Chapter 1
A fiery start
"I'm not going to lay around and whine and moan
'Cause somebody done done me wrong. Don't think for a minute. That I'm gonna sit around and sing some old sad song. I believe it's half full, not a half empty glass. Every day I wake up knowing it could be my last"~George Strait Here for a good time
Dry; dry is all that could describe the chalky air inside the barn. Jesse was certain he had inhaled more dust than oxygen throughout the scorching hot early morning, and to top it off his normally bright blue eyes seemed dull compared to the bright red that a mixture of salty sweat and that same chalky dust he had inhaled had caused the white of those blue eyes to turn. On the other hand however, he was done, done shearing mareep, but compared to the normal way done could be said this time it hurt. He was done for good, he was to leave the ranch by noon as was his fathers bidding. He looked around the old barn taking in all the peels in paint and splinters in the wood for what could very well be the last time before he put his shears on the rack and tightly stuffed his electrically insulated gloves into the back pocket of his faded blue jeans. The sun was still barely in the sky by the time Jesse reached the steps of the ranch house where the aroma of freshly cooked biscuits, grumping sausage patty's, and gravy could be recognized by anyone, hungry or not. He walked into the front door which connected directly to the kitchen and saw that his plate was already made and in front of his seat along with a brown box with a red bow. His grandpa or Pop was the first to speak, "Well son, you gunna stand there all mornin?" His exceptionally deep voice almost covering up the tone of happiness. "No sir!" Jesse was quick to answer before dropping into his seat. "You gunna open the gift or give it to me?" A quite gorgeous Darlene teased him, and before Jesse could respond a not as gorgeous Danny piped in, "Yer paw picked it out fer ya before he run off a few days ago." Jesse looked at the brown box before finally deciding, "I think I'll eat first." With a smile and for whatever reason this brought laughter to the table. After a delicious home cooked meal compliments of Darlene Jesses Pop shooed the three ranch hands out of the house despite all protests that they should see Jesse open the box. "Bunch of damn dumbasses those three." The old man almost growled with a gravel in his voice before turning back to Jesse. "Before you run off to go become a Pokémon league big shot, I want you to go out to the fence and call Diesel, he's going to go with you to help you stay out of trouble. And I want you to have this." His Pop proceeded to remove his hat and hand it to Jesse. "Thank you Pop, I'll miss the you while I'm gone." Was all Jesse could say before taking the hat from his grandfather and heading into his room to change clothes. His Pop had already gone to tend to the ranch by the time Jesse had showered and changed into a plain black t-shirt accompanied by a baby blue plaid clamperl snap western long sleeve that complimented his eyes very well. His jeans were were a darker blue with a fade that came from many times of use around the knees, a pair of brown leather boots and a leather belt with a large silver buckle that read in gold lettering IRON BACK. These clothes however meant little to Jesse compared to the light tan colored bibarel fur cowboy hat which had a strange gem on the side that could be described as a sphere with a red yellow and blue swirl in the middle that rested atop his golden blonde hair. His Pop has given him this hat as farewell gift and Jesse planned to keep it in the same condition he had received it in for the rest of his life. Jesse walked into his kitchen and picked up the little brown box, carefully removing the bow and the lid would reveal a red and white orb. Jesse's body was filled with adrenaline and excitement as he picked up the baseball sized metal ball. He noticed however there was something else in the box underneath where the pokeball once sat. A note that read Good luck boy! Don't do anything to dangerous and for damn sure don't get nobody pregnant, love you~DAD Jesse couldn't help but chuckle at the note before stuffing it into his front left pocket. His attention soon returned to the ball that contained his very first Pokémon, he couldn't help but wonder what could be inside and his curiosity got the better of him causing him to press the button on the front of the ball. A click was heard before a red bolt of light that was almost but not quite bright enough to have made Jesse turn away. A million thoughts ran through his mind but the one that seemed to outshine all others in his mind were, "What did my