Stretching and yawning, he woke to a new morning, but not just any morning. Today was the day that Professor Oak would be giving out Pokèmon and the licence needed to be a Pokèmon trainer! Jumping out of bed he therefore dressed reasonable and pulled his cap down into his face.
"Today's the day!" He hollered and ran to the stairs, only to stumble and almost break his neck...
"Hiroshi! Haven't I told you to be more careful with stairs?" His mother exclaimed as he got back up and brushed off his clothes.
"Yes mom. Oh, By the way! Have the mail come in yet? I'm expecting a letter from Ravna." He had a seat and munched happily on a piece of toast.
Shaking her head, his mother told him that the postman had been attacked by wild Pokèmon... Again... So his letter was going to be late.
Shrugging, Hiroshi smiled and headed for the door.
"Well cest la vi as they say. Bye, I'll be at Oak's lab if ya need me!"
Outside, he spotted neighbours and their kids running around, just having fun... With their Pokèmon... Argh! He had always wanted one of his own! Ever since his father had up and just left his mom and him, he had swore to get out of this lazy town and find him! Stomping over to the largest building there were in town, he entered the lab!
"Professor Oak!" He jogged up to the table holding this years three Pokèmon.
But also there stood Tohru and the much older pokèmontrainer Gary. Tohru had taking it upon himself to be his rival, not that Hiroshi wanted one, and he had asked Gary Oak to be his mentor. Shuffling up to them Hiroshi nodded grimly.
"Yo, seen the Proffesor?" He peeked up at Gary, who were three years their senior.
This shook his head. "Nope, but don't worry, he's always late to these things."
Tohru nodded and accepted everything his sensei told him.
Hiroshi on the other hand found the whole thing weird and started looking around the lab instead. Walking past the office part of the lab, he noticed the computer screen flashing. Walking over to it, he saw that it was an opened e-mail.
"Finally!
The ultimate TRAINERS of the Pokèmon LEAGUE are ready to take on all comers!
Bring your best Pokèmon and see how you rate as a TRAINER!
Pokèmon LEAGUE HQ INDIGO PLATEAU
Ps; Proffesor Oak, please visit us."
Feeling stronger already, he smiled broader and went back to wait patiently with the others.
But time came and went and still there were no sign of the good Proffesor. At long last Hioshi started to get worried; maybe Oak had gotten himself into trouble!
"Um, guys, I'm going to go look for him." He got up; none of the other two seemed to be bothered so he went outside.
Outside, there were still no sign of the old geezer, so he figured that maybe the old dustcollecter had gone to Viridian city and forgotten about them!
He boiled and headed towards the entrance of the small city. Getting there wouldn't be that hard, all he had to do was dodge the Pokèmon. But just as he was at the edge of town, Oak called out for him.
'Sure, now he shows up...'
"Wait, it's not safe!" Huffing slightly, Oak came up besides him.
"Wild Pokèmon live in the tall grass and they can jump up and bite you!"
Hiroshi sweat dropped. Didn't the good Proffesor know that this was knowledge even a five-year-old possessed?
"I know!" Oak grabbed onto Hiroshi's arm with surprising strength. "Why don't I give you a Pokèmon of your on?"
"Um, yeah, I was supposed to come to you today for that but you never showed..."
"Really? Well enough chit-chat! Follow me to my lab Hiroshi!" And so the good Proffesor dragged a disgruntled Hiroshi with him all the way back to his lab.
After they finally got back to Gary and Tohru, Tohru exclaimed.
"Yo gramps, why are you always late?"
Reviewing the youngster with mild curiosity, Oak recognised the young boy.
"Ah! Tohru, I called you earlier today didn't I? But didn't I tell you to come by later? Anyways!"
He pointed at the table on which three pokèball had been placed.
"Hiroshi, I know I promised you that you would have a first pick when it came to this year's trainer choice."
Almost jumping up and down, Tohru glared daggers at Hiroshi's back.
"But I thought you promised ME that! How come he gets's to pick first?"
"Calm down Tohru, you can best him at Pokèmon anyways." Gary calmed the younger boy with.
Feeling stupid and embarrassed, Hiroshi looked at the different balls.
"Um, which one is which?" He asked after awhile. Telling him that his instincts would help him pick the right one, Oak urged him to just pick one.
Touching the pokèball to the right, he swallowed his heart racing. After closing his fingers around it, it opened and a lizard Pokèmon jumped out of it.
"Char char!" It called out.
