Chapter 2
Kyle sat in the back of the moving van, playing his GBA pokémon simulator programmed by the well-known pokémon studier, Professor Charles Birch, famous for his studies & breakthroughs in pokémon evolution. He wondered what life would be like in the Hoenn region. Kyle new that Littleroot Town, a small forest village, would be very different from Steelgate City, the biggest city in the world, with 80 million people living there. Also, there were only three big centers of industry in Hoenn; Rustborough City, Slateport City, and Lilycove city, and the largest city in Hoenn, Lilycove, had only three million people in it, compared to Goldenrod City in Johto with 23 million people, Saffron City with 31 Million, and, of course, Steelgate with 80 million.
Kyle's thoughts were suddenly flushed out of his head when the van came to a screeching halt in front of the new house. The back hatch of the truck opened, and Kyle got his first look at his new home. It was huge; almost a mansion.
"Well, Kyle, want to take a look inside?" His mom asked him.
"Sure!" Kyle said, and ran inside. "Where's my room?"
"Upstairs."
"Cool!" Kyle said as he reached the top of the stairs. There was a TV with a GCN, PS2, and Xbox hooked up to it. In the corner there was a PC with a wireless LAN connected for electronic storage on the item storage network and the famous PC storage system programmed by Lanette the computer geek. Kyle decided to play his Xbox for a few hours in order to get settled in and to pass time, and, sure enough, 4 hours had gone by; it was 4:30 now. Kyle knew by the atomic clock on his wall.
"Kyle, come down here!" Kyle could hear his mom's voice from downstairs. "Your eyes are going to dry up from all of that playing video games!"
"Yeah? What is it, mom?"
"Professor Birch was just on the phone."
"!!! He was?" Kyle knew a lot about Prof. Birch, and wanted to meet him someday. "What did he say?"
"Well, he said he had something for you, and to go by his lab to pick it up. His lab is just down the street, you know."
"I ought to go, then." Kyle said as he grabbed his backpack and left out the door.
Littleroot Town turned out to be a pretty small place, with a population of about 200 people. Kyle knew that he would recognize Birch's lab when he saw it; it was the tallest building in the town. And sure enough, Kyle found Birch's lab, three stories high, with a giant Poké Ball on top. Kyle walked inside the sliding doors, and found himself inside of the main hall. One of Birch's assistants was inside, looking through a microscope. He suddenly looked up when he saw Kyle.
"Ah! Hello, hello!" The man said. You must be here to see the Professor. He's out doing field work on Route 101."
"Hey, thanks." Kyle said to the man, and left the room.
Kyle walked down the main road of Littleroot, and finally came to a gatehouse leading out of the town. Kyle stepped inside, and talked to the attendant.
"Did you see Professor Birch walk through here?"
"As a matter of fact, yes. I think that's him over there being attacked by a wild Poochyena."
Kyle peered out the window and gasped. Sure enough, Prof. Birch had been jumped by a Poochyena, and was running for his life.
"Well, why don't you do something?!" Kyle yelled to the attendant.
"Sorry, I'm not allowed to leave my post when I'm on duty. I've got to make sure that everybody who's coming through has a pokémon with them. Hey wait a minute! Do you have a poke—"
But it was too late. Kyle was already out the door, helping Prof. Birch.
"Help! Save me!" Birch cried as Poochyena chased him in circles.
"What should I do?" Kyle asked.
"Do you see my bag over there?"
"Oh, yeah."
"There are three pokémon in there. Send one out, and HELP ME!"
Kyle unzipped the bag, and found three poké balls inside. He read the labels: The first one was a tree-dwelling pokémon, Treecko, whose poké ball was color-coded green. Kyle thought that it was a cool pokémon, but that it had a stupid name, and didn't want to walk around with a pokémon called Treecko. The second one was Torchic, a fire bird pokémon, whose poke ball was color-coded red. Kyle thought that fire pokémon were awesome, and released Torchic, since he knew it had the most attack power.
"Torchic, go!" Kyle yelled, and tossed the fiery red poké ball into the air. Torchic came out, confident in itself that it could win.
"Torchic! Torrrr-chic!" The pokémon chirped anxiously.
