First Time For Everything

Ron sleepily opened his eyes. The sun streamed down to hit his tired eyes. He was rubbing them to get the sleep out when he suddenly remembered the significance of the day. He was 16!

He leapt out of bed and got dressed quickly. He put on his dad's old Slateport Police Force shirt and a pair of faded jeans, and quickly ran downstairs. His mother and step-dad were sitting at the kitchen table, with great big grins on their faces.

"Happy birthday sweetie!" His mother squealed. Grinning, she ran forward and squeezed Ron tight.

"Ugh, Mom! C'mon!" Ron said, with a joking tone of exasperation. She released him quickly, still grinning. His step-dad was next, giving him a firm handshake and then a bear hug.

"Happy birthday, Ron. Your mother and I are so proud of you." Ron smiled at his step-dad, and then addressed both of them.

"Thanks for the happy birthday, you guys! I appreciate it." His mom and step-dad shared knowing glances, and then his step-dad spoke up.

"And… Don't forget what I promised you two years ago…" Ron couldn't forget. His step-dad, Douglas, promised that he would take him to the shelter to adopt his very own Pokemon.

"How could I forget!? When do you want to get going?" Ron asked.

"Whenever you want to."

"How about… right now?" Then his mom suddenly spoke up

"Not without you eating some breakfast first!"

So, within ten minutes, Ron and Douglas were walking on their way towards downtown Petalburg. They lived east of it, in a little town called Oldale Town. The journey to Petalburg was about half a day's walk, so they had to get started early. The first portion was spent in a comfortable silence, each to his own thoughts.

Ron's eyes constantly wandered, and they soon drifted down to Douglas's belt. He had two Pokemon balls clipped to his belt. Ron was a bit surprised at that. He knew Douglas was once a Ranger for Ever Grande, but he didn't know he still had Pokemon.

"Hey Douglas?" Douglas looked at Ron.

"Yeah? What's up?" Ron gestured towards the PokeBalls.

"Why do you have the Pokemon?" Douglas's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Oh, nothing. Just… there have been reports of bandit attacks along the road between Petalburg and Oldale. Just brought them to make sure." Ron thought he was being dismissive, but didn't press the subject anymore.

About 5 hours later, they finally reached Petalburg. Ron's stomach growled like nothing else, and so did Douglas's.

"How about we get some lunch, eh Ron?" Ron nodded, to hungry to speak.

They quickly found a small restaurant, and were soon gorging themselves on Magikarp patties and salads. Ron was too busy concentrating on his food to notice, but three shady characters entered the joint after them, and found a table across the restaurant from them. Douglas didn't fail to notice though, and kept his eye on them.

They stole quick glances at the pair, but didn't stay for long. They got up after five minutes and left. Douglas's eyes followed them out.

Eventually, the pair stopped eating, and went to go find the Pokemon adoption center. They found it, and in they went.

Ron's eyes were all over the place, staring at all the different kinds of Pokemon. Dozens of species, ranging from Machops to Rattatas to Zigzagoons to Poochyenas to Skittys to Roselias, and even a massive tank of water with several Magikarps and Tentacools.

The two went to find an employee. The employee greeted them with a warm smile and a happy face.

"Hello! Welcome to the Official Pokemon League Adoption center! My name is James, and what can I do ya for?" Ron quickly blurted out

"I'm looking for my first Pokemon!"

"Well! Lots of enthusiasm! What type of Pokemon are you looking for?" Ron thought about it for a second, then responded

"A fire type. I've always wanted a fire type." James nodded, and motioned for them to follow him.

"Right this way sirs. I'll show you to the fire types." As they went to the fire type section, Ron noticed that none of the fire types were out of their PokeBalls. He inquired to James as to why that was like that.

"Because! All of our Pokemon are young, and young fire types don't know how to properly control their fire yet. As they get older, they instinctively learn, but the first few months or so of their lives they really don't know how to properly control it. It's a big responsibility to control fire types." Ron nodded enthusiastically.

"I know! And I'm ready." He walked up and down the isles, scanning for the proper fire type. "Magby…. Slugma…. Numel…. Vulpix…" Ron muttered to himself. He didn't see any that he really wanted, until he spotted it. The one Pokemon that was his dream to have and train.

