Still horribly old and crappy at this stage.
Chapter 1: Bulbasaur and Bridget"B-BULBASAUR?!"
"I'm afraid so, Will."
How was I supposed to be a fire elemental with a Bulbasaur?! I seethed at Professor Gary Oak. His red-brown hair was beginning to turn grey and his face was liberally lined.
"How am I supposed to be a fire elemental with a Bulbasaur?!" I demanded furiously. "It's...it's...weak!" I glared at the PokéBall he was holding out to me.
"If you had been here two hours earlier, you could have gotten the Charmander," Professor Oak said coolly. "From what I've heard from your mother, you spent that time admiring yourself in the mirror." I opened my mouth hotly to retort, but he ploughed on, "If you won't accept this, you'll have to wait another year, Will. It's Bulbasaur or nothing."
I glared at him and snatched the PokéBall from his hand, marched over to the desk and grabbed a PokéDex, and stomped out of the lab in thoroughly bad spirits. "Stupid little grass Pokémon, useless, weak, who wants it...?"
"Excuse me?"
I looked up and found to my surprise I had stomped myself straight out into Route 1. A girl no older than twelve stood before me smiling innocently. She had wide, owl-like blue eyes and messy black hair that hung in a matted heap around her waist. She had several PokéBalls hanging from her waist and was clutching a young Vulpix that looked as if it had only recently grown into adulthood. "I'm Bridget," she announced, as if it was the sort of thing I'd be interested in knowing. "Do you want to battle?"
"Er - I -" What, with this puny little Pokémon?
"It's against the law to refuse." She smiled widely. "You can be the challenger. Go, Crystal!" She tossed a PokéBall at me. It flew backwards as a Graveller materialised out of it. I sighed and half-heartedly dropped my PokéBall on the ground. A tiny Pokémon appeared in a blaze of red light. It was a blue-green colour with furled, pointed ears and a huge plant bulb on its back. It turned to me.
"Bulba?" It twitched its ears and blinked its huge crimson eyes. Pathetic. Even if it was a little bit cute. Truly pathetic.
"Well? Do your thing," I prompted. It frowned slightly and gave a low, cute sounding growl.
What kind of attack was that?
Bridget smirked. "Crystal, use body slam!"
"Oh - um - dodge it, I suppose -" But I gave my command too late and the sad little Pok?on was flattened by Graveller. I could think of nothing that looked less like a crystal.
"Okay, Crystal, rollout!"
The Graveller curled into a ball and rolled at Bulbasaur. "Dodge!" I called more confidently. But speed was not proving to be one of the little Pokémon's best stats. It was too late and gave a squeal of pain as Graveller collided heavily with it.
"Again!"
I didn't bother telling Bulbasaur to dodge, but watched gloomily as the little girl proved what an abysmally bad trainer I was. Finally Bulbasaur had enough and fainted.
"Hm. For somebody who looks about fourteen -"
"Sixteen," I snarled, recalling Bulbasaur.
"For somebdy who's sixteen years old, you're pretty weak. How long have you been training?"
"About two minutes," I snapped, clipping the PokéBall onto the chain around my neck. "You?"
"Seven months," she said breezily. "Want me to show you to the Pok?on Centre?"
"No."
"Too bad, I will anyway," she replied with a grin. The Vulpix in her arms gave an amused squeak. She carefully transferred it to her shoulder, grabbed my hand and ploughed through the long, itchy grass. "This is Embrea," she said, glancing at the Vulpix on her shoulder. "She doesn't normally battle for me, she doesn't like it. Actually," she added rather less cheerfully, "she doesn't really like me either. The only reason she travels with me is she gets free food."
"Vul!" interrupted the Vulpix.
Bridget sighed. "Yes, and protection from the Rockets as well."
"How do you know?" I asked in spite of myself.
"She told me," replied Bridget as we wove through the trees.
"...what?"
"I can speak to Pokémon, you know. How else would I know their names?"
Oh, great. I'm being led around by a nutty little girl four years younger than me who thinks her Pokémon had names before she nicknamed them. Not only that, she thinks she can speak to Pokémon!
"Of course you can. What are the Rockets?"
"Who, not what," said Bridget darkly, jumping over a protruding log, which I promptly stumbled on. "They're a huge organisation of Pokémon theives. We've had quite a bit of trouble with them before. Trust me, the Rockets have no shame. They will do anything for a rare Pokémon."
"Well, unluckily for me, Bulbasaur isn't rare."
"Unluckily?" said Bridget inquiringly. "Did I hear you wrong?"
"No. You heard right. I hate the stupid Pokémon."
Bridget frowned slightly, then her attention was diverted. "Here we are!" she said brightly. "Viridian City! Come with me." And, neglecting to release my hand, she set off at a sprint.
When we arrived at the Centre, I was trying not to pant. I felt like my tongue should be lolling out of my mouth like a Growlithe's. Bridget looked merely as if she'd gone on a short, leisurely walk. Mercifully, she released my hand and smiled in her irritatingly innocent way. "And I give you, the Pokémon Centre. Do you want me to wait out here for you?"
"Of course not," I said irritably. "Why would I need a little kid to help me?"
She shrugged. "Your loss," she stated simply and began to walk away. Finally free of her, I entered the Pokémon Centre and gave my PokéBall to the nurse. She smiled and told me I'd have it back in a few minutes. I shrugged and leant on the counter, looking around. Trainers were all around, usually in groups of two or three, talking, laughing and playing with their Pokémon.
And just as I was starting to get bored, the most beautiful girl in the world walked in.