Pokémon Crimson Gold
Chapter 1: Choose your starter
"Dear Ethan,
First off, I'd like to apologize for not being there for your big day. Thirteen is a big number, you're all grown up now, feels like yesterday your mother was just changing your diapers. I'm sorry for not being there, but I promise I'll come back, and once I do, I'll show you this really cool Pokémon I just know you're going to love.
Yours truly,
Dad."
"Honey, did you read the letter your dad sent." Mother said from downstairs to her son.
"No way mom, not only did he miss my birthday, but he's also going to miss the day I get my first Pokémon!" Ethan explained, slightly annoyed, he came downstairs to greet his mom.
"Wow! You look so handsome, already you look worthy of becoming a Pokémon Champion!" Mother exclaimed, tears in her eyes.
"It's no big deal mom, everyone at some point has to get ready to get their first Pokémon, today's just that day for me." The boy said, trying to sound cool.
"Ethan, you didn't forget your Toothbrush, did you?"
"Of course not!"
"Well, what about wallet?"
"No way, I'd never!"
"Clean changes of clothes?"
"I promise you; I didn't forget anything!"
"Hmm... What about this then?" Mom said, startling Ethan. She held his Pokégear, waving it in front of him.
"D-damn, I can't believe I forgot!" Ethan sighed, then instantly shutting his mouth closed, upon realizing he cursed in front of his mom.
"Ethan..." She said, looking annoyed at her son. She then dropped her look of anger and handed her son his Pokégear. "Go get em' Ethan, I know you can do this, be a great Pokémon Trainer, just like your father!"
"No, even better than my father," Ethan said as he exited his house.
Ethan and his mother lived alone in New Bark Town. Ethan lived his whole life in this town, he met and learned from many trainers he saw in trainers' school. Of course, Ethan wasn't one of the more gifted students in class, but he always had a great passion for Pokémon. The town wasn't too big however, with only few houses, so everyone knew each other.
On his way to the Pokémon lab, Ethan jogged happily, as excited as he'd ever been.
"Ethan, Ethan!" A familiar voice called to him, near the Pokémon lab.
It was a girl, Ethan however, not paying attention bumped into her, knocking her on the floor.
She was a brunette with a poofy white hat, along with a red ribbon, which highlighted her pigtails.
"Why don't you watch where you're going, Ethan!" She yelled at the boy.
"Oh, hey Lyra," Ethan felt butterflies seeing her, he took off his cap, trying to slick back his hair like he had seen in movies. "I know, you're here to see me get my first Pokémon aren't you girl?"
"In your dreams. I just wanted to tell you that you should give up on being a Pokémon trainer, you're not really cut for the job." She said, mocking him.
Ethan chuckled. "Oh, I see. If I become a Pokémon trainer then I'll have to leave the village, and you wouldn't want that, would you?" Ethan said, not afraid he was hinting he had interest in her.
"What do you take me for? I'm going on a journey too!" Lyra exclaimed, pulling out a Pokéball, revealing it to Ethan.
"It's probably that same old Marill you had since you we're seven, am I right?" Ethan said, sarcastically.
"N-no! Shut up, anyways, I'll be getting those eight badges and become the champion myself! And if you're going to become a Pokémon trainer someday, you'll have to fight me, got it!" She explained to her rival.
"You got it; I've been wanting to battle you for a while." Ethan told her, with no hesitation.
Lyra laughed. "Well, we'll just see about that once you get your first Pokémon."
"Sure, so you want to come with me to see me get my first Pokémon?" Ethan asked her, as he was about to open the door.
"Hmph, no way. I wouldn't want to be seen next to a perve like you!" Lyra said, looking around to make sure no one was watching.
"Suit yourself," Ethan said, tucking his hat on his head. As he went to enter the building, Lyra poked her Toung out at him and ran off.
"Tch, she's not even that cute." Ethan before he could open the door, noticed a strange red head staring through a window.
"Ugh, you alright? The entrance is this way." Ethan asked him.
"This is none of your business!" The strange kid said, he shoved Ethan away from him, then proceeded to run off out from the village.
"I'm just going to forget about that." Ethan said, not paying it much mind.
Ethan opened the door to the famous Elm lab. His journey as a Pokémon trainer would finally begin.
Professor Elm looked off to see the young boy before him.
"Ah, Ethan, I was expecting you." He said, greeting Ethan.
"Morning professor, how's it been?" Ethan asked nonchalantly.
"First off, happy thirteenth," Elm said, handing Ethan his new trainer card.
"Hell yeah, it's even laminated. This is really cool!" Ethan said, far too energetically.
"Now I know you already know this, but I have to read this next part to you, Ya 'know, legally speaking." Elm said, pulling out a paper he had rehearsed a million times.
"Get on with it." Ethan said, in a more relaxed tone.
"Welcome to the world of Pokémon! My name is Professor Elm. But everyone calls me the Pokémon Professor, Before I give you your first Pokémon, you should know that the world of Pokémon can not only be very difficult but also very dangerous. Johto's not kind to inadequately prepared trainers. Ethan, you just barely managed to graduate from the academy, to be honest, you may not even be ready, I need to know if you're truly confident in your abilities."
"Woah, you went a little off script there, Professor." Ethan told him.
"Oh, sorry." Elm said, rubbing the back of his head.
"Anyways - this world is widely inhabited by creatures known as Pokémon." Elm said, as he readied a Pokéball, taking away some boredom from Ethan's face.
This is it; this is where I get my first Pokémon. Ethan thought excitedly, not paying much attention to Elm's words.
"Now, please choose your first Pokémon carefully, this will be your best friend across your entire journey." Elm explained, reading off the last words from his paper.
Elm readied another two Pokéballs, much to Ethan's amazement. Revealing the famous trio of starter Pokémon from Johto.
