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"Blue."

"Yeah?"

"When is your grandfather going to get here?" I turned to him with an obviously annoyed stare.

"How should I know?!" Blue shouted for some reason, "I'm getting really impatient, too!"

"…"

"…"

"I'm going to go do something stupid. Call me when he gets back." I turned and left without even waiting for a response.

The fields of Pallet Town blew gently in the wind, waves of green flashing underneath the sun's bright rays. It was definitely Summer. Not my favorite time of the year, But it still feels nice to feel that cool breeze under the hot sun. I grabbed the straps of the backpack and started whistling a tune towards the only land exit to town. Up north was where the tall grass started and the wild pokemon made their home. I've always been told not to go in that tall grass but I was just too impatient to wait any longer. I wanted to start on my journey now!

Without a moment longer's hesitation, I stepped into the tall grass, the plant life consuming my foot up to my shin, and immediately felt an attack. Pain shot up my leg and the grass around it turned red. I fell to the ground, my injured leg unable to support my weight any longer, and a purple blur leapt up and revealed itself from its crouching position. A Rattata, its large mouse teeth bared, snarled at me with a threatening gaze. It knew I was easy prey now, even more so that I was unable to defend myself. It reared back and charged forward again teeth-first at my head. I closed my eyes to block my vision from the pain soon to come.

I heard a loud "WHACK!" and the sound of something heavy hitting the grass next to me. I opened my eyes to find the Rattata unconscious next to me and a Pidgey hovering above me. It turned its eye away from its target to look at me once over before flying off behind me.

"Sothe!"

I turned around best I could to see Prof. Oak running towards me, the Pidgey taking a rest on his shoulder.

"Sothe, are you OK?" I asked through heavy breaths, his figure slumped over itself from exhaustion.

"Yea-Argh!" I felt another sting of pain from my leg, "No, I'm not."

"Weren't you ever taught not to go into the tall grass without a form of defense?! You could have been killed just now!"

"But you were taking so long! Blue and I waited for hours and you still didn't show up!"

Prof. Oak finally regained his posture and spoke with an even more serious tone, "I'm sorry for causing you two to wait, but you must learn patience! Had you waited just a few minutes longer you would already have your pokemon and be off by now!" Prof. Oak turned around and knelt down, hands behind his back, "Now hope on. I can fix your leg at my lab. That Rattata wasn't that strong, lucky for you, so it can be easily taken care of with proper attention. And while you recover you can also get your pokemon."

I did as he said and climbed on his back. He hoisted us up and made the steady walk back to the Pokemon Research Lab.

***

"It's about time!" Blue stomped his foot on the tile floor, the resounding thuds echoing through the mostly empty lab. A few researchers were present going through research notes and organizing data, running around the lab whenever they needed something. They weren't bothered at all by Blue's stomping, most likely used to him making noise. Prof. Oak and I entered through the door in our steady pace, which only angered Blue more.

"Do you think you can stand on your own?" Prof. Oak turned to me with honest concern. I wiggled my leg a little to test its movability, and when no pain followed asked him to put me  down. The wound itself was small and pretty shallow, most of the pain coming from the shock in the moment. When I shifted weight on it a small jolt of pain followed, but nothing I couldn't handle. I told Prof. Oak I was fine and he left to retrieve the first-aid kit. Blue stared at my wounded leg with disgust.

"You leave here a few minutes before my grandpa shows up and you come back injured? Serves you right!" Blue continued to act like a douchebag, much like he always did.

"Shut up." I couldn't say anything else. As big a douche as he was, he was right. I got impatient and rushed out only to get myself injured minutes after leaving. Prof. Oak came back with the first-aid and patched up my leg before finally beginning his spiel.

"Blue, Sothe, it's time to do what most children your age do: receive your first pokemon. What you choose to do with it is your choice. You may simply keep it as a pet, or you may train it and take on the Gym Challenge. What you do from here on is your choice, and everything you do from here on is your responsibility. This is a big step in your childhood and I know the both of you are old enough to know this and treat it responsibly." Prof. Oak stopped at a table with three pokeballs on it. One had a sticker of a leaf on it, one a water droplet, and the last a small fire, "You may choose any of these three pokemon to start with."

