I walked, head towards the sky, towards Oak's lab. It was my 14th birthday, late, I know. But, my mom wanted to hold on as long as she could. Finally, I could leave on my journey... The immortal dream of becoming the number one Pokemon master!

I finally make it to the lab, to see him waiting; my rival. I brush past him, with out saying a word. I walk into the lab up to my teacher; Oak, who would teach me the ways of Pokemon, besides the ones you can only learn from experience. He presses a silver button on a machine and 15 poke balls come out in a golden tray! He told me I could choose just one, but I could potentially earn more through hard work and vigilance.

Now, who to choose? There were the cool, calm water- Squirtle, Totodile, Mudkip, Piplup, and Oshawott. The intelligent, regal grass- Bulbasaur, Chikorita, Treecko, Turrtwig, and Snivy. And Finally, the swift, temperamental fire- Charmander, Cyndaquil, Torchic, Chimchar, and Tepig... "I choose-" Then, suddenly he pressed a yellow button I hadn't recently noticed... Out came... Pikachu. He explained, "I know this is a surprise to you, but I feel obligated to show this one to you. It isn't an official starter Pokemon, and is extremely shy... I was going to give up on it after today, and probably... Well, feed it to my Houndoom... But, do t feel like you have to help him. My heart melted. From the first day I could remember, I always wanted a Pikachu. It was all I dreamt of, the number one Pokemon I wanted as a trainer, my ideal best friend... And it was available right before my eyes. I blurted "Of course I'll take if!" I felt no regret.

"Very good," he replied, "We should commence with your training at once." suddenly, Blue, my father's old rival, walked in.

"Hey gramps... Lightning's coming... Just wanted to let you know... I heard you're training the boys today."

"Very good," he answered. "Thanks for the warning, but I'm sure it will just prove helpful in training them for the future to come."

Then, Brown walked in "Great-Gramps! I choose... I choose... Evee!"

"Aghhh.. I'm sure your father had NO influence whatsoever on THAT... Anyways, it's time to start. First, you two must test your potential. Send out your Pokemon."

I sent out my Pikachu, to come to a startling discovery.. It was grey! Brown sent out his Eevee, immediately yelling random moves out. Me and the Professor couldn't stop staring at the deformation of my Pokemon in amazement and surprise. Oak finally said "Err... Battle commence!" I ordered a thunder shock, to come to another startling discovery; the lightning bolt was also grey! Eevee, obviously, did not know any of the moves being barked out, and had no comeback for that. Professor Oak then ended the battle, declaring a draw. He called me over to him asking to hook up Pikachu to the large machine. I graciously accepted, placing him on the set spot. Oak whirred the machine on, and found no abnormalities in the creature, but realized the electric sacs were slightly larger than normal. Oak called me into a back room and asked if I would like a replacement. "Listen, Grey, the Pikachu... I understand if you don't want it-"

"Are you kidding me! It's amazing! I love it 10 times better, no one will EVER have something like that! I'm already quite on my way to becoming the VERY BEST! Look out, dad! Here I come!"