Charles leaped from his bed and skipped down the stairs in a gleeful uproar. He skidded to a halt at the kitchen table. The room was empty and still dark, but he waited patiently and anxiously in the dark room. His fingers rapped against the kitchen table while he looked around the room. He woke up the second it was his birthday and his anticipation was only growing exponentially. He wondered what pokemon would be waiting for him when his parents woke up. "A charmander maybe... That's what all the other kids are asking their parents for..." He thought at the ceiling. "Or maybe a Pikachu... Man, if I get a pikachu all the girls will think I am so cool!" He thought, adjusting his chair. "Or maybe it could be a nidoran, yea... If I get a nidoran no one will want to mess with me," he imagined himself with a menacing nidoran ready to pounce on a rattata. His thoughts drifted and carried him to be facedown on the table sleeping.
Suddenly he was jolted awake by lights and his mother's familiar and strong voice. "Happy Birthday sleepyhead!" She said, presenting him with a stack of pancakes with strawberries on one half and whipped cream on the other. It was a valiant attempt at looking like a pokeball,if not a bit lopsided, but Charles could accept it. He grabbed a fork and knife and proceeded to carve into the strawberry covered side. Bringing the fork full of birthday pancake to his mouth, his mind wandered back to why he woke up so early in the first place.
"So... When is my present getting here?" He asked as he stuffed the piece of strawberry piled pastry into his mouth. His mom allowed a nervous laugh to escape her mouth.
"Soon enough...hopefully" She said with a nervous smile and very raised eyebrows. "But I would just take your time with those pancakes, really enjoy them." she said in a consoling tone. Charles raised a suspicious eyebrow to his mom, then shrugged and delicately dissected the whipped cream side of the stack. Charles couldn't help but notice his mom continuously looked out the window, but he decided not to mention it. He ate his pancakes in silence, splitting his focus between the strange behavior of his mother, and how good these pancakes were.
Minutes of awkward silence passed when Charles finally got the last piece of the puzzle, "Wait a second! Where's dad?!" The door was slowly but sloppily opened as a rotund man sauntered his way through. Charles turned around and nodded, "oh, there he is." He observed. His dad was sweating as if he had just sprinted from Pallet Town and back to Viridian city twice.
"Happy Birthday little guy." He said through gasps. "Gee, you're ten years old already, and do you know what that means?" He asked, and it was only now that Charles realized his father was holding something behind his back.
"Means I am legally old enough to have a trainer's license!" Charles said excitedly. His father nodded.
"And what good is a trainer without his very own...POKEMON!" He said revealing a pokeball from behind his back. Charles could barely contain his excitement. He politely snatched the ball from his father's hands and held it for a few seconds. He closed his eyes and prepared himself. In this ball is your life long friend, partner, and predecessor to all your pokemon adventures! He thought, still with his eyes closed. His mom had grabbed a camera and his dad smiled an oddly nervous smile.
"Open it honey" His mom said a bit impatiently. Charles opened his eyes and clicked the button. A white flash filled the kitchen revealing... "A caterpie?" His mom whispered harshly at her spouse. "What, do you want our poor boy to be laughed at and made fun of?" She scolded, still in a dad just looked down sheepishly.
"But professor oak's lab was so far away, and there are so many caterpies all over viridian city that no one is catching." He whispered back in a whiny tone. Charles' mother just shook her head in disbelief at her lazy husband, then looked at her frozen son.
"Don't worry, we will get you another... Real poke-" She said, but Charles finally spoke.
"I love it..." He interrupted. "You caught me so off guard with this!" He laughed, picking up the green bug. "Its perfect." His dad's face suddenly lit up with pride.
"I knew you would like him!" He said, his wife shot him a deathly glare and mouthed the words, 'no-you-didn't'. His mother then shook her head.
"This simply cannot do" She said, "no son of mine will go out challenging people with a worm by his side, we are going straight to Oak's lab now to-"
"Sugar... I think I will call him Sugar" Charles said as his caterpie happily ate some loose sugar on the table. This only infuriated his mother more.
"First of all, you cannot name something just because they eat that thing, and second of all you are not naming it, because we are not keeping it." She said, trying not to yell. Charles and Sugar were completely oblivious to the rant and were examining each other. His mother narrowed her eyes at the caterpie. "Fine" she eventually said, "you can keep it, but on one condition, you and your bug must win against 3 different trainers, and if you somehow do that, a mystery trainer... Before this day is over..." She said loudly.
Charles tilted his head, and Sugar imitated him, "or else what?" He asked, looking back at the caterpie. His mother smiled in an attempt to look and sound kind,
"Then we get rid of that thing and forget this ever happened, and we will get you whatever other pokemon you want." She said, "good luck" She grinned, shooing Charles and Sugar out the door.
Charles looked at Sugar, who was looking up at Charles. Charles shrugged and held his arm out for Sugar to climb up on his shoulder. "This is kinda like our first gym battle..." He explained to his caterpie. "Don't worry, we can do this... Now to find our first opponent..." He said, looking out into the crowd of new trainers.