The ride over to Pallet town from Cinnabar was less painful than I had expected, but unpleasant to say the least. We rode in verbal silence as the high-speed boat splashed through the ocean waves, sending a spray of water upwards towards my mother and I. The driver had a windshield to block the spray, but the stern face suggested that he was just as happy dry as we were wet.
Having turned ten yesterday, my mom was adamant that we would travel to Pallet Town for me to get my starter Pokemon.
"If you don't like it then we can always get you another Pokemon, but this old geezer hands them out like candy and we might as well get what's free." She said as she had presented a green store-bought birthday cake, likely purchased moments before she'd returned home from work at the lab.
Personally, I didn't understand the need for a starter Pokemon. Sure they were slightly better than some wild Pokemon, but everyone seemed to think that with enough training any Pokemon could be the strongest, suggesting that there was no need for any specific starter. However knowing that the Pokemon were rare was somehow comforting, should I not like my starter I could trade it away or sell it for a profit and use the money to go somewhere where there are strong Pokemon.
"Hey kid," The driver started, waking me from my daydreaming as I stared off into the horizon. "Since we're going through the trouble of going to get your starter, I've been meaning to ask, are you going on a journey or do you have a goal in mind?"
"I…" I couldn't say more than a syllable before my mom would interrupt me.
"Ten years old is a bit young to be making dangerous adventures like such and for now we'll just get him a singular Pokemon to keep him company while I'm gone on business." And with that we rode in silence again, hearing only the humming of the inboard motor, the splashing of the waves against the hull, and the odd water Pokemon breaking the surface of the water and splashing back down.
The ride took about three and a half hours from when we left the port to when we docked in Pallet Town. The driver had decided to wait in the boat, stating that we would be back before he could accomplish anything useful so he might as well read.
According to the internet, Pallet town was relatively small but very lush and green. Before searching up anything about the town I had imagined it as this dinky box with nothing but three houses and a lab, but there were many farms and Pokemon in the hilly location.
I had wanted to walk to the lab and explore something new and exciting but my mom didn't want any such thing. In her mind, we were here to grab the Pokemon and then leave, but in my mind, I would get some form of adventure, just a taste of freedom, before returning to Cinnabar.
For the millionth time, I watched as my mother pulled out her phone in the same manner that she always did, bringing her purse around to her front and reaching in to produce her touchscreen cellphone. She called for a taxi and in the time it would have taken to get halfway to the lab, the taxi arrived. The car had a sleek black style with a large R on the side of the vehicle. 'Rocket taxi services' was on a rectangular box atop the car with the phone number my mother had called below.
As we drove down the winding street, I imagined what it would have been like to have walked through the area instead of drive, greeting people and Pokemon, maybe tripping and hurting myself like all the other kids seemed to do when they played outside.
After a short time of driving through a slightly wooded area, an open field with a wide variety of Pokemon roaming around came into view. We drove along the fence enclosing the field until we reached the front gate.
While I hopped out of the car, I felt two sentiments and one of them I was used to. The first was annoyance as I saw my mom exiting the car and informing the driver to wait. I had hoped that getting my first starter would be something I did independently, but there was no chance she would come all this way just to wait in the taxi.
The second feeling was something I rarely felt and it was excitement. My stomach felt lighter than it normally did, as if it wanted to fly and spin and twist and turn. New exciting things rarely happened in my life, and I think this qualified as exciting.
I felt a little shaky walking up to the door of the lab, but those nerves went away when an old man in a lab coat answered the door. He wore khakis with a light purple shirt tucked in disappearing under his belt. Part of my nerves had been the idea of facing someone intimidating like my mom's boss. The internet had said that this was a well-known professor who was a trainer back in the day, but the aura that he gave off was warm and welcoming.
"Ah, you must be… what's your name again?" Asked the professor.
"It's-" "Green" My mother interrupted as if the question was directed towards her.
"Well Green," Professor Oak said glaring at my mother. "I have some bad news. Unfortunately, you're the last to arrive today and I only have two bulbasaurs left."
My mother went into her usual 'out of stock' ramble that she reserves for when we grocery shop and they tell us they don't carry an item. "This is outrageous, we traveled all the way from Cinnabar Island to get a pick from the starter Pokemon and once we arrive you tell us that we don't get a choice. This is an absolute-"
"I was going to pick Bulbasaur anyways." I interrupted. I really had no idea who I was going to pick for a starter, but saying that I wanted Bulbasaur shut my mom up, and that was a gift all in itself.
"Well, that's good news." Said professor Oak. "There's one on the table and there's one in the back room of my lab. If you don't care about which one you receive you can just grab the one off the table."
"Actually, can we have the one from the back?" Asked my mom. She did this almost as often as her out of stock ramble. Whenever there was something in the back, she would ask for it because "It's fresher and better" when really all it was was embarrassing.
The professor had given up with trying to have a conversation with me, he just went straight to the back to retrieve the Bulbasaur. He emerged with six pokeballs on a tray and a red device pinched underneath the tray.
"Here is your Bulbasaur, Green. I have also provided five pokeballs and a Pokedex." He said handing me the tray and red device. "The Pokedex is a lifetime project of mine. It's a catalog of all the Pokemon that I have encountered in my journeys and I hope that this knowledge will help you-"
"My son is perfectly knowledgeable about Kanto Pokemon and is not in need of assistance from any machine." My mother interrupted "How much are you trying to charge him for this device? Are you charging him biweekly? You know he's only ten right?"
"Mam, the pokedex is free in the hopes that it can help trainers on their journeys." Professor Oak explained through his clenched teeth. It seemed like Professor Oak was ready to fire my mom out of a canon and only resisting the urge out of the risk of a lawsuit.
"I'm… I'm not going on a journey" I said, slightly scared that the professor might take away my Bulbasaur.
"Just because you're not leaving home does not mean that you're not going on a journey. A journey simply means that you go somewhere, whether it's physically or spiritually, the hope is that your Pokemon can help you grow as a person. If in the end, you make the right choice for you and your Pokemon, then I have achieved what I set out to do."