Pokémon Kanto Chronicles

Chapter 1: The Journey Begins!

Sora looked down at the small, yellow animal standing on Prof. Oak's table. It was a bona fide, perfectly healthy Pikachu, with a shiny yellow coat, two tiny red cheeks and big curious black eyes. Slowly the surprised looks on Sora's face became a look of wonder, then happiness, and then complete joy. He whooped exuberantly as he swept Pikachu off the table and into his arms.

"Wow, professor!" Sora said as he hugged Pikachu tightly, "I can't believe I'm getting the same Pokémon Starter that Ash Ketchum did!" He held Pikachu up to his eye level and added, "This little guy's so cute; it's the best of all!"

"Oh, you'll see…" Professor Oak sighed.

As Sora continued to hug his new Pokémon, the Pikachu began to feel uncomfortable that its cheeks began to spark with electricity until…

…a full jolt of electricity coursed through Sora's body. As Sora was wailing from the pain Pikachu was giving him, Professor Oak mentioned, "As you know, Pikachu is also known as the Electric Mouse. And like most new Pokémon, this Pikachu can be very shy around strangers."

Once Pikachu stopped shocking Sora, the charred boy answered weakly, "Now I know what Ash felt like: two inches from death!"

Prof. Oak cleared his throat and added, "Well, actually this Pikachu is only very shy while Ash's Pikachu had started with a very bad mood. In my opinion, you ended up lucky."

Sora looked at Pikachu again as he held it up and said sincerely, "Is that true, Pikachu? You're really so shy?"

Pikachu nodded sadly, "Pika-pika…"

Sora looked solemn for a moment and then smiled cheerfully again, "Well, there's nothing to worry about, buddy, 'cause we're gonna be the best of friends and we're gonna kick butt at the Indigo League!"

Pikachu looked at Sora again and smiled as well, "Chu!" But as Pikachu was smiling, its cheeks flared up again and Sora was covered in the deadly element yet again.

After treating Sora with severalanti-paralysis medicines, Professor Oak reached into his desk drawer and took out a small, rectangle-shaped device and six miniaturized, red and white balls. He handed both of them to Sora, who was sitting on a chair in the corner of the room.

"Now, here you are, Sora. These are your PokéDex and PokéBalls. The PokéDex will provide you with valuable information on the Pokémon you'll most likely encounter, and if the Pokémon you find are wild, you can use your PokéBalls to catch them. Of course, you may need Pikachu to fight them and weaken them first."

"Thanks, professor!" Sora got up and eagerly took the items out of Prof. Oak's hands. "Come on, Pikachu, we're out of here!" Pikachu sat up from the lab table and jumped onto Sora's right shoulder. "Okay, we're off, professor!" And with a small leap, Sora and Pikachu ran toward the lab's exit…

…until Prof. Oak said, "Err, Sora, are you really going on your Pokémon journey wearing you pajamas?" Sora and Pikachu crashed into the door upon hearing that.

About half an hour later, Sora was finished dressing in his room. He stood in front of his mirror to see himself: He wore a red and white vest, a black undershirt, black fingerless gloves, blue jeans, and red and black shoes. Finally, he picked up a red hat from his closet doorknob and set it firmly onto his head. As he left his room and entered the kitchen, he saw his mother holding a large yellow backpack and Pikachu perched happily on her head.

Sora smiled at the sight of Pikachu and his mom and said, "I'm glad Pikachu's already taken a liking to you, mom. Prof. Oak said it's usually shy."

"Well, I guess I just have that motherly touch to people, even Pokémon," Misa said as she tickled Pikachu's chin. She then set the backpack she was carrying onto the dining table and pushed it toward Sora. "Now, I've already packed all of the essentials you'll need for your journey. I packed some small snacks for you on the go, bottled water so you don't get thirsty, extra shirts, jeans and underwear, which you must change each day! I also packed some matches in case you need to make a fire, but don't play with them, and you probably won't need them a lot because I read that a lot of Pokémon can use fire. And I also packed a pocket knife for you, but be careful not to cut yourself and--"

Before Misa could list every item in Sora's bag, he snatched it off of the table and interjected, "Mom, come on! I'm 13 years old! I can take care of myself! Besides, I've got Pikachu to keep me company, right buddy?"

"Pikachu!" Pikachu nodded and leapt onto Sora's shoulder.

"And who knows," Sora added, "I just might meet some friends along the way. The Kanto Region's pretty big."

"Hold on a second," Misa said curiously, "I thought all Pokémon owned by Trainers stayed inside their PokéBalls. Why doesn't Pikachu?"

"Well, I've never really tried myself, but I thought that if Pikachu's really shy, then staying inside a PokéBall isn't gonna help it. So I figured he'd get to know me better on my shoulder!"

"And also because Ash Ketchum's Pikachu stands on his shoulder, right?" Misa asked, not impressed by Sora's speech.

"Well, there's that, too!" Sora chuckled as he slung the backpack around his shoulders and dashed out the door.

"Okay," Misa said worryingly, "But don't make friends with anyone bad! And stay away from any dangerous places! And try not to come back home with a girlfriend!"

Sora tried to ignore that last remark…

Sora and Pikachu stood at the border between Pallet Town and Route 1. Sora clenched his left hand into a fist as he said, "Okay, Pikachu, this is the start of our Pokémon journey. As far as I know, we'll be facing a lot of Pokémon just waiting to be captured and some tough challenges along the way. Once we pass this border, we won't come back until we're champions of the Kanto Region. So, Pikachu…are you ready?"

Pikachu responded by clenching its right hand into a fist and shouting triumphantly, "Pikaaa!"

Sora nodded determined, "Then let's go!!"

And this is the beginning of the story of Sora and Pikachu…