CHAPTER ONE

The sun shone brightly that day, as it climbed over Cinnabar's Islands' volcano and lit the treetops as they rebelliously grew near the inactive volcano. For decades, the town of Cinnabar has sat below it, though it is a majestic sight, most would fear it. But not the people from this town, the volcano has shaped this island from the beginning of time and from destruction, creation arises. Not a large town but large enough to find some time to yourself, a small Pokémon Centre and Pokémart lay side by side and my house not too far away. My neighbours, family and friends are all, not to anyone's surprise, into the fire type Pokémon, being near a volcano. Because of our obsession with fire Pokémon, we host the fire type gym in the Kanto league. The Kanto league is a group of eight professional trainers, known as Gym Leaders, who are strong in their own right, each specializing in a certain type of Pokémon. When a trainer believes they are ready to compete for the Kanto League, they write a letter to Professor Oak, the leading expert on Pokémon in this region, an application for a starter Pokémon which must included a reference from a qualified source, in my town, that's Blaine, the Gym leader. If your towns' qualified source believes you are ready and Professor Oak is impressed with your application, he sends you back a summoning, to meet him at his lab and receive your starter level Pokémon, last week, I got my letter, and today I am leaving.

I had read about how to catch Pokémon and what a Pokédex was and how to use one well before I was meant to. Unknown to many of the people on the island is a building buried near the Gym, a giant, beautiful mansion that once stood, now burnt down, abandoned and underground. I spent a lot of free time there, as a child, this mansion that housed many Pokémon, and every now and then thieves, remained my quiet and peaceful place. It was here I met my childhood friend, a Growlithe, exploring around the buildings library, looking at books, instruction manuals and research notes, one such crook approached me. Growlithe sprung to my rescue, burning the foe and sending him out the door without taking a thing. Ever since my Growlithe, that I've since named Archie has been by my side. He was never caught in a ball, Archie was my Pokémon through friendship alone, until last year where my birthday gift was a Pokéball. They warned me not to catch any Pokémon until I had a starter, they said they could be aggressive, dangerous and even too powerful for to handle. Though Archie was already my friend, I only had to place the ball in front of him and he jumped inside. I never kept him in there for long, only when my parents were around, he had to be hidden, and the only one who knew was my next-door neighbour, Elysia.

Elysia was a fierce girl with a fuse close to two centimetres long, with short boyish light brown hair and blue eyes to match. She had been my boyhood friend for as long as I could remember, she had a desire to travel and a dream to be a brilliant fire Pokémon master and eventually the Gym leader here after Blaine. She had always been in awe of his skill and passion, knowing she had heaps to learn she could not wait until the day she would be summoned to Pallet Town to pick up her starter, she was ready for it now, but her summoning letter never came. I just wanted to learn as much as I could about Pokémon, but not just that, about the history of each and every town, the legends and superstitions that stuck with the residents, written in folklore. Many times I would make my way to the Mansions' library, looking up stories and legends, about Pokémon who could time travel, who apparently created land, water and air, Pokémon who ruled time and space and even distorted worlds in universes beyond this one. Of course these were all just local stories, collected and added to an anthology of Pokémon history in a burnt out library. However this is what really interested me. The myths and legends of Pokémon, that's what I want to learn about and possibly, uncover new discoveries.

My name is Airen, and today is the day I leave this town and start my adventure, in order to follow my dream, learning as much as I possibly can. I was laying down and staring out the window, knowing this is possibly the last time, at least for a while, that I'd see this volcano. You never realise its beauty until you are about to lose it.
"Don't worry." came a voice behind me, "It's not gonna go anywhere while you are gone."
It was my mum, a small woman, for our family at least, standing a little below five and a half feet while the rest of us were six feet tall and above.
"I don't know, I swear it just moved." I replied with a faint smile on my face.
She managed a smile in order to hold back the tears, I was glad for that, she had been crying all week since she agreed to let me leave, dad was more than happy but I knew he cared. Rolling myself out of bed, I went to the bathroom to shower and clean up before I head off, looking in the mirror and wondering what actually happens to my hair at night, my dark brown hair never looked right straight out of bed, but after a shower it went from messy to straight down and flat, getting into my usual jeans with a V-neck shirt and button up over shirt combo. As I walked out to the kitchen, I grabbed my breakfast and got the last of my things, that morning was strangely quiet, mum and dad sat silently, gently looking at me but swiftly staring away when I tried to match their gaze, almost as if they would never see me again, like it was the last. I finished my meal in the dead silence, grabbed my pack and my belongings as I said my goodbyes, dad offering a stern but caring handshake and my mum took about two minutes to stop hugging me. I walked out the door and it took less than five steps before I heard her voice.
"Airen! You gonna leave without saying goodbye?!"
I turned to answer but she had already reached me and threw her arms around me.
"You know I will return right?" I asked.
"Yep, and you'll have six badges when you do." she managed with a smile.
"You gonna miss me while I'm gone?"
She sent her hand flying into my arm "DUH!" she exclaimed, "Yes of course, you are my best friend."
I turned, still rubbing my arm, knowing she would escort me to the helicopter that would take me across the sea, but Blaine, the Gym leader here, stopped me.
"So, here's the master in the making." with a loud, booming voice.
Blaine stood just short of me and wore smart pants, shirt and tie, matched with a white lab coat, his white moustache measuring much taller than his hair and was the only hair on his head, apart from his eyebrows. I smiled back to him, knowing a Pokémon master wasn't my dream at all, rather just to learn, though everyone on this island shared his belief.
"Hey Blaine." I managed, "I'll see you in six Gym battles time."
"Can't wait." he chuckled.
"H...i... Bla..ine, sir." Elysia muttered, as she blushed redder than Archie's fur.
"Hey Elysia, how are ya?!" his gaze turned to me as he spoke, "Isn't she a keeper?" he winked and now it was my turn to blush,
"Yea, a great… friend." I reassured, smiling toward Elysia
"I'll see ya later Blaine, take care of Elysia for me would ya?"
I continued my walk to the helipad. The helicopter was mainly used for delivering and receiving Pokémon medicine for the mart and centre but this time it was headed to Viridian, and they offered me a ride to Pallet Town, which I gratefully accepted. As I motioned toward the helicopter I received another embrace from Elysia, and then turned to see Elysia's family, my family and Blaine seeing me off, even this towns' Nurse Joy had come out to see me off. I waved goodbye one last time and jumped on the helicopter, when it took off even I couldn't stop a tear rolling down my cheek as my beautiful town at the foot of a majestic volcano disappeared from sight.