Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Also, if I have any readers out there, let me know which version legendary you'd like me to have Aria capture. (I'm leaning towards Reshiram because of my plans for her team, though.) One more thing - each main character will have their full team of 6 by the endgame.
"Oh, I wonder what will happen! Isn't this so exciting?!" Bianca squealed as soon as we had taken just a few steps away from Nuvema Town.
Whatever it is, it will probably happen much more quickly if we kept moving! I didn't say that, though. Instead, I simply agreed with my friend and gently nudged her forward, as both Aria and I had learned to do over the years. "It sure is. C'mon, the professor's waiting!"
All three of us rushed forward to a thicket of tall grass where Professor Juniper was waiting with the mousy gray Pokemon, who was currently sitting on the ground tapping his foot. I grandiosely apologized on our behalf for keeping her waiting, and then she demonstrated how to catch a basic Normal-type Pokemon called a Patrat with her chosen partner, whom I learned was a Minccino. I'll spare you the boring details.
"The Pokedex's pages update automatically whenever you meet a Pokemon! Moreover, it's set up so that you obtain even more information when you catch a Pokemon." As if to demonstrate her wish, she gave us each 5 Pokeballs to catch our own Pokemon, and promised she would meet us in Accumula Town, past Route 1, before leaving.
"She forgot to say that Pokemon jump out at you in the tall grass," I added with a touch of satisfaction to my friends. "I'm heading to Accumula Town, too."
"I think I'll go, too," added Bianca. "I'm looking forward to the next town so I can go shopping for Pokeballs!"
Aria too voiced her agreement to walk towards Accumula, and just as I turned to leave, Bianca exclaimed, "Wait a minute! Hey listen, Aria, Cheren, I thought of something fun!"
"But we need to get going," I pleaded with Bianca. "I'd imagine the professor's waiting, too," I added as a last-ditch effort to convince her to drop the idea.
"Would you just listen a sec? Seriously!" Bianca scoffed. "Why don't we see who can catch the most Pokemon? The person carrying the most Pokemon, including the one received from Professor Juniper, is the winner!"
"Huh," I replied, dumbfounded that Bianca had actually come up with a good, practical idea. "Actually, that sounds interesting. It will fill up Pokedex pages, so I'm sure it will please the professor, too. Ok, then. Until we reach Accumula Town, take care of healing your Pokemon at your own house, if necessary."
We all agreed to these terms, and separated, all the while with Bianca calling towards us, "Me and Bacon will do the best for sure!"
I released Charlotte, explained the contest to her, and resumed walking along Route 1, both of us keeping our eyes peeled for potential catches. After nearly half an hour of walking around and only fending off more Patrat and a smaller puppy Pokemon called Lillipup, I was getting a bit frustrated with the inability to show off something noteworthy to the professor on my Pokedex pages. To my great relief, Charlotte finally hissed and pointed in the direction of a tree branch farther north.
"Snivy, sni, sni!" she insisted, gesturing with her vines.
We crept over as silently as possible, and I got out my Pokedex to scan the little creature sleeping lazily high up in the tree. It was a small, purple feline Pokemon, apparently a Dark-type known as Purrloin. While its species name caused me some trepidation, a Dark type was certainly different, and apparently they were quite rare on this route. I grinned slyly. Here was my chance.
"Charlotte, grab it with Vine Whip and slam it to the ground!" I commanded, probably a bit too enthusiastically, as the Purrloin woke up, immediately arched its back in my direction, and hissed loudly.
Charlotte was undeterred, though. She did still manage to grab the weaker, smaller Pokemon, but not without a Scratch attack or two to the face once she reeled him in. Growling in pain, she slammed the little kitten Pokemon into the ground and Tackled it for good measure.
By this point, I was starting to both pity and respect our opponent. As much as he knew he was beaten, the kitten still snarled at Charlotte and reared up as though to attack again. He barely saw the Pokeball coming, and it barely shook before locking shut.
"Score!" I exclaimed. "Great work, Charlotte. Hopefully little Reaper will be more inclined to work with us now that he's bound to me with a Pokeball."
Charlotte smirked and nodded decisively. I returned her as well, then finally came back to the main path towards Accumula.
When the city was in sight, I also caught a glimpse of Bianca's giant green cap on the ground, in the mouth of a chubby, happy-go-lucky looking Lillipup. She certainly had a talent for finding those types of Pokemon, I had to hand it to her.
"Midget! Get back here with that!" I heard a familiar scolding voice shout. Bianca ran by me, sweat dripping down her face, after the puppy Pokemon.
"Trouble in paradise?" I asked, smirking.
Bianca glared in my general direction before commanding her new Pokemon to "drop it", and after he finally obeyed she returned him to his Pokeball.
"You need to stay in there until you learn how to listen to me!" she scolded at her Trainer belt, clearly unaware that her Lillipup was now in a suspended state and therefore unable to hear her commands.
I was about to educate her on the science of Pokeballs when Aria joined us, jogging over from behind a clump of trees. Azure the Oshawott was at her side, while a Minccino of her own was perched happily on her right shoulder, nuzzling her ear.
"Oh my goodness, Mopsy! You need to stop that!" she exclaimed, giggling.
"Oh, what an adorable Minccino! I'm so jealous! How about it, Aria?" Bianca asked cheerfully and somehow all in one breath. "Do you want to compare which one of us has the most Pokemon with them?"
"I just have the two you see before you," she replied. "How about you guys?"
"Two! We all have the same number, then!" Bianca replied. "I caught a Lillipup, and...what did you catch again, Cheren? I saw the new Pokeball, but you were too busy making fun of Midget to tell me!"
