-=1=-

Light filtered in through the sheets on his bed, there was a low grumble that erupted from his stomach. He had to get up eventually, unfortunately, the time was now.

Mornings were never Red's favorites, he would rather sleep until noon, but today was very special, today he would start his travels as a pokémon trainer! Red sat up in bed and rubbed at his eyes. He looked around at his surroundings and groaned, his beige colored walls only reminded him of why he was leaving in the first place. Winning in gym battles meant he would get money. Hopefully he would earn enough money to help get his mom out of this old and small house, but for now, it was a chance at freedom, to get away from his problems, and hopefully relieve his mom from part of the burden. Red smirked, today was the day.

"Well, Red it looks like you're going to have to get up eventually… Just take that first step, everything gets easier." Red sighed and placed one foot on his uncarpeted floor, wincing from the cold chill of the floor. He slowly rose, and put his other foot on the floor. Groaning like the average teenage boy in the morning, he made his way over to the set of clothes and the backpack he set out the night before. He had saved up for all of this over the years, and was now ready to take on the world as a pokémon trainer.

The clothing was basic, but sturdy, consisting of a black shirt and blue jeans, a red vest covered his shirt. He pulled up his black ankle-length socks and tied his red and black sneakers. He fitted his red cap with a white brim over his unkempt black hair, and attached his watch to his wrist. Red turned to his book case, a small folded up piece of paper sat on the top shelf. Red took it and fitted it into his back pocket. He grabbed his yellow backpack, and slung it over one shoulder. While leaving his room, he turned back, and looked regretfully to his bed, but today was a big day, he had to be ready.

Red came down the stairs that separated his room from the rest of the house. His mother was in the kitchen as usual, he could see her cooking something on the stove, her back was to him. Red tried to act sneaky as he quietly mad his way towards his mom, but the floor squeaked and she turned to acknowledge him. "Morning hon!" His mom said cheerfully; glad to see Red awake before noon today.

"Morning mom!" Red said cheerfully. He had grabbed a pecha berry and snacked on it. "What's for breakfast?" Red's mom laughed. "Who says you can have breakfast? You need to get to professor Oak's right away!" Red's mom said and she started to push Red out the door, but not before he grabbed another pecha berry to take with him. "Good-bye mom!" Red called from down the road.

"Good-bye son! Make mommy proud!" Red's mom called out to the waving teenager. Red turned around, and munched on his berry while walking briskly to the elderly professor's house. He took the turn in the path, and saw several pokémon scurry across the fields next to the professor's home and laboratory. He came to the door, a big and heavy thing, and reached for the handle, when the door promptly swung out and smashed Red in the face. Red fell to the ground; he looked up to the trainer standing over him. A boy of about fifteen with spikey blonde hair and cold blue eyes looked at him. "Watch where you're going." The person said in a cold and harsh tone.

Red's fiery and excited green eyed gaze matched the stranger's cold blue gaze for a moment, then Red had to drop it. The stranger smirked and walked away. Red could only stare at the rude stranger before he shook his head and laughed. The laughter caught the stranger off guard, who turned towards him and shook his head. "…pathetic…" was all that Red could make out from the stranger's muttering.

Red sighed; he pulled himself up off the ground and dusted himself off. He opened the door to the lab, this time being prepared for anything. When he came inside he smiled, at the end of the room, next to all of the important looking computer monitors and expensive machines, stood an elderly professor, and next to him, on a table sat a blue turtle pokémon, and a seed pokémon.

"Good morning professor!" Red said, as he came further into the room, he didn't notice the other person who entered right behind him. "Ah… Good morning, Red!" The professor said, and peered over Red's shoulder. "Ah… And Leaf! I'm glad Daisy finally woke you up!" Red turned around and looked at the other trainer. She wore a short-brimmed sunhat over her long and flowing purple hair. Her clothing included a light blue tank-top and short red skirt. On her feet were sneakers similar to Red's, except with white instead of the black. Around her shins she wore light blue leg warmers about the same color as her shirt. Red's gaze met her eyes, she also had blue eyes, except not cold like the stranger's, these eyes were filled with energy, warmth and life. "Well, hello!" the girl named Leaf said and extended her hand out to Red. Red grinned and shook it warmly. "Nice to meet you!" Red said.

