My eyes opened slowly, and it took me a few moments to remember where I was. Memories started to rush back into my head but I tried my best to suppress them. I gathered my belongings and started to head out towards Littleroot town. As I walked I saw children scattered throughout route 101, eagerly searching for their first encounter with a wild pokemon. Some children seemed to approach the situation different than others. I saw some children charging through tall grass, running at any hint of rustling around them. Others walked slowly, grasping their pokeball tightly and jumping at the slightest noise. I remembered back to some of my friend's descriptions of their journeys, how eager or frightened they were in the beginning. It got me thinking about my own feelings about the journey. I looked around and saw trainers in the heat of battle, shouting commands to their pokemon as the wild pokemon fought back. I saw others embracing their new companions, forging bonds that would likely last for a long time. Their new companions were their starters of course, they were the prized battling pokemon that would accompany the trainers all the way to the Elite Four if their journey took them so far. The pokemon they would encounter along the way however would be less fortunate.
While many trainers are loving and thoughtful towards all of their pokemon, I have found there to be a major problem with the mindset of most trainers. Many individuals do not see pokemon as sentient creatures, but as mere means to an end. The first of this category are the hardcore trainers, who value strength above all. While pokemon can enjoy battling given the proper amount of care, these trainers neglect their pokemon completely outside of battling. Worse still, these trainers are highly selective of who they let into their party, and have no problem kicking out the weakest member if a stronger pokemon were to join. These exiled pokemon sometimes spend their whole lives in the storage facilities at pokemon centers, and if they are released they are cast back into the wild, deprived of the new friends they had met on their journey. The second type of bad trainers are the collectors. These trainers may not care much for battling, but they do care about having as many pokemon as possible. Collectors will catch a pokemon they have never caught before and send it to the storage system for the rest of it's life. They are caught simply for status, and once they are caught and their data recorded, they are traded between collectors like currency. These pokemon never know love, not even briefly, and many never even meet the trainers that catch them. They are simply traded away as soon as their usefulness expires, and are forever lost into the market of the collectors. This abuse is something I always hated about trainers, and at that moment I vowed never to neglect any of the pokemon I caught.
I reached Littleroot not long after I had made my promise, and it didn't take me long to find the professor's lab. As I stepped inside, I realized I was nervous, not only to begin my journey but about the circumstances of it. I was starting my pokemon adventure 8 years late, and I knew I was going to run into questions. Questions meant giving answers, answers I had no desire to give. I walked up to a man in a white labcoat and cleared my throat. "Hello, is Professor Birch here?" The man turned to me and smiled, holding out his hand. I took it, and he opened his mouth to speak. "Are you an associate of the Professor's?" he asked, and I squirmed as I stood. Questions. "No," said, a little embarrassed, "I'm here to get my starter pokemon." The man's expression changed quickly, as he looked at me quizzically. "How old are you son?" he asked. I told him I was 18 and he sighed. "Look, there are no re-dos of the pokemon league, every trainer gets one chance. I'm sorry you didn't make it, but I can't go giving everyone that comes back a second chance, can I?" I looked at my feet as I spoke, "I actually never took my pokemon challenge, this is still my first chance." I held out my trainer card and handed it to the man. He took it to his computer and swiped it through, and a few moments later he handed it back to me. "Professor Birch's office is on the right he told me, and he went back to his work, a look of confusion on his face. I made my way to the door on the right and opened it slowly, knocking on it as I entered. I entered the room and sat down, looking at the man behind the desk. He was a bit round around the middle, but for the most part he had a charming demeanor about him, which eased my shaking voice. "I-I'm here to get a pokemon" I said. The professor stared at me for a moment before speaking. "My assistant tells me your trainer card checks out. I know some children skip their pokemon journey, but I've never had anyone come late. Why is it that you have only now decided to pursue this?" I sat silent for a moment, bad thoughts flooding through my head. The sooner I told him the sooner I could forget again, so I decided to come clean. I told him about the accident, about how my parents had left me nothing to get by on. The professor sat silently, nodding occasionally before reaching into his desk. He pulled out a small briefcase and laid it on the table. He flipped it open revealing three pokeballs. They were labelled Treecko, Mudkip, and Torchic. I recognized the names as Hoenn starter pokemon, and I looked back up at the professor. "Take one," he said, and I saw his eyes watering slightly, "I'm sorry for your loss. I hope you do your parents proud." My eyes started to water as well, and I looked back down at my choices. I finally reached for the one on the far right, and I held it in my hand for a while before thanking the professor. He then gave me 5 empty pokeballs, a potion, and a pokedex. The pokedex looked old, and I looked at him for an explanation. He smiled knowingly. "Because your trainer card was issued 8 years ago, you pokedex will only register if it was issued the same year. Lucky for you, I keep an old model from every year as a collection, but I am more than happy to give it to you." I looked down at the faded red gadget in my hands and thanked him again.
As I stepped out into the cool air I could feel the added weight of my backpack. My own pokemon journey was finally beginning, even though it was not as I had always thought it would. I reached into my bag and pulled out the pokeball of the Torchic I had chosen. I remembered back 8 years ago, when my father told me about his own pokemon journey. He told me his starter was a Charmander, and he had named it Viktor. He would never tell me what happened to it, only that it didn't accompany him back home. I looked back down at the pokeball in my hands, confident in the name of my new friend. I pressed the button, and out shot the little fire pokemon. It looked around briefly before turning to me and smiling. "Chic!" it squeaked at me, and I smiled down at him. "Hello, Viktor" I said to him, "You and I are going to be the best of friends." The pokemon beamed at me before running and jumping into my lap, rubbing it's head against my stomach. It's tiny feathers were soft to the touch, and the quiet chirping sound it made reminded me of the purring of a Delcatty. I stood up, my new friend at my side, and together we headed towards route 101.
(Hello readers, I apologize for the delay in the story, I took a long time debating on whether or not to write this story. More than a year later, I've decided to do it, along with making a new game to mirror, now playing through Omega Ruby (hence the change from Mudkip to Torchic if anyone remembers the original upload). The next chapter will hopefully be up shortly, and I hope you guys will enjoy this work that has laid dormant for more than a year.)