[Nina's House - 8:13 PM]

I sipped my tea as I watched the sunset through the window. The orange rays soaked the fields as the sun slowly disappeared from view.

The day had been great as always. I helped mom out with a few of her errands, watched a bit of TV, lazied around for the rest of the day... yeah, the day was great. And frankly, nothing could ruin it.

I jumped off of the chair I was using as something was shoved on my face. Both the chair and I fell backwards with a loud 'THUD', the tea I was drinking was spilt on both my shirt and the floor of our house.

"AHH! I'M UNDER ATTACK! GLIGAR! IT'S A GLIGAR! AAAAAaaaaaa..." I slowly stopped yelling as I opened my eyes and saw my giggling sister in front of me.

"H-hey there, big bro!" She greeted me, trying to contain her giggles.

"What was THAT for?"

"Here."

She handed me three cards. Each one had a different starter type from Johto, our region.

"Uhm... what's this supposed to be again, exactly?"

"I'm gonna pick cyndaquil!" She excitedly commented, running to my side and pointing at the red card, with informations of the fire mouse.

"That's cool."

"Which one will YOU pick, huh?"

I sighed, looking at her with a bland expression. She already knew my stand on this, so why always try to change it?

"I am 18 and I am far too old for this."

"Nuh uh, there are awesome, like, super powerful trainers out there much older than you!" She said, emphasizing the adjectives and pronouncing them for a longer time than needed.

I sighed again.

"Nina... you know... I'm not a big fan of pokémons..."

"How can you be scared of them? They're so cute!" She shouted.

"I'm not scared of them, I just don't like the thought of leaving our mom and our house behind and just heading to some random city, challenge some random guy and get futile badges for participating in a stupid tournament. Really Nina, if it depends on me, I am never leaving this town."

The door opened, and I heard something that almost made me go pale. Both because of the phrase and who said it.

"Good thing it doesn't depend on you, but on me. Your sister wants to go in a pokémon journey and she is not going alone." Our mom made sure she stressed the 'not' as much as possible.

"Oh... a-and who's going with her?" I questioned."

"You." Our mom responded and my sister shouted as she hugged me.

I was frozen solid.

"... What?"

[Nina's House (The next day) - 6:07 AM]

Pidgeys chirped outside as the morning sun shone over the small town of New Bark. The streets were almost fully empty, except for a few businesspeople going to work here and there. Murkrow flew from the rooftops of houses and buildings back to their forests to escape the sun's blinding rays.

I was asleep. Some kind of dreamless sleep, you know. There was only darkness. They say this happens because there's a gengar nearby, using you as a food source and eating all your dreams. Sometimes, I wonder if that's true.

I was slowly pulled from my empty dream world as I felt something climb on my bed. I slowly blinked my eyes open and smacked my lips as reality started to overcome my mind and my blank dream faded away.

'SPLASH'

I jumped awake as cold, cold water hit my face. The laughter of my sister made its way inside my ears, piercing my brain and soul.

That little brat.

"Hey! What was that for?" I asked, shouting at her.

"You didn't want to wake up," She said, a smug smile plastered on her face. "So I had to wake you up by other means."

"And pray tell, why did you have to wake me up at..." I looked at my pokéball-shaped alarm clock. "Oh come on Nina! It's six AM!" I shouted again, stressing the 'six'.

"Ahem, six eleven AM." She corrected me.

"Whatever, just... why are you awake this early, huh?" I inquired, honestly curious. She usually only wakes up three hours from now.

"Because I gotta get up early to get my starter with professor Elm, duh!" She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Which, in hindsight, it probably was.

"And mom said you have to go with me! So come on now, bro! Chop chop!" She clapped her hands together and headed outside my bedroom. "I already made our jelly sandwiches, we'll eat on the way to the lab!" She shouted from the hallway.

I groaned and fell back on my now wet pillow.

[Professor Elm's Laboratory - 6:28 AM]

The door of the laboratory was slammed open, almost hitting a nearby scientist on his way to organize the nearby bookshelf. The other scientists all glared at the young black-haired girl that ran inside, straight towards professor Elm.

Yes, that was the sister I had to grow with. She means well, but is just as careless as a tauros in a porcelain store. As I entered I asked if the scientist she almost hit was okay. He nodded and thanked me for my concern.

I could see professor Elm chuckling and trying to calm my sister down as I approached them. I've only ever seen him on the TV in the rare occasions he appeared on it, but he was just the same. Glasses, short brown hair, white lab coat... in fact, he looked even more like a nerd from up close.

A quick glance at the metalic table by the side of professor Elm and I was able to see the three pokéballs sitting atop it. Their simple yet iconic design was plastered almost everywhere, so there was no way I wouldn't recognize them. They looked like they were just polished, I could see the laboratory, Elm, my sister and I in their reflexion.

"So, have you already decided what starter you want to get, young girl?" Elm asked her. He seemed excited, maybe handing out those starters and seeing the young trainers, some that he taught hinself, must really make one joyous like that.

"Yes! I want cyndaquil, the fire type starter!" My sister shouted, raising her fist to the sky. I couldn't help but smile at her antics.

Elm took the middle pokéball and clicked the button on it. It opened up and a flash of white light flew from it and landed next to us on the floor. The white flash quickly took the form of a cyndaquil.

It curiously looked around, then up at my sister. "Cyyyn!" It happily shouted the first part of his name. I had to admit, it looked adorable.