"So you are claiming the fire Pokèmon Charmander?" Oak asked patiently.
Hiro looked from one to the other. The Pokèmon seemed strong, but wait. Thinking back he recalled his mother telling him something about the Pokèmon she had raised while she was a trainer.
'Always believe in your Pokèmon, no matter how weak it may seem now, it will grow stronger if you only set your mind to it and trust it.'
Yes, he thought, he would never force he's Pokèmon away, even if it seemed too weak! He nodded to the Proffesor and reached out to pet the Charmander.
"Hey there partner." He grinned at the lizard. It smiled back at him and wagged its tail.
"Char, charmander!"
Oak laughed. "Ha-ha! It seems to like you! By the way, would you like to give a nickname to it?"
Hiroshi looked down at it. "Yeah, why not? I'll call you Jael-Maru!" He laughed along with the Proffesor.
"Enough of this sickly sweet nonsense! Move aside Hiroshi and let me pick my Pokèmon!"
Tohru walked over to them and reached blindly out for a ball. A squirtle popped out of it.
"Oh yeah! See this Pokèmon! It's the strongest one! I know it!" He grinned and showed off in front of a deadpan looking Gary who just sighed at the parade.
Walking briskly over to Hiroshi, Oak handed him a licence and congratulated him.
"I bet you'll be as great as your father at battling and as gentle as your mother was at raising them." He nodded. "Well, good luck to the both of you!"
Hiroshi grinned and headed towards the doors! He couldn't wait to see Jael-Maru in action!
"Hey Hiroshi wait! Don't you wanna check out which one of our Pokèmon that is the stronger one!"
Tohru waltzed over to them. "C'mon, I'll take you on!"
He threw his pokèball to the ground; relasing the squirtle. Standing over by Gary,
Oak sighed and rubbed his temples. "Oh for Pete's sake Tohru, why must you always be so pushy?
Hiroshi I don't know if you know anything about
Pokèmon battles but now you're right in the middle of one and you have to accept the challenge...
But rather from telling you a lot of boring facts, why don't you just try it out?"
Hiroshi nodded and unleashed Jael-Maru.
Tohru grinned wickedly and ordered his squirtle to use Tail-whip which lowered Jael-Maru's defence, thinking that squirtle was wagging friendly.
"Charmander, use Growl!" This made squirtle's attack go down. They both continued to use these attacks until Gary got fed up.
"Geezus! Haven't you two been studying what kind of move that your average basicpokèmon has? Tohru! Tell squirtle to use Tackle on Charmander!"
"Hey! That's cheating!" Hiroshi retorted as squirtle used Tackle on his Charmander.
Twisting his head to remember what base attacks that Charmander had he finally decided to just try ordering it to Scratch!
It worked! Charmander knew Scratch! Oh lucky day, maybe he actually stood a chance in this battle!
Jumping to the sideline, squirtle used Tail-whip again.
'He's trying weaken Jael's defence so that he can take him down in one shot! I gotta play the defence again I guess.' He ordered Jael-Maru to Growl again.
But Squirtle scored a critical-hit on the next so his Charmander didn't stand a chance with his now weakened body.
That's when Hiroshi remembered that his mom had given him a potion in case his first Pokèmon needed it along the way the next centre. Pulling it up from his bag, he quickly sprayed it onto Jael-Maru!
After Charmander had beaten the crap out of Squirtle. Oak congratulated them both again. Tohru even had to cash out half of his savings as that was the rules.
"Okay! I'll make my Pokèmon battle to toughen it up! Gramps, Hiroshi! Smell ya later! C'mon Gary, let's roll!" Tohru sprinted out the door.
Gary sighed again. "Well, someone has to watch out for that little guy... Grandpa, I'm going with him to see that he'll raise his Pokèmon properly."
And with that Hiroshi was left alone in the lab with Proff. Oak.
"Bye Proff.Oak! I gotta run too!" He then ran off to show his Pokèmon to his mom and pack some stuff before he headed out.
Just before he left town a girl came up to him and smiled. "Look, look! I copied what it says on one of the signs around here: TRAINER TIPS!"
Freaked out, Hiroshi just pretended not to see her and headed out.
On the route from Pallet to Viridian, he encountered a lot of stray Pokèmon, but none that he could catch and raise...
Why? Because he lacked pokèball! Sitting down on a rock he tried to soothe Jael-Maru's wounds from the last encounter with a wild Pidgey.