"This one!" James looked at it, and his eyebrow shot up in surprise.

"Are you sure?" Ron nodded, and James looked at Douglas. "Do you think he is capable?" Douglas nodded as well, with a certain glint in his eye.

"I think he's more than capable." He whispered.

"Alright then."

Two hours later, Douglas and Ron were walking back home, with 700 less PokeDollars in Douglas's pocket, and Ron having spent his entire allowance. Ron was ecstatic at his new Pokemon. He had read up on the entire evolutionary line, he had seen them in videos, even seen them in person, and even touched one before! It was his greatest dream to own these Pokemon.

As Ron was practically bouncing home from excitement, Douglas couldn't be as excited as him. He knew something was wrong; he could feel it in the air. His hand casually drifted towards the PokeBalls on his belt. On the outside, he looked loose, but on the inside he was tensed and coiled, ready to strike.

Eventually, after about another hour of walking, Ron finally calmed down enough to notice that Douglas was nervous about his surroundings. Ron also didn't fail to notice that he had a PokeBall in his hand, but he didn't press it.

Within the hour, they were close enough to Oldale to see it in the distance, slightly downhill from them. The large path had been carved out of the forest generations ago, when Rustboro City sent envoys to start new settlements, Petalburg being the biggest, with Oldale and Littleroot not growing any larger than small towns of a few thousand.

"There it is! Home!" Ron said. "I can't wait to show Mom and my friends my new Pokemon!" Douglas merely nodded in agreement, still wary of his surroundings. He was a Pokemon Ranger for the Hoenn Pokemon League for 12 years, and had seen a lot of action with them. But he had retired, and he had lost the edge. However, he still had his instincts, and they told him that something was about to go down.

They were about three miles away from Oldale, when it suddenly happened. Douglas noticed a flurry of motion in the trees to their right, and loosed his two Pokemon as a pack of Mightyena burst from the trees.

"Ron! Run!" Ron stood still with shock as the powerful wolf Pokemon bared down on the pair. Suddenly, a Vigorath and a Manectric leapt in front of Ron, growling and snapping at the threat. In the trees, there were three shadowy figures, watching and waiting.

Douglas grabbed Ron, and shook him. "RUN! RUN HOME!" Ron snapped out of his shock and nodded. He turned towards home and started running home as fast as he could. He spared a glance backwards, and saw the Pokemon start to engage each other, biting and clawing at each other, with the Manectric letting out spurts of sparks on occasion, all while Douglas directed his Pokemon.

Ron staggered into the limits of Oldale, gasping for breath. It was the fastest he had ever run in his life, and he wasn't used to that. As he walked slowly into town, people started to gather around him, asking him questions as to why he sprinted home, and where was Douglas? Ron didn't have the breath to answer the questions, and merely gestured towards the road, before collapsing out of tiredness.

He came to a little while later, in a bed in the PokeCenter. A crowd of worried people was gathered around the bed. People like his mom, and his neighbors Jack and Lauren. He also noticed the town Mayor, and the mayor's ever present bodyguard. The bodyguard was a tough SOB, who was a former Police Officer in Mossdeep, and mercenary for merchant ships. Lots of pirates around the Orange Islands.

"Ron! Are you alright?" His mom asked frantically. Ron nodded weakly, and looked around the room. He found what he was looking for, and started gulping down the water on his bedside table. When his thirst was sated, he croaked out

"We were attacked." The mayor asked

"By who? What?"

"I don't know who, but three of them. They had several Mightyena. Douglas was fighting them with his Pokemon." The bodyguard nodded.

"Douglas's tough. He'll be alright against some Mightyena." Ron's mom nodded as well, but she had some tears in her eyes. Jack inquired towards Ron

"Why did you have to run back?" Ron shrugged.

"Douglas told me too. I don't know why. I could've helped…" Lauren opened her mouth to ask a question, but before she could, the building shook with a resounding boom. Everybody screamed and ducked down, except for the bodyguard. He sprung into action, shielding the mayor. When it stopped, he grabbed two PokeBalls and ran out of the room, shouting for everyone to stay put. Ron couldn't though. He leapt from his bed, grabbed his bag and his PokeBall, and followed him. Jack and Lauren shared a glance, and then followed him too.