I Choose You

Light streamed through the slightly opened window. The breeze gently lifted a piece of paper that was resting on the desk. It floated up and the air carried it to a sleeping teen. It landed on his face. He stirred and opened his tired silver eyes. He took the paper and squinted in the morning light. He lazily turned to his alarm clock. His brain snapped awake.

"Crap!"

He threw on whatever clothes that was lying nearest to him, barely got his shoes tied on, and mad-rushed out of his room.

"You're late, son." His dad took a sip from his coffee mug. The morning dishes were already cleared while his share of breakfast was wrapped to the side.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" the boy shouted at him. He put on his favorite cap over his silver hair and slung on his backpack.

His father didn't bother to look up from his newspaper. "You said you could handle getting up on your own."

The boy groaned in dismay. He did not mean to sleep in. I guess I forgot to set the alarm because I was so excited...

"You're going to be later the more you stand there, Kori," his father retorted.

"I know!" Kori dashed out the door and ran down the street to the laboratory. It was his big day and he couldn't believe he managed to screw it up already.

After five minutes of running, he finally reached the lab. He rushed into the building and bumped into someone, making their papers and Poké Balls fall onto the ground. Luckily, the Pokémon remained inside despite being aroused.

"Whoa, slow down there kiddo."

"Sorry!" Kori picked up the stuff as he was slowing his breathing.

Professor Birch, the man he ran into, just chuckled at him. "Kori! Here I thought you weren't going to show up."

A sweatdrop went down the boy's head. "I'm sorry… I guess I was too excited to sleep last night and ended up oversleeping instead."

The professor shook his head. "No worries, it happens to a lot of new trainers." He smiled at him and held out the Poké Balls that were previously dropped. "You were lucky, I was about to store them away."

He led the boy to the main room in the lab and placed the balls on a rolling cart. He retrieved a device from his worker and handed it to Kori.

"Here's the Hoenn Pokédex. It has data for all of the Pokémon in this region. It comes in handy for a lot of things, especially since it has a map installed, so use it when you're in trouble during your journey."

The silver-haired boy dutifully accepted the Pokédex. "Thanks, I will be sure to take your advice."

The professor nodded at him and also handed him six Poké Balls. "And use these when you want to capture a Pokémon. Make sure to weaken them first… but I'm sure a bright kid like you know that already, right?"

"Right," nodded Kori.

Professor Birch smiled, pleased, and stood by the cart. "Now here's the moment you've been waiting for." He took a Poké Ball. "As for your starters: first up is a fire type—Torchic."

The case opened and a beam revealed a small orange chick-like creature. Kori was not really a fan of fire-types since he preferred ice, plus it was too cute for his taste.

"Your second choice," Professor Birch picked up the next Poké Ball, "is a grass type—Treecko."

A gecko-like green Pokémon emerged. He seemed to have a cool and collected attitude similar to him. A Treecko, huh? Not bad at all…

"And your final choice," he opened the last Poké Ball, "is a water type—Mudkip."

A blue four-legged Pokémon appeared before him. It perked its head up at the boy. He couldn't help but to smile at it and at that, made his decision.

Kori turned to the professor. "I pick Mudkip."

He laughed. "That was quick." He placed the Pokémon of his choice back into its ball and handed it to the boy. "I wish you luck, Kori, and remember that you could always come back to me for help. I'm just a ring away."

"Thanks!" He beamed at him.

Kori proudly walked out of the lab. He placed the Pokédex in his pocket and marveled at his Poké Ball. He hesitated about becoming a trainer when he was ten but now that he was seventeen, he decided it was time to go out into the world.

He released his Mudkip. It looked up at him. "Okay, Mudkip. You and I are going on a journey." He petted its head. "My name is Kori. Let's be—" A jet of water splashed him in the face. The boy was dripping wet now. "Hey! What was that for?"

"Mudkip?" The Pokémon cocked its head and stared at him like he caused no fault.

Kori stared back at it and sighed. Harder than I thought… He pulled out some Pokémon food and handed it to it. "Here, I thought you might be hungry." Another splash of water hit him in the face. The Mudkip then ate the food and jumped off the log it was on.

The new trainer groaned. "Mudkip! Why?"

It just stared at him like before. After a while, it returned itself into the Pokéball.

Kori held the ball. "Why aren't you cooperating with me..?" He shook his head and decided to head toward a grassy field. He's heard that good starting Pokémon hid around there.

"Anyone here?" He whispered as he trudged through the clearing. Something scurried past his legs and he followed its movement through the grass. When he caught up with it, he found a tiny raccoon-like Pokémon.

"What's this..?" He took out his Pokédex and scanned it.

Zigzagoon, a raccoon Pokémon. Rubbing its nose against the ground, it always wanders about back and forth in search of something. It is distinguished by the zigzag footprints it leaves.

"A Zigzagoon, huh." He looked at the creature. "It's a spiky furball but might as well try." He took out his Poké Ball. "Come on out, Mudkip."

His Pokémon appeared in front of him. It looked at the Zigzagoon and then at Kori.

The boy pointed at the raccoon-Pokémon. "Use tackle!"

The Mudkip used water gun at Kori's face for the third time. It walked over to a nice patch of grass and sat down.

