"Jason? Jason."
The boy blinked and turned to his mother's voice.
"We're here, sweetie."
Jason blinked and snapped his attention to the building that was suddenly on his radar. He flailed his seatbelt off him, not able to escape it fast enough. He dashed out of the car and towards the science center, his mother calling him all the while.
He doesn't know how he could not have noticed when the car stopped. One of his many talents. He could be anywhere, and his mind would wander farther than his feet would take him. It was a common occurrence that would take several tries to ground him back to reality.
He entered through the glass doors and paused at the lobby. He locked eyes with the receptionist and froze in place.
The elder lady smiled at Jason, warmly welcoming him.
"Hello there," she greeted, "Are you ready to pick up your partner?"
Jason just stared at her, a vice grip coiled around his throat.
"Jason," his mother caught up, "Don't run ahead!"
She ushered him along and shadowed his mother through the check in and the facility. They entered a lab, where the Professor in question worked. He turned as they approached.
"Ah," he said, "The both of you are here."
With a smile, and walked up to the mother and her son.
"I'm afraid you are a little late, Mr. Blake," the older man lamented. "One of the Pokémon has already been picked up."
Jason's heart dropped. He wasn't a very expressive boy, but his face contorted into terror and worry.
"Don't worry," his mother tried to soothe him, "Let's go see what's left."
Jason walked briskly over to the table, his mother and the Professor looming behind him.
There were only two left on the table. The orbs with two living creatures within them.
"This one here," the Professor gestured to the leftmost ball, "is Squirtle; a water type. While the other one…"
He moved his hand to the second ball.
"…is the grass type Bulbasaur."
Jason's eyes lit up. He'd been waiting for this moment for weeks. Three agonizing weeks, and all the while he sat on a long-made decision. It all culminated here, in this moment.
"I choose this one," he said, reaching out and practically snatching the ball off the table.
"Are you sure, honey?" his mother placed a hand on his shoulder.
Jason nodded.
"Alright then," Professor Oak smiled at him. "Be sure to take care of him, alright?"
Jason nodded and smiled.
"Thanks, Mr. Blue," he spoke at last.
"Jason!"
"I mean," he corrected himself, "Professor."
The older man smiled at him. "You are very welcome."
The ride home was a blur of ecstaticity. His eyes never left the Pokeball, and his smile never wavered. When they walked through the door, Jason was rushed by his brother and sister.
"What'd you get?! What'd you get?!" the six-year-old Minnie bounced in front of him.
"Let me see! Let me see!" the eight-year-old Ethan tried to wrestle the Pokeball out of his older brother's hands.
"Ethan! Minerva!" their father's voice boomed through the living room. "Let Jason in! He'll show you."
The siblings backed off and Jason walked through the room and plopped himself on the couch. The other two crowded in, leaning forward and practically blocking his view of the containment orb. Jason didn't mind the crowding. He was just as excited as they were, if not even more.
With the press of a button, the red and white ball snapped open, and a bright flash of light filled the children's vision.
On the carpet in front of them was a creature with four legs, red eyes, and a vegetative bulb on its back. It blinked and looked up at the children, before smiling and calling out to them.
"Aw… Look at it!" his mother cooed. "Isn't he cute?"
Jason dropped down and immediately set to work on scratching Bulbasaur's head and chin and loving the animal. Everyone else only seemed to look on. Ethan's face scrunched up, unimpressed. Minnie appeared to shrink into the couch cushions. His father's face was unreadable, but Jason wasn't really paying attention to any of them.
"Are you going to give him a name?" Jason's mother wondered.
Jason stopped hugging him to think for a moment.
"How about…" he wondered. Then he took another look at the little green amphibian. "Nah. Bulbasaur is fine."
"Okay…" His mother dismissed. "Doesn't it look cute, honey?"
His father cleared his throat. "You like him, buddy?"
Jason nodded, beaming.
"Well, I'm glad," he verbally decided.
"Charmander is better," Ethan bitterly commented.
Their mother shushed him and sent the two of him off.
It took a little time, but the family got used to Bulbasaur living around them. It participated in every meal, slept at the foot of his bed every night, and he never left the elder boy's side. It was two weeks later, when Jason and his brother and his partner were watching a battle on tv.
"Gengar's got this," Ethan declared, eagerly watching the tournament semi-finalist.
