Chapter 1: The Traumatised Eevee

Thoughts

"speech"

Note from author

Hey everyone, thanks for taking the time to read my story. Before I begin to tell you this tale, I'd like to explain what this story is about and what to expect without giving away any spoilers.

Basically this story is heavily based on the official Pokémon trainer games as well as the anime. With certain events that happen within the games and anime also taking place within this story, however the events can be slightly or even heavily altered due to the different natures of the main characters. They will often approach things differently from the way Ash and company/Red do, making for a whole rollercoaster of different alterations. Besides these events however, there will be storylines and characters of my own making as well.

This story has nothing to do with the manga, sorry for the misleading title.

This will be a long-term project that I want to span over several 'sagas' the first been Kanto, Orange Islands, Johto etc as such the story takes place as when most Kantonians aren't aware of the outside world beyond their borders and their knowledge of Pokémon from other regions is limited for now. In other words: the original saga will only have the first 151 Pokémon in it, with a few exceptions, and will be expanded per region. The movesets will also be based on generation. Thus only the moves original to Gen I will be shown in this saga.

I'll also be making a note of explaining things to people who aren't familiar to Pokémon at all, so this might be a great story if you're wondering how the world of Pokémon works exactly, but you've had no previous or little experience with it, so it's easy to understand.

I'm also in the process of making a wiki, detailing the different characters and other useful stuff, but it's a work in progress for now, I might also make a discord if the story is popular enough.

"Pidgey, Pidgey, Pidgey"

A repeated cry of a Pokémon rang through the room as a teenage boy who had previously been fast asleep awoke slowly, sitting upright and closing his Pidgey alarm clock which ceased the Pokémon cry

Well, today is the day. Ben thought, as a smile appeared on his face. I'm becoming a Pokémon Trainer today! the boy thought as he jumped out of bed and he put on his brandnew clothes that his mother had handpicked for him just the other day.

They consisted of a pair of white sneakers, black trousers, a plain white T-shirt and an azure blue trainer's jacket. Ben was a tall, skinny fellow who had short chestnut-brown hair, dark brown eyes to match.

Today it was his sixteenth birthday, a big day! As it was the normal age in which people could get their trainer license and more importantly the day they could finally leave home and become Pokémon trainers.

It used to be different though.

In fact until a decade ago kids could get their trainer license when they turned ten but the government of Kanto scraped that idea and changed the law to be an eligible age of sixteen due to been considered too immature and irresponsible for them to care about themselves nor their Pokémon. There had been some horrible accidents that came in the news with some of the kid victims ending up handicapped or even killed due to aggravating wild Pokémon that were too much for their Pokémon to handle or just using common sense. Or, their own Pokémon turning against their trainers due to negligence, like not been able or simply refusing to give them food. But luckily the law was changed now with such accidents been much less frequent since.

It was a Pokémon Trainer's job to raise all kind of Pokémon by having them battling others to grow and become stronger, while challenging the Gym Leaders around the region for Gym Badges in a Pokémon battle. Once all eight badges were earned, the trainer was qualified for the Pokémon League, a yearly Pokémon tournament to decide who was the best Pokémon Trainer.

As Ben finished up getting ready putting on his red Pokémon League cap and his light-brown bag, he took one last look around his room, for he imagined it would be a long time since he'd sit foot in it again.

There was his comfy bed, his bed sheets and pillow were dark blue and with Poké Balls on them, several plushies were on top of his bed of a Snorlax, Vulpix and an Eevee. There was also a desk for studying since he was homeschooled by his mother once he left primary school, for the town he lived in was not big enough to have it's own high school. There were several rows of shelves filled with books. These were mostly informative books, as Ben liked to read everything to do with Pokémon.

Some people might describe him as a nerd, as he was highly intelligent and liked to state Pokémon facts every once in a while, but those who knew him best knew this wasn't really the case, as despite his skinny appearance he is quite athletic and goes for a jog every morning. He was also known for his kindheartedness, helping out people within the neighborhood with small tasks, such as grocery shopping for an old lady, tending the garden of his neighbor and going for a walk with a Growlithe of his uncle every once in a while.

