Our Heritage for Time Immemorable

The morning air was crisp with the new arrival of the coming autumn days, with the warm sun to rival, it felt as if the air was still and the temperature of the air had swayed neither way. A crisp wind blew through the air, following the route that leads the way to a small suburban town. Pallet Town was beginning to wake, especially its younger folk. A Fearow flew through the air, cawing down below at its younger Spearow brethren, causing them to flap their wings away from their perch and follow it away from town and closer to the woods. In this morning world of Pokemon, all was peaceful, with a gentle understanding between humans and creatures… except for one boy.

A fairly average red alarm clock had its arms rested at 8:15, and was beeping endlessly, growing louder and louder. The constant metronome of the beeping made it sound as if it would eventually beep so loud that the neighbors would hear the monstrosity. A pale hand came down hard on a black button that protruded on top of it, smack dab in the middle. A muffled groan sounded from a bed with a thick green blanket with a white trim. Whoever had made the sound had clearly concealed their self underneath a pillow, with a musical note design.

The boy knew this was the day that he would be receiving his first Pokemon, but what he couldn’t help but fret about was… he wasn’t even sure he wanted to be a trainer, or if he even wanted his own Pokemon for that matter. Pokemon, to be honest, rather frightened him to a point. To make it simple, he was just uncertain. Under his covers, he told himself he was just over thinking everything. He was worrying too much. People often started their journeys at the age of ten, to his surprise, and he was a year overdue and he didn’t even have a Pokemon… but soon he will.

The boy dragged himself from the covers out of his bed. Revealing his clear pale skin, devoid of acne, and snow white hair that stuck out everywhere from all sides; when he was wet or taking a shower, the hair would be laid flat just above his shoulder blades. He had yet to open his icy blue eyes, in fear of the new morning light blinding him first thing in the morning. Ah well, he would have to open them eventually. He opened his eyes, and put his hand in front of his face, shielding his face from a small stream of harsh light that stared through his window. The air was cool where he was, and unlike some would expect, he wasn’t on the first floor, upstairs, but they managed to alter the basement into a bedroom for him. He walked over to a wall near the door of his room and grabbed a marker.

He layed his hair flat by setting his hand on his head and marked a line to what he figured was his approximate height. He turned around to check but frowned to see a 4’4½”. He had hardly grown an inch since last month. His mother kept on telling him he would grow, but that was hardly evident. He looked around his room, which was rather well decorated. The carpet was white and from the ceiling was an airplane model that he and his dad made together one evening. The walls were adorned with deep brown mahogany holding books and other trinkets. Inside the drawers were his clothes. There was a desk beside his bed that had a lamp and that God forsaken clock he had there…

“Sean,” called an enthusiastic masculine voice from upstairs, “come on up and eat some breakfast. Then go and get dressed, you know what day it is!”

Unlike a normal family, they would have told him to take a shower, however, his hair. Not that it gets ruined or anything, but it gets really frizzy and annoying and you have to constantly brush it for ten minutes for it to stay right. Besides… he did just take a shower last night, and it’s not like he went anywhere dirty after that. Sean opened the door and jogged his way upstairs, adorned in nothing but a white shirt and sky blue pajamas and socks. He met his dad after following a hallway into the kitchen, who wore a black tank top, ragged jeans and socks as well. He was the one where Sean had received his albinism trait. Not that Sean blamed him for being albino, and he didn’t even consider it a bad thing. He was just unthankful for the trait that he was often made fun of for.

“Hey there killer,” his father joked as he watched his son warily walk into the kitchen and pulled a chair from the table. “I remember when I got my first Pokemon.” His father grabbed a bowl from a cabinet and poured him some fruity cereal and poured the milk in after it.
“What was it?” Sean asked as he grabbed the spoon that his dad handed to him. “The Pokemon, I mean.”

“Ah, it was a fine one alright. A Seal. After a long time of training it evolved into a Dewgong…”

“I don’t see it around anymore,” Sean remarked, “where is it now?”

His father’s eyes dimmed. While he often appreciated his son’s curiosity and questions, he showed no share of enthusiasm as he often did with his son. Sean sensed his distress, and sunk back into his seat, slowly shoving spoonfuls of cereal into his mouth. His father’s lips had finally moved.

