Red and Blaine
A kid, no older than fifteen, was running through Viridian Forest being chased by a group of men. He had no idea who they were or what they wanted with the wounded Pokemon in his arms, but he knew that the answer to both questions couldn't be good.
"Greed use Headbutt at half power! We don't want to deal with a dead kid." One of the men yelled. A Raticate that had gained on the kid suddenly jumped forward, a purple glow coming from the middle of it's head. The kid anticipated the attack and jumped to the side, enough to not take the full blow. The kid hit the ground hard and rolled to to lessen the impact. He tried to get but found that his his entire left leg was numb.
'It may not have killed me, but it would have put me in a hospital for a good while!' The kid thought as his mind created an image of him taking the attack full force. He shuddered at the thought and reached for a Pokeball at his hip. He knew that with his leg the way it was now he wouldn't be able to run away. So he sent out his Venusaur to try and hold off his attackers long enough for him to recover.
His venusaur, named Charles, while being a great deal stronger couldn't handle the sheer number of attackers. Seeing that Charles wasn't going to last much longer, he returned him to his Pokeball.
"Finally giving up kid?" One of his attackers asked when he didn't attempt to run away.
"I can't feel my leg and I've no intention of losing any of my Pokemon" The kid said looking down at the Pokemon in his arms.
"You gave us a lot of trouble kid, but you seem smart. Hand over the Pokemon you're holding and we'll leave." The same attacker said, he seemed to be the leader so the kid memorized his face.
The kid stared at the Pokemon in his arms for a long while. He didn't want to let these men have the Pokemon, but he couldn't protect it any longer. The most he could do now was get the crap beaten out of him until he lost consciousness. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He said to the Pokemon. It looked up at him and smiled and nodded it's head. The kid hadn't expected this and it hit him hard. He started to cry as he looked back at the leader of the group. "Alright."
The leader said nothing and approached the boy. Once he was in front of him he held out his hands for the Pokemon. The kid place it in the leaders arms and looked him in the eye. Asking him how he could do this.
The leader held the kids gaze a moment before looking away in what the kid guessed was shame. "Alright boys. Let's go." Just then the leaders phone rung. He paused a moment before answering. "Boss?" He said unsure as to why his boss was calling him. "Yes sir we have the Pokemon right now." He said answering his boss's question. The man's eyes grew wide and he looked at the boy. "W-what about children, sir?" He asked. The man's eyes grew even larger for a moment before returning to their normal size. "Yes sir." He hung up his phone and handed the Pokemon in his arms to one of his men. He walked up to the and put a knee to the ground so he was looking the boy in the eyes.
"No witnesses." He said simply. Knowing the boy would understand. The boys eyes widened and he started looking around in a moment of panic. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I promise that your Pokemon will be taken someplace safe." The man said already feeling the guilt of what he was about to do. The kid was still panicking but he was smart enough to know that he couldn't escape and trying would only make his situation worse. Sometimes he amazed himself. Here he was, a man was about to kill him, and he knew that it could be worse.
"There isn't anything you can do?" The kid asked, knowing the answer already.
"There isn't." The man said. He stood and took a step away from the kid. "What's your name?" He asked.
"... I'm Red. Red Sky Dragon." Red said. "You?"
"I'm Blaine." Blaine took a gun from his belt. Aimed it at Red and looked him in the eyes.
Blaine pulled the trigger. And not for one moment looking away from Red's eyes. Red watched as Blaine pulled the trigger. he felt something and his vision turned white.
Ash Allen Ketchum
"Ash. Sweetie it's time to wake up." Delia yelled up to her son who tended to sleep through his alarm. She heard a noise but doubted he was actually up. "Today's the day Ash." She said. A minute passed before she heard her son fall off his bed and scramble to get his clothes on. Minutes later he came running down the stairs.
"What time is it? Am I late?" Ash asked worried that he'd slept through the day again.
"It's alright. I woke you up early so you would have time to eat breakfast." Delia told him. She put a plate of sandwiches down on the table among other plates full of food there. Ash calmed down and sat down at the table and reached for a sandwich. He stopped halfway through reaching for it because he realized that his bladder was nigh on exploding. He quickly stood up and ran for the bathroom as best he could with a full bladder. Delia laughed and set out one more plate before taking a seat and serving herself.
"Are you sure you don't want me to go with you right now?" Delia asked.