"Red, Leaf here is my grand-daughter." Professor Oak said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. Red immediately recoiled his hand and chuckled nervously. Leaf only giggled and a slight blush crept across her cheeks. Professor Oak cleared his throat. "As I was saying, I have your pokémon here for you; unfortunately, I only have two to give each of you." Red and Leaf approached the table tentatively. The two pokémon looked at the trainers curiously.

"This is Squirtle, the water pokémon." Oak said as he pointed to the small blue turtle. "Oooh! I want this one!" Leaf said and she hugged the cute turtle pokémon immediately. The Squirtle laughed too, and embraced her new trainer. Red and Bulbasaur looked at them curiously and Red looked back at the seed pokémon. "I suppose that means I get to have you then, isn't that right, Bulbasaur?" Red asked, and extended his hand out towards the seed pokémon. The pokémon leaned forward as if to sniff the hand, and bit down on his fingers. "Ouch!" Red exclaimed and Bulbasaur started to laugh uncontrollably. "I'm glad somebody thought that was funny!" Red said and he looked at the pokémon again. "You know, one way or another, you're coming with me."

The Bulbasaur stopped its laughing and looked perplexed by Red. Out came its vines, probably for a vine-whip attack Red thought. Instead however, the pokémon wrapped Red up in his vines and gave him a big hug. "I think Bulbasaur likes you, what do you think Red?" Oak asked the new trainer.

"Oh, I think we're going to get along just fine." Red said and took the pokéball off the table. He attempted to recall the seed pokémon; the red line of light hit the pokémon and absorbed it into the pokéball. Red looked to the professor and the other young trainer, they were speaking quietly amongst each other. Oak gave Leaf a pink device and Leaf squealed in excitement as she hugged her grandfather she gave him a kiss on the cheek and ran for the door to start her journey. Oak looked after his grand-daughter and smiled. He turned towards Red and held out a red device for Red. "Here, take this, it's a Pokédex, it's used to scan pokémon that you catch to tell you a little more about them, you can learn its moves, and if you type in a pokémon's name, you can learn a little more about it. It will be a very helpful guide on your journey!" Oak said. "Now, you should probably get a move on!" With that, Oak pushed Red towards the door.

"Okay, okay. I get the hint professor." Red said, and opened the door, he smelled the fresh air, and started off on his adventure. As he opened the gate to leave Oak's ranch, Bulbasaur came out of his pokéball. "Hey there, buddy, what's up?" Red asked, and Bulbasaur nuzzled his leg. "You want to walk with me for a little while?" Bulbasaur nodded and started trotting up the road. "Wait up!" Red called to his pokémon and he chased after it.

Bulbasaur finally stopped in front of a large sign, Red finally caught up to him and read the sign. "Route One, well Bulbasaur, our journey starts here. Are you ready?" Bulbasaur looked up to his trainer; a determined look crossed his face and nodded. "Good, let's do this!" Red shouted and threw a fist into the air. Bulbasaur looked at his trainer, an amused look on his face now.

Red and Bulbasaur started north, along Route One. On the road, a small purple and white mouse pokémon sat scratching an itch. "Bulbasaur, let's try and catch that pokémon!" Red said, and Bulbasaur took a battle position in front of the pokémon.

"Rattata?" The mouse pokémon said curiously. "Bulbasaur, use tackle!" Red ordered, and Bulbasaur charged forward, and tackled the Rattata. The mouse pokémon spun around and ran away. "Bulbasaur, use your razor leaf!" Red ordered. Bulbasaur looked back at him confused and Red face-palmed. "You don't know that one, eh?" Red asked and Bulbasaur shook his head. Red sat down on the side of the road. "Well, let's see if we can find out what moves you do know." Red said, and pulled out his Pokédex, pointed it at Bulbasaur and pressed a button the mechanical voice started up: "Bulbasaur, the seed pokémon; There is a plant seed on its back right from the day this Pokémon is born. The seed slowly grows larger. This Bulbasaur's known moves are; tackle, leech seed, poison powder, and vine whip."

