One morning, Shane Evan Ocaro stood near the outskirts of Cinnabar Villiage, taking it in one last time. Today would be his last day here for, well, he didn't know how long it would be. His light blue eyes then settled on Cinnabar Gym, next to the inactive volcano. Blaine was a nice guy amd he would surely miss those talks they had together over his gym matches and Shane's life.
As you could guess, Shane was due to start his training today. He was nervous about leaving his hometown, and his mother. She didn't seem comfortable about Shane leaving her, but never stated it. Shane noticed this, and figured she didn't want to hold him back, even if a part of her wanted to. She just didn't want to lose him, like she lost his father.
Shane's father, well, that was a story in itself. He remembered the times when he was there for both of them. He did everything that a father and husband was supposed to do. It was tough with his desk job, but he always managed to find time to share with them. One day, however, when Shane was five, he left for work and never came back. Shane, being a five-year-old, didn't understand. He always thought that his daddy would come back to him. As he got older, however, he realized that he would never come back. From that day, he then had to rely on their memories of him. It wasn't much, but at least he had something to remember him by.
Shane snapped out of it and started walking toward Northern Docks. A couple of years ago, new legislation was passed stating that trainers had to take classes in order to acquire a license. Their given reason for the law was an attempt to cut down on abuse, and trainers who didn't have a clue what they were doing. Shane personally didn't think it worked that well. He still heard pokémon abuse reports on the news. Besides, he ran into a clueless trainer yesterday who, for the life of himself, couldn't figure out how to enlarge a pokéball. On the other hand, it was the government they were talking about, and their ideas lately weren't that great.
With that reflection, Shane crossed over to the docks, and sat down in the grass. Their teacher told them to meet here so they could obtain Pokémon to begin their journey with. She, however, to Shane's annoyance, refused to give out any details as to how they were getting their starters.
"Shane, there you are," said another voice, a female one. Shane snapped out of it and came face-to-face with his friend, Terra Anderson. Terra was his only friend around here, but he didn't mind that much. She was always there for him, but now, they were both training. Things would be different. He wasn't even sure if they'd see one another again. He then took the time to look into Terra's green eyes. As blue met green, he thought about their first encounter. It was a game of chance. However, he was glad they found the right cards there. Before Shane could reply, however, their instuctor entered the area.
"Good morning class," began Mrs. White, their instructor. "Now, today, as you all passed, you are going to board this ship to Pallet Town. At Pallet, you will get an opportunity to acquire a starter of your own, and register for whatever you want to do with it. You can even register for multiple things. Now, this trip will take a few hours, so I want you to be on good behavior. I wish you all luck during your trials.
"Shane! What do you say about exploring the ship?" asked Terra, putting down her backpack. Shane followed suit with his pack.
"That's a great idea, Terra! Do you think they sell copies of The Kanto Post on here? I forgot to pick one up earlier," replied Shane. The Kanto Post was, obviously, Kanto's newspaper. Shane, for some odd reason, always read the thing. Terra rolled her eyes at that.
"Honestly! Not The Post again! You're a kid. You don't have to read those boring articles. Leave it up to the adults, Shane," replied Terra, exasperated at his behavior. Shane sighed. Terra always had similar reactions whenever he mentioned a newspaper, whether it was The Kanto Post or The Cinnabar Connection.
Shane ignored Terra's remark, and grabbed some spare change out of his backpack. It should be enough to purchase The Kanto Post if they did sell it on here. Looking back at Terra, he noticed her disapproving look at the paper deal, but he opened the door anyway.
Shane and Terra started their exploration of the ship. There wasn't that much on there to see, however. Other members of their class were talking with one another over their journeys and the starter test, but Shane and Terra didn't join in. They did find a gift shop on board where Terra just had to buy a necklace with a Suicune pendant. Terra always liked Suicune for some reason. It was her favorite legendary. Shane, by all means, always liked them, but his favorite was the phoenix known as Ho-oh. Later in the trip, Shane came across a newspaper machine with The Kanto Post in it, and didn't hesitate in putting his change in the machine, to Terra's annoyance.
Overall, the ship wasn't too exciting, so the two friends soon found a place to sit down. Shane, becoming bored rather quickly, unfoloded The Kanto Post, and started to see if there was anything worth reading about. However, an article from the front page immediately grabbed his attention.
TR attacks increase. People warned to be on guard
Team Rocket attacks and encounters have been increasing in the past couple of months. Team Rocket, also known as TR, is a criminal group that vandalizes, steals, and goes against our very government. With this increase in attacks, trainers are warned to be careful. You might never know if an approaching trainer is in the group or not.
"We are doing all we can to capture any Team Rocket members," stated Kanto Prime Minister, Daniel Reich. " We have tighter security in places most likely to be hit, and are giving out free brochures with prevention information."
The brochures in question can be picked up for free at any Pokémon Center. They give general information on how to avoid being attacked, and what to do if you do end up meeting a Rocket member. Pokémon trainers are advised to pick these up.
"We have set-up a hotline number where any Rocket member sightings should be reported," said Kanto Police Leader, Fred Sanders. "It's an annonymous hotline, and anybody who sights a Rocket should call it with information on where and what they were doing."
Citizens are
especially warned to avoid the leader of the bunch. He goes by the name
Giovanni, though we doubt that's his real name. He owns a vicious
Persian, and any sightings of him should be reported as well. The
hotline number is...
Shane sighed at that. Now he had to worry about Team Rocket members during his training. He had been keeping up with their sightings and there definitely was an increased amount. It was weird though. Why would their leader suddenly decide to increase the attacks? People usually had motives for those things. With that thought, Shane skimmed through the rest of the articles, read a few, but nothing on specific attacks yet. There was some new legislation for tighter security at airports, train stations, and government buildings, however. He then finally put his paper down.
"Well, Terra, it looks like we have to be careful during our training. Team Rocket encounters and attacks have been increasing lately," said Shane, eager to start up a conversation.
"Yeah. Just please do me a favor and don't get overly paranoid about this. You always get paranoid over things, and it's not good," replied Terra, slightly annoyed at his paranoia. That was true. Shane knew he could be paranoid at times.
"I'll try, but you can't stop acting a certain way automatically. Just try to avoid those Rockets, right? If you run into one, at least you'll have a pokémon or two. They will protect you. Anyway, any ideas on how we're getting our first pokémon?" asked Shane.
"Ideas? Shane, you should know by now that Professors let you choose and hand them out. Everybody knows that," replied Terra, disbelivingly. She was shocked that the newspaper reader didn't know that.
"Nope, Terra. It used to be that way. New legislation passed the Senate about six months ago to ban Professors from handing out starters. Any starter distribution is now handled by the Kanto Federal Government. It's very weird, actually. Ever since this Reich guy took over, the government started to take unprecedented control over the league. Not right away, of course. He waited until three years ago, and this is his ninth year in office. It's very strange, as the government, until Reich, never passed legislation concerning the Kanto League. They always let the Elite Four take control of all league matters, until now anyway," explained Shane. It was very weird, and Shane could think of no reason why Reich was doing this.
"Shane, you really need to get a life. Not only do you read the paper, but you actually remember what was in the articles. That paper has a bad influence on you. I think we need to seperate you from your pocket money," replied Terra, as if she didn't even hear Shane's response. Knowing Terra, she probably tuned out after hearing about the legislation. Shane, however, really didn't have a comment, and was spared for inventing one, as the intercom announced that they now arrived in Pallet Town. Shane sighed, packed the newspaper in his backpack, and left the room with Terra behind him.
