Dear Grandma,

I finally made it too Pallet town, the bus wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was a little overcrowded and stuffy and there was an overgrown Gloom in the booth next door but I met the local Nurse Joy. She invited me to stay at the centre instead of camping out, she even let me sit in on some of the treatments, she was really knowledgeable. Today I'm heading to the trainer assignment centre, I'm hoping to be grouped into Callum's group but even if not there lots of mentors I'm sure I will learn from. Thank you for the money, I have set my trainer account to send you half of my winnings to pay you back. I'll keep writing letters as I know you wouldn't be able to use the Rotom phone or Laptop.

Write you soon

Love Dustin

"Dustin?!" Comes a call from the centre desk

I look up and see the beaming figure of Nurse Joy. She's smiling happily away after having spotted me. She waves me over, I quickly pop the letter written into its envelope and hitch my backpack up onto my back

"Good Morning" I say happily back to her as I approach the desk

"I have a gift for you, for all your help over the past week" She says pulling up a small case

She places it on the desk and pops it open, inside are 10 Potions, 50 Pokeballs and 5 Full Heals

"Oh well thank you but isn't this a little much?" I question looking up at the pink haired lady

"Nonsense, you've been a great help over the last week so you deserve a little reward" She says happily

"Well can I pay you half of it" I say fumbling for my Rotom Phone while placing my backpack on the front counter

"Not at all, my treat. Now shall we get your trainer card all prepared?" She say pulling a tablet from under the counter

"Uh yeah sure!" I stammer out picking the case up and pushing it into my backpack

"So first of full name?"

"Dustin Rodgers"

"Okay, date of birth?"

"17th of April 2008"

"Oh you make me feel so old" She says pouting as she inputs the details

"Sorry about that" I respond with a shy smile

"Home town?"

"Ayapan Village, its on the coast by Fuchsia City"

"Oh lovely, I've never been but living on the coast sounds lovely"

"Okay, so just a few little questions in case anything happens during your journey and people need to know so, do you know your blood type?" She asks

"AB positive"

"Okay, hair colour is Brown, eyes are Green I would say?" She asks squinting at me

"Emerald green my Grandma always says"

"Lovely, I'll pop that down. Height?"

"5ft 4"

"Weight?"

"8st 6lbs"

"Excellent that is all I should need, just a picture now" She says standing up

I flick my long curly hair up and out of my eyes and give a slight smile as she hits the camera button on the side of the tablet

"Okay, so do you need a Rotom for your phone or are you happy for it to be vacant?" Shes asks

"I'd rather it be vacant"

"Okay well no worries you can always pick one up at any of the future centres you visit" She says grabbing the printed card

"Here we are, please keep this on you at all times, there a little chip in it so the League and Mentor can keep an eye on you. If you lose it please report it right away and the next centre will get one printed off for you" She says

"Thank you for all your help" I say calmly slipping the card into the back case of my phone

"Well you better head for the assignment bureau, I hope to see you again once you have all eight badges okay?" She say with a big smile

"Of course, could I ask favour from you?" I ask fumbling for he letter I had written

"Could you post this when the Fearow mail man comes in?" I say pulling it from my bag and presenting it to her

"Of course I can! For your Grandma?" She ask taking it and placing it onto a small pile of other letters

I nod pulling my backpack to my back again

"So sweet! I'm sure she will love to hear from you, now off you go and good luck!" She says with a wink

"Thank you again" I say bowing my head slightly before turning and heading for the door

The cold morning air hits me hard as the door open and I step outside, I blow out to see my breath before rubbing my hands together. Must get some winter gloves in Viridian I think to myself as I step away from the centre. Pallet town is a very rural town with a small population, the Pokemon centre is middle of the town and a centrepiece with lots of little local shops surrounding it, on the hill is Professor Oaks laboratory with its surrounding research park attached, it can be spotted from almost anywhere in the town. The only other major building is the newly constructed Pokemon Trainer Assignment Centre. It was set up by the PTA ( Pokemon Trainer Association) as a way for junior trainers to register themselves in the Junior championship, there's one in all eight of the regions that make up the PBC (Pokemon Battle Confederation). The newest initiative is setting up junior trainer with mentors, so high profile trainers can come and apart wisdom onto the next generation. Kanto had been one of the first major regions to uptake the programme. As soon as I saw the advertisement I signed up.

I start the short walk up to the centre, the ground is still hard and icy from the night, the crunch of the frozen grass is all I can hear. It early still before 9AM, there a few older member of the community pottering around getting housework and garden chores done. A few Pidgey and Spearow dart around the cold winter sky picking at leaves and moss in the gardens and guttering's of the houses. I meander up the paved streets before I quickly find myself outside the centre. I walk up and hit the intercom on the door

"BUZZ Hello can I help?"

