There was a small town sat in the middle of nowhere, nestled in-between miles of forest and grassland while sitting under a beautiful early morning sky.
This early in the morning, it was a ghost town, everyone in this little community was asleep, except for one person. At the edge of this small town, in the living room of a small, dilapidated house. An anxious boy named June tossed and turned on a couch.
After a while, June had successfully fallen asleep, yet he woke up just a couple hours later, he tried his best to fall back asleep but to no avail, his brain had become too active. For the past few weeks, June had been anticipating the day he would finally start his journey, the day he would pick his starter. He was both excited and nervous at the same time. Now that he was fully awake, he had plenty of time to think.
When should I leave? It's too early to leave now 'cause it's so dark out. I wanna be the first one there, I wanna get the starter I want, I wanna be there before some other stupid kid gets there!
June sat up on the couch that he had slept on every night for most of his life. He looked at the blank television just a few feet in front of him. He looked at the window to his right, with the light of the night sky coming through.
June looked behind him, to see the kitchen which took up half of the main room he was in. June got up carefully and turned on the television to have a bit more light in the room.
To June's horror, the volume was on full blast, June panicked and quickly picked up the remote and muted the TV. June dropped the remote on the floor and ran to the couch, burying his face into his pillow.
Oh god, oh no I've done it now. I hope I didn't wake Dad up. I hope he didn't hear that. June was shaking with adrenaline, expecting the absolute worst.
After a short while, June looked toward the hallway, expecting to see a tall, angry man lumbering toward the couch while getting ready to hit him. But nobody was there, June took a deep breath of relief.
June got up from the couch and tiptoed toward the opening to the hallway, he quietly flicked on the hallway light. He then made his way to the bathroom, opening the door quietly before flicking on the bathroom light as well. June stared at himself in the mirror.
He resembled his Dad in terms of looks. He ruffled his short, bushy blonde hair. June pulled up his white cargo shorts and adjusted his gray t shirt.
June stared into his blue eyes, with a faint scar on one of them being visible. June sighed, as he began to brush his teeth. In the middle of brushing, the ten year old boy stopped, he dropped his toothbrush into the sink.
Wait a minute, why am I doing this? I'm about to be on my own, I don't need to worry about brushing my teeth anymore, Mom won't be around to tell me to.
June put his toothbrush back, he flicked off the bathroom light, along with the hallway light as he ran back to the couch, nearly tripping over himself in the process. June picked up his blue backpack as began to rummage through it, making sure to check every nook and cranny. Food? Check, wallet? Check, Yen? Check, trainer license….
Oh god where's my trainers license dammit! I could've sworn it was in here! Where the heck did it go!? Ugh! June frantically looked around for his trainers license, it was arguably the most important item he needed for his journey.
After minutes of looking all over the place, June felt one of his pockets, he pulled out what he was looking for. He collapsed onto the couch and sighed in relief. June looked up at the ceiling.
His mind began to wander, soon enough, memories of both of his parents occupied his mind.
Just a few weeks ago, June was in the kitchen talking with his mother, who was a middle aged woman with long black hair wearing a white blouse.
"June, I don't want you to leave on a journey, your brother left on his journey five years ago and we've never heard from him since! It's really dangerous and not worth it, most kids who start their journeys don't make it to the pokémon league"
"I- uh…."
Just a few weeks later, in the same kitchen. "June! You got a sponsor from professor Oak? How on Earth did you do that?"
"Oak didn't know who to pick for his fourth sponsor, so everyone in my school who wanted to be his sponsor wrote their names on a piece of paper and put it in a jar, I did too. He just happened to pull out my name!" Said the blonde haired boy.
June's mother responded, nervously "June what did I tell you! Going on a journey is really dangerous, for the love of Arceus think this through!"
"I don't know how your father will feel about this, he and Oak have bad history with each other"
June snapped out his flashback, he sat up on the couch, just as he did so, another flashback started.
He was walking home after a long day of school, he was about to open the front door. "HEY!" June was started by the loud yell, he turned to his right to see his father getting out of an old pickup truck.
"Hey Dad….." The man walked up to June with an angry aura.
"I heard you got a sponsorship from Sam! Is that true?" Said the lumbering man.
"Who's Sam?" said a confused June.
June's dad rolled his eyes "The professor! You idiot! Why on Earth are you getting a sponsor with him?"
June started to get agitated. "Why do you care so mu-" The older man got close to June, making him back away. "Don't talk to me like that you little-"
June shook his head, he tried his best to snap out of that memory, he did not want to relive the rest of that interaction in his head. June felt his right eye, after a few seconds he started to tear up. Many emotions started overwhelm him.
Eventually June looked out the window, it was still pretty dark outside. June stood up and put on his backpack.
That's it, I'm done. I'm getting the heck out of here.
June put on his old sneakers, he then made his way to the front door. He quietly opened it, stepping outside, before gently closing the door. June looked around, he began to walk down the dirt road adjacent to his house.
After about a minute, June looked back at his house for one last time before looking towards the rest of Pallet town as he trudged on. June walked as quickly as possible, the sun was barely getting ready to rise.
As June found himself walking along a dirt road surrounded by rice farms, and the occasional house here and there, June began to grow more weary of the dark, he feared a wild pokémon would jump at him, or someone would try to follow him.
Maybe this was a bad idea, maybe I should- NO! No! No! No! I'm not going back to that house! I'm getting to Oak's lab.