“…She died. Long ago in a fight there was no chance of winning.”

“What happened?” Sean said. He honestly didn’t want to ask this question and see his father look back on his memories, seeing the look of remorse on his face. But… he just couldn’t help it. His curiosity was overwhelming. His father didn’t seem to want to answer, momentarily upsetting Sean’s thirst for knowledge. But there was no harm in telling, it seemed, and this was indeed long ago.

“It was a long time ago. Against a group of…” he bit his lip. “…unruly trainers – but they’re long gone by now.” He added in hastily. “She died nobly, trying to defend me.”

“I’m sorry…” Sean murmured.

But his father set a firm hand on his shoulder and slowly turns his grim face into a smile of approval.
“You’re becoming a fine young man, Sean.” He reassured him. “And this is a day to remember! There’s no need in getting all upset. Now chop, chop. Finish your breakfast and go get dressed.”

The morning proceeded exactly as that. He finished his breakfast hastily and went to go get dressed for the event. He put on a warm white sweater with no design crocheted in – one of those with a similar fabric to a shirt and had a thin hood naturally sewed in. Underneath was a bright blue shirt, sky blue, or cyan, whatever you want to call it. He wore dark blue jeans, faded around his knees and white sneakers with a good amount of support in the soles.

He had no gloves that many trainers seem to glamorize. He had three rubber bands on his wrist that he always carried around for no particular reason, but no gloves. His sleeves were pushed up just above his elbows for a comfortable position. He had his backpack slung around one shoulder. He didn’t really need it for he wasn’t going on his journey just yet, but from what he heard, this was being hosted at Oak’s farm. There was Pokemon there and while he was a bit afraid of them, he also found them… rather fascinating, really. So he wanted to bring along a notebook and a pencil. Inside were some rather accurate sketches of Pokemon that he had found around town. Mostly just rodents and birds, and it would be interesting to draw something that posed more of a challenge. Something like a Tauros or a Golduck maybe. Or maybe even a Vileplume!

Ah well, there was no need getting all hyped up if there was the chance he wasn’t going to see any Pokemon, especially with a sudden influx of kids charging towards the ranch. He walked out the door to see that barely anyone populated the streets, and the more he thought about it, the more he reconsidered. Maybe it’s too early for them to open? Maybe they were open, but Sean was certain he was going to feel rather weird being the first one to be there. So instead, he sat on his porch and watched the town slowly develop activity. There was no doubt going to be another kid enrolled in this program coming by within the next ten minutes…
Right?
It’s not like they all came from Pallet Town, though… people from all over the world were coming to this event. Albeit, few.



In Hoenn, unlike Kanto, the steady assault of raindrops clattered against the windows in the early morning rhyming through the air, paired with calm wind rustling the leaves that furnished the trees. A stray Pokemon or two would flounder around the edge of their shelter, quickly dart back into hiding. Lightning danced a ballet across the sky with its fingers outstretched, before a booming thunder clap cracked like whip. Some citizens of Mauville managed to sleep through the storm, but others, like a thirteen year old girl and her mother were awakened. The girl’s eyelids slowly fluttered open, and moved over to gaze out the window and watched as the raindrops fell on top of her window, and see lightning flash before a low tremble shook the sky five seconds later. It had to rain, today of all the days, it was pouring. She liked the rain normally, but this was simply inconvenient. She rubbed her clean, smooth face and combed her fingers through her short, ginger and messy fohawk hair and out of her green eyes, sighing, looking for the motivation to drag her out of bed. Well there was always her first Pokemon on the line. Her parents have been putting that off for three years until recently. Going to Kanto would be an interesting experience, the boat was leaving in two hours…

“Reyna,” a feminine voice said from the other side of the house, “today’s the day. Might want to get up soon.”

…Her mother would have a fit. With a one, two, three, she removed the covers and stepped out of bed, wearing nothing on her healthy slim figure besides a pair of boxers and a black lace b-cup bra, soon realizing the house heater wasn’t on, and the chill air gave her goose bumps on her legs and back. The power plant must have been having some problems again, probably due to the storm. Damn this place. She stuck herself into a pair of baggy black jeans before wrapping her hips with a red cotton belt. Walking around her room, she found a simple man’s red tank top. It wasn’t the super thin kind with what were practically bra straps, these were more meant for men, and was once her father’s. She threw on her black leather jacket which fell down to her waist and hugged her figure. Deciding that the footwear could wait, she shuffled into a pair of slippers and paced her way through the house and met her mother’s gaze.
“Geez, beautiful first the in the morning, aren’t ya?”

