Chapter 1: Jason

I can finally get my own Pokemon.

Jason scanned the horizon. Any moment now, the ferry from Pallet Town would be arriving in Cinnibar Island with Professor Oak. No one knew exactly why he was coming to Cinnibar but the rumour was that there was a new Pokemon that had been discovered.

Jason had looked up to Professor Oak ever since he had heard his radio show and he was finally going to see his idol and now was his big chance to get his first pokemon. Beginners on Cinnibar normally got their first pokemon from Blaine, the gym leader, but the only type he gave was the fire type.

I'm sick of this heat.

Cinnibar island had an active volcano and it was hot all day and for most of the night. Jason had been abandoned as a child and the orphanage he lived at, didn't have any form of air conditioning. When he was ten, Jason was offered a choice of Vulpix, Growlithe or Ponyta but none of them appealed to him and he wanted his first Pokemon to be something special. It had been six years and nothing had happened.

Is that the ferry?

The mainland was almost visible from Jason's lookout on the mountainside. Hurriedly, he picked up his bag and sprinted down the mountain.

When he got to the city, he could see the ferry had already come into the port and a large crowd had gathered. Professor Oak had already gotten off and was moving through the crowd.

"Here you go," Professor Oak said as he handed out Pokeballs to the children swarming him.

Now's my chance

Jason pushed through the crowd and got to Professor Oak.

"Professor Oak," he said. "I'm here for a Pokemon."

"I'm sorry but I gave all the Pokemon I had to these children."

Jason groaned in despair. He looked at one kid standing near him, grinning madly at the pokeball he held in his hand.

Taking it would be so easy. Jason thought. No, I shouldn't take away someone else's pokemon.

Professor Oak seemed to notice his disappointment. "I don't have a pokemon but I have plenty of pokeballs I can give you," he said pulling a pokeball out of his bag. "here you go."

"Thank you," Jason took the pokeball and Professor Oak moved on, crowd following him.

Jason arrived back at his lookout of the island. He looked the empty pokeball in his hand. Cinnibar Island didn't have any wild pokemon, which meant the ball was useless.

Maybe if I find Professor Oak, I can get off this island and find my first pokemon. No, I can't leave behind my home town.

Noticing movement in the corner of his eye, Jason picked up his binoculars and looked in the direction he thought the movement came from. It was outside the Pokemon laboratory. It was called the Pokemon laboratory but there weren't any pokemon there, only rocks. The only people who went in there were the scientists. Through the binoculars, Jason could see that Professor Oak was being led to the lab by two other men.

What's Professor Oak doing over there, Jason wondered, I should go and find out.

Jason arrived at the lab. The front door was locked but one of the back windows was open. He jumped in and looked around. He was surrounded by lab equipment and rocks with strange patterns on them.

Jason walked over to the door and opened it. He looked around and heard a voice from down the corridor.

"It's over here Professor," came a soft voice.

"It isn't a perfect clone but it is proof that a clone can be made." This voice was much more confident.

"Let's see it," Professor Oak said.

Jason heard footprints heading away from his room. He waited for a moment and, making sure they were gone, headed the same way.

He walked down the corridor and entered the only room he could find. There was a library with scientific books on pokemon but there was no sign of the Professor or the other two people.

Jason went back out into the corridor and looked at the empty corridor going down past the room. There was a poster promoting an event called the Pokemon League. Jason walked up to it to get a better look. It had details about an event requiring gym badges.

This poster could be useful later.

Jason took the poster off the wall and put it in his pockets. He looked back at the wall and noticed a button sticking out of the wall. Jason pushed it and the wall slid to reveal a staircase leading down.

Is this where the Professor went?

Jason walked down the stairs until he heard the sound of talking.

"Interesting, the clone seems to have deteriorated and become something different. The weight and colour remain the same but it has become like a blob."

"In other words, it's a failure."

"I wouldn't say failure, you have created a clone of the pokemon that is alive, but it is not what you were trying to create."

"In that case I'll have it removed."

"Yes, I'll return to Pallet and try to come up with a better formula for next time."

"It had better work"

Hearing footsteps coming his way, Jason ducked behind an expensive looking machine. Once the footsteps passed, he got up and walked over to where the trio were before.

There was a pink blob on the ground. He kneeled down and poked it. It opened its eye, slowly

Its alive, Jason thought, I have to get it to the pokemon centre.

He tried picking it up, but it was chained down. He looked around for a means to free it but there wasn't anything around him. He emptied his pockets but he only had the poster, a pokeball and binoculars.

The pokeball, he thought to himself, if I catch it with the pokeball I can take it to the pokemon centre.

"I'm going to catch you, okay?" he asked the pokemon. It opened its eye slightly but made no sound.

He tapped it with the pokeball and it went inside. The ball shook slightly in his hand but after a few seconds, it clicked.

Now I have to get out of here

Professor Oak was following his two associates. As they were leaving the lab, he turned around and saw the boy from this morning climbing out one of the windows on the other wing of the lab. He thought about telling the others but dismissed it.

Jason sat in the centre, staring at the machine that was healing the pokemon. It was making some kind of music and after a while, it beeped and the nurse pulled the pokeball out of it.

"Your Pokemon is healed; we hope to see you again."

Jason took the pokeball to his lookout and let out the pokemon. It seemed healthier and was moving around.

"What's your name?" he asked it.

The pokemon looked at him and said "Ditto"

"Well Ditto, this is just the beginning."