emergency." My mom eagerly said to me. I casually walked to the small white door after taking one look at my mother who smiled brightly and shooed me away with her hands. Then she remembered and yelled at me quickly before I left, "Oh! Serena! Don't go in the tall grass, wild Pokemon might attack you. It would be okay if you had your own Pokemon, but you don't, so…."
I playfully rolled my eyes and laughed then hugged my mom rather tightly, "You don't need to worry mom, I have big strong Lucas looking after me!" We both chuckled at the joke because Lucas was a rather scrawny boy. We let go and I finally opened the door as it creaked the whole time I opened it. I walked outside into the fresh air and up the wide dirt road. I waved to my other neighbors and smiled as I walked down the same old road to Lucas' house. I reached out to open the door and me and Lucas collided harshly and I looked up at him. His crazy blonde hair was waving in the wind and his slightly mentally ill looking face and golden eyes were cast upon mine. His white spiky hair glowed in above his black bandanna that was tied across his head. His orange scarf waved in the wind silently and his yellow gloves stuck out next to his black long armed t-shirt and his long khakis that went down to his running shoes.
"What was that about?! Oh, hey, Serena! Hey! Im going to the lake! You come too! And be quick about it! OK, Serena? Im fining you $1 million if you're late!" It seemed he yelled so loudly at me for a second I couldn't even hear. And right after that he came barreling back to me and yell as he rushed past me into his house, "Oh, jeez! Forgot something!" I laughed a little bit and walked into his house happily. I shut the door behind me quietly, as I knew his parents were sleeping soundly in the room close to me. I slowly crept past them and walked up the stairs quietly. "….I'd better take my bag and journal, too…." Lucas murmured to himself. He then looked over at me and continued shouting, "Oh, hey, Serena! Were going to the lake! I'll be waiting on the road! It's a $10 million fine if you're late!" My eardrums were once again pounding. He got up and sprinted at me full speed, I side stepped just in time to see him go crashing down the stairs. I casually walked down the stairs and again crept through his living room wondering how his parents aren't wide awake. I opened the door and walked down the dirt path, kicking pebbles and looking at the tall dark trees that have been that way ever since I can remember. I see Lucas and this time he talks to me in a normal voice that doesn't murder my ears, "Hey, you saw that news report that was on TV, right? You know Search for the red Gyarados! The mysterious appearance of the furious Pokemon in a lake! That show got me thinking. I'll bet our local lake has some Pokemon like that in it, too! So that's what were gonna do. We'll go find a Pokemon like that!" I held out my hand and he took it gingerly. I led him off the trail to a short cut to Lake Verity. As we walked to the lake I took a moment to look at its beauty, and then continued down the path until we arrived and saw two people there, so we hid behind a tree and some bushes and listened in on their conversation.
"Professor there's nothing out of the oridinary on the other side either!" A rather strong boy seemed to argue with an old man who looked experienced and wise.
"Hmm… I may have been mistaken… Something seems to be different than it was before, but… Fine! Its enough that we have seen the lake. Charles, we're leaving." The older man replied back with much thought, he then stroked his beard and began to walk off as the younger one was caught off guard and he put his hand on the old man's shoulder.
"Professor, you've been gone for four years now. How are you enjoying being back in Sinnoh?" The younger man questioned the older. After hearing our regions name being said I realized that this old dude had been not only all around our region but to multiple other regions too!
The old man replied back to his question, "…Hm. There is nothing I can say. There are many rare kinds of Pokemon in Sinnoh. This region should serve us very well for our studies." The old guy and his kid friend walked off to leave me and Lucas with our thoughts. Studies? What kind of studies was this old guy going to do?
"What was that about? Those two…" Lucas trailed off in the middle of his sentence then began rapidly talking again, "Huh? Serena! Lets go check this out!"
I looked at him with worry and then told him slowly so he could hear and remember all of it, "Lucas, we can't go in the tall grass because if we do we might get attacked by wild Pokemon. And we don't have Pokemon to protect us…" I trailed off because I think he got the point of what I was trying to tell him.
"What's that? Don't go into the tall grass? No problem, no problem! We won't be in there long enough for wild Pokemon to come out." He stoped immediately with a smirkish little grin on his face. I thought in my mind 'uh-oh…' He took my hand and dragged me into the tall grass where we found… A briefcase? "Those people forgot it here. What are we supposed to do with it? We can try to deliver it, but who are they? I heard the younger one say professor…" The last bit of what he was going to say was interrupted by two wild Pokemon!
