Episode 1-The Escape : Can We Really Do It

The dictatorship was too much to bear. Ever since the king of Mavelous caught the pitch-black Hydreigon of legend, he had been acting strange. Then he started making up all these unfair and completely absurd laws, like no Pokémon for children, then no Pokémon for people under the age of 20, and finally no Pokémon for unemployed persons under the age of 20.

Marco and Josephine, two childhood friends, had had enough. Marco had brown hair and a blue and white hat with a red "M" on it. He wore a blue jacket with a white stripe surrounding the zipper and blue jeans with red and white shoes. Josephine had a medium length blonde hair and always wore her green shirt and some white jean shorts.

"Josephine, we gotta leave tonight, because we might not have a tomorrow," Marco whispered to Josephine under the Mavelous City Bridge.

"I still don't know Marco. Wouldn't it be easier if we had a Pokémon with us?" Josephine persisted.

"Yea it would, but you know exactly why we can't escape with Pokémon, remember? Not only is it forbidden for us to have them, but Professor Lynn knew about our escape and would have given us Pokémon, but she was instantly backed up with overtime and couldn't make it. So we're on our own for now. C'mon let's go." Marco commanded.

They ran from under the bridge and into Mavelous Forest. They ran for a while until something moderately sized caught Marco's eyes. "Josephine, wait. Look!"

"We don't have time for…oh my gosh! Is that…a person?"

"It looks like it. Ahh! Look at that! He's got two pokeballs attached to his belt," Marco said as he picked the two perfectly crafted, almost brand new pokeballs," and they're empty! You thinkin what I'm thinkin?"

"If you're thinkin we should use them to capture Pokémon, then we're thinkin each others' thoughts."

"Ok then, we'll catch the first one we see and then run…Hey look! It's an Oshawott. I'm gettin him."

"No, I want Oshawott. He's rare and I'm older," Josephine said.

"No you're not, and no you don't. We had a deal you see it first you get it…but I only have one chance…I've got an idea," Marco had a terrible idea, but it worked. He picked up some small rocks and threw them at Oshawott and was yelling Rock Throw.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU AREN'T A ROCK TYPE POKEMON! QUIT PELTING OSHAWOTT WITH ROCKS!" Josephine yelled.

"Hush, you'll get us caught. Besides, it's working. Look," he said as they looked at the poor little Oshawott with swirly lines where his eyes should be. "Go pokeball!" Marco yelled. The pokeball hit Oshawott upside the head and he turned into red energy and was sucked up into the pokeball. The pokeball shook four times, and then went dark. "Nice. I caught Oshawott. Now we run."

After running for three and a half minutes, Josephine stopped herself and Marco. "Look, it's Mincinno. Here we go…but I don't want to hurt him like you hurt yours. Can you use Oshawott to weaken that Mincinno?"

"Of course I will attack your future partner. Go Oshawott," he yelled as he threw the pokeball at the ground and the small blue sea otter came out.

"Osha osha" he said in the known language of Pokémon.

"Oshawott, use you're…umm…what moves do you have? I guess just…use you're strongest attack on that Mincinno," he ordered the Oshawott. Oshawott yelled OSHA as he took his shell off and charged it with water. When he went to hit Mincinno he yelled wott. The attack made an impact and fainted Mincinno. "Sweet. That move is Razor Shell. So you know Razor Shell…and what else?" Marco asked intently.

"Not now, I've got a Mincinno to catch. Go pokeball!" Josephine yelled. The pokeball hit Mincinno in the stomach and proceeded to turn the poor, wet chinchilla into red energy and force it into the pokeball. The pokeball started shaking vigorously, but not so vigorously as if the Mincinno wanted to escape. Almost as if the Mincinno wanted to be caught. "I might get her." The pokeball stopped shaking and the light grew dark. Josephine knew what this meant. "I did it! I caught Mincinno!" Josephine cheered out in great joy.

"Great…now we run again," Marco said trying to reassure her that they still had to escape without getting caught.

"Right. Now if we keep running we should be outta here in no…" Josephine was interrupted.

"Where do you two think you're going," a vicious and strange voice said.

"Oh no, we've been caught," Josephine whined as three Mavelous grunts jumped down from a tree.

"We heard the commotion and decided to investigate, and now it looks like we're gonna be takin back a couple of…ruffians. Heh heh heh," one of the grunts muttered.

"You can't stop us…we have Pokémon!" Josephine told them.

"You aren't supposed to tell them. Now if they beat us we'll be goners. Oh well, now you know so you might as well know my little friend…OSHAWOTT!" Marco called out as he threw the pokeball.

"Also meet my little cutie, MINCINNO!" As the two pokemon came out, the grunts chuckled.

"Ha, you think those wimps can beat us. Guys let's show 'em real Pokémon. Go Ratatta," the grunt yelled. As the tiny rat came out of the pokeball, the other two grunts called out their Pokémon as well.

"Go, Pidgey."

"Go, Meowth"

The miniature bird and cat came out and joined the Ratatta by standing by his sides. "You're outnumbered. Give up!" the main grunt said.

