Chapter 1
Little Kye sleepily opened her eyes, blinking in the bright rays of daylight that streamed through her window. She pulled herself up groggily and rubed her eyes with small fists of hands, glancing casually at her alarm clock.
Then the panic kicked in.
"Oh.. shoot!"
She leaped up now, kicking away pillows and getting tangled in her bedsheets as she struggled out of bed. A little girl emerged from the mess of hair and hands and sleepy eyes as she splashed and brushed and frantically worked to put on her uniform, hopping on one foot to put her socks on. She slammed open the bathroom door and ran out just to collide smack into her 14-year-old brother, Damien; pouting with childish unhappiness, glaring at him. "Why didn't you wake me up, Damien? I'm.. I'm so late I.."
He replied in an lazy tone, examining her with cool blue eyes.
"Missed the beginning of your little pokemon journey?" he drawled. "Poor Kye, she's overslept four hours... you're just nine."
"I think I'm ten," she said through gritted teeth, and ran past him. He looked after her, and she could hear his mocking laugh.
Ohhh, I'll show him..
"It's already the afternoon, little Kye!" he called out. "You were supposed to be at the lab downtown three hours ago. Idiot! They said they didn't have enough pokemon to go around! Why don't you just walk eighty miles to Pallet Town!"
"If that'll make me get my starting pokemon, I will!"
"Don't be retarded-"
Kye slammed the door shut and went into their yard to grab a bike.
Today was her day, the day she received her pokemon license, the day she received her starting pokemon and began her pokemon journey. And a little lateness isn't going to obstruct me from achieving that, she thought, annoyed. Then she raised her voice. "DAMIEN! I'm going to steal your bike for a moment!"
The windows slammed open and Damien stuck his head out. "Don't you dare.." His eyes widened when he realized his sister was serious. "Shit, Kye, don't-"
Kye adjusted her helmet and sped down the sidewalks, heading downtown amid her brother's panicked yells, achieving some sense of satisfaction. She was a little lopsided on a bike designed for an older kid, but the principle was there. It served him right. Honestly! She was ten, she was older now, she could, she could.. but..
Her apprehension grew as she neared the downtown area of her hometown. What if they truly could not give her a starter pokemon? She could go to Pallet Town, the main town closest to this small town of Seaside, but it was eighty miles away and it was bustling as well, there were probably lots of beginner pokemon taken there already. She bit her lip, frustrated.
The laboratory of Seaside was a large, sprawling building, fairly clean and new since it was recently renovated. The famous pokemon researcher, Professor Oak, had been behind the funding, of course. It looked imposing now. Kye bit her lip and dismounted her brother's bike, walking to the front door.
There was no one around. All the pokemon trainers have left, she realized with a thud in her heart. They've all had their pokemon.. hours ago! And today was just another day in a sleepy seaside town, not something that she had been waiting for and anticipating for months.
Dread filling her, she rapped on the door with the remainder of her energy. "Professor Stanton? Is any-" The door swung open suddenly to reveal a teenage girl, about seventeen or eighteen, with short blonde hair like Kye's and a big grin. "Hey! Are you one of those pokemon trainers?!"
Kye was now backing up, scared by the open friendliness. "Umm.. miss, I'm sorry, I-"
"What's there to be sorry about? Oh, you're late, you know. The last pokemon trainers already left over three hours ago." She checked her watch and nodded. "We thought it was over already!"
"Who.. who are.."
"I!" she announced. "I am Lyaka, one of Professor Oak's assistants!"
Kye goggled.
"He wanted me to go supervise the receiving of the pokemon licenses in the smaller towns near Pallet," she explained. "Come in!"
Kye stepped inside the huge laboratory nervously, and felt her cheeks flush. "Is.. Are there any more starting pokemon left?" she asked the question boldly. It didn't betray her shaking heart.
