Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I affiliated with Pokémon or any of its parent companies. I am merely a humble storyteller. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy this journey with me.
Note: I am English, so some of the wordings, spellings, and expressions will be those commonly used in England.
Chapter One: Same Old Story Told Again
"What an awesome last-sixteen tie! And now both trainers are down to their last Pokémon! Nidorino versus Gengar! Which one will prove to be the more powerful Poison-type and take down the other and ultimately secure victory for their trainer?"
Nidorino's trainer grinned, the announcer's words washing off him like Toxic off a Steelix's back. This is what being a Pokémon trainer was; being one with your Pokémon family. The announcer, the spectators? To him, they were barely there.
"All right, Nidorino!" he yelled. "Use Dig!"
The pink and purple dinosaur creature burrowed into the ground at its trainer's command, there one minute and gone the next, leaving behind upturned earth.
"What are you going to do now?" he called over to his opponent, whose fists were clenched. "Bet you wish your Gengar still had Levitate!"
Nidorino burst from the ground, slamming into the purple phantom and sending it flying.
"Gengar," its trainer said. "It's fine. Now, use Shadow Ball."
Gengar held out its stubby arms, and a shadowy black blob formed in front of its palms. It grew bigger and bigger as Nidorino was ordered to strike it with a Shadow Claw.
"Oh man, I love this battle," a young boy said, watching this particular one for the umpteenth time since it was first contested some months ago.
But he never got to see the ending again, that colossal collision of Ghost-type power as, much to his chagrin, his television was switched off.
"What?" he screamed, rolling off his bed. "What the –"
He looked to his bedroom door; his mother standing there, a remote control in her hand, the special one that could be used on all the televisions in the house, as unlikely as that sounded.
"It's time for bed, Red," she said, tapping her foot on the floor. "You've got an early start tomorrow. You don't want to end up missing out on a starter Pokémon."
"Aw, mum," Red groaned. "I just wanted to watch the end of that battle, then I was going to bed. Besides, I won't be late; Leaf said she'd pass by on the way to Professor Oak's". He shuddered. "She said she'd drag me out of bed if she had to."
"Still, it doesn't hurt to be a little mature," his mother said, plopping herself down on his bed. She pulled him into a hug. "All boys leave home at some time, and tomorrow is going to be your turn."
"Oof, I know," Red said, trying to push her away. "Trust me."
"Okay, I trust you," his mother said, pinching his cheeks. She stood up and flashed him a smile. "Now – get to bed. Love you, honey."
"All right, all right," Red said, rubbing his cheeks. "Love you too, mum."
She closed the door and Red laid in his bed, yet sleep would not come to him. He could see the Kanto starters in his mind's eye: Bulbasaur, the Grass and Poison-type, Charmander, the Fire-type, and Squirtle, the Water-type. The second was particularly vivid to him.
And it was a long time until he finally drifted off.
o~o~o~o~o
"Red, wake up. Wakey, wakey, sleepyhead."
Red's eyes fluttered open, his crimson pupils meeting a pair of big blue ones. "Leaf?" he muttered. "What are you doing here?"
Leaf sighed and jumped off his bed, giving him a disapproving look. "I'm your courtesy wake up call. Don't you remember?"
It all came rushing back to him.
"Oh, yeah," he said sitting up, a huge grin on his face. "Thanks. Today's the day!"
Leaf nodded, her lips forming into a smile of her own. "Finally. I can't wait to explore the whole of Kanto. Seriously, I've only ever gone to the Sevii Islands and the Holon Region before – both on vacation."
"Yeah," Red said. "I only ever go to Mintale Town, although I did visit grandpa last year for a couple of months, which was sweet. But who cares about that!" He leapt off his bed, eyes shining as they drifted to his poster of the three starter Pokémon, his empty hands clutching an imaginary Poké Ball. "Just the fact we get to choose our Starters is awesome!"
"Have you decided who you want?" Leaf asked.
"Not really. I mean, Charmander seems really cool, but as long as we get along and have fun then it doesn't matter, does it?"
"I suppose not." She reached over and placed a hand on his shoulder. "But you should get out of your pyjamas quickly; I don't think you'd want Blue to beat us there."