Reyna rolled her eyes and smirked. Her mother was the only one of all people that knew how to break her rough outer shell. If anyone else were to say that, she’d probably give them a death glare, hoping they’d explode into a million pieces.

“Finally, it’s about time you’re getting your first Pokemon, right?”

“If only dad weren’t such a worry wart.”

The brash comment made her mother smile a bit. “Well you’re only thirteen; you kind of have to respect his decision. I can’t make all the life changing decisions after all. You’re his daughter too.”

“I suppose…” Reyna admitted as she sat down at the table, eying a piece of French toast and a glass of pomegranate juice. The smell of slow cooking omelet wafted from the stove. “What’s with the heater?” She ask, taking a sip from the glass of juice.

“Shot,” she said yawning, “broke down in the middle of the night. I’m guessing the thermostat was set to a temperature where the heater couldn’t reach for it to take a rest.”

“It wasn’t that cold last night was it?”

“Probably not. There might be a draft I need to get looked at.” She turned around to face the stove and picked up the spatula to lift the omelet up and drop it on Reyna’s plate, who took a fork and cut off a piece of it. “Well then,” she said before sticking the piece of egg into her mouth, “looks like while you’re here freezing your—“

“Ahem.”

“…butt off, I’ll be off in Kanto where it’ll be warm.”

Her mother laughed. “Yes you will!”

Silence carried on for the next five minutes, leaving Reyna to eat the rest of her omelet, and half of the french toast was left. Her mother had a cup of hot pumpkin spice coffee and was reading the newspaper intently. Reyna got thinking. She was getting sent off to Kanto through their own money, and from what she got from the letter, they will pay for the trips back home, and a return trip a month later to check in on their progress. How was she going to pay her way back to Hoenn? She didn’t think that her mother was able to afford to go to Kanto, pick her up, and then go back home. It sunk into her that her adventure won’t be held here in Hoenn. “Mom,” Reyna said breaking the silence. Her mother looked up from her paper questioningly. “…I’m going to miss you.”

Her mother paused for a moment. “I’m going to miss you too.”


Reyna ran through the drizzling rain as quickly as she could on the underpass, cycling road was closed as a precaution. She watched the sky flash bright and kept swearing to herself, hoping the rain wouldn’t pick up again and completely drench her. Even more important, she didn’t want to be late. He backpack was secured and her ticket was in her back pocket. Pokemon scurried away from her as she ran; the end of the path slowly became visible. The water level of the sea around her rose up about an inch above the path, leaving her steel toed boots soaked. “Please don’t pour,” she whispered, “please don’t pour.”

She found herself pounding her feet against Slateport’s roads and sidewalks. The market’s scent called out to her, but so did the dock’s bells, bringing her closer to the giant passenger ship headed towards Kanto. She stopped at the boarding plank when the man asked for her ticket, reaching into her pocket she handed him the ticket, in exchange for her cabin number, thirteen. How quaint. Hurrying on deck she found herself in a warm, cozy cabin. Shaking her hair dry she sat down to relax a wooden chair, waiting to dry off. She thanked whoever was listening, thanking that she wasn’t soaked like a wet Linoone. Half an hour until the ship arrived to Pallet Town... half an hour until she stepped on foreign soil.

Light shined through the blinds in an almost intelligent way, shining directly into the eyes of the boy who had been resting only moments before. A grunt of dismay came from the back of his throat while he futilely attempted to avoid anymore rays of morning light that always seemed to find his eyes. A sweet odor wafted upward from downstairs, marking the start of a new day, and the beginning of the most important meal of the day. Scratching his neck, Lucas pulled on a shirt and brushed his hair before sluggishly sliding down the carpeted stairs towards the meal that lay in wait.