Lyaka's grin grew wider. If it was even possible. She had dimples in places Kye didn't know you could. "Ah! All the starting pokemon were gone by nine," she sighed dramatically. Kye's heart sank-
"But we just got a new batch in!" Lyaka glanced at Kye excitedly. "Isn't that cool? Just sent from Pallet Town.. they're supposed to be trained more, but some of them are already fit to be a starting pokemon.. we just had barely enough pokemon to give every trainer before, but this works out so well.."
Kye almost died of relief.
Lyaka grinned at Kye again, mistaking the look of utter exhausted relief for one of eagerness. "I bet you want to choose your pokemon and hurry up with your journey! Oh, I'm sure some trainers are already into route one.." She led Kye furthur into the building, down clean white corridots with clearly marked doors. POKEMON FEED. EXAMINATION ROOM. SUPPLIES.
As Kye hurried along with Lyaka's strides, she saw some professors working. Seaside was a small town- she recognized most of them. School friends, classmate's fathers and uncles and brothers. Lyaka waved merrily to them and so did Kye. Some glanced up from their work and smiled.
Lyaka chatted openly with Kye as they walked, talking about the pokemon journey to come, what kind of creatures Kye would encounter and what it would be like. Kye's excitement mounted until they finally reached a door marked HOLDING DOCK. Lyaka pulled open the door and Kye peeked in, unsure of what she would find. Mountains of piled-up pokeon, squirtles, charmanders, bulbasaurs?
The room was large, with tables and chairs everywhere and cardboard boxes lining the ground. Kye realized those must have been what they put the pokemon in to transport them; there were holes poked in the top and side. Most of the pokemon were in cages that lined the sides of the room now. There were about twenty or thirty here, a staggering amount for such a small town like Seaside.
Lyaka smiled, sidestepping the boxes and gesturing for Kye to follow. "They just got here little less than half an hour ago, and it was a mess, getting them all out of the boxes and settled down," she explained. "Most of them are sleeping. It's a tiring journey."
Kye nodded, it was true. Most of the pokemon were sleeping.. Bulbasaurs looking drowsy and the Squirtles curled up in their shells. The charmanders were sleeping with their tails wrapped around them, the soft fiery glow casting light.
"Ah!" she tripped over a box standing squarely in their way, and flushed.. why hadn't she seen it? But the box was heavy, and as she knocked it over, they both heard a solid thump on the ground that did not bode too well for a box that was made out of light cardboard.
"Cha-aarrm!" a plaintive voice said inside, and a charmander poked its head out of the top.
Lyaka hissed softly and picked the charmander up. It smacked her arm and leaped off onto the nearest table, where it balanced precariously on the top of a chair before executing a leap and landing gracefully. Its tail swished from side to side. "Cha-aarm."
"A charmander!" Kye was enchanted.
Lyaka was glaring at it. "This one must have slipped away," she said regretfully. "Why didn't we catch it?" She peered nearsightedly at the Charmander and corrected herself. "He. Male." She moved to pick him up. "Sorry, Kye."
Kye was too fascinated to answer. Lyaka blinked as she carried the charmander to the cages. "This one's a beauty." The charmander purred, and Kye could hear it say, "I know I am," amid the rumbles of contentment. She giggled, then tried to regain composure. "They're all beautiful." But noticed how the charmander who she had almost stepped on had a tail that seemed to burn that much more brightly and fiercely than the others. Had a body that was toned, sleeker, a darker shade of orange, with what looked like the consistency of bronze. A thin trickle of smoke came through his nostrils now, as he breathed out.
It was the first summonings of hot, ravaging flames in a fire pokemon, Kye was sure.
The charmander looked at Kye curiously for a moment, inspecting her with dark blue eyes, before giving a huge yawn and closing its eyes. Lyaka shut the door, but Kye couldn't help giggling. "He's so cute! What do you call him?"
"All the Charmanders are just plain Charmander," Lyaka said. "That one's.." she checked the box. "Number 27." Her eyes sparkled. "But you could nickname your pokemon, if you want."
Kye grinned at her. "Can I?"
"You've made an excellent choice," she said matter-of-factly, going to a box and removing a pokeball from it. It was sleek and red and shiny.. a lot like her new charmander, Kye decided. She couldn't help a grin spreading across her face.
