A Pokemon Story
Chapter One
I've always loved Pokemon, and for as long as I can remember I've wanted to be a great pokemon trainer; traveling and battling with my own elite Pokemon team. I guess you could say my parents are fond of Pokemon, but not in the way I am. They wouldn't dream of their precious and priceless Pokemon becoming dirty in a "silly battle" they would tell me. No, they where more wealthy snobs who thought pokemon should be small and well mannered, with frilly bows and flowers. They thought of Pokemon as 'lap pets' that were expensive and meant to be shown off with really no other use. It showed with my father's annoying Smoochum and my mother's crybaby Aipom. God, I wanted to punch those two! They got more attention than I did most of the time! But, I suppose I thought like that at one point in my life, thinking Pokemon should look pretty and perfect. Now? No. I believe Pokemon can be like that, but only on special occasions, and not all the time. I think Pokemon should be treated with respect and friendship, and not shoved in bows and frills. Pokemon should be trained hard by a loving trainer and brought into battle only because they want to and, to show off what they've learned from working hard.
I guess I got out of my frills and flowers stage at around the age of 10. My cousin, Takashi, had just turned 13 and was given a Pokemon of his own, a little Horsea.
Now, my father and aunt may be siblings, but they differ greatly. My parents had never liked me going to their house in Verdanturf City, and really only seeing them for holidays and such. As I got the idea I wanted to be a Pokemon trainer after Takashi got his Horsea I played the "family card" and I got to go to Takashi's more often.
My parents disliked how my cousin was raised to be able to decide what he wanted to do with his life. My father looked down on his younger sister for not marrying someone rich with "class" and, instead marrying my fun loving, Pokemon training, uncle. I didn't care, much to my parents horror I spent most of my weekends and holidays in their cute hilltop cottage.
I didn't have any Pokemon of my own at that time, but that didn't stop me. I had fallen in love with my aunt's fiery Pokemon team, and she often let me practice battle with them against Takashi. A lot of times I would win since my aunt's Pokemon where very experienced, and sometimes I had a type advantage over Takashi, I'd melt his ice Pokemon, since he had a love for ice and water Pokemon.
My favorite out of my aunt's Pokemon was her Ninetails. She was getting old and her speed wasn't what it used to be my aunt would say, since she had gotten her when she was a little girl. She was by far the strongest Pokemon on the team, never letting her age stop her in winning every battle she fought. She was beautiful with sleek, silvery fur, and she carried herself so elegantly. I wished one day I could find a Ninetails as beautiful and strong as her.
Around late June, when I was 12, Takashi decided to go out into the world and become stronger as a trainer. He had always talked about wanting to be a Gym Leader, and this was his time to fulfill his dream he told me. We had a small going away party I suppose you could call it, with my aunt and uncle, a few of his close friends and me to send him off. I couldn't bear to see him go, right when I was getting good!
But he told me he had to, "I'll come back to see you, I promise." He said.
"I'll hold you to that", I pouted.
So, I awoke extra early next morning to see him off. We walked to the edge of Verdanturf together after he had said goodbye to his parents. I started to tear up, but I wanted to look tough in front of him like I always did, so I held it back. He told me to keep battling hard with my aunt, and maybe I'd get a good surprise. He gave me a huge hug and a kiss on the forehead, and I silently shoved the cute little blue bowl I had painted the past few nights for his Horsea. He smiled and gave me another hug and turned to look at his town, drinking it in one last time, and then faced the trail in front of him full of twists, turns and challenges just for him. And he walked, he walked towards his goal and he didn't look back. That was the last time I saw him for a long time.
Just like Takashi had said, my hard work paid off. I had continued to practice with my aunt, and on my 13th birthday in August, my long awaited wish came true. I received a tiny Vulpix pup as a present, wrapped with a baby blue ribbon snug around his neck. My parents would never have gotten me a Pokemon, since they feared it would give me the idea of becoming a trainer. I later learned however, that it was my aunts doing, telling my parents a Vulpix would make the perfect lap pet for me. They couldn't say no to this, so that day I was presented with a Pokemon. He's perfect, I thought, absolutely perfect. His rusty fur shone in the sunlight as he sat in the grass of our backyard, squirming in his bow. I decided to name him Pyro, and promised him he wouldn't have to wear bows all the time.
