Scene 2 - Kenta

The ninja house in the center of Fuchsia City was always much noisier than one would anticipate. No one would ever hear the ninjas when they were training, as they worked silently. However, their master, with his line of work, welcomed many challengers from all around the Kanto region. Because of this, the building often shook from explosions caused by strong Pokémon attacks. The wood often needed to be repaired, as a small dirt field was not going to be enough to contain something as intense as a Pokémon battle.

And today was no different.

Fuchsia City's gym leader and a challenger were nearing the end of their battle. The gym leader remained calm, as he was known to do, but the challenger was becoming desperate.

"Bulbasaur, use Razor Leaf!" the challenger yelled, his voice echoing off of the tatami walls.

The Bulbasaur, a small green creature with a bulb on its back, cried out before launching dozens of leaves across the field. The leaves stuck into their opponent's viscous body, seemingly doing no damage. They quickly rotted, turning black after only a few seconds of contact with the Poison-type Pokémon.

"Oh crud," the Bulbasaur's trainer said, putting his hand to his mouth in embarrassment. He was still only ten and in his rookie year of training; he found himself making countless mistakes. His red glove smelled like old leather, making him gag slightly and pulling his attention away from the field.

Fuchsia City's gym leader laughed. He shook his head and then pointed out onto the field. "Muk, use Sludge!"

Muk sucked in some air before belching loudly, tossing its acidic mucus across the field. Bulbasaur and his trainer were both too surprised to do anything, and the Grass-type was quickly showered in sludge. He let out a cry while the purple goo stung his skin. He walked backward slightly and shook his head, and then with a single whiff of the sludge, he collapsed.

The young referee who had dressed as a ninja to resemble her father raised her white flag. "Bulbasaur is unable to battle! The winner is Muk! The victory goes to Gym Leader Koga!"

Bulbasaur's trainer sighed before withdrawing his Pokémon with the red light of the Poké Ball. He gripped the ball tightly and looked at it, trying to hold back tears. He didn't want to look ever weaker in front of Koga.

"You've improved slightly since our last battle, Kenta. But, you still have a lot of improvement to do. This was a four on four battle, and you were only able to defeat a single Koffing. And even then, it was because Koffing used Self-Destruct. Please train some more and then come back. It couldn't hurt to capture a Pokémon that is strong towards Poison-types," the gym leader lectured.

The boy nodded before tucking the ball back on his belt. "Maybe you're right." He turned and left the field without another word. He pushed open the tatami door, finding a solid wooden wall where there was once a hallway. He paused before headbutting the wall, exasperated by the gym's constant tricks.

Kenta was a boy at the age of ten and a half. He had spiky black hair, lightly tanned skin, and a spunky attitude. He wore dark blue jeans and a white button-up shirt with a red hood that had a white Poké Ball design on the top. His red gloves tied it all together. He had goals to be a trainer like no one had ever seen before, and being from Pallet Town, that was quite a difficult challenge to overcome.

He had spent the last two weeks training in Fuchsia City, but as it turned out, he wasn't training hard enough. Fuchsia City was a more traditional place. It was quiet like Pallet Town, but much wider and forested. It wasn't full of trainers like Celadon or Saffron, so he ended up battling a constant onslaught of wild Pidgey after wild Pidgey on Route 15. And he wasn't allowed to battle the Pokémon in the Safari Zone, only catch them, which he had found difficult to do. Any time he'd toss a stone at a Pokémon, they'd either attack him directly or flee.

Kenta walked to the Pokémon Center, a place he had become very familiar with in recent weeks. He removed the Poké Balls from his belt and put them on the tray at the front counter before letting out a loud sigh.

"How did it go? Did you thwomp him?" the Nurse Joy asked. Kenta had spent a lot of time at night talking with the nurse and helping out whenever sick or injured Pokémon came in, and they had formed a bond.

Kenta shrugged. "I thwomped him twice as hard as last time!"

"But you didn't do very well last time."

"You just answered your own question," Kenta said. "Bulbasaur sustained some pretty bad injuries, and Charmeleon ended up in an explosion that rocked him. I'm sorry for leaving them with you again."

"It's my job to take care of Pokémon! Don't worry!" she responded cheerfully. "You should get some dinner and then consider your strategy for your rematch!"