"Hi my name is Dustin Rodgers I'm hear as part of the Junior Mentorship"

"One moment please?" he intercom buzzes back

I wait a moment or to before the door clicks open

"Clefa!" comes a cry as I walk in and I'm welcomed by a Clefable

"Oh hello" I stammer in response

It hold out a pack to me. I take it from the Fairy type as it hops back behind the counter. I look towards it to see a young lady sat behind, she smiles at me and ushers me towards her

"Lets get you signed in shall we? Have you got your trainer card already?"

"Uh yep I have" I say clicking my phone case pen and pulling it out, she rises slightly and scans it before peering at her laptop

"Okay, Dustin Rodgers. You have been paired into Bill's group" She says with a smile

"Oh okay" I say trying to hide my slight disappointment

"I've seen that face before" She says with a laugh

"Who were you hoping to be paired up with?"

"Uh it doesn't matter, Bill is a really cool researcher so I'm sure he will be really cool to learn from" I say stoutly

"Thats the spirit, well you are a little early, Bill won't be here till around 10:30 however you are welcome to refreshments" She say waving towards the waiting room to the right.

"There a few computers in there too with some helpful information for your journey" she say with a smile

"Thank you" I say before moving towards the waiting room, I place my backpack down at one of the booths and load the computer up

I sit for ten minutes browsing through some of the material, there details on all the different mentor who are part of the programme, there are a wide variety of different strong and experienced trainers. The one I had want to be grouped in with was Callum the current reigning Champion of the Kanto region and third ranked in the World. I was browsing through the current PWC rankings, seeing Cynthia, Callum, Leon and Lance all in such close standing vying for second place when the appointment door creaks open

"Well Louise I think you are all set, if you want to go for contests then I would say head towards Cerulean as they are having one soon plus gives you chance to catch a lot of Pokemon"

I peak my head up over the booth to see a young blonde hair girl about my age, she is clutching a Squirtle in her arms as she listen intensively to the man. I don't pay much attention too her as my eyes are set on the man talking

"No way" I say under my breath

The man is Ryan the current three time world champion of the PWC (Pokemon World Championship) and current reigning champion of the Alola region. I stare in awe at him, he's quite tall and has dark black hair brushed across to one side, he has sharp bright blue eyes. I hadn't know he was part of the mentorship programme, I huff in even more disappointed at my grouping

"Thank you Mr Stanton" She says before heading on out of the centre

He lets out a sigh

"I told her just to call me Ryan"

"Make you feel old?"

"I'm only 27 but yes they do" He says plopping down in the chair by the side of the Receptionist

"Have you heard from Charles?" He questions

"Yes but you won't like the answer" She retorts typing away

"Go on"

"He said no, you have a lot of commitments going on at the moment so taking on more than 5 juniors is too much plus you need to be able to give them as much time as you can"

"I understand that but hasn't one dropped out so I only have four" he bites back

"Well that can't be accounted for" She replies

"Who the next mentor?"

"Uh Bill is up next"

"And how many does he have?" He questions

"He has 34"

"What!" He says standing up

"No, I'm taking at least one of them! Whose nearby?"

As he says this my backpack falls to the floor and both dart there gaze toward me

"Sorry!" I exclaim loudly grabbing my bag from the floor and piling my items back in

"Whose he with?" Ryan says looking to the receptionist

"Bill" She says patting the folder

"Not anymore" He says grabbing it up and walking towards me

"Nice too meet you young man, Ryan" He says holding his hand out to me

"Uh hu yeah I'm Dustin" I say taking his hand rather floppily

"Ryan you will have to okay this with Charles" The receptionist calls over

"I'll speak to him after, come on you're in my group now" He says motioning me to follow.

I pause and flinch in both nervousness and excitement, I grab my bag and chase after the man once the receptionist gives me a warm smile with a nod

The office room is small, there's a large window to the back which looks out over route one, you can barley make out the sight of Viridian City on the horizon, on the table sits a case with a few Pokeballs housed within them.

"So Dustin, why did you sign up?"

I look to Ryan as he sits down at the seat across from me, I gulp and try to croak out a response

"Uh well, I've always really like the idea of working with Pokemon, plus seeing all the cool trainers on TV are a real inspiration"

"Good response, I like that you're already in the mind set of working with Pokemon" He says with a smile

"Tell me whose your favourite trainer?" He says with a smile

"Uh well you are all really strong but" I say not wanting to say someone other than himself

He laughs a little and points to my hoodie

"I think that might give it away don't worry" He adds pointing to my Callum pin badge my Grandmother had gotten me as a leaving gift

"Oh I thought I took that off!" I stammer trying to cover it

"No leave it on. He's my favourite trainer too" He says with a smile

Ryan and Callum had set off on their journey from Pallet town together along with two of their other friends. Callum had started with a Bulbasaur while Ryan had started with an Eevee. They contested the junior final the year they competed with Callum coming out on top; they have been rivals ever since both working their way up the rankings

"So your docket says you signed up to the Pokemon Research Sanctuary scheme too?"

