Chapter 2.

Starter Pokemon

After a few minutes, Raquaelle arrived at Professor Oak's Lab and she knocked on the door of the lab and then opened the door.

"Professor Oak!" Raquaelle called. She stepped in, closing the door behind her. "I'm here!"

She heard no response, however. Raquaelle made her way into the lab, but didn't see the professor there. All she saw was an impatient-looking person in the room. It was another girl and she had orange hair, tan skin and round blue glasses, she also wore a green t-shirt, black jeans and black trainers.

"Maylene Evans?" said Raquaelle.

Maylene recognized her as well.

"Raquaelle...? What are YOU doing here?!" she asked in irritation.

"I am here to get my starter Pokemon from Professor Oak so I can travel all over the Kanto region," said Raquaelle in an annoyed tone.

"Really?! But that's what I want to do!" Maylene snapped.

"Hmpf!" scoffed Raquaelle and she turned her back on Maylene.

"If Professor Oak isn't here, I'll just wait until he arrives," thought Raquaelle. "And I'm NOT letting Maylene ruin my adventure."

After a couple of minutes of waiting, the door of the lab opened and Professor Oak arrived.

"About time," thought Raquaelle.

"What took you so long, Professor?!" Maylene demanded to know. "I've been waiting forever!"

"Calm down, Maylene, I'll be right with you." Oak then turned to Raquaelle. "You may have one of the three Pokemon in this lab. They're in the Poke Balls on the table, by the way."

"Okay." Raquaelle went over to the table, but not without hearing more of Maylene's irritated voice.

"Hey! What about me?!" Maylene asked. "Don't I get one, too?!"

"Be patient, Maylene, let this trainer pick hers first," Oak replied.

Raquaelle pondered over which Poke Ball to select, before deciding on the one on the right. She pressed the button, and it opened up, along with a flash of light. When it subsided, it revealed an orange dinosaur-like creature with flames at the end of its tail.

"Char!" said the orange creature.

"Professor Oak?" Raquaelle asked. "What's this one?"

"That is Charmander, a Fire-type Pokémon," Professor Oak explained.

Raquaelle carefully put her hand in front of Charmander to see what he would do. The Charmander sniffed her hand curiously for a moment. Then, feeling reassured that Raquaelle meant no harm, the Charmander placed his forehead underneath her hand, expecting her to pet him.

Raquaelle smiled and petted Charmander and then turned to Professor Oak and said:

"Professor Oak, I have decided to chose Charmander."

"Excellent choice," Oak said with a smile.

Raquaelle picked up Charmander in her arms and hugged him.

"I... I can't believe it... My first Pokémon ever! This is wonderful!" said Raquaelle as tears of joy filled her eyes.

But Maylene walked over to the table and picked up the Poke Ball that had been in the middle.

"You'll be sorry when I put out your Charmander's fire with my new Squirtle!" said Maylene.

"Maylene!" Prof. Oak said in disapproval.

Raquaelle heard what Maylene had said,but she didn't complain. Besides, the fact that Prof. Oak was more on her side than her rival's left Raquaelle more assured. She picked up Charmander's Pokeball, turned and started to walk out of the lab while still carrying Charmander in her arms, but before she could even reach the door, Maylene called for her.

"Hey, Raquaelle!"

Raquaelle turned to look at Maylene, still having her Poke Ball in her hand.

"Let's see how my cool Squirtle does compared to that lame fiery thing you picked," said Maylene.

She pressed the button on her Poke Ball and threw it at the floor.

"Go! Squirtle!" Maylene called.

The Poke Ball opened up, and with a flash of light, Squirtle emerged.

"Squirtle!"

Raquaelle put Charmander down on the floor and said to him:

"Let's do this, Charmander!"

"Char!" Charmander replied in excitement.

"Charmander! Use Scratch!" shouted Raquaelle.

Charmander nodded in understanding, then reached his right arm up and raked his claws against the Squirtle's face. Squirtle cringed in response.

"Squirtle!" shouted Maylene in horror.

But Squirtle shook his head to recover from the attack, seeing this, Maylene smiled in an evil way.

"Squirtle, use Water Gun!" Maylene commanded.

