CHAPTER ONE: A ROUGH START

It was a bright and sunny morning. Not a single cloud was present to adulterate the beautiful light-blue sky. The jubilant chirps of several flocks of Pidgey and Spearow could be heard from the lush treetops. But not everything was quite as innocent as the songs of the flying-type pokemon. Something sinister was in the works—three agents of the crime syndicate Team Rocket were camped out in the forest, off the path on Route 1, eagerly awaiting the opportunity to ambush naïve new trainers with rare starter pokemon from Pallet Town.

"Oak's bound to be sending off a few brats any day now," Chi said impatiently as she tied back her long, straight black hair into a bun. "This is the time of year that they typically start. School's just ended for the ten year olds and the weather is nice and mild. They should be strolling down this path by now."

"I know; I believe you, Chi," said her partner Kai. He yawned, stretching out his arms. They'd just woken up. "Just because we haven't seen any the past few days doesn't mean we won't. We just have to be patient."

Chi sighed. "You're right. And when we do…"

"We'll have ourselves a Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle to bring back to the agency for a nice big commission," Kai completed her sentence. Their eyes met as they both grinned menacingly.

"Mime! Mime! Mr. Mime!" cheered their third partner, a Mr. Mime that had been assigned to work with them during training. The three then sunk back into the bushes, ensuring that they could watch the path from a safe distance, completely unnoticed.

"Today's the day!" Sylvester leaped out of bed. After studying devoutly throughout his short academic career and earning top marks in all of his pokemon courses, Sylvester felt well-prepared to begin his next undertaking as a pokemon trainer. For years, he'd been praised by his parents, teachers, and even Professor Oak as the most promising trainer-to-be of Pallet Town in his year's cohort. Now that he was ten years old, he was legally allowed to begin his journey.

"Breakfast is all ready, Sylvester! Eat up quickly and head down to Professor Oak's lab." Sylvester's mother cheerfully bellowed as he came running down the stairs of their two-story home.

"Thanks, Mom!" Sylvester sat for his last breakfast as a "child" with his mother and father, and inhaled his pancakes as they prepared him to go out into the pokemon world.

"Are you excited, son?" asked his father.

"Of course, Dad! I've been waiting for this my whole life," Sylvester immediately replied.

"Have you given any thought as to what starter pokemon you will choose from Professor Oak's lab?" asked his mother.

Sylvester smirked. "I'm way past that! I'm going to pick Charmander, which will eventually evolve into Charizard. I want to have a well-balanced team in order to avoid having too many type weaknesses, so my plan is to catch Gyarados, Machamp, Jolteon, Clefable, and Sandslash as the other five! They should cover all of Charizard's weak spots."

"Son, those are some pretty rare pokemon… It's great to have lofty goals, but perhaps don't plan too far in advance," warned his father.

"Whatever—I can do it," Sylvester sharply rebutted. And with that, his plate was empty. "…All done! Thanks so much for breakfast, Mom! I'm going to head over to Professor Oak's now to pick up my first pokemon!"

"Okay, stop by one more time before you head off! We need to make sure you have everything—food, water, clothes, medicine, tools… Anything you could possibly need!" his mother instructed.

"Will do, Mom." Sylvester raced out the door and began running down the street towards the Oak lab.

The townspeople seemed extra upbeat today. Being that Pallet Town was a relatively small and tight-knit community, its residents usually made sure to know when they were sending off a new trainer. As Sylvester passed by each grassy green front lawn and house along the dirt road, a seemingly endless parade of neighbors waved him good-bye and wished him good luck. At last, he reached the big glassy building known as Professor Oak's lab, with a large field enclosure behind it. The automatic doors slid of the building opened as Sylvester bolted inside. "Professor Oak, I'm here!"

Sylvester quickly paced past the lab benches, full of an array of high-tech devices, and researchers fixated on improving and innovating them. Upon making his way to Professor Oak's office and knocking on the door, he was greeted by a brown-haired research assistant in glasses and a lab coat named Melvin. "Welcome, Sylvester! Professor Oak will be right back… Have a seat in his office with me. The three pokeballs containing your prospective Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle are right on his desk," he said. Sylvester shook hands with Melvin, then walked in and made himself comfortable.

