Disclaimer: Pokemon, and all affiliated Pokemon products are the property of Nintendo, Game Freak, and whoever else's name is on the bill of sale. This is their world, I just play in it.
Author's note: This story may have overlaps and cameos with Callum's Tale, although I started this one first. I'll probably be alternating between the two, so let me know what you think. Thanks for Reading
-/
I started my journey with a Pokeball and a dream just like everybody else. So, what separated me from everybody else? Some say luck. How else could a punk kid from the streets of New York make it to the Indigo Plateau all the way in Sunny California?
Others say it's destiny. That there's no other way anything could've gone, that I was destined to win that final matchup. That the types worked out way too well, that it may even have been rigged. Who knows.
Finally there is the minority who says that maybe I'm just that good. Maybe I worked my ass off for years, had my fair share of cuts, scrapes, heartaches and near-death experiences. That I took my losses and my kicks when I was down, and I worked harder than damn near anybody else to be the best like I knew I could be. But, who's to say these days. It's really not all that important, because at the end of the day I'm still the best, and that's all that matters.
And if you've got some shit to say about that, say it to my Pokémon.
Like No-One Ever Was.
"You know how when you make your first email, later on in life you don't talk about it because it's pretty embarrassing? Yeah, except this is more permanent."
I look down at Fawkes the Torchic who clearly wants to be picked up. The routine is going perfectly. I bend down and he leaps in to my arms, causing the girls I'm speaking with to cooh and aw at the cutest thing they've probably seen all week. Clearly, we're that good.
Fawkes climbs my arm and jumps to my shoulder, his most common perch.
"How long have you had him?" The beautiful asian girl asks me, and I pretend to try to count.
"About five years now I guess? Wow, it's been a while already!" I act surprised even though I know the 5 year anniversary was just yesterday. Fawkes perks up and chirps, nuzzling close to my head. The game is closing, now's the time to move in for the kill.
"You know, I'm sure Fawkes would like to see you guys again some time, I know I would too. We should get coffee, or maybe see a movie?" I smile as Fawkes hops on my shoulder and leans forward, seemingly excited for her response.
Suddenly a ringtone interrupts my spiel, and I internally groan without ever letting my smile leave my face.
"One second ladies," I say, and grin before I turn around, bringing the phone up to my ear.
"Yo, Charlie? What's good man?" Fawkes shoves his ear against the back side of the phone, listening intently to Charlie's voice.
"Bro I've found it, and I've got it cornered. Hurry over here before I catch it for myself and sell it for something nice."
I hang up the call and turn back to face the ladies.
"Well, it seems that duty calls, you know how it is" I wink conspiratorially, before turning and walking off toward my car. Most New Yorkers my age don't have a car, but I've made a pretty decent amount of money battling other trainers and public transportation doesn't allow you to have Pokémon outside of their poke balls unless they assist with disabilities. After five years, I'm not even sure I know where Fawkes' pokeball is.
Fawkes jumps in to the passenger seat as soon as the door is open, and I shove the muscle car in to gear.
"This might be it Fawkes, we could get you a friend, finally!" I turn to glance at the orange fuzzball before staring back at the road. The look he's giving me speaks volumes.
"Yeah, I know it's my fault it's taken so long, but it'll be worth it, trust me!" I speed down the block and take a wild turn, ignoring the honks at the cars I fly by. The GPS on my phone isn't giving me directions fast enough, but the adrenaline has me zoned in to the point where I barely need it. The car comes screeching to a halt as I brake, and Fawkes chirps in protest as he nearly slams in to the dashboard.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! This is really important, you know this!" I hold out my hand and Torchic climbs up my arm to my shoulder. He's been holding off on evolving so he's a bit bigger than most Torchic's, and his wings are a bit longer, but I handle the weight on my shoulder fine since I know someday I'll miss moments like these.