Well, I'm going to miss my bed I think and it's a shame I can't carry all my books with me but the journey is gonna be much more fun I bet. Ben thought hopeful.

As he went down the stairs and entered the dining room he could smell fried eggs coming from the kitchen and he had only just sat down as his mom entered the room carrying a frying pan in hand.

She had curly black hair and emerald green eyes and wore a black apron over her red top and purple skirt.

"And there he is! My wonderful new Pokémon Trainer!" she said as she slides some eggs onto his plate.

"Good morning Mom" Ben said in his usual composed manner, he had a particularly deep voice.

"How did you sleep, honey?" asked his mom as she sat down herself. "I know I was too thrilled to get any sleep the night before my big day!"

"I slept alright" replied Ben simply, as he began eating his eggs.

"Did you pack everything you need? Potions, Antidotes, extra sets of clot-"

"I did mom." answered Ben, cutting her off before she rambled on.

"You sure you want to do this? It's not too late to stay home dear. I'm sure Prof Oak might take you on as his assistant someday knowing how smart you are." his mom said with her last words in a slightly optimistic tone.

"Mom, we've been over this." began Ben as he turned his full attention to his mother. "I'm sixteen now, I'm of legal age, you can't stop me from becoming a Pokémon Trainer. I want to go out and see the world, meet new people and Pokémon." Ben said in a calm yet determined tone.

"I know you're worried, but I promise I'll be fine. I've studied about all there is about Pokémon. I know which Pokémon to watch out for and how to counter them."

"Yes, I know you've prepared well honey" her mom began, looking at her precious son with obvious concern in her eyes but then argued "There's just nothing that can prepare you for when you're in an actual Pokémon battle, you think you know everything there is, but you don't how it feels to be in a Pokémon battle, or how strenuous traveling can become at times. I'd feel much better if you stayed at home."

Ben sighed, becoming a tad annoyed.

"I am ready. Mom, I won't know what it's like to be in a Pokémon battle if I never get the chance to be on one. You need to trust me." countered Ben.

His mom sighed in turn, she continued to gaze upon her son as a small smile showed up on her face.

"You're right honey. I just don't want to lose you too"

Ben turned to look away and focused on his plate avoiding her gaze.

"I know…" he said quietly.

His mom was talking about his father.

Ben's father was an archaeologist and frequently wasn't at home due to his job. But one day, twelve years ago, he left to go for an expedition in some faraway region and never returned. His mom got worried when he hadn't called for three days, as he usually checked in every day with his family to see how they were doing. She managed to reach a colleague of his who could only explain that her husband had gone mysteriously missing. Thus Ben grew up without ever really knowing his dad however he had dreamed of becoming an archaeologist just like him one day.

His mom appeared to notice Ben's dejection on his face because she said "Oh honey, I'm sorry, I didn't want to ruin your mood. I just… I just said it without thinking" said his mom with a pang of guilt. Reaching over her hand on his arm and gave it a squeeze.

Ben sighed and turned back to his mom. "What if I find him out there? I could go look for him, I cou-"

"No!" she yelled, suddenly turning to face her son with an angry expression "Ben I absolutely forbid you from chasing after him. I've already lost my husband, I am not going to lose you too!"

"But I-"

"No buts! That place your father went to is dangerous! I don't care what you do on your journey, but don't even think about going after your father!" she said adamantly.

Ben sighed once more in defeat and looked away. He didn't wanna say it but he was going to go look for his father anyways despite his mother's wishes. He didn't want to believe he was dead, he was just missing, maybe he's just traveling around or perhaps he's trapped somewhere but he refused to believe that there was no hope he would ever see him again.

Ben got up abruptly and grabbed his bag.

"Thanks for the breakfast mom" he said without looking at her "I'll miss you" he said dismissively he then stepped towards the front door

"Honey wait!" his mom called after him, but Ben didn't stop. "I didn't mean to shout, let's talk abo-"

But Ben had shut the door behind him.

Ben began walking down the dirt road at a steady pace, away from his house, away from his mom.

How could she stop me from looking for dad? If there's even a small chance of finding him, wouldn't be worth it? He thought desperately.