"I'll nickname him.. Charm," she said, as the sleeping charmander disappeared into the pokeball.
"Done." Lyaka handed her the pokeball. It felt sturdy and heavy in her small, slender hands. She hooked the pokeball into her belt and smiled happily. So it had worked out after all! She could hardly wait to pack her supplies and leave for Route One.
"Wait!" Lyaka said quickly. "I have one more thing to give you.. Professor Oak wanted all the trainers to have this." She gave Kye a knowing look and disappeared down the hallways.
She was gone for a long time. Kye sat there, rubbing her pokeball and admiring the smoothness. Charm was in here. Her very own starter pokemon.
Lyaka came back. In her hand was a small package. She thrust it in Kye's hands. Kye opened it, and found a hard blue slate.. almost a computer, or a calculator.
"My Pokedex," she said admiringly. "My license."
"Of course," Lyaka said briskly. "Took a while to find one, that's the last one in the box... Have you got your pokeballs?"
"One or two.."
"You need more than that! We've got some extras." After supplying her with them, and potions, and antidotes, she finally was satisfied.
"Take care!" she called out, as Kye left the laboratory. She waved back and then carefully piled all her gifts on the bike, heading for home. She had to get her backpack, and her sleeping bag.. oh and eat breakfast.. she couldn't believe the time had passed so quickly. And Damien would be so mad that she took his bike! He was probably waiting at home at the time to exact his revenge.
She was beginning to dread getting home, but happily both her parents had arrived back home from lunch break, and were looking out for her. Damien was there too, by no standards happy, but Dad enveloped her in a big bear hug and looked at all the stuff she had in her bike.
"Those people at the lab certainly are generous."
"Oh, Kye, what did you do to my bike.."
"What pokemon did you choose?"
"Charmander," she answered happily, and parked her bike. "Thanks, Damien. I'm going to leave today!"
"Not without your clothes and cell phone and sleeping bag," Mother said quickly as Kye ran away into the house, calling, "You're going to let me take your bike, right Damien?"
"When hell freezes," he called out, and stormed in after her. "I need that bike."
"Get your map, too!"
It was a frantically busy morning, packing, preparing. Kye let Charm out, and he watched her as she carefully laid her sleeping bag into her backpack. It was a advanced model- auto inflate and superwarm, yet deflated so it could fit in a pocket. Charm scrambled up her back and onto her shoulder, peering curiously. Water bottle. Map. Cell phone. Tablets and feed, another set of clothes. Pokeballs and potions, antidotes, burn heal. Kye grinned as she tapped Charm's nose. "But you don't need all those, do you?"
"No way," Charm seemed to say lightly, and tried a mock roar. Kye collapsed into giggles and only managed to zip up her backpack before Damien came.
".. Should I even ask?"
"Hi Damien," Kye managed to get into a sitting position. "What's up?"
"Mom wants to know what route you're going to."
"Uhh.. route one, I guess."
"Ready to leave?"
"Yeah." The farewell party had been yesterday, and everything was done. She got up, Charm balanced on her shoulders. "Let's go!" She turned around and promptly ran into a wall. "Ow!"
"Come on, Kye," Damien said, exasperated, and dragged her out of the house. And there was Mother and Father, hugging and kissing her and they'll miss her oh so much, and all she can feel is a dizzy titillating sensation in her head as she staggered after Damien to the road, Charm clinging to her.
Damien parked his dirtbike in the trail at the beginning of Route One. It was two miles or so out of Seaside.
"So.. here it is." Damien dismounted and held his bike steady as Kye scrambled off. He gave her an even look. "You're going to go to Viridan City?"
"Yeah. I'll visit often." She tried to smile. Suddenly Damien swore, threw his bike to the ground and enveloped Kye in a tight bear hug. "Damn, but I'll miss you, you little kid."
"I'll miss you too, Damien."
"Get fame and fortune, okay?"
"Okay." Only a slight hesitation.. and then she was gone, disappeared into the trees with her charmander at her heels.
Damien stared after her and sighed. Then he picked up his bike and drove home.
