Chapter 1
A yellow rodent-like creature hopped into the blue room where a young girl slept peacefully under her covers. After the previous night, the little creature was surprised to see that the girl had slept at all. It judged the distance from its position on the floor and the bed before making a jump. It landed perfectly where it wanted and crawled up to the girl's face. One paw stuck out and tapped her on the forehead. "Pika," came the sound that accompanied it. Slowly, the girl's eyes opened and she sat up groggily.
The Pikachu moved its position to her lap and looked up at her with wide eyes. "Pika pi," it said, urgently. The girl had obviously forgotten what day it was. Her eyes began to widen as she finally fully awoke. She immediately threw off her covers and trampled over to her dresser. "Pika!" The Pikachu said, annoyed that it was tossed aside with her blankets.
"Sorry Chuchu," the girl said and she returned to her blankets to fish out the Pokémon. "I guess I got too excited. Here, help me choose what to wear." She brought Chuchu over to her dresser and began pulling out various clothing items, holding them up to her, looking over for the Pikachu's approval, before tossing them aside. Finally she and Chuchu had decided on a white top covered with a blue jumper, a red belt, white arm and leg warmers, blue converse shoes, and a cute, blue hat. "All ready." The girl said as she adjusted her hat.
"Violet," a voice rose up from below the stairs. "Breakfast is ready!"
"Coming mom," the girl called back and grabbed her backpack from where it hung on her desk chair. Chuchu dashed behind her and climbed up onto her shoulders. "It feels so strange." Violet told Chuchu as she dashed down the hall toward the staircase. "I'm finally ten years old so I can go on a Pokémon journey, but it feels odd to be leaving home." Chuchu cried its name in a manner that seemed as if it was trying to comfort her. Violet laughed, and pulled the Pikachu into a hug. "I'm really going to miss sleeping with you," she said to it.
"Ah, there's our girl," a male's voice said standing in a doorway near the bottom of the stairs. "Hi dad," Violet said, giving him a hug and sneaking a glance past his shoulder through the open door. The laboratory looked clean and neat, much as it always did, but it was neater than usual. Probably because of the events that were happening that day. The look of the lab wasn't what Violet had been looking at though. In the center, on a table sat three Pokeballs, and inside one of them was her partner.
Her dad must have figured out why the hug was so long and pushed his daughter away. "Not yet," he said in a teasing way. "Come, your mother has called us." Violet took her father's hand as he led them to the kitchen on the opposite side of the room from where the lab was. She shot one more look at the three Pokeballs before heading into the kitchen.
The table was already set with Violet's favorite breakfast, chocolate chip pancakes with strawberries on top. The young girl released her father's hand and took her seat at the table. Chuchu leapt from her shoulder onto the table, taking a pancake for itself.
"It looks so good, mom," Violet said with a smile. Seeing the meal made her excitement turn into anxiety. This was going to be the last time she'd eat with her parents for awhile. She'd see them, but only over the phones at the various Pokémon Centers that dotted the land.
This made her more than a little bit sad and she decided to make the most of this breakfast with them. Once her parents sat down, she asked them. "What was starting out like for you?" Her mother and father looked at each other for awhile before her mother spoke. "I had never intended to go on a journey so my adventure more or less came as a shock to me. I had found out that Red had gone missing and went off searching for him with his Pikachu. I didn't expect it to be as hard as it did, but Team Rocket and the Elite Four of that time were defeated. I doubt that you'll have to face any dangers like them." She fell into silence then and looked a bit distant.
Violet turned to her dad. "I was overconfident when I started. I thought I knew everything there was to know about Pokémon because my grandpa was Professor Oak. My journey humbled me quite a bit. Or rather it was Red who helped to humble me." He looked long and hard into his glass of milk as if he were deep in thought.
"Don't worry dad," Violet said tapping him on the shoulder. "I'm not going to be overconfident because my dad is the Professor now."
Professor Green Oak laughed, but the worry did not leave his eyes. Violet wanted to ask what was wrong, but decided against it. This was supposed be a happy occasion. Besides the worry was probably because she was starting her own adventure that day. Then again, things had seemed more joyous when Topaz, Violet's brother, had left on his.
The door bell rang, marking the end of breakfast. Green left his seat to answer it while Yellow began to clean up. "Violet," she said after some time had passed. "Don't forget about the gifts the forest gave you. They will surely help you on your journey."
"I won't," she said, leaping up as she heard the voices of her friends Orange and Chartreuse, who were also starting their journeys today. Chuchu once again, dashed behind her and onto her shoulder. The Pikachu wouldn't miss Violet's beginning for the world.
