When Mikato doesn't have anywhere else to go, she sometimes goes to the old shack on the beach to watch the Gorebyss and Wailmer breech. Somehow, sitting on the cold sand floor and watching the Pokémon jump from the water so gracefully makes life seem that much less scary. Then again, for Mikato just about everything is scary.
She got up, wiped the sand of her shorts and started to make her way home. The sun was setting and her mom and dad would be expecting her home. The thing is, she didn't expect much of a warm environment at home. For the past month her parents had been separating themselves from her by keeping quiet around her and sometimes ignoring her presence completely. Mikato guessed it was because they were just preparing her long leave of absence.
Or more likely: their preparing themselves for when she comes back. Because they honestly think she won't survive her Pokémon journey. Many people including them expect she will come back to her hometown not a victor, but rather in a box.
Mikato got barely a wink of sleep that night. Thoughts kept going around in her head like a sock in a dryer. What if her parents and virtually everybody in Briny Town is right? What if she really won't survive her journey? What if she's too weak?
The constant news reports of trainers being attacked on the trails came to mind. It's because of the danger of it and the severity of the attacks that had killed over twenty-two young trainers in the past year, the legal age of a trainer keeps rising. Mikato felt lucky when the age was raised from fourteen to fifteen last year, but indeed time moved to fast. And now here she was, shedding tears of dread as she watched the sun rise on her fifteenth birthday. Her favorite sleeping clothes, though it kept her body toasty, did nothing to warm her heart.
But she still wiped the tears from her mint green eyes, changed into day clothes and made sure she had everything packed. Clothes, food, cooking supplies, about 2,500 of saved poke dollars (though Mikato wasn't sure how far it would get her in this economy), a fishing pole, and a deck of cards; Mikato has always been the type of person to be able to plays solitaire for hours without getting bored.
She slung the heavy pack onto her boney shoulders and quietly tip toed out of the house, wary of waking her parents, whom she could hear snoring quietly in their room. She really didn't want to go through saying goodbye to them. Knowing them and herself; the possibilities could range anywhere to no interaction at all or her crying, begging to stay home; and she wanted neither of them to happen.
Before she headed off to the lab in her hometown, she stopped off at the beach. She sat in the abandoned, empty shack one more time and watched the sun paint the water pink and yellow. She took one more deep breath of the salty air and made her way to the professor's Pokémon lab.
As a man that hates to wake up early, Professor Palm had chosen the wrong job.
Everyday he has to wake up at dawn to be able to feed all the Pokémon in his seaside lab, a task that seems to go on forever. The entire time it takes goes from sunrise to noon sometimes. It was when he was getting ready for the tedious task when he discovered he didn't have to get Mikato from her home. He found her curled up on his doorstep sleeping when he was getting the morning newspaper. He shook her shoulder to wake her up.
When she woke up, she looked up at him with confusion, "Palm, what are you doing in my room?"
Poor kid, Palm thought, "Mika, you're at the lab. Today's the day you get you're first Pokémon and go on your journey."
She was silent for a moment before letting out a small moan of sadness. But she got up anyway and went through the door.
Prof. Palm led Mikato to the guest room and told her to sleep, "You'll need the energy. I'll get back to you once I'm done."
So Mikato climbed under the Pikachu covers and closed her eyes. She fell asleep quickly.
Mikato could feel flames caress her skin. She stood in a small circle of fire, and the orange blazes lapped her arms but it didn't burn. Indeed, it felt warm and loving, more like a hot bubble bath. The thing is, even though Mikato knew she should be terrified, the fire actually made her feel calm and, could it be possible, brave? But not far into the distance she could sense a malevolent presence outside her safe circle of flames. Did she dare leave the safety of the fire and face her fears head on? She never found out; she woke up.
Mikato found herself in the guest bed in the Briny Town lab, as she should have. She climbed out of covers to find Prof. Palm sitting on the couch. He had lines of worry on his face, which reminded Mikato about how Prof. Palm, whom is thirty-three, can pass of as a man in his late forties. "Palm, what's wrong?"
"Hmm," he turned to face her, "Oh, nothing, don't worry about it." He got up, "Follow me."
Prof. Palm led her to a room in the lab she's never been in before. It was different from the other rooms in the lab: white, sterile, and bright fluorescent lights. In this room, the walls were painted bright, cheery colors and pictures of dancing Marill and Pichu. The air was thick with the calming smell of lavender and apples, and the lighting was set to a dim mood lighting.
Prof. Palm explained, "Most of the starter Pokémon you are given are still very young, and the unnatural, bright surroundings of a typical science lab would be shocking to them. So we keep their surroundings calm until we gradually get them used to unfamiliar areas. Now then, without further to do."
He pressed a button on the wall and a hole appeared on the floor. A glass shelf rose from it. On the shelf were three racks each containing four poke balls. Each rack had its own color: red, blue, and green.
"The color of the racks show what element the Pokémon in the poke balls are: fire, water, and grass. Each of those poke balls carry the starters of each region; them being Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh. Now, Mikato," he placed a warm hand on her shoulder, "Choose wisely."
"Okay." She walked to the shelf and stared at the potential partners intensely. She pondered: what will it be? Fire, Water or Grass, and even then its still up to chance what she gets.
Then she remembered the dream she had. How the flames made her feel so strong, so brave, like nothing could hurt her.
Her hand hovered over the red rack for a moment, "Now remember Mikato, whatever Pokémon you choose, you will have it forever."
She nodded. Eventually her hand came to the third ball on the rack.
"All right then. Now throw the ball and we'll know what your partner is."
"Okay," she took a shaky breath and hoped it would be nothing too scary, "Poke ball, go!"
She threw the ball and with a flash of white light, an orange fire erupted warming the room by twenty degrees. And before she knew it, Mikato was staring into the dark, narrow eyes of a small creature with orange embers on its back, "Cyndaquil!"
As Mikato looked down at the small creature with flames on its back, a weak smile tugged at the corners of her lips. She kneeled down, "Hi Cyndaquil." She tried to pet it but it instantly curled up into a protective ball.
"Cyndaquil are fairly timid and easily startled," Prof. Palm informed.
Mikato found that description fairly accurate for another being in the room. "Hey, it's okay Cyndaquil. I won't hurt you." She than gently patted the Cyndaquil's back. It slowly relaxed and uncurled its body. It looked up at her with wonderment, probably wondering who the giant was, or why she was being so affectionate to it.
"You should return it to its poke ball. We should be going on."
Mikato looked at the shiny, red and white ball in her hand. She really didn't want to put her new partner back in there. She didn't know how exactly the devices worked, but she imagined it couldn't be to comfortable for long periods of time. So, instead, she lifted Cyndaquil up and cradled it in her arms like a baby.
Prof. Palm sighed, "Fine."