The light from the Pokéballs revealed the three.
On the left, was Cyndaquil, the Fire Mouse Pokémon. It looked shy and nervous, not at all like Ethan. Juxtaposed to its timid look was the fire that raged on its back.
In the middle was Chikorita, the Leaf Pokémon. On top of its head, was a long, green leaf, hence its name. It was cute, yet confident looking.
On the right, was Totodile, the Big Jaw Pokémon. It had striking looking red spikes, from the head down. Despite its tough demeanor, it looked silly and kind of goofy.
"Just so you know, all three are great choices in their own right," Elm told Ethan, who of course couldn't take his eyes off the little guys.
Cyndaquil, quietly backed up and went behind Chikorita, it looked more nervous than happy to be there.
"Chika-" The Chikorita said, patting the ground.
Totodile looked confused, it probably had no clue what was going on.
"So, did you decide which one you want to pick?" Elm asked, intrigued.
"Isn't it obvious, I've known for a long time which one I'd be choosing when I got here today." Ethan said, confident in his decision.
Ethan got on one knee and pet the Chikorita before him. Chikorita's eyes lit up with happiness. Cyndaquil and Totodile besides it looked up at Ethan in awe.
"You and me, Chikorita! Will you be by my side for my journey?" Ethan asked.
Chikorita started jumping up and down excitedly It wagged its tail back and forth. It then jumped into Ethan's arms happily. Ethan hugged it tight.
"To-Totodile." Totodile said, in a sad tone, realizing he hadn't been picked, Cyndaquil however looked at ease with this. Elm returned them to their Pokéballs.
"So, Chikorita it is then, huh?" Elm said, scratching under his chin.
"Well, my dad chose Totodile, the water type. And Grass is super effective to water." Ethan told the professor, as he cradled his new Pokémon in his arms.
"That's still your dream, defeating your father?" Elm asked, genuinely curious.
"Beating that old man first, and then challenging the Pokémon league, that's my dream!" Ethan made clear. "Well, he is on a training trip in Hoenn right now, so I'll have a lot of time to train up before facing him.
"Alright then, well, here's Chikorita's Pokéball." Elm said, handing it to Ethan.
"Thanks, Professor." Ethan said. "But I get the feeling I won't be using it, how'd you like traveling along with me outside of your Pokéball, Chikorita?"
Chikorita nodded her head up and down, still ever so excited to have a trainer.
"Alright well here's five other Pokéballs, that should give you six. It should do for now." Elm said, handing him even more Pokéballs.
"I can't thank you enough Professor, when I return, I'll be a Pokémon Master!" Ethan said, confidently.
"Really now, well I'll take your word for it." Elm said. "Oh, and one last thing, here's this,"
He handed Ethan a strange looking device, it looked important.
"And this is?" Ethan asked, not having learned it from school.
"A Pokédex, it's new, imported straight from Kanto, there not seen anywhere around Johto, to be honest, you may be one of the first trainers in the Johto region with one." Elm explained.
"What's it do?" Ethan asked, intrigued by the device.
"It's a high-tech recording device. It collects data of different kind of Pokémon. But like I said, it's an import. It only has data on native Pokémon from Kanto, so you'll have to scan Pokémon from around to get information on them." Elm told Ethan.
"Pfft. No thanks, I'm already an expert on all different kinds of Pokémon, no need for this kind of device." Ethan said, declining, trying to hand it back.
"Oh-ho, not with your grades you are, come on, at least try it on that Chikorita of yours," Elm lectured.
"Fine!" Ethan said, focusing his Pokédex to scan his Chikorita, who was still very energetic.
A yellow light coming from the device scanned the Pokémon.
"Chikorita, the Leaf Pokémon. A sweet aroma gently wafts from the leave on its head. It is docile and loves to soak up the sun's rays.
"Not bad. Guess I'll keep it," Ethan replied happily, putting it away in his bag.
"Now before you head out and train to take on the eight gyms." Elm coughed, turning to face the window. "Lyra, would you stop hiding and reveal yourself, I can see you in the window."
Ethan turned to spot a glimpse of Lyra's big white hat, she was hiding from the window, and tucked her head down as soon as the Professor called her out.
"Oh, I see what's going on!" Ethan happily exclaimed.
Lyra opened the door; she had a hesitant look on her face. "Good job, so you saw me peaking,"
"And I thought you didn't care to see me choose my first Pokémon." Ethan said, spinning his Pokéball.
"Oh whatever Ethan. Get over yourself." Lyra told him.
"Now now, two kids of your age fighting this much, you two must really like each other." Elm said, laughing.
"I do not!" Lyra yelled out loud, slightly embarrassed.
"Me too, *not anymore*" Ethan muttered under his breath.
Lyra turned her head to see the Chikorita side by side to Ethan.
"So, you choose the Grass type starter? It looks kind of weak." She said, mocking Ethan.
"Chika?" Chikorita said slightly annoyed.
"Still better than that Marill you sleep next to!" Ethan laughed.
"Relax, you two. You're both Trainers now, that means you'll be rivals for the title of the Pokémon champion, so try and keep it civil." Elm expressed.
"Fine Professor," Lyra said.
"I know, Lyra, why don't you go and show Ethan here how to catch a Pokémon in the wild." Elm suggested.
"Why should she, Professor? That's stuff you learn long before graduation!?" Ethan asked.
"Should I remind you? You flunked the first time, Lyra's got a whole year of experience ahead of you, plus she got some of the highest grades in class. You can learn so much from her." Elm said.
Ethan looked flustered. "You didn't have to remind me..."
"That's right Professor, I am pretty good, so come on Ethan, let me show you!" She said, all cocky again. "Although knowing your attention span this could take a while."
"W-whatever, let's go." Ethan said.