When he's twelve, he's dragged kicking and screaming to the middle of nowhere. He's taken to a ranch somewhere in Hoenn.
His parents try to take his new Growlithe away, but he bites them when they try. His parents slap him in turn but give up when he hangs onto the pokeball for all he's worth.
(He's worth far more than they think, but less than he assumes.)
It's hot, not as hot as Alola, but it's close. He already knows he hates it here and can't wait to move again. His parents don't unpack, and he doesn't get it at first.
We're worried about you, his mother tells him with large eyes.
You need a stable home, his father says next.
They leave him at the ranch in punishment for his misdeeds in Kanto and Unova, and he's left clutching Growlithe's pokeball.
A vague thought of "Maybe it won't be so bad" enters his head. He soon regrets ever thinking it.
His parents leave him with a family who are indebted to them; it's a family of a man and woman with their four children.
They take him in with sour faces and ill tempers. The woman is the worst, the oldest child the next. The man does what he can to get away from the house, and only the youngest is slightly tolerable.
They force him to work long and hard; they push the jobs nobody wants to do on him while the other children get to slack off. The only thing that makes him happy is the knowledge that Growlithe enjoys the wide open space.
It's when he returns to the house one day, upset from nearly getting crushed by a mean Tropius that he sees the children messing with Growlithe. They throw rocks and sticks which the pokemon can easily dodge, but then the woman comes out and has her Marill blast Growlithe with a Water Gun.
He grabs his pokemon and rushes back to his room. It's the last straw, he decides.
The next day, he strategically places pieces of straw with tar on them all over the ranch. The day after that, he sends the youngest child out to gather berries and has Growlithe use Ember the moment the child is gone.
He'd like to say he stayed to watch the place burn with a grin on his face, but he knows better. He hightails it to the nearest town before putting on his panicking child act.
His parents are upset and believe he has something to do with it. They're not wrong, but he feels no guilt. He's furious they left him with those people for six months without so much as a phone call.
They leave him in Slateport City next. It goes better since they leave him by himself. He makes no friends and starts doing small jobs for money.
He's thirteen and angry, far angrier than when he was twelve.
He wants to use the information he's learned from Team Rocket; he wants to hurt people and destroy their reputations. He wants to get what he wants.
Thing is, he knows he's not strong enough to handle the repercussions. The Boss is something from his nightmares. He's read the files; he knows who it is and just how powerful he is.
If he wants fate to bow to him, he's going to have to be strong enough to take the hits and bite back.
Growlithe, his ever loyal companion, makes no fuss when he packs a bag and forces the pokemon to steal money and a ship pass.
He wants to get strong enough to take down Giovanni which means he's going to have to start training. He makes plans upon plans.
His first stop is Johto. He's going to get a Dark type pokemon, and then he'll make his way to Kanto. Johto is currently trying to make their own league, but he can tell it won't be any time soon.
(The man trying to get it started is also calling dibs on being Champion. He's an idiot.)
Hopefully, it won't take too long. He wants to be a registered trainer before he's fourteen. Supposedly, Kanto gives out starter packages to those starting thirteen and younger, and now that he's homeless with limited funds, he needs all the advantages he can get.
Johto is more underdeveloped than the other places he's been. It's charming, in its own way. It's old fashioned, more so than Kanto, and he struggles to fit in.
He learns that appearance means everything; people are more likely to go out of their way for a boy with good manners than one who'd like to melt everyone's faces off.
The only reprieve he gets is when he sets up camp outside the towns. For once, he's grateful to his parents. They taught him all he needs to know to survive the wilderness which saves him money.
He soon learns that Johto's pokemon battles aren't regulated yet. This means that anything wagered and earn can be anywhere from large sums of money to actual items.
This motivates him like no other; he catches a Hoothoot and a Poochyena and trains his pokemon into the ground. The Poochyena can't keep up, and he releases it in disgust.
He goes looking for a bigger, tougher one and comes across a massive Mightyena with one eye. He falls in love even as it tries to tear out his throat. Hoothoot saves him from being eaten by evolving into Noctowl, and he swears to treat her better.
It takes a bit longer to get Mightyena to obey him, but he's soon raking in the cash from unsuspecting trainers. He makes up for his losses by stealing both money and secrets. He makes enough to live on and almost forgoes his trip to Kanto.
Then he runs into a nasty group that seems to deal in smuggling pokemon. He ends up stealing a stolen Bulbasaur and a Seel. He runs for Kanto as fast as he can, but not before leaving a tip for the local police.
He barely makes it in time to register; he turns fourteen in two weeks and manages to get his hands on the starter package.
He realizes he shouldn't have bothered when he's handed what amounts to a small bag of potions and pokeballs. He barely keeps from laughing at the irony.
He's pushed himself so hard to get the starter pack, but by pushing himself he no longer needs the starter pack.
He keeps it anyways, money not spent is money kept. He starts his real journey and trains to take on the closest Gym.
He's fourteen, and he's taking Kanto by storm. His face is on newspapers and tv; the name "Kyle" is highly recognized. His team is full of power houses, and casual trainers go out of their way to avoid meeting his eyes.
