Thirteenth birthdays were always supposed to be exciting, but Minako Arashi wasn't at all excited about hers. The whole of Pallet Town was making a huge deal over nothing. Stupid Ash, she thought to herself as Mina trudged out of her bedroom and into the kitchen for some milk. Ever since the little brat had become oh-so-famous, people expected everyone in Pallet to become stars. They're so stupid.
Mina filled her favorite green mug with the low-fat milk and shut the fridge door with her foot. She slid along the wooden floorboards effortlessly until—Creeeeaaaak.
"Minako! Trying to sneak past me like that! I have to talk to you, honey." Mrs. Arashi said cheerily, patting the ottoman beside her. Mina sighed, and sank into the cushy box. "Sooo," her mother said, leaning in near her youngest child, "are you excited for your thirteenth birthday?"
"No."
Mother's eyebrows bent.
"Y'know, I was thinking…maybe I should wait one more year until I go on my journey. Just so that I…get to research everything a bit more, y'know?"
Mrs. Arashi sighed. "You do realize that your brother went on his first journey when he was eight, don't you? Look, honey, I know you don't want to do this, but everyone does someday. And you will tomorrow."
"But Mom—"
"Sweetie, this is going to be a great experience for you, whether you start out wanting it to be or not. But it all starts with a positive attitude. So smile, 'kay?"
Mina rolled her eyes.
"Here, I've got the perfect thing." Mrs. Arashi reached down to her salmon-colored purse. She pulled out a worn-looking black-and-yellow Poke Ball.
"Oh yay, lucky me. I get a used Ultra Ball. Can I just go to bed, Mom?"
"Not until you open this."
Mina sighed and turned around. She took the ball out of her mom's hands and gingerly tapped the white button on the front of the ball, wincing as blue sparks shot out from the Ultra Ball. What she saw, however, put the opposite reaction on her face. "Mom, is this...is this the Magby?" She was almost crying.
Mrs. Arashi nodded, smiling at her daughter and blinking back tears. "Yes, honey...it is." The Pokemon that had come out of the ball was none other than what used to be a baby Magby Mina had found as a child at an old abandoned Team Rocket base. She had begged her mother to keep the Pokemon, but Mom had insisted they give the Magby to their local Pokemon Center. And now...now she was here!
"Mom, why on earth did you never tell me you held on to her?"
"I was going to give her to you when you started your first journey. I assumed you'd be starting when you were eight or nine, like your brother and sister did."
"Well if you had told me you were going to give me the Magby I'd found as a child, I just might have been inspired to journey earlier!" But Minako's anger was overcome with her happiness. She still remembered what she had named the cute-but-dangerous fire Pokemon. "A.J., let me show you my room, and you can help me pick out clothes for the journey tomorrow." A.J. latched her paw onto Mina's sleeve, and she laughed and pulled the Magby along to her purple-and-green themed bedroom.
"You're welcome!"
"I'm still mad at you, Mom!" But Mrs. Arashi knew as well as Minako did. Thanks to A.J., Mina was starting to get excited about her journey. And hey, maybe she'd even meet that Ash kid along the way.
