Disclaimer: I do not own Pokèmon
The early morning quiet that surrounded Nuvema Town was slowly broken by bird cries and the stirring of the town's inhabitants. Out of these inhabitants, four returned to consciousness with a growing feeling of excitement as the day they were waiting for had finally come.
Blair awoke to a sleep-induced fog slowly lifting itself as he slowly stretched while pulling himself out of bed. A quick look at the calendar quickly shakes the early-morning slowness as he remembers the date. He mutters a "Happy Birthday " to himself in the mirror as he rushes to pull on all his clothes, realizing quite quickly why the day was so important this year. It was the day he was to get his starter Pokèmon and be allowed to set off on his journey, his thirteenth birthday.
Several years ago, the Unova League had looked over the numbers of injuries from young trainers and altered the rules around starting your journey so that new trainers would have more knowledge of what they were doing. With the altered standards, teens had to wait until they were at least thirteen years of age before being allowed a trainer's license and the ability to travel the region alone. Due to being the youngest of the Nuvema kids by age, Blair's birthday ended up being chosen as the date that all the kids would be granted starters.
After finishing up the rushed attempt of clothing himself, Blair runs downstairs to the kitchen to grab some form of breakfast on his own. Since his mother had already had to go to work early in the morning so she would be back to see him off on his journey, he ended up throwing something together from what was in the cupboard and was just cleaning the dishes when he heard the doorbell ring. Jumping up from his seat and running to the door, he opens it to the sight of two of the other kids that would also be getting their starter Pokèmon today.
Cheren and Bianca were some of the only kids that lived nearby in Blairs age-range, leading to the three growing up playing together and being close friends. Cheren and Blair had also been competing for the top spot in the Trainer's exam the three had taken just a few weeks earlier, with Cheren just barely edging out Blair in the end.
Grinning as he walks out the door Blair gets an enthusiastic welcome from Bianca, and a calmer though no less friendly one from Cheren. Blair greets both in turn then asks "Guess it's already time to head to the lab then?".
Bianca enthusiastically replies, "Yup! Professor Juniper sent us here to make sure you didn't sleep in and miss your special day!"
Blair grins in response, knowing his tendency to sleep through his alarm was one he hadn't managed to get rid of and tells the girl "Well, I was perfectly able to get myself up. It's not like I would miss this day when we've been waiting two years for it to come, now would I?".
The trio of friends then starts on their short walk to the Professor's laboratory, located near to the small town's outskirts. Small talk chatters throughout the air as the three discuss what time of starters they would want and what they would catch once they start journeying throughout the region. Bianca chatted about how she was fine with any kind of starter, though the two boys both knew she would zone in on the one she considered the cutest. On the other end of the spectrum, Cheren had set his heart on getting an Oshawott as his first companion and was the only one of the three to have decided beforehand on which of the starters they would pick.
Blair started to ponder on the topic of starters, letting his thoughts drift to the cheerful banter of his friends. The Unova Pokèmon League had a set three starters that were bred by certified specialists to be handed out to apprentice trainers just beginning their time as a trainer. These were members of the standard elemental triad of fire, water, and grass, the trademark types that professionals handed out to beginners. In Unova, these consisted of the fire-type Tepig, the grass-type Snivy, and the water-type Oshawott.
Of the three, Snivy was the one Blair considered himself the least likely to pick. When fully trained, they evolve into the serpentine pokémon Serperior. An odd mix of defensive bulk combined with high speed makes fighting alongside one the elusive serpents a hard task to adapt to for many new to the craft. Though this isn't to say it isn't strong, as it has many ways to alter the battle's floe to its advantage. The most dangerous users of the species Blair had heard of had even been able to take advantage of the evolutionary line's biology to enhance the strength of the serpent when normal ones of its species would have been weakened from energy adaption.
Next of the three was Tepig, which Blair found some interest in. If trained by a competent and kind trainer, it could be one of the most loyal of companions a person could find when on their journey. When at its highest potential, its evolved form of Emboar is an incredibly powerful source of offense on any team. With an ability to learn versatile set of moves unheard of for most similar fire types, and the innate power to back up that move pool Emboar would easily slot into most teams.
The last of the elemental trio was Oshawott, which seemed incredibly tempting to Blair. A strong physical warrior, that evolved into the mighty Samurott. A versatile fighter with twin blades, Samurott is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades in terms of abilities. That versatility, combined with less weaknesses than the other commonly obtained starters, leads to it being an ace in combat. If Cheren hadn't already staked his claim on the otter, Blair probably would have picked up the small pokèmon for himself.