I nod

The scheme was set up a few years ago, its a sanctuary park that is acres and acres in size based on some of the smaller Sevi islands. The idea behind it is to send captured Pokemon for research there and then to be released back into the wild. Junior and intermediate trainers are invited to catch and send Pokemon there for money based intensives. It helps the younger trainer who don't want to battle or do contests to still have a way to make income during their journey

"A good choice so you'd like to fill the Pokédex would you?" he continues

"Yes, I'd like to start by catching every non legendary Pokemon in Kanto and Johto" I say firmly

He raise his eyebrow with a wide smile

"A big goal I like it, you've signed up the Junior battling competition too?"

"Uh huh, I want to be able to compete in the conference in 6 months time"

"Excellent, I've only got one other battler in my group so I'm glad to have you" He says as his deminer completes changes becoming more intense from his lackadaisicalness before

"Uh well hopefully I can do well" I stammer out a little taken aback

"I'm sure you'll be fantastic, so first things first shall we get you set up with the Pokedex app"

I pass him my phone and he gets it all set up and a profile created

"Well now that's done, lets get to the fun bit" He says picking the case up and putting it in front of me

"Starter Pokemon" He says as he pops the case open

The case is small and metallic and hold 6 pokeballs inside of it, they're each marked with a symbol on them; there's Water, Fire, Grass, Electric, Normal and Fighting.

"So young man with have six choices for you in the case. We have the standard Squirtle, Charmander, Bulbasaur." Ryan says picking the three balls up and placing them on the counter

"Then there are Pikachu and Eevee"

"And lastly there Tyrogue" He says placing the last ball down

I take a deep breath and look over all the Pokeballs eyeing them all up slowly

"Did you have any particular idea of which one you were thinking of picking" Ryan asks sitting back in his seat al little shooting me a warm smile

"No sir" I say trying not look up and him concealing my feeling

I had made a choice, my idea was always to pick Bulbasaur as Callum had but with Ryan now my mentor perhaps Eevee was the right choice to pick as Ryan mentoring would be easier. Maybe Squirtle as Blaine and Brocks gyms were now the closest but there lots of water types to catch in Kanto

"Young man" Ryan says

I pull out of my stupor and look up at him. He is smiling at me, hes a very warm man and he radiates that well.

"Do you want some advice?" He asks calmly

"Yes sir" I respond rigidly

"Last night when you were falling asleep, I'm sure you were thinking of this moment. I know I was, I though about it every night from my ninth birthday onwards. So my advice, go with what Pokemon 9 year old Dustin would have picked"

I feel myself put at ease by his words but its is more due to his calming tone. I take a breath and nod to myself

"I pick Bulbasaur!" I say loudly with some affirmation picking the ball up with the Grass symbol on it

"HAHA!" Ryan laughs loudly clapping his hands together, it cause me to flinch and I hear a crash outside at the receptionist

"Apologies Tina!" He shouts out

He smiles happily at me

"I will have to tell Callum that one of my group wants to emulate him, I'm sure he will love to hear that!" He say laughing happily

"Well then young man lets meet them!" He adds clearing away the other Pokeballs into the case

"In here?" I ask shyly

"Of course! No time like the present!" He says standing up with his booming voice

I roll the ball in my hand and pop it to its full size before releasing Bulbasaur

There a big white flash, once it dies down the small frog like Pokemon sits happily on the desk

"Um hello Bulbasaur, I'm Dustin. I wanna go on a journey and I'd love you to be my partner if you would like?" I stammer out nervously

"Bulba" It turns its head and looks up at me curiously, it sniff at the air before pushing one of it vines from it bulbs towards me and holds it out

I take this as an invitation and grasp it moving it open and down mimicking a handshake, it calls out in happiness

"Nice to meet you" I say with a laugh

It jumps to my lap and settles down staring up at Ryan

"Bulba!" It say with a nod

"I think someone has also made their choice" He says with another big laugh

"I'll let you in on a secret. This one is a very special Bulbasaur so make sure to take good care of her okay?" H says to me with a wink

I nod nervously gripping onto Bulbasaur

We go through the rest of the meeting, he extremely knowledgeable about all things Pokemon, he give me tips on how to throw Pokeballs, treating certain injuries and stop off points on the best route

"So when you are around the Pokemon Centre to Mt Moon I will meet you there for a catch up, see how things are getting on, you have my number and I cannot stress this enough; you can call me for anything literally. I don't care how silly you think it is, give me a bell and I will talk you through it okay buddy?" He says giving my hair a tussle

"Will do Mr Stanton"

"Its Ryan kid" He says with a smile and thumbs up

I nod back in affirmation

"My advice is head towards Pewter, there's a bunch of low level Pokemon you'll be able to catch and with Bulbasaur you should be able to beat Brock pretty quickly okay?"

"Yes"

"Well then young man, welcome to the world of Pokemon training, I look forward to seeing how you both grow" He says with a big smile

I take deep breath and shake his hand before setting off.

Location: Pallet Town

Current Party:

Bulbasaur (Lv5) Female

Attacks

Tackle

Growl

Vine Whip