...good luck.
Brett slowly opened his eyes. He turned his head over, only to groan as the sunlight that poured through the window blinded him. His arm shot up, trying to block the light as he sat up in bed, still mostly asleep. He heard his mom call for him from downstairs.
"Brett, wake up! The Professor will be here soon."
"Five more minutes…."
"Hilbert! You are going to wake up and get dressed nice for the Professor or so help me you'll be grounded before you even get a partner!"
An empty threat, no doubt.
Nonetheless, pulled himself out of the covers and started the morning routine. He jumped in the shower for a bit, before getting out and brushing his teeth and hair. He took a quick look at the mirror to make an attempt at fixing his hair, before deciding to just wear a hat.
Also, what had that voice been? Now that he was a bit more awake, Brett realized that it definitely wasn't his mother speaking. He yawned again, still feeling tired, before deciding to ignore whatever it was. Probably some sort of dream or something.
He stepped out of the bathroom and finished getting dressed. He sported a white undershirt, his blue jacket, a pair of black cargo pants, and his hat. After deeming himself ready, he went downstairs.
The Professor hadn't arrived yet. His mom was in the kitchen, making breakfast for them. The smell of bacon permeated through the house. He snagged a piece from the finished batch.
"I know you've been planning on travelling the region for a while now Brett, but please don't forget that you can always come home. If you ever need anything, come back. The Professor and I would love to help you." His mother said, turning towards him.
"I know mom. We went over this yesterday. And the entirety of the past 2 weeks." He said, smirking.
"Oh shush, you." She gave him a warm smile and pulled him into a hug. He hugged her back, and then they were interrupted by a knock on the door.
"I got it." He said, breaking away from the hug.
Brett walked towards the door and opened it to let the first guest of the morning, Professor Juniper, into the house.
"Hello everyone! How are we today?" Juniper said jovially.
"We're doing good, Thank you for asking Juniper." Brett's mother smiled back at her. "Have you been busy today?"
She nodded. "Very much so. This is only my first year that I've been allowed to hand out starters for new trainers. I expected more people to go see Professor Magnolia, before she moves on to help in the Galar region," She chuckled for a moment before continuing. "Even though this will be her last year in Unova, there were still a good amount of trainers waiting for me when I woke up. However, I can't say I'm not enjoying the rush of all these people at my lab."
She shook her head, laughing to herself. "Sorry, went on a bit of a tangent there. As promised, I am here to thank you for helping with my research. We still have a long way to go before we fully understand Pokemon speech, but you helped me reach a point further than any other expert on the subject."
At this, she pulled out a present from her bag. It was wrapped in blue wrapping paper, with a large green bow on top. It seemed small, but he knew the contents were much more.
"In this present are each of the three Unova starters, Snivy, Tepig, and Oshawatt. One of these three will be your partner, and the other two will go to your friends. I also have this for you."
She handed him a pokedex. He took it from her hand and took a look at it. It was slim in his hands, and the inside was full of missing entries for the region. Of course, every regional pokedex has basically been completed at this point, but it was still a fun challenge for trainers to go after. And hey, maybe he'd be the one to come across a new species.
Its small size made it a perfect fit for his pocket, which he slid it into nicely. He looked back towards the Professor, who was fumbling with her Xtransceiver. Her eyes seemed to be brighter than usual, but she turned back towards him and they went back to normal.
Must've been a trick of the light.
"I'm sorry I have to cut this short, but I have to get back to my lab. I'm going to be very busy again, so I'm heading out now. Brett, good luck on your journey. If you ever need anything, you have my Xtransceiver number and my lab is open to you. Have a great day," she said enthusiastically, before scurrying out the door.
His mom turned to him after a few moments. "I didn't know she was going to give you a Pokedex."
"I didn't know either." He replied.
"Well, breakfast is ready. Come and eat before your friends arrive." she said, dropping the subject.
And so he did just that. The bacon and eggs were delicious, and with a glass of juice, he was ready to start the day. He brought the present to his room and waited for his friends to arrive.
In the meantime, he started packing for his adventure. He had most of his stuff ready, but he wanted to be sure. He got warmer clothes, his toiletries, canned food and things necessary to cook said food. He also grabbed his pocketknife and packed his tent on top of his bag. It was a small tent that could only fit one person, but that was fine. Before he went to get his laptop, he heard knocking on the door downstairs. He ran down to let his friends in.