Squirtle released a forceful shot of water at Charmander but Charmander saw it coming and ducked before the water could hit him.

"Now finish Squirtle off with Growl!" shouted Raquaelle.

Charmander then growled threateningly at Squirtle, causing him to yelp with fear and run back over to Maylene.

Maylene stood there, shocked and baffled. "W... WHAT?! That's impossible!"

"Yeah!" Raquaelle cheered as she jumped. "We did it! Way to go, Charmander!"

"You got lucky, twerp," Maylene commented. "The one Pokemon I wanted, and you HAD to scare it stiff!"

Charmander went back over to Raquaelle, who smiled proudly at him and reached down to pet the top of his head.

"Once I get my Squirtle stronger and cooler, there's no way you'll beat me like that again!" Maylene said. "Not even if your dumb Charmander gets stronger, too!"

"Oh, really?" Raquaelle asked as she picked up Charmander in her arms. "We'll see about that."

"Raquaelle? Maylene?" Professor Oak asked. "Would you come here for a moment?"

Maylene recalled her Squirtle before she and Raquaelle did as they were told.

"There's something I need you two to do for me," said Professor Oak.

"What is it?" Raquaelle wanted to know.

Oak reached into his pocket and pulled out a red gadget that Raquaelle couldn't recall seeing before.

"This is a Pokedex," Prof. Oak started. "It records the many different Pokemon that you come across, and reveals more information on them once you manage to catch them. It's a hi-tech encyclopedia."

"Since I was younger, it was my dream to catch all of the Pokemon there are and complete the Pokedex. But I'm afraid the years have passed, and so I can't quite complete this task in my old age... So what I'd like you two to do is complete the Pokedex yourselves. It certainly won't be easy, but once you have received your Pokedexes, the roads to your exciting adventures will be opened!"

"I'll do the best I can," Raquaelle promised.

"Yeah, but you'll be sorry when I complete this thing before you do!" Maylene snapped.

Raquaelle just glared at Maylene and blew a raspberry at her.

Maylene heard it, but just rolled her eyes. "Whatever..."

"Now girls," said Professor Oak, "I'm counting on you to fulfill my dream. And take your time; it will take determination, courage, patience and confidence."

"I understand," Raquaelle replied.

Professor Oak gave the Pokedek he was holding to Raquaelle and then he took another one and gave that one to Maylene.

"Thank you, Professor," Raquaelle said. "I'll do my best to complete this Pokedex. I promise."

"Char," agreed Charmander.

Maylene, however, put the Pokedex in her pocket and headed out of the lab. "Smell ya later, twerps!"

Without saying a word, Prof. Oak and Raquaelle simply watched her leave, the former in mild annoyance at worst, and the latter in confusion.

"And Raquaelle, can you keep a secret?" Oak asked Raquaelle.

"Sure. What is it?" Raquaelle wanted to know.

"I can already tell you're more capable and more responsible than Maylene," Prof. Oak mentioned.

Raquaelle blushed and giggled slightly. "Thanks, Professor. And thanks for letting me have this Charmander. I'll take the best care of him I can."

"If something happens to him, bring him to a Pokemon Center. Or, if you can't reach one, give him this." Prof. Oak picked up what looked like a spray bottle, although it had the word "Potion" written onto it. "This will help him regain some of his energy, but not much." He handed it to Raquaelle, who placed it in her backpack.

"And when you see a Pokemon you want to catch," Oak went on, "weaken it with your Charmander and then throw one of these at the Pokemon." He pulled out a total of six Poke Balls, which were small enough to fit in the palm of his hand. "If it doesn't work, keep trying until you successfully capture it."

Raquaelle took the Poke Balls as well and placed them in her pocket as well. "Okay, thank you."

"Good luck, Raquaelle!" Prof. Oak said as Raquaelle started to walk out of the lab while carrying Charmander in her arms. "I'm counting on you!"

Raquaelle stopped when she reached the door, looked back at Prof. Oak and smiled confidently at him. It was only then that she turned back, opened the door and headed out of the lab.

With a brand new Pokemon by her side, Raquaelle was sure that she was in for a fantastic adventure.