A Pokémon book

Chapter 1: Starters?

Ace

"Ace!" My friend called out to me. I turned and noticed him dashing towards me.

"What do you want Nico can't you see me and Chompy are training?" He tended to interrupt at the worst times. Chompy, who was a Gible (Gih-Bull) and I had really started to get down to some serious training. But something seemed off about Nico. Choppy black hair? No that's normal. Grey-blue eyes? Nope, still the same. Red hoodie with sleeves pulled up, black pants, black gloves? All the same.

"The package from professor Dexio (Dex-ee-oh) came in today!" Oh that was it, he was excited. Normally Nico was more of a serious and collected person, but all of that seemed to have left him, if just for the moment.

"You can't be serious. You sure?" I will admit I was a little skeptical. We had been waiting for this package for about three months now, and I was doubting it would even come in. Nico frowned at me

"You know I'm always serious when it comes to something like this." His eyes lit back up, "come on I brought it to my house!" He ran towards his house, leaving me and Chompy behind there feeling stupid.

"Wait up idiot!" I returned Chompy back to his pokeball and followed his trail. I didn't normally go to his house all too often. It was kinda close to Santalune forest and the bugs creeped me out. Nevertheless, if the package was there, I would have to brave it. As I was running over there, I saw one of the mirrors they had strewn around the town for girls to do their make-up or hair. I looked at my reflection and recoiled in disgust. I looked like a train wreck. My short black hair was sticking up all over the place. My browns eyes were bloodshot and my training clothes were ripped in various places. And my skin, despite already being brown, was visibly caked with a thick layer of dirt. 'I look like hell' I thought. 'I'll call Shiizo and tell him I'm gonna go change.' I pulled out my Holo-Caster and clicked his name in my contact list.

"Calling Nico…" An image popped up of Nico's little sister, Ryn (Rin), playing with Nico's Dunsparce, (Done-Sparce) which he nicknamed Spar.

"Hello Ace," she said without taking her eyes away from Spar.

"Hi Ryn. Is Nico there yet?"

"Yeah let me get him." She left the frame leaving just Spar there. In the background, I heard some talking, and then footsteps coming back into frame.

"Ace what happened?" He was looking at Spar, "I thought you were right behind me. Are you coming?" He looked up and suddenly registered how bad I looked. "Oh damn dude, sorry I was so caught up earlier I hadn't noticed."

"No It's fine but I am gonna head home real quick to shower and change. I might be a little late. Did your mom make any food or do I need to eat before I come?"

"Ok, and my mom made some pizza so you should be good."

"Thanks I'll be over as soon as possible." I pressed the end call button and then started walking home. When I got there my mom was waiting.

"You're late," she said, a little worry in her voice as she looked at me.

"Sorry training ran a little late. And I'm going over to Nico's house in a minute, just gonna change and shower. That way you won't have to make dinner for me. It'll just be you and Mary."

"Nico' house? What for? You know it's by the forest." I shuddered at the thought of all the bugs.

"Yeah the package from Professor Dexio finally came in today. We're gonna open it over there."

"Ok sweetie, do you want me to get your bug spray?"

"Please do, I don't want all those bugs swarming me when I get over there."

"Ok, I'll get it"

"Thanks mom." I gave her a hug and then ran up to my bedroom. Once I got up the stairs I made a beeline for my room and jumped in the shower. As I stood under the warm water I got to thinking. 'I wonder what the professor sent us. I know our moms told us that they had talked to him and he had said he was gonna get something for us but it could be so many things. Special pokeballs, maybe a Pokémon. Who knows? I feel bad making Nico wait but I needed to get clean.' I stepped out of the shower, dried off, and put on my regular clothes. Black shirt, blue hoodie, black cargo pants, and white running shoes. "Mom I'm leaving!"

"Here's your bug spray." She shook the can up and sprayed it all over my clothes.

"Thanks, I'll be back later."

"Ok sweetie be safe." She kissed me on the cheek and I left.