He never really notices to be honest; his eyes are only focused on one person. He takes on the Gyms and every person of note. He gains a Snorlax and gets his pokemon evolve.
He barely sleeps and trains non-stop. His pokemon stick with him through thick and thin, and they make it to Viridian City.
He squares his shoulders, takes a breath, and steps into the Gym. His palms are sweaty, but he knows he can defeat the Team Rocket leader.
A teen with blue hair and a white suit greets him.
Giovanni's not here, the teen says.
For a moment, he's confused. What do you mean he isn't here?
The teen announces himself to be the stand-in Gym leader and throws out a Houndoom. He answers with Dewgong. He uses Snorlax to win the rest of the fight and gets thrown out of the Gym by a rather aggravated loser.
He's left staring at his Earth Badge in bewilderment. He doesn't understand. He wanders around Viridian City in a daze.
This is not what was supposed to happen. He was supposed to beat Giovanni, prove himself to be the best. It was supposed to end with him conquering his own fear.
What happened, he wonders.
He's at a loss with nothing to do. A week of drifting gives him more insight than he's ever had before. It's the first time he's stopped to simply rest and think.
At first he thinks he's finished, but it's not the end, not really.
He no longer needs to worry about his parents taking his pokemon away or abandoning him. He doesn't need to worry about money, so long as he keeps battling. He's more than sure he can beat any thugs that try to take him down.
He's gained what he wanted, loyal companions and power. Now that he has them, he has no idea what to do anymore.
So what now?
He turns his eyes towards the Elite Four. Well, he's already made it this far.
Mind made up, he takes on Victory Road. He fights his way to the top and pushes his pokemon as far as they can go.
The Ace trainers give him a real workout, and he feels nothing but the deepest of respect for them. Their jackets are also pretty, but he thinks they could be designed a bit better. Maybe a darker red?
He makes it past Lorelei, Bruno, and Agatha. It takes a lot of healing items, but he thinks he actually has a chance. He's always wanted power, and now the title of Champion is in his grasp.
It's a wonder he doesn't keel over from the excitement.
His dreams are crushed brutally by a former Elite Four member. The newly made Champion Lance defeats him soundly; he has to take a few days to mentally recover.
Then he decides he's not quitting.
He challenges the Elite Four almost every other day and gets to know them quite well. Agatha finds him stupid but endearing, Bruno gives him tips on finding his own center not just his pokemon's, and Lorelei sort of sniffs at him while giving him tidbits of the Sevii Islands.
Lance manages to say a lot while saying nothing at all, and he can't quite stop himself from hanging on the Champion's every word despite it. He learns about Dragon types, different trainer classes, and the Dragon's Den.
He also learns that the Champion is looking for two Elite Four members, one to fill his previous spot and one to fill Lorelei's who will be leaving soon.
Lance tells him "If you were older," and he doesn't know why his chest kind of hurts.
His days of battling the Elite Four come to an end once his Mightyena passes away. It's not anyone's fault, old age brought the demonic canine down.
Still, his emotions get the best of him, and he releases Venasaur and Dewgong. In the end, he doesn't regret it. He's done nothing but use them for battle; they deserve a nice rest.
It doesn't take long for him to figure out where he wants to go from here.
He decides to tell Lance his plans, and the Champion surprises him with a box. He's told to wait until he gets to his destination to open it.
He finishes the rest of his goodbyes and leaves for Hoenn in an effort to track his parents down. Once there, he opens the box only to find a deep red jacket, a newspaper, and some papers.
Stunned, he reads the headline that says, "Johto Officially Joining Kanto's Pokemon League!"
The papers identify him as Johto's first registered Ace trainer. He's speechless for the rest of the day.
Not even a week later, he's forced into joining a crazy cult that wants to summon some sort of sun god and boil the water out of the world.
He takes on exactly three Gyms before running away to Sinnoh.
He manages to find his parents in Canalave City. It doesn't go well; they all end up yelling at each other. His parents take off in a luxury cruise ship to get away from the confrontation, and he has Snorlax stop them.
He really should have thought things through on that one.
The ship sinks, and in a rare form of familial solidarity, they all make a run for it while covering each other's tracks.
They set up camp in Sunnyshore City and take a moment to work things out. He finds it in himself to forgive them, and they hand him a Pokegear to stay in touch.
He gets his hair spiked and dyed blue the next day. He finally takes his Ace trainer jacket out of the box and decides it's time to get to work.
He leaves his parents and goes back to training. He catches an Abomasnow and a Gible. He defeats all eight Gyms sometime after he turns sixteen.
He releases the Abomasnow back into the wild and sends Gabite to the Dragon's Den. Abomasnow missed home too much, and Gabite was too much for him to handle.
He spends almost a year in Kalos earning badges before returning to Johto. He wants to check out their Gyms and maybe attempt to take on the Pokemon League again.
He's seventeen, visiting Olivine City, when he runs into a gloomy boy that doesn't like pokemon. His life kind of takes off from there.