Red rolled his eyes and groaned. Of course, Blue was going to be there. It was not that he had forgotten it as much as he did not want to remember it. Oh well, not much that he could do about that; every sweet thing always came with something sour. It was better for him to have that sourness taint his tongue sooner, so he could enjoy the blissful sweetness that would follow.
"You're right," he said, marching over to his drawers, where a red cap with a white bill was perched. "Okay, let me get changed and then we'll go."
Thus, Leaf left Red's bedroom and proceeded to have a pleasant conversation with the latter's mother, ignoring the banging and shouting from upstairs as Red fell over trying to put on his jeans.
What a way to start the day.
"It seems bigger than usual."
"That's probably because we're going to receive our Pokémon. It's all business-like."
"That's true," Leaf said. "And we haven't been here since Professor Oak had that open day where we could play with the Pokémon. Remember that?"
Red tipped back his red cap and sighed at the pleasant memory as they stood before Professor Oak's laboratory, a large building made of stone and timber, acres of land behind it. "That was awesome. Remember when we went swimming with all the Poliwag?"
"And then they had to save you because you annoyed a Krabby?"
"Maybe," Red said, reddening slightly. "Anyway, let's go in. Hopefully you-know-who hasn't arrived yet."
However, you-know-who had arrived, otherwise known as Blue, a boy with bottle-green eyes, spiky, brown hair, and a smug smirk.
"Yo, better late than never, Reddy," he sneered. "Lucky you've got Leaf to help you, eh?"
Red scowled. "Don't call me Reddy."
"Oh, don't like your nickname after all this time, Reddy?" Blue said, in a mocking, caring voice. "Maybe it doesn't suit you since you're obviously not ready to become a Pokémon trainer." He chuckled at his own joke.
Red opened his mouth, ready to snap back, when Leaf pulled him back and spoke on his behalf. "Act your age not your shoe size, Blue. Why do you have to be such a punk?"
Blue shrugged. "I don't, but it is fun. Come on, don't you get a kick seeing him get all annoyed and flustered? Can you imagine his face when he's lost in Viridian Forest or something and he realises he's not going to cut it?" His brow furrowed slightly. "Scratch that. Viridian Forest is probably too far for this loser to get to."
"Hey, shut up, Blue!" Red snapped. "I'm gonna explore the whole of Kanto, and I'm gonna win the Pokémon League! You'll eat my dust."
Blue faked a yawn. "Yeah, yeah, when Tepig fly."
Leaf rolled her eyes. "Come on," she said, grabbing Red by the wrist. "Our future Pokémon are waiting."
Giving Blue a scowl, Leaf marched down the gravelled path that led directly into the lab, Red in tow. Blue raised his eyebrows and followed after them, resisting the urge to say 'Hey, I should go first; he's my grandpa after all'.
Much like the outside, the lab did not appear as official and sophisticated as one would expect Kanto's number one leading researcher's to be: it had the feel of a cottage, with its sofas and floors that were carpeted where it was not tiled; machines wired and whizzed, clinked and clonked, decades of research put into said machines to get them to where they were today; hundreds of red and white Poké Balls were set neatly on shelves surrounded by thick glass (and there were even a few different variations of Poké Balls sporadically placed between them), which Blue claimed was not even all of them as there were many more sealed off; thick tomes were sleeping on other shelves; a few assistants scurried around, barely noticing the children, and towards the back of the sizeable main room was the man himself: Professor Samuel Oak.
Professor Oak was a man in his fifties, his hair grey and his eyebrows thick and dark, not inherited by his grandson. Over his red shirt he wore a white lab coat and on his face a grin as he watched the aspiring Trainers walk ever closer.
"I'm pleased to see you got here, and on time too!" he exclaimed. "Imagine coming late in your pyjamas or something equally embarrassing."
Red and Leaf looked at each other; Blue rolled his eyes.
"Don't roll your eyes at me, young man," Professor Oak scolded. "You'd better learn some manners… er… um, what was your name again?"
"Don't start with that, gramps" Blue moaned. "It wasn't funny the first hundred times and it's not funny now."