"Torchic, use fury swipes on that Poochyena!" Kyle commanded, and Torchic flew into the air, then swooped just centimeters over Poochyena, and used his talons to scratch Poochyena. Torchic turned back around, and swiped Poochyena again. Torchic repeated this process twice, and then settled down.
"Nice job, Torchic." Kyle complimented the pokémon. "Now, finish it! Ember!"
"Torchic!" Torchic chirped again happily, and blew a few small flames out of his mouth. The flames landed on Poochyena, and Poochyena, startled, started running for its own life! But the burn was too much for it, and it fainted in its tracks."
"Nice job, Kyle!" Birch said. "Come with me back to my lab."
"Daddy! Are you all right?" A girl about Kyle's age asked the Professor as she walked out of the guardhouse. "I heard that you were in trouble, and I came over right away!"
"I'm fine, Sara." Birch said reassuringly. "Kyle came and saved me."
"Oh, he did?"
"Yep. I'm fine now. Just a little shocked, but I'm fine. By the way, Sara, this is Kyle. He's Chris's son. Remember, Chris the Petalburg Gym Leader?"
"Oh, hi. Your dad told me that you'd be moving in, but he didn't say that you'd be a boy..." Sara blushed.
Prof. Birch then turned to Kyle. "And Kyle, this is my daughter, Sara."
"Hi." Kyle said.
"Come on, let's go back to my lab."
"Hey, do you have a pokémon with you?" The gate attendant asked Kyle. "I forgot to ask you back when you walked in."
"I do now." Kyle said with a grin.
The attendant rolled his eyes, and then went back to playing solitaire on his computer.
Prof. Birch, his daughter Sara, and Kyle walked down the road and finally got to Birch's lab. Inside, Prof. Birch told him that Kyle could keep the Torchic, and asked him if he wanted to become a pokémon trainer.
"Are you kidding? Of course! I've always dreamed of it!" Kyle said ecstatically.
"Good. Then I will give you this pokédex. It's a state-of-the-art device that records any pokémon you catch. Let's test it on Torchic here.
Prof. Birch handed Kyle a red device, much like a handheld computer or a Game Boy Advance SP. Kyle pressed the "scan" button, and the pokédex said in a metallic-sounding woman's voice, "Torchic. The chick pokémon. Torchic has a place inside its body where it keeps its flame. Give it a hug—it'll be glowing with warmth. This pokémon is covered all over by a fluffy coat of down."
"Wow, that's really something. I hope that you can change the voice, though..."
"Oh, of course. I just keep on the woman's robotic voice because Sara tells me to. There are a number of different settings you can change your pokédex to. And check this out—this pokédex has new 'camouflage' technology that allows you to change the color of the pokédex—check this out!" Prof. Birch pressed a button on the pokédex, and then another, and the outer plating of the device turned green! "So, as you can see, the pokédex is completely customizable. But, the goal with the pokédex is not to customize it, but to catch all 386 known pokémon, and record them in the pokédex. When you do that, you'll gain the respect of trainers all over the world."
"Cool. I can't wait!"
"Well, then, here you go." Prof. Birch handed Kyle the pokédex. "Sara's also is becoming a trainer. I wish you both luck on your trip."
"Thanks, daddy." Sara kissed her dad on the cheek, and walked out the door with Kyle.
"Just a second." Kyle said as he pulled out his cellphone. "I've gotta tell my mom that I'm leaving." Kyle dialed the number to his house, and his mom picked up.
"Hello?" Kyle's mom's voice could be heard over the phone.
"Hey, mom. It's me."
"Oh, hey, Kyle. Prof. Birch's assistant already called and told me that you were going on your pokémon quest. But before you go, come by my house. I want to give something to you."
"Oh, really? Okay, sure. I'll be right over. Bye!" Kyle pressed the "end" button on his phone, put it back in his pocket, and turned to Sara. "I've gotta stop by my mom's house to say good-by. Want to come?"
"Sure. I already told my mom that I was going. I've got nothing else to do."
Kyle and Sara walked over to Kyle's house, where his mom was waiting for him. "Hi, sweets!" She gave Kyle a big hug. "I noticed that your old sneakers were getting worn out, so since you're going to be doing a lot of walking on your trip, I decided to give you these running shoes. They used to be your father's." She handed him a pair of sleek-looking running shoes. Kyle gave her his old sneakers, and he put on the new shoes.
