Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies. The characters in this work are all loosely based on those created by Pokemon and its companies, and this story will never by no means be used to make monetary profit or gain.
CHAPTER ONE
Destiny and Dragon Fire:
The sun is high. Two kids are crouched hidden in the bushes near the town gate. They know from experience that in two minutes there will be a guard shift. They know there will be a few seconds during that shift the gate will stay open. For the brave, that moment is everything.
The two kids look upon each other. The spiky haired sandy blonde one grins. "Chicken?" The dark haired one says nothing but smiles. They both take position.
The door opens. The kids dart.
"Hey-"
"Wha-"
The guards are already left behind as the boys run. They run until they can no longer hear the town. They run through the dwindling forest route and after certain they are not followed, they stray into the trees. They stop and breath the free air. Then they laugh.
"Further than ever this time."
"Not nearly as far enough."
They grin. Which had said which? It is all blurry...
Wait, it was all blurry...
The kids are by the river being boys. Fishing. Wrestling. Swimming. Drying in the sun.
"Check it out," the blonde one whispers, "there."
A yellow mouse is near, spying the kids, and yet unafraid, it heads to water refusing to change its daily course.
And why should it have though? We were the trespassers, this was his turf...
The dark haired one stands suddenly, childishly brave. He walks towards it, arms wide wanting to... Hold it? Catch it? Pet it?
Why did I really do that? Did I even remember?
"Red don't be stupid." Voice wary. "Red, watch it - Red!"
"Red!"
"Reeed!"
"RED!"
Startled I woke up. A familiar pair of blue eyes greeted me. Too near my face. I kicked.
"Ow, what the fuck man-"
"LANGUAGE!" came a roar from below. Blue chuckled while his one hand tried to straighten those abnormally spiky hair of his. "Sorry ma'am!" he yelled back.
"Seriously though, what the frickin' hell were you dreaming. It took forever to wake you up." His eyes paused a bit on my bedside poster. "Man, I told you not to hang that Sabrina pic, no wonder you don't want to wake up, getting laid only in your dreams pal." I kicked again, but this time he jumped aside and casually sat on my chair.
I groaned and sat up straight in bed. Rubbing my eyes, I asked the time. "6 in the morning," came the answer. He must have not liked the look in my eyes so he felt the need to add. "I couldn't sleep. Your mom was kind enough to let me in. Could have been my charm, or because I didn't stop knocking on the door."
"One or the either," I muttered. I was still under the effects of my dream and hadn't adjusted to reality yet. I stared at Blue. "You're in my seat."
"Well excuse frickin' me your Highness. Would you also like me to bring your breakfast to bed and take care of that morning wood you got there?" Blue said, still sitting in my chair while I adjusted my covers more appropriately. "Seriously though how could you sleep last night knowing that today would come?"
"Last night? It's still night moron." Then, I admitted. "Couldn't sleep at first. Then, I don't know, must've dosed off. Was dreaming the day I got this." I waved my right hand. On my arm, below the hand, the lightning looking scar, a Lichtenberg figure, could be clearly seen.
"Huh." Blue looked unimpressed. "That can't be an ominous way to start this day." I threw my pillow at him which he dodged again.
"How was your night?" I asked.
"With Daphne. And then with Sarah. Both of whom could not believe that I had made it and would miss me terribly. I spent my time with them a bit to, you know, calm my blood, get the adrenaline drop but nope. Couldn't shake the excitement."
"So, you began the night with two lovely ladies but still managed to end up in my room," I said making his grin drop a little. "Get outta here. I'm gonna shower."
"Meet ya downstairs," he yelled as he darted down the stairs. Shaking my head, I entered the upstairs bathroom and the shower.
A minute late ice-cold water was running. "Get used to it," I muttered to myself as I stepped in. The sudden chill brought me wide awake, and as it tended to happen while showering, I was lost in memories and dreams.
))(())((
"It's your blood," my mother had said. "I can't fight that. I want to but can't." She had never spoken more on the subject.
