"Aquatrix! Aquatrix, dinner!" I called as I pushed open the screen door, one hand cupped around my mouth. I waited and counted patiently in my head. 3… 2… 1… The alarmingly blue shape leapt gracefully out of the large pond behind my family's little flat in Vermillion City and came bounding towards me. I knelt down to catch the barreling Pokémon, giggling as the vaporeon leapt into my arms and tackled me to the ground. We wrestled for a few seconds, water dripping onto my shirt from her smooth skin. I held her away from me as she licked my nose, her little jaunty grin plastered to her face. I laughed as I got up, breathing heavily. I put the small blue bowl I had placed carefully on the ground to avoid being smashed in the wake of my little blue tornado in front of her and she dug in. I smiled.
"I'll be inside. Dry off before you come in." she gave a small yelp of agreement before I went inside my house. I was a satisfying 5'5" for my 13 years, and not alarmingly skinny at 110 lbs. I had pale skin and long black hair that I kept in a braid down to my waist, with two locks left to frame my face. Then there were ice blue eyes over a thin nose and medium sized lips. My twin brother, Sam, who was identical in all but hair length, was spooning rice onto his already loaded plate. He had quite a voracious appetite and would eat just about anything. I'd gotten him to eat some of Aquatrix's food before. I grinned at memory and sat down as my mother spooned some of her godly food onto my plate. My mother owned a small but extremely successful fancy restaurant down the street, Aquatrix, named after our very own vaporeon. It's no mystery why she was the restaurant's mascot. I sighed in pleasure as I took a bite out of a particularly juicy piece of marinated tofu and the rest of my family, mother and father, sat down.
"So, Arabel," my father said to me after slurping up a particularly long noodle. I tried not to laugh.
"Yes father?" I replied, chewing delicately on a pepper, hoping I'd finally get the answer I'd been awaiting for what seemed like months, though it was only this morning.
"Your mother and I have considered your request." I waited silently. Just like dad to draw things out. I gave him a pointed look and he chuckled. "Yes." Inside I was cheering with joy. Outside I gave my parents a simple thankful smile. I was going to leave on a Pokémon journey in a few days with Aquatrix as my companion. I'd already talked it over with her. I knew exactly what I was going to do. The five evolutions of eevee had always intrigued me. One Pokémon… so many different forms. I would collect all of them, to make an ultimate team. And with them I'd be a great coordinator. I knew, of course, it would take a lot of work, but god knew how willing I was.
Sam looked at my father and he looked back. "You too." He cheered wildly, so different from me, almost breaking the glass water Pokémon mobile hanging from the ceiling. My mother had once been the gym leader for Cerulean city, a gifted swimmer with a talent for taming water Pokémon. She had retired, though, when she met her match with Daisy, Lily, and Violet, an incredible sister-trainer team who beat her water Pokémon with their own. She smiled at my brother.
"Your uncle Aki says that Bolt, his pikachu, had a run-in with his neighbor's ditto. He has an egg he'd be willing to give you."
"REALLY?" Sam almost shouted. He was in love with electric Pokémon and practically worshiped Lt. Surge, our gym leader, who used electric Pokémon. My mother rubbed her temples. "Yes," she replied calmly with only a hint of exasperation in her voice. My brother held up a hand for a high five. I rolled my eyes and obliged as he danced around the kitchen, whooping with joy. Finally, my calm exploded.
"Sam, would you shut up and sit down!" I shouted. He grinned at me and plopped down in his seat. Our parents grinned at each other and shook their heads. I simply smiled and popped a last piece of tofu in my mouth.
As we passed around the chocolate pudding my mom had made for desert, our parents looked at us.
"When do you plan to leave?" asked my mom. I thought for a moment.
"Tomorrow morning probably. I can't wait." They nodded thoughtfully and my dad looked at his watch, then fished his wallet out of his pocket.
"Well, run down to the Pokémon Center and ask Nurse Joy for the Pokémon Trainer Starter Pack we bought for you." He told me, handing me some money. I gaped and smiled, positive my eyes were glowing. I thanked him profusely and dashed out the backdoor, only to appear a minute later and dash out the front door with Aquatrix right behind me. I stood outside the Pokémon center a minute and 32 seconds later, a personal record, I might add, bent over and gasping for breath. Quickly recovering, I walked into the Center and up to the counter.
"Nurse Joy?" I asked hesitantly. A chansey poked her head over the counter, gave me a smile and disappeared, coming back with Nurse Joy seconds later.