"Lucas what do we do!" I yelled as I could see the fear in his eyes as well. I opened the briefcase quickly to see Pokeballs inside of them. My eyebrows raised and we both smiled. There were three of them…Which one to choose? Beneath each of them was a card saying which types of Pokemon they are. "The penguin pokemon Piplup… The chimp pokemon Chimchar…. The tiny leaf pokemon Turtwig." I read the cards out loud to Lucas.
Lucas looked at me with confidence in his eyes and not a moment later he shouted at me, "I want the fire Pokemon!" I threw him that ball quickly and he began to battle the first pokemon. I knew water beat fire so I decided to choose the tiny leaf pokemon as a challenge. And the picture made it look really cute to me. The battle had begun.
A wild Starly came at my pokemon so I threw out my Turtwig and remembered in my head what every Pokemon should know is tackle. "Turtwig, use Tackle!" I yelled as loudly and compassionately to the Pokemon as I could. I had lots of damage, I decided I should use that again, "Turtwig, use tackle!" The wild Starly has almost fainted, "One more time, tackle!" The bird was defeated…
I returned Turtwig to its pokeball and put it back in the briefcase, and so did Lucas.
"FWAAAH! Your Turtwig totally rocked! But my Chimchar was way tougher than yours!" We both smiled and laughed after he boasted that comment. I couldn't help but laugh; it cleared away the nervousness a little bit.
Then I remembered… "Lucas, they were other peoples Pokemon though… We had to use them… They won't mind, will they?" As soon as I said this, the younger kid came barreling into this odd scene. He looked between us and sighed happily, I thought we were off the hook and I smiled nervously.
"Whew! You found the briefcase!" He let out another long sigh and looked at us happily then took the briefcase from us and looked at its insides. He began talking as he went through the insides, "The professor would've gone through the roof if he knew I forgot it here….. HUNH? WHAAAAT?!" He started yelling and going crazy then he had a shaky breath and asked us, "D-Did you guys… Did you u-use these Pokémon?! Oh man…. How am I gonna explain this to the Professor?..." He rushed off in a hurry and I looked at Lucas with shame in my eyes.
But Lucas looked at me happily, "Hey, I was the one who said we should go in the Tall grass, blame me. But what was that about?" he pondered then took a step closer to me and said quietly, "I don't know what's going on. Let's get out of here Serena." He took my hand and we walked back up the trail until we saw the dirt road. We started walking in it, walking and laughing, hand in hand. Then he said rather sadly, "You go ahead… I know these Pokemon aren't ours. I know we have to go return these Pokemon so let's go Serena." I smiled and began walking with him down the dirt road and we were so into our conversation about the news that we accidentally bumped into some people.
"Hey, it's those people! Is that old dude staring at us?..." Lucas said rather loudly as I flicked him on the head and thought to myself: Lucas…. Now were gonna be in even bigger trouble you idiot.
"Hmm… I heard from Charles that you used our Pokemon? Charles, let me see them please." The Old man turned around to look at 'Charles' and suddenly Charles gave him the Pokemon we were using. "Hmm…. Turtwig and Chimchar… Hmm, I see… That's how it is… Charles! I'm going back to my lab! The old guy walked off, leaving Charles behind.
"Uh… Yeah, of course! Professor wait for me! Lucas yelled quickly then turned around and cast his ocean eyes upon mine and said charmingly, "You should visit us at our lab later, I think. We'll be seeing you!" He smiled then coolly walked off and held up his hand and waved goodbye.
I gulped and thought about how perfect Charles was and I guess I had a little look of dreaminess upon my face because Lucas looked at me and said with creased eyebrows, "What was the stupid buffoon 'Charles' talking about. Im not going to see that blithering idiot anywhere. Now lets go home." I couldn't help but laugh then think that maybe that maybe Lucas was jealous of Charles. I then hugged him before I jogged back the road to my house where my mom was waiting.
I sipped on a cold glass of water and me and my mom were sitting on the roof together,the sun was setting and the clouds were the most beautiful shade of pink I had ever seen. I looked over and saw the perfect image of a mom. The hair was shorter but the same blonde, and the same blue eyes as me with the same sweet but competitive smile. The she smiled and asked, "So what's up my dear?" I told her about all that happened today with vivid detail with her gasps and laugh inbetween, you know she is a great listener. She soon replied back with, "Wow. I cant believe that happened to you! How exciting!" She smiled and wrapped her arm around my shoulder then got all 'mom serious mode' and said to me, "Am I ever gald that both you and Lucas are unharmed." She said, then answered one of my big questions and continues to talk, "The professor you mentioned is most likely Professor Rowan of Sandgem town. I've heard that he's well known for his studies on Pokemon. I Hear hes quite intimidating." I square up my face and shoulder and hold out my arms real serious and make a growling noise and nod, answering her that he is very intimidating. She laughed and lightly hit me on the shoulder then her eyes brightened and had an idea, "Serena I think you should visit him in Sandgem town!" She left the roof and returned with some awesome running shoes! "Here use these on your journey, because going to Sandgem is like an adventure in itself, right?" She stood up, put her hands on her hips heroically and said in a rather 'superman voice', "With running shoes, you can get too far places with ever more speed and power than ever before!" We both smiled and laughed and she sat back down and put her arm around me again as I put on the running shoes and tied the laces. We both got off of the roof and walked downstairs where we sat on the couch and watched some TV together until it was time for me to leave.