"So, how do they feel?"
"I almost can't feel them at all; they're really comfortable and light!"
"I thought so." She tried to hold back a tear. "I'm—I'm going to miss you, sweetie."
"I'll miss you too." Kyle hugged his mom. "I'll call you as much as possible."
"Okay. Have fun on your journey." Kyle's mom said as Kyle and Sara walked off.
"Bye, mom!"
"Your mom seems nice." Sara said to Kyle. "My mom gets upset at me all the time."
"So does my mom, but today she was saying good-by to me, so it's all easily understandable why she was being nice."
"I see. By the way, I wanted to give you something." She handed him a pack of 5 poké balls. "Use them to catch pokémon with."
"Wow, thanks." Kyle said as they walked into the gatehouse. It was starting to get late.
"Hey, I remember you!" The attendant said as he saw Kyle and Sara. "You were the two who saved Professor birch from that wild pokémon."
"Well, it was mostly Kyle." Sara said as she turned to Kyle.
"Heh, thanks..." Kyle said, then suddenly remembered, "Oh, shoot, I forgot my sleeping bag inside of the electronic PC storage system."
"No problem, kid. You can recall the item on that PC over there."
"Does it have internet access?"
"Sure does, kid."
"Okay, thanks!" Kyle walked over to the computer in the corner, opened Internet Explorer, and went to the item storage system. He typed in his password, then clicked on the sleeping bag icon that appeared in a pull- down window. As if by magic, the sleeping bag appeared in front of him.
"There we go. Thanks!" Kyle said to the man.
"So, are you a trainer?"
"Yeah. Just started."
"Really? Did you get your first pokémon from Prof. Birch?"
"Yeah."
"Cool. That's where my cousin got his pokémon."
"What's your cousin's name?"
"Steven Stone."
"Steven Stone...I met him in Rustborough!"
"Did you know that he's—oh wait, I'm not allowed to tell you."
"What is it?"
"Sorry, Official Pokémon League business."
"Well, thanks for the help."
"No problem, kid."
Kyle and Sara left the gatehouse, and found themselves in the wilderness at night after walking for about a mile, Kyle realized it was too dark to keep going.
"I've never been out here at night." Sara said. "My dad always tells me that nighttime's when the wild pokémon are most dangerous."
"We'll be fine. We can set up camp over there, under those evergreens. Besides, if we see any wild pokémon, we always have our own pokémon with us. Speaking of which, which pokémon did you get?"
"Mudkip." Sara said. "I think that she's the coolest."
"I think Mudkip's pretty cool, too. So we've got pretty strong pokémon, right?" So if we were to get attacked by anybody, we'd have them with us, right?"
"Right!"
"So, no need to be worried. Let's get the sleeping bags out."
Kyle unrolled his sleeping bag under the evergreens, and Sara unrolled here next to his. (Author's note: So I guess it's obvious to you guys that Sara and Kyle have a thing for each other, right?)
Suddenly, a man in a black suit jumped out at them. Sara screamed.
"Hey, you." The man pointed to Kyle. "You were the kid who K.O.'d my Poochyena. You'll pay."
"What can you do?"
"Don't be talking that way, kid. I'm older than yous, and I could have you arrested." He pointed his pocketknife at Sara. "Or maybe I'll just kill your girlfriend here."
"Don't hurt her!" Kyle socked the offender in the face, revealing a large red "R" printed on the front of his shirt.
"Oh my god, he's a Rocket Member!" Sara whimpered. "Do something, Kyle!"
"Torchic, flamethrower!" Kyle yelled as he sent out Torchic. The tiny bird pokémon flew into the air, and concentrated its flame attack on the Rocket. He wasn't badly hurt from the attack, but was startled by it, and ran off screaming.
"Thank you!" Sara said, and kissed Kyle on the cheek.
"Thank you." Kyle said as he turned, surprised, to Sara.
"It's getting awful late." Sara said, trying to change the subject. "We ought to get to sleep."
"Alright." Kyle said. "Good night."