"I see Sylvester made it here!" Professor Oak said, entering his office shortly after.

"Hi Professor Oak!" Sylvester exclaimed.

"Hey Sylvester! Today's the day—how are you feeling?"

"Great! I can't wait to begin my adventure. Thanks so much for all of this!"

"Of course! I think you have so much potential, Sylvester. You demonstrated in your classes that you have a strong aptitude for pokemon knowledge, and now you just have to apply it to real life!"

"Thanks, Professor Oak."

"And hey—if you work hard, maybe you'll even become the next Red," Melvin added.

"Red? The champion of the Kanto league?" Sylvester asked, eyebrows raised.

"Yes, Red is from Pallet Town as well, and I gave him his first pokemon. His mother still lives in town and she's a good friend of mine, actually! When he was a kid, he went by the name Randy—he only adopted the alias 'Red' after all of the fame he accumulated from winning the Pokemon League Championship," Oak explained.

"Ah, I see," Sylvester replied. "Why 'Red?' Does he train fire types?"

"Red trains all types of pokemon," Oak answered. "I'm not quite sure why he chose the name—perhaps because he always wore a red hat!"

"So what starter did Red choose? Was it Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle?"

"Actually, none of those pokemon were available by the time Red came in to accept his first pokemon. Instead, I gave him a Pikachu. He went on to catch all three starters during his journey and evolve them all to their final stages, though. It was quite impressive."

"Wow, I hope I can do the same."

"With hard work, anything is possible! Now, Sylvester—would you like to take a look at all three pokemon or do you already have one in mind?"

"Thanks for the offer, Professor Oak, but I've already decided! I'd like Charmander," Sylvester said, a big grin forming on his face.

"Alright," Professor Oak said, grabbing the middle pokeball off his desk and handing it to Sylvester. "Charmander is all yours!"

"Thanks so much, Professor Oak! Go, Charmander!" Sylvester said, throwing his pokeball up in the air and releasing Charmander from its capsule. "It looks… amazing. A real live Charmander."

"Charmander! Charmander!" the little Charmander cried.

"Take these as well," Melvin advised Sylvester as he handed him five additional pokeballs. "These are empty; you should be able to catch your first few pokemon with them!"

"And have this," Oak added, throwing in a small red electronic device. "This is a Pokedex; when you encounter unfamiliar pokemon, you can use this device to learn more. Simply point it at the pokemon in question, and the Pokedex will provide an identification to the best of its ability. Try to fill it with as many pokemon sighted as possible!"

"Thanks so much, both of you!" Sylvester said, accepting the extra pokeballs and Pokedex. Soon after some additional small talk and friendly good-byes, Sylvester left the lab with his new Charmander in his arms and headed back home.

Kai's cell phone began ringing. "Chi, I'm getting a call from Gideon."

"That scientist that we met back at headquarters? What does he want?" Chi asked suspiciously.

"He's one of the technicians in Oak's lab," Kai smirked. "I asked him to call me if he caught wind of any information about new trainers."

"I see… Well pick it up!" Chi ordered. "You're going to miss the call!"

"Hello, Gideon?" Kai answered the call.

"Speaking to Kai, correct?" Gideon asked.

"Yessir," Kai responded. "Oh? Okay… Uh, huh… Yes… Okay perfect, thanks, Gideon. Have a good one." He hung up.

"Well?" Chi asked.

"He says he just saw a kid leaving Oak's lab with a Charmander," Kai informed her. "Tonight's the night…"

"Perfect."

"Mime!"

Upon walking through the door of his house, Sylvester found both of his parents anxiously sitting at the kitchen table. "Oh, wow! Is that your new Charmander?" asked his mother.

"Yep! My very first pokemon," said Sylvester.

"It's so cute! I mean—it looks very tough!" complimented his mother.

"Listen, Sylvester," his father began. "Your mother and I are very worried about you. You're still so young and the pokemon world is a rigorous one… Please make sure you use that cell phone we gave you to call us every single day."

Sylvester rolled his eyes. "Of course I will, Dad."