Little Kye sleepily opened her eyes, blinking in the bright rays of daylight that streamed through her window. She pulled herself up groggily and rubed her eyes with small fists of hands, glancing casually at her alarm clock.
Then the panic kicked in.
"Oh.. shoot!"
She leaped up now, kicking away pillows and getting tangled in her bedsheets as she struggled out of bed. A little girl emerged from the mess of hair and hands and sleepy eyes as she splashed and brushed and frantically worked to put on her uniform, hopping on one foot to put her socks on. She slammed open the bathroom door and ran out just to collide smack into her 14-year-old brother, Damien; pouting with childish unhappiness, glaring at him. "Why didn't you wake me up, Damien? I'm.. I'm so late I.."
He replied in an lazy tone, examining her with cool blue eyes.
"Missed the beginning of your little pokemon journey?" he drawled. "Poor Kye, she's overslept four hours... you're just nine."
"I think I'm ten," she said through gritted teeth, and ran past him. He looked after her, and she could hear his mocking laugh.
Ohhh, I'll show him..
"It's already the afternoon, little Kye!" he called out. "You were supposed to be at the lab downtown three hours ago. Idiot! They said they didn't have enough pokemon to go around! Why don't you just walk eighty miles to Pallet Town!"
"If that'll make me get my starting pokemon, I will!"
"Don't be retarded-"
Kye slammed the door shut and went into their yard to grab a bike.
Today was her day, the day she received her pokemon license, the day she received her starting pokemon and began her pokemon journey. And a little lateness isn't going to obstruct me from achieving that, she thought, annoyed. Then she raised her voice. "DAMIEN! I'm going to steal your bike for a moment!"
The windows slammed open and Damien stuck his head out. "Don't you dare.." His eyes widened when he realized his sister was serious. "Shit, Kye, don't-"
Kye adjusted her helmet and sped down the sidewalks, heading downtown amid her brother's panicked yells, achieving some sense of satisfaction. She was a little lopsided on a bike designed for an older kid, but the principle was there. It served him right. Honestly! She was ten, she was older now, she could, she could.. but..
Her apprehension grew as she neared the downtown area of her hometown. What if they truly could not give her a starter pokemon? She could go to Pallet Town, the main town closest to this small town of Seaside, but it was eighty miles away and it was bustling as well, there were probably lots of beginner pokemon taken there already. She bit her lip, frustrated.
The laboratory of Seaside was a large, sprawling building, fairly clean and new since it was recently renovated. The famous pokemon researcher, Professor Oak, had been behind the funding, of course. It looked imposing now. Kye bit her lip and dismounted her brother's bike, walking to the front door.
There was no one around. All the pokemon trainers have left, she realized with a thud in her heart. They've all had their pokemon.. hours ago! And today was just another day in a sleepy seaside town, not something that she had been waiting for and anticipating for months.
Dread filling her, she rapped on the door with the remainder of her energy. "Professor Stanton? Is any-" The door swung open suddenly to reveal a teenage girl, about seventeen or eighteen, with short blonde hair like Kye's and a big grin. "Hey! Are you one of those pokemon trainers?!"
Kye was now backing up, scared by the open friendliness. "Umm.. miss, I'm sorry, I-"
"What's there to be sorry about? Oh, you're late, you know. The last pokemon trainers already left over three hours ago." She checked her watch and nodded. "We thought it was over already!"
"Who.. who are.."
"I!" she announced. "I am Lyaka, one of Professor Oak's assistants!"
Kye goggled.
"He wanted me to go supervise the receiving of the pokemon licenses in the smaller towns near Pallet," she explained. "Come in!"
Kye stepped inside the huge laboratory nervously, and felt her cheeks flush. "Is.. Are there any more starting pokemon left?" she asked the question boldly. It didn't betray her shaking heart.
Lyaka's grin grew wider. If it was even possible. She had dimples in places Kye didn't know you could. "Ah! All the starting pokemon were gone by nine," she sighed dramatically. Kye's heart sank-
"But we just got a new batch in!" Lyaka glanced at Kye excitedly. "Isn't that cool? Just sent from Pallet Town.. they're supposed to be trained more, but some of them are already fit to be a starting pokemon.. we just had barely enough pokemon to give every trainer before, but this works out so well.."