"What do you think buddy?" Jason turned to Bulbasaur. The creature grunted, and Jason nodded. "Yeah, me too. I think Nidorino still has a chance."
As they watched the two animals duke it out, a thought came to mind. More so, a realization. Jason looked down at Bulbasaur, pondering the proposition. He set the animal aside and walked off to find his father. Bulbasaur sat for a moment before hopping down to follow.
He found the man typing away some report on his computer. enthralled in what he was typing. He worked security for some place in the next town over.
"Dad?"
"Hmm?" his father answered, though didn't look away from the screen.
"Am I supposed to leave?"
His father looked up from his work.
"Why would you say that?"
Jason shrugged.
"I'm supposed to... go be in the Pokémon League, right? Or something?"
"Well that's..." his father cleared his throat. "Is... that what you want to do?"
Jason paused, but ended up nodding, not really looking at his dad in the eye.
"Okay, well," he took in a breath, before letting it all out in the next sentence. He smelled like the hamburgers they had for lunch. "Let's talk to your mother when she gets home, okay?"
Jason nodded, and went about his business. The day went by, the family sat for dinner, and the topic never came up. Deep down, Jason knew what would happen if he brought it up again. His parents would entertain the idea, or at least pretend to. The topic would get passed around like a volleyball before being dropped completely.
So Jason came up with an idea. A choice that he decided all on his own. He looked down at his little green buddy, making eye contact with him. He nodded to him like they came to a silent agreement.
It's been fifteen days since Jason got his partner. They'll leave on the sixteenth day. And they'll be on their way to becoming a master.
After their parents retired to their room, and the children to theirs, Jason got up.
He went into the kitchen and started packing a lunch box. He made a PBJ sandwich for the trip, and even took the time to cut the crusts off and into triangles. Hmm… Perhaps he should make two. Its supposed to be a long trip.
Soon, he packed several snacks into the lunch box and set it in the fridge.
He went into his room and rolled up some clothes. His mother has been teaching them how to do their own laundry for some time, now he was using it to maximize the space in his backpack. Shirts, pants, extra socks, extra underwear, all the essentials.
"What are you doing?"
Jason froze and turned to his brother, now awake in his bunk. The clothes were already stashed away in his bag.
"I'm… looking for the game."
That's right, their copy of Mario Party has gone missing for some months now.
"I thought Bobby took it."
Dang it. He forgot. Bobby took it and sorrowfully returned it. Its on the shelf right now.
"Well, I just wanted to double check," Jason coughed. "I'm going to bed now!"
With that, he quickly turned off the lights and hopped into the lower bunk. He twisted in his sheets until he found a comfortable position, and drifted to a light sleep.
His eyes opened and closed. Opened and closed. Opened and closed. Each blink caused a greater passage of time. Each time was closer to his destination.
The alarm read five a.m.
Finally.
He jumped out of bed and got dressed. Hints of the sun peaked through the trees in the window. He opened up his stash of money he's gotten from his last birthday and Christmas and shoveled all of it in his pocket.
He slung his bag over his shoulder and made his way to the door, before stopping and looking at the quadrupedal creature staring at him.
"Right," Jason breathed. "Almost forgot."
He grabbed the Pokeball off his nightstand and, for the first time since he got him, returned Bulbasaur to the ball. It was a gentle red light that overtook the vegetable infused amphibian.
"Just for a little while," he quietly promised, before putting the ball in his pocket; the one opposite from his money.
He walked out the front door before realizing he forgot his lunchbox. He returned to stuff the thing into his bag and ran out the front door with his favorite shoes.
"Have to hurry," he huffed while he ran. "Bus is almost here."
He had never really gotten up this early. Well, that's not entirely true. He was usually the first one up, as his family often teased him for. He had never been outside this early. Today was a day of firsts.
He reached the bus stop without incident, and stood there on the sidewalk until the city bus rolled up and opened its doors.
"Going somewhere, young man?" the driver called out to him.
"Is this the bus to Viridian City?" Jason called over the chugging engine.
"Yes it is," the driver nodded.
With that, Jason took a deep breath and, with one lasting look up the road to his house, stepped on, without another thought to his family.
It wasn't later that he realized that his parents woke up to find the eldest of their three children missing. Along with his money, some of his clothes, and what had become recognized as the family pet.
He had no idea the turmoil he was leaving them to endure.