Kyle sat in the back of the moving van, playing his GBA pokémon simulator programmed by the well-known pokémon studier, Professor Charles Birch, famous for his studies & breakthroughs in pokémon evolution. He wondered what life would be like in the Hoenn region. Kyle new that Littleroot Town, a small forest village, would be very different from Steelgate City, the biggest city in the world, with 80 million people living there. Also, there were only three big centers of industry in Hoenn; Rustborough City, Slateport City, and Lilycove city, and the largest city in Hoenn, Lilycove, had only three million people in it, compared to Goldenrod City in Johto with 23 million people, Saffron City with 31 Million, and, of course, Steelgate with 80 million.
Kyle's thoughts were suddenly flushed out of his head when the van came to a screeching halt in front of the new house. The back hatch of the truck opened, and Kyle got his first look at his new home. It was huge; almost a mansion.
"Well, Kyle, want to take a look inside?" His mom asked him.
"Sure!" Kyle said, and ran inside. "Where's my room?"
"Upstairs."
"Cool!" Kyle said as he reached the top of the stairs. There was a TV with a GCN, PS2, and Xbox hooked up to it. In the corner there was a PC with a wireless LAN connected for electronic storage on the item storage network and the famous PC storage system programmed by Lanette the computer geek. Kyle decided to play his Xbox for a few hours in order to get settled in and to pass time, and, sure enough, 4 hours had gone by; it was 4:30 now. Kyle knew by the atomic clock on his wall.
"Kyle, come down here!" Kyle could hear his mom's voice from downstairs. "Your eyes are going to dry up from all of that playing video games!"
"Yeah? What is it, mom?"
"Professor Birch was just on the phone."
"!!! He was?" Kyle knew a lot about Prof. Birch, and wanted to meet him someday. "What did he say?"
"Well, he said he had something for you, and to go by his lab to pick it up. His lab is just down the street, you know."
"I ought to go, then." Kyle said as he grabbed his backpack and left out the door.
Littleroot Town turned out to be a pretty small place, with a population of about 200 people. Kyle knew that he would recognize Birch's lab when he saw it; it was the tallest building in the town. And sure enough, Kyle found Birch's lab, three stories high, with a giant Poké Ball on top. Kyle walked inside the sliding doors, and found himself inside of the main hall. One of Birch's assistants was inside, looking through a microscope. He suddenly looked up when he saw Kyle.
"Ah! Hello, hello!" The man said. You must be here to see the Professor. He's out doing field work on Route 101."
"Hey, thanks." Kyle said to the man, and left the room.
Kyle walked down the main road of Littleroot, and finally came to a gatehouse leading out of the town. Kyle stepped inside, and talked to the attendant.
"Did you see Professor Birch walk through here?"
"As a matter of fact, yes. I think that's him over there being attacked by a wild Poochyena."
Kyle peered out the window and gasped. Sure enough, Prof. Birch had been jumped by a Poochyena, and was running for his life.
"Well, why don't you do something?!" Kyle yelled to the attendant.
"Sorry, I'm not allowed to leave my post when I'm on duty. I've got to make sure that everybody who's coming through has a pokémon with them. Hey wait a minute! Do you have a poke—"
But it was too late. Kyle was already out the door, helping Prof. Birch.
"Help! Save me!" Birch cried as Poochyena chased him in circles.
"What should I do?" Kyle asked.
"Do you see my bag over there?"
"Oh, yeah."
"There are three pokémon in there. Send one out, and HELP ME!"
Kyle unzipped the bag, and found three poké balls inside. He read the labels: The first one was a tree-dwelling pokémon, Treecko, whose poké ball was color-coded green. Kyle thought that it was a cool pokémon, but that it had a stupid name, and didn't want to walk around with a pokémon called Treecko. The second one was Torchic, a fire bird pokémon, whose poke ball was color-coded red. Kyle thought that fire pokémon were awesome, and released Torchic, since he knew it had the most attack power.
"Torchic, go!" Kyle yelled, and tossed the fiery red poké ball into the air. Torchic came out, confident in itself that it could win.
"Torchic! Torrrr-chic!" The pokémon chirped anxiously.
