Shining Shadows

Will the Charizard

Chapter 2: Beginnings

This chapter will be a bit boring, as not much happens, but I promise it will be better later on.

I got Minney, my Marill, when I was 13 years old. Lucky thirteen, right? I wish. I could have been like everyone else, and got a Pikachu, or a Squirtle, or even a Starly. Hell, I would've taken a Pachirisu over a Marill. But no, I had to be the kid whose parents wanted him to have something useful, not cool, for their Pokémon journey. My Marill loved me though, and whenever I looked into her eyes, I could see that she really wanted to be my partner in my journey. She was a bit of a slow learner, though, and it took her much longer to learn new moves than any other trainer's Pokémon in school. She was just mastering water gun when my friend Jim's Squirtle was evolving. Nobody had captured these Pokémon, either. That was illegal here in Crystal City. Pokémon had the same rights humans did. It was different in other parts of the island, but in Crystal, all the Pokémon had chosen to be with their people. Minney had been abandoned by her last human, who had thought of her as a weak, stupid Pokémon, and she would always seek my approval as a result. She would ask if she did well whenever we were practicing together, and she tried so hard to make me happy.

Oh, yeah. Me. With my impossible to keep hair and fantastic way with others. Also, unfortunately, the only person living in little old Crystal City with any sense of adventure, or humor. If you've never heard of dear old Crystal City, it's because it isn't really a city, just a medium sized town, no major landmarks, in the middle of an ocean, hundreds of miles west of the mainland of Sinnoh. Only way into the mainland is a ferry, which is on the other side of the Blue Forest. I think it's called Blue Forest because of how boring it is here, but apparently there's an actual reason for it. Never really figured out why. All I know is that there's a ton of trees, it's got wild Pokémon in it, and a lot of people are afraid of it because it's big and dark.

Anyway, five years after I got Minney, we were old enough to start our adventure. I was 18, and finally able to leave this town. My mom, naturally, is worried about me like I might scrape my elbow and die of internal bleeding. She's always worrying that I might get hurt, or sick, or (gasp!) I might not call home! She also can't comprehend Pokémon being equal to humans, she thinks of them as pets, not friends or family. My dad had thought differently, before he left. He'd always make sure to bring his Linoone to work with him, where it'd help him with whatever he needed. We haven't seen him since I was seven, he left without warning one day, I woke up and he was just gone. My mom's been a worried wreck ever since. She doesn't understand that I need to leave, have an adventure. She wanted me to stay with her. But, I was determined to get out of this hellhole for teenagers and head for mainland Sinnoh.

The morning we were ready to leave actually started off fairly normal.

Ugh. I thought. What time is it? I turned over in my bed and looked at the clock on the blue wall of my impossibly small bedroom. It's only 7:00. I can wait to wake Minney up for a little while. I looked down at my feet, and saw Minney sleeping, happily, with a little smile on her face. I love seeing her happy. I just hope she'll be strong enough for our journey. I frowned for a second. Why would I think that? Of course she'll be strong enough!

I walked downstairs to the kitchen to find my mom already cooking breakfast. I could smell the grease frying on the pan the second I hit the stairs. She's probably been up for an hour already, making bacon and eggs. I could have made myself breakfast, but whatever.

"I made your favorite breakfast honey! Today's the special day!" a small frown escaped her lips. "Are you sure I can't talk you out of leaving? It's a dangerous world out there, and I would miss you!" I knew this was coming. She'd been trying to convince me that leaving home was a bad idea for months now.

"Mom. I'm 18 now, and I need to go do this! All of my friends have already left, and I'm going to leave too! You can't talk me out of it and you need to stop trying!" Oh wow. That was bad. I shouldn't have snapped on her like that. I just need to be more independent, that's all.

"Sorry. I'm just a little tired. I'm going to go wake Minney up." My mom nodded her head in understanding, and I went back upstairs.

"Minney, it's time to get up." I said, gently nudging the ball of excitement that was my best friend.

Minney's little round tail perked up, and she looked at me excitedly, a look of joy on her fuzzy, cute face. "Today's the day, isn't it Sam?"

"Yeah, today we start our adventure! We have to go eat breakfast first, though. Delicious bacon and eggs!"

"Yuck. You know I don't eat meat Sam!" she stuck her tongue out in disgust, shaking her head.

I laughed. "Yes, Minney, I know. I was kidding. I think we still have some of the good berries left. Eggs aren't meat anyway. Come on." I let Minney hop up on my shoulder, grabbed my green backpack, and filled it with the essentials. Potions, pokéballs, antidotes, berries, my dad's old hunting knife, all the things I needed for my journey.

"I think eggs count as meat." Minney had been trying to get me to go vegan since the day we met, and we had been arguing what counted as ok ever since. "They should count."

I shook my head in disbelief. "Will you ever drop this?" I laughed, and finished packing. Can't forget those. I packed a map and extra clothes in my bag, closed it up, and headed downstairs, Minney on my shoulder.

In the kitchen, I set Minney on the table, gave her a handful of Oran berries, and started wolfing down my delicious eggs and bacon. My mom turned around from the stove and noticed us with a huff.

"Sam, what have I told you about letting your pet on the table? It's not clean." She protested, yet again denying Minney any respect.

"Mom, Minney's my friend, not my pet. Besides, she is clean! I gave her a bath last night!" At the mention of her bath, Minney let out a squeak of delight, which made my mom and I smile and laugh.

"Well, if she's clean I guess its ok." My mother sighed, not really agreeing with me. "I just wish you weren't in such a hurry to leave. Slow down by the way, you'll choke on that. We don't want that to happen, do we?"

"Mom, I'm not three, and I promise I'll call home when I can." I looked up at the Hoothoot clock on our green living room wall. "Oh crap, it's 8:00! We have to hurry if we're going to make it to the ferry!" I picked Minney up and put her in my backpack with her head sticking out so she could watch our backs, than ran out the door with my mother shouting at us "Don't forget to brush your teeth!" I smiled and headed for the forest. We never even looked back.

Sorry if that was a terrible ending, but I don't want to take too long on any one chapter. They will get longer, and the quality of the writing should get better after I've been writing longer. If you loved the story so far, great, if not, please tell me why in the comments or PM me. Thanks for reading; the next chapter will be out soon-ish.