"I'm sure. I'll be back in the evening." Ash smiled and hugged his mom. "Thank you." He said. Delia was on the verge of tears but she held them back, knowing full well that she would need them for tomorrow.
"You are so very welcome Ash." She hugged him tightly and after a moment Ash pulled away and left to earn his starter Pokemon.
The walk to Professor Oaks Research Laboratory was an hour walk which Ash made in half an hour. Being too excited to walk slowly. He approached the door and nervously knocked.
"Just a moment." Someone said from the other side. Ash calmed down a bit hearing the old voice. The door opened to reveal Professor Oak. "Ah, Ash. Come in." Oak said stepping aside for Ash to enter. Ash did and waited for Oak to lead him to the testing room.
"This way." Oak said knowing the boy would want to start as soon as possible. Oak lead Ash into one of the side rooms from the main lab. Inside the room Ash spotted his two potential rivals. Gary Green Oak. And Markus Crow Order. All the boys exchanged grins and smiles.
"Took ya long enough Ashy." Gary said in his usual though playful manner.
"Any longer and we would have become old men." Markus said adding a little teasing of his own.
"Hey, I got here on time for once." Ash replied. He stepped back out into the hall and checked the grandfather clock just to make sure. He Smiled and went back in. "Yeah, on time."
"Heheh. Don't worry about it Ash, I got here only ten minutes ago." Markus said. Gary just smiled and turned his attention to his Grandfather.
"Ash take a seat please." Oak asked him as he placed a folder on the small table that each boy was seated at. "Each folder contains four papers. They are double sided. You must answer at least 80% of the questions correctly. Do that and you will have the minimum knowledge required to handle a Pokemon. Once done put them back into the folder and hand it to me. Then go wait in the backyard until I call for you." Oak told them. He took a seat in front of them and started on some work of his own.
After an hour. Markus was the first to finish. He handed his folder to Oak and left after wishing Gary and Ash luck. Half an hour later Gary finished and did the same as Markus. Shortly after that, Ash finished his papers. Although he felt that somehow he hadn't answered the last question correctly. He was too tired to think any more on it so he put the papers back in the folder and handed it to Oak.
"I'll be outside then sir." He said hopping from one foot to the other. He hadn't sat that still for that long before and it made him agitated.
"Alright. I'll be finished with these in a couple of minutes." Oak told him as he left.
Outside Ash in Professor Oak's backyard, which was 50 acres of undeveloped land, not including the lake and small forest. Ash saw Gary and Markus immediately a little ways away next to a pond playing with a group of Poliwag.
"Guys!" Ash yelled as he ran over to them. They waved at him and waited until he was sitting next to them to start talking.
"So how do you guys think we did?" Gary asked. "I know we all passed, but what do you think our scores are?" Markus answered right away.
"knowing you Gary, you probably got a perfect score. I think I managed to get into the 90's and I think Ash here got just below that." Ash gave him a look.
"Noway. I totally aced it too." Ash said not sure that he actually aced it, but at least got into the 90's too.
"I think we all got a hundred." Gary said. He picked up his Favorite Poliwag from the group and placed him on his lap and started petting him. "Now that we've settled that. What kind of trainer are you guys planning to be? I'm planning on getting water and ghost types."
"I'm going to focus on fire, ground and fighting types." Markus said jabbing at the air when he said fighting types.
"I'm not going to focus on one or two types. I'm going to be the first General Master!" Ash told them.
"General Master?" They both asked not having heard the term before.
"I made it up myself. It's a master of not any single type or types. But of them all." Ash said.
"That would be something to see." Gary said imagining a trainer surrounded by every type of Pokemon.
"Sounds awesome. Can't wait to see it." Markus said. They continued to talk about what they were going to do once they left Pallet Town. Their conversation was cut short however by Professor Oak calling them back to the building.
"Gary you get to choose first." Oak said as he let his grandson walk past him. "Markus you will be next. And then you Ash. Please wait here until I call for you." Oak followed Gary inside and left Ash and Markus to discuss which Pokemon Gary would pick and which one they would pick.
"I think he'll go for Bulbasaur." Ash said thinking back to what Gary said about wanting to train water and ghost type Pokmeon.
"Really? I was thinking squirtle." Markus said thinking along the same lines as Ash, just in a different direction. "Well so long as he doesn't take Charmander I'm happy."
"I'll be happy with any of them." the door opened and Gary stepped out with a huge smile on his face.