"Torchic, use fury swipes on that Poochyena!" Kyle commanded, and Torchic flew into the air, then swooped just centimeters over Poochyena, and used his talons to scratch Poochyena. Torchic turned back around, and swiped Poochyena again. Torchic repeated this process twice, and then settled down.
"Nice job, Torchic." Kyle complimented the pokémon. "Now, finish it! Ember!"
"Torchic!" Torchic chirped again happily, and blew a few small flames out of his mouth. The flames landed on Poochyena, and Poochyena, startled, started running for its own life! But the burn was too much for it, and it fainted in its tracks."
"Nice job, Kyle!" Birch said. "Come with me back to my lab."
"Daddy! Are you all right?" A girl about Kyle's age asked the Professor as she walked out of the guardhouse. "I heard that you were in trouble, and I came over right away!"
"I'm fine, Sara." Birch said reassuringly. "Kyle came and saved me."
"Oh, he did?"
"Yep. I'm fine now. Just a little shocked, but I'm fine. By the way, Sara, this is Kyle. He's Chris's son. Remember, Chris the Petalburg Gym Leader?"
"Oh, hi. Your dad told me that you'd be moving in, but he didn't say that you'd be a boy..." Sara blushed.
Prof. Birch then turned to Kyle. "And Kyle, this is my daughter, Sara."
"Hi." Kyle said.
"Come on, let's go back to my lab."
"Hey, do you have a pokémon with you?" The gate attendant asked Kyle. "I forgot to ask you back when you walked in."
"I do now." Kyle said with a grin.
The attendant rolled his eyes, and then went back to playing solitaire on his computer.
Prof. Birch, his daughter Sara, and Kyle walked down the road and finally got to Birch's lab. Inside, Prof. Birch told him that Kyle could keep the Torchic, and asked him if he wanted to become a pokémon trainer.
"Are you kidding? Of course! I've always dreamed of it!" Kyle said ecstatically.
"Good. Then I will give you this pokédex. It's a state-of-the-art device that records any pokémon you catch. Let's test it on Torchic here.
Prof. Birch handed Kyle a red device, much like a handheld computer or a Game Boy Advance SP. Kyle pressed the "scan" button, and the pokédex said in a metallic-sounding woman's voice, "Torchic. The chick pokémon. Torchic has a place inside its body where it keeps its flame. Give it a hug—it'll be glowing with warmth. This pokémon is covered all over by a fluffy coat of down."
"Wow, that's really something. I hope that you can change the voice, though..."
"Oh, of course. I just keep on the woman's robotic voice because Sara tells me to. There are a number of different settings you can change your pokédex to. And check this out—this pokédex has new 'camouflage' technology that allows you to change the color of the pokédex—check this out!" Prof. Birch pressed a button on the pokédex, and then another, and the outer plating of the device turned green! "So, as you can see, the pokédex is completely customizable. But, the goal with the pokédex is not to customize it, but to catch all 386 known pokémon, and record them in the pokédex. When you do that, you'll gain the respect of trainers all over the world."
"Cool. I can't wait!"
"Well, then, here you go." Prof. Birch handed Kyle the pokédex. "Sara's also is becoming a trainer. I wish you both luck on your trip."
"Thanks, daddy." Sara kissed her dad on the cheek, and walked out the door with Kyle.
"Just a second." Kyle said as he pulled out his cellphone. "I've gotta tell my mom that I'm leaving." Kyle dialed the number to his house, and his mom picked up.
"Hello?" Kyle's mom's voice could be heard over the phone.
"Hey, mom. It's me."
"Oh, hey, Kyle. Prof. Birch's assistant already called and told me that you were going on your pokémon quest. But before you go, come by my house. I want to give something to you."
"Oh, really? Okay, sure. I'll be right over. Bye!" Kyle pressed the "end" button on his phone, put it back in his pocket, and turned to Sara. "I've gotta stop by my mom's house to say good-by. Want to come?"
"Sure. I already told my mom that I was going. I've got nothing else to do."
Kyle and Sara walked over to Kyle's house, where his mom was waiting for him. "Hi, sweets!" She gave Kyle a big hug. "I noticed that your old sneakers were getting worn out, so since you're going to be doing a lot of walking on your trip, I decided to give you these running shoes. They used to be your father's." She handed him a pair of sleek-looking running shoes. Kyle gave her his old sneakers, and he put on the new shoes.