I did not know if it was my blood or something else, but truth be told, I did have it. The spark. The talent. The sense. Whatever they called it. Could read and write before school, so I skipped first year elementary and directly began second. Even then I was smarter than my peers. At that age it was harder to make friends with those older and more stupid than you, so during the first year of school I spent most of my time alone on the school yard while other kids played catch or ball.
The pidgey were the first wild pokemon I ever saw, if you could call them wild. Nothing much wild grew in Pallet Town. To others they were part of the landscape; the flying pidgey chasing after crumbs, the occasional growlithe on leash panting behind their owners, the wooper that came out after the rain... All part of the scenery. Ordinary.
Not for me.
My first week in school all I did during breaks was pidgey-watching. Which one was the fastest? The slowest? The heaviest? Their reaction times. My brain was a sponge, absorbing every minuscule detail of the flock of pidgey that inhabited the school grounds.
By the second week, I caught one using a makeshift trap with the help of a loaf of bread and a cardboard box. She was one of the slower ones of the flock, but she was mine. I named her Feathers.
I hid her in the same box. I hid her and fed her and secretly trained her. Well, 'train' was a strong a word. I was only six after all and had no official education. Mine was old school trial and error experimenting, but eventually I came to the simplest training method of all. When I asked Feathers to do something, if she did it, she was rewarded with bread. If not, left hungry. It was fascinating for me to see the progress Feathers made, her beginning to associate my words to first objects, then actions. Eventually, she became better at understanding me, and I used her mostly for what I would simply describe as 'fetch'. Every day, I made her fly relatively longer distances and asked her to do this in shorter times. She grew leaner and faster under my tutelage.
The year passed by. School work was a joke and having past my boring second year elementary education, I couldn't wait to visit Feathers again in her old cardboard box home.
I still remember the shock on my face when I was greeted by something other than Feathers. This bird was larger and had pink short hair atop her head. Whereas Feathers was small, this was at least as big as me. And this one swatted me aside with one big wing, chirped loudly, and flew off.
That was the first time I saw a pidgeotto.
The wing swat left a mark that couldn't have gone unnoticed, and reports of a pidgeotto seen were coming. It didn't take long for the authorities to put two and two together. An uncomfortable talk with the sheriff, my teacher, and mom awaited me.
"Pidgeotto aren't exactly classified as alpha level threats, and this one hasn't hurt anybody so we'll let this slide. Still ma'am, you should remind your kid that he should leave training to the professionals. It's our job to keep the danger outside these walls and anymore unlicensed training will not be tolerated again," the sheriff said strictly to my mother.
"Still at this age to accomplish an evolution! Ma'am have you considered your child for training school?" my teacher asked awe stricken to my mother.
My mother said nothing.
For me that incident changed everything. I learned that with time and effort, pokemon evolved. I had unknowingly evolved mine only for it to become stronger than me, so it had flown off. For this to never happen again, I had to learn everything I could about pokemon. Everything.
I never left the library that summer.
The next school year I met Blue - back then of course he was Gary. Some big shot's grandson so every teacher was sucking up to him. He was my age, 5 months older, but he too had skipped first year. We ended up in same class.
We hated each other.
))(())((
I turned off the water, dried myself off, and headed downstairs to the kitchen. My mother was up and wearing her apron, she held the coffee pot in one hand and flipped pancakes with the other. Blue was seated, and in front of him stood a ginormous amount of pancakes.
"Mew dammit something is up with you today." He grumbled. "Took your damn sweet time."
"Morning mom," I said, ignoring him completely. My mom smiled a bit tightly to my liking but returned my greeting. "Morning love. Better dig in quickly before you test Garret's patience here." I rolled my eyes and began eating.
It was about seven by the time we left my house. Blue was fidgeting all over as he rambled on and on, and truth be honest, I wasn't really listening. We got on our bikes and began pedaling. After a while Blue shut up, and we rode our bikes the rest of the way in enjoyable quiet.
We arrived in front of Pallet Laboratories half an hour later. The door was still locked and the others hadn't arrived yet. "What's with everyone being late?" muttered Blue.
"We're early," I replied. We locked our bikes, and with nothing to do, sat waiting.