Kenta nodded and then slunk over to one of the many tables that were in the Pokémon Center lobby. He sat down and then put his head on the table's cold surface. The two Poké Balls that he didn't use in his battle suddenly exploded open, and his two remaining Pokémon materialized at his side. One of them, a yellow Pokémon with red cheeks and a jagged tail, climbed up his back and rested on his head. The other was a large tortoise Pokémon with poofy ears and a long poofy tail. It put its hands against Kenta's shoulder and patted him softly.

"I'm sorry. We're gonna be stuck here a bit more," Kenta said. "I'm not good at this trainer thing, ya know."

"War-wartortle," the Pokémon responded, agreeing with his trainer's sentiments. He still loved his trainer, but he was getting exhausted with losing all the time.

Kenta adjusted his bag and unzipped the top. He pulled out a map and unfolded it. There weren't many close areas around Fuchsia that would be worth going to. If he were to head to Route 18, he would risk running into a biker gang that was notorious for causing trouble. Route 15 was filled with high-level Pidgey, but he had been battling them for two weeks straight. To the north was the Safari Zone. The only place he had yet to venture to was south, where he would be met with the ocean.

"What do we do? We can't just fly around all willy nilly. We should hunker down here and train," he said. He sat back in his seat and looked up at the Pokémon Center's ceiling. "It's already winter, and I don't even have my fifth badge yet. I'm not sure if we're gonna make it in time for the Indigo Conference."

"Pika?"

"No!" Kenta said before sitting up straight. "We're gonna make it! I promise! We can't give up!"

"Tortle."

"But we should definitely come up with a game plan," Kenta said. He looked over the map once again, taking a closer glance at the southern area. In between Fuchsia and Cinnabar Island there was a lot of water. He had intended to go there next and save the Saffron and Vermillion gyms for last. But upon a closer look at the map, it appeared like there were a couple of islands just off of the coast of Fuchsia.

"Seafoam Islands," Kenta read. "Interesting." He folded the map and then got up, making sure to not knock off Pikachu's balance. He ran to Nurse Joy's counter and waited for her to return from the back. She was probably connecting his other Pokémon up to a couple of machines that would heal their wounds.

Eventually, she did come back, and she smiled upon seeing Kenta. She was slightly surprised by his apparent giddiness. "Are you doing okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. I just have a question about the Seafoam Islands."

"Oh! They're a wonderful place! Not a lot of people go there though. It's populated solely by Pokémon. There's also a rumor that a legendary Pokémon lives there."

"A legendary Pokémon? Like, Arcanine?"

Nurse Joy muffled her laughter. "No. No. You may have studied about legendary Pokémon when you were in Pallet Town. Do you know about Articuno?"

"Articuno?" he wondered while putting his finger to his lips. "I vaguely recall something. I'm not positive. There's supposed to be only three of them in the whole world, right?"

"Well, we don't know how many Articuno there are. For all we know, there are a hundred or so off in distant lands. You're probably remembering that Articuno is a part of a legendary trio alongside Zapdos and Moltres," she said.

Kenta snapped his fingers together. "That's right! Now I remember!" He didn't actually have a clue what she was talking about, but he just wanted to get past this part of the conversation. "What kind of Pokémon are on the Seafoam Islands, if I may ask?"

"Well, you're going to find dozens of Water-types."

Kenta looked back towards his Wartortle. "I already have a perfect Water-type though! Anything else? If I'm going to make the trip, I want to make sure it's worth it!"

Nurse Joy thought for a moment. "Ice-types. There are a few Ice-types that come from there like Cloyster or Dewgong. You're bound to run into one or two of them."

"Ice-types? I don't have an Ice-type. Maybe that'd be a good addition to my team. Thank you! As soon as my Pokémon are healthy, we'll head out!" Kenta exclaimed. He walked back towards the booth and took a seat next to his Wartortle.

If I remember correctly, Bulbasaur is weak to Ice-type attacks. He's half Poison-type. I can't remember if it's Grass- or Poison-types that are weak to the cold. It's gotta be Poison-types, right? Or is it Grass-types? Well, no matter! I'll catch an Ice-type and take it to the gym. We'll fight as hard as we can, and we'll win!

Wartorlte had been watching his trainer think over his game plan. Although Kenta had only been thinking everything, Wartortle could tell that his trainer was having issues. The various facial expressions indicated so.

"Tortle," the Pokémon said with a sigh.