"Oh, hello Arabel!" she said with a smile. She knew me from the summers I'd worked at the center as her helper. "And hello to you too, Aquatrix." Aquatrix yelped quietly in response. Nurse Joy reached under the counter and pulled out a small package wrapped in Pokéball printed wrapping paper and tied with a bow. "Open it here," Nurse Joy said, "I'll explain what's in it." I stared at the package until Aquatrix nudged me and I broke from my haze.
I carefully pulled the bow out and unwrapped the paper without tearing it. I pulled out the first thing I saw, a small, laminated ID card. It was blank so far, except for my name and 8 spaces for badges.
"That's your trainer ID card," explained Nurse Joy. "You use that to get money from your bank account, keep track of your badges, trades with other trainers and your Pokédex data." I nodded. "We'll take a picture for the card and set up your account later. When you scan your card into your Pokédex or bank machine, it'll automatically update." She told me. I nodded again. She pulled out a digital camera and took my picture. I smiled and held out my index and middle fingers in a peace sign. While she uploaded the picture into a computer, she explained the next thing I pulled out, my Pokédex.
"That's a Pokédex. A Pokédex keeps data on all Pokémon you've caught or seen." She taught me to open it and I recorded data on Aquatrix as my first Pokémon. Then she scanned my card into my bank account and it came up with my picture and the money my parents had already put in. Lastly, she showed me how to update my card on my Dex. Next I pulled out a small tour book of Shinou. Tucked inside it was a small ticket. I pulled it out.
"Congratulations!" it read. "You are the lucky winner of the New Trainer's Bike Lottery, Sponsored by Cerulean Bikes!" I gasped as I read the conditions of the lottery. All I had to do was turn in the ticket to the shop in Cerulean City and I could get rid of my old rickety bike for a flashy new one! The last item was a small, white sack, perfect to fit in your palm. Inside were five Pokéballs. My journey was going to start tomorrow and I couldn't wait.
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I woke up at dawn the next morning to find a minimized Pokéball on my bedside table. I took it and it enlarged in my hand. Everything felt perfect and I pressed the little button and Aquatrix popped out. I rubbed her head affectionately before recalling her in silence. The rest of my family was asleep and I carefully pulled out five days worth of clothes, a bathing suit, a few books, a notebook and pencils, and toiletries and packed them away in my trusty black messenger bag, as well as a simple sleeping bag set and tarp for sleeping during rain. I pulled on my favorite clothes, a spaghetti strap green tank top and a brown, ruffled skirt that went to just above my knees, my black and pink sneakers and my blue fedora that I never went anywhere without. I pinned the little sack of Pokéballs to strap of my bag and sat down to wait for my family to wake, but found I was too antsy.
I got up, took a last look at my room, turned off the light and went downstairs. I was crying by the time I finished my goodbye note. I wiped my eyes and went to say goodbye to the water Pokémon in the pond, my mother's old feraligatr, swampert, lapras, and blastiose. It was a personal pride of hers of having caught the official water type starter Pokémon of each region, Johto, Hoenn and Kanto, not to mention the very rare lapras. She herself started out with an eevee, which became a vaporeon. It bred with another vaporeon and my mother kept the egg a secret until it hatched and she evolved it and gave her to me for my 10th birthday. That vaporeon was, of course, Aquatrix.
My goodbyes over, I waved a final farewell and unlocked my old rusting bike from the gate. I took off speeding over the asphalt and almost yelled in delight to the empty town. I sped out of the town on a large hill, laughing all the way. I was finally free. Navigating carefully on a dirt path, I found myself in the Vermillion Woods. I slowed my pace and almost fell of my bike when I heard someone call to me.
"Hello!" came a boy's voice. I put my legs out to stop the bike and looked to where the voice was coming from. He was a handsome boy, no doubt, he looked to be about 15, 2 years older than my 13. He flashed a bright smile. He was wearing a tight black shirt that showed off his muscles to his advantage, and dark jeans with a tear in one knee and a mud stain down the other shin. He had dark brown hair that stuck up in all directions, a thin petite nose that for some reason didn't look feminine on his face, dazzling emerald eyes and high cheekbones. He was gorgeous. I put on my best smile and smiled back.
"Hey. Arabel Nightingale. Call me Ari." I held out my hand. He returned my firm grip.
"Jack Marcum, at your service." He hadn't let go of my hand and so bent over in a bow and kissed my hand. I suppressed a giggle and demurely pulled my hand out of his grasp. He shot me a wry grin and I raised an eyebrow.
"Don't push it, " I told him in a wise voice. He chuckled.
"We've got a deal then," he told me. "You a Pokémon trainer?" he asked. I shrugged.
"A little yes, a little no. I lived in Vermillion City and I left this morning." I jerked my thumb backwards at my past. He nodded.