Red and Leaf begged to differ as they snickered, and Professor Oak gave them a wink. "Okay, you win. I won't pretend to forget your name… er… um… Blue. Yes, that's it."
Blue scowled but opted not to respond anymore. "So, where are the Pokémon, gramps?"
"Patience is a virtue, Blue," Professor Oak said. He turned on his heels towards a door, which had engraved upon it 'Professor Samuel Oak'. He beckoned for the children to follow. "In here."
Inside Professor Oak's office were more books, several computers (one of which seemed to have an email from the Pokémon League), and a desk. Upon that desk were three Poké Balls (devices used to store and transport Pokémon). Red bit his tongue to stop himself from squealing.
Professor Oak smiled a knowing smile and proceeded to press a button on one of the Poké Balls. "Bulbasaur," he said as a white light flashed from the Ball.
Bulbasaur blinked up at the humans through its red eyes, a blue-green dinosaur-like creature with a plant bulb growing from its back.
"Charmander," Professor Oak said, pressing the button on the second Poké Ball.
Another flash of light and this time an orange, bipedal lizard with a flame on the end of its tail appeared. It sneezed and small embers drifted downwards, dying before they reached the floor.
"And Squirtle."
Squirtle was a blue turtle, its shell brown on top and yellow in the stomach area. Like Charmander it stood on two legs. It yawned.
Leaf gushed; Red grinned; Blue eyed them with scrutinous intent.
"These three are the designated Starters of the Kanto Region, that is the Pokémon given to new Trainers at the start of their journey," Professor Oak went on. He brandished a hand towards the Pokémon. "Now it's your turn to begin your respective journeys. These Pokémon will be with you every step of the way, so choose wisely."
The trio of prospective Trainers bent down and analysed the trio of Starter Pokémon; Bulbasaur tottered nearer, its eyes locked with Leaf's; Squirtle yawned again, appearing as though it would rather be doing anything else; Charmander tried to hide behind its fiery tail, looking at everything that was not the humans.
Leaf was the first to choose. "I pick Bulbasaur!" she declared, picking it up and giving it a huge smile, which it returned. "Why wouldn't I pick you, when you picked me?"
"That's a great choice for you, Leaf," Professor Oak said, nodding his head approvingly. "It's such a reliable Pokémon that I'm sure you'll work well with."
"No doubt about that," Leaf said, placing Bulbasaur back on the floor and proceeding to pet it.
"So that leaves Squirtle and Charmander, huh?" Blue said. "Well, that's just easy now: I'm going to pick Squirtle."
Squirtle looked up at Blue, the boredom gone from its eyes a tad.
"Yeah, I'm going to pick you, Squirtle," Blue said. "Because you seem like you might have a bit more fire in your belly than Charmander, ironically. Besides, that means you're going to have to pick Charmander, Reddy, so you'll be inferior to me in yet another way."
"Says you!" Red shot back, his face making a good go at matching his name. "Charmander and I are going to beat you so badly." Red grinned at the little lizard. "Isn't that right, Charmander?"
Charmander simply backed away and blinked up at him with its big, blue eyes.
Red knelt and held out his hand to the Fire-type. His annoyance at Blue ebbed, and soon it was only him and Charmander, Charmander and him, the only two in that lab. Crimson pupils met blue and Red grinned again. "Don't worry, Charmander, we're going to be the best of buddies. We're going to grow stronger together and explore lots of places and meet loads of new Pokémon. Oh, and we're still going to show Blue what for."
Charmander took half a step backwards. Then it took half a step forward. It held out its hand. Then it pulled it back again.
Now, it should have been nothing more than choosing one's Starter and claiming its Poké Ball, it really should have, much like how Leaf and Blue currently had their new Pokémon by their sides and their respective Poké Balls in their hands. But could Red really have a Pokémon that did not accept him. This was not just some Pokémon one captured on a random route. This was a Pokémon that was entitled to its choice just as much as he was, one that would open the first chapter in the novel that would be their adventure.
Charmander dithered for several more seconds, that felt like several more hours to Red, before it finally placed a scaly hand on Red's palm.
Charmander stared at Red.
Red stared back at Charmander.
"We're going to be an awesome team, buddy," Red whispered.
