CHAPTER 1: GETTING STARTED
I woke up instantly feeling anxious about something, uncertain almost. I'd overslept, I was sure of it.
My eyes, still stinging from poor sleep darted towards the clock on my right, which sat on a grey bedside table.
It wasn't too late, not even 12 o'clock but then again, what time was I supposed to meet the Professor? 10:30? 11? I jumped out of bed and flung open the top drawer of the table. I scurried through pairs of underwear and socks, searching for the damned colourful leaflet. I grabbed hold of it, pulled it out and read.
*COME GET YOUR VERY OWN STARTER POKEMON! APPOINTMENTS AVAILABLE 7:15am-9:30am.* I ignored the colourful images of Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charmander which prior had fuelled my excitement.
I looked back at the clock. 11.45am…. I was over 2 hours late to the potentially most important event of my life. I hastily drew on my clothes, (a pair of baggy light blue jeans, a navy-blue t-shirt and my signature burgundy, blue hooded body warmer) tied up my trainers and pulled my burgundy and blue bobble hat over my head.
Kuro's Pokeball was on my bed. He was probably still sleeping, after all, he'd put in a lot of work yesterday. I picked it up and attached the ball to my belt before dashing down through my bedroom door.
My mum, however, had just stepped out the kitchen, cornering me from getting outside. She was a tall woman, tall, dark and lean, emphasising many of her personality traits in her aesthetics alone. Yet despite all that, she cared for her children a lot and tended to want to be one step ahead of us in any journey we were having. She wore a floral-patterned apron and her dreadlocks were wrapped up in a cloth.
"G-good morning ma," I gasped, trying not to slam into her.
"Morning, Dean," she replied almost passively. "Where are you off to?" her arms were folded and her glare intense; there was no beating around the bush with her.
"Well, I'm gonna- "
"Going to," she cut me off. Once a teacher, always a teacher.
"I'm going to go get a Pokémon from the professor."
My mother's eyes squinted. "Weren't you supposed to go for that at 8?" I looked at the floor and nodded.
"Then why are you still here, Dean, get moving!"
I dashed out of my front door and turned left sharply.
The weather was beautiful, the sky a clear blue, with a few plump clouds surfing the gentle currents of the wind.
I felt the warm embrace of the sun cradle my arms as I ran down my street. This would be a good day, I could feel it. I'd arrive at the lab in about 10 minutes, after all, it was pretty far from my house. However, my stamina had improved from that day 5 years ago. Running a distance like this was hardly a thought.
I burst up the hill in a few seconds, steadily approaching the lab. The structure itself was large, composed of two buildings one smaller than the other.
The larger building housed the professor and his various house maids and Pokémon. I hadn't been there very much, but every time I entered I was intrigued by the high walls, various portraits which lay symmetrical on the walls of corridors and the consistent heightened buzz of energy that laid over the rooms, despite the lack of physical presence.
I guess that's what the existence of Pokémon does to an area and I loved it.
The smaller building, which extended aghast from the left of the larger housed the laboratory. It was only around a storey high and was filled with various appliances, apparatus, poke balls, research notes and a bunch of other scientific junk I find impossible to name.
The brickwork between the two also held vast contrast, the former being brown holding a sense of ancient security and the latter, grey and metallic proved to connote a feeling of contemporary mystery and wonder, a pair of glass doors being its admission.
I rushed through them, calling out as loud as I could, "PROFESSOR! I'M HEERE!". The eccentric elderly man was nowhere to be seen.
My senses searched for any sign of him. His exact location was hard pinpoint, but I could tell his whereabouts by the rustling of papers heard behind his main work desk.
I approached the large slab of wood, peering over to see the top of his head, a bald patch in the very centre, the rest of his hair covered with thick white hair. He was searching through various files beneath the desk and was outwardly irritated.
"Er, Professor?"
"WHO IS IT?!" he exclaimed with a blast of rage, yet failing to glance up. "CAN'T YOU SEE I'M BUSY?" the patch on his head had turned red.
"It's Dean, Professor, Dean McKenzie," I said almost hesitantly. I didn't want another exclaim from him.
His head quickly looked upwards, his expression changing upon seeing my face from undying rage to a blissful joy.
"Oh, Dean! Wonderful to see you laddy!"
He stood up revealing his impressive height and stature despite his age. He dusted off his lab coat, which was covered in varying polka dots of bright chemical stains. "What brings you to my lab?"
This was it. This was my moment, I pleaded to any higher power that I wasn't too late, that my unprecedented luck for the last month had not yet run out.
"Sir," I began, looking him dead in the eyes. The anticipation was overwhelming, it was filling my body, brimming my soul. My teeth dug into my lips as I yelled, "I'm here for a Pokemon!"
The old man's face sunk in disbelief. "Er, well Dean, your almost 3 hours late..."
"Well yeah, I know that, but I mean there's gotta be at least one left, right?"
He shook his head. "You see Dean, some already trainers came before. Your friend Nile was first, he chose a Charmander and then that boy, Jay I believe his name is popped in and he took the Squirtle and-"
"Well, then there's a Bulbasaur left then right!" I exclaimed. "Come on, lemme have it, please!"
I was pleading here. I couldn't leave this place empty handed, I'd already got my trainer licence, I just needed a starter to prove it!
The professor walked from behind his desk and sat on the table, resting his hand on my shoulder. He looked glum, truly sad as if what he was about to say pained him.
"I'm sorry Dean, all this year's starters are gone, a girl, maybe a little older than you came and got the Bulbasaur… I know you're sad, but there's always next year sonny!"