"Morning lad!" the man who owned the small bed and breakfast said with a delightful and sincere voice. It had a warm traditional feel and Lucas responded with his greetings before sitting down at the sleek wooden table. Two others sat there already, but they were both older and Lucas didn't see much chance in talking to them. Laid out for him were plates of biscuits and cereals and a wide assortment of various jams made of different berries from several regions. An appetite was something he never seemed to be lacking. Perhaps it was due to being a growing boy. It didn't exactly matter to someone like him, however. The one thing on his mind at that moment was finishing his meal, and swiftly running through Route 1 to Pallet Town. Still, he knew that Pallet Town wasn't going anywhere (The night before, he legitimately had that as a concern until he finally came to his senses.)

It was going to be grand. That's what he knew. He didn't consider the difficulty of the trials ahead, only the excitement and adventure it would bring to him after he set out. With a Pokemon, everything would be infinitely more fun. Someday, someone would be looking at their own TV and be thinking, 'Dang, that Lucas Reed is cool' he fantasized.

Reality came flooding back when plates finally started stacking on top of one another and clicking in turn. The entire time he should've been eating he was daydreaming and now he was at the point where should have been leaving with only a few bites of food.

"Crap..." He muttered to himself quickly, glancing to the clock as he did. He shoved a biscuit into his mouth, chewed and swallowed as fast as he could and then downed the glass of milk. Later he might be hungry but that didn't matter to him at the moment.

"Thanks for the food and bed!" Lucas shouted towards the man as he exited the building into the morning air of the outside world. Viridian City was a pleasant sight. The Pokemon center was down the road, the PokeMart was just a couple buildings to the side. With a spring his step, Lucas set off. He ran down the road, stopping regularly to walk for a bit. The dew on the grass bouncing off onto his ankles when he trotted through it. Pallet Town was visible in the distance, as small a place as it was. He would arrive shortly. There were some Pidgey flying overhead. The scene was somewhat surreal.

Time did pass soon enough it seemed. Was it time for the distribution yet? Oh no, what if he missed it. His watch did say he was on time, so he forced himself to believe that he was. No room for bad thoughts here.

And so Lucas continued, just walking slowly now.

"Bbbbbrrrrr!!! Nnnneaw! Pow-pow-pow!"

Lauren waved one of her toy airplanes around, making gun and airplane noises as she did. As she tore around the room, flying her model plane, the iron pendant on her neck rattled and jangled, the chains clattering against each other, the cast-iron airplane banging against her chest. Her hair flailed behind her (she forgot to brush it this morning).

She hadn't been dressed yet. Yes, she was indeed running around with a toy plane in her underwear. (That is, she was in underwear, but the plane wasn't.)

"Lauren!" her mom called.

Lauren dropped her airplane on her bed. "Coming, Mom!" she replied, throwing on her red shirt, quickly running the brush exactly three times through her hair (not that it did much good), and hopping into her pants as she jumped down the stairs, bump, bump, bump!

Lauren hurled several things into a bag: a few mints, her 3DS and charger, sunscreen, a copy of A Tale of Two Cities, a map of the KanJoh continent, her wallet, and of course, her Magnet Train pass.

Lauren slung her bag on her shoulder and barreled into the kitchen. "Hi, Mom!" she wheezed.

"Lauren, you don't want to be late for the---"

"---farm give-away? Yeah, I don't," Lauren said excitedly. As soon as her mom plopped the bowl of cereal in front of her, she tore through it like a Snorlax on a strict diet.

"You're excited about this, aren't you?" asked her mom.

"Mom, Pokemon are pretty much the one thing I love more than planes. Asides my parents," Lauren said, rather quickly.

Her mom laughed. Lauren was lucky. Her mom hardly got mad at her, and only reprimanded her for bad behavior. Lauren was a comeback kid: when her grades plopped, she always worked to find a way to bring them back up.

Of course, we aren't talking about school here, this is Pokemon. Lauren got her trainer's leave a week ago.

Lauren sped into the garage (careful not to slip on the hardwood floor) and pressed the garage door button. As the door opened, Lauren took in the rustic grandeur of Ecruteak City, and the sacred bell tower that rose into the heavens. Legends said that when the bell was rung by one with a pure heart, they would summon the mythical Ho-Oh to the bell tower.

Lauren gazed up at the tower, and thought to herself, I wish I could do something that big.

She then walked up to a box, pulled out a two-shaft, hinged contraption on wheels, and carefully unfolded it, revealing its true shape, an A-framed bicycle with two smaller wheels. Lauren hopped on, and pedaled down to Ecruteak City.

