Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to neither Avatar: the Last Airbender nor Pokemon

Prologue


It was a beautiful day in Sudpol City. The birds were singing, the children playing, and Sokka laid sprawled across his bed sound asleep. His faithful Cubone resting atop the young man's belly.

Kaya sighed in exasperation. It was already noon and the boy was still sleeping. This was not becoming of a fifteen year old. With yet another sigh, the woman grabbed the blanket and prepared to wake the boy up.

After mentally counting to three, she quickly pulled the bed sheet with great force causing Sokka to fall to the ground face first. Normally he would have shrugged the pain off, but it didn't help to have Cubone fall right on top of his head as he attempted to get up.

"Oww..." he muttered to himself as he adjusted his position on the ground. When he finally got his bearings and looked up, he was greeted with the sight of his mother, her hands resting on her hips, looking very irritated.

"Oh, good morning mom," he said nervously. "What brings you here...?"

"Honestly, Sokka," she started. "All you ever do all day is sleep. I swear it's amazing you're not overweight right now."

Sokka's response was a nervous chuckle. Getting up from the ground, the young man quickly put on his pants. "Sorry," he apologized. "But I just love sleeping too much."

"Obviously," Kaya responded dully. She let out a sigh as she turned to leave the room. She loved her son, but honestly, she wasn't too fond of his habits. "Hurry up and get ready, I have some errands I need you to run."

With that said, Kaya left the room so that her son may continue getting dressed. Figuring that there was no possible way to get back to sleep, Sokka decided to finish getting ready. He looked around the room for a clean shirt when he happened to see Cubone still sleeping on the ground.

"Hey!" Sokka called out. "Bonehead, wake up. We have errands to run."

The tired pokemon sat up and let out a tired yawn, before scratching it's side. Once it was finally awake, the small creature stood up and began searching the room for it's bone club. There was a loud crash as Sokka stumbled to the ground.

"I found your bone," Sokka said irritably. He tossed the object to Cubone with little enthusiasm. The pokemon caught the bone with ease and let out an appreciative "Cubone~."

Once Sokka finished getting his clothes on he made his way to the kitchen to find his mother just finishing lunch. "Oh, you're finally ready," she said when she saw Sokka. "I need you to drop this off at the Gym. You're father forgot to bring his lunch."

"Don't I get anything to eat?" Sokka asked as he rubbed his stomach hungrily, Cubone mimicking the same action.

"If you hadn't overslept you would have been able to eat first," she lectured sternly. When she saw her son's dejected look though she decided to let up. "You can have something to snack on while you deliver this to your father."

After quickly digging through the pantry for something to eat, both Sokka and Cubone started getting ready to leave. Sokka pulled his shoes on and put on a light jacket. He looked to the ground to see his faithful pokemon throwing on a red scarf dramatically.

"I really should stop letting you watch Kamen Rider," he said at the ground pokemon's antics. Cubone simply responded with a huff and followed Sokka out the door.

As Sokka and Cubone made their way through the city, Sokka couldn't help but let out a bored sigh. He watched as the local kids played with their pokemon in the park. He remembered a time when he was like that. But ever since Katara left to become a trainer, things just got dull.

Sokka was never the traveling type. He would venture only as far as the cave located just outside the city limits. He just felt that there wouldn't be any thrill with walking from city to city. He let out another tired sigh. When he finally came out of his musings, he found himself standing right outside of his father's gym.

There was another problem. When you're the child of a Pokemon League Gym Leader, people automatically set a higher standard for you. And if it was one thing Sokka did not want; it was to be compared to his father. It's not that he hated it, it's just that his father was a professional, and had been training for years. Probably since before Sokka was even born.

As he walked down the hall of the building to reach the arena, he greeted several of the local trainers. Several of them would work at the gym as assistants in hopes of learning some tricks from the master.

Sokka decided to put those thoughts to the side when he finally reached the main arena. When he opened the large doors he was greeted with the sight of a large Gliscor impacting the wall next to him, leaving a rather impressive crack.

"Winner: Hakoda of the Sudpol City Gym!" the referee declared loudly.

