The Journey's Just Begun

Chapter 1

Believe me when I say I love my parents, Misty and Ash Ketchum, but sometimes, make that a lot of the time, I get fed up with them. Their bickering I can handle, their stubbornness I can't. Mom says Dad is as stubborn as a mule, but what she doesn't say and what she doesn't see that Dad and I both do, is that she's equally as stubborn. That's probably why they fight all the time, because they refuse to swallow their pride and change their stances over anything.

And of course, when I came along, the double helping of stubbornness was passed to me. In other words, I don't take "no" for an answer, especially when it comes to Pokemon and my training journey. I had spent the night packing, angrily writing the note, grabbing Bulbasaur, and leaving through my window, which was just above part of the first floor roof, which jutted out to the side garden. From the roof, it was an easy jump to the ground and freedom.

I left Pallet behind me in no time. Viridian City was a seven mile walk, but if I hurried, I could make it there before noon. I figured Dad and Mom would find me gone long after I had left at 5 a.m. that morning. Of course, they'd panic when they found my note, maybe even call Officer Jenny and demand I be brought back immediately. That couldn't happen! My parents wouldn't let me outside again if I was caught. I had to keep going and make sure no one saw me. I broke into a swift run and made it about a mile farther before I ran out of breath. It was now 6 a.m. Dawn was peeking over the horizon and I was getting tired. I had passed through a field and now was in a light foresty area. I ran into a maze of trees and when I thought I was a safe distance from the path and people couldn't spot me, I made a makeshift camp and snuggled into my sleeping bag, too tired to change out of my clothes.

* * * *

"Rob! I'm home!" Gary Oak called out as he walked through the front door of his spacious house two blocks away from the Ketchum's. It was 6 o'clock in the evening, and the sun was just starting its descent into the west. The house was his grandfather's place, which had been directly given to him in the old man's will. Only he and his ten-year-old son, Rob, lived there now. His wife and former cheerleader, Janet, had been severely injured in a car accident when Rob was four years old, and had lingered in a coma for about two weeks before finally letting go. Time does heal all wounds, but Gary still missed her very much. Despite his sometimes insensitive nature, and what Janet had seen past, on the inside, he was a very sensitive guy. He was actually very shy, despite the outward facade of confidence he showed.

This was exactly why Gary had stopped being Ash Ketchum's friend when they were kids. Ash never was shy. He was confident. Hell, he was *chosen*. Chosen to become the #1 Pokemon Master. By whom, Gary hadn't the faintest idea. Every time Ash had said it was his "destiny", Gary scoffed at him, but on the inside, his blood would boil to a temperature even a Charizard's flame couldn't reach. Did Ash know before he started his journey that was also his destiny to marry the prettiest of the four Cerulean City Gym Leaders? Did he know he was going to have a talented daughter following in his footsteps? Probably not, on both counts.

Gary couldn't really blame anyone for his misfortune - if it could be called that. More like his own destined path. He was the one that chose the Squirtle, and turned his nose up at the Pikachu, he was the one that captured all those Pokemon.

That's where Gary had made a big mistake. Although he'd caught a lot of Pokemon, there was no way he could consistently put them ALL in matches. He did manage to evolve eight or so though and still was able to stay ahead of all his rivals. Ash had only caught a select few and built up their powers immensely. Gary wasn't surprised when, at the Pokemon League Tournaments, he found out only two of Ash's six Pokemon had evolved. He riled up Ash before the matches, teasing him about his dinky little Pikachu. The "dinky" Pikachu turned out to be extremely powerful, Gary soon learned after being Thundershocked.

And then all hell seemed to break loose. He yelled at his cheerleaders one too many times and all of them left, except Janet. His Pokemon, eager to fight, started squabbling with each other, and his Arbok ended up poisoning the group with it's Poison Sting, accidently of course. He rushed them to the Pokemon Center, but Joy and the Chanseys were already overloaded with work and at the Pokemart, they were severely limited on potions and had one bottle of left of poison antidote. Needless to say, one bottle among five poisoned Pokemon does not last long, so they only got half-healed. By then, the day before the first of the tournaments, Gary was freaking out and ready to call it quits, but thinking of Ash winning made him mad enough to stay.

Ash won anyway. Not the #1 title that year, but he beat Gary out. Gary couldn't believe it, still couldn't the day after the tournaments, even though the headlines in the newspapers and the television reporters screamed it on the news, kept repeating the footage they had everywhere he went.

Going back to Pallet Town was not Gary's favorite choice, especially after he'd promised everyone he was going to put their town on the map. But he had to go home, he was still a minor, living with his grandfather.