"Hey guys! Ready to become trainers?"
"You bet I am! Did the Professor give us what you asked for?"
"Yeah. She wanted to stay and see us choose our starters but she said she was just too busy to stick around."
"Didn't you say this was her first year giving starters?" Bianca cut in. "Wouldn't more people want to see Magnolia for her last year in Unova?"
"That's what we expected too. I guess more were interested in meeting the new Professor instead. Shame she can't see us pick though."
"Yeah," Bianca said morosely. He could tell she held her in high regard, treating her as a role model for her future. The lack of Juniper's presence fell Bianca's spirits.
But that was okay. He had a feeling everyone would be very happy in a few minutes.
They were led into Brett's room, and their eyes were immediately drawn to the current centerpiece of the room, the blue and green present. They all walked up to it.
"Who picks first?"
"Brett, obviously. He's the reason we're able to choose at all."
Brett nodded and went to open it. There was a note attached on a pink-embroidered letter. He read it aloud.
"I've brought three Pokemon, one for you and one for each of your friends, as requested. Please settle your choices politely. Enjoy your Pokemon," He paused for a moment, "She drew a smiley face on the card too."
"Thats nice!" Bianca commented cheerily.
Cheren nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Open it up, let's meet new friends."
He pulled the ribbon off carefully, and then tore off the wrapping. Inside were three Pokeballs sitting in a reflective case, waiting for someone to open them. In front of each Pokeball was a slip of paper declaring what was inside.
Brett already knew his choice. He opened the case and reached for the Pokeball, grabbing the one on the right. He held the Pokeball up to his face to examine it, while he let his friends make their choices. They had reached an agreement, and Cheren picked next, followed by Bianca. Simultaneously, they released the Pokemon inside.
"Whoa, where are we?"
"Hey, I recognize the brown haired human! Didn't the nice lady say he could understand us?"
Brett chuckled. "Yes, I can understand you. Hello Oshawott."
"Hello! You seem nice too! What's going on?" She questioned.
"My name is Brett. These are my friends Cheren and Bianca," He pointed at them and the starters nodded. "The nice lady let you guys be our starters."
"Oh yeah, she did say something like that. It sounds like fun. Who is going with who?"
"Isn't it whom?" Snivy chimed in.
Oshawott looked vaguely confused. "Whom is going with whom?"
"Nevermind."
Brett burst into giggles, and his friends just stared at him like he had gone crazy. "What's so funny?" Cheren asked once he had calmed down a little.
"The English language." He stated, as deadpan as possible.
Cheren looked lost, which was fair as he had missed half the conversation. "What?"
"I thought it was funny." Tepig commented idly, watching the exchange between the humans.
Brett had to bring order to this chaos, and turned to answer the Water-type's original question. "Oshawatt, you're with me. Snivy is with Cheren. And Tepig is with Bianca."
"Okay!"
The three shuffled over to their respective trainers and looked at each other. Bianca had picked up the Tepig and was booping him on his snout. Brett could hear Tepig complaining about how he was ticklish.
Cheren was looking his starter over, making sure the Snivy was ready for some serious training. He was speaking in an exaggerated tone, but she was nodding enthusiastically to what he was saying.
His own starter looked up at him.
"What are we gonna do?"
"Well, we're going to travel the region and make new friends. I was thinking about competing in the Pokemon league. It's where Pokemon battle against each other to see who the best trainer is. Does that sound like something you'd wanna do?"
"Yeah! I wanna get big and strong! When can we start?"
"Right now." He looked up at his friends. "Hey guys. I challenge you to a Pokemon battle!"
Cheren stepped up first, smirking. "I accept your challenge. Snivy, you ready?"
"Oshawatt, let's do this!" Brett matched his eagerness.
"WAIT!"
They both turned to Bianca, wondering what got her worked up. She huffed and said, "We can't just battle inside the house, someone will put a hole through the wall! Let's go to one of the public battlefields."
They nodded and followed her out the door, waving goodbye to Brett's mom on the way out. The town was painted with a beautiful shade of red, as the fall season was upon them. People were out and about, playing with each other.
Walking through the town, they reached the public park and stepped onto the empty field. Both trainers took a side and faced each other.
"Let's try this again. Snivy, let's do this!"
