Being part of a military family meant being awakened every morning thanks to his dad. Loud alarms, shouting and every infamous trumpet that most people associate with boot camps were all things he was used to. But his dad was considerate enough to not wake him up like that on the weekends, mostly due to his mother's influence. Gus was thankful for that.
Because of this, Gus jumped up about three feet in the air when he heard his father, louder than usual, blew his trumpet. The noise echoed off the wall of his precisely cleaned room. Hitting the floor with a thud as he scrambled under his covers, Gus felt his heart beating against his chest as if he ran a couple laps around the playground.
"Good morning, Soldier!" His father proudly, and loudly, greeted. "Today's the big day!"
"The big day?" Gus asked. He untangled himself from the covers and stood up. "What's happening?"
"Don't act like you don't know! You've been talking about it for months," his father said. "It took you until the middle of the night to fall asleep!"
"We aren't moving, are we?" Gus asked, frighted at the possibility.
"What? No, no! We're not moving! You mean you really don't remember?" His father asked. Gus shook his head. "We'll, I guess I'll remind you. But during breakfast! Your mother prepared you a feast before you head out on your journey."
". . .Journey?" Gus asked, confused. His father handed him a pile of new folded clothes.
"That's right. Now you wash up, get dressed, and come downstairs ASAP." With a shared salute, his father left his room. Sure, his dad never allowed him to lounge around in his pajamas on the weekend, but this was new. After a quick jump in the shower and brushing his teeth, he put on this new clothes. Green shorts with a dark green stripe on the sides, rolled up at the bottom, a white mid arm length undershirt with a light green shirt on top with an odd deep red circular symbol on the bottom left, toped off his a light brown vest. He stepped out his room with brown boots on his feet and black fingerless gloves on his hands. The entire outfit, aside from the color, was a far cry from what he normally wore.
"Are we going camp?" He asked him. It sure would fit the clothes. He headed downstairs, and smelled the food before he reached the kitchen. The table was filled with more than enough breakfast to feed all three of them. Plated willed with stackes of pancakes, bacon, sausage, eggs, muffins, and his mother was still brining more to the table.
"How are you feeling, sweetheart?" His mother asked.
"Good, I guess?" Gus said as he sat at his usual seat. "What's all the food for, mom?"
"I just to make sure you have a good breakfast before you go off into the world," she said. "My little soldier, going out in the big scary world on his own. Oh, are you sure you want to go, Gus? You can wait another year, if you really want to!"
"I don't even know where I'm going?" Gus asked. He made himself a plate of food before grabbing the bottle of syrup.
"I told you dear, the boy is suffering from some sort of short-term memory loss," said his dad. "Must've been all the excitement."
"You're supposed to go get your starter Pokemon today," his mother told him. "You were going to go along with your friends." Gus choked on the pancake he just stuffed in his mouth. He coughed and hacked until it dislodged from his throat, and he took a deep breath.
"My what?" He asked in disbelief.
"Your starter! You've been so excited about it these last few weeks, and now that it's finally time and you can't remember," said his dad. "When you go, make sure to get a nice and strong one, son. One that can take you to the championship!"
Gus sat back in his chair struggling to take in what was just said to him. A starter pokemon? This had to be a dream, right? Pokemon weren't real! Just yesterday he was sitting in the cheese box with the guys, playing the game as they talked about their favorites, and now he was about to go out and get his own?
"Um. . .where do I go to get my starter?" Gus asked after regaining some composure.
"Over to Professor Kelso's lap. There's a lot of other kids from your school going, so you'll want to get down there before all the good ones are taken!"
"You can do now, if you'd like, Gus," his mother offered. You can finish your breakfast when you come back."
"Yeah, I think I'll go." After saying goodbye, he stepped outside his house.
Well, he hadn't woken up yet, so maybe this wasn't a dream. With this new information, the odd circle on his shirt made sense; it was half a pokeball symbol. His outfit looked like something a pokemon trainer would wear, and it definitely fit what he would need for surviving out in the wild.
"Gus!"
"Hey, Gus!"
Hearing his name being called, Gus looked around and saw Gretchen and Gus running up to him. Like him, they wore completely new clothes.
"Gus, did your parents say something about going to get a starter Pokemon?" Gretchen asked. Rather than her usual long blue dress, the dress she wore today was shorter, just above her knees. It was still blue, with a pale pink stripe down the middle and a pink collar. The pink leggings she wore were the same pink as the stripe on her dress. Her shoes were replaced with calf length brown boots, and her gloves where a blue a shade lighter than her dress. Her usual low pigtails were replaced with a single loose braid.
"I was hoping this was some dream," Gus said. "Yeah, they did. Yours did the same?"
"My parents almost pushed me out of the house because they were excited about it," said Mikey. "I didn't have a chance to ask them what they were talking about." The brown pants he wore now had an abundance of pockets. He wore a clean white shirt under a dark blue vest, and blue, black, and white shoes.
"Oh, boy. What do we do now?"