Lauren sped down through the old streets of Ecruteak. The city's rustic old buildings, the classic Pokemon Center, the gym...

"Hi, Morty!" Lauren called as she sped past the gym. The Ghost-type Gym Leader was outside, taking a break and getting some fresh air. He saw Lauren speed by on her bike. Morty returned the greeting.

Lauren pedaled enthusiastically, and before she knew it, she was in Goldenrod City. She screeched to a halt in front of the Magnet Train station. A train pulled into the station as another one left and sped away to another town.

"Trains for destinations: Olivine City, Cerulean City, Saffron City, now boarding," said a voice over the loudspeaker.

Lauren got up and headed for the terminal, flashing her pass and boarding the train to Saffron City. The minute hand on the clock ticked to a new hour, signifying a new dawn in Lauren's life, where she begins her journey as a Trainer.

The Maglev technology on the Magnet Train caused it to rise into the air with a jolt. The engine whined as the train accelerated on the tracks.

Lauren figured she should occupy herself if she was going to stay on this train for a while. She pulled out her portable game system and turned it on, keeping the volume down as to not disturb anybody.

A few days prior....

Felix stared with wide-eyed wonder at the battle that was going on in front of him. He'd managed to talk Mr. Blaine into letting him watch a few battles as he endured the three day layover at Cinnabar Island, until the ferry to Pallet Town came.

Felix sat in a corner of the room, staring at the Rapidash. It was monstrous, with thick muscles bulging underneath its pearly white skin and a mane of fire rippling down the back of its head. It kicked the floor with its hoof, clearly ready to be rid of the wait, ready to charge the challenger's Pokemon.

Felix was too engrossed, too enthralled to feel pity for the challenger. Blaine battled masterfully-he was sending the fiery horse against a Water Pokemon, and still he won. It was as if he knew every trick in the book, and given the man's age, it was likely he'd seen them all. Probably raised the first Kabutops...

The challenger was growing clearly more agitated at his Pokemon's failings-the Wartortle had taken a pretty nasty burn in the process of fighting and Rapidash kept it too busy with its charges and blasts of fire to give the Trainer the opportunity to heal it. It was shaky on its feet and breathing heavily, fear and pain evident in his eyes. Still, Felix was too amazed to feel pity, too awed by how incredible a creature it was. And then the horse took a few steps back, jumped and slammed the side of its body, the bulk of its weight (surely several hundred pounds) into the creature, pinning it to the ground with a sickening thud. The Wartortle shuddered for a minute, trying to push the massive weight off of it, but to no avail. The Rapidash suffocated the creature until it passed out, at which point Blaine commanded it to return. It lifted itself up and trotted back to its Trainer with a serenity quite unlike the way it fought.

The way the fire danced down its back...Felix found himself wanting his wait on the island to extend, to be longer. He did not look forward to the day when he would have to confront Blaine, who gazed at the challenger picking up his broken Pokemon behind dark sunglasses, his face not revealing any of his emotion.

There wasn't much else to do on the island, aside from the abandoned Mansion, but Felix was not in possession of enough intestinal fortitude, shall we say, to venture within its creaking, rusted doors. And so when the ferry came to take him to Pallet Town, he reluctantly left Blaine and the gorgeous Rapidash behind, presenting his ticket at the docks, loading what little luggage he had, sitting on the edge of the boat as it roared by.

----

Pallet Town in a few hours, then? He wasn't sure what to expect. After seeing Blaine's masterful display he had his heart (alliteration FTW) set on a Fire Pokemon, something as unnaturally strong and fast as Blaine's horse, but he supposed he would settle for anything. Aside from something pathetic, like a Wurmple. Felix closed his eyes for a moment and imagined what he would do if he received a Wurmple...the Professor's lab would be a wreck. No one deserved that fate.

Still, the idea was intriguing. He mulled over all of the Fire Pokemon he knew of-Rapidash, Charamander, Torchic-with a smile he envisioned the Professor handing him a Moltres inside a Poke Ball. No, he wouldn't be as happy with anything else, with a weakling Pokemon of any other kind. Fire, that's where it was, raw strength and power. The only things that posed a threat to it were Rock, Ground, and Water, all of which could be averted. Everything had a melting point, it was just a matter of finding it.