"In case you're wondering, it's a boy," Elm informed my sister. "I trust you to take good care of him."

My sister had already picked the cyndaquil up and was hugging him, holding him in her arms. She looked at Elm's eyes and nodded. Her expression was serious. In fact, that was probably the most serious face I've ever seen her do.

"Don't worry, professor! I will be the best trainer he could ever have, and will make you proud of me!"

"Cyyyn!"

"Haha, that's what I like to hear!" Elm wholeheartedly laughed and patted my sister's back. He then looked at me, his smile still on his face

"Hmm... would you like a starter as well or are you just accompanying her?"

"Just accompanying."

"He wants a starter." We both said in unison.

"Well, these starters are only for the 10 year olds that come here, I'm sorry."

"Oh, that's... oh man, that's too bad," I said sarcastically. "Seems like I won't be able to go along with you on your journey, Nina."

"Oh no, don't worry about that!" Elm exclaimed, raising a finger up and taking a small pokéball from his pocket. "We have some extra 'starters' with us in case something like this happens!"

"Oh, really, there's no need..." I told Elm, but he didn't back down.

"Don't worry, it won't be any trouble to us. Sadly, we only have a few sentrets with us available to be given to trainers, so you don't really get to 'choose' a starter, but it sure is better than nothing, right?" He handed me the pokéball.

It felt weird, holding one of these for the first time in my life. I pressed the button in the middle of it and it got bigger, as I expected. Another press and the flash of white was out, quickly turning into a sentret.

Just like Cyndaquil, the sentret curiously looked around, and then up at me. It cocked its neck to the side.

"Sentret, he is your new trainer," The Sentret turned to look at Elm, and then back at me. "Boy, she is your new partner." He said with a smile.

"It's Jack." I commented.

"Huh?"

"My name's Jack." I told him.

"Heh, well Jack, it's a pleasure." Elm extended his hand, and I shook it. Suddenly, Nina put her hand above ours while holding Cyndaquil with her left arm. "And I'm Nina!"

The sentret I took out of my Pokéball had climbed up my leg and also put her small paw above Nina's hands. I had to admit, I liked that sentret, it was cute.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Nina!" Elm chuckled. "I wish you two the best of luck with your journey."

"Thanks!" Nina shouted and was already running out. Her cyndaquil had nestled himself on her head.

"Nina! Wait!" I shouted, but she didn't slow down. "Uhm, see you around professor. Thanks for everything!"

"Oh, before you go, here!" He handed me a weird and red handheld device. It looked like a chip, only larger, and it seemed to be openable. "This is a pokédex, it contains information of almost any pokémon. Try using them on wild pokémon you find if you ever need to know more about them. This one is for your sister. Sorry for not having one for you, I was warned a bit too late that you were coming with her."

"It's no problem!" I thanked him and ran after my hasty sister, my newly-received pokémon, Sentret, was holding on to my right arm; I held that arm next to my body so that she wouldn't risk falling.

As I stepped outside, I saw my sister looking marvelled at a potion she was holding.

"Look at what one of those scientists gave me, bro!" She held the potion up to my face. "Isn't this nice?"

"Did you thank them?"

"Of course, duh!" She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, come on! Mom is probably waiting for us with your backpacks!" She started running once again, this time towards our house.

My sentret climbed my arm and nestled herself in my shoulder.

"Well... did you know? We're going to go in an adventure, apparently..." I commented unenthusiastically.

"Sen?"

"Yeap. You'll probably like it, won't you?"

"Sentret."

"Was that a yes or a no?"

"Sentret."

"I don't think we're getting anywhere."

[Nina's house - 7:02 AM]

I arrived just a few minutes after my sister, it seemed. I did run after her, but not as fast so Sentret wouldn't fall off my shoulder. Her cyndaquil probably had a very strong grip.

Our mom handed my sister a pink packpack, which she already started using, then she handed me a navy blue one of roughly the same size.

"There are some pokéballs and potions inside there, clothes, obviously, and some sleeping sacks. A few packed cookies and wrapped sandwiches, and... yeah, heh, that's it," She said. I noticed she seemed a bit anxious. She hugged my sister and she hugged her back.

"I love you. Take care, alright?" Our mom said as she hugged my sister tightly. My sister hugged her just as tightly "I love you too. And don't worry, bro will take care of me!"

They both stopped hugging, and then I hugged mom myself.

"I love you," I said. "I love you too, son. Take good care of your sister, alright?"

"Alright mom, I will. I promise."

"Sentret!" Sentret saluted. Heh, I guess I'm not alone in my 'quest' to protect Nina.

Nina and I walked away, waving goodbye to our mother as she waved back.

To think that it'd be a long time until I was embraced by her like that again... I would miss her. I would miss her, our house and this town. But now I made a promise, and I won't let my mom down. I will journey with Nina, and I will protect her.

[Exit of New Bark Town - 7:33 AM]

"Professor Elm told me to hand you this," I said as I gave her her pokédex. "You know what this is, right?"

She didn't answer me, she just kept staring at the horizon.

"It begins today."

"Hmm?"

"Our pokémon journey begins today!"

"Cyndaquiiil!" She shouted excitedly and her cyndaquil tagged along.

I sighed.

"Let's just get this over with, alright?"

We both took our first step into route 29. Into our future. Well, her future... and my unwilling one.

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