A New Pokemon Adventure
Chapter 1 – The first Pokemon
James opened his eyes. Sunlight was spilling through the open window, and a taillow was standing on the window sill, singing its little heart out. James pulled the pillow out from under his head and put it over his face in an effort to block out the noise. A taillow had woken him up two mornings in a row now, and he was pretty sure it was the same one. Suddenly the singing stopped. James sighed with relief. He heard a thump, and he looked up. On the floor was the taillow, and its little yellow beak was deep inside his last apple. James loved apples.
"Hey!" James shouted at the flying pokemon, who gave a whistle and flew into the air, its huge eyes laughing at him. James bent down to pick up the apple, and deemed it too eaten already to be bothered with. He threw it out the window. The taillow chirped happily and flew out after it. James stretched. According to the clock on his wall, it was half past six, which meant he had one and a half hours before the pokemon lab run by Professor Birch opened, and he let ten new pokemon trainers into his lab to pick his or her first pokemon. James stretched, before getting up and attempting to find his shirt and pants. He pulled his t-shirt over his head, and put on some thin jeans. He then made sure he had packed everything he had brought with him in his huge hiking backpack, and put his black cap and sunglasses on his head. He had to be out of the pokemon center by ten o'clock anyway, and after he had gotten his first pokemon, he doubted he would be back.
Nearly a week ago, he had been celebrating his fifteenth birthday, delighted with the fact that he had finally reached the age where his over protective parents would let him become a trainer. Although law stated that children could receive their first pokemon at the age of eleven, and they could legally challenge a pokemon gym at the age of twelve, James's parents had forbade James from getting a pokemon until he was fifteen, because they were worried that he couldn't handle it. But, at the age of fifteen they agreed to let him get a pokemon. They booked him a flight down to Littleroot and he was there the day after his birthday. That same day he had booked into the pokemon center, and called the pokemon lab to get an appointment. Today was the day, for him and a few other new pokemon trainers, to get their first of many pokemon, and begin the rest of their lives.
James stepped out of the door, not bothering to close it behind him, and walked to the stairs down to the ground floor of the center. He walked into the eating area of the center, that was set out rather like a McDonalds, and walked up to the counter and ordered a plate of pancakes, and a red bull. James wolfed down the pancakes and chucked the Styrofoam packet into a bin, before cracking open the red bull. James walked out of the eating area, and into the front door of the center.
"Good luck choosing your pokemon." The nurse at the front desk wished him as James walked past. She knew that today was the day, as James had needed to ask her for the pokemon labs number to make the appointment.
"Thanks." James said, walking out, sipping his drink.
Outside, the morning sun shone down upon the water, and reflected off the many ships hulls into James's eyes. The Littleroot pokemon center was located right next to the Littleroot docks. James walked along until he reached a bus stop, and waited at it with a few other people, all of whom were adults who were too old to possibly be going to the pokemon lab. After a few minutes of waiting the bus pulled up, and James and the others got on. James found a window seat, and sat staring out of the window, thinking about his first pokemon. He came from Fortree City, which was located in the middle of a lush forest. James was used to going on walks and seeing majestic swellow flying through the trees, giant tropius trampling the undergrowth, feasting on bananas, and kecleon jumping out of no where to steal your lunch. In Littleroot however there were no giant tropius, instead there were zigzagoon, rummaging through dumpsters. There were no swellow, instead only their pre-evolved form: the tiny, annoying taillow. And no kecleon lurked in the shadows, instead feral poochyena lurched in alleyways, snapping at passersby. James just couldn't see why Littleroot was so popular as a travel destination, when Fortree just seemed so much better to him. Maybe it was the humidity in Fortree.
James got off the bus at his stop, and walked for a bit down the road. Before long the asphalt road had turned to dirt, and the houses became fewer, until there was only one in site, a single building in the distance. As James walked toward it, he noticed two things. Firstly: it wasn't a single building, but a house, and next to it what was unmistakably a laboratory. The second thing was that there was a large collection of people outside the house. There was easily twenty kids standing about, looking nervous or excited, all of them much younger then James and all of them accompanied by a parent. James stopped a little apart from the group, so to prevent any embarrassing words the parents were muttering about him from reaching his ears. According to his watch he was right on time but the front door of the lab didn't open for about five minutes. When it did finally open, Professor Birch stood there, warm and welcoming.
