CHAPTER 1: A JOURNEY'S BEGINNING

"Jake!"

Twelve-year-old Jake Masterson grunted, the only acknowledgement he could muster as of right then to his mother who was calling him from outside his Pokémon-memorabilia filled room.

"JAKE!"

His mom yelled his name louder and rapped impatiently on the door.

"Y…Yuh?" the young man with a mop of brown curls and tired-looking green eyes mumbled as he tried to resist the temptation of rolling over and going back to sleep.

"Don't you remember what day it is?!"

"AAAAH! I almost forgot!"

This sent Jake up like a shot. He rushed to begin changing from pyjamas to the new outfit his mother had set out for him the night before, the outfit that he would wear on this momentous day. It was green, just like the trees in the Viridian Forest near his home city- The green jacket marked him as a new Pokémon Trainer of Viridian City. He also had new blue jeans and a set of running shoes, along with a green and white satchel that his mom had also bought for him. He beamed to himself as he looked at himself in the mirror after changing.

"Today's the day!" he muttered to himself excitedly as he opened the door and sprinted downstairs to his mom.

"You're running late!" Patty Masterson said sternly to her son. She was a plump woman with a round, ever-smiling face, and had raised her son alone, with an exceeding amount of patience and love for Jake.

"I'll just… Skip breakfast…" Jake said as he tried to wrestle himself free from his mother trying to attack his unruly hair with a brush.

"Yeah, that's probably best," Patty said, and before Jake knew it there were tears in her eyes, "I… I just can't believe my baby is finally setting off! You've… Always dreamed of this!"

"I wouldn't have gotten here without you, Mom," Jake hugged her tightly, "You're the one who contacted Professor Oak for me…"

"Samuel and I go way back," Patty said, "It wasn't a problem!"

"Really, Mom, thanks for everything,"

"Go, now. You better hurry if you want to get to Pallet Town on time!"

And so Jake, with one final look and wave of goodbye to his mother who frantically wished him luck and reminded him to stop by on his way back through Viridian so as she could see his new Pokémon, set off in a rush to Pallet Town- where he would meet Professor Oak and receive his first Pokémon!

"Am I… Late?"

Professor Samuel Oak, noted authority on Pokémon, an ageing man wearing a tan suit, turned to see the young man with the unruly curls. He'd been told about Jake Masterson, and when he saw the young man Professor Oak could immediately see the potential. He had the fire in those green eyes that so many great Pokémon Trainers he'd met had also had.

"Not at all, Jake, only one of the other Pokémon has been taken."

"Which… Which one was it?"

"It was the Bulbasaur," Professor Oak gave him an investigatory look, and when he saw Jake's face fall for a brief second, he knew that Jake had been planning on picking Bulbasaur.

"We still have Charmander and Squirtle here, though. Either of them would make an excellent partner, Jake!"

"That's true, Professor. You can probably tell I wanted Bulbasaur, considering I've lived near a forest my whole life and have an affinity with Grass types, but you can't win 'em all!"

"Very true, Jake, and very admirable for you to be so accepting."

"Thanks, Professor, and it's very nice to meet you at last."

"Likewise, my boy. Now, what say we introduce you to the Pokémon?"

"Yeah, that'd be grea-"

"HOLD UP!"

A panting voice had yelled as the door had burst open and a hasty-looking guy came bursting in. Jake thought that he must've been around his age, or maybe a few months to a year older. He had deep brown eyes, and spiky black hair. He wore a red and black jacket, black jeans and a pair of black combat boots.

"Ah, you must be Max," Professor Oak smiled and nodded in greeting, "Not to worry, there are still…"

"Has Charmander been taken?" Max approached Jake and Professor Oak.

"Not at all, but…"

"But what?" Jake was starting to dislike the way Max spoke, especially to someone who was much more versed in Pokémon and in life than a boy his age would have been.

"But Jake was here first, so I thought that perhaps if he wanted the Charmander, he should get first pick."

Max turned to Jake and Jake was uneasy to see that the taller boy was glaring at him.

"Y… You can have the Charmander," Jake said immediately. He had kind of wanted Charmander as his second choice but he'd already been too late for the one Pokémon he really wanted, so he was feeling quite down and at this point he didn't really care which Pokémon he got.

"Damn right I can," Max said under his breath so that Professor Oak wouldn't hear.

"So, Jake Masterson and Max Rowan, are you both ready to meet your new Pokémon?"

"Yes!" both young boys said determinedly, not taking an eye off the two Poké Balls in the old man's hands as he threw them into the air and from the capsules came an orange bipedal lizard with a flame on its tail and a blue bipedal turtle with an orange shell and yellow underbelly.

"Squirt squirt!"

"Char!"

Jake grinned down at Squirtle, and the little Pokémon returned the look of joy and affection immediately, and went to leap up into his arms, but bumped into Charmander. Charmander didn't take well to this and began scratching at Squirtle's body with its claws. Squirtle cried out in pain.

"Ahhh!" Jake yelled, "They're fighting!"

"Your Squirtle needs to be less clumsy!" Max seemed bemused by the fight betweem the two tough little creatures, but Professor Oak handed the two boys the Poké Balls.

"Call them back, quickly!"

"Come on, Prof, let them have some fun!" Max laughed cruelly.

"Untrained Pokémon fights are dangerous and can get seriously out of hand, Max," Professor Oak said, "I'd have thought you'd know that considering who your grandfather is…"

Max was silent and looked incredibly intense and angry for a moment. Then he just called his Charmander back to its ball, and redirected his attention to Jake.

"You taking the Gym Challenge?" He asked coldly.

"I-I plan on it, yeah," Jake hated how timid he felt around this intense young man, but he couldn't help it. What Professor Oak had mentioned about his heritage made Jake put two and two together. Max Rowan had to be the grandson of Professor Rowan, an expert on Pokémon evolution from the Sinnoh Region.

"Me too," Max said approvingly, "Looks like we'll be rivals, then. I'll have fun crushing you, and that's if you even make it to the League."

Jake shook with anger that he didn't even know he was capable of. This uppity guy thought that just because his grandfather was famous, he was going to beat Jake at the very thing he had always dreamed of. He'd always thought that if he won a Pokémon League or two and made a name for himself, his father, who had left Jake and his mother a long time ago to pursue Pokémon Training full-time himself, would notice him and commend him in some way.

"How…" Jake started, trembling with emotion and all the while embarrassed that Professor Oak had to see this, "How about we have a battle right now, outside the Lab, so we can really prove which of us is going to crush the other?"

Max laughed, "Seems like you aren't one to just take things lying down. You might have more spine than I thought. You're on!"

Oh dear, Professor Oak thought to himself, These two seem even more hotheaded than Red and Blue…


A/N: Hi. Been a long time since I posted anything on FanFiction. This is Jake's Journey, a Pokémon Journey-style story inspired by many other of its ilk (Star Crossed Colt as well as Talarc's Pokémon Journey series to name a few). What's different about this story is that it's going to have some original things within it as we progress (i.e. not a simple retelling of the games/manga or simply a gym battle and Pokémon League story) I have written quite a bit ahead as of posting this, and I plan to write a bit more before posting more. Any feedback is truly appreciated and I hope you enjoy the series.