It didn't seem so cheerful anymore and Hiroshi started to wonder if it disliked him. But just then a man in a shop uniform appeared in front of them.
"Hi, I work at the Viridian Poke mart. It's a part of a convenient store chain selling all sorts of items. Please come visit us, you see. I'm a little lost. I was on my way to see a costumer... I know; I'll give you a free sample. Here you go!" And with that he pulled forth a potion from his many pockets.
Never the one to pass up free samples, Hiroshi quickly applied the potion to Jael's skin which made it a whole lot happier.
"Thanks! What else do you sell at your store?" He asked politely.
The man grinned and replied that they sold a lot of things and that Hiroshi was not to hesitate if he needed pokèball or anything else.
Magic word? Pokèball!
"Come on Jael-Maru! We need to go to Viridian!"
Oh and they got there already, after a couple of battles and an even more disgruntled Charmander later...
Finally after letting Jael go and rest at the local Pokèmon centre, he headed out to find the poke mart!
Entering the shop, the desk keeper took one glance at him and hollered.
"Hey! You came from Pallet town?" Hiroshi nodded and walked up to the counter.
"You know Proff.Oak, right?" The man continued.
"His order just came in but my other clerk is away on business. Can I get you to take this to him?"
Perking up, Hiroshi accepted the package.
"Hey do you have any pokèball in store?" He eagerly asked, jumping up and down on the balls of his feet.
The man just smiled and replied; "Okay, thanks! Please say hi to Proff.Oak for me too." And with that he pushed Hiroshi back outside.
"How rude..." He muttered while walking the long way back home. He stared at the package.
"I wonder what's inside..." Then all of a sudden he remembered something. "Oh shit! I forgot Jael-Maru back at that centre!"
After picking up his precious Pokèmon again and apologizing several times to it he became more and more convinced that the thing disliked him...
Maybe it was lonely! That could be it! He grinned to it and winked secretly.
"Just you wait Jael. I'll catch you some friends to play with!"
Arriving back at the lab, he discovered that it was some custom-balls that the Proffesor had ordered. Not that he needed them; he himself had said that he had given up on Pokèmon collecting. He explained this by saying that he still needed to catch Pokèmon for studying.
Just as they were talking about this, Tohru and Gary appeared; it seemed that Oak had called Tohru so that that both Hiroshi and Tohru could help him with his pokèdex.
They were also given five pokèball so that they could start collecting on their own.
"Bet he's just too lazy to do it on his own..." Gary muttered, seeing how he had been tricked into the same deal when he had first started off.
Oak just laughed at this before turning back to the two boys.
"When a wild Pokèmon appears, its fair game. Just throw a pokèball at it and try and catch it! This won't always work, however. A healthy Pokèmon can escape. You have to be lucky!"
He threw a fist into the air.
Gary yawned; breaking the mood.
"Or." The redhead remarked. "You could try weakening it before throwing the ball at it and thus save money..."
"Anyways!" Oak straightened himself and his eyes seemed to glace over as he reminisced over his carrier as a trainer.
"To make a complete guide on all the
Pokèmon in the world... That was my dream!"
He suddenly shouted waking Gary up again.
"But, I'm too old. I can't get the job done." A glint appeared in his eyes. "So, I want you two to fulfil my dream for me."
"I knew he wouldn't just give Pokèmon away for free..." Tohru whispered into Hiroshi's who giggled.
Having noticed their talk, Oak cleared his throat. "Get going, you two. This is a great undertaking in Pokèmon history!"
Digging a finger into his ear Tohru spoke up. "All right, Gramps! Leave it to me!
Hiroshi, I hate to say this but you won't be necessary for this.
I know! I'll borrow a Town map from my sis! I'll tell her not to lend you one, Hiroshi! Hahaha! Don't bother coming around my place after this!"
And so he left without another word, Gary tailing after like always.
Feeling cheated, Hiroshi growled and headed back outside the lab. Maybe his mom had an old Town map lying around at home, he hoped...
"A Town map?" His mother asked while stitching together his torn up jacket.
"Yeah! You or Dad must have had one! Please can't I borrow it? Please! I just got this, uh, mission from the Proffesor and I need one!" He exclaimed while helping himself to another cracker.
His mother finished the job on his jacket and got up. "All right, but you don't have to shout. Come along, I think it's in the attic."
Up in the attic a nest of rattata's had settled in and refused to let them come up. Hiroshi grinned wickedly.
"Don't worry mom, Jael-Maru, I choose you!" He threw the ball released the lizard once again.
