Greetings and salutations. Welcome to The Joy of Pokemon. First off, I'd like to thank you for reading this story. I know that there have been lots of these kind of story's, so I'd like to thank you for checking out mine instead of the other 20,000 that are out there. I hope that my protagonist will be unique enough to make this one stand out. Alright, you don't want to hear me ramble on any longer, so I'll let you read. Enjoy.


The man who sat in the chair wasn't the skinniest of people; he'd be the first to admit it. Becoming old had taken its toll as his metabolism had slowed down and he was eating more. He had tried many different programs to help him exercise and get into shape, but he didn't have the patience or the virtue to stay with one of them long enough for it to make a difference. So, he had just let himself go for the most part.

The man looked up from his newspaper and down the road. No one was coming, so he continued reading the newspaper that was in his hands.

"Team Rocket Nugget Bridge Scandal!" is what the headline read. The man let out a deep sigh as he scratched his beard.

"Seems like not a day goes by without Team Rocket being in the news," he said to himself. He checked his watch. It read 7:42.

"Caleb needs to hurry if he wants to deliver this package before nightfall," the man said, referring to the package he had in his lap. He flipped the page of the newspaper and started to read an article about how new technology was being developed by the Devon Corporation in the Hoenn region. Things like devices that allowed you to talk to Pokemon and new types of Pokeballs. It wasn't going very well, however, and they haven't had much success.

The man looked up when he heard the engine of a truck approaching him on the road. He folded the newspaper and laid it on the ground. He picked up the package and stood up, waiting for the delivery truck to stop where he was.

The truck slowly came into a halt, stopping a little bit away from the man, so he had to walk a few steps to make up the difference.

On the side of the truck were big letters that read, "Pidgeot Express" and a stylized drawing of a pidgeot.

The window on the driver's side rolled down to reveal a boy about seventeen years old. He didn't have anything special on, just a pink t-shirt with an egg on the front and some blue jeans.

The boy named Caleb put one of his arms out of the vehicle.

"How many more?" he asked.

"This is the last one, Mr. Joy," the man said as he passed it up to him. "and it's small enough to fit in the front."

"Alright then," Caleb said as he took the box and put it next to his seat. He brushed away his pink hair away from his face. "Where is this one going?"

"Down in Pallet Town, at Prof. Oak's lab."

"Really?" Caleb had always wanted to go to the famous Professor Oak's lab, but he never had any reason to.

"Yup, but you'll need to leave right away if you want to get back before sundown."

"Gotcha."

The man heard the door of the passenger side open. Around the front of the truck came a large, pink, oval shaped pokemon with an egg in a pouch on its stomach. In its hands was a flower.

"Chansey!" the pokemon said as it gave the flower over the the man.

"Chansey found a flower near the pokecenter and wanted to give it to you," Caleb explained.

"Well…thank you," the man said surprised while taking the flower.

"Chansey," Chansey said with a big smile. She turned around and went back over to the other side of the truck, hopped back into it and closed the door.

"Well, I'll see you around," Caleb said as a farewell and rolled up his window. He put his foot down on the gas and drove away from the delivery station.

The man, now done with his work, pick up his newspaper and started to head home.


Caleb looked into the rear view mirror, not to see what was behind him, but to look at his own face. He licked one of his fingers and slid it down on a section of his hair that wasn't straight. Caleb wanted to look as good as possible if he was going to be able to meet the famous Professor Oak in person.

He looked again at his hair and, to his dismay, saw that it had almost all been ruffled up by the end of the day and he didn't bring a comb with him.

"Guess that will have to do."

When most people see Caleb, the first thing they noticed was his very strange hair color. They were always surprised that someone like him would want to dye his hair color that way, but they were even more surprised when he told them that it was natural and that he got the color from his mother.

Caleb could have dyed his hair a more 'manly' color, but he was fine with it. It didn't bother him too much. And no one gave him slack for it when he explained that he was part of the Joy family.