"So, tell me about the starters," I said.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," he lied.
"You live in the same house with your grandpa. Your grandpa issues the starters. Tell me what you know," I pressured.
"Gramps won't tell me anything. I'm not gonna lie, I tried asking him till I bugged him to death, and I also tried hacking his dex. He isn't the smartest man in Indigo for nothing you know. I found nothing. Nada," he said.
"Blue," I continued pushing. "I've seen you hack his dex when you were eleven."
He grinned at that. "Yeah, well, afterwards he set a tauros on me, so lesson learned."
I sat quiet after that, knowing Blue would eventually crack. He could never help himself, he had this need to show off and boast his knowledge. Impatient as ever, he stood up and began pacing around. Finally, he spilled. "I do know five arrived."
"Genius," I said. "Knowing that there are five graduates this year, it must have been hard for you to come up to that number."
"Wise cracking doesn't suit you Red," he snapped. "I also know that one of them must be packing quite a punch because gramps was chuckling all over the house yesterday. 'I wish I could see the look on his face,' he kept muttering. So one of us is getting something that even surprised gramps."
Interesting news, I thought, though entirely useless.
"Look," interrupted Blue my thoughts. "They're coming." One by one the other three graduates arrived. They greeted Blue warmly, me curtly, and then drifted off talking among themselves. Blue joined in on their conversation, and I was left ignored.
I really didn't mind. People were never my strong suit. People in fact bored me. There were exceptions; my mother, of course, and the entire Oak family. A strict need-to basis had always been my strategy with people, and I doubted that would ever change.
I heard the click first. The doors to the laboratory opened from the inside and a middle aged bearded man wearing a warm smile stood in front of us. He cleared his throat with a short "Eh-hem," and the other graduates fell silent.
"Welcome, welcome! One, two, three, four aaand five, lovely, lovely all of you are here. Please, please follow me in!"
"Ugh," whispered Blue as he passed me. "Could he be any lamer? Sorry I meant could he be, be any lamer?" I couldn't help snickering.
We walked together for a short while until we were led to a large open room. The room was mostly, in fact, entirely empty except for the table across the room. And on the table were the-
"Starters!" The man, who was actually one of Professor Oak's assistants, pointed. "Each held in its own pokeball. Each has been bred or trained here in Pallet Labs to be the perfect starting companion! You've all made it this far, so you know the drill. In a few minutes, the timers on those balls will release and the first to reach you will become your star..." His voice drifted away in my head as my eyes fixed on the pokeballs. I realized my mouth went dry.
I took deep breaths to steady myself but I couldn't help shaking. Now that the moment was here, I couldn't even imagine how I could have had slept last night when: This. Was. It. Breezing through elementary school. Being selected to training school. Graduating early. Long gone were the days where I hid a pidgey in a card box. This was the moment I would be separated from the norm. I tried focusing myself on the assistant but barely heard his words.
"...fter I will need you to sign these forms so I can give you your trainer card, pokedex, and starting fee. Unlike other professions, as trainers these cards will allow you to directly challenge gyms for badges, instead of the years of gym work one would require. Of course, the league still advises young trainers to hone their skills at gyms for, well, at least the first few badges instead of rushing head long into-"
"Skip the basics and get to it." I heard Blue whisper behind me. I realized my hand was trembling.
"And, well, that pretty much covers it." He checked his watch. "You should be ready. The starters are just as excited as you, some even more. One is particularly rowdy. Get ready."
We all tensed. "Remember," the assistant said. "they will bolt towards you. The first one to reach you will be your partner forever."
"This is iiit..." whispered Blue again. He seemed to have lost his voice, but I agreed. This was it. This was destiny. Depending on our partners, our entire roster would shape, our team strategies, our future, all hinged on this moment...
"Now!"
All five balls opened simultaneously. My eyes had but a moment to register, but it was enough. For a split-second time stood still, and I was able to repeat the mental picture my eyes had taken over and over again till what seemed to be eternity passed.
The red lights shaped into matter midair.
A small, pink, bird-like, yellow haired pokemon. A smoking cloud of fire. What seemed to be a striped giant plug. A brown fur ball. And...