The injuries that Kenta's team had taken weren't severe, but they needed to rest overnight. Kenta, while not book or battle smart, wasn't stupid to the fact that they needed their proper rest before going on an adventure to an unknown land. They weren't going to be fighting a bunch of Pidgey. They risked running into Pokémon that Kenta had never seen before, and if they were lucky, maybe even an Articuno.

It wasn't likely though, and even if he saw the Articuno, he wasn't sure how he'd know what it even was. The Pokédex had no information on the Pokémon, only sketches of what people had described it to look like. A big avian creature with crystal wings and a tail that stretched a mile long. That sounded too ridiculous to be true.

Out of curiosity though, he looked up the two other Pokémon that Nurse Joy had mentioned. There was no data on Moltres, but he did find an entry for the creature called Zapdos. Supposedly, Professor Oak was able to get his hands on one momentarily, and he studied it. The damage to his laboratory was substantial.

"Zapdos, the Electric Pokémon. A legendary bird Pokémon that is said to appear from clouds while dropping enormous lightning bolts," his Pokédex said in its robotic voice.

"Not too much information, but it doesn't sound any stronger than you, Pikachu!" Kenta exclaimed.

"Pika-chu!"

The following morning, after all of his Pokémon had recovered, he prepared to go out for training. Pikachu usually remained out of his Poké Ball and on Kenta's shoulder, but his other Pokémon all took comfort in their capsules. He walked south of Fuchsia City to the ports.

There were dozens of captains and people who worked at the docks. He passed by fishermen, who glanced at and talked about him with mischievous looks on their faces. Kenta just kept walking. He had his fair share of battles with sailors and fishermen. Even when he managed to beat them, they'd still bully money out of him. He wasn't going to let that happen today.

Kenta knew that he'd be able to ask a captain to ferry him to the islands for a small price. Wartortle could use Surf to take them there, but his body was small, and Kenta didn't want to risk going into a cold place like Seafoam Islands with wet socks.

"Alright, so that's one trainer, and how many Pokémon?" the captain asked. He was a burly man with dark tanned skin. He pointed at the Pikachu on Kenta's shoulder and then towards his belt.

"Um, I have a full team of six, sir."

"Alright. So, that's six passengers."

"Wait, what?!" Kenta yelled. "Even if they stay in their Poké Balls, they still count as passengers?"

"If for whatever reason, your Poké Balls break and your Pokémon come out, then it adds weight to the boat. Add weight to the boat, it makes the boat take up more fuel. More fuel means more money. Consider it an insurance policy."

Kenta groaned. "Alright. How much is it going to cost me?"

"I'll charge you five thousand poké."

Kenta opened up his small Bulbasaur shaped wallet. He only had six thousand on him, which meant that this would be a one-way trip. But he had to make it. He had no other options at this point. It was either pay the fee or go back and battle a thousand Pidgey. He forked over the necessary money, and then he was allowed onto the boat. It was only going to be him and the captain (and his six Pokémon). He threw down his bag and then sighed.

"We'll be off in ten minutes. You want a drink or something?"

"I'll take an Alola Cola."

"That'll be five hundred poké."

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Alright, so Kenta is off for the Seafoam Islands. He's an interesting character to write, because he's not a very good trainer at this stage in his career. For those that are new to my stories, Kenta is a character that's featured briefly in Healing in Hoenn and Kickin' It In Kanto. He's only in a total of two chapters (so far), but he's an important character and influence of the main character of those stories.

This will be a simple, five-part story that delves into his rookie year as a trainer. If you enjoy this little story, then you might like my other stuff! Thanks for taking the time out of your day to read this!

REVIEWS

UKEagleClaw - "Very nice, enjoyable prologue-style scene to set up the main story. Nice opening description for the Pokémon hunter-esque character. I liked how the Sneasel had a presence and were communicating between themselves too. Interested to see how this one plays out." - I think it's an interesting one in comparison to my other stories, but we'll see!

CrescentApple - "The blizzard king is so cool. He has to be good if the contact is confident he can get the Articuno. I wonder how Kenta is going to deal with guy. Abomasnow! I love that pokemon! I'm wondering if it can mega evolve :O" - Thank you! Because of the timeline I'm working with, very few people know about Mega Evolution (at this point).

The Imprisoned of Hell - "Wonder how this one will play out. Anyways great work as always." - Thanks for reading!