Felix had mixed feelings, now. Did he want the boat to speed faster, towards potential disappointment, or go slower, prolonging the awful not-knowing, where at least his fantasies still had a chance of playing out truthfully? Aside from maybe the Moltres...

-BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP-

Austin glared daggers at his alarm clock. How dare it wake him up right then. Couldn't it wait ten more minutes. Even just five. That would be nice. But no. It had to go and start BEEP BEEP BEEPing right then in the middle of his pleasant dream about the forest and stuff. Of course, the alarm always does that. It's only natural that it wants to wake someone up at the worst possible time. Or maybe it's only natural that people have the best dreams right before their alarms clocks go -

-BEEP BEEP BEEP BEE--

Oh right. He hadn't actually turned it off yet. A click almost echoed in his mostly empty room as he shut the clock off for the last time. Oh well. It's 6:30, time to get going, he thought to himself as he hoisted his gangly form out from under the sheets. While he got dressed for the day and packed everything he anticipated needing (which wasn't much), he took one last look around his room. He had already cleaned it out yesterday, given that it was fairly clear to both him and his parents that he wouldn't want to come back, nor was he particularly welcome to do so. It just felt necessary that he paid his last respects to his secondary fortress of solitude, when the forest wasn't available.

He was glad he had already packed granola bars the night before, and enough money to replenish his supplies later. He dashed through the early-morning house, the only one up being his brother, having absconded to his room to spend another nice day being similarly antisocial to Austin on the computer. Austin tip-toed downstairs, left a terse note, "I'm leaving," on the table, and quickly shut the door behind him.

He was free. He could do anything he wanted. He could crawl up on the roof and jump off and his parents would care even less than usual. Not that he was going to. ...

Austin brushed the leaves and twigs he tore off the bushes during his fall off and continued on his merry way. He took one last look at his house, just another quaint suburban house on a quaint suburban street, albeit slightly less cared-for than some others due to his parents' neglect of anything but their jobs, and moved on. Good riddance.

He lived on the far side of Pallet Town from Professor Oak's Pokemon farm, nearer to Route 1 than to the water Route 21, but he would get there soon enough. Pallet Town was far enough from Viridian City that it was nowhere near a bustling metropolis in size or temperament.

He realized he had a couple hours, having set his alarm early just in case he needed to get something at the last minute, but it was still 7:30. No one was going to be there yet for a while, and it's not like the event was going to close at some ungodly early hour. He knew this was going to have kids from all over the world, and they weren't all going to have stayed over night. There would have been more buzz about it, and his dad, being a travel agent, probably would have said something about them arriving early at some meal. Some people might not even arrive until that afternoon.

He decided to take the long route around town rather than through it. He would go south and then east through the forest, a route he knew well, and one that was certain to bring him some friendly company.

In a small simple room at a small Inn in the town of Pallet a mass stirred under the blankets of the bed. A faint mumbling could be heard if you listened closely "Mfhhh...nooo that's my jacket...you can't eat it dragonair it tastes...delicious...but it's MINE." Suddenly the blankets stirred quickly and a black haired teenager fell from the bed with an audible thump. Sitting up from the floor Vincent now wide awake noticed that he'd apparently gone to sleep in his clothes from yesterday. This included his jacket which he seemed to of been chewing on in his sleep.
Getting to his feet Vincent managed to shuffle his way in front of the room's mirror. Well his hair was messy but that was nothing new. He was wearing a white shirt and blue jean but they had gotten somewhat wrinkly from being slept in. His jacket was fine though one of his sleeves was somewhat damp now. Looking down Vincent found his backpack sitting at the foot of the bed. As he slipped the backpack on to his back a large grin split across his face.
He couldn't help it he'd been waiting for this day since the first battle he'd watched back home back at the pokemon league. He was finally here in Pallet Town and in just a little while longer he'd get his partner and then the real adventure would begin. Vincent made his way through the Inn and was just about to go outside when he heard a voice behind him "Good luck kid." Vincent turned seeing the manager and his grin just got bigger "Thanks, I'm sure I'll see you again someday." Vincent responded and made his way outside "Oh thanks for the room too." Vincent managed before he was on the path outside the Inn.
Vincent walked slowly his head spinning one way and then the other as he took in as much of Pallet as he could. He hadn't been able to see much as it had been fairly dark when he managed to get to town. He knew he might be somewhat early if he got there now but he didn't have much else to do unless he ran into a distraction of some sort.