As it was, Blair planned on just picking whichever starter was left behind due to his lack of preference. The only way that would change would be if one of them stood out compared to the other, in a way that would make Blair want to claim it for himself.
Blair was broken from his reverie when Bianca gasped, letting him come back to his senses just in time to notice they were in front of the laboratory. Letting a small smile come to his face as the three entered, getting let deeper into the professor's domain by one of the lab assistants.
The group soon found themselves face to face with the region's top researcher and inhabitat of Nuvema Town, Professor Juniper. As the primary professor of the region, a title she took over from her grandfather, Professor Juniper has the duty of handing out starters to beginning trainers once they get their license.
The woman looks up at them as they stumble their way through the various technological marvels set up throughout the room with a tired smile. Blair realizes upon seeing her that she looked like she hadn't slept a full night for several days. Upon that fact reaching his consciousness, Blair realizes the reason. The migrations of foreign Pokèmon to the region.
Starting several years ago, large migrations of Pokèmon that were native to other regions to Unova became increasingly common. These migrations caused massive upheavals in the local ecosystems to the point where the professors were forced to step in an attempt to balance the changing populations before any foreign species hunted the local ones to extinction.
Professor Juniper stepped forward, beckoning the young teens closer as she started to speak. "Ah! So you three are ready for your starters then?"
The three teens rush an agreement through their mouths in their impatience to finally get to start their journeys. The professor gives them another tired grin before addressing their enthusiastic responses. "Well, there is a slight problem with that…"
Blair felt a dreadful feeling rush through his body as Cheren spoke up, "Are we still going to get our starters?"
"Yes, I will have to find a replacement starter for one of you though. Another child came through a couple of hours ago and chose the Snivy that would have been offered to one of you, but since he got sent here when the breeder he was getting a starter for was out I let him take it."
The cold feeling that had been creeping up Blair's spine slowly faded as he let out a sigh of relief. So they would all be getting to start their journey today.
"So, which one of you three is willing to wait a bit longer while I go and figure something out?"
As Bianca and Cheren started to exchange glances with each other and Blair, Blair began to steel his resolve and spoke up. "I'll wait."
Juniper nods at him and leads Bianca, Cheren, and Blair farther into the lab where two Pokèballs sat, one with a flame symbol and the other with a water drop. Cheren confidently goes up to the one bearing a water drop and picks it up. Bianca hesitantly goes up to the other and grabs it.
Cheren calmly activates the Pokèball, releasing the small white otter that was inside it before kneeling down to talk to it. Bianca does the same and is quickly occupied with cooing at the small orange pig that was stored inside. Blair soon finds himself leaning against the nearby wall, watching his two friends as the professor walks out to work in the back of the lab.
After waiting for over a half-hour, Professor Juniper returned holding 4 objects. Three rectangular devices and a Pokèball with a black crescent moon emblazoned upon it. She gets the attention of the three teens and starts to explain things to them. "These," she says as holds up the rectangles of metal, "are Pokèdexes for the three of you. As you know, they contain large amounts of information that you will find useful for your travels."
The professor walks towards Cheren and Bianca, handing one device to each of them. Before stopping in front of Blair and handing him both the last Pokèdex and the Pokèball. "This is the only one left in the breeders, and while it isn't a normal starter it should be strong enough to take the role of one."
Blair takes the Pokèball and releases the Pokèmon stored inside it. The energy stream produces soon forms into an unfamiliar creature, a quadruped with black hair growing over it and blue skin with red markings on its torso. The black hair forming into a spike on its head and covering the area its eyes would be in. Blair looks questioningly towards the professor. Before he can voice his confusion she answers his unspoken question. "This little one is a Deino, though I can understand where your confusion is coming from as not many people get to see one. You might have heard of its evolved form though. Does the name Hydreigon ring any bells for you?"
Blair looks down in awe, remembering the rare challenger of the Ventress Conference skilled enough to tame one of the mighty dragons… "Wait! You got me a dragon?"
Juniper gives the boy a slight smile. "The only breeder who provides starters that still had anything left was the Opelucid City provider. They traditionally grant their trainees dragons upon starting their journey."
She then turns to address the other two while Blair gets down on his knees before the small dragon, which had started to sniff around the room out of curiosity. Realizing it couldn't see him, Blair cleared his throat and put his hand down in front of the Deino. It started sniffing his hand, before nipping at it. Pulling his hand back and chuckling, Blair starts to talk with his new partner.
"Hey, little one." The Deino 'looks' up, despite its lack of sight.
"My name's Blair, and I'm a Pokèmon trainer. Do you want to be my partner?"
The Deino tilts his head in a sign of confusion.