"Huh… What do you think Bulbasaur?" Red asked and the pokémon gave what looked like a shrug. "You're not much of a talker, are you?" Bulbasaur shook his head. "Is there any specific reason?" Red asked. Bulbasaur nodded its head, then dropped its gaze and scuffed the ground with his foot. "Hey, listen, it's okay Bulbasaur, you're still my friend, don't worry about it, I know you'll let me know when you're ready." Bulbasaur looked up at him; with tears in its eyes he leaped forwards and tackled into his trainer. "Well, yes, I'm happy too!" Red said and looked at the pokémon. "Come on, let's continue, we need to get going." Red stood up and they continued their walk.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the trainer who got in my way this morning." Red heard a voice and spun on his heel, where he saw the same trainer that hit him in the face with the door, he wore all black clothing, and his blonde hair was cut short. "Now, in return for getting in my way, you need to battle me." The trainer said, and called out his pokémon. In front of Red stood a short orange lizard pokémon. "Charmander, destroy his pokémon."

"Bulbasaur, let's get him!" Red said and the two pokémon looked at their opponents. "Ladies first." The blond trainer said.

"Bulbasaur, use poison powder!" Red ordered, and the violet powder swept out from the bulb on his back towards Charmander.

"Charmander, counter with ember." The lizard pokémon fired its ember attack that breezed through the powder, blowing a large hole in the center, Charmander jumped through it and fired again, hitting Bulbasaur head on.

"Bulbasaur, are you okay?" Red asked, and Bulbasaur nodded its head. "Okay, now try leech seed!" Bulbasaur fired off a seed towards the lizard.

"Block it with scratch and finish this with ember." The trainer ordered. The Charmander's claw slammed the seed back at Bulbasaur, wrapping it up in the vines. Charmander then fired another ember attack at Bulbasaur who cried out in pain. "Bulbasaur!" Red called to his pokémon. "Stop it! Can't you see it's hurting?" Red shouted at the trainer.

"Fine." The trainer said, he recalled his Charmander and turned around and walked away without a word. Red dropped to his knees next to Bulbasaur and pulled the vines from him. "Bulbasaur, are you okay?" The pokémon's eyes were closed and it was breathing shallowly. "Come on buddy, I'll get you to a Pokémon Center as soon as possible." Red picked up the seed pokémon and started jogging north towards the city of Viridian.

Red ran for about a half an hour, and then he tripped, tumbling forward he released his grasp on Bulbasaur who rolled forward a few feet. Red lifted his head, and the sun got in his eyes. He was dumbfounded as to why the sun was slowly being blocked from his vision. Red shook his head, and a dark shadow stood over him. "Hello?" Red asked as he looked at the dark figure. The figure made no effort to speak, and it squatted down next to Bulbasaur. "Hey! You leave him alone!" Red shouted, and he jumped up, ready to fight this stranger. However, the stranger merely waved him away and sprayed a clear liquid over Bulbasaur who groaned in his sleep. "Stop! You're hurting him!" Red said, and he tackled the stranger to the ground. They rolled around for a moment until the stranger pinned him to the ground. "You know, it's really bad form for you to attack the person that's trying to help your pokémon." The stranger said, and he let Red go. Red stood up and finally got a good look at his opponent. He wore no hat over his shock of flaming red hair, but had a pencil behind his ear. He wore a light green checkered collar shirt with the sleeves rolled halfway up, and a forest green sweater vest. He wore tan cargo pants and brown hiking shoes. Red grinned at his pokémon's hero, "Thank you, very much, I'm sorry I attacked you." Red said to the stranger. "Not to worry! It's only natural you're worried for your pokémon, he looked pretty beat up. My name's Reggie." The man extended his hand towards Red who shook it warmly. "I'm Red."