I walked up the dirt road and made a right turn that I had never done before. I walked through the tall grass cautiously, even though I was cautious I ran into a couple Pokemon and beat them all! I had finally arrived in Sandgem town. I was also a small town, but I had a Pokecenter and a Pokemart with a couple houses and a huge lab. Which was where I was guessing the professor lives.
Suddenly I run into Charles and drop some of my things, we both bend down to pick him up and I think he touched my hand, either way I was blushing a little bit. After I was done being a clumsy mess Charles looked at me and smiled that gleaming smile of his and said handsomely, "Hey, I've been waiting for you. Please come with me," At this point I was blushing pretty badly, but I shakily took his hand, tried to smiled prettily, and brushed my hair back with the other hand. When I thought he was going to take me somewhere romantic he said happily, "The Porfessors just waiting to see you. See? This is our Pokemon research lab." He led me to the front door and I looked up dumbstruck at how big it was. He opened the door, still holding my hand when suddenly Lucas came crashing out and saw us holding hands.
"What the… Oh… Serena!" he suddenly cheered up for no reason and I took my hand back to myself and listened to Lucas as he explained, "That old guy… He's not scary so much as he is totally out there! Aw, it doesn't matter Serena. I'm out of here see you later!" He shot Charles a look of jealously and anger then ran off into the distance, and not the way Twinleaf town was…
"What was that?! Your friend seems to be in such a rush. Anyway… Let's go in." He opened the door once more and lead me inside. Lab researchers were everywhere but the 'Professor' was standing in the middle with a happy smile. "…Finally you've come. Serena, was it? Charles hand over Turtwig again." Charles left and returned with Turtwig, and he gave the Pokemon to the professor. The professor was looking at the Pokeball as he stroked his beard then he answered, "Hmm… I see… This Pokemon seems to be rather happy. All righty then!" He smiled then winked at me and kept talking, "I'll give that Turtwig to you as a gift." All of the happiness seemed to build up and I let out a huge smile and I hugged the Professor tightly, he smiled and looked down at me then let go and began asking me some questions, "Now that it's yours would you like to give it a nickname?" I thought about it and shook my head smiling, I dare not say any words because if I do they might come out in squeals. The Professor continues talking again, "Your friends Lucas told me what happened at the lake. I heard you battled well, despite it being your first time. And, from what I can see, there is a growing bond between you and that Pokemon, though it is still young. That's why I would like to entrust you with Turtwig.
I turned to Charles and he took on another one of his smirks of joy and he looked at me with those eyes of his and said, "Boy am I glad you're kind towards Pokemon. If you weren't, well…. I don't even want to think about it." I had a dreamy look on my face and the professor tapped my shoulder lightly so I returned to looking at him.
"Now onto the main topic. This might be long so remember to stay focused. Here we go, there is something I want you to do for me. My name is Rowan, and I study Pokemon. First of all, I want to know exactly what kinds of Pokemon live in the Sinnoh region. To do so, it is necessary to collect data using the pokedex. This is what I wish to ask of you. I want to entrust you with this Pokedex. Will you use is to record data on all the Pokemon in the Sinnoh region for me?" I could barely contain myself, I nodded quickly and smiled as big and wide as I could. Then Rowan smiled back and looked at me, "Hm! Good answer!" He handed me the pokedex and I but it in my bag that I carry everywhere. He looked at me sternly, "That Pokedex is a very high-tech device. It will automatically record data on every kind of Pokemon you encounter. Serena, I ask that you go everywhere and meet every kind of Pokemon in this region!" My head was spinning and I was about to faint, I had so many emotions building up.
Then Charles began to speak, "I've got the same kind of Pokedex as you." Oh great, Im competing with Charles I thought.
Rowan looked at me thoughtfully and tried to talk more slowly this time, "When you walked up Route 201 with your Pokemon what did you feel? I've lived for 60 long years. Even now, I get a thrill when I'm with a Pokemon. Now, you should know that there are countless Pokemon in this world. That means that there are just as many thrills waiting for you out there! Now go! Serena, your grand adventure starts right now!"