I raced over to the table, forcing myself to forget about my leg, and grabbed the pokeball with the leaf on it. Blue almost shoved me aside to grab the pokeball with the fire sticker on it. We both threw our pokeballs at the same time to see what pokemon we got.
Out of mine popped out a green, spotted dinosaur with a large bulb on its back. It's huge red eyes opened to look up at me and barked in acknowledgment. I smiled a wide smile, knowing I picked the one I wanted, and practically glomped it in a huge hug.

"Ohmygosh you're so cute! I knew I wanted a Bulbasaur! Oh, what should I name you? How about Pepper?" I waited for some sort of response. It looked at me with a little confusion and barked with a happy smile. I hugged it again even tighter.

"Hey, Sothe! Let's have a battle. Right here, right now!" I looked up to see Blue standing over us, a Charmander looming taller than Pepper. Its claws shined against the light the fire on its tail brought; its orange coat and lizard-like shape gave it a strong appearance.

I set Pepper down and stood up, meeting Blue's height, "You're on."

"Then let's not waste time! Scratch it, Charmander!"

Charmander did well in not wasting time. He lashed out a claw and scored a direct hit to Pepper's face. Pepper ran next to me, crying and shaking next to my leg.

"C'mon, Pepper!" I encouraged, "You can do it! Give him a strong tackle!"

Pepper hesitantly unlatched himself from my leg and ran forward with as much force as he could. However, he wasn't fast enough for Charmander, who easily dodged out of the way and countered with a whip of his tail. The flame nicked him for extra damage and Pepper fell to the ground, already out.

"Hah! What a weak pokemon! I knew I picked the right one!" Blue continued his douchey streak, but added a bit of gloating to it.

"Pepper!" I ran over to my fallen pokemon and held it in my arms. Pepper opened his eyes, life still in it. I let a huge sigh of relief escape, "You need to rest. Go back in your ball." I pulled out the pokeball, the sticker fallen off by now, and a red beam connected the pokemon to the ball. Pepper turned into red energy and was sucked into the closed ball for recuperation.

"You'll never be a decent trainer at this rate, Sothe." Blue sneered at me, "You should just stay home and save your pokemon the hurt. Smell ya later!" Blue walked out the door laughing, his Charmander in tow.

I looked down at Pepper's ball. Maybe Blue's right. I can't be cut out for this if I couldn't even win that.

"Don't be discouraged." Prof. Oak pat my shoulder and knelt down so he could see my eyes. "Everyone loses battles. Some even have rough starts. I went to school to learn how to fight with pokemon and I still didn't win until a year after the classes ended." I looked at the professor when he said that, shocked at this information. This man? Not being able to pokemon battle? But he's known for his skills in battle and his research!

"Here, let me heal up your Bulbasaur. You named it Pepper, right? Why don't you go talk to your mother for a while. I'm sure she'd like to see you one last time before you go.
I smiled a little. Sometimes, I thought of him as my own grandfather. He was kind at moments like this, and stern when I needed to learn a lesson quick. Not to mention I always somehow ended up with Blue when we were kids, so Prof. Oak practically raised me, too. I handed over Pepper's ball. "Yeah, I'm sure she would."

***

"Oh, you're back!" Mom hurried from the kitchen when she heard the door open and greeted me with a cheerful hug, "I didn't think you'd be back so soon! Did you have second thoughts?"

I returned the hug. You might think I'm a "momma's boy", but really I just have a really good relationship with her unlike a lot of kids, "No Mom. My pokemon just took an early defeat. He's resting at Prof. Oak's lab right now. I'll be gone again in a while." I set down my bag and followed her to the coffee table in the living room. She got me a glass of pink lemonade, my favorite, and she served herself some tea. Before she was even sitting down she started bombarding me with questions.

"What kind of pokemon did you get?"

"A Bulbasaur. Maybe you'll get to see him before I leave town."

"That would be wonderful! I'm sorry it lost in battle already, though. That happens. Oh my goodness! How did you injure your leg?!" Mom gasped when she saw the bandages. Luckily the wound stopped bleeding so there wasn't any stains on it.

"I ran into a wild Rattata. It caught me by surprise and I wasn't ready for it."

"OK, now I really don't want you to leave! Why do you insist on leaving?"

"Because I want to do what Dad didn't."

