The Journey Begins
Our story opens on the beautiful Vermillion Islands, a series of islands with pokemon from Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova. With 8 different gyms and their own pokemon league, the Vermillion Islands are a great place to start on your journey, as well as catch a full arsenal of pokemon. On the island of Safrico, in the sleepy little town of Valaroma, our story begins...
The first thing I saw on my journey was the sky. A beautiful pink sky as the sun began to rise over the hills. I quietly slipped out of my house so as not to wake my parents and ran through the silent streets of my hometown, Valaroma Village, and as I reached the edge of the town, I stared out over the long expanse of pale green dew-drop covered fields and hills.
"It's beautiful." I whisper. My skitty nods in agreement and nuzzles my leg. If he wasn't with me, I probably won't have the nerve to do this.
Sorry, I got a bit ahead of myself. I'm Kayla Midori, age 12, and I'm just starting on my pokemon journey. Why am I starting it late? Well, ever since I was little, I've been sickly, and I was discharged from the hospital for the first time in 3 years about 2 weeks ago with the warning to not push myself. I'll be turning 13 in 3 more months and my parents said that when I turn 13, they'll let me leave on my journey, but after watching my younger brother and sister leave on their journeys, I have itchy feet. I didn't want to wait 3 months, so I decided to run away in the early morning. My skitty, whose name is Neko, has been friends with me since I was 8. We've been together for nearly 5 years now, and if I didn't have Neko, I wouldn't be able to do this. He's already pretty strong so he'll be my starter pokemon. Now that you're all caught up, let's get back to the story.
"It's beautiful." I say. "I've been dreaming of this for years now and I'm finally going! I'll be the best trainer in the whole world! Just you wait Neko, soon you'll have tons of new friends to play with! Maybe if we're lucky, we'll even find you a Moon Stone and you could evolve! You're more than ready!" I say excitedly.
"Miyao," Neko says patiently, allowing me to take it all in before we continue.
"Oh Neko, I'm so glad you're coming with me," I say quietly. "With you by my side, I can do anything!" And with that we start down the hill towards a brand new adventure.
"Wait!" A voice cries. I freeze. I know that voice. This isn't good. I slowly turn around and look back at the top of the town.
"Mom." I whisper.
"Kayla wait!" she calls and hurries down the hill towards me.
"Don't try to stop me, mom," I say. "I'm leaving on my journey and there's nothing you can say that'll make me wait. I've been waiting for this my whole life and you're not going to-"
"I know," she replies breathlessly as she reaches me. "Which is why I brought you these." She holds up a pair of brand-new dark brown hiking boots. "These are to keep your feet from hurting. And this is from me. Neko is going to have to eat you know." As she hands me a backpack and a small bag of pokeblocks especially for normal types. "Now look in the backpack" she says. I do and see a belt with a small pack and loops for poke-balls, as well as 5 poke-balls, a pair of silver goggles with teal lenses, and-
"Mom..." I whisper. "This is..."
She smiles as she says "That pendant was your fathers. He would've wanted you to have it."
Tears well in my eyes. "Do you really think so?" I say as the early morning light catches the beautiful pale green gem and reflects beams of green light onto the silver fixings. My father died right after my youngest sister was born in a boating accident on his way to Carimon Island. This pendant is my mothers greatest treasure.
"Of course he would. Whenever you're sad or missing home, just look at it and I'll be right there with you. You're never alone, remember that. You can always come home," she says with a smile on her face.
"Yeah," I whisper. "Yeah I know. Thank you mom," I say as I tightly hug her. "Thank you so so much."
"Of course," she says and hugs me back. "Have fun. Good luck. Make sure you reach your goal. Never stop dreaming."
"I won't," I reply. I turn around and start down the path, wiping tears from my eyes. Neko smiles up at me and rubs against my leg as we walk on.
"Goodbye!" my mother yells as I walk out of earshot. "I love you sweetie," she whispers. "She's turning out exactly like her father," she says.
I spin around and wave, then I turn my back on my little hometown and walk into the rising sun, determined to not come back until my goals have been met and I'm the greatest trainer in the world. It's only a matter of time!