"I assume you have one of the starters. You look like a water trainer." I raised my eyebrows, surprised he could've guessed at my favorite type being water. "You have a squirtle?" I shook my head and opened the sack pinned to my bag. My hand instantly found vaporeon's and I called her out.
"Aquatrix! Come on out!" the ball flipped into the air and in the already familiar flash of red, she reappeared. Jack raised his eyebrows, surprised.
"Wow, for an hour of being a Pokémon trainer, you've gotten far, already finding a water stone," he said wryly. I laughed as Aquatrix sat and began to wash herself, noting that there was no water around.
"Her mother was my mother's Vaporeon. I got Aquatrix as a birthday present." I informed him, climbing off my bike and putting up the kickstand. He nodded and I pointed to the belt on his waist that held a few Pokéballs. "And you?" He smiled and picked out the first one.
"Lunus! Come on out!" he tossed the ball into the air and a beautiful black Pokémon came out, flicking its ears this way and that, its golden rings flashing in the sunlight. Aquatrix immediately looked up and came over to inspect the newcomer, who primly sat and took it. They ended nose to nose and I watched in awe as Aquatrix submitted to the dark Pokémon. And then I gasped. Umbreon was one of the evolutions of eevee! I pulled out my Dex and flicked it open.
"When darkness falls," the Dex read out in it's digitalized voice, "umbreon's golden rings glow on its body, striking fear into the hearts of anyone nearby."
"Umbreon…" I murmured. "He's beautiful." I watched as the two Pokémon began some sort of tag game, leaping and skipping around each other, already friends. Jack smiled.
"He is. An umbreon and a vaporeon together. Rare, but beautiful," he mused. I nodded.
"I want to have all the evolutions," I told him, watching the two. "It would be an amazing team."
"That's an admirable goal," he said, staring into space. I could tell there was something else.
"But…?" I continued for him. He shrugged.
"But eevee are very rare in the wild. You've already got one, but that's only one of seven." I nodded thoughtfully. "Not many people are willing to trade their eevees either, because of the rarity. Your only option is to breed." I nodded again. As a bookworm, I'd read all about breeding.
"Well Lunus and Aquatrix seem to be getting on quite well," I said. He looked at them as if he'd only just seen them.
"Good point. But it takes a while for an egg. I would know." He reached into a small bag slung around his shoulder and pulled out a small, tan, pointed sphere, a zigzagging brown stripe going around its middle. I gasped.
"Is that a real Pokémon egg?" I asked in wonder. I'd seen pictures only in books, and they all looked different. He grinned and nodded. "Where'd you get it?" he handed it over to me and I took it cautiously, not trusting myself not to drop it. He shrugged.
"Lunus and I were traveling and had stopped for lunch when he heard something. He chased after it and I had no choice but to follow. What we found was a wild mightyena attacking a young girl and her eevee. Lunus had heard the eevee's cry. Lunus used faint attack and scared it off. To thank us, the girl gave us the egg and told us that her parents ran a daycare center and had more eggs than they could use. That particular egg was an eevee egg and the girl was looking for a wild eevee to care for it, which is what she does with her eevee, but she asked if I wanted it. I said I did." He finished his story with another shrug. I looked at him, then at Lunus, amazed he could fight off a mightyena. I sadly prepared to hand the egg back to him, but he shook his head. "Keep it." He said. I gasped, speechless.
"You're… You're giving me a-an eevee egg?" I stuttered. He grinned.
"If only to see that adorable look on your face." I grinned and poked him. My face became serious.
"But thank you. I really appreciate it. I'm already one step closer to my goal now." I smiled again and reached up to hug him. He hugged me back but we quickly let go, blushing. Hugging Jack wasn't like hugging any of my friends. Maybe it was because I didn't know him…
"How about we travel together and see if Aquatrix and Lunus will give you an egg?" he asked nonchalantly, plopping on the ground and rummaging in his bag. I kept my cool and shrugged.
"If that's cool with you," I replied in the same tone, sitting next to him. We both shrugged again, acting the part of uncaring teenager. We glanced up at each other and smiled, then laughed.
"Teenagers are pretty dumb, when you think about it," I murmured. We were on the ground now looking up at the sky through spaces in the leafy canopy. He chuckled and sat, then stood up as I followed suit.
"Do you mind if we get going? I'm trying to reach Cerulean City by tomorrow afternoon at the latest." I nodded.
"Excellent. That's where I'm going." I told him about the bike ticket. "So should I walk or ride?" I didn't want to have to stop and wait or go slowly.
"Ride," he told me. "I usually run when I travel. Lunus and I can keep up a good pace." I smiled.
"Perfect." And then we set off.
