Chapter 1
Just a little bit closer… Thought the young sandy blonde haired boy thought as he reached out to touch the pokemon. He loved pokemon, and wanted to play with every one he came across. While in the park today, he had found a little rattata and of course just had to go over and make friends with it. It was a small rat looking pokemon with a purple body with a white under belly and its two front teeth stuck out like beaver teeth. He had followed it to a large bush, and was so close to petting it. Just when he was about to touch it another sound was heard, a rustling in the bush, and a large orange rat like pokemon came barreling out of the bush ready to defend its young from whatever was intruding on its home. The young boy gave a startled Yelp and jumped back. Every pokemon he'd encountered before this one was friendly, but not this one. He tried to reach out to pet it once again, but the agitated raticate swiped at the boy scratching him in the arm. The boy wailed in pain as he now looked at the pokemon in fear. The Raticate began to advance on the boy when it was struck by something… Another pokemon. This pokemon's round body had no arms or legs, floated in the air, and seemed to be surrounded by some kind of purple gas. It had big eyes and visible fangs that seemed to grin. The two pokemon stared at each other with the floating pokemon in front of the boy as if it was protecting him. The boy sat back holding his arm wondering what he could've done to cause a pokemon to react like this. The Raticate lunged at the opposing pokemon, its teeth seemed to glow as it bit down on the pokemon, giving it a cut over its left eye. The gassy pokemon winced in pain, but shook off the attack and proceeded to shoot purple waves of energy at the angry raticate. Whatever it was doing it did not like. It reeled back in what looked to be a state of confusion. It then looked at the floating pokemon, then the boy, and decided that this boy wasn't worth any more trouble, and scooped up the young Rattata and ran off into the woods. The floating pokemon then turned to look at the young boy that had a shocked and worried look on his face, was this pokemon going to turn on him too? The floating pokemon then stuck out a large tongue and its eyes seemed to turn upside down and shouted "GHASTLY!" and gave out a big laugh. The boy's expression turned from worry to a small smile then burst out laughing too. But it was cut short by another voice. "Kenji are you out here?" The boy looked out to see his dad coming towards him the boy then looked back to say goodbye to the floating pokemon, but when he turned back, it was gone. The father came up to the boy and knelt beside him. "Kenji, what have I told you about running off like that you had me and your mother worried sick," the father began to scold but stopped when he noticed Kenji's scratched arm. "How did that happen son" he asked kindly "did you fall"? "No," the young boy shook his head, "a pokemon did this," he said in a saddened tone. The boy recounted the events of what had happened to his father who listened intentively. "Why would that raticate attack me like that?" the boy asked looking up at his dad. "Well, I'd think it was just defending its kid," the dad said smiling. "But I wasn't gonna hurt it or anything" the young boy said sadly. "Well, the mother didn't know that now did she". The boy paused to think. "Not every pokemon out there is going to like you, but if you do your best to help them understand your feelings, I think you'll be just fine," said the dad standing up. "Now, how about we get back to your mother, you don't want her to eat all your birthday cake do you?" the dad said giving a mischievous grin. The boy gasped, he had completely forgotten that it was his birthday. The boy stood up and went off with his dad back to the park where there was a small group of people there gathered around a park table with some presents and a birthday cake with seven candles on it
After a wonderful off-key round of happy birthday, the boy looked down at his cake which read happy birthday Kenji, it had several pokeballs in frosting all over the top of the cake with seven lit candles. "Remember to make a wish Kenji" his mom said. The young boy paused for a second, giving it some thought. After a moment he took a deep breath and shouting "I WISH TO BE FRIENDS WITH A BUNCH OF POKEMON!!" Everybody sweat dropped before giggling at the young energetic boy. And with a mighty blow he blew out his candles.
Kenji had often thought about this memory, it was a good one. He never saw any of those friends again, he and his family had since moved to Lumios city in the kalos region. His dad was a pokemon research scientist who got asked to work with Professor Sycamore, a well esteemed pokemon professor who specialized in Pokemon evolution. It was Kenji's 12th birthday tomorrow, and his dad had asked him to come by the lab in the morning. Kenji was racking his brain on what he could possibly want, it's not like he hadn't been to the lab before. Several days out of the week he had helped take care of the pokemon after school was out. Kenji had even taken a particular liking to his dad's tyranitar, who worked as his dad's lab assistant. Tyranitar are normally very aggressive and short tempered, but for some reason this one was very tame, patient, and loved people. Kenji pondered over these thoughts late into the night then falling asleep where he dreamed of playing and battling with all kinds of pokemon.