Pyro learned to stop wriggling around in his bows when my parents were around, just as I had. When my parents didn't notice us or stepped out, we stripped out of our frilly clothes and snuck out to train. Pyro and I would meet my best friend Ataru, since I've known from the age of 6, by the forest guardian shrine deep in the forest by our houses. From there we would walk around town and the backstreets careful not to be seen by our parents' snobby friends looking for trainers to battle. Ataru's parents where like mine. They did not want him to battle and believed his sassy Misdrevous, Minnie, should learn better manners. Maybe it was a Lilycove thing, because most of the people in our town thought that way. Ataru and I would try to find 2 trainers to battle against as a team. If that wouldn't work, then we took turns battling the trainers we saw along the way. We were the strongest team in town, but that all changed.
Around mid May, when I was 14, Ataru decided he couldn't take his parents anymore and chose to leave. He was strong enough to be out on his own, and so far he had caught a small elite Pokemon team of 3; Minnie, a male Houndour named Hellgor, and a female Sneasel named Nyura. I begged him not to leave, telling him we were a team and that we had to stick together no matter what.
"Teams break up Puu, it's…it's just life, deal with it."
I just stood there like an idiot, shocked he would say something like that. Then I ran out of the forest, all the way home with a confused Pyro at my heels. Like a big baby, I cried all that night into Pyro's rusty fur, miserable about having lost someone else I loved.
Even though I was still angry at Ataru, I still woke up early to meet him at the edge of town with Pyro. He wasn't there yet, so I leaned against a nearby tree with Pyro at my feet to wait for him. I noticed him coming up the trail and started to get up to greet him, but then I remembered I was still angry at him and slumped back down against the tree. He stopped in front of me and looked at his feet; his jet black hair and bleached white bangs in his face, and Minnie floating around his head. I stared at him and waited to see what he would do. Suddenly, he looked up at me. Since I was still angry, I snapped my head to the side to look at a nearby light post instead of his big brown eyes.
"I'm sorry." he whispered.
I slowly turned my head back to look at him.
"What? I didn't hear you." I grinned slyly. He frowned and shouted, "I'M SORRY OKAY?!"
"That's better." I mumbled.
He told me he didn't mean what he said yesterday and that I was right; we were a team and we had to stick together.
"Come with me! We can battle trainers together like we've always done and we'll be far away from our parents! All alone…" His cheeks tingled with a light blush and I pretended to be interested at a long blade of grass at my feet. Minnie had floated down to talk with Pyro, and I heard them giggle at us.
"You know I can't." I said softy still looking down as I squished some grass with the toe of my shoe. I couldn't. As much as I longed to be on an adventure with Ataru…I couldn't. Ataru frowned again and he told me I could. He said it was as easy as going to get my things and then leaving. I mumbled that I couldn't go again, and he decided to drop it. He told me I should at least train hard with Pyro and that when I finally came to my senses I should try and find him so we could travel together. We promised we would see each other again soon. He hugged me goodbye, and I leaned over to kiss him on the cheek, resulting in blush tingling our cheeks and our Pokemon snickering. He glanced behind his shoulder at the trail and turned back to me and said he would call and e-mail me at the Pokemon centers he stopped at as often as he could. He turned around and started walking up the trail with Minnie floating alongside his shoulder. I watched tearfully with Pyro as he gave us one last wave and became a tiny spec on the trail until we couldn't see him anymore. Ataru was the second person that left me for an adventure, and I already missed him.
While training one day with Pyro, we came across a Pikachu being attacked by a group of Ariados. At first I didn't know what was going on, but then electrical attacks were striking the spider Pokemon. I decided to go see what was going on. Pyro and I hid behind some shrubbery and I peeked over to realize that a Pikachu was being attacked, with its yellow and black pointy ears, and zigzag tail. From the look of it, the Ariados had ganged up on it for some reason. The Pikachu's electrical attacks got less, and less until it could no longer put up a fight. Pyro and I immediately rushed out from our hiding spot in the shrubbery to come to Pikachu's aid. Some of the Ariados fled after taking notice of us, but I instructed Pyro to scare away the remaining Pokemon. He unleashed a powerful ember attack burning of some of the spider Pokemon and scaring the rest off the Pikachu. They fled deep into the forest. When all the Ariados had cleared off, Pyro and I rushed over, to check its condition. It had a few cuts along its arms and legs and a big bruise on its stomach. I noticed it was a female Pikachu. I decided to take her home to heal her instead of the Pokemon center, since I was afraid someone who knew my parents would see me with another Pokemon other than Pyro. I fixed her up easily since her cuts and bruises weren't too hard to patch up, and I let her sleep that afternoon in my bed with Pyro.