"Mudkip…" The boy was losing his patience with his new partner. The Zigzagoon found the opportunity to sneak away. "No!" He shouted. "Mudkip, come on, use tackle on Zigzagoon!"

The water Pokémon stood up and used tackle, but on Kori's legs. He staggered forward and fell on his face. Mudkip laughed at him and settled back into the grass.

"Fine! If you won't attack then I will." Kori picked up a rock and stepped in front of the Zigzagoon. The furry Pokémon whined and then bolted between his legs. "Come back here!" He ran after it while Mudkip just watched him.

Kori lost sight of the Zigzagoon in a rocky terrain. He looked around. He tried to listen carefully, for any signs of movement. There was scurrying to the right of him, and then to the left. The sound came from the right again and it stopped. A pebble fell from behind one of the larger rocks.

"Found you…" Kori crept up to the location. "I'll catch you now!" He threw the rock he had in hand. He peeked over the boulder and was met face to face with a completely different Pokémon. It was a Mightyena and he had woken it up from its nap.

"H-hey there buddy… You wouldn't happen to know where a Zigzagoon is, would you?" The new Pokémon growled at him. "Guess not!" Kori jumped off the rocks and ran, closely followed by an angry Mightyena.

His awesome-partner-of-a-Mudkip had decided to follow him to the rocky terrain. It looked around for its trainer but with no luck. Then it heard running footsteps and a Pokémon growling. Before it could react though, Kori picked his Mudkip up and continued running to no wits end.

"Mudkip?" The Pokémon looked at him and then behind, only to find the Mightyena closing in on them. "Mudkip! Mudkip!"

"I know, I know! I'm running as fast as I can!" Kori took a sharp turn in attempt to lose the wild Pokémon. Unfortunately it was keen enough to take that turn as well. "Oh what?" The teen skidded to a halt in front of a large boulder that was blocking a path. The Mightyena stopped several feet in front of him. It snarled and slowly circled him. Kori swallowed. "Okay, I'm probably screwed…"

"Mudkip mudkip!" The water Pokémon jumped out of his arms and landed a direct tackle on the Mightyena's head. The angry canine lowered its head in pain. When it recovered from the blow, it directed its rage toward the smaller Pokémon.

Crap… NOW it decides to fight, huh? "Mudkip, get back here!" It stayed where it was, in front of the Mightyena. "You're going to get hurt, come back!" The stubborn thing did not move.

The Mightyena charged up for a tackle. It dashed up to the Mudkip at full speed. Instead of sending the blue Pokémon off into the air, it threw a teen against the boulder.

The water-type opened its eyes, confused at why there was no damage made to it. It realized that its owner was knocked out on the ground. Guilty, the Mudkip turned to the Mightyena. The little one used growl and the other was barely fazed. The Mudkip then went up to the boulder that was blocking the path. Using the fin on its head, it shoveled underneath the mass. Gradually, it was lifted off the ground. The Mightyena stepped back.

Kori finally came back to his senses and sat up, with a sore shoulder that was slightly grazed. He felt several crumbles of rocks fall near him. He turned around and saw his partner carrying the huge boulder that prevented him from running any further. "M-Mudkip?" The said Pokémon took a better stance to steady the giant rock. It turned to the Mightyena, which was becoming a little nervous.

"Mud…" The little creature took a step forward, "Kip!" and launched the rock at the canine Pokémon. Followed it was mudshot, which broke the boulder into smaller pieces, causing the flying bits of rock and mud to pummel the Mightyena. It buried the Pokémon. It stuck its head out, whined, and scampered off. The Mudkip stood proudly and beamed in triumph.

"That… was… Awesome!" Kori swept his Pokémon into his arms and held it tight. It responded with a water gun to his face but the owner did not mind this time. He held it out in front of him. "You saved us!" He smirked. "You do care after all." His Mudkip hit him with a mud-slap this time.

"Okay, that might take a little getting used to…" Kori set it down and wiped the mud off of his face. He smiled at his Pokémon. "This should be fun. Stubborn or not, I have a feeling that we're going to be strong partners on the long run."

"Kip?" It looked up at the boy. He petted its blue head. The Mudkip decided to let this one go and enjoy it instead. It knew that if its owner was willing to go as far as risking himself to fight then it will accept him as his trainer.

…

…

"Kori! You fell asleep playing Pokémon on your DS again!"

The boy jumped out of his sleep. By the sound of his father's tone of voice, he was most likely late for some training session. He scratched his head.

Well, that was an interesting dream…

…Not even 2,000 words! Anyway…

So, SubZeroIceDragon, I herd u liek Mudkipz?…Okay that's out of the way! Yes, I decided to write a Pokémon one-shot just for you. And yes I stole Kori and his dad without your permission. I'm pretty sure I messed up with their personalities but it was a dream so… 'oh well'?

I hope it was worth the wait… But you know I was distracted, busy, and lazy about this for the past two months. It was fun in its own way so it wasn't so bad.

And I bet you probably noticed that I basically copied the first episode of Pokémon and instead centered it in the Hoenn region and replaced Ash and a stubborn Pikachu with Kori and Mudkip.

I don't really have much else to say besides apologizing for the long wait. Thank you for the 100th review and continuously supporting my stories. I will continue to support yours.

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-Kori and his dad belongs to SubZeroIceDragon

-Pokémon belongs to Nintendo and Satoshi Tajiri