"Chompy come out." He came out of his pokeball and I put him on my shoulder, he liked to sit up there when we walked places. The walk to Nico's only took about 15 minutes, but with the fear of bugs jumping out and attacking me, it felt like an eternity. Nico's house was kinda small, being out of the way from Aquacorde city. It only had two rooms and one bathroom. The living room and kitchen were connected. Nico's room was the only thing that was upstairs and his mom and Ryn's room branched off from the living room. The bathroom was accessed from the kitchen where I could smell Nico's mom cooking the pizza.

"Hello Ace," she said to me, "Nico is in the bathroom, you can go sit in the living room while you wait."

"Thanks you Mrs. Kitetsu (Key-Tet-Soo)." I walked over and sat on the couch reaching for the TV remote. 'Wonder what's going on in the news.' Before I could grab it Nico walked out of the bathroom. I looked at the package sitting on the coffee table. "Is this it Nico?"

"Yeah," he walked over and sat across from me, "so who's gonna open it?" He looked at me with the question playing on his eyes.

"We could battle for it," I suggested.

"You only say that because you know you'll win."

"So you're saying you doubt Spar's ability? I thought he was strong." I looked down and the Pokémon made a low growling sound.

"N- No that's not it, I just…. Ugh fine"

"That's the spirit let's go."

We walked a little ways away from the houses so we wouldn't damage anything and got ready.

"One on one match," I said, "winner gets to open the package first."

"I know I know. Ready?"

"Yeah let's do it!"

Battle

Nico vs. Ace

Start

"Spar we can beat him!"

"Don't worry Chompy we got this." 'Ok first step, analyze the battle field. Rocks, trees, lots of dirt. Perfect.' "Use tackle!" It still amazed me that Pokémon could understand what we were saying and would listen. Chompy threw himself at Spar and slammed into him. But apparently Nico had been expecting this.

"Now Spar use rollout!" 'So that's his strategy. Crap, I need to think of something… I got it!'

"Chompy, keep taking rollout until it's at maximum potential!" Chompy looked back at me with a look of worry but he knew to trust my judgment in battle.

"What?! But he'll just faint!"

"That's what you think, but this is what Chompy and I have been training to defend against." As he continued to take the hits I was worried that he wouldn't be able to take it, but then Spar hit his max speed. "Now propel Spar upwards using sand tomb." Chompy looked at me and nodded, finally understanding what I meant. He moved his arms and the dirt under Spar shot him into the air.

"Oh no! The speed at which he is falling will cause him to crash and faint!"

"Exactumundo my friend." Spar spun up in the air a little longer and then crashed into the ground, causing a decent sized crater.

Winner: Ace

"Spar return," he returned Spar to his pokeball and then sighed, "See, I told you that you always win. Come on let's go back and open that sucker.

We got back to the house and Nico's mom asked how it went. After I explained it she looked at Nico.

"But even thought I won, I decided to let Nico open the package first." I turned to my friend and smiled. His eyes went wide.

"What?! But Ace, you won the battle fair and square. You should be the one to open it."

"I know, I know. But I thought since Chompy is higher leveled than spar it would be an unfair fight. So I'll just let you open it." He nodded and then turned his attention towards the box.

"Here goes." He slowly undid the ribbon and removed the top. His eyes became wider. "Th- There are ten pokeballs in here, some sort of box looking thing, and a note!" He pulled the note out of it and read it to himself, then he handed it to me. I read it to myself.

Dear Nico and Ace,

Your mothers told me you wanted to go on a Pokémon journey. That's great! I asked if there was anything I could do to help but they informed me you already had Pokémon. I considered this, and then decided to send some anyway. In this package you will find two Pokémon, eight empty pokeballs, and two pokedexes. The pokedex records data on any Pokémon you see or catch. Good luck and I hope to see you in Lumiose City!

Sincerely,

Prof. Dexio

I put the note down and looked at Nico. I guess my face was pretty good because he smiled at me.

"I know pretty crazy huh?" He grabbed the note and read it to himself again. "We could have started our journey five years ago when we were ten. But we decided to wait to train spar and Chompy. I guess we made the right choice." When I looked at him I noticed he was tearing up. "I just… I don't know how I would have felt leaving home so early." He shook his head and smiled again. "Sorry I'm being all serious again but we should be celebrating."

"You ready to get a new friend?"

"You bet."

"You choose first."

"Ok here we go!"