The next morning was Kenji's birthday. His mom had made him a big stack of pancakes before he set off to the lab. Kenji then got on a bus and was off to the city. Lumios City was very a very big and busy city in the center of the Kalos region. It was filled with all kinds of shops and things to do, and at the center was Prism Tower, it was designed by a young inventor who helped design some of the major parts of the city. Things like phone booth looking capsules, where electric type Pokemon could release excess stored up electricity, and it was used to power the entire city. It was quite a feat to say the least. Prism Tower was also home to the city's pokemon gym, Kenji was lost in thought about what kind of pokemon that gym leader used and what it would be like to one day battle with his own pokemon. School was over for the summer and Kenji was hoping to at least attempt to try and catch his own pokemon. He would often ask his dad if he could borrow a pokemon from the lab to help him catch one of his own but he always said no. Some kids even at the age of ten could get their own pokemon through a special program and could even get their own pokedex if they got good enough grades in school. His thoughts were cut short upon hearing a sneering voice as he got off the bus. "Oh, look it's Kenji, gonna go play with your pokemon friends? oh I forgot you don't have any," the kid kid also getting off the bus. Kenji turned to see who he really had no desire to see on of all days today…Ritchie. Ritchie was 13 and stood a few inches above Kenji, he had on a red shirt and brown cargo shorts and a black hat turned backwards. "Lay off Ritchie, I don't have time for your nonsense," Kenji said rolling his eyes. Trying to ignore him he went on foot towards the lab but Ritchie followed. "You're on your way to the lab aren't you," he questioned. "So what if I am," Kenji said shoving his hands in his pockets. It's not like he hated Ritchie, he just found him annoying. "Well, I'm on my way to get my first pokemon from professor sycamore," Ritchie jeered at Kenji. "Yea, I got good enough grades that got me entered into the program," he said grinning. "Oh, really," Kenji said reluctantly. Kenji's grades weren't as good as Ritchie's. He didn't do well in class, he'd rather be out in the real world experiencing and interacting with pokemon rather than reading about them in a book. Ritchie went on and on about how he's gonna get the best pokemon and he's gonna conquer the gyms and then the pokemon league. Kenji secretly envied Ritchie, to be able to go out on his own and meet all kinds of pokemon. Kenji sighed as they got to the lab and walked through the doors where they were greeted by professor sycamores assistant. "Hey Kenji, your dad's in the back I'll buzz you in," a buzzer rang and a door unlocked letting Kenji in. "What no fair!" whined Ritchie. "I wanna see what's going on back there!" he pouted as he had to wait in the lobby.
Kenji entered the lab a saw a large armored pale green pokemon standing upright that had spikes on its back. "Hey tyranitar!" Kenji greeted as he ran over to the large pokemon. It turned to face Kenji and leaned down and gave out a happy grunt and greeted the boy another lab assistant was on a computer typing something up and noticed him. "Oh, hey Kenji your dad is in his office." "Thanks Reggie," Kenji smiled as he headed down a hallway. Kenji knew his way around the lab well enough to where he wouldn't get lost. He came to a door labeled Dr Norman Donovan. Kenji opened the door to find his dad wearing a lab coat typing away on his computer, under his lab coat he wore light brown pants and a blue button up shirt tucked in. "Oh, hey there Kenji you're just in time," he said standing up. "Yea what did you want to see me for dad?" Kenji asked. "Well, come follow me," he said leading Kenji out into the hall through a bunch of different doors. He stopped at a final door and turned to Kenji. "Now Kenji, I know it hasn't been easy for you since we moved here. But I think now is the time and you're ready." "Ready for what?" Kenji asked. "Well," his dad said, "through this door, is your birthday present, I hope you like it," his dad said stepping away from the door. Kenji reached up nervously to the door handle, he thought he heard a familiar voice from the other side it sounded like… Ritchie? Sort of confused Kenji opened the door and found Ritchie and another girl next to him. Kenji had seen her around school but never interacted with her at all. "What are you doing here?" Ritchie asked in a snotty tone. "What am I?" Kenji started, "what are you doing here?" Kenji retorted. "Well, we are waiting to get our first pokemon, but the last kid is late," said Ritchie in an irritated