Kye almost died of relief.
Lyaka grinned at Kye again, mistaking the look of utter exhausted relief for one of eagerness. "I bet you want to choose your pokemon and hurry up with your journey! Oh, I'm sure some trainers are already into route one.." She led Kye furthur into the building, down clean white corridots with clearly marked doors. POKEMON FEED. EXAMINATION ROOM. SUPPLIES.
As Kye hurried along with Lyaka's strides, she saw some professors working. Seaside was a small town- she recognized most of them. School friends, classmate's fathers and uncles and brothers. Lyaka waved merrily to them and so did Kye. Some glanced up from their work and smiled.
Lyaka chatted openly with Kye as they walked, talking about the pokemon journey to come, what kind of creatures Kye would encounter and what it would be like. Kye's excitement mounted until they finally reached a door marked HOLDING DOCK. Lyaka pulled open the door and Kye peeked in, unsure of what she would find. Mountains of piled-up pokeon, squirtles, charmanders, bulbasaurs?
The room was large, with tables and chairs everywhere and cardboard boxes lining the ground. Kye realized those must have been what they put the pokemon in to transport them; there were holes poked in the top and side. Most of the pokemon were in cages that lined the sides of the room now. There were about twenty or thirty here, a staggering amount for such a small town like Seaside.
Lyaka smiled, sidestepping the boxes and gesturing for Kye to follow. "They just got here little less than half an hour ago, and it was a mess, getting them all out of the boxes and settled down," she explained. "Most of them are sleeping. It's a tiring journey."
Kye nodded, it was true. Most of the pokemon were sleeping.. Bulbasaurs looking drowsy and the Squirtles curled up in their shells. The charmanders were sleeping with their tails wrapped around them, the soft fiery glow casting light.
"Ah!" she tripped over a box standing squarely in their way, and flushed.. why hadn't she seen it? But the box was heavy, and as she knocked it over, they both heard a solid thump on the ground that did not bode too well for a box that was made out of light cardboard.
"Cha-aarrm!" a plaintive voice said inside, and a charmander poked its head out of the top.
Lyaka hissed softly and picked the charmander up. It smacked her arm and leaped off onto the nearest table, where it balanced precariously on the top of a chair before executing a leap and landing gracefully. Its tail swished from side to side. "Cha-aarm."
"A charmander!" Kye was enchanted.
Lyaka was glaring at it. "This one must have slipped away," she said regretfully. "Why didn't we catch it?" She peered nearsightedly at the Charmander and corrected herself. "He. Male." She moved to pick him up. "Sorry, Kye."
Kye was too fascinated to answer. Lyaka blinked as she carried the charmander to the cages. "This one's a beauty." The charmander purred, and Kye could hear it say, "I know I am," amid the rumbles of contentment. She giggled, then tried to regain composure. "They're all beautiful." But noticed how the charmander who she had almost stepped on had a tail that seemed to burn that much more brightly and fiercely than the others. Had a body that was toned, sleeker, a darker shade of orange, with what looked like the consistency of bronze. A thin trickle of smoke came through his nostrils now, as he breathed out.
It was the first summonings of hot, ravaging flames in a fire pokemon, Kye was sure.
The charmander looked at Kye curiously for a moment, inspecting her with dark blue eyes, before giving a huge yawn and closing its eyes. Lyaka shut the door, but Kye couldn't help giggling. "He's so cute! What do you call him?"
"All the Charmanders are just plain Charmander," Lyaka said. "That one's.." she checked the box. "Number 27." Her eyes sparkled. "But you could nickname your pokemon, if you want."
Kye grinned at her. "Can I?"
"You've made an excellent choice," she said matter-of-factly, going to a box and removing a pokeball from it. It was sleek and red and shiny.. a lot like her new charmander, Kye decided. She couldn't help a grin spreading across her face.