A yellow rat.
Suddenly I was twelve years old again.
"Red!" the boy shouts.
The other one does not hear him or hears him too late. Either way, the pokemon has its tail in the air. Its cheeks sparkle, and it lunges.
A strike of flash. Impossible for the human eye to track.
Pain. Right arm numb. Burning. The boy falls to his knees but refuses to pass out. The beast and man lock eyes.
"Red!"
Startled, the beast prepares to send another strike of lightning, but before it can, the earth trembles and a roar is heard. A giant hoof presses down and pins the rat by its tail. It squeals but refuses to pass out. The beast and man lock eyes.
Then a red light swallows the beast. And the man passes out.
The second passed.
This was destiny.
My scar began aching again.
The pikachu was the first to reach a trainer. In this case, the trainer was me. It ran - how quick it was - until it stopped right in front of me. We locked eyes, once again, after five years. I reached down with my right arm. Its nose twitched as it smelled my scar, then it jumped up and climbed to my shoulders.
Still filled with adrenaline, still traumatized by memories, and still burdened with the thought that this meant something, I began manically laughing. It started as small cackles but shortly after, I was bursting out, my stomach hurting and my eyes in tears. The pikachu, it - a he, I realized - jumped down, obviously bothered by my sudden behavior. Still, he didn't run far and stood near me.
As my sudden episode passed I remembered I was not alone in this experience. Keeping myself together again, I checked the other graduates and their starters.
I realized the other three pokemon were a smoochum, magby and elekid. They stood close by their trainers who looked quite happy with their partners. And why not, I thought. A smoochum would eventually evolve into a jynx, a powerfully offensive albeit frail pokemon, whereas the magby and elekid would become a magmortar and elektrivire, each of them bulky and strong if slow. And as for Blue...
I couldn't help it. My nerves were already stretched to their limits and maybe, definitely, it was rude, but I laughed.
Blue was stuck with an eevee. He too looked unbelievably at the little brown house pet happily nibbling at his feet.
Slowly, Blue raised his head. I thought he was speechless for once, but he sighed, reached down, and picked his eevee up in his arms.
"Alright girl," he said directly to it - her. "Looks like you and me are about to make history." His eyes regained his confident look and the eevee yelped. Then he looked at me. "Whoah Red, nice of you to pick a starter that tried to kill you once. Makes my goal a lot easier."
"Yeah, your goal of winning all beauty contests, is it? Cause that's where you're going with your starter." I shot back. He gritted his teeth, ready for a rebuttal, when a silent "Ah-hem" interrupted our banter.
"Now that your starters are picked, I'm afraid we have a teeny bit of bureaucracy left. If all of you would fill in and sign these forms..."
It took a while for me to stop the trembling of my hands, but eventually all five us signed the necessary forms and Roy, the assistant, gave each of us a small package.
"Please, please check the contents now immediately - there should be five balls, a pokedex, and a pokebelt. Try turning on your dexes, we've observed some small technical problems with these newer models. Oh, oh and don't forget to grab your starter balls from the table!"
I reached out to the central ball on the table when I heard a light growl. Everybody turned their heads towards my pikachu, whose fur was now stiff and tail was high. He was giving the ball a nasty look.
I ignored him and reached again.
No warning.
I just had time to pull my hand back. The spot on the table where the small surge of electricity had hit was now blackened. My pikachu was still growling.
"You might wanna stop doing that Reddy boy." Blue grinned. He casually took his own pokeball and recalled his eevee. So did the other trainers with their own starters - they were smirking nastily though.
I ignored them and looked my pikachu in the eye. "You can stay out. But I need the ball."
The second I said that he could stay out, he relaxed. Deeming it safe, I put my belt on and added the starter ball.
"Hey what the- This dex is broken!" Blue complained.
I checked mine. It made a small hissing noise, and then its screen went black.
"Oh deary, dear..." Roy looked genuinely sad. "Is anyone else having the same problem?" The other trainers' dexes were fine, and they seemed to be getting impatient, not that I blamed them. I too could not wait to get out of here to begin my career, so I was understanding when Roy asked from Blue and me to wait for a minute while he escorted the others out.