He'd fought with his mom often about this issue. She had almost ceased him from becoming a Pokémon Trainer at all, continuously telling him how he was better off staying at home and live a comfortable and peaceful life in Pallet. But that wasn't who Ben was, he wanted to go on an adventure, going around the world and ultimately becoming a Pokémon Master and since he got could get his trainer license now she couldn't stop him from leaving town. She realised at some point that her son was too stubborn to let go of his dreams and found a way to accept this but continuously nagged him not to use his freedom to search for his father. But that wasn't gonna stop him now.

He was usually a generally calm young man, but his dad remained a sensitive subject. He also tended to get upset whenever he heard anything that sounded like injustice to him.

He had walked a ways away from home when he stopped to catch a breath, he turned to look behind him and saw nobody else, as he breathed a sign of relief.

Thank God she isn't following me he thought.

He took a moment to take in the familiar surroundings as he won't see them for a while he guessed.

The morning sun was shining on Pallet Town, a small town with dirt trails and wide, open, grassy fields, and several standalone white painted bricked houses, with a red triangular roof that dotted the landscape. There was one building a little further away across the river, on a small hill, that had a windmill behind it and looked somewhat bigger and slightly different from the others. It had a red roof that was somewhat shaped like a parabolic arc and instead of the white painted bricks was traded in favor for a light shade of yellow. This was the building he was heading towards.

For the building was Prof Oak's laboratory. Prof Oak was a very renowned Pokémon researcher and studied the relationship between humans and Pokémon as a primary focus.

As Ben started walking towards the lab, he suddenly heard his name been called from his right, he quickly wiped the tears out of his eyes and turned towards him as he came running down the road. Ben forced a smile upon the human figure that was approaching.

"Yo Ben! How are ya mah dude?" Mick asked as he came to a standstill before his best friend as he grinned widely while they did a double pound fist bump.

Mick was a tall teenage boy with messy black hair and orange eyes, he wore a red hoodie depicting a Charizard breathing fire, navy blue jeans and black sneakers. There was an obvious air of excitement about him.

"I'm doing alright." said Ben. "Ready to start our journeys together." he said calmly

Mick smiled from ear to ear.

"Yeah, you bet! Dude, I have so much energy right now! I couldn't sleep a wink last night but I'm sure as hell wide awake right now. Nothing is gonna stop me today!"

Ben chuckled at that, Mick's positive energy and high spirits was infectious

"I hear you. How about we go to the lab? I bet Prof Oak is waiting for us." replied Ben.

"Yeah, let's go already!" said Mick impatiently, as they set off towards the research center.

Mick was Ben's childhood friend. They were born on the same day and have been inseparable ever since kindergarten and decided long ago that they'd travel together when the day came that they were ready to become Pokémon Trainers.

Mick was the kind of guy that you could knock down over and over but he'd still find a way to get up. His can-do attitude and his willpower to face every challenge presented to him was an inspiration to all. Most of these challenges was training his body to be in tip-top shape. Indeed he had quite a toned body. He's passionate about Pokémon battles, and dreams of becoming the world's greatest Pokémon Trainer.

Mick liked to refer to his friendship with Ben as 'the brains and the brawn'. Ben been the brains and Mick the brawn. They tended to mix well since Ben was usually calm, cool and collected and thinks before taking action, while Mick was more of the fiery passion type that charged in without thinking. As such they balanced each other out.

"So you sticking with Bulbasaur then?" Mick asked his friend.

"Yes, I really feel like it's the Pokémon that fits me best." replied Ben.

"Good for you! As for me I'm sticking with Charmander all the way!" said Mick enthusiastically.

They were talking about their starter Pokémon. When trainers in Pallet Town were of eligible age to get a Trainer's license, they could go to Prof Oak for starter Pokémon. These consisted of Bulbasaur, the Grass-type Pokémon, Squirtle, the Water-type Pokémon and Charmander, the Fire-type Pokémon.

Ben and Mick pretty much made their choice long ago, so there was no squabble in who was going to get first pickings.

"I hope you're ready for it Mick" began Ben. "I mean I don't doubt your will to care for this Charmander but they are the hardest to raise out of the three." said Ben with a level of concern.