Caleb took his eyes off the road for a second to look over at the passenger seat, where his first and only pokemon was. She was staring out of the window, observing everything that was passing by. They didn't get to go to Pallet Town often so all the surroundings were fairly new to her, and she was taking it all in.

Caleb had gotten Chansey when he was young. Usually, when Joy's would take over a Pokemon center, a Chansey that had graduated from a nursing school would be assigned to them. But because Caleb couldn't become a nurse and didn't want to become a doctor, his family had gotten him a chansey from a Pokemon shelter, and they had been together ever since. Caleb put his eyes back on the road. He was getting into the part of the road that was covered with bumps and ledges so he needed to pay attention.

Caleb now worked for the Pidgeot Express, which was a package delivery company that worked all over Kanto. He did the boring job of driving around and taking the packages to the people who needed them. He didn't even go on long trips either. He only delivered around Viridian City and sometimes to Pallet Town.

After a while Caleb got through the hard part of the road.

That's going to be hard to drive at night Caleb thought. Wanting to take his mind off of the driving, Caleb thought of something to talk about.

"So, Chansey," he started.

"Chansey?"

"I was reading some Pokemon jokes the other day, and I found one I think you'd like. Do you want to hear it?"

"Chansey," she nodded.

"Okay. So what did the geodude say to the rhyhorn when it evolved?"

"Chansey?"

"Ride on, dude!"

Chansey's smile grew bigger when she got the joke.

"Chansey!" she laughed with her arms in the air.

Caleb knew it was bad, but it made Chansey happy.

After about a half-hour more of driving and a few more jokes, Caleb drove into the town of Pallet. There was a sign that welcomed visitors saying: "Welcome to Pallet town, where shades of your journey await."

It didn't take long for Caleb to find the lab since it was on a hill in the middle of town with a large windmill on it.

Caleb parked his truck below the hill, took the package, and got out of the truck. Chansey followed suit. Caleb looked across the horizon to see that the sun was already setting.

"So much for getting back before sundown."

"Chansey."

Caleb and Chansey ran up the steps the led up the hill, but immediately regretted it when they reached the top. Well, at least, Caleb did. Chancey looked like she had fun and wasn't tired at all.

After Caleb had gotten his breath back, he went up to the door and rang the doorbell. Caleb was so excited that he would be meeting Professor Oak finally.

But it wasn't Professor Oak who opened the door. The boy who opened the door was a lot younger than Caleb was. He had black hair with a red bandana on his forehead. He had a green shirt on and red shorts.

"I have a package for Professor Oak," Caleb said, disappointed that he wouldn't meet Professor Oak in person.

"Oh, he's not here right now, but I'll give it to him when he gets back. Thanks!" The boy took the package out of Caleb's hands.

Caleb, now knowing that he would have no chance of even getting a glimpse of the Professor, turned around and headed back to his truck.

"Excuse me," the boy's voice came from behind Caleb, "but are you going to drive back to Viridian City in the dark? The road is very dangerous already, but it's even more frightful in the dark."

"I know, but it's not like I can stay here in Pallet town. I don't have any money to rent a hotel or even a cabin for the night."

"Well, I know! Why don't you stay here?" the boy said.

"Really?"

"Sure. I know Professor Oak won't mind, and we have a guest room, so why don't you come in."

"Well, that's very nice of you, thanks."

"Chansey!" Chansey agreed.

Caleb turn back around and walked into the lab, the boy closed the door behind him.

"Here, let me show you to your room," the boy said and led him down a hallway.

"Are you sure this is alright? It just doesn't feel kosher," Caleb asked.

"Of course it is. We have visitors over here all the time. That's why we have a guest room."

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I caught your name."

"I'm Tracy," the boy introduced himself, "and I'm Proffesor Oak's assistant. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise. I'm Caleb and this is my Chancey," Caleb said, pointing to his pokemon.

"Chansey!" she said as a greeting.

