Chapter 1: The End of Training
It was a bright sunny morning in Pallet Town as Alex Cheval Made his way from his house in the center of town to the practice fields for his morning training session. He was a young man of average height and a lean muscular buid. He was twenty years old with short brown hair and hazel eyes. Alex wore a white T-shirt made for those who worked out in the sun and tan cargo shorts with a lighter tan cloth belt. He stopped, like he did every morning when he trained, at the Pokémon rental center to pick up his Pokémon for the day's match. Alex owned no Pokémon of his own like most of his small town. For this reason an rental facility had been installed, the facility would give visitors three Pokeballs containing randomly selected Pokemon. The Pokémon in question were all of the same strength and level so that fairness could insure irregularly strengthened Pokémon would not be a factor in the battles He was here for his final lesson under long time teacher and family friend Ethan O'Neil. Ethan was a large burly man who spoke in a gruff manner and rarely showed any emotions not related to the task in front of him. He had met alex's father years before but was never one to offer information of how or even where. As Alex approached with his Pokémon he wore a look of disapproval at his arrival time.
"Late as usual, are you" he stated hard pressed to keep the displeasure from his tone. "You're damn lucky your father wished me to assist you or you would be on your own. Oh well we had better get to business late or not." Alex felt a twinge of grief at the mention of his father who Ethan had told him had gone missing on a trip to the far away Sinnoh region five years prior.
"Yes indeed let's start this already and I don't want to hear any excuses when I wipe the floor with you either!" Retorted Alex a little put off by the mention of his father though he knew the man had meant no harm. "Pokeball go!" he shouted and threw his first Pokeball at the same time his adversary released his. A Mr. Mime sprang out ready to do battle with Ethan's Chignling that had been just released.
"How interesting that we find ourselves in a battle of two pure psychics." Said Ethan. "This should make for an excellent lesson of how to handle a battle where neither opponent has the advantage. As I've already told you it is wise to choose a Pokémon that will have a type advantage over the other but in this case it seems that neither does so we will have to make due"
"Whatever you say old man" Taunted Alex lightly. "Mr. Mime quick use Confusion." Waves of mental energy assaulted the chingling but it looked to be fine for the most part.
"Alright then Chingling show this amateur how to battle and use bite" The chingling attacked with surprising ferocity and clung on to Mr. Mime's left shoulder refusing to let go
"Didn't see that coming, a dark move out of a psychic type" said Alex "But things happen, Mr. Mime Doubleslap that thing off of you and use Reflect to slow down any more of this savagery." The maneuver worked to perfection and the small Pokémon was dislodged and flung to the other side of the battle field while Mr. Pipe waited patiently behind its wall of light.
I see not all of my lessons have been wasted on you. And there I was thinking that I have been been wasting my time." Ethan said calculatingly "Chingling use Teleport to get around that wall and Bite him again!"
"Mr. Mime hit it with a confusion right before it uses Teleport then Doubleslap it!" Alex's plan worked to perfection as chingling became confused and teleported to the wrong area of the field. before it had time to orient its self it was assaulted by a barrage of slaps. When the attack ceased chigling lay on the ground obviously unable to fight any longer.
"Ok then that was a good move it seems that you may actually be ready for the tournament tomorrow. Keep up your practicing for the rest of the morning then get yourself home to rest, after all you have a big day tomorrow."
"You mean we're done early?" Alex questioned. This was something that had never happened ever in his five years of training under Ethan.
Don't you ever listen to me, I said keep practicing. But there is nothing I can teach you at this point, the rest is up to you."
Alex continued to practice with the rentals until noon when he decided to take his teacher's advice and get some rest for the next day. As he approached the long path through the forest that separated the practice fields from the town he couldn't help but think about the next day. Tomorrow was the annual Pokémon tournament that would decide who was awarded Pokémon that year, gone were the days of trainers starting their journeys at the age of ten and setting off into the world untested. The new league rules required that all trainers must have won a league certified tournament to earn the right to begin their journey. These restrictions were in place as the world was a much more dangerous place thanks to a criminal organization that had called themselves The Black Wall. Though they had been disbanded for over ten years the regions were still plagued by the remnants of the evil group. Tomorrow would defiantly be a big day he thought but it was nothing he couldn't handle.
His mother was waiting for him out side their house. She was a middle aged woman whom age had looked kindly upon. She wore a pair of long brown shorts with a darker brown belt above this she had on a bright yellow polo shirt. Her hair was still a deep brown and flowed all the way to her waistline. She greated Alex with a smile and asked him how his day had been.
"Did you learn much from Ethan today?" she asked offhandedly, checking the mail she was bringing in from the mailbox.
"No today was more of a fine tuneing day" Alex replied deciding that it was close enough to the truth.
"Well I wish you good luck of course and I hope you can begin your journey soon." Seeing the look on Alex's face she continued. " I will of course miss you but its time you explored the world."
"Thank you mom." Alex replied
He couldn't wait to see what the next few days would bring.