"Well, Red, you're in luck I found you, we can get your pokémon to the pokémon center in the city and get it some help." Red could only gape, not even a minute of knowing one another, and the stranger was already offering help. "Thank you, so much, but why are you helping me?" Red asked, he had picked up Bulbasaur and they started walking north again. "Well, it's my job, I'm a pokémon professor." Red's jaw dropped. "You're a pokémon professor?" He asked incredulously. "You can't be but a few years older than me!"

Reggie looked embarrassed. "Well, you see. I'm only in training; I work with Professor Elm over in the Johto region."

"If you work in the Johto region…" Red began as they started walking towards the city; he still carried Bulbasaur in his arms. "What are you doing over here in Kanto?"

"Well, I wanted to attempt the Indigo League!" Reggie said and he opened a small badge case, revealing eight colorful badges. "I'm all ready to compete, but the tournament isn't for a few months, so I'm waiting, training with my pokémon." Reggie said, and he started to feel uncomfortable while Red gaped at him, and his badges. "You have that many badges already?" Red asked.

"Well, it did take me a little while… but yes, of course!" Reggie said to his new companion. "What about you? How many do you have?"

Red looked at Reggie a bit sheepishly at this point. "Well, none at the moment, I just started my adventure."

Reggie laughed. "Not to worry, you'll do fine! Now, we need to hurry up a little bit, Bulbasaur does need to get to the pokémon center." Red and Reggie started to hurry up a little bit, and they soon came to the city, Red's jaw dropped as he saw all of the people living in one place. Reggie had to nudge him a little bit towards the pokémon center, but eventually Red got the hint and recalled his Bulbasaur as they entered the red roofed building. Inside, a smiling nurse took Bulbasaur's pokéball and went in the back room while Reggie led Red towards the cafeteria. "Let's have a little bit of dinner on me, I want to discuss something with you." Reggie said. They picked up a couple of sandwiches and drinks. "So, Red. I have a proposition for you." Reggie said again as they sat down in the corner of the cafeteria.

"What's that, Reggie?" Red asked, and took a bite out of his sandwich.

"I want to help you with your pokémon." Reggie said, he was still smiling. "I want to help you become strong, with my help, I'm sure I could teach your pokémon a few moves to help you."

Red looked at him skeptically. "Now why on earth would you want to do that, Reggie? Shouldn't we be rivals instead?"

Reggie smiled again and shook his head. "You remind me so much of myself… to answer your question, no I'm not worried if I lose my chance of a shot as pokémon league champion to you, I only wanted to have an adventure before I went back to the professor to finish my studies." Reggie said, and Red started to grin as well.

"Well, when you make a convincing argument like that…" Red was cut short as the smiling nurse came back with Bulbasaur's pokéball. "Here you are sir, is there anything else you need?" The smiling nurse asked. "Ah, yes please, we need a room for the night." Reggie said, and flashed the nurse a quick and confident smile. "Of course you may! Just meet me at the front desk and we'll get you all set." Reggie winked at the nurse who blushed and giggled. The nurse turned away, and Reggie looked at Red, who had stopped mid bite. "Did you just flirt with that nurse?" Red asked.

Reggie looked sheepish, and rubbed the back of his head. "Well… maybe. But you have to admit, she was cute." Red sighed, was this guy really going to be his tutor?

"So, where shall we begin?" Reggie asked his pupil. Red shook his head. "Let's just get our room; I've had a long day."

Reggie nodded his head knowingly. "So, let's go find that nurse!" Red face-palmed and got up to follow his energetic mentor who was already at the door to the lobby.

When Red came to the door, he could see that his mentor was already at the front desk laughing with the nurse. Red shook his head as he came over to them. Reggie immediately became serious and requested a room key… and the nurse's number.

Red could only laugh when the nurse looked at him terrified, she called security, and a large bulky man came out of nowhere next to the nurse. "Is there a problem?" Reggie could only gulp and shake his head. "Good, now stop harassing the young lady, or things will not get pretty, if you catch my meaning." The security guard cracked his knuckles and Reggie paled. Red took the key from the nurse and gave her a reassuring smile. "I'll be sure to keep him on a short leash." Red told the nurse, who giggled immediately. Red half-led, and half-dragged Reggie up the stairs and into their room. When they were in the room, Red quickly shut the door, and turned on Reggie.