"Oshawatt, get ready!"
"We're gonna win Oshawott!" Snivy shouted, but with her stature, it was more akin to a quiet cheer.
"No, we're gonna win! Right, Brett?" Oshawott countered, looking at her new trainer.
"Right!" he nodded in affirmation.
It was at this point Cheren realized that he was at a disadvantage. Typing didn't matter when the only moves young Pokemon know are different variations of tackle. Meanwhile, Brett was able to communicate with his partner better than he ever could.
And Brett was ready to exploit this advantage to the fullest.
"Scratch!"
"Got it!"
Oshawott dashed forward, intent on striking the serpent. She dodged the first few slashes, but slipped and fell over. Oshawott capitalized with a hit to the side, knocking Snivy back.
"I did it!"
"Great job, but we're not done yet."
Snivy got to its feet and backed up, waiting for a command.
"Snivy, Tail Whip!"
"Dodge it!"
Snivy went on the offensive, and the Water-type took a few steps back. Snivy pushed forward and swung her tail at the otter a few times, with no effect. Oshawott kept a healthy distance between her and Snivy.
"What do I do? I can't dodge forever!"
"You need to counterattack somehow. She's too close to keep dodging, you'll tire yourself out. Use Scratch again!"
Oshawott listened and turned around, charging towards Snivy. She was caught off guard from the sudden attack and stumbled into another blow, but she recovered quickly and parried with another swipe of her tail.
Oshawott had the wind knocked out of her, but she could keep going. She caught the next Tail Whip and held it tightly, trying to swing Snivy over her shoulder. She was too small to try such a maneuver, but the results were close enough to what she had wanted. Pulling hard enough, Snivy lost her balance and landed on her back.
She went to scratch again, but Snivy rolled out of the way and swung her tail, sweeping her feet out from under her. Snivy hit the otter while she was on the ground, not giving her a chance to recover. Oshawott was knocked back towards Brett, and she picked herself off the ground.
Both starters were panting heavily at this point, and Brett was thankful for Bianca's forethought. His room probably would've been trashed if they stayed inside. Cheren was tense, ready and waiting for the next attack.
"You won't be able to last much longer, Snivy. You need to win now. Finish him off with one last attack!"
"Let's do this!"
"You can't dodge forever Oshawott. Try counter attacking when it gets close."
"Okay!"
Snivy dashed forwards again, this time with the intent to bowl Oshawott over with sheer force. She ran forward and leaped towards the Water-type.
Oshawott waited for the last possible second, before simply sidestepping her charge, and she watched as her opponent faceplant into the field. Brett cheered and Cheren huffed a good job to his partner, picking up the Grass-type.
"Brett, that was fun. Are all battles like that?" She asked, panting slightly.
He shook his head. "Nah. Every battle is different, and they depend on a whole lot of different things."
Oshawott nodded eagerly. "I wanna battle more! It's fun!"
"Then we better start training hard." He looked over to Cheren, who was walking over with Bianca with Snivy in his arms.
"Great battle. I'll win next time though."
"We'll see about that Cheren." He looked over to his other friend.
Bianca answered his question before he got it out. "I don't want to battle right now. I want to begin our adventure. I already have all my stuff packed." She said, eager to get going.
"Alright then, we can go now. Let's go back to my house quickly, so I can grab the rest of my gear."
They nodded and all walked back to Brett's house. His mom was reading a book on the couch as they all walked inside once more. She waved hello and noticed the Grass-type.
"Oh dear, who beat Cheren?"
"I did mom."
"Congrats on your first victory! Cheren, there should be some revives in the pantry."
He shuffled over to the pantry while Bianca followed Brett upstairs. He had one last thing to pack before he left for his journey. He heard Cheren come upstairs and listened as he revived Snivy.
"What happened?" Snivy said, confused.
Cheren understood the gist of what was asked. "You were knocked out."
"Oh."
Brett chuckled and looked back to his desk. Opening his laptop, he went to check the last item on the list. He had to make sure that he wasn't missing any emails from friends, while he still had a connection. He found two messages, and opened the first one.
This email was from his younger cousin Nate, who lived in Aspertia City. He hadn't seen the kid in a while, which was expected, given his current job. From what he heard, Nate's been pretty busy since he starred in the Riolu Kid. He's been in a few more movies since then, and was happily continuing his acting career.