father pick up for me all the way in new bark town?" His question was answered quickly when a small echidna like creature that was dark blue in color on its back to its head and light yellow on its underside appeared and loudly squealed a "CyndaaaQuil!" Of surprise before looking up at the just a hair over six foot one boy and freezing. Jesse was speechless, he had thought the professor would send back a Pidgey or Ratatta but no! A Cyndaquil! The professor actually sent a real starter home with his father. Jesse knew he had to say something so he slowly bent down to about as level as he could get with the Pokémon and held out his hand, "Uhm.. Hi buddy, my names Jesse and I'm gunna be your new trainer." "Quil." Was the short ended response Jesse got from his new Pokémon right before a low grumble filled the air. "Hungry?" He asked the creature before standing up and walking over to a cabinet on the opposite side of the table where the Pokémon was still sitting. "I've got uh" Jesse was looking through the cabinet looking for anything he could feed his new companion and found, "Crackers! A whole box of them!" The Cyndaquil turned its head around seeing that the boy was much closer than he expected and there was cracker directly in front of his line of vision. "But, first order of business, and before you get crackers is a name for you that's not just Cyndaquil." The Pokémon looked up in what could be assumed to be agreement to that. "How about sparky?" The Cyndaquil shot a small burst of fire out of the four red spots on its back and shook its head. "Okay okay, geez, what about flame, actually no that's just stupid." Jesse looked at the Pokémon in defeat before seeing a small amount of smoke in the air from where the Pokémon had previously disagreed with the name sparky, "I've got it! Smokey! Like Smokey and the Bandit!" Jesse looked at the small Pokémon and watched what seemed to be a small debate in its mind on whether not it liked the name before it nodded an excited "Cynda!" Jesse was unsure whether or not it just wanted crackers or actually liked the name but was going to hold the Pokémon to its agreement no matter what, "Well then Smokey it is!" Jesse exclaimed before handing the Cyndaquil now Smokey around eight crackers so he wouldn't starve to death before they even left the ranch. "Well Smokey, we've got to introduce you to Diesel and hit the road. It's already ten o'clock and I plan to be on route forty four before sundown, plus dad doesn't like to say goodbye to much so we've got leave before twelve anyways." "Quil!" Smokey chirped after finishing all of the crackers he was given and he was now ready to hit the road. Jesse motioned for Smokey to follow him and before they went out the door he picked up his duffel bag he had packed the night before off of one of the kitchen counters. There wasn't much in the bag, a few changes of clothes a knife, a lighter, a small pan, diesels pokeball which he assumed his Pop placed into the bag after he left the house, some minute noodles, and now a box of crackers beside Smokey's pokeball. Jesse and Smokey then walked over to the barbed wire fence where a large brown Tauros was already waiting for them both to arrive. "Diesel come on you ain't fooling anybody." To that the Tauros now to be called diesel, a name that was given to him due to the fact that on his first day at the ranch a long ten years ago a few days after he was born he knocked over an entire canister of diesel fuel onto Jesses father, jumped over the fence with about a foot to give after roughly six steps of running. The bull snorted happily as it trotted over to Jesse and Smokey. Jesse patted Diesel inbetween his horns and above the hard grey protrusion on his head before gesturing to Smokey, "Deisel meet Smokey, Smokey meet Deisel. I hope you two can get along because we've got a long road ahead of us if not." Emphases on the long. Diesel seemed to nod then looked at Smokey before the both of the seemed to smile and make a small grunt of approval. "Alright well that settles that then." Jesse beamed as he readjusted the duffle on his shoulder. "Diesel you think you can carry both of us to route forty four?" Diesel seemed offended by the question and stamped his hoove "Tauros!" Was confidently declared from the bull. Jesse grinned as he picked up Smokey and placed him atop Diesel "Good, I thought so but I wanted to make sure." Diesel snorted and with that Jesse slung his leg over the side of the brown behemoth and hollered, "Then let's get a move on!" With pure happiness in his voice.
Sorry if it got a little sloppy in the writing towards the end there... It's almost three in the morning and to be honest I should be typing anything XD.