"I think it would be best to find TJ, Spinelli, and Vince, then find Mr. Kelso's lab," Gretchen suggested. The two boys agreed, and they headed towards Vince's house, as it was the closest. Luckily for them, the remaining three members of their group were already gathered in front of Vince's house.
"Did your parents tell you guys to go get a Pokemon, too?" Vince asked. His usual clothes had been replaced with a white shirt with a green sleeveless hoodie with yellow accents on top. His dark grey shorts had many pockets, and on his feet were black and dark green. He had matching fingerless gloves and sweatband on his head.
"We were going to ask you all that," said Gretchen.
"Mean, I thought it was some weird dream when I woke up to Snubbull licking my face!" Said Spinelli. "My mom said it was hers!" Her normal oversized red shirt/dress was swapped out for a another dress with an orange top and red side pleated skirt. Her leather jacket was replaced with another cropped black jacket with cuffed sleeves and red trimmings. Her black leggings were styled with ripped holes. Her orange beanie now had a red pokeball symbol on it. Her boot stayed black, but now, they were her actual size, and se donned studded fingerless leather gloves. "Don't get me wrong, I'm excited and everything, but this is throwing me for a loop."
"If it's true what they're saying, then we might as well go, right?" TJ asked. "Can't hurt to see." He wore a white shirt on top of a long sleeve dark green undershirt, and a dark green vest on top. His jeans were still baggy, now with stylized rips and tears. He wore dark red boots and matching fingerless gloves. His red cap now had half a pokeball symbol on the side. "Any idea where we're supposed to go?"
"My dad said it's over at 'Professor Kelos'," Gus said, using finger quotations for emphasis. "Do you think that's where his shop is?"
"Probably. That would be out best bet to start," said Gretchen. Agreeing, the six of them began the walk to Kelso's shop. On their way, seeing a few students from their school with actual real life Pokemon was mindblowing. Sure, the idea of having their own Pokemon was one thing, but now that they were one walk away from it being reality was totally another.
Along with the other kids walked by, the six of them spotted Lawson walking across the street, who looked more proud and boastful than usual.
"Hey Lawson," Vince shouted. "Did you already get your Pokemon?"
"What's it to you, LaSalle?" Lawson yelled back. He crossed the street, tossing a Pokeball in one hand. "You wanna see?"
"Not if you're gonna be a jerk about it," said Spinelli, crossing her arms.
"See now I gotta show you six losers just to show off," Lawson smirked. He pressed the small center button, causing the ball to expand it to its normal size. He opened it, and a stream of light can out of it and onto the ground. When the light cleared, a small blue bipedal creature stood next to Lawson. It resembled a crocodile with a jaw and snout like one, as well as red spines going down its back and tail. On its chest was yellow v shaped mark extending to its arms.
"To-do-toto!" It cried, jumping up and down.
"Woah, what kind of Pokemon is that?" Vince asked. They all looked in awe at this unrecognizable Pokemon in front of them.
"it's a Tododile, duh," Lawson boasted. "It's a water type. I bet its evolution looks wicked! Better than anything you losers are gonna get."
"Yeah, right. I'm gonna get a Charmander 'cause Charizard is the best!" Vince told him.
"You better hurry up then, LaLoser, almost all of them are gone!" He laughed. Lawson recalled his Pokemon and started back down the street. "I gotta get out of here, I can't waste my time here when I'm supposed to be heading to the next town."
"C'mon, the sooner we can get a start, the sooner I can beat Lawson!" Vince said before running down the sidewalk. The others followed, barely able to keep up.
After a few minutes, they reached the spot where Kelso's shop would be. However, it was no longer the same small shop they were all used to visiting after a hard day at school. Instead, it was replaced with a large building with the words "The Pokemon Lab" hanging about the door. The buildings around it were gone as well, making room for a yard in the back, if the large fence was anything to go by. Stepping inside, the saw that it was more spacious as well. While one wall was a massive display of Pokeballs with different designs, another was displaying rather large eggs. Mr. Kelso stood behind a counter talking to another small group of kids from their school. Once those kids headed through a door, Mr. Kelso turned his attention to the six of them.
"I'm surprised it took the six of you this long to get here," Mr. Kelso said with his familiar kindly smile. "Are you ready to head on back and pick out your starter? There's plenty back there, as well as some baby Pokemon, too, since so many kids are heading out at once."
"Are there any Charmander's left?" Vince asked.
"Charmanders? I'm not sure, those have been a fan favorite from what I've seen," he said. "If there are any left, you should hurry—" Vince didn't even wait for Mr. Kelso to finish before rushing off to the back. "Wow, he certainly is in a rush, isn't he?"
"Are you kidding? He wouldn't stop talking about it on the way here!" said Spinelli. "So we just go back and pick one out?"
"That's right. I'll give you everything you'll need when you find one," he said.
The remaining five nodded, and stepped through the back door. The yard was large, filled with kids from school and the Pokemon they were picking out.