I lock my car door and run up through the front yard of an abandoned house, right next to my buddy Charlie. Charlie aspires to be a Pokemon tracker, chasing down wild Pokemon and eggs, so he's a bit more rugged than I am from running around, climbing up to nests and generally just chasing Pokemon. His brown hair is cut short, and while he's bigger than me I'm taller.
"So you're sure it's here?" I know he's good at what he does but it's so hard to believe that my chance is finally here, I can't truly believe it.
"Dude, I know you're excited but cool your shit. Don't worry, it's in there, and it's way more than you expected. It's been attacked by a Ghastly, so it's stuck, but I'm not sure how long you have."
I turn towards the house, and a loud explosion rocks the house.
"Get in there!" He gives me a final shove towards the house and I take a few stumbling steps toward the house. I stand in front of it and look at the two story house. Fawkes jumps down from my shoulder, and we both walk towards it. The door creaks open of it's own accord, and my heart pounds as Torchic and I take our first steps in to a new world.
At first I hear nothing, but then there it is. Yipping and snarling, and cold laughter. A crash as something glass breaks, and then the sound of something ripping. Fawkes and I run upstairs. The whole house is in disrepair, and as we make it up the last flight a loud crash shocks us as a Pokemon flies through a wall with a crash, a purple gaseous shape following quickly.
"Fawkes, ember!" I shout, pointing at the cackling Ghastly.
Fawkes shoots a stream of fire at the Ghastly, the flames sending the ball of gas careening down the hall and out of sight. We jump around the corner and through the hole made in the wall, and I duck as a pale blur shoots back out through the hole and past me.
"Fawkes, peck, now! Don't let it get away!" Fawkes shoots at a speed I can't follow, straight at the pale Eevee. Holy shit, Charlie found me a shiny Eevee. What the ever loving- Damn it's fast!
"Fawkes, duck!" the Gastly zooms back in to the scene, long pink tongue sticking out. It gives the pale Eevee a long lick, and it shudders. The Gastly cackles again, and I groan. "Damnit, ember it again!"
Fawkes unleashes a beastly stream of fire straight at the Gastly, and it careens out of control in my direction. I react instinctually, and throw the pokeball I had already in my hand for the Eevee. The ball rocks side to side, once, twice, three times, and then it clicks. Not exactly on the agenda, but a catch is a catch. Ghastly was pretty strong anyways, and a strong ghost type is something I would never turn down.
I climb through the whole and find Fawkes bearing down on the Pokemon I'm really after. The Eevee hisses and snarls, as it's backed in to a corner. I pick up the fallen pokeball, and start to make my way forward toward the wild Pokemon.
"Fawkes, stand down buddy. I got this." I get down, so I'm at it's level, and grab a couple of Oran berries out of the pouch in my bag.
"Here buddy, here you go. I know you're hungry, c'mon don't worry I'm not trying to hurt you" I croon, looking the beautiful Pokemon in the eye, and extending my hand only so far so that the Eevee would have to take that last step. I prayed with every fibre of my being that he (or she) would accept me as a partner, and a friend.
Finally, after what feels like hours, the Eevee takes a small step towards me, clearly not trusting me. I wait, barely breathing, and watch as it takes another one, and nips the smallest piece of Oran berry, pulling back as the berry disappears in to its mouth. It chews, eyeing Fawkes and I, but it doesn't seem to be as afraid. It reaches tentatively towards the berries again, this time less afraid, and snatches another berry. As it eats the blue fruit, I reach out with my other hand, tentatively scratching it behind its ear. It closes its eyes and leans in to my hand.
"Yeah, that's it, no reason to be afraid really. We can be friends."
"I let my pokeball scan the eevee, increasing the chances of catching it, before activating the ball capture mechanism. The eevee is sucked in immediately, and rocks on the ground in front of me where I've placed it. Fawkes and I watch, as I sit cross-legged on the ground in front of it. Finally there's a ding.
I walk out of the dilapidated house with two poke balls clipped to my belt, Fawkes making himself comfortable on my shoulder. Charlie is in my car, having a smoke. As soon as he sees me, he cracks the window.