Mom fell silent, shock on her face. She bit her lip, remained silent for a few moments, and then spoke again, "Sothe, listen-"

"There aren't any pictures of him in the house. You only mentioned him a few times, saying that he was a strong trainer trying to become the Champion, and that he never did. I've never seen him. I don't even know him, but I want to do what he couldn't. I want to become the Champion."

Mom just sat their silently. It looked like she was trying to hide something, the look on her face quickly changed to defeat. She knew she wasn't going to convince me otherwise. I was leaving to become the Champion whether she wanted me to or not, "If that's what you want. Just be careful."

"I will." I looked at the clock to see that a couple hours had passed since I left the lab, "I think it's time I go. I'll se you later, Mom." I grabbed my backpack and headed out the door, a strange, mixed feeling of sudden loneliness and determination overcoming me as I shut it.

"I don't want to be alone."

***

"Pepper!"

Pepper was bouncing around Prof. Oak, who was taunting him with a treat, a wrapped ball of hard candy. Prof. Oak looked to notice me and Pepper used the opportunity to snatch the candy with his vines and run to me. He jumped in my arms and showed me the treat, proud that he tricked the professor and was rewarded.

"What's this?" I asked him, snatching the treat from his vine's grasp.

"That's a rare candy." Prof. Oak approached me and gave Pepper a playful noogie, "It makes a pokemon a little stronger. I think it may help him enough so you can properly train him without worrying about his safety so much."

"Wow, thank you!" I unwrapped the candy and fed it to Pepper, who suddenly got really energetic, trying to bounce and run in my arms. I set him down and let him run circles around me, "You deserve it for tricking Prof. Meanie!" I laughed at my pokemon's display.
Prof. Oak grumbled and began to speak again, "Can you do me a favor? I ordered something very important, but it got held up at Viridian City. I can't go there and get it now, and Blue ran off before I could ask him. Can you go to the PokeMart there and get the parcel for me? It'll be worth the trouble, I promise."

"Of course!" I nodded somewhat dramatically, "I'm happy to help!"

"Thank you. You're welcome to start using what's in the parcel when you get it, just be sure to contact me using what's inside to tell me. And if you see Blue be sure to give the other one to him as well."

"What is it?"

"You'll see." He smiled a mischievous smile, "Just be sure to give it to Blue as well."
"No problem. I'm sure I'll see him whether I want to or not..." I groaned, "See you again soon, Professor!" I turned and left, Pepper somehow keeping up while running squares around me now.

I stopped at an intersection about half an hour later. I looked left and saw my house, Mom probably still inside. Pepper looked up at me, confused and wondering why we stopped. I sighed, held my breath, and finally started moving forward.
"I'll see her again when we get back." I looked down at Pepper, who was now walking at my pace, "Then you get to meet her." We smiled at each other and headed off for our first adventure out of town.

***

It wasn't that eventful. In fact, there were no wild pokemon at all. The first step I took earlier today led me to get bit by a Rattata, but now I can't even find a Pidgey in the sky. Where were they? I shrugged, deciding that thinking about it wouldn't get me anywhere, and entered the quaint city of Viridian. I eventually found my way to the building with the blue roof, an obvious sign of a PokeMart, and entered through the sliding glass doors. I walked up to the counter and rang the small bell, hoping to get some quick service. A scrawny, balding man jolted up from behind the counter, making me jump and sending Pepper, who was on my head until that point, to the ground. The man eyed me over and asked in a dreadful tone, "Can I help you?"

I averted my gaze and quickly recovered. I had to make this quick or suffer another paralysis, "I'm here to collect Prof. Oak's parcel. He sent me to take it to him since it was having trouble being delivered directly to him."

"Ah, yes. That package that arrived a few days ago. Let me go get it." The man walked slowly to the other side of the counter and through a door. After what felt like an eternity he finally returned carrying a small box, maybe eight inches long, five inches wide, and three tall. He handed the light package to me and groaned out, "Anything else?"
"Actually, could I buy a few pokeballs?" I was still doing whatever I could to not look at him in the eyes.

"Sure. That'll be 900 pokedollars for three pokeballs."

I quickly handed him the money, he slowly handed me the pokeballs, and I was out before he could even put his hand back on his side of the counter.