When they where still sleeping I figured I would check if Ataru had e-mailed me anything lately. There was a new e-mail from him, and I eagerly started to read it. He told me he had beaten his first Gym Leader, Winona, and his second win against Wattson. I read some more and learned he would be heading to Lavaridge town to challenge Flannery. He said he hadn't seen Takashi yet and figured he was traveling about the ocean by now. I started to sulk at this. If he was so far away, I wouldn't be able to see my cousin for a long time. Pyro and the Pikachu started to stir, so I quickly finished reading Ataru's e-mail to tend to them.
After the Pikachu was healed, she decided to stay with me instead of going back to the forest. I named her Pucca, and she became the second member of my Pokemon team.
Around late July, Takashi came to visit. Ataru's predictions were right. Takshi had been about the ocean, and he had caught a lot more water and ice Pokemon. When he left, the only Pokemon he had were a Horsea and a Seel, but when he released all his Pokemon from their Pokeballs, there were noticeably more this time. Horsea and Seel were now fully evolved into Kingdra and Dewgong. Along with them, Takashi now had a Wartortle, a Lapras, and a Chinchou. We went into the forest to have a battle and avoid my parents annoyed looks about Takashi being back. I started off with Pyro and Takashi to use his Wartortle. Of course Pyro couldn't take Wartortle's strong water attacks and fainted. Eager to fight like always, I chose Pucca next, and with only a few hits she knocked out Wartortle with her electrical power. Pucca didn't do so well against Takashi's Dewgong however. His ice attacks were too much for her and she ended up frozen. I lost the battle to my cousin, but he was still very proud that I had progressed so far. Much to my surprise, he presented me with a little Cyndaquil, and he told me that as soon as he saw it he thought of me and that it would make a good addition to my Pokemon team. I promptly decided to name him Akira. I knew he would get along great with Pyro and Pucca.
Things didn't go too well after that. A week later I was seen walking into the forest with my Pokemon by one of our rich neighbors. I immediately knew my life was over the minute I noticed her watching me. That brings me to now. I was walking to the edge of town with Pyro at my side just thinking about all the things that had happened to lead up to this point in my life. I remembered how my parents had reacted just the afternoon before about hearing I was a trainer. They had threatened to take all my Pokemon away from me and lock me up, but I told them they would never catch me. I had decided on what I wanted to do for a long time. That is, finally start my journey. So, I packed up and awoke early this morning, and here I am now.
We're standing at the edge of town, and I'm thinking about Takashi, my parents, and Ataru, anything to delay the time of stepping out on my own. Half of me wanted to suddenly burst out and run, challenging Pyro to a race, but the other half of me wanted to go back home and snuggle into some frill where even though I hated it, I knew it was the safest place for us. Did I want to just go home? No, I told myself. This is what we have to do...what I have to do. I started to think of Ataru and how he told me he had to leave and of Takashi and how he took one last look at his town, taking it all in, and thinking of all the memories he had there. And just like that he had turned around ready to face all the twists and turns of the trails; all the challenges it had in store for him. Without looking back, he had walked towards his goal.
So, just like Takashi, I turned to look at Pyro, he looked quizzically at me, and then we both turned to look at our town. In this early morning light it looked so beautiful, and I imagined how it would look only a few hours later; bustling with people. I looked at our town's huge department store and the post office. Further up I could just see the rustic roof of our house behind the flower shop. I looked toward the horizon and noticed the ocean. It was so beautiful, and I remembered how Pyro and I would wake up early to jog up and down the beach as part of our morning training, and how Pucca and Akira eventually joined us. This was the last time we would see the ocean for some time I thought to myself, I would miss it. Then, I took in my town as a whole; as I wanted to remember it. And just like that, we turned around. We looked at, our twists and turns, every challenge set for us, and we walked. We walked to our goal to be the best we could be. To meet new friends, and expand our Pokemon team. In the second that I launched off I felt wonderful. I could do anything! No longer did I need shelter from my parents and frilly blankets. No, I had all I needed right here with me. I was free. I was walking freely out of the town that I had spent most of my life in, and there was no turning back. I looked forward to my new life. Was this how Takashi and Ataru felt as they took their first few steps of freedom? I didn't know. Maybe I should ask them sometime I thought.
Suddenly, I felt a burst of energy, and I started sprinting down the trail challenging Pyro to a race. This was it! We were free!
- Hamachi and Puu xxoo