"I just checked your backpack—it seems you have everything you need! But just like your father said, if you discover you forgot something, let us know and we'll send it right over!" his mother followed up.

"Okay, thanks guys! I think it's time for me to go." Sylvester embraced both of his parents one last time before leaving the house. His parents followed him out the door, waving him good-bye until he was no longer in sight. A few streets later, Sylvester and Charmander were at the edge of Pallet Town, ready to depart. Onto Route 1, eventually leading to Viridian City!

Very suddenly, all signs of civilization ended and pure wilderness began. Rather than a mosaic of houses and trees, there was merely a dirt path surrounded by patches of tall grass and forest on both sides. The farther Sylvester walked from town, the more frequent pokemon sightings became. Sylvester, however, was not impressed—abundant as they were, the only pokemon around this route were Rattata, Pidgey, and Spearow. "Not much to log in the Pokedex here…"

Spotting a Spearow he particularly favored as it was feeding on some shrubs, Sylvester muttered to himself, "I might as well see what it's like to catch a pokemon. Go, Charmander!" Charmander sprang out of Sylvester's arms and prepared to attack. "Use ember!"

Without warning, the wild Spearow found itself being burned by Charmander's flames. It used a gust attack to blow them away, then flew straight towards Charmander to tackle. Charmander was knocked back, but still determined to win the fight. "Now Charmander, use another ember!" Being burned again, Spearow responded the same way as last time—blowing away the flames with a gust. However, worn down by the impact of the first ember, its efforts were not as strong the second time around, and the flames made their way to Spearow, surrounding it in mild fire. "Finish it with a tackle, Charmander!" Charmander ran in as Spearow struggled to blow away the fire and tackled it. Having lost the energy to further battle, Spearow collapsed.

"Perfect!" Sylvester reached into his backpack for an empty pokeball, withdrew it, and tossed it at the knocked-out Spearow. The ball encapsulated Spearow with a bright red beam. Now filled, the pokeball shook a few times before ultimately settling—Spearow was caught! "Yes! Great job, Charmander! I just caught a pokemon for the first time!" Charmander excitedly jumped up and down. Capturing the Spearow was a breeze!

"Kai, look! There's the kid!" Chi spotted Sylvester and Charmander celebrating their capture of Spearow through her binoculars, as she remained hidden in some distant bushes with Kai and Mr. Mime.

"Okay, let's just follow him until it gets dark. Then we'll strike," Kai advised.

Chi agreed. "You know what you have to do; right, Mr. Mime?"

"Mime, Mime!" Mr. Mime confirmed.

"Okay. Now come out, Venonat!" Chi said, throwing a pokeball in the air to summon her own pokemon.

"You too, Gastly!" Kai followed suit, sending out his Gastly. Chi, Kai, and Mr. Mime briefed Venonat and Gastly on the plan soon to be implemented that night.

Sylvester picked up his pokeball that was now filled with Spearow and threw it in the air, summoning Spearow from its ball. "Are you two both alright?" Charmander smiled—it was perfectly fine. Spearow was a little roughed up. "Here, Spearow," Sylvester reached into his bag again. "Have this burn remedy my mom packed for me." After checking up on both of his pokemon, Sylvester returned Spearow to its pokeball and continued to walk with Charmander in his arms.

Route 1 was a long stretch and began to get quite monotonous. Grass, trees, Rattata, Pidgey, Spearow, path. And before too long, the sun was beginning to set. Once it had gotten dark, Sylvester began to feel a bit nervous. It was difficult to see ahead; the only light source he had was Charmander's tail. He'd never before been left to his own devices in the dark, miles from home. It almost felt like he was being followed, but Sylvester attributed this to the paranoia accompanying new experiences. Still, he'd often turn around and browse the area just to make sure—but he saw nothing. Everything seemed clear!

"Maybe I should set up camp soon…" he surmised. But just as he was about to bend down and reach into his bag for the foldable tent kit, he faintly saw some sort of motion distantly ahead. "Charmander, can you try to strengthen the flame on your tail a little bit and point it in that direction?"