As he was packing to go home there was a knock on the door of his hotel room. It was Janet. She'd thoughtfully gotten them a bus ride home. They married when they were both twenty-one and Rob was born four years later.

Then the blow came Gary never seem to get over. Janet was killed by a maniac trying to dodge the police by driving on the wrong side of the road. She swerved to miss him and smashed straight into a truck....

"Dad?" Rob came into the kitchen. Tall for his age and rather lanky, he resembled his father with his chesnut brown hair, but had his mother's blue eyes. "Did you hear the news?"

Gary shook his head. He'd been out delivering starter Pokemon to the new trainers all day, and working in his lab.

"Arina Ketchum ran away from home."

Gary arched a critical brow. "The top student at the exams? Why?"

"Read for yourself." Rob grabbed the "Pallet Post", an afternoon edition newspaper, and handed it to his father. The heading in capitalized bold read, "POKEMON MASTER DAUGHTER MISSSING".

Gary skimmed the article, then asked, "So she's started her Pokemon journey already, eh?"

"Yes, that's what ticks me off! I want to leave now!"

"Now? It's nearly dusk, you wouldn't make it to Viridian City before nightfall."

"I've camped out before. Besides, I'm almost packed."

Gary shook his head. "She can't have gotten *that* far, not if everyone's out looking for her. Wait until tormorrow. I'm sure she'll be found and brought home and by then, you'll be well on your way."

Rob sighed irritably. "Fine, and Officer Jenny called. She wants to talk to you since you were one of the last people to see Arina."

Gary nodded. "Thanks, Rob. Why don't you finish packing and I'll take you out to dinner as a farewell present?"

Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. As soon as the media heard Professor Oak had arrived home, they camped outside his front door and waited for him to appear. An hour later, their patience was rewarded as the Professor and his son stepped out to face a million cameras, flashing light bulbs, microphones and at least 100 reporters. Gary and Rob both yelled as they were blinded by the unnatural lights. Gary grabbed his son and bothed jumped inside again.

"Well, *that* was a mistake." Gary groaned.

"What are we going to do? They won't hold that reservation at Leto's forever." Rob said, leaning against the door.

"Let's wait a half-hour, maybe they'll get bored and leave.

The reporters and their camera crews were gone, as Gary predicted, but it was more a couple of minutes than a half-hour. The reason, Rob found, on the television he turned on in the den. "Hey Dad, turn on channel four!"

Gary was in the kitchen, writing out a statement to give to the reporters and he flicked on the television in there.

"We're now taking you live to the Ketchum residence, where Ash Ketchum, the #1 Pokemon Master in the world, is about to issue a statement." The camera switched from the reporter to the Ash, who, with Misty, was standing outside their home, in front of a podium hooked up to a lot of microphones. Ash didn't look well, Gary noted, nor did Misty, for that matter. They looked like they were both trying hard not to cry in front of the cameras.

"We are issuing this statement directly to our daughter, Arina. We want her to know that we love her, no matter what she's done, all we want her to do is to come home so we can talk. She is not in any trouble, we just want to know she is ok. Please Arina, come home, come home safe to us."

Ash and Misty turned to go back inside and the reporters started firing questions. Officer Jenny stepped up to the podium to give out information on the search teams and what they had and hadn't found. Gary clicked off the t.v.

"Rob, are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, Dad. Kind of scary, isn't it?" Rob asked as he meandered into the kitchen.

"You mean about Arina? I suppose. Just promise me you won't ever do something stupid like this, because I will not be as nice as Ash when they find you."

"You mean they'll find her."

"Oh sure. You have to beat the Gym Leaders in order to get into the tournaments. Once someone recognizes her from the pictures in the news, she'll be brought back here. Maybe they'll even find her by tonight. Now let's go eat."

* * * *

Misty burst into tears the minute she and Ash were inside again. "This is all my fault!" she wailed. Ash pulled her into his arms and held her. "If I had ac-accepted her (hiccup) apology. . ."

Ash felt like crying too, but doing that wouldn't get them anywhere. Someone had to keep their head on straight, for everyone's sake, including Arina's. Choppers, specially trained Growlithes, and police in cars and on foot had been out searching for her since that morning. The police had done the routine policy; ask questions, get statements, find clues, wire- tap the phones in case she called. So far they hadn't found her, and Jenny was calling off the search until morning because it was getting dark.

Misty went upstairs to lie down, only at Ash's urging. Ash sat down on the couch. Three officers were assigned to the house where they monitored all calls and visitors that came into the house.