tone. Kenji looked back at his dad confused, when another door opens and professor sycamore walked through. He was a tall thin man with black curly hair. He wore black pants with a purple button up shirt tucked in and a white lab coat over top. "Hello everyone," he said with a big smile. "Oh, good Kenji, you made it, come on over with the others." Kenji stepped forward slowly. "Well I'm sure you all are all anxious to get started, so let's get right to it," the professor said taking out a container. Kenji peered inside when the professor opened it up his eyes widened and his jaw dropped. There were 3 pokeballs in the container with name tags and a picture next to them. Kenji slowly turned to his dad who was beaming from ear to ear. "Do you mean that I," Kenji finally stammered, "I can start a pokemon journey?" he finally said. He was snapped back to reality when he got shoved by Ritchie. "Hey, quit crowding I wanna see too!" said Ritchie poking his head in, the girl hung back and said nothing. "Now kids, don't worry there will be plenty of time to see them, but first you all have a big decision to make. You three get to pick your very first pokemon partner." Kenji was overfilled with excitement and joy. He gave a weird expression trying to hide how happy he was. Kenji's dad quietly laughed at him. "Since it's Kenji's birthday today," the professor stated, "my gift to you is you get to pick first." Kenji could barely hear him over the racing thoughts in his mind. "First thing before you see them, here is an important tool you'll need on your journey, a Pokedex." The professor handed each kid a small rectangular red device that opened up revealing a touch screen. "The Pokedex is a great tool, just point it at a pokemon, and it will tell you information about it, like what kinds of moves it knows, it's abilities, and a bunch of other information as well, you can try it out on your new partners when you meet them." Kenji looked over his shiny new pokedex examining it from top to bottom. The professor then released the three pokemon, in a flash of light the three pokemon appeared before them.one was a small blue frog looking pokemon with thick white bubbles around its neck. Kenji pointed his Pokedex at the little frog. "Froakie, the bubble pokemon, this pokemon secretes flexible frubbles from its chest and back. The frubbles reduce the damage it would have otherwise taken from the attack." The Pokedex chimed in a mechanical sounding voice. Kenji eyed the little frog, it seemed to be doing the same. The second pokemon was a green colored pokemon that sort of resembled a chipmunk. It stood upright with 3 spines on its head. "Chespin, the spiky nut pokemon. The quills on its head are usually soft. When it flexes them, the points become so hard and sharp that they can pierce rocks." Hmmm Kenji thought looking down at the little chespin who had a big smile on its face. The third pokemon was a small yellow fox looking creature with red bits of fur coming out of its perked up ears. "Fennekin the fox pokemon. To intimidate its opponents it puffs out hot air from its ears which can reach up to 400 degrees." "Oh wow neat," exclaimed Kenji. The little fox was sitting elegantly looking up at Kenji. Kenji looked at the three of them and made his way over to the little froakie. Kenji leaned down. "Froakie, I choose you, let's go see the world together," Kenji said smiling. The little frog seemed reluctant, but seemed to force a small smile. Kenji stepped back and froakie stood next to him. "Ok Liza, how about you next," the professor said and motioned for the girl to go next. "Hmmm," she said thinking. After a bit she stepped up and knelt down in front of the little fox pokemon. "How about it fennekin, do you want to come with me?" "Fennekin!" the pokemon happily agreed and jumped into her arms and stepped back in line. "Well, they were obviously saving best for last," touted Ritchie. "Come on chespin, let's go show the world what we're made of!" chespin jumped with it's paw in the air excitedly and stood in line with Ritchie. "Wonderful choices everyone," the professor said. "Now that you have chosen your first partner, here is you pokemon trainer starter kit it's full of great items any new trainer will need." The professor pointed to 3 backpacks over on a table. "Now before you 3 set out to start your journey, I'd like to say a few words" said the professor. "A Pokemon journey isn't easy, it's a lot of hard work, but if you keep at it, never give up, and treat your pokemon partners with love and respect then there's no telling how far you will go." The three kids…no… The three new trainers looked up at the professor grinning ear to ear, this was going to be the start of their journey.