"That's cool that you have a Chansey! I've rarely seen ones that aren't nurses. Are you a trainer perhaps?" Tracy asked enthusiastically.

"No, I'm not. I may become a trainer some day. I've always thought it would be nice to travel all around the Kanto Region. It must be really cool being Proffesor Oak's assistant," Caleb went back to their conversation.

"It is. It can be hard work, though, taking care of all of the pokemon that people leave here."

"I can imagine."

"Chan-sey," Chansey agreed.

The two arrived at a door at the end of a hallway.

"This is where you will be staying," Tracey explained.

"Thank you." Caleb then remembered something that he had to do. "Um…do you have a videophone I could use? I need to use one to tell my mother that I won't be home tonight so she doesn't worry about me. I forgot my cell phone at home."

"Of course. It's this way; follow me." Tracey led Caleb and Chancey through the Lab to a living room-like area. It had a few couches and chairs and a glass coffee table in the middle. The coffee table had lots of notebooks and sketchpads on it. In the corner was a videophone.

"Here it is. Feel free to use it as long as you like."

"Thanks, Tracey."

"Don't mention it!"

Tracey went over to one of the couches and picked up a red sketchbook and started to draw in it.

Caleb picked up the phone and dialed the Pokecenter in Viridian City. After a few ring tones, the person on the other end pick up the phone. She was wearing the normal Nurse attire that all Nurse Joy's wore with the same hair cut as well.

"Hello, this is the Viridian Pokemon center, how may-" the Nurse Joy on the other end started to say until she saw who was talking to her. "Well, hello there Caleb, why are you calling me?"

"Hi mom. I just wanted to tell you that I'm not going to be home tonight."

"And why's that?"

"My last package was to Professor Oak's lab, and it's very dangerous traveling the road from Viridian to Pallet at night. So, one of Professor Oak's assistants told me that I could stay at the lab for the night instead of coming back."

"Well that's so nice of him. Have you met the Professor yet?"

"No, not yet. He's away right now, but I would really like to meet him in person."

"Alright, I'll tell your father so he won't be worrying. Thanks for the call. Good night, Caleb."

"Good night," Caleb said back and then hung up. He went over to where Chancey and Tracey were on the couch. He wasn't that tired yet, so Caleb decided that he would talk a bit.

"What are you drawing?" he asked.

"Your Chancey," Tracey replied. Chancey was surprised by this and went over to look at the sketch. She smiled once she saw it.

"Chancey!"

"May I see?" Caleb asked.

"Sure." Tracey turned the book around to let Caleb see. It was a sketch, sure, but it was very well done and much better than anything Caleb could ever do.

"That's really good," Caleb complemented him.

"Thanks."

"Could I look at some of your other work?"

"Sure. Go ahead."

Caleb picked up one of the notebooks and started to flip through it. There were many different drawings of pokemon. Pictures of butterfree flying through the sky, of gravelers and golems rolling down a mountain, and of oddish dancing in the moon light.

"Do you go out and travel around to draw these?" Caleb asked.

"Well, I don't anymore, but I used to be a Pokemon Watcher."

"A Pokemon Watcher?"

"See, my primary job as a Pokemon Watcher was to go around and make sure that pokemon habitats were in the right condition and that Pokemon weren't going extinct in areas for whatever reason. In my free time, I would sketch down the Pokemon I watched after. You can think of it kinda like a field scientist."

Caleb kept flipping through the book, looking through other pictures. "It must be fun to travel around, huh?"

"It was. I traveled all around the Orange Archipelago with two of my friends, and we had the best of times."

"Hmmm…"

Caleb heard the door open and close from the entrance.

"Tracey, I'm back," a voice came from the same place.

"We're in the living room," Tracey called out.

Caleb looked over to one of the doorways into the living room and saw a man in his early 50's with a lab coat on enter. He had a few books in his hands.

"Oh, and who do we have here?" Professor Oak asked. Caleb got out from his seat and went over to greet the man.

"Hello, my name is Caleb. This is such an honour to meet you in person."