"I am never shopping there again." My eyes were bugged out, desperately trying to escape from my head so they wouldn't have to be subjected to that again. Pepper had grabbed me around the waist with his vines and was panting behind me after being dragged out the store. I picked him up and placed him back on my head, letting him rest after that adventure. Off in the distance, I could see a small patch of grass just outside the city limits and decided to see of any wild pokemon would actually show up this time.

They did. They were everywhere in that small patch. Mankeys and Nidoran, both male and female, Rattatas and Pidgeys swarmed the grass like it was the last place live in Kanto. I gulped.

"Pepper, be ready."

Pepper jumped off my head and took a fighting stance next to me. I stepped into the grass and alerted the pokemon. All of them turned to me and we had a staredown. Who would make the first move? Then, they all started chasing us. Out of instinct, and a little panic, Pepper and I bolted left and kept running down a long stretch of field. Their numbers slowly decreased as the wild pokemon gave up, and by the time we reached the patch of dense trees blocking our path there were five: a Rattata, a Pidgey, a Mankey, and two Nidoran, a male and female. Pepper and I readied ourselves for battle. Fortunately the wild pokemon seem to share a sense of honor and only one pokemon stepped forward: the Pidgey.

"Let's aim for a one-shot KO! Tackle!"

Pepper ran forward and rammed into the Pidgey, who fell to the ground. It tried to get up, but was too weak to do so. The Mankey then stepped up and prepared for battle. It started out with a low kick, tripping up Pepper and smashing him into the ground with a swift chop. Pepper coughed a cry, but stood back up anyway.

"Crap, this thing is strong. Lower their attacks with growl!" Pepper belted out a loud cry, intimidating the wild pokemon and opening them up for an attack, "Now tackle!" Pepper charged forward and hit the Mankey, scoring another one-hit knock-out.

"Don't lose momentum! Tackle again!" Pepper repeated his previous action and knocked down the Rattata, though it wasn't out. Then a thought occurred to me, "Oh yeah, I should be catching these pokemon. Well, here goes!" I grabbed the nearest one to my hand and threw it at the barely-standing Rattata. The ball hit, opened and the Rattata was absorbed into the ball. The pokeball closed with a "snap!" and fell to the ground, shaking. After what felt like an eternity, waiting for the ball to stop moving, anxiety setting in, the ball finally clicked and stopped moving, signaling a capture.

"Awesome!" I shouted in excitement, "May as well test him out! Let's go... Uhh... Jess!" I chucked the ball over Pepper's head and Jess appeared behind the two Nidoran that were left. She quickly turned and rammed into the male while Pepper kept the female busy. He smashed into the Nidoran and forced it to the ground and finishing with a full on body slam while Jess ran circles around her Nidoran, making it dizzy. When the opportunity showed itself she ran into it again head-first. She successfully knocked it out, but then suddenly collapsed.

"Huh?" I ran over to Jess, making sure she was OK. I picked her up and put my ear to her mouth, listening. Small breaths were heard, but they were faint, "She must have gotten poisoned because of Nidoran's Poison Point ability. C'mon Pepper, let's get to the Pokemon Center now!" I didn't even return them to their pokeballs. I just wanted to get Jess, my new teammate, to the center before she became too ill.

We had already been running for five minutes, each minute becoming a hundred to me. Did we really travel that far away from the city? We finally reached the city limits and rushed into the Pokemon Center. I felt Jess's body get heavier but I didn't lose hope. I just wanted her to get better.

"Nurse!" I ran straight for the desk, narrowly missing any other visitors, "Please, help my Rattata! She got poisoned!"

"Don't worry, this is common with those Nidoran nearby." The nurse behind the desk smiled, which admittedly helped calm my nerves a bit, "Just hand it here. And why don't I take care of your Bulbasaur as well? He looks pretty worn out himself."

I looked down at Pepper, who was sweating and panting on the ground next to me. He really did look exhausted, "Yeah. Please. How long do you think this'll take?"

"Usually a stay overnight will give your pokemon a full recovery. If you have nowhere else, please use our guest lodging upstairs. I believe we have a room open... Ah, yes. Here it is," the nurse handed me a card with a four-digit number on it, "go to this room number and swipe the card. This'll is the key to your room. When you leave tomorrow please be sure to return it here."

"Wow, thanks." This place had great hospitality. Now that I knew Pepper and Jess were in good hands my fears lifted and I could get a good look at her. She wore a pink skirt and a white apron. Her hat had a red cross printed on it that matched her pink hoops of hair. She looked young, no older than twenty-five, and had a Chancey at her side working diligently on random things.