"Char!"
Hiroshi pointed at the Rattata's. "Chase them out!" After three in a row matches, the attic was finally safe for his mother to come up.
Walking around a little, she pulled forth a big chest. In it were several pokèball, some potions, antidotes and some Poke dolls.
Picking up a doll, Hiroshi snickered. "I didn't know Trainers back there had dolls with them."
Snatching it away from him, his mother explained how throwing one of these dolls could help a trainer escape a battle he or her knew that they could not win. Nodding, he took a closer look on the pokèball.
"Hey mom, are there any Pokèmon inside these?"
"No. After your father and my got you, I released all my Pokèmon, some of them could have harmed you so I didn't really have a choice."
She looked away, suddenly she seemed sad. Not the one to like this kind of mood Hiroshi scurried around in the chest to try and locate a map.
His finger finally connecting with paper, he called out. Looking over at what her son had found, his mother grabbed the letter in which he had found.
"That's not what we're looking for... Hmm, maybe it's not here. I'm sorry honey. Why don't you try asking Daisy, she lives across the street? I'm sure she'll help you."
"'I'm sure she'll help you.' Yeah right, after what Tohru told me, she won't even let me have a foot inside the door." He sighed and sat down on his doorstep outside his house.
After awhile Daisy came out and started brushing the front steps of her house. Upon seeing the glum looking Hiroshi she came over.
"What's wrong Hiro-kun?"
Slightly startled, he looked up and told her about the pokèdex and what the Proffesor was now expecting of him.
Sitting down next to him, Daisy giggled as she looked up at the clear blue sky.
"So, my grandfather has set you to fill 'his' pokèdex huh? Gee, that's kind of lazy of him."
Getting back up she walked back to her house and to disappear for a while, when she came back out she handed him a piece of machinery to him.
"Here, this will help you." He activated it and a holographic map appeared.
"For me? Thanks Daisy!" He jumped up and gave her a hug before grabbing his stuff and heading back out of town.
Just as Daisy was about to walk back down the stairs, Hiroshi's mother appeared behind her.
"Thank you Daisy."
They gave each other a smile and go back to their everyday things...
Meanwhile, Hiroshi had learned of a shortcut through route 1 and in no time he was back in Viridian city! After having passed the grumpy old man sleeping in the road earlier, he reckoned that he was 'home free', but no...
In front of him laid the notorious Forest of Viridian! Many rookie trainers had gotten lost in the maze-like bush! Would he too perish? Looking down at his partner, whom was resting inside a poke ball, he makes his decision.
"My first Gym-centre is beyond these trees... I'm off!"
Two days later, he's hopelessly lost and hungry as a wild growlithe.
"Man, who 'de thought that this forest was so big." He sighed and dumped gown on the ground.
A lot of other rookies were lost and many of them had challenged him to battles. He'd only managed to beat three out of four, the last one being a real pain. But he still hadn't seen Tohru around. Maybe Gary flew him around... Lucky pig!
"Garr! Jael come on out!" He threw the ball at the ground and fell back in exhaustion.
"I need to sleep; can you keep a look-out?"
"...Mander...Humph."
He looked up. "Huh? What's wrong?" He poked the lizard.
It scowled at him.
"Charmander is the hardest one to raise because it has such a bad temper."
"Wha! Who's there?" He jumped up as a bug catcher entered the clearing.
He smiled grimly at Hiroshi and stood his ground. "M' name's Leroy, and I'm a Bug catcher!"
Hiroshi laid back down. "So what? All you have is a metapod and a weedle? I've beaten you before."
The other boy fumed at this. "Well I started with a charmander!" He stomped the ground.
Getting back up Hiroshi looked at the boy with more respect. "You had a charmander? No way!"
"Way!" Leroy nodded and folded his arms across his chest. "But it got way to strong for me and I had to get rid of it..." A sad look ran quickly across his face.
'That look, it's the same as mom's.' He cleared his throat. "So you caught a bug instead and started over again?" He tilted his head to the left.
"Yeah, but I know that she got a good home."
"Eh? You knew what gender it had?" He looked puzzled over at Jael-Maru.
Leroy scoffed at this. "Dork, how can you breed it later if you don't know what gender it is?" He fetched forth a pokèball and released his weedle.
Edging away, Hiroshi peeked over at his partner. So far he hadn't caught any other Pokèmon and Jael was both grumpy and tired.