"Hello, hello, I'm Professor Birch, and this is my lab. Today you will all receive you first pokemon. If I may ask those who are receiving pokemon to move forward, and their parents and caregivers to please stay outside." There was a scramble as the kids all hurried toward the doors. James allowed the kids to move ahead of him, trying to look cool. Professor Birch was waving the kids past him into the lab.
"Hello, aren't you a bit old for your first pokemon?" Birch asked James as he reached him.
"Yea," James answered, "My parents told me I couldn't have a pokemon till I was fifteen." Birch nodded sympathetically.
"Awe yes. That happens all the time, not to worry, you're not alone." Birch told him, and closed the door behind them. Birch then walked to the front of the group of kids, and started leading them through his lab. James stayed at the back, feeling as if he were on a primary school excursion. Eventually they stopped at a door which birch slid open to reveal a room where the floor was covered in synthetic grass, and there was a plastic gate behind the door to stop small pokemon from escaping when the door was open. And indeed there were small pokemon in the room. There were a few zigzagoon running in zigzags, a shallow pool where some mudkip played, a corner that had a heat lamp above it and some fluffy torchic lying in the heat. But the one species that had James interested were the treeckos, who were playing on the walls.
"Take whatever pokemon you want, just one each, and when you've chosen just stay where you are until I've reached you." Birch told the group. The kids all set out to examine the pokemon. Most of them seemed to have already chosen, and headed straight for a particular species. A few wandered about, looking at each one, or went to Birch with a pokemon several times before they had chosen the one they really wanted.
"Remember, you will be able to capture all of these pokemon in the wild if you want." Birch told the group. James walked around, moving through the kids and their new pokemon, until he reached the stretch of wall that the treeckos were clinging to. Once, a few years ago, when he was in the forest, he saw a flash of green shoot past him. He had no idea what it was, so when he asked about it at the pokemon center, the nurse told him that it must have been a scetpile-a pokemon so fast and agile in the forest it was supposed to be impossible to capture. The only way to get one was to capture one of its pre-evolved forms-those too terribly hard to capture-or receive a treecko as your first pokemon. Ever since that day he had wanted a treecko, and now it was his chance. But he wasn't going to have any treecko; he wanted the fastest, the best.
"BAH" James shouted, making a mock jump at the treecko, who all scattered, apart from one. The remaining treecko glared at him, and its eyes turned red. James took a step back, and realized it must be using a leer attack. But he realized it too late. The treecko jumped off the wall, straight at him, and it him in the face with a powerful slam of his tail. James staggered, and tried to lunge at the treecko, but the wood gecko pokemon was too fast for him. The treecko jumped away, using a quick attack, jumped off a girls head and high up on the wall. Professor Birch came over.
"Hey," James asked the professor, "How strong is this treecko? Like, compared to the others?"
"They are too young to be compared James, but I have noticed that this one is rather cocky, rather stubborn, and a bit of a show off." Birch told him. James considered the treecko. All the television shows said that have a stubborn pokemon was good, as a stubborn pokemon won't give up as easy. But they are also hard to train. Being cocky and a show off as well would probably mean that James could rely on it winning whatever battle it was in, as long as there was an audience.
"I'll take it." James said. Birch smiled and handed James a pokeball with a leaf symbol on the front of it. James looked at it for a second. He had never seen a real pokeball so close up before. It looked smaller on television. It was roughly the size and weight of a softball, which was good, as all kids learnt how to throw softballs expertly at school, now he knew why. James looked up at the treecko on the wall. It was eyeing him. James's arm went above his head and he threw the ball, overhand, up to the treecko. He thought for a moment that he had missed, and that the ball would come falling down and he would look a complete idiot. Instead however, he had the sneaking suspicion that the treecko had moved its tail slightly, and the ball smacked into it, opening, and absorbing the pokemon into it with a flash of red light. The pokeball fell down, and James caught it in the hand that had thrown it. The treecko inside made the ball wobble slightly, as if to confirm that it was inside. James smiled, and pressed the button on the front of the ball to shrink it.