Charmander followed orders, revealing an "injured" Mr. Mime crawling along the dirt path ahead. "A Mr. Mime? You don't usually see those on Route 1…" Sylvester and Charmander began running full speed towards the deceptively frantic Mr. Mime, which began crawling off the path and into the woods, slowly enough to appear wounded but quickly enough to continue to goad them away from the path. "Let's follow it, Charmander! It's weak, so it should be easy to capture!"

Before Sylvester could get a second look, the Mr. Mime was out of sight. "Shoot, we lost it! Light the way, Charmander—we have to look for it!" Their search led them deeper and deeper into the dark forest, extremely far off the path.

"Wait! There it is!" Sylvester spotted it about 10 meters deeper into the forest, and ran toward it. Just as they approached, Gastly appeared, using shadow ball on Charmander. The light provided by its tail got slightly dimmer.

Suddenly, two human silhouettes appeared—both looking quite a bit taller than Sylvester. One was Kai, and the other was Chi. "Were you trying to catch that Mr. Mime, little boy?" asked Chi.

"Uh, yeah," Sylvester replied, slightly dazed and concerned about Charmander.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but Mr. Mime is with us," said Kai.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to try to steal your pokemon. I thought it was wild, and I just thought it was so cool to see a Mr. Mime on Route 1!" Sylvester tried to explain.

"I'm afraid we'll have to get even now," Chi said. She stepped closer, now near enough for Sylvester to see her black uniform with a big red "R" centered on her top.

Sylvester's eyes widened in horror. "Team Rocket!?"

Chi, Kai, and Mr. Mime chuckled in unison. "You poor, unlucky boy."

"Hand over your all your pokemon and money or we will take them by force," threatened Kai.

"No way! I'll call the police!" Sylvester reached for his cell phone. Before Sylvester could dial a single number, Mr. Mime, now clearly uninjured, lunged at him and slapped the phone out of his hand, several meters away.

"Care to battle for your pokemon?" Chi said, reaching into her belt and grabbing a pokeball. "Go, Venonat!"

"Help her out, Gastly!" ordered Kai.

"You're sending out two pokemon at once!?" Sylvester was indignant. "I won't battle you for my pokemon…"

"You have no choice. Your pokemon are all you have to defend you from us. And once we defeat them, we'll get you," Chi threatened.

"Well, I can run!" Sylvester grabbed Charmander and bolted in the opposite direction.

"Gastly, stop him and use mean look!" Kai yelled. Gastly instantly vanished from its current position and reappeared right in front of Sylvester, shooting him a glare that left him immobilized.

Sylvester quickly realized how futile his situation was. "I guess I have no choice… Fine. Let's go, Charmander and Spearow!" he said, releasing Spearow from its pokeball. "We'll take you down. Charmander and Spearow both have a type advantage over Venonat."

Chi cackled. "Type advantage? Did you learn that in school? I assure you, your little Charmander will not beat my experienced Venonat. Charmander is quite a rare pokemon, though—so I am glad to have the opportunity to steal it! It's not every day you find a fresh, defenseless rookie carrying a rare pokemon around."

This angered Sylvester. "Who are you two!?"

"We're Team Rocket, and that's all you need to know," answered Kai.

"No matter. Time to battle. Spearow, use peck on Venonat, and Charmander, fire an ember at Gastly!"

"Such rookie moves," mocked Chi. "Venonat, dodge!" Spearow lunged at Venonat, bobbing its head up and down repeatedly in an effort to peck. But Venonat was too fast, and each time Spearow pecked, Venonat moved just out the way. As Spearow pushed Venonat farther and farther back, however, a somewhat large tree root protruding from the ground caused Venonat to trip, giving Spearow the opportunity to get a few good pecks in before Venonat was able to regain its bearings and slip away.

"Alright, Spearow!" Sylvester cheered victoriously. "Great job!"

"You haven't won yet," Chi threatened.

"Help her out, Gastly! Give Spearow a nice lick!" added Kai. Taking a break from evading Charmander's ember attacks, Gastly vanished and reappeared before Spearow to deliver a paralyzing touch of the tongue. The attack sent chills up and down Spearow's body.

"Now Charmander, ember on Gastly again!" As it was busy with Spearow, Charmander landed its first successful ember on Gastly, interrupting its lick attack and inflicting a burn.