"Ah you worry too much Ben! This Charmander and me are gonna be great buddies! We're gonna battle hard! I'll make it the best Charizard there ever was!" he said determined, while pointing to the picture of the Charizard emblazoned on his hoodie.

Mick was referring to Charizard as the final evolution of Charmander. Evolution in the Pokémon world meant that certain Pokémon are capable of undergoing changes in appearance as well as becoming stronger when they meet certain conditions, in most cases this was determined due to level, but some Pokémon only evolved by special evolution stones, such as a Water or Fire Stones.

Mick's favorite Pokémon had always been a Charizard ever since he started watching Pokémon battles. The way they roared, spit fire, flew high above the skies and were constantly seeking fights was an eye-opener to Mick who knew he just had to get one.

"Heh, well you're not have trouble raising it due to lack of effort, I can say that much" replied Ben as he chuckled.

"Did you pack properly?" Ben asked him.

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry Ben, I got it covered, Poké food, sleeping bag, flashlight, some other stuff, it's all there." responded Mick waving his hand in a dismissive gesture, as if he wasn't interested in Ben's lectures.

"Did you at least read a couple of the books I let you borrow? Or were they collecting dust in your room?"

"Uh sure.. I might've peeked once or twice."

"I sure hope for your sake you've done more then just peeked at them. You need to know all about type matchups and status conditions and the like, if you wanna hold your own in a Pokémon battle Mick." said Ben matter-of-factly.

"I told you, I got this! No worries, dude." said Mick assured.

"But I do worry… I'm not quite sure you realise just how many things go into a Pokémon battle in order for you to fight effectively with your Pokémon."

As they were talking they had crossed the bridge over the river and reached the open gate of Prof Oak's lab and walked into the domain, going up the steps to the door as they reached it Ben rang the doorbell.

They heard the bell run through the building and then fall silent, all they could hear afterwards was the swaying of the branches and the leaves and the creaking of the wind turbine.

"He hasn't forgotten us, has he?" Mick said questioningly.

"Who knows? Maybe he's out in the back?" replied Ben.

Once again Ben put his finger on the doorbell, but… no answer.

"Strange…" said Ben "He knew we were coming, surely he wouldn't forget about us?"

Ben tried the handle and noticed the door was ajar as he pushed it open.

"Hmm… Let's go inside and have a look around. Maybe Prof Oak is in the middle of something."

They entered and went inside the hallway which had several doors spread across it. To the side, right at the entrance there was a staircase up to the second floor. While they called for Prof Oak they started trying several doors that included: a simple broom closet, a library that included a study room, the Pokémon storage room.

"Hey, check it out!" said Mick "This must be where all the Pokémon are stored from the trainers from Pallet Town! I sure wish we could open some…"

"You know better then that Mick, we shouldn't go snooping where we shouldn't be at" said Ben as he closed the door once more.

They kept looking as they found a lobby and a living room, but no sign of Prof Oak.

Having tried most of the rooms on the ground floor, (the rest had been locked) they proceeded upstairs. Coming up to one door they found it to be slightly ajar and Ben could just make out a pair of brown eyes belonging to a small figure before it scurried away.

"Did you see that?" asked Mick

"Yeah it looked like a Pokémon, let's take a look inside."

As Ben opened the door, he saw before him what must be the heart of the laboratory. He saw several strange-looking machines which he figured had to be for Pokémon testing and a table with various chemicals on it. Nearby was a blue office chair with a large computer in front of it. Beside the computer Ben could make out a Poké Ball Transfer Machine which he knew was used for the transportation of Pokémon to their trainers in a Pokémon Center. There was also a drawing board, a brown couch, a few machines were connected to a glass container full of water, possibly to study aquatic Pokémon.

But hidden below a desk was the small figure they'd seen before.

It was a four-legged Pokémon with primarily brown fur. The tip of it's bushy tail and it's large furry collar were cream-colored. It had short, slender legs with three small toes. It also had brown eyes, long pointed ears with dark brown interiors and a small black nose.

It seemed to be shivering and appeared rather skinny, with patches of fur missing here and there, it's ears were dropped gazing at the two new intrusions with a seemingly fearful look in it's eyes from below the desk.