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, too."

"See, Caleb here was delving a package to you, but by the time he got here, it was dark, and you know how treacherous Route 1 can be in the dark. So, I didn't think that you would mind him staying here for the night." Tracey explained.

"That's fine with me," Professor Oak agreed. "By the way, is that your chansey?"

"Yes, she's mine."

"Chansey!" she gave a greeting.

Professor Oak put one of his fingers up. "This calls for a poem!" He cleared his throat. "I think that it is quite fancy; getting a visit from a boy and his chansey!"

"Chansey!" Chansey was pleased.

"I'm glad you liked it!" Professor Oak patted Chansey's head, which made her more happy.

"So what did Ms. Ketchum want talk about?" Tracey asked while putting down his sketchbook.

"Oh, she just wanted to check out some books that I had about the history of capturing Pokemon, so I brought over some books and she borrowed a few of them."

"Ms. Ketchum… why does that name sound familiar…" Caleb pondered

"Maybe you know her son, Ash Ketchum?" Prof. Oak said as he put the books he had in his hands down on the table.

"Yeah…maybe…did he compete in a league at one point?"

"Two. He completed in both the Indigo League and the Silver Conference," Prof. Oak explained.

"He also got into the Orange Island League Hall of Fame. He was one of the friends I talked about earlier," Tracey added.

"That's where I know him!" Caleb exclaimed when he could put his finger on it. "He was the boy I was rooting for at the Indigo League. Too bad about his Charizard."

"Yeah, but that was back then. His Charizard is completely obeying him now," Tracey said. "Well, almost completely," he added.

"Is Ash here, in Pallet town?"

Prof. Oak shook his head. "Ash left for the Hoenn region a while ago. He wants to compete in the Hoenn league."

"Oh, bumber. I would have really liked to meet him. But I did get you meet you today, Prof. Oak, so that's a plus."

"I'm glad it is," Prof. Oak said as he went over and sat next to Tracey. Caleb and Chansey went and sat down on the couch opposite them. "So, Caleb, are you a trainer?" Prof. Oak asked.

"No, but I want to soon. I think it would be a good experience."

"It is. I remember my days as a trainer back way when, but I'm happy to be a Pokemon Professor in my retirement days." Just then, Prof. Oak remembered something. "Caleb, Tracey said that you were delivering a package, where is it?"

"Oh, here it is," Tracey said as he picked it up from the floor he put it on. "I had completely forgotten about it. Sorry."

"Oh, it's fine," Prof. Oak took the package and started to open it. "These must be the Pokedex I ordered for the new trainers that are coming tomorrow." After Prof. Oak opened the parcel, a confused look appeared on his face.

"What's the matter?" Tracey asked while leaning over to look inside the box.

"I only ordered three of them, but there are four in here."

"That's strange," Caleb said.

"Oh well, I'll just have an extra one for now, that's not a big problem."

Chansey let out a yawn, which in turn caused everyone in the room to yawn.

"I think Chansey's got the right idea," Professor Oak joked. "It's getting late, and I'm getting tired."

"Me, too," Caleb agreed. "Alright, Chansey, good night," he said as he took out a pokeball from his belt and returned Chansey to it and then stood up. "Thank you again for letting me stay here."
"It's nothing; don't mention it." Prof. Oak said as he also stood up. "Good night."

"You, too."

Caleb walked himself to his room and closed the door. He didn't bother changing into anything else, not that he had anything else, and just fell onto his bed and fell asleep.


While he was sleeping, Caleb dreamed that he was on journey, going around, catching Pokemon and battling gyms, and he loved it. It was the most fun he had had ever. After a while, Caleb woke up to light shining through the window of his room. Caleb became very disappointed when he realized that it was all just a dream.

"But…it doesn't just have to be a dream…" Caleb thought out loud.