"No! Gastly!" Kai hollered.

"You guys aren't so tough," Sylvester gloated, Charmander and Spearow now side by side and ready for the next attack.

"This has gone on for long enough," Chi was growing increasingly more impatient. "Venonat, finish this with a stun spore!"

"No! Spearow, use gust to blow the spore away!"

"Gastly, stop Spearow by using confuse ray!"

"Charmander, don't let Gastly attack Spearow!" Venonat began persistently releasing paralytic spores, with Spearow deferring them away by conjuring up a wind with the flap of its wings. Charmander continued to hurl ember attacks at Gastly, but Gastly would simply disappear and reappear, each time getting closer to Spearow. When it finally found a position safe from the gust and ember, Gastly released a ghostly beam at Spearow. Now confused, Spearow stopped blowing away the stun spore and began frantically flapping its wings and flailing on the ground. Without the gust to protect them, both Charmander and Spearow became unable to move as they breathed in Venonat's spores.

"It's over," Kai smirked. Gastly blasted Charmander with a shadow ball while Venonat delivered a poison fang to Spearow. Just like that, Charmander and Spearow were both rendered unable to battle.

"No!" Sylvester cried. "Charmander and Spearow, return!" Both were encapsulated back into their respective pokeballs.

"Wow, your pokemon have no fight in them whatsoever," Kai continued to dig into Sylvester. "And now you've lost our wager. Mr. Mime, why don't you take his money and pokemon?" Mr. Mime walked up to the still immobilized Sylvester, delivered him a wind-knocking stomach punch, and grabbed his wallet and the pokeballs containing Charmander and Spearow.

"You can leave the Spearow, Mr. Mime," Chi instructed. She turned to Sylvester. "You seem like an okay kid and your Spearow is a weakling, so we'll let you keep that one. We'll settle for your money and Charmander. Be grateful we spared you your Spearow and your life."

Sylvester, with a cold sweat and still trying to regain his breath, couldn't even speak to respond. He remained on the ground, unable to move.

Mr. Mime handed the money and pokeball to Kai. "Perfect! Nice doing business with you, kid. Be more careful next time." And with that, Gastly and Venonat were returned to their pokeballs, and Kai, Chi, and Mr. Mime disappeared into the night with Charmander and all of Sylvester's money.

Still in shock, Sylvester passed out. After a few hours, he regained consciousness and the ability to move. The forest was still pitch black. He slowly got up from the ground and immediately felt his belt for his occupied pokeballs. Neither were there. His eyes widened—it wasn't just a nightmare. He hurriedly reached into his bag and pulled out a flashlight, using it to scour the ground around him. A few meters away, he found both his cell phone and the pokeball containing Spearow, but sure enough, no Charmander. He released Spearow from its pokeball to make sure it was still there. "Are you alright, Spearow?"

Spearow, having recovered, confirmed with a flap of the wings. It was injured, but for the most part alright. "I'm so sorry, Spearow," Sylvester whispered. "I failed you." Holding Spearow in his arms, tears streamed down Sylvester's face as he reached down for the cell phone and dialed the police.

"This is the police. Hello?"

"I just got mugged by Team Rocket and they stole my Charmander."

"Oh, my god! Are you alright!? Where are you? We will send some officers right over."

"I'm on Route 1. Please come quickly. I need to get my Charmander back."

"Do we need an ambulance for you or any of your pokemon? Some officers are on their way already. Stay where you are—we are tracking your position using our phone system."

"I don't need an ambulance, just get here quickly… Please…" Sylvester's voice began to enter hysterics.

"Okay, we have your location! The police should be there any minute, young man. Do you need anything else from me?"

"No."

"Call back in a few minutes if the police have not arrived."

"Okay I will, thanks."

"Okay, goodbye!"

"Bye."

Sylvester sat on the ground crying with Spearow and waited for the police, trying to digest what had just happened. Spearow was visibly upset as well. Attempting to comfort Spearow but still full of tears himself, Sylvester offered the words "Don't worry, Spearow, we'll get Charmander back and I'll make sure this never happens to you again." His facial expression then became slightly more solemn as he thought to himself, "And I will get my revenge."