Sean watched the morning go by as Pallet Town slowly blossomed into activity, and one or two kids appeared in town. For the event, he assumed. He watched as one of them, a kid with messy blonde hair accented with some glasses mounted on his nose, walk around the town instead of simply making a straight line towards the farm. Was he lost? He hadn’t seen him around before maybe he doesn’t know where he’s going… no, no, and no. That would be a bad, baaaad idea. He shouldn’t start his day in a grim mood; he was getting his first Pokemon after all! Should he continue to wait though, or… actually, it might be better if he went on ahead. Better to be early than late after all!

Sean picked himself up and walked off his porch, breathing in the fresh air of the town, thinking he was fortunate to live in such a… mostly friendly place. There was the occasionally child or two a year or so above his age that liked to tease him a lot – but they weren’t important, not today! Sean marched forward towards the farm on the top of the hill, thinking about what he might receive. Rumors said something about the rare Pokemon from the Unova region, and he wondered if he would get something like that. He heard they were interesting, and some rather peculiar. It was a foreign land though, so it is to be expected. He looked over to see a large boat on the southern beach of Pallet Town, and a loud horn blew out. It was strange, seeing as how ships only passed by on rare occasions. On the side was painted, S.S. Cinnabar – the boat from Cinnabar Island? A shipmate was standing at the edge helping people get off. Few people were loaded on it besides a couple of vacationers and others. He suspected another person for the event would have come. (You can choose whether or not to include what happened during the trip here)

He looked further out and a couple miles behind was an even larger passenger ship, one from a different region he assumed. The more he thought about it, he began to figure that these kids had to get up really early to be here, he almost felt sorry. Though they could sleep during the trip… no matter, it was none of his concern. He found himself at the base of the hill, looking up at the grand windmill that overlooked the town, a prestigious symbol of Pallet Town itself.

Reyna had awoken once more this morning, groaning as the motion of the ship nauseated her. How long was she out? How much further is this Pallet Town place? She staggered out of the cabin’s bed and pushed open the door to see the ocean rolling by the ship’s side, and a couple of Wingulls flying by. After she looked around she saw a massive brown bird perched on the ship’s bow. She stopped in place at the sight of this unfamiliar creature. It had a long beak, large wings and pieces of red skin around its face. The Pokemon turned to look at her, and Reyna winced. It was a mean looking son of a bitch. It brought up its large wings and flapped its wings, leaving Reyna to watch it fly off in awe. What was th—

“I see you just met your first Fearow.” A brown haired kid behind her sneered with a hostile expression on his face. He looked to be about her age.

“A Fearow?” Reyna echoed curiously, initially oblivious to his tone of voice. She snapped back into reality. “What’s it to ya?”

The kid began laughing, “You should have seen the look on your face! It was great!”

Reyna sighed and rolled her eyes, deciding to just humor him in his left. Let him revel in it for a little. “Are you done yet?” She spat.

“All of you foreigners are just the same, you’re so stupid and naïve!”

The aggressor hardly had time to finish his sentence as Reyna brought her foot up and kicked him square in the chest. He found himself on the ground struggling for air and with Reyna’s boot planted firmly on top of him. Reyna took her green eyes and looked at him straight in the eye, looking at him as if he were the ugliest bug she has ever seen. “I said, are you done yet?”

“Y-yes!” He wheezed.

“Good.” She growled, taking her foot of him. “And for the record, I wasn’t afraid.”

Reyna’s pride often did get in the way of social relations, and paired up with the fact that she is rather aggressive and has a zero tolerance for stupidity and timidity, she has a hard time making friends. But matters little to her however – she feels far more peaceful when people aren’t bugging her… though she isn’t one to shy away from a group if it’s necessary. Hearing what people have to say are sometimes interesting. She paced her way up to the front of the ship looking where the Fearow was roosted. That was certainly an interesting Pokemon. She wondered where it flew off too, and if they were naturally aggressive. Looking out from the sea, she saw a boat out in the distance next to some docks. Was that Pallet town? It looked to be only fifteen minutes