"Hey, did you get it?" he shouts.
"No, it escaped! Caught this sweet Dunsparce though!" I lean over and grab the cigarette from his fingers. "No smoking in my car, yeah?" I take a long drag, and ash it under my heel. "These kill you, haven't you heard?"
Charlie stares at me, pulling out another cigarette deadpan and holding it between two fingers out to his Growlithe Harry in the back seat, who yips, lighting the cigarette with practiced ease. I shake my head, walking around to the other side of the car and getting in. "At least crack a window, Christ."
-/
"So where to now?"
Charlie and I are seated on the hood of my car, parked outside of the Pokemon center. I shove the last of my fries in my mouth, and wash it down with the smoothie.
"Well, our Pokemon are healed. We could go out and battle" I wipe my mouth with a napkin as Charlie thinks about it.
"It's like 9 pm dude, the only people battling are junkies and gangs."
"Actually, there are a few spots we can battle now. That spot under the bridge is usually full of trainers, and the skaters are always down to battle since they get tired after skating all day. And after dark a whole bunch of people meet up at the basketball courts and hold freestyle tournaments, it's pretty rad."
Charlie stares at me for a second before draining his soda. "Pray tell, how do you know this, oh Master Trainer" he grins, about to chuckle. I guess now's a good a time as any.
"Well, you're off camping and shit all the time, so I've gotta fill up my time after school one way or another."
"Well now that I have Eevee and Gastly, along with Fawkes I've been thinking of taking the Pokemon League Challenge. If I leave that'll leave me about two years until the next tournament, and I'm on Academic Dismissal anyways, it wouldn't hurt." I finish nervously, waiting for Charlie's reaction. For his * he doesn't react as I thought, but just stares out of the window for a bit.
"C'mon Charlie, you definitely didn't want to stay in New York your whole life, I know you want to travel. You want to be a Pokemon tracker, and I know the rarer Pokemon are out there, in the world ."
"You're right man, I'm just in shock. I was planning on heading out and I guess I just thought that you'd always be here." He takes a long drag from his cigarette before flicking it out the window. He turns to look at me. "I think you should do it. You've always been a great battler, and when you want something you really go for it. Plus, I know you've been pushing off Fawkes evolving, he's way bigger than any other Torchic around. And, now you have your Gastly and Eevee, so that squares out your team pretty well."
I nod, letting my thoughts take over for a bit as I stare off in to space.
"And, you'll be off doing your tracker thing, so who knows, we may run in to each other along the way"
"You do know I need at least three badges before I can register as a tracker, right?" I pause, and stare out, before I look back at Charlie, a grin creeping across my face. "Dude!"
"Yeah!" He grins back.
"Dude! Yeah!" We high five, and totally bro out. Honestly though, the idea of Charlie also taking the League on is awesome, like I have my very own rival.
"So, where are you gonna start off? Our teams are totally different, so we'll probably start in different places.
"Actually, I think we can both start in the same place. The Fire Type Gym downtown is finally reopening, and I think we can both get our badges there. Torchic is resistant, Gastly sounded strong enough, and if anything you have Eevee as backup."
"That's true, and you're pretty much set too, with your team. Okay, when are you trying to do this?" I put the key in the ignition, turning on the engine, and pull out of the curb. Suddenly flashing red and blue lights whirl as a police siren blares directly behind us.
"Goddamnit!"
-/
After a long talk with the officer about battling in abandoned buildings and safety regulations, we decide to call it a night. I drive Charlie to his place, before heading out to my own. Fawkes has dozed off in his seat by the time we get home, and I pull him gently inside the house to his 'lil nest of wonders' as I like to call it.
Once he's resting peacefully, I slip in to my room and grab my father's old traveling bag. Before everything went down, he used to be a trainer. Now, not so much. He isn't much of anything these days.
Just as I'm getting ready to pack, I get a call. It's Charlie.
"Hey dude, we've got a problem."