Blue was... Well, like Blue I guess.
"Of all the rotten luck! A fucking broken pokedex. I'm gonna have a talk with gramps next I see him - like I needed any much more delay." He looked furious. Then as if a sudden thought occurred to him, his face lightened a bit. "Though it will be fun when I point out his failure of a dex - he doesn't like it when his mistakes are pointed out."
"You would be wasting your breath. I assure you nothing here was a mistake." Behind us came in probably the most well-known man in Indigo - excluding the champion of course.
"I needed a private moment to speak with you both and, well, at the same time I needed it to seem as if I wasn't playing favorites." Professor Samuel Oak put down the small metal briefcase he was holding on the table. My pikachu jumped up and sniffed the case once, then lost interest and rolled down on its back. The professor gently began scratching my pikachu's belly.
"Like your starter?" he asked me, grinning. "Truth be told, he isn't that quite ready yet to start out, needs at least a few more years of training. Never quite got used to being put in a ball for example, this one, as I'm sure you realized." His eyes briefly stopped on the blackened spot on the table. "But when I saw that you graduated early, I thought, well, it might be interesting and added him to the roster."
"Great story gramps." Blue broke in without waiting for my reply. "Maybe now you can also explain why we're being held here."
"Because Garrett, as of right now, I am playing favorites." He faced the briefcase and pulled out a pokeball. "Talos," he said as a porygon came out. "Would you mind?" The funny looking artificial pokemon looked at the suit and touched with its nose the electronic lock-pad. In a flash, it was gone.
"Two-part security." The professor explained when he saw me interested. "The first lock is programmed by myself to only respond to Talos' meddling. After Talos is done with the system, a four-code password is needed. Voice activated." Just as he finished explaining, Talos materialized in front of the case. "Thank you," said the Professor kindly as he called Talos back. He cleared his throat and said clearly the numbers. "Two. Nine. Zero. Eight."
I saw Blue shift slightly when his grandfather said those numbers.
The case silently opened. In it stood two small computer chips.
"The latest software version of the Indigo pokedex." His eyes were shining as he introduced us the chips. "I programmed it myself and then sent it over to William. He too added a few small tweaks. This here is the result. Faster. Broader range. Can track individual pokemon on a genetic level. Has more storage capabilities for personal notes. Includes not only pokemon native to Indigo; but also those to Hoenn, Kalos, Sinnoh, and even Unova. Programmed to update as newer species in Alola are being discovered."
I gasped. Blue too seemed silent for once. Every trainer's pokedex in Indigo included pokemon native to Kanto and Johto, that was a given. Those who were willing to pay extra could possibly get their hands on one that included the native lists of Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Kalos. But Unova was a semi-theocratic nation with both its Champion Alder and its religious leader Ghetsis being known for their conservative ways. Its borders were almost always closed, and with it supporting an entirely different habitat of pokemon than those found in Indigo, Hoenn, Kalos and Sinnoh, I wondered how the professor had managed to get his hands on the Unovan pokelist.
As for Alola? Expeditions were still being made to the newly discovered man inhabiting chain of isles. With almost the entire world being lost to the wild, the discovery of Alolan natives by Hoennese voyagers had made great echoes. Both Indigo and Sinnoh had immediately sent their own rangers, and last I heard, a stable league government was trying to be established. The problem was most of the natives opposed these foreign 'invaders' and the foreigners themselves were not exactly in sync, each nation tried manipulating the locals in their own interests. With the isles being full of many unknown pokemon and the political instability, Alola was one of the most dangerous places on earth right now.
"Gramps this is, really, I mean, well, huh, thank you," said Blue. I too nodded.
"I'm not giving this exactly out of the kindness of my heart." the professor said sternly. "While both William and I are certain that this device works, it hasn't been actually field tested. So I expect you to use it daily and send me weekly reports."
"Great. Homework," groaned Blue, but I knew he was joking. This was a far too valuable device. Half the battles were determined because one side never knew exactly what the other side's pokemon were capable of. Almost all the time, when one entered an unknown, never seen pokemon, that side won. With this pokedex, both Blue and I lowered our chances of getting blindsided.