Figuring that it was okay to go see his dad now, Sokka walked past the challenger and his two friends. "It's okay, Ash, there's always next time," the tallest of the three said.

"Yeah," the blue haired girl accompanying the group added. "We had no idea the gym leader would be so powerful."

Once he recalled his Gliscor the challenger and his entourage left the gym to get his pokemon treated at the nearest pokemon center.

"So how bad did you beat him?" Sokka asked curiously.

"Not too bad," Hakoda replied. "He couldn't get past my Mamoswine, but he put up a good fight."

"Well, Mom wanted me to bring you this," Sokka replied as he handed over the lunch. "Don't you ever get bored of beating all these trainers?"

"What makes you ask that?" Hakoda responded, taking the lunch from his son. "And what makes you think I always win?"

"Oh come on, dad," the young man countered. "Everyone in the city knows you never lose, and I never hear you complain about it either. I just figure it gets pretty dull always winning."

Sokka grew irritated when he heard his dad start laughing boisterously. "Sokka, come here for a second," he said with amusement. He led his son through the gym to a hallway that was decorated with various pictures of different trainers and their pokemon.

"This is the 'Hall of Champions' as I like to call it," Hakoda explained. "Whenever someone beats me in a battle, I always take a picture of them and their pokemon to commemorate the occasion."

As his father explained the details of the various photographs, he couldn't help be be surprised at all of the losses his father had accumulated.

As Sokka continued to survey the different pictures, he came across one particular picture that grabbed his attention. "Isn't this a picture of you?" Sokka asked indicating a rather old photograph.

The picture had two young men, around Sokka's age, shaking hands. The boy on the left, who Sokka assumed was his father, looked a lot like himself. Behind each of them was their team of pokemon.

"Oh that picture," Hakoda replied nostalgically. "That is a photograph that was taken when I first entered the Pokemon League, I'd say a good almost twenty years ago."

"I had tied with my opponent in the finals. It was a heated match, but in the end neither of us could pull off a win and we were both eliminated," Hakoda smiled fondly at the picture. "He never did take loosing very well," he added mostly to himself.

"Whoa..." Sokka said astonished.

"Not so boring anymore, now is it?" Hakoda asked amusedly.

Sokka chuckled lightly. "No, I guess not."

"Why don't you register for a trainer's license?" the gym leader asked curiously.

"I don't know. I just don't think I'd live up to everyone's expectations as a trainer," Sokka replied.

Hakoda placed a hand on Sokka's shoulder and looked into his son's eyes. "Son, what everyone expects from you shouldn't matter," he said. "The only expectations you should ever have to worry about are your own. So long as you can do that, you'll be an excellent trainer in my eyes."

"So why don't we get you registered?" Hakoda asked.

Sokka laughed for a moment before responding. "Let me think about it, and I'll give you an answer tonight."

"Alright, son," Hakoda replied. "I'll see you at home then."

"See ya later, dad," Sokka said as he and Cubone left the gym. As Hakoda watched his son leave, he couldn't help but smile. He had a feeling that Sokka was destined for greatness.

Sokka, once again, found himself in the city park watching all the children play with their pokemon. He was currently thinking about whether or not he wanted to be a trainer.

Frankly, he was bored with the city. He spent his entire life there and wanted to travel. But at the same time, he really didn't know how to go about doing it. He never really wanted to be a trainer because of everyone's expectations, but after listening to his dad, he wasn't so sure anymore.

"What do you think buddy?" he asked Cubone, who was currently swinging his bone club at his shadow.

Sokka chuckled when Cubone simply continued to fight his shadow. "I thought as much."

The young man looked to the horizon to see that the sun was beginning to set. His face broke out into a smile and he was suddenly filled with a great deal of anticipation.

"I guess I better get packing tonight," he said. "It's gonna be one hell of a journey."

A/N: Well, there's the first chapter to my Avatar x Pokemon crossover. This was just a little idea I had one day whilst playing my copy of Pokemon Leaf Green. If this first chapter is any indication, I will be focusing on Sokka, but don't worry! The other members of the cast will make appearances.

The next chapter Sokka is going to register and begin his journey as a trainer. He's also going to meet his traveling partner along the way. Until then.

Read and Review please~