"Not a problem. We do treat trainers' pokemon every day and these kind of things are standard everywhere. Please, enjoy your stay." the nurse bowed, "And if you need anything please use the phone upstairs and ask for me, Nurse Joy, or come directly here. Dinner will be served shortly at 6:00pm to 10:00pm and breakfast is served between 7:00am and 10:00am."

I thanked Nurse Joy for everything and headed up to my room. I'd only been out for a short while but I was already tired, and I wasn't the one battling a horde of wild pokemon. Pepper did look exhausted and Jess had been stricken with poison. Now that I think about it, I really don't deserve to complain about being tired. Maybe Nurse Joy will let me see my pokemon later. I'd really like to know how they're doing after all that.

My room was up on the third floor. I didn't pay attention to how high the building actually was, but it must be pretty big. The stairs up didn't even end on my floor. I set the bag down and brought out the parcel. The box still looked small, so I wondered what was so amazing in here that  Blue and I both need from the Professor? Shrugging, I peeled back the tape and opened the flaps on each side. Inside and underneath the packing peanuts were a couple red rectangles with a large blue orb on the top left. I picked one of them up and clicked a button on the side. The rectangle split in two on the sides and flipped open, revealing a series of buttons on one side and a screen with a few more buttons below that on the other. Very curious with this contraption I pressed what appeared to be the "on" button and the screen and blue orb lit up. The speaker on the far side began speaking a digital recording.

"This is a Pokedex, your personal pokemon encyclopedia. I can scan any pokemon and reveal new information about it based on it's body structure and habits personally seen by the trainer. You may also use me to keep track of a pokemon's attacks and other information. There is also a calling feature, allowing you to contact any other Pokedex holder or line-connected video phone. For more information on what functions I carry, please refer to the owner's manual included." The screen flashed and text appeared reading "What is your name?" Confused but going with the flow for now, I typed in my name using the keyboard on the opposite side.

The screen accepted it and gave further instructions: "Please head down to the nearest PC usually found in Pokemon Centers and other important facilities." Not knowing what else to do, I locked the door behind me and descended back down the stairs to the first floor. I rounded the corner and saw a tall-standing computer with "PC" boldly placed on the screen. I walked over to it and shook the mouse a little and the screen changed to a login screen. I looked back down at the Pokedex and new instructions were present on the screen: "Please close the Pokedex and slide it into the Pokedex Slot on the PC." Still finding all of this weird I complied after locating this "Pokedex Slot" and the screen flashed again, showing a card with my picture on it and some of my general information. At the bottom were a series of blank slots with various shapes to them and the words "Badges" on a tab above them. A small green check mark drew itself at the bottom of the screen and the words "Registration finished!" typed themselves in the same green color as the check mark. The screen flashed again to the original "PC" screensaver and my Pokedex ejected itself from the PC. I took it and opened it back up to see what must be my Trainer Card on the screen with the same message as the PC had just a few moments ago.

Then the screen turned black and new text appeared, this set suddenly feeling ominous. "Do you know what loss feels like?" with the words "yes" and "no" on opposite sides of the screen. I was a little frightened of this question, but felt compelled to answer it. I didn't have a dad growing up, but that wasn't really losing someone since I never had him, and my life has been pretty good so far. I clicked on "no" and the text changed. "To grow strong you must first know the deep pain of loss. Do you accept this challenge?" I stared at the screen, still standing in front of the PC, nervous, hesitant, and now very frightened. I felt like I was about to choose something that would change my life. I thought about my goal, to become Champion and do what my father couldn't. This thing was offering me the chance to grow stronger. Whatever "challenge" was being offered to me involved "loss", and I didn't know what it meant by that. But, for my goal, I had to take that risk. I clicked "yes" and the screen changed again, "There is not turning back. Your adventure starts now."

I waited for something to happen but nothing did. The Pokedex turned itself off after the text displayed for about ten seconds, but I didn't feel any different. I looked around me, but nothing had changed except for the few pairs of eyes now looking at me strangely for standing in front of a PC for so long without using it. I sighed and let my nerves ease. I shrugged the whole thing off for now and headed for the cafeteria for dinner, ready for a nice meal after today's anxiety.