June walked faster and faster. As he did, the sun began to rise, after a short while, June realized that he was a little lost.
Dammit! How hard could it be to find this stupid lab? I've seen it a million times! Ugh I hate my life!
June eventually found himself in the Pallet town Plaza at the center of the small community. He saw the mayor's office, and many small business which were all closed, as June was speed walking through there, he caught a quick glimpse of Pallet Oak, the man Pallet town was named after. A strong trainer from pallet town who made the town proud after reaching the Kanto semi finals about 100 years ago. All kids in town looked up to Pallet Oak.
I'd like to have the town named after me, that would be pretty cool…
Just as June was about to give up, there it was, those stairs, that windmill, it was Oak's lab. June sighed with relief, he walked up the concrete stairs going up the hill to Oak's lab.
He walked up to the double doors and grabbed one of the handles, only to see that the doors were locked. Are you kidding me!? It's locked! I'm not gonna stand here, and wait for some other stupid kid to show up.
He knocked on one of the doors. After waiting for a minute, June knocked on the doors again with one of his fists, being slightly more agitated than before.
After knocking a third time after waiting another minute, with his patience wearing thin.
June's anger swelled up, he then started to bang on both doors with his fists!
"Hello!? Hellllooooooooo!?" June continued to loudly bang his fists on the front double doors of Oak's lab, along with continuing to yell for good measure.
"Helloooo!? Hellooooo!? Hellooooooooo!?!?!" "Anyone home!?" He stopped banging on the doors as hands started to hurt, as he did. June saw a light flicker on through one of the windows on the second floor of the lab.
The boy froze, immediately starting to realize and regret the choice he made. After a few seconds, one of the doors opened inward, inside stood professor Oak, still wearing his slippers along with pajama pants and his normal white shirt under a bathrobe. Before June could speak up Oak spoke up.
"And who might you be? Waking me up this early!" June remained quiet for a few seconds before speaking up.
"I- I'm June… I'm here for my starter…." Oak was tired and confused, he took a second to realize who June was. He even noticed the faint scar on June's left eye. While he was still agitated from being woken up, yet his demeanor changed a bit.
"Oh, I see, you're Louis' son"
Why does that matter?
Oak yawned
"Well since you're here and I'm up, come inside and you can pick your starter" June followed the professor into the building as he led June to the room where the three starters were kept. Oak yawned yet again
"I'll be right back" Oak walked away as June stared at the three pokéballs.
Man I don't know what to pick, there are so many ways my starter could affect my journey, I need to be careful with who I choose! June stood in place, staring at the three pokéballs. If I picked charmander, I would eventually have a Charizard, and I'd be able to fly around the region. Or maybe squirtle, it's final form has water canons sticking out of its shell, cooooool. Or maybe I could pick…
Oak yawned as he entered the room again as he walked toward June. "Have you decided yet?" Oak said.
June's frustration began to build up yet again. "No!" Oak took a breath, trying to be as patient as he could with the boy, though it was difficult.
After another minute of silence, June closed his eyes and grabbed one of the pokéballs, he looked over at Oak. "How do you open this thing?" "You press the little white button at the center lightly to expand it, and press it harder to open it" June opened the pokéball, causing a bright white light to come out of the ball, spilling onto the floor.
When the light cleared, there it was… "Bulbasaur!" June yelled to Oak's slight annoyance.
Is this real? Am I dreaming? Am I actually standing in front of a starter right now!?
The pokémon looked up to June, seeming to be just as interested in June as June was in it. "Uh, hello there" The bulbasaur opened its mouth to try to imitate June's greeting. "Oh, uh, thanks" June crouched down to bulbasaur's level. The pokémon smiled and reached out one of her vines to June, lightly touching his cheek.
For about a minute, the two seemed to have a staring contest. Professor Oak spoke up. "Well June, some trainers give their pokémon names, you could do that if you're inclined to" June pondered that for a second "A name huh? Hmmmmm"
"I know! I'll name you Sprout! That would be a good name for a bulbasaur! Sound ok?" The bulbsaur seemed indifferent to June's decision. June nodded, as he returned Sprout to her pokéball.
Professor Oak spoke up again. "Well, there you have it! Your new starter, now take these and you'll be on your merry way" June saw that Oak reach into the pocket of his lab coat to pull out a pokédex, along with 5 pokéballs, June gently took them from Oaks hands, stuffing the pokédex and pokéballs into one pocket.
June looked towards professor Oak and bowed to him. June faced the door and was ready to walk into the hallway toward the front doors of the building. "June, one more thing before you go" Said Oak. Oh, um, ok… "Please don't ever wake me up like that again. You understand me? That was really rude of you to do" June felt what Oak said, a part of him was agitated for bringing that up again, and another part of June felt guilty for what he did. June bowed again. "Yes sir, I won't do that again" An awkward silence fell between the two. Oak bowed to June and left the room.
June left the room as well, he walked down the hallway and out the front double doors. As June was greeted with the outside air again, the sky was now a lot brighter, the morning sky was a mix of dark blue, purple, and orange. June could smell the morning dew as he walked down the concrete stairs and towards the outskirts of Pallet town. June made his way to the border of Pallet town.
Just like with his house, he took one last look at the small town he had grew up in, before facing route one, as he continued. This is it, I'm on my journey. No going back. If I screw this up, I'm done for, I'm dead.