"Relax, I'm not gonna fight you. Come here and look." Leroy sighed and carried his weedle over to him. Fishing out his pokèdex, he pointed at the display as he held it next to weedle.
"The pokèdex knows?" He stared in awe as the gender and other specific data appeared on the screen.
He pulled out his own and pointed it at Jael-Maru. The display blinked and data appeared. Apparently his charmander was male and adamant of nature.
"See? Hehe, you should go back to school and then re-select your Pokèmon. Charmander is going to be far too hard for you to handle." Packing up both his dex and Pokèmon, Leroy got back up and headed out of the clearing.
"Seeya!" He called out over his shoulder.
Hiroshi felt embarrassed and gave Jael-Maru a glum look. 'Did I make the wrong choice?'
He got back up and sprayed some potion at Jael before calling it back into its ball. A bundle of mixed feelings where tumbling around in his stomach. Maybe he should have picked bulbasaur instead...
After walking for what felt like half an hour, Hiroshi could finally see the edge of the forest.
"Yes! Freedom, here I come!"
"Halt!"
He came to a screeching stop and looked around him. Another bug catcher, although they all looked the same, appeared out of some bushes.
"You must be tired, so let's have a battle!" He launched a pokèball at him and a cacuna appeared.
Hiroshi sweat dropped. Who could possibly be stupid enough to use that Pokèmon in battle?
"Ok... Jael-Maru!"
Do I really need to tell you how it went? Well, the other guy's Pokèmon went down, that's for sure... But after he had done this, a screech sounded throughout the clearing.
"Pi-pi! KA!"
Hiroshi snapped to it and hurried towards the direction the screech had come from. Upon reaching it he came face to face with a man, whose Pokèmon were making mincemeat out of a poor pikachu.
Snickering, he ordered his bulbasaur to use vinewhip again and again. "Get'em Bully! Let's show it who's boss!"
"Hey, stop that!" Hiroshi ran in front of the pikachu, blocking the next attack. "What give you the right to do this!" He punched the air.
The guy just laughed. "Heh, relax dude. I'm just training my Pokèmon... Nothing wrong with that."
Hiroshi felt shocked over how casual the other boy was to attacking random creatures. "Nothing wrong? Nothing wrong! If you wanna train your Pokèmon, why Don'cha challenge trainers that are on your own level and stay off the 5 lvl ones!" He threw a pokèball and announced the challenge.
'Oh man. I hope that Jael still has some go in him.'
The other guy sprayed a potion on 'Bully' and commanded it to attack. Hiroshi had three potions left, but as he looked over at the pikachu and made a decision.
Grabbing the spray, leaped towards it and sprayed it before it could jump away. Flashing it a smile he replied to its stunned look. "There you go, now you can run away!" he tried hushing it away, but it just kept on staring at him.
"Pi?"
Behind him, Jael-Maru was handling the battle all on his one.
"Ouch! Bully, come back!" The other boy fell to his knees. "This can't be possible! Charmander attacked me all on his one!" He got up and shook a fist in Hiroshi's direction. "I won't forget this! Just you wait!" And with that he high-tailed out of the forest.
Hiroshi stared after him. Another rival? Great! He looked down at the pikachu. "What you want?" It smiled at him and started towards him.
"Pi!" It sang while wagging its tail.
He backed off carefully, a line singing in his head; pikachus are electric, beware of powerful shocks! "Ehehehe..." He grinned and pulled out some poke candy. "Want some off this?"
It chirped and leaped up. Landing into Hiroshi's arm, it started munching on the candy. Slightly panicked over the closeness, Hiroshi fell backwards which startled the Pokèmon who defended itself by sending out: Thunder shocks...
"Piiii!"
"Waaaaaaaaah!"
After he recovered from the shock, he gave the mouse another scared look. "What do you want?" Then it came to him. Picking up a candy, he threw it as hard as he could. "Go get it!"
It followed the treat with its eyes before jotting off after it. "Pii-cha!"
"Phew it's gone... Let's get going before it comes ba-"
"Pii!"
"Gah!"
"Char..."
He gave up and offered it a pokèball. "Wanna join us?" The pikachu smiled at him and touched the ball with its nose. A flash and he could give relieved sigh...
"Well, pikachus are the high-fashion now... I guess I should consider myself lucky." He chuckled and threw a pokèchow towards Charmander. "Here buddy."
The Pokèmon just stared coldly at him. Taken aback by the glare, Hiroshi decided to continue and called the critter back into its ball.
TBC. . .