Caleb went and ate breakfast in the kitchen. Apparently, Prof. Oak had his own personal cook, who had made French Toast and invited Caleb to eat some. He accepted that offer. He let Chansey out of her pokeball because the cook had made some Pokemon food for her. She started to eat it up while Caleb ate his French toast.

Tracey had already been up and had been feeding all of the Pokemon outside. Professor Oak, however, was still asleep.

Tracey and Caleb talked a bit more while eating, mostly about what Tracey had experienced on his travels and how much fun it had been. After a bit, Caleb knew that he had better get home.

After he thanked the chef for the food and said goodbye to Tracey, Caleb started his truck again and started to head off back to Viridian City.

The ride was mostly silent as Caleb thought about what he was going to do and Chansey just looked out of the window like she always did.

"Hey, Chansey," Caleb broke the silence.

"Chansey?"

'Would you want to go on a journey across Kanto?" he asked out of the blue.

Chansey thought about it for a second, and then responded with a 'Chansey' which Caleb interpreted as "if you want to."

Eventually, Caleb got back to the Pidgeot Express depot and parked his truck there. He got out and went to his bike that was parked by the building. Bikes cost a lot, and most people couldn't own them, but let's just say that being part of a nursing family has its benefits. Caleb returned Chansey to her Pokeball and started to ride home.

But instead of going home, Caleb rode his bike to the Viridian Pokecenter. He parked it outside the large building. Caleb looked up at the whole thing. It didn't used to be this large, but some time back, an explosion there caused the whole Pokecenter to be rebuilt. Thankfully, no people or Pokemon were hurt. Caleb walked through the automatic doors of the center.

There were lots of people inside the center, some here to get their pokemon healed, some to eat at the restaurant that was here, some people leaving from sleeping here, and some who just used it as a place to get together.

At the counter was a little girl with a pokeball in her hands; she was handing it to the woman behind the counter.

"Nurse Joy, could you make sure my caterpie is feeling well?" she asked as she put the pokeball on the counter.

"Of course I can." Nurse Joy said as she took the pokeball and gave it to her Chansey, who then took it to a back room to be healed. That's when Nurse Joy noticed Caleb.

"Good morning, Caleb! How was Professor Oak's lab?"

"It was awesome, Mom," Caleb said as he approached the counter.

"So what are you doing here?" Caleb's mom asked. Her Chansey came back from the healing room and handed Caleb's mom the pokeball. "Is it all fine?" she asked. The Chansey nodded. Then, she noticed that Caleb was here and a big smile appeared on her face. Caleb knew exactly what she wanted.

"Come on out, Chansey," Caleb said while releasing his Chansey. The second that Chansey got out of its pokeball, she went over and started to talk with Nurse Joy's Chansey. The girl came back over and took her Pokeball from Nurse Joy. "Your Caterpie is just fine. Take good care now."

"You too, Nurse Joy," she said and started to walk away before she saw Caleb out of her peripheral vision. She looked at his hair, confused, but then she looked at Nurse Joy and saw the resemblance. She nodded her head in understanding and then ran out the doors of the center.

"So, why are you here?" Caleb's mom asked again.

"Well, you see…" Caleb said as he scratched the back of his head. Why am I so afraid to tell her? Caleb thought. He took a deep breath.

"I want to go on a Pokemon journey," he blurted out.

Caleb's mom just stared at him for a little. But, to Caleb's surprise, she wasn't mad or even skeptical.

"Well, if that's what you want to do, then I won't stop you," she said.

"Really?"

"Sure. It'll be good for you to go on your own journey. To be honest, I expected that you would have wanted to do it before this point."

Caleb was really excited by this. "So, where do I start?" he asked, slightly embarrassed that he didn't know what to do first.

"Well, first I'll register you on the database," she said as she typed some things into the computer. "There now you're registered. Here is your trainer ID, your badge case, and five pokeballs to start off with." Caleb's mom handed him both an ID that had his name and a few other things on it, as well as a case to hold the badges he earned. Finally, she gave him five empty Pokeballs to catch pokemon with.