"Now the both of you are gifted in more ways than one," the elder Oak said matter of factly. "The league was distressed when they heard I was handing these valuable prototypes to two novice-" Blue snorted, but the professor continued. "-trainers, but I convinced Lance that both of you were more capable than your age. In any case, please don't go around boasting about this new tech you both have. It would be harmful in more than one way."
"No worries gramps," Blue said. "And not to be ungrateful and all, but can we please, please leave now?"
))(())((
"He's pretty," my mom said. "Does he have a name?"
"Not yet." I answered back. I sat across her in my living room. Blue had made way towards his home, bidding me farewell with a "Smell ya later suckeeer". I had gone to mine, itching to begin my journey, but having one last thing to take care of.
Pikachu had taken a liking to my mother and was now napping on her lap. He still refused to be put in his ball. After leaving the lab I had tried again, but after seeing his fur crackle, I had given up.
"He's a bit stubborn," I said.
"Like you are?" My mother gave a small smile.
"I guess." I grinned. "He'll make a good battler."
"Battling is only half the responsibility." My mother shot back almost automatically. Seeing my surprised look, she sheepishly explained, "It was something your father always said..."
We sat in silence after that. I felt a little uncomfortable. My mother usually never talked to me about my father, and it made me feel uneasy that she now saw fit to speak of him the day I was determined to leave. Pikachu, sensing my turmoil I guess, woke up, and climbed down my mother's lap to between my knees. I took it as sign to go.
"Mom-"
"Did you know I remember the day Lance was crowned?" my mother cut me. Her eyes were blurry as if she was confronting memories she would rather not. "Those days my eyes were almost always on the news for... other reasons. In any case, there he was in all his glory and dragons. Dragons. Most live their life never seeing one for real. Those that do are often too scarred or traumatized. And there he stood; his black cape fluttering with air pressure as all three of them flew above him. That sight brought our people hope. 'There,' they said, 'now this is a leader. A champion.' Do you know what I thought?" Her eyes now clearer, looked straight at me, piercing my soul. "Young. That was what I thought. He was young."
I squirmed a little as I thought I could guess where my mother was going with this. Lance too had graduated training early, the same age of seventeen as Blue and me. He had conquered all sixteen gyms, doubling the minimum number required for championship entry, in a blindingly fast time of six years. The next year he had entered the championship and become Indigo's youngest champion at age twenty-four.
"Of course, it worked out well for him." My mother continued. "You know better than me. You've watched more of his battle footage than anyone. Seventeen years of victory. Every four years the championships. Four matches. Four times undefeated. A team of dragons that have never lost a match once."
I dared looking up to my mother. Her eyes were now red.
"I told you once that I could not stop you. I won't. Can't. But listen to me for once. For the young, not always does it work out as neatly as it did with Lance. In this road, the young almost always suffer."
I couldn't bear listening to her speaking so heart-broken for long, I left in a hurry and got on my bike. Without knowing why, I hit the pedals hard and cycled through town; my pikachu all the while panting and running behind me. Near the town gates I stopped. My starter gave me a nasty look before he collapsed, running all the way through town had tired him.
I would deal with him in a minute. Now I was thinking on my mother's last words.
Lance had graduated the same age as me. He had skipped the first Championship two years after his graduation and entered the second. He had needed six years of training to become the Champion.
Had my mother guessed that I was planning the even more impossible? The last championship was a year ago, Lance's fourth and latest victory. The next one would be in three years.
Three years.
Three years were left to learn how to slay dragons.
))(())((
Author's Note:
This is my take on the events of the game Pokemon Yellow, and how different it would be if Pokemon was based in a more realistic world with its own history. It's mainly a world building and character development story, but it will have its fair share of action and plot twists.
The story will follow the Yellow game events, but there will be easter eggs and references to the other official games, fan made games, and anime (Kudos to anyone who can guess without googling which game the magby, elekid, smoochum trio reference).
Next update: Week of November 27th.