"It's an Eevee." said Ben with a softening look on his face. "It seems scared of us…" he said quietly.

"Awesome! I've never seen this Pokémon before." said Mick as he took a few paces forward which made Eevee make a yelp and back up further underneath the desk till it touched the wall, curling up in a ball, covering it's eyes with it's bushy tail.

"Stop it Mick." Ben said as he grabbed Mick by the shoulder to push him back;

"You're scaring it even further." he said, trying not to sharpen his tone too much so as not to cause further anxiety to the brown-furred Pokémon.

Mick blinked back at his best friend looking confused.

"But I don't wanna spook it or anything, I just want to say hello."

"You may want to, but Eevee has never seen us before, it doesn't know our intentions. For all it knows we're just two trespassers that wanna hurt it." Ben stated calmly.

"I guess I see your point…" said Mick slowly "Still don't really see why it should be scared of us tho."

"Well Eevee may not be used to seeing other humans then Prof Oak and doesn't know what to think of us. Let me handle this."

And so Ben taking great care took a few steps closer to Eevee and crouched down a few meters away from the desk. It took one quick look at Ben from behind it's tail before letting out another yelp and to shudder from pure fright. A rather pained expression formed on Ben's face as he watched the Eevee closely.

Something is very wrong with this poor thing thought Ben

"It doesn't look like he likes you anymore then he likes me." Mick stated.

Ben remained silent, his gaze remaining on Eevee as he continued to watch as determination formed in him.

He wanted to befriend this Eevee. Wanted to trust him, no matter what it took. He wanted to understand what it was that made this Pokémon cause so much fear within it.

And thus he remained crouched and formed a big smile on his face, as if trying to transmit his warmth to Eevee to show it he meant no harm.

Minutes seemed to pass as Ben remained like that, unwavering, remaining patient, remaining hopeful.

Still Eevee continued to tremble and refused to move or do anything too petrified to even look at Ben. Until at long last it lowered it's bushy tail and looked at Ben once again with one eye from behind it's tail.

Ben noticed a shift of emotion passing over Eevee as it gazed into it's one eye and it turned it's head slightly sideways and blinked in confusion.

"Eie" said Eevee confused, as it was still shivering, but not as fiercely as before.

Ben responded with a slight chuckle, then slowly he unstrapped his backpack and put it to the side rummaging in the contents for a while, still keeping eyecontact with the scared Pokémon all the while before pulling out a bag of nutritious Poké food out and opened it, pulling some of the kibble out and slowly outstretching his hand towards the Eevee who seemed to become even more puzzled at the human's offering.

Ben thinking it wasn't trusting him yet, decided to take one bit of the Poké food in his other hand and put it in his own mouth.

Eevee watched as Ben tried to show how much he enjoyed the taste of the food by making content expressions and then swallowed it.

"Mhm, it's good. You should try some." Ben said in a soft voice as he gently threw some of the food in Eevee's direction. It landed near Eevee's feet as it blinked and sniffed the food and then carefully proceeded to take a small bite out of it. To it's apparent surprise it liked it and quickly ate the whole thing.

Ben chuckled once more feeling a bit of relief as he wasn't sure his particular Poké food would be to it's liking.

He tossed another bit of food to Eevee and continued to do this repeatedly luring the scared Pokémon out from beneath the desk bit by bit. Eevee somewhat hesitant at times, unsure what Ben might do but he made sure to not make any sudden moves as he managed to make Eevee start lowering it's guard somewhat

Finally Ben took a handful of Poké food and held it out to Eevee with inviting eyes, smiling brightly all the time.

"Vui?" Eevee backed up a bit glancing from the good, to Ben's face, slightly shivering. It had already come quite close to him standing about a meter apart but it seemed to really question getting that close to him. But Ben just remained as patient as ever just smiling continuously at it and letting Eevee come across this last obstacle.

Slowly but surely, Eevee drew closer and closer, looking around as it did, wary. But eventually it stood in front of his hand and then slowly began eating from Ben's hand. And Ben slowly extended his other hand, drifting it towards Eevee's head to pet it…

"Remarkable!" a voice said from behind him, surprising everyone. Eevee gave a yelp and a jolt, bolting towards the door as it sped out the room.