"Never. Not in a million years. Oshawott (if he has the moves I think he has he should be able to…yea and with Mincinno's…yea…I got this.) use Water Gun on that Pidgey!" The tiny sea otter charged up water in his cheeks and fired a fast stream of water at Pidgey. The move mad contact and Pidgey was thrown into a tree and knocked out. "Sweet two K.O.s in one night and this is my first day with a Pokémon," Marco gloated.

"Ooh, ooh. My turn. Hmm, Mincinno do you know Quick Attack?" Josephine asked. The small chinchilla nodded its head replying with its 'Chin, chin' cry. "Good. Then Mincinno, use Quick Attack on Meowth."

"Quick, Meowth dodge it and use Scratch," the grunt quickly commanded. The small cat acted quickly and jumped away, then, doing as he was told, used scratch on Mincinno.

"Oh no, c'mon Mincinno. You can do it. Get up and use Quick Attack, but don't let him get away." Josephine ordered Mincinno. Mincinno replied and attacked making full on contact, smashing the Meowth into its trainer. "Great, you did it, Mincinno!"

"Now it's my turn. Face my ultimate pokemon. Ratatta!" the final grunt yelled.

Marco and Josephine only replied with a blank stare. The Ratatta was small enough to fit in your pocket. "You call that an ultimate pokemon. It doesn't even qualify for a baby," Marco said nonchalantly.

"Oh, he's better than the best. Ratatta use Hyper Fang on Oshawott," the bite was merely but a poke to Oshawott.

"Oshawott, use a small Razor Shell," Marco ordered. Oshawott raised his shell in the air while a small amount of water gathered onto it. Oshawott barely touched Ratatta and the Ratatta went flying.

"AHHHH! MY RATATTA! YOU CRUEL HEARTLESS PERSON!" the grunt screamed.

"You're the one trying to kidnap us," Josephine added. "Well I guess this means we can go,"

"Not so fast," said a girly voice.

"Another one," Marco complained.

As the woman landed Marco and Josephine could tell that she was much different from the grunts. She must have been a higher rank. She had purple, curly hair and wore an all white jumpsuit with a very decorative 'M' on the shirt, the logo of Mavelous. "You two aren't going anywhere unless you beat me."

"Yea…and who are you?" Marco asked unafraid.

"Why, I am Starr, first general of Mavelium, leader and dictator of Mavelous and you two are very special. Whereas these goons are nothing, but wimps. You beat me, I let you past that line. Deal?" Starr asked the kids.

"Of course. We can beat a woman who looks like she belongs at a stri…" Marco was interrupted.

"Marco, language there," Josephine told him.

"Fine. Anyway, you're on."

"Ok then, come on out Skuntank and Scolipede." The giant centipede and large skunk came out of their pokeballs and loomed over Oshawott and Mincinno.

"(Gulp) We're in trouble now," Marco said in a panicked voice.

"Leave them alone," another mysterious female voice yelled.

"Hey that sounds like," Marco said as he looked at a woman in a white research coat drop down from the tree, "Professor Lynn!"

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late. I knew I shouldn't have taken those extra hours. I'm sorry," Professor Lynn apologized.

"That's ok. It's hard to live around here," Josephine said in a forgiving tone.

"Listen, you guys run. I'll handle this one. GO, TOXICROAK AND FROSLASS." Professor Lynn called out as the oversized poison dart frog and mythical ice creatures popped out.

"Whoa. The Professor's Pokémon are super cool!" Marco exclaimed.

"Not now Marco we gotta go!"

"Arrgh, Lynn the boss isn't gonna like this," Starr said.

"Who cares what boss thinks I've known those kids since they were two. Eight years go by and I can't stand to see them living like this," Professor Lynn said.

"How could you speak so lowly of father?" Starr asked with a higher tone.

"Because, father is evil. Kids, run NOW!" Professor Lynn yelled.

Marco and Josephine began running and didn't stop until Josephine said, "Marco look! We made it! We're outta there! Now they have no control over us!" Josephine yelled for joy.

"Sweet. Now we part ways," Marco said so suddenly Josephine suddenly stopped being happy.

"Wait…what? We can't part ways. What if they come looking for us?" Josephine said.

"What? Are you scared they'll be better than you?" Marco taunted.

"NO! It's just…I don't want either of us to be caught. That's all."

"It'll be okay Jo. As long as we stay strong, but there is one thing," Marco added.

"What?"

"We gotta be rivals. Whenever we bump into each other we gotta battle. Also, first person to catch another Pokémon owes the other person one badge of their choosing. Deal?"

"Deal."

"Whelp, be seeing you Jo."

"You too Marco."

And so our two rivals part ways into the unknown. Who knows when they will see each other again? Will the Mavelous City grunts go after them? Find out next time in chapter 2: My first gym badge. I can't afford to lose you Oshawott.

*************************************************************************************Notes:

Mavelous is pronounced Mah–veh-lus.

Lynn is pronounced Lin.

And Starr is obviously pronounced star.