The message was small. He was just congratulating him on getting a starter, and asked for a picture when he got the chance. Brett gladly complied and snapped a picture of him picking up Oshawott, and sent it to him.
"Good picture."
Bianca and Cheren were looking at his mail over his shoulders. They were his friends though, so he didn't mind. He went to the next email, which didn't have a sender or subject labelled. He opened up his virus protection and made sure that he wasn't about to brick his computer before his first day on his journey. After making sure his computer wasn't about to be wrecked, he opened the mail.
The email only contained two things, a message and an attachment. The message read 'Good luck'.
"I wouldn't trust that attachment Brett."
"Yeah, you should just delete it. It's probably spam sent to new trainers."
Brett was having a bit of an internal crisis at the moment. He recognized those words. It was what he heard in his head this morning. Was some sort of Psychic watching him?
Cheren noticed his hesitation. "You okay?"
"No, not really. I heard those exact words when I woke up this morning." Brett admitted, deciding to tell his friends about the strange experience. "I didn't think much of it at the time, but just reading that immediately brought it to mind."
"What do you mean, in your mind? Like a Psychic?"
"Exactly like a Psychic. Let me see what's in the attachment."
Brett clicked on it, and the computer requested access to the item receiver, which, after a moment's hesitation, he granted. Out popped five Pokeballs, and he scrambled to keep them from hitting the ground. They were all empty.
"Free Pokeballs. So a psychic is supplying me with gear." He stated.
"Or a psychic type?" Cheren suggested.
"Where would a Pokemon get access to a computer?" Brett countered.
Cheren's face scrunched up in thought for a moment, before he simply just nodded. "Good point." The three stood around the laptop, wondering what action should be taken next.
"Well, if they're giving you stuff, then they must mean no harm, right?" Bianca said.
"That does sound logical." Cheren muttered.
"Lets ignore it then. Whoever it is, if they contacted you then they can come and explain their reasoning while we're travelling." Bianca reasoned.
They didn't really like the idea, but they didn't have any others. Brett packed up his laptop, grabbed his gear, and the trio headed downstairs. After making sure that he had everything he needed at the moment, he walked towards his mom.
"Bye mom. I love you. I'll see you again sometime soon."
"I love you Brett. Go out there and make me proud."
"I will."
They hugged one last time, and he turned towards the door. Brett looked at his friends, who nodded towards him. He opened the door and stepped outside, ready for an adventure.
~0~
The boy paced within his room, comforting the most recent Pokemon that had been brought to him. A Patrat sat in his lap, taking comfort in the slow stroking of its fur. The boy continued to comfort the poor Pokemon. From what the Pokemon had told him, he had been abused by its former trainer for not evolving when he had wanted him to.
Within N's arms though, the Pokemon had nothing to worry about. The green-haired boy kept comforting it, until it had fallen asleep upon his legs. He kept petting it anyway. Perhaps about fifteen minutes had passed before he heard a knock at the door.
"Enter," he spoke in a hushed tone, not wanting to wake the sleeping creature.
The door didn't open, but instead, one of the Shadow Triad appeared in his room with a quiet whoosh of air. He kneeled down, in reverence of the king, and N nodded.
Standing back up the man spoke. "King N. Your father is leaving for Accumula Town for the next protest, and he requests your presence."
N sighed. He didn't want to leave Patrat alone, but he knew that the world that he envisioned would not happen by staying cramped up in his room. He had been locked in here for a long time, and it was only recently that he had been allowed to roam on his own accord, as long as he was with protection of some kind.
He shifted gently, not wanting to wake up the Normal-type. Eventually, he managed to slip away from the Pokemon, and he nodded towards the Triad member.
"Inform one of my sisters to take care of him." The man nodded and vanished in front of him. N wasn't going to leave the Pokemon unattended. He would leave when he was sure there was another watching it.
Soon, he heard footsteps, and his sister Concordia stepped inside. He smiled at her, and she stepped towards him. They hugged briefly, before N broke off to face the Triad member that had reappeared in the room.
"Take me to my father."
~0~
And that's mostly it for introductions, for now. This chapter shows the first major change in the normal B/W story, the change obviously being that Brett can also understand Pokemon. Also, his name is still Hilbert, but Brett is just a shorter, simpler nickname for him. Next chapter we jump back to Kanto. See you then!