I couldn't believe it. my head sunk low, this was unbelievable. I'd overslept and that was it, no starter for me. I hated myself for this, I'd waited 5 years for this moment and I'd screwed it up, like a goddamn fool.
The floor made no sense with this emotion, those perfect patters where just so stupid. Those regular lines just pissed me off-nothing was perfect, and that thought made my eyes sting.
I turned around, brushing off the professor's hand with a vicious swing of my arm and walked back towards the door. I just wanted to go home, sleep and not wake up for a week.
With my body sinking low, I allowed the doors to make way for me as I dragged myself outside.
I was halfway down the hill back home, walking at a slackened pace when I heard a voice shout my name. "DEAN!" it cried, almost painfully. My head swung backwards at the sound of such urgency. The professor stood outside his lab, flailing his thin yet sturdy arms like a lunatic and signalling for me to rush over.
As if some divine force took over me, I turned back without control of my legs and dashed up the hill.
"Dean," he gasped. "Oh, boy am I happy I caught you before you got home." His was panting, his face flustered red and dripping in nervous sweats.
"What's wrong professor?" I asked, confused.
"I thought you'd never ask," he responded so quickly, he almost cut me o
ff. "see Dean, just as you left 3 of the starters for next year decided to start some sort of union and breached the window, running from the lab. See Dean, they're too young for the world Dean, too many fears and too much personality, they'll get slaughtered out there and we can't let that happen."
The desperation in his breathless voice was clear. This was serious.
"Well, alright professor, I get this is serious and all but where do I come in all this?"
"What?" he responded surprised. "Where'd you think? I'm gonna need to go and capture them, here, these are their pokeballs." He put his hand into his pocket and pulled out three shrunken poke balls, each with an elemental sticker above its capsule button: a flame, a droplet of water and a leaf respectably then passed them to me.
"You're a smart kid Dean, I trust you'll use the right balls for each one. when you get them all, I'm gonna need you to return them to me, alright?"
I nodded my head in agreement, then went on my way to capture the lost starters.
I began my search from where Professor Wooten said they'd escaped. I jumped through the back window of his lab into the low grass, scurrying around for any footprints or traces of the three Pokémon. "Jeez," I muttered to myself. "This is gonna take forever…"
I looked down at the lone pokeball on my belt. Kuro would be excellent for this, but I didn't want to overwork him, not after his tireless efforts the night before.
"Alright bro, I'm gonna need your help for this one."
I grasped my hand on the ball and clipped it off, then through it into the air. The ball landed on the grass, clasping open and pushing out a dangerously bright white light.
The light began to make the form of a small four-legged doglike Pokémon, which soon solidified, shimmering almost in full form. The Pokémon was an Eevee. His brown fur was thick and shaggy, even for his species and his small, black eyes hung low, highlighting his tiredness. On his head was an extra scruffy black tuft of hair, from which he donned his name, Kuro, meaning black in Japanese.
he sat with his head sunken to the ground. I gently tapped his head.
"You alright there bro?" he nodded his head slowly before standing to his feet and letting out a soft yawn, revealing his small but sharp fangs.
"I'm gonna need your help here buddy, we're gonna need ya to sniff out these three starters, alright?"
His eyes squinted in disapproval and his unwillingness was apparent, as he looked away from.
"Vee, eevee!" he growled in protest.
"Oh, come on Kuro! I know you're tired but you gotta help me, bro, this may be the only chance I may get to be a real trainer!"
Ever since he'd hatched 5 years ago, it was obvious that Kuro, with his small body but resilient and fiery personality, would be my life long partner, and we'd been inseparable since. He was my closest ally and a friend and he was almost more excited about leaving Claypem Town and facing the league then I was.
The sound of that no longer being a possibility saddened him greatly. His prior resistance and fatigue had subsided, his bushy tail wagged in eagerness to aid on the search. I gave him one of the balls to smell to find the lost pokemon.
We started off with Squirtle, who Kuro found the scent of very quickly, working his small button of a nose around the area to locate the turtle. We made haste towards the north of town, which homed the town's lake.
The lake, which was usually calm and gentle, moving with the gaiety of the wind had seemed to take a much more violent and rigorous turn.
The small waves and circular currents moved rapidly and the air around was thin and tempered. Around the banks stood a group of children, aged around 6 to 10 who appeared to be watching something move in the unrest waters.
I approached them whilst Kuro persisted to sniff the area in search, tapping the oldest girl on the shoulder. She was tall for age, with shortly cut brown hair and a pink t-shirt. Her cheeks were covered in freckles. She stood at the back of the group, eagerly peering over the younger kids.
"Hey, what's going on around here?" I asked.
"Oh, over there, there's a little Pokémon playing rough in the water!" she replied, pointing to the waters. "It looks like its fighting but, we can't really tell," she ended off gloomily.
"Well don't worry about that, I'll help out!" I introduced her and the few of the other youngsters to Kuro and told them about the mission I was on.
I stepped forward towards the bank of the water. I adjusted my hat and cracked my knuckles. An uncontrollable smile of confidence had formed itself on my face as I stared at the water. Kuro stood at my feet, shaking his tail eagerly for my command.
"Me and Kuro are gonna handle this so step back kiddos." I began. "We don't want anyone getting wet."
And Chapter 1 is finally here! i'm done with exams so expect 2 a month... This was a strange one, but the story is going to be in the perpsective of Dean for the next few chapters, so i hope you guys like him.. Anyways, remember to R&R, your opinion is greatly valued,
EMPDT, out.