"Now, what on earth was that?" Red asked his mentor.

"What? I can't have a little bit of fun?" Reggie asked, he collapsed on the couch, and grinned an impish little grin. "I mean, she was cute and all."

Reggie face-palmed and shook his head. "You're going to get us into trouble if you continue this." Red said. Reggie just continued grinning.

"I'll make you a deal," Reggie began. "I won't let my 'fun' get in the way of my teaching, if you don't bother me about it, okay?" Reggie finished with a triumphant smile; Red could only look wild eyed at his mentor. "Fine, deal." Red and Reggie shook hands.

"You know, Red, you need to lighten up, maybe find yourself a girlfriend." Reggie laughed. "I can give you a hand at this if you want."

Red shut the door to his bedroom, listening to Reggie's cackling as he slumped to the floor against the door. "Why? Of all people, why did I agree to this guy?" Red asked himself. The laughing on the other side of the door stopped, and Red was worried he was overheard. A split second later, the laughter resumed, ten times harder. "You should come on out Bulbasaur, and let's look you over." Red said, and released his pokémon. Sitting on front of him was the little blue seed pokémon. "Hey there buddy, how are you feeling?" Red rubbed the pokémon on the top of its head, receiving a contended sigh from his friend. "I wanted to tell you, tomorrow, we're going to go out and try a little training, I met someone who can help us work as a better team." Red said, and Bulbasaur smiled at his trainer.

"So, you approve?" Red asked, hoping for the answer he wanted. Bulbasaur looked at his trainer and smiled widely. "Good, now you should get some rest, we are going to have a very long day tomorrow." Red said and Bulbasaur curled up on Red's bed and went to sleep almost immediately. Red looked around his small room, it wasn't much, but then, Red really didn't need much, did he? Red shook his head and there was a knock on his door. Red opened it, and found his mentor standing there. "Hey there, Red." He looked around. "I was wondering if you'd want to go get some ice cream with me?"

Red shrugged. "Sure, but why the change of heart?"

"I wanted to make up my teasing towards you." Reggie cracked a confident smile. "Besides, we need to figure out a good strategy for your battles with Bulbasaur."

Red nodded, "Well, let's get us going then."

They left the hotel, while the sun was low in the sky; they wandered about for a little while, not really knowing where they were going. Then, they stopped in front of a large building in front of them. "What's this?" Red asked.

Reggie, who was looking at the map, glanced up quickly. "Oh, the Viridian City gym. The leader specializes in earth-type pokémon, it was a tough gym to beat, and I don't recommend it for a novice like you." Reggie smirked as he looked over the map again. "If we go down that way." Reggie was pointing down the street. "And make a left near the market, then we should be at the ice cream shop." Reggie said and started off, Red reluctantly followed, with numerous gazes back towards the gym.

They eventually found their way over to the ice cream shop, and ordered their cones. Red licked at his treat, and Reggie began. "So, Red, our first conquest is going to be the Pewter City Gym, the leader specializes in rock types, so Bulbasaur will be your best bet on defeating the gym." Red nodded, and continued with his ice cream. "However, it is also a two on two battle, so I was trying to decide on how to get you an excellent second pokémon, I was thinking we take a look in the Viridian Forest, it's home to many different pokémon, mainly bugs and flying types, but there are the occasional small rodent pokémon that run around there." Reggie thought for a moment, and took a bite of ice cream from his spoon and took out his map of the area. A large green area sat on the northern end, and Reggie looked at it. "I do know of a few places in here where we could find some unorthodox pokémon." Reggie paused. "But it will be difficult, with a great deal of off the path travelling, if you want to give it a shot, I'm up for it." Reggie said, and leaned back in his chair. Red grinned. "Any chance to make some new… unorthodox friends."

Reggie also grinned. "Then it's settled, we'll start out again tomorrow!"