"Hey Chartreuse," Violet said as she joined one of the other ten year olds in the lobby. Orange's excitement had obviously gotten him over to the lab before the time was right. "Hello Violet," Chartreuse said in response to Violet's greeting before pointing off in the direction their friend had gone. "Shall we follow Orange's example and head to the lab?" Violet nodded and they walked across the room and into the lab.
"So what Pokémon are available, Professor?" Orange asked in an excited tone, while closely examining each Pokeball. One of which contained his new partner. Green shook his head at the boy and sighed. "I might've known that your excitable nature would bring you over before I was prepared. Therefore, I made sure I did so earlier just to be safe." Violet's father added a wink to accentuate his statement. Orange grinned his typical toothy grin in response. "You know me too well, sir."
Green noticed that Violet and Chartreuse had now joined them in the lab and cleared his throat. "Well, may as well start since everyone is here." Chuchu jumped off of Violet's shoulder and on to the table that held the three Pokeballs for the new trainers. "As you know," Green began, gesturing to the balls, "these Pokeballs contain your partner for the journeys you are now ready to begin. They are different from Pokémon from the wild as these have been caught and then tamed so that they will be easy for beginners like you to raise. Although I have no doubt you all would raise any Pokémon well." He gazed at each of them one by one as if making sure his statement rang true.
"I could get into more detail and lecture you on the finer points of raising Pokémon, however I believe experience will be the best teacher here. That is where these come in." He gestured at the balls again. Orange elbowed Violet in the side and gave her a big grin. She smiled back. Having a Pokémon to raise really was an experience worth getting excited about.
"Please pick a Pokémon from these. You will each receive a different Pokémon as your beginning partner. We have here the traditional Kanto region starters, Bulbasaur, the Seed Pokémon, Charmander, the Lizard Pokémon, and Squirtle, the Tiny Turtle Pokémon." He gestured to each Pokeball in turn as he mentioned the Pokémon contained within. "I'll leave the rest to you." Green then took a few backwards steps and leaned against a desk behind him. Chuchu leapt off the table and off towards the doorway where Violet saw her mother.
"Ladies first," Chartreuse said, allowing Violet first pick, but in his fluster Orange was already picking up the Pokémon he wanted. "Charmander, alright!" he called out, raising the ball above his head in a victory pose. Chartreuse shook his head. "You'll never get a girlfriend," he teased to which Orange stuck out his tongue. "Like I'd want to!"
"Whatever," Chartreuse responded, before gesturing for Violet to go ahead of him. "No, I couldn't." Violet remarked, shaking her head vigorously. "I mean, wouldn't it seem like favoritism of my father to have me pick first. I'll go last. Besides you're the guest in this house."
Chartreuse responded by poking her nose. "He said he'd 'leave it to us'. I assume this meant who would be picking first and therefore has nothing to do with favoritism. Also don't start putting me in the guest category. I've been coming here since we were both really little. So has Orange for that matter." He folded his arms as he watched their distracted friend mess around with his new Pokeball. "Go on. Choose. I wouldn't be able to make a decision anyway. They're both great Pokémon."
This was true. Violet knew it. Appearances, strengths, weaknesses, none of those mattered to Chartreuse. He was the type who would have studied every single one of them to such a degree that he would see the positives of them all. He would even see how to compromise for the weaknesses they may have.
Violet also knew she had lost to him and that it was therefore her turn to choose, but which one? Orange had taken Charmander so that was one less Pokémon to worry about. Violet was thankful for that. Squirtle was a water type and Bulbasaur a grass type. Taking the first gym leader into account, Squirtle seemed to be the most logical choice, but Violet knew that type advantage was not always the case. What really mattered was the bond between trainer and Pokémon. Even knowing that, the choice was still very difficult.
Violet bit her bottom lip and looked to her dad as if he would help her. He just stared back, smiling and waiting. During this time Orange had finally stopped celebrating and was impatiently waiting for the girl's decision. "Well, come on!" he called out, unable to take the silence any longer. Chartreuse rolled his eyes and grabbed Orange in a hold. "Give her a bit! It's a hard decision. After all this is her first Pokémon."
Violet, however, had jumped at Orange's voice and had grabbed the Pokeball nearest her. "This one then," she said holding it up. "Lemme see!" Orange cried out, wrestling out of Chartreuse's hold and rushing to Violet. Violet held out the ball so that her friends could see. "Good choice," Chartreuse said, before grabbing the last pokeball on the table for himself. "That leaves Squirtle for me then."
"Hey, let's have a battle," Orange said pointing a finger at Chartreuse. "Really?" Chartreuse asked with a smirk. "You do realize that water beats fire, right?"