"So do I get a starter Pokemon or a Pokedex?" Caleb asked.

Caleb's mom shook her head. "No, only a few trainers a year get picked to have a starter and a pokedex. Professor Oak chooses them himself."

"And he didn't pick me…" Caleb said sadly.

"I didn't?" a voice from the entrance rang out through the building. Everyone in the Pokecenter stopped talking as the man walked further inside.

"Professor Oak?" Caleb was stunned to see him here.

"See, I came up here because you had left my lab before I was able to give you this," he said as he held out his hand. In it was a red device with a blue orb on the front.

"A Pokedex? For me?"

"See, since I had one more than I needed, I decided I would give it to you and try to convince you to become a trainer, but it looks like you didn't need that encouragement. Still, I would like you to have this."

"Thank you," Caleb took the pokedex out of the Prof.'s hands and held it up.

One person in the Pokecenter started to clap. Like it was infectious, more people started to clap until everyone in the center was clapping for Caleb. Eventually, it died down.

"Sadly, I don't have a starter Pokemon to give you, since the three trainers who I already picked are coming around later to pick up theirs," Prof. Oak told Caleb.

"That's alright, Prof. Oak. I already have my starter Pokemon," Caleb said while smiling. Chansey took that as her cue and ran up to Caleb's side.

"Chansey!"

This caused Prof. Oak to smile, too. "Well, I'm glad. Do you know how to use that Pokedex?"

"It records data of pokemon you've caught, right?" Caleb said, remembering that he heard something about it.

"Indeed. It can also tell you a quick description of any Pokemon here in the Kanto region when you point it at them. You can also just look them up in the database."

"Cool," Caleb said. He opened it and pointed to Chansey.

"Chansey, the egg Pokemon. A gentle and kind-hearted Pokémon that shares its nutritious eggs if it sees an injured Pokémon."

"It also tells you the specifics of the Pokemon on the bottom."

Caleb looked back at the Pokedex and saw that there were some things that were written.

Chansey (F)

Wild: No

Ability: Natural Cure

Moves: Defence Curl, Pound, Growl, Tail Whip

"That's so cool."

"One last thing," Prof. Oak said as he handed Caleb a slip of paper with a phone number on it. "This is my number, so if you to ask me something, don't hesitate and give me a call. You better get home and start packing if you want to get an early start," Prof. Oak advised.

"I will right away."

"I'll tell your father that you're going on a journey." Caleb's mom said. "He'll be so proud."

"I bet he will be," Prof. Oak agreed. "Well, I must be going back to my lab now. The new trainers will be here in about an hour, so I need to hurry. Good luck on your journey, Caleb."

"Thank you, I will."

After Prof. Oak left, the whole Pokecenter was back to buzzing. Lots of people came up to Caleb and congratulated him on receiving a Pokedex from the one and only Prof. Oak. Caleb thanked each one of them.

After that, Caleb returned Chansey and ran outside, took his bike, and started to ride home.


Once he got home, he parked his bike, unlocked the door to his house and started to get ready. He packed a backpack full of all the things he think he'd need. Clothes, potions, canteens, his cell phone, food, and anything else that would fit. Caleb took a shower and then changed into a plain green shirt with black pants. After all this was done, Caleb walked outside, ready to go. Outside, his mother was waiting for him.

"I wanted to say goodbye to you before you left."

"Of course. Is Dad here?"

"No, he had to go into work today because someone else called in sick. He really wishes that he could be here."

"That's fine. I can call him whenever I want."

"So, where are you heading first, Caleb?"

"I think to Pewter City. I believe they have a gym there."

"Alright, you do that. Remember to visit your sister when you get there."

"I will," Caleb said as he hopped onto his bike. "See you, Mom!" he said as he rode off.

Caleb couldn't believe it. He was finally going on a Pokemon journey.

"Look out world, because Caleb Joy is starting his journey today!"


Thank you for reading. I'll have chapter 2 up tomorrow. See ya then!