There was a knock at the door and Ash stood as two officers came running from the kitchen. One of them nodded to Ash to open the door. As he did, reporters started screaming questions and cameras started flashing. Ash's eyes couldn't adjust, so he grabbed whoever was standing in front of him inside.

"Gary!" Ash cried, stunned to see his old rival. "If you've come her to make some smart remark about me not being able to take care of my own kid, you're wasting your time."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Ash, calm down." Gary held up his hands in front of him. "I came to ask if you needed anything. Donuts, perhaps?" he said, peering around at the hefty police officers retreating back to the kitchen.

Ash's shoulders visibly slumped. "No, just any clue as to where Arina might be now."

"They'll find her Ash." Gary said confidently and put a hand on the other man's shoulder. "Pallet Town has a great police force." He walked towards the door and reached for the knob. "Ash," he looked back, "I'm not the enemy anymore, I haven't been since the day you beat me at the Pokemon League Tournament when we were ten years old." With that said, Gary walked out to the reporters, made a quick statement, and drove off with Rob to dinner.

* * * *

One last chopper flew overhead of the forest I was in, and for safety, I hid behind a tree. I knew they'd be out looking for me as soon as my parents found that note. It was now dark; however, it was probably still too early to head into Viridian City. My tummy angrily rumbled and I realized I hadn't eaten anything since yesterday afternoon. I put down my pack and rummaged around for a candy bar I know I had snuck away. Instead, I found the Pokeball with Bulbasaur in it. Bulbasaur was probably hungry too, so I let it out to wander around. Maybe there'd be a lake or something to get a drink. And, once I got into Viridian, I'd get a map as well.

I continued rummaging around my bag in the dark, and Bulbasaur wandered off. Neither of us heard it coming until it was too late.

"Hands up in the air! This is a holdup!" a male voice said behind me.

I looked up, but didn't bother to look back. "Um, this is really not a good time, could you rob me after I get my candy bar?" I said without looking up.

There was a pause, then, "No! Team Rocket does not let anything stand in their way to acheive their goals!"

What was this guy rambling on about? As far as I could tell, there was only him standing behind me. "You're a team? Who's your partner, your split personality? AHA! I found it!" Triumphantly, I held up my candy bar in front of me to show my robber and for the first time, I got to see him, even without a light. "See, patience pays off! Want some?"

"What kind is it?"

"Coconut dipped in chocolate."

"I'm allergic to coconut."

"Oh, too bad. Now, was it you, or your split personality asking me to stick my hand in the air?"

"I don't HAVE a split personality!"

"Then that means it was you! Do you have any idea of who you're holding up right now?"

"No, and I really don't care. Just give me your money and I won't use my Zubat on you."

"You have a Pokemon?" I cried excitedly, as if that was the announcement of a lifetime. "Can I see?"

"Uhhh..."

"Pretty please?"

My would-be thief sighed. "Sure, I guess." I guess he figured I was about as much of a threat to him as a blade of grass, and I was about to prove him wrong. He pulled out his Pokeball, and, before he had a chance to open it, I took it from him.

"Ohhh!" I squealed excitedly. "What a neat Pokemon! I've never seen one in the blue and white shade before!"

"Um, the Pokemon is *inside* the ball. Here, let me show you. . ." he tried to grab it from me, but I jumped away.

"Hey! I need that back!"

"You *do*?" I asked in an innocent tone. "Then I'll make a little deal with you. You give me twenty bucks and you get Zubat."

"What?! No!"

I shrugged and picked up my bag. "See ya round, then."

"Bulba - SAUR!" Bulbasaur jumped out of the bushes then, tackling the "team". The boy fell flat on his face on the ground. Ouch, that was going to hurt in the morning, maybe even sooner.

"Did I forget to mention I own a rabid Bulbasaur? One bite from it and you'll wish you had been poisoned by an Ekans instead. Now, about that twenty dollars..."

"Bulba-Bulba!" Bulbasaur said, sounding even more angry this time than when he'd sounded his battle-cry.

"FINE! Just get this thing off of me!" He dug into his back pocket, and threw me his wallet, his face still to the ground. I took out the twenty, then recalled Bulbasaur to its Pokeball. The boy stood up, rubbing the dirt off his face.

"You're crazy." he muttered. "Owning a rabid Bulbasaur is dangerous."

"Not for me." I smiled. "Here's Zubat, as agreed, and your wallet." I tossed his items on the ground, and started running toward Viridian City. "Thank you for doing business with the Ketchums!" I called back to him, and waved as I ran.

It was time to go eat dinner. Bulbasaur and I had definitely earned it!

End Chapter 1