Ben turned seeing an elderly man with grey hair and wearing a lab coat who could be none other then-

"Prof Oak!" said Ben and Mick in unison. Ben had forgotten Mick was with him in the room.

"Yes, hello Ben and Mick, here to collect your starter Pokémon I assume?"

"Yes sir." they both said at the same time.

"But my, quite remarkable what you did there Ben." said Prof Oak, studying Ben closely.

"Fascinating how you managed to gain Eevee's trust Ben." continued Oak. "I've been looking after it for days but it wouldn't come near me or eat anything at all. Somehow you managed to succeed where I couldn't. Indeed, remarkable!"

"Yeah, I must say I'm impressed too Ben" said Mick gazing at him in wonder and looking puzzled at the same time.

"I don't know how you did but that Eevee got really close to you in the end."

"I… just." Ben began "I think I just trusted my instincts and did what felt natural." Ben said uncertainly. "But professor what's wrong with that Eevee? Why does it seem so scared?"

Prof Oak's face darkened for a moment and spoke in a grim tone.

"Team Rocket is responsible for that. Unfortunately that Eevee has been through a lot. They experimented on him without any care for the Pokémon's health and well-being, it's been subjected to electrical shocks and more and withstood great pain. It's been heavily traumatised as a result and doesn't trust any humans either."

Ben felt anger welling up in his chest as he heard Prof Oak describing the details of Eevee's torment and how it affected it.

"How dare they hurt such a poor innocent Pokémon! How could people do that?! Can they not understand that Pokémon got feelings too?!" said Ben in a raised voice balling his hands into fists. It was quite unusual for him to get angry. But after seeing the state Eevee was in he couldn't help but feel resentful.

"Who is this Team Rocket anyways?" Ben asked.

"You've never heard of Team Rocket before?" asked Mick dumbfounded.

Ben shook his head.

"They're a group of of bad people" Mick continued "They steal other people's Pokémon, they are quite infamous around here, I'm surprised you've never heard of em. I thought you knew everything Ben."

"Well not everything, but a lot. I'm just disgusted there are people like that." said Ben revolted

"Hmm. Well there will always be people like that." said Prof Oak. "It's a pity but that's how things are. But I don't believe they're all bad people. They're just unfortunate souls who stumbled into the wrong when they saw no other solution to their problems. Of course it also means we cannot allow their activities to continue for everyone's sake."

"All I know is" Ben said with a growing determination. "That if I ever come across Team Rocket I will make sure they never hurt anyone again."

"Careful Ben." said Prof Oak with a growing concern in his voice.

"While you might feel that way now. You've got to remember these are dangerous people. If you ever come across them it would be best to retreat and report it to the police."

Ben didn't say anything. He just couldn't fathom there were people like Team Rocket out there who went about stealing and separating Pokémon from their trainers and causing Pokémon so much, it seemed unforgivable to him.

"Anyways let's move on." said Prof Oak as he regained some of his moderate enthusiasm from earlier.

"Let's go over here." he said, moving towards a table where three Poké Balls were waiting for Ben and Mick as they approached them.

Ben's anger faded quite quickly and made room for excitement, though he hid it well.

"As you know there are three starter Pokémon" Prof Oak pointed to each Poké Ball in turn as he called them out.

"Bulbasaur, the Grass-type Pokémon." Ben looked at the Poké Ball on the left with interest.

"There is Squirtle, the Water-type Pokémon." Oak pointed at the Poké Ball in the middle.

"And last but not least Charmander the Fire ty-"

But Prof Oak was cut off as Mick made a lunge for the Poké Ball on the right, grinning from ear to ear as he held it in his hands.

"Hehe, finally I got Charmander! Come out and meet your new trainer!" he said throwing the Poké Ball into the air before it came to a standstill in mid-air and the Poké Ball opened with a flash of white and red, taking form and shape quickly to reveal a reptilian Pokémon with a primarily orange body and blue eyes, it's underside of it's belly was cream-colored, while a fire burned from the tip of it's slender tail.

"Char, Charmander." said the Pokémon as it turned it's blue eyes over to Mick, looking up at him curiously.