"Markus your turn." Oak said holding the door open for the boy.
"So which one did you pick?!" Ash asked excitedly. Gary smiled at him.
"It's a secret until you get your Pokemon and we meet on the road." He said.
"Oooh. That's a nice idea but now I'm even more curious. Ah! What about Markus?" Ash asked realizing that Markus would figure out which Pokemon Gary had chosen just from which one was missing.
"Sadly we can't do much about that. So the surprise will only be for you." Gary said. Ash was even more excited now and couldn't wait to get his starter. Markus walked out and Oak looked at Ash.
"Ready Ash?" He asked. Ash nodded and walked past him. Oak closed the door behind him and lead Ash to his lab. Ash was practically jumping he was so excited, but before he could take his Pokemon Prof. Oak turned to him.
"Before I give you your starter. I wanted to know if you had any questions." He asked. Ash made a noise but quickly stopped himself from whining.
"Actually yes Professor." Ash said thinking about it for a moment. "What is my score on the test?"
"of course. You scored 99% Ash." Oak told him.
"Really?! That's awesome! Wait... That means I missed one question. Right?"
"Unfortunately."
"It was the last question right? I felt that it wasn't right but I was too tired to think about it."
"... If you want you can re-answer the question if you like. Don't worry," Oak said catching the look in Ash's eyes. "If you get it right you get 100% and if you don't you still pass." Oak said handing Ash's folder to him. He looked at the folder and seemed to be struggling with himself.
"Are you sure this is alright?"
"Absolutely."
"Alright." Ash took the final page out and set it on a desk. "Do you have a pencil? Thanks." Ash erased his answer on the last question and stared at it. It didn't take Ash long to decide on his new answer and he felt much better with it. He handed the page to Oak who read the last answer.
"Ash... It's blank." Oak said looking at Ash for an explanation.
"I felt that was the right answer."
"... I'm surprised. Ash, you got 100%." Ash's mouth fell into a gape. "Good job Ash. Now let's get you your starter." Ash nodded and followed after Oak.
"Bulbasaur and Charmander have been chosen already, I'm sure you know who picked which one." Oak said. Ash nodded. "So that leaves you with Squirtle." Oak pressed a button on a Pokeball transfer machine and waited.
"That's weird." Oak said as he pressed the button again. Nothing happened. Oak moved over to a screen and with a few quick commands he pulled up a registry for all Pokemon he had on site. He found that the squirtle, that he had pet there himself, was gone. "Oh no. No no no." Oak ran to the nearest video phone and dialed the police.
"Hello this is the Pallet Town Sheriff's Office. Officer Pete speaking." Officer Pete answered.
"Pete I need you to come down right away." Oak said in a panicky tone.
"Whoa, I'll get there as fast a possible. But can you calm down and tell me a bit more?" Pete asked calmly. Oak took a breath and continued.
"One of the starters has been stolen."
"... Oh... I'll be there shortly." Pete then hung up. Professor Oak sat down in his wheely chair and stared blankly at a wall for a moment. Then his gaze shifted to Ash and Oak remembered what was going on earlier before he discovered that a Pokemon had been stolen from his own lab.
"Ash... You can kinda understand what's going on right now right?" Oak asked. Ash nodded. He look really disappointed.
"Someone stole a Pokemon... How could somebody do that?"
"I don't know." Oak sighed. "The Pokemon that was stolen was the last starter." Oak said.
"... What's going to happen now?"
"Pete's going to get here. He's going to ask a statement from each of you. Then we're probably going to watch the security feed. You will probably be sent home after he asks you a few questions." Oak stood up and walked over to Ash. "I'm sorry Ash. You won't be able to start your Journey for a couple more months."
Ash felt sick. He couldn't barely stand the thought of someone doing such a thing. So for someone to have done it made him feel terrible. Oak got Gary and Markus from outside and after they had been told everything Sheriff Pete arrived and from there everything went pretty much as Oak had said.
Ash waved to Pete who had been kind enough to give him a ride. He turned around and walked inside his house and was immediately swept up by his mother in a hug.
"Oh sweetie, I'm so sorry. Professor Oak called and told me everything. I can't believe this actually happened." Delia said trying to comfort her son. Ash was limp in her arms a moment before wrapping his arms around her and hugging her back. Ash told her that he felt like going to bed early today and went up stairs after saying goodnight.