"I need a strong Pokémon to fight with me, and if you choose to travel with me I'll make you the strongest Hydreigon I possibly can."
"Dein!" The dragon starts to yap in excitement.
Blair smiles down at Deino, "I think the two of us will get along just fine. Now, let's check the dex to see what it says about you "
Holding the black machine pointing at Deino and slotting its pokéball into the slot, Blair activates the scanner.
Deino, the Irate Pokèmon. When it encounters something, its first urge is usually to bite it. If it likes what it tastes, it will commit the associated taste to memory.
This Deino is a Male with the Hustle ability and knows the moves Tackle, Dragonbreath, Focus Energy, and Earth Power.
Grinning at the little creature as it starts to examine the surroundings, bumping into Blair and the lab tables, Blair starts to imagine the strength his new friend will have in time. Tapping Deino on the head, Blair once more addresses the baby dragon.
"Hey Deino, do you want a name?" The little dragon lets out a confused whine from its spot bumping into a table leg. "Something I can call you that only you would answer too, something more personal than Deino."
Deino stumbles over from his exploration to stand in front of Blair, who had decided to sit down to be on the same level as the dragon. Deino bumps his hand against Blairs outstretched palm one last time and gives him an affirmative growl. Blair goes through a list of names, with Deino denying every one while sitting on Blairs lap. Noticing his preference for more regal names, like King or Czar, and finally gives him a name fitting for the royal dragon he would become.
"How does Kaiser sound to you?"
The newly-named Kaiser hops up, nipping at different parts of his partner's outfit, before going back to his exploration with a new pep in his step.
Standing back up and walking over to find his friends, with Kaiser stumbling around in his path with unrestrained energy and curiosity. Blair makes his way over, before turning around at the sound of a painful yelp from Kaiser. He finds the dragon had ended up in one of the edges of the room with his teeth chomping into a cable. Sighing in exasperation, Blair walks over to Kaiser and checks the curious dragon over before getting Kaiser to follow him. Kaiser managed it with moderate difficulty due to the lack of sight but managed to follow Blair's smell as they walked.
Realizing that his friends had already headed out of the lab, Blair thanks Professor Juniper and leads Kaiser out through the halls. He managed to get back outside with some difficulty, mostly stemming from Kaiser's desire to wander off into every place he could get into, but the two make their way outside. Blair sees his friends standing on opposite sides of a field with their starters between them
Going over to Cheren and Bianca with Kaiser in tow, Blair looks over the two starters they chose. Cheren, of course, got his Oshawott, which was pridefully looking over Bianca's starter and finding it wanting. Bianca's starter of course was a Tepig, cheerfully bouncing around between Bianca and the Oshawott despite several bruises starting to form on it. Finally being noticed by his two friends, they smile over and look curiously at Kaiser.
Smiling proudly, Blair starts talking to the duo. "Meet Kaiser, my starter."
Bianca asks "What is he? I haven't ever seen anything like him around here."
Smugly, Blair tells them about Kaiser. "He's a Deino. Guess what type he is?"
Cheren seems to search his memory for a second, likely trying to remember where he had heard that name before. "Wait. Isn't Deino a Dark-Dragon type?" He asks in disbelief.
"Yup! I couldn't believe it when the professor said it either. Now, I believe we had been planning something to do now for the last few weeks?"
Bianca gasped as she remembered. "Oh Yeah! The battle, Cheren and I already had ours and I forgot that you were still in there. Cheren kicked my but of course."
Blair addresses the two with a teasing tone. "Well, who wants to be my opponent first, seeing as you guys couldn't wait for me."
Bianca blushes at the minor rebuke, while Cheren rolls his eyes and speaks up. "Why don't you and Bianca go first? I'll wait for you."
"You just want to see our fighting style before you have to face it." Blair retorts.
"Possibly." Cheren agrees with no shame, before calling for Oshawott to go with him to one of the sides of the field.
Blair walks over to the side of the field Cheren had formerly occupied and gets Kaiser onto the field while talking to him.
"Hey Kaiser, ready for a battle?"
Kaiser starts to bounce happily and readies himself as Bianca has Tepig get into position.
Blair gives Kaiser a manic grin that the dragon can't see, the excitement getting his blood pumping.
It was time for his first battle, and he wasn't going to lose.
AN: Hello folks! Welcome to Flare, my first array into the world of writing that doesn't leave me cringing just looking at it! This fic was inspired by a variety of works that I had read that built a lot on the world of Pokèmon, like Traveler by The Straight Elf, and I had the idea to do one based on the plot of Pokèmon Black and White. Any suggestions or ideas you have for this would be appreciated, as only a bit of this is set in stone.