"So, how do they feel?"
"I almost can't feel them at all; they're really comfortable and light!"
"I thought so." She tried to hold back a tear. "I'm—I'm going to miss you, sweetie."
"I'll miss you too." Kyle hugged his mom. "I'll call you as much as possible."
"Okay. Have fun on your journey." Kyle's mom said as Kyle and Sara walked off.
"Bye, mom!"
"Your mom seems nice." Sara said to Kyle. "My mom gets upset at me all the time."
"So does my mom, but today she was saying good-by to me, so it's all easily understandable why she was being nice."
"I see. By the way, I wanted to give you something." She handed him a pack of 5 poké balls. "Use them to catch pokémon with."
"Wow, thanks." Kyle said as they walked into the gatehouse. It was starting to get late.
"Hey, I remember you!" The attendant said as he saw Kyle and Sara. "You were the two who saved Professor birch from that wild pokémon."
"Well, it was mostly Kyle." Sara said as she turned to Kyle.
"Heh, thanks..." Kyle said, then suddenly remembered, "Oh, shoot, I forgot my sleeping bag inside of the electronic PC storage system."
"No problem, kid. You can recall the item on that PC over there."
"Does it have internet access?"
"Sure does, kid."
"Okay, thanks!" Kyle walked over to the computer in the corner, opened Internet Explorer, and went to the item storage system. He typed in his password, then clicked on the sleeping bag icon that appeared in a pull- down window. As if by magic, the sleeping bag appeared in front of him.
"There we go. Thanks!" Kyle said to the man.
"So, are you a trainer?"
"Yeah. Just started."
"Really? Did you get your first pokémon from Prof. Birch?"
"Yeah."
"Cool. That's where my cousin got his pokémon."
"What's your cousin's name?"
"Steven Stone."
"Steven Stone...I met him in Rustborough!"
"Did you know that he's—oh wait, I'm not allowed to tell you."
"What is it?"
"Sorry, Official Pokémon League business."
"Well, thanks for the help."
"No problem, kid."
Kyle and Sara left the gatehouse, and found themselves in the wilderness at night after walking for about a mile, Kyle realized it was too dark to keep going.
"I've never been out here at night." Sara said. "My dad always tells me that nighttime's when the wild pokémon are most dangerous."
"We'll be fine. We can set up camp over there, under those evergreens. Besides, if we see any wild pokémon, we always have our own pokémon with us. Speaking of which, which pokémon did you get?"
"Mudkip." Sara said. "I think that she's the coolest."
"I think Mudkip's pretty cool, too. So we've got pretty strong pokémon, right?" So if we were to get attacked by anybody, we'd have them with us, right?"
"Right!"
"So, no need to be worried. Let's get the sleeping bags out."
Kyle unrolled his sleeping bag under the evergreens, and Sara unrolled here next to his. (Author's note: So I guess it's obvious to you guys that Sara and Kyle have a thing for each other, right?)
Suddenly, a man in a black suit jumped out at them. Sara screamed.
"Hey, you." The man pointed to Kyle. "You were the kid who K.O.'d my Poochyena. You'll pay."
"What can you do?"
"Don't be talking that way, kid. I'm older than yous, and I could have you arrested." He pointed his pocketknife at Sara. "Or maybe I'll just kill your girlfriend here."
"Don't hurt her!" Kyle socked the offender in the face, revealing a large red "R" printed on the front of his shirt.
"Oh my god, he's a Rocket Member!" Sara whimpered. "Do something, Kyle!"
"Torchic, flamethrower!" Kyle yelled as he sent out Torchic. The tiny bird pokémon flew into the air, and concentrated its flame attack on the Rocket. He wasn't badly hurt from the attack, but was startled by it, and ran off screaming.
"Thank you!" Sara said, and kissed Kyle on the cheek.
"Thank you." Kyle said as he turned, surprised, to Sara.
"It's getting awful late." Sara said, trying to change the subject. "We ought to get to sleep."
"Alright." Kyle said. "Good night."