"I'll nickname him.. Charm," she said, as the sleeping charmander disappeared into the pokeball.
"Done." Lyaka handed her the pokeball. It felt sturdy and heavy in her small, slender hands. She hooked the pokeball into her belt and smiled happily. So it had worked out after all! She could hardly wait to pack her supplies and leave for Route One.
"Wait!" Lyaka said quickly. "I have one more thing to give you.. Professor Oak wanted all the trainers to have this." She gave Kye a knowing look and disappeared down the hallways.
She was gone for a long time. Kye sat there, rubbing her pokeball and admiring the smoothness. Charm was in here. Her very own starter pokemon.
Lyaka came back. In her hand was a small package. She thrust it in Kye's hands. Kye opened it, and found a hard blue slate.. almost a computer, or a calculator.
"My Pokedex," she said admiringly. "My license."
"Of course," Lyaka said briskly. "Took a while to find one, that's the last one in the box... Have you got your pokeballs?"
"One or two.."
"You need more than that! We've got some extras." After supplying her with them, and potions, and antidotes, she finally was satisfied.
"Take care!" she called out, as Kye left the laboratory. She waved back and then carefully piled all her gifts on the bike, heading for home. She had to get her backpack, and her sleeping bag.. oh and eat breakfast.. she couldn't believe the time had passed so quickly. And Damien would be so mad that she took his bike! He was probably waiting at home at the time to exact his revenge.
She was beginning to dread getting home, but happily both her parents had arrived back home from lunch break, and were looking out for her. Damien was there too, by no standards happy, but Dad enveloped her in a big bear hug and looked at all the stuff she had in her bike.
"Those people at the lab certainly are generous."
"Oh, Kye, what did you do to my bike.."
"What pokemon did you choose?"
"Charmander," she answered happily, and parked her bike. "Thanks, Damien. I'm going to leave today!"
"Not without your clothes and cell phone and sleeping bag," Mother said quickly as Kye ran away into the house, calling, "You're going to let me take your bike, right Damien?"
"When hell freezes," he called out, and stormed in after her. "I need that bike."
"Get your map, too!"
It was a frantically busy morning, packing, preparing. Kye let Charm out, and he watched her as she carefully laid her sleeping bag into her backpack. It was a advanced model- auto inflate and superwarm, yet deflated so it could fit in a pocket. Charm scrambled up her back and onto her shoulder, peering curiously. Water bottle. Map. Cell phone. Tablets and feed, another set of clothes. Pokeballs and potions, antidotes, burn heal. Kye grinned as she tapped Charm's nose. "But you don't need all those, do you?"
"No way," Charm seemed to say lightly, and tried a mock roar. Kye collapsed into giggles and only managed to zip up her backpack before Damien came.
".. Should I even ask?"
"Hi Damien," Kye managed to get into a sitting position. "What's up?"
"Mom wants to know what route you're going to."
"Uhh.. route one, I guess."
"Ready to leave?"
"Yeah." The farewell party had been yesterday, and everything was done. She got up, Charm balanced on her shoulders. "Let's go!" She turned around and promptly ran into a wall. "Ow!"
"Come on, Kye," Damien said, exasperated, and dragged her out of the house. And there was Mother and Father, hugging and kissing her and they'll miss her oh so much, and all she can feel is a dizzy titillating sensation in her head as she staggered after Damien to the road, Charm clinging to her.
Damien parked his dirtbike in the trail at the beginning of Route One. It was two miles or so out of Seaside.
"So.. here it is." Damien dismounted and held his bike steady as Kye scrambled off. He gave her an even look. "You're going to go to Viridan City?"
"Yeah. I'll visit often." She tried to smile. Suddenly Damien swore, threw his bike to the ground and enveloped Kye in a tight bear hug. "Damn, but I'll miss you, you little kid."
"I'll miss you too, Damien."
"Get fame and fortune, okay?"
"Okay." Only a slight hesitation.. and then she was gone, disappeared into the trees with her charmander at her heels.
Damien stared after her and sighed. Then he picked up his bike and drove home.