Isaac walked slowly home from school. What a bore! School always seemed to take too long and teach too little. He didn't hate school really. It just seemed pointless. They weren't teaching him anything that he was going to use. He liked learning, but teachers seemed to spend more time trying to control the class instead of actually teaching anything cool.
It must be hard to be a teacher. Student proficiencies varied widely as some students left on pokemon adventures for years before returning to school. Living in a small town like Calbed, not many returned.
He wanted to leave on one soon, but his parents wouldn't let him. They were afraid of him going off by himself and getting hurt. Isaac knew he would be fine, but arguing with his parents was like flirting with a brick, nothing good came from it.
He had a pokemon and battled a bit with it. There were no serious trainer in the small town where he lived, so his natu was still really low level. Anybody who wanted to be a good trainer left as soon as they could.
"Isaac wait up!"
Isaac turned to see who was calling him. Zander was waving and hurrying after him. Zander was one of Isaac's best friends, they had known each other since Isaac's family had moved to Calbed. Zander was one of the better trainers at school, Isaac would battle Zander behind the gym shed during breaks. Zander could be skittish and never wanted to get into trouble, and he always seemed to know when it was coming. His nagging had probably saved him from being suspended for battling on school grounds.
Isaac had convinced his parents to get Zander a cubone for christmas a few years back. The thing was so small and weak when they got it, but Zander had worked with it until it was an even match for his natu battling with the best in school.
"Dude, what's up? Where is the fire?" Isaac asked his friend when he was a pace away.
"You would know. If there was a fire you probably started it!"
"Ha, not like there is anything worth burning for miles." Isaac retorted.
"No man, I got news. My mom just called and Robert sent a package home from work. She said he sent pokemon for me and my brother. You should come and check it out! Do you think your parents will care if you are a bit late home from school?" Isaac blurted out in a rapid stream.
"No way man!" Robert was Zander's older brother. He had done the smart thing and left Calbed as soon as he had graduated. He got a sweet job for Sylph corp. Pretty much everyone wanted to work there. They paid really well and were the best when it came to anything to do with pokemon.
"That is so cool man. I am definitely coming with you. I'll call my parents from your house."
"Alright man! Ok so my mom said there were a couple in the package as well as some other stuff, Maybe I can pay you back for getting my cubone." Zander went on as they turned back in the direction of his house.
"No dude, you don't have to do that." Isaac laughed. Like most kids his age, Isaac wanted to leave on a pokemon adventure, but since his parents wouldn't let him go, he didn't really think he needed any more pokemon. Natu was all he needed for the casual battles he fought at school. It would feel kinda cheap to get a new pokemon for free, when his parents were the ones who bought the cubone anyhow.
"Where has your brother been working?" asked Isaac, wondering what types of pokemon could be waiting for them.
"All over the place really. His division tracks pokemon migrations, so he travels a lot, getting information from a wide range of pokemon."
"Great, he follows spearow as they fly south for the winter." Isaac said pessimistically. Spearow, hoppip and rattata where the only pokemon common in the wild around here. Even pidgy were a rare site.
"No! He followed a flock of charrizard to their breeding grounds last month, and the last I heard, he was estimated garados population in rage lake." Zander said defensively.
"No, I didn't mean it like that Zander. Calm the freak down. I was just trying to not get my hopes up. Nothing exciting ever happens in this town, I just wish it would."
"I know what you mean." Zander replied looking down at his feet for a moment.
Zander wanted to leave too, but his parents also wanted to keep him at home. Isaac felt bad for dampening the mood.
"Don't worry about it bro, I'm sure it will be something cool." Isaac said, trying to cheer Zander up.
"Yeah. At least it will be better than Chris's announcement." Zander laughed.
Isaac chuckled too. Chris had his caterpea evolve into metapod. Which was cool, but what made it uncool was how much he bragged about in school all last week. they had gotten so fed up with it that Isaac and Zander had challenged him to a double battle yesterday after school. Half the school had shown up to watch the fight. It had been awesome. Isaac's natu and Zander's cubone had trounced Chris's metapod and spearow combo.
They made a good team, the two of them. They worked well together in more than just pokemon battles. They were both near the top of their class, so one could sleep while the other would pay attention and then they would help each other though the homework.
They were at Zander's house now.
It was a large white walled house with green trim. The yard was clean kept, for the most part, with flowers around the edges.
They burst through the door with enthusiasm.
"Mom, we're here!" shouted Zander
"Oh I was wondering what was taking you so long. Hello Isaac."
"Hi"
"How was your day at school?"
"Fine, where is the package?"
"Oh it's on your bed. I already took out the things he sent for your sister and I."
"Thanks mom." Zander called as he hurried up the stairs, Isaac only a step behind him.
They threw open the door and ran to the opened cardboard box on the bed. In their rush they knocked it over, spilling the contents over the bedspread.
Spread out before them were two pokeballs, a couple of photographs, a note, and a small stone. Zander picked up the two pokeballs.
"Two of them. Here you pick one." He said extending them both to Issac.
"What do you mean? Your brother sent them to you."
"I know. But I told you, I owe you for cubone. Here take one."
"Well, I wouldn't even know which one to take." Isaac said looking at the two red and white balls.
"I know, that way it's fair, we both don't know what we are getting. That way if one is kinda lame the other will have no one to blame haha." said Zander.
Isaac looked at the pokeballs again. What could be inside? It could just be a ratata or a spearow that Robert had picked up and sent home without a second thought. They could also hold something incredible, like a lapras or arcanine.'
"You sure about this?" Isaac asked.
Zander nodded and pushed the pokeballs a little closer to Isaac.
Isaac closed his eyes and twisted his arm around, hoping to make the choice more random. He reached out and grabbed one of the balls. He pulled it towards his chest. Zander was reading the note that had been left with the other things in the box.
"Robert says these are two basic pokemon that he has never encountered before." Zander said excitedly. "They are pretty low level, but that's ok because we don't have anything high level around here anyhow."
"Let's go outside and see what they are like!" Isaac said. They rushed downstairs and out the backdoor. They parted about two paces from each other and gave one another a nod. Isaac took a deep breath and threw his pokeball at the same time as Zander did. A flash of red and green light filled their eyes, blinding them. when they light cleared two pokemon stood in front of them. The one in front of Isaac was a brownish-red furred pokemon. It stood about a foot and a half tall, with a striped tail like a raccoon raised behind it. Its face also had red markings on its face, also like a raccoon. The one in front of Zander was green and white. It was a small bear on all fours with leafy bamboo growing out of his thick back legs. It had green markings around its eyes and a red headband across its forehead.
"Woah, I've never seen this one before." said Zander.
Isaac hadn't either. That was a problem. They were both smart, and both knew a lot about pokemon. They already knew more about pokemon they had never seen in real life then most of their own trainers did.
"They look really young. I'm guessing yours is grass type and mine, I'm not sure. It could be fire or normal, maybe dark even." Isaac said.
The two pokemon looked at the two of them with equal fascination. The green panda-like one sat down on its haunches while the raccoon cocked its head to the side.
Neither of them had a pokedex, so Isaac had no idea how they could identify them.
"What's your name little guy?" Isaac asked. His new pokemon shifted its head to the other side and let out "Burame" with a purr.
"Burame, cool." Isaac said. It looked young and low level, but that would change after they got a few chances to battle.
"Isaac." It was Zanders mom calling from the back door. "Isaac your mother is on the phone."
"I'll be there in a moment." Isaac replied. "I guess it is back to reality. I think I might need to go Zander. I'll catch you tomorrow at school. We should battle our pokemon then."
"Sounds great man, see ya then." Zander called back as Isaac left.