"Hey Charmander!" said Mick, looking giddy as he kneeled down at his Pokémon to get to eye-level while balling his hands into fists.

"How about you and me aim for the Pokémon championships together, work hard, become stronger and become the best of the world someday, what do you say?"

Charmander blinked for a moment, taking in what his new trainer said then the Charmander nodded once in agreement, seemingly smiling.

"Excellent! I knew I made the right choice!" said Mick, as if already counting down his victories.

Mick's eagerness caused Prof Oak to laugh heartily.

"Haha well, aren't you eager to set off aren't you Mick?" But, beware, raising a Charmander can prove difficult for beginning trainers, you may be in for more then you can chew"

But it didn't seem like Mick wasn't about to be discouraged as he stood back up, looking as resolved as ever.

"Believe me professor, there isn't going to be anything that will stop us! I just know me and Charmander will be the best team ever!"

Prof Oak seemed to be quite thrilled.

"Haha, well, if you keep your spirits up like that I'm sure you'll be fine, now then. Ben? Which Pokémon will you pick?"

Ben who shook his head in amusement at Mick's spontaneous behavior, still feeling happy for his friend, now turned his attention to the table once more where two Poké Balls remained.

He wasted no time in moving his hand towards the left Poké Ball as he took it into his hand and stared at it for a moment.

He could feel his heart beating faster with excitement as he gazed at the Poké Ball in his hand.

This was it.

Inside this Poké Ball was his first ever Pokémon. The Pokémon he'd travel with, battle with, eat with, sleep with, go on all kinds of amazing adventures together no doubt.

"I choose you, Bulbasaur!" said Ben as he threw the Poké Ball into the air and it too opened in a flash of white and red and when it took form there stood a small four-legged Pokémon that had blue-green skin with darker patches. It had red eyes with white pupils. Each of it's thick legs ends with three sharp claws. On Bulbasaur's back was a green bulb.

As it emerged the Bulbasaur looked around curiously for a moment before setting it's gaze on Ben and seemingly smiled at him and from it's bulb a dark-green vine erupted from the side and extended all the way to Ben.

"Bulbasaur." said Bulbasaur as if greeting him. Ben beamed and extended his own hand, taking the vine into hand and given it a slow shake as he were exchanging hands with it and then let go.

"Heh, you're a friendly Pokémon, it's nice to meet you Bulbasaur."

"Bulba!" said Bulbasaur as it calmly nodded at him.

"That one is a very social Pokémon Ben." said Prof Oak to him, looking delighted as he had observed the exchange.

"It doesn't hesitate to greet other Pokémon or people and generally likes to help out where it can, I think it will fit you quite well." Oak concluded.

Ben smiled at that, because he liked helping out wherever he could as well, as such Bulbasaur's helpful nature would mean a lot to him.

"All that's left now." said Prof Oak turning to the pair of new trainers as he collected two trays from the table, containing two red high-tech devices of sorts as well as five Poké Balls.

"Is to give you these. Here are five Poké Balls and Pokédex for each of you." he said as he held out the trays and both Ben and Mick took the five Poké Balls setting them in their belts as well as taking the Pokédexes.

Ben opened it up and put it front of Bulbasaur scanning it, soon enough a picture of Bulbasaur appeared on the screen and a blue light at the top of the Pokédex flashed, indicating it was talking:

"Bulbasaur. It bears the seed of a plant on it's back from birth. The seed slowly develops. Researchers are unsure whether to classify Bulbasaur as a plant of animal. Bulbasaur are tough and very difficult to capture in the wild."

Mick did the same thing with Charmander:

"Charmander. A flame burns on the tip of it's tail from birth. It is sad that a Charmander dies if it's flame ever goes out."

Ben and Mick put away their Pokédexes and recalled their Pokémon inside their Poké Balls, getting ready to leave when they suddenly heard an explosion from somewhere within the building.

Thanks for reading the first chapter, I hope you enjoyed it. I know sometimes some words might be repetitive, I'm trying to branch out my vocabulary, I admit it's been a couple of years since I seriously tried to write anything so I'm a little rusty. I'll try to post a chapter weekly.

Reviews are welcome, let me know what you think!