"I managed to catch a rare Dark-type called a Purrloin," I replied. Disappointed at their lack of reaction, I simply continued, "Incidentally, if you check your Pokedex, you'll see how many Pokemon you've found and how many you've caught. I'm off to Accumula Town. The professor is waiting!"
Apparently among my undiscovered talents was prescience, because as soon as I mentioned her name, Aria's Xtransceiver began ringing.
"Hello! How is everybody doing?" the professor sang cheerfully through the staticky speakers of Aria's outdated device. "You and your Pokemon are getting along great now, right?"
"Oh! Professor!" Bianca exclaimed. There was an awkward silence as we all waited for her to ask a question that never came.
"Yes...well then...right now, I'm in front of Accumula Town's Pokemon Center! I'd like to show you around, so hurry on over, everyone!"
"Okay! The Pokemon Center, right!" Bianca confirmed like we hadn't all just heard the same information. I made a mental note to distract her in all future phone conversations with the professor.
"Okay, see you!" the professor replied, and ended the call.
"Well, I'm going on ahead," I said abruptly, and kept up a brisk pace for the last few miles to the Pokemon Center. Bianca and Aria lagged behind, arm-in-arm and laughing as Midget and Mopsy chased each other around the leaf piles along the route.
So many years later, this is one of my favorite images of my friends that I have in my mind: happiness and innocence untouched, dreams still within reach, unaware of the danger we would meet just outside Route 1's safe forest canopies.
After getting my own personal (and extremely boring and basic - seriously, I know to hand my Pokemon to Nurse Joy and Audino and how to buy Potions) tour of a Unovan Pokemon Center, I thanked Professor Juniper as graciously as I could manage, and then escaped to the town square, where clearly there was something much more interesting happening.
A large crowd was gathered around a man with long green hair, wearing a ridiculous, multicolored cape and walking with a cane. Surrounding him were his posse of equally ridiculous-looking, but more understated gray hoods, carrying blue-and-white banners with a big "P" on the front, crossed by a lightning bolt. Surveying the area, I suddenly noticed Aria's high ponytail bobbing among the crowd.
"Hey, Aria, come here a second," I urged. She nodded quickly, clearly understanding the importance of whatever was happening. Azure fidgeted with his scalchop, picking up on his trainer's nerves.
The caped crusader began, "My name is Ghetsis. I am here representing Team Plasma. Today, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to talk to you about Pokemon liberation."
What on earth?!
If anything, the more this "Ghetsis" spoke, the more delusional he sounded. "I'm sure most of you believe that we humans and Pokemon are partners that have come to live together because we want and need each other. However...is that really the truth? Have you ever considered that perhaps we humans...only assume that this is the truth?"
I couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt, remembering how I had captured Reaper at a defenseless moment for the poor kitten Pokemon. He had fought like a Pyroar, almost to the point of fainting. Was it right for me to capture him? Sure, to the victor went the spoils, and since Reaper was so young, it was fair to assume this would have made him easy prey for a predator Pokemon if one had happened to come along and I had rescued him from that fate. But I had never stopped to ask myself if my new team member had wanted that. Nor had I even let him out of his ball since Nurse Joy restored his strength...
As if reading my mind, Ghetsis pressed, "Pokemon are subject to the selfish commands of Trainers. They get pushed around when they are our 'partners' at work. Can anyone say with confidence that there is no truth to what I am saying?"
How I hated that I could not.
"Now, ladies and gentlemen, Pokemon are different from humans. They are living beings that contain unknown potential. They are living beings from whom we humans have much to learn. Tell me, what is our responsibility toward these wonderful beings called Pokemon?"
Pausing for a few moments as the crowd whispered amongst themselves, clearly confused and ashamed, our resident orator continued, "That's right! We must liberate the Pokemon! Then, and only then, will humans and Pokemon truly be equals. Everyone, I end my words here today by imploring you to consider the relationship between people and Pokemon, and the correct way to proceed. We sincerely appreciate your attention." And as quickly as they had appeared, the hoods and their oddly well-spoken leader picked up their banners and departed.
"About that speech...what do you think we should do?" an older man shakily asked the young man next to him.
"Liberate Pokemon? That's not even possible!" the younger man replied belligerently, and from there the crowd dispersed, leaving behind Aria, Azure, and I, plus a tall, thin man in a baseball cap and gray jumpsuit, green hair flowing in a ponytail behind his head. If it hadn't been such a serious conversation, I likely would have pointed out to Aria how this man had even more fabulous hair than she did.
Aria hugged Azure tighter, clearly terrified at the thought of already losing the creature she had waited for so long to train and get to know better.
"Osha, Oshawott!" he exclaimed happily, rubbing his cheek against hers.
At that, the green ponytail whipped around, revealing a gaunt and obviously shocked teenage face.
"Your Pokemon...just now, it was saying-"
"Slow down, you talk too fast," I snapped, still on edge from my roiling emotions. "And what's this about Pokemon...talking? That's an odd thing to say."
"Yes...they're talking," he replied, somewhat slower and more soft than before. "Oh...then you two can't hear it, either...how sad. My name is N."
Well, I guess compared to Ghetsis, of all the weird words, having just an initial isn't that unusual.
"My name is Cheren, and this is Aria," I replied tentatively. "We were asked to complete the Pokedex, and we just left on our journey. My main goal is to become the Champion, though."
"The Pokedex, eh?" N shot back. "So...you're going to confine many, many Pokemon in Pokeballs for that, then. I'm a Trainer, too, but I can't help wondering...are Pokemon really happy that way?"
"Well, Aria, is it?" he then asked. Eyes wide, she jumped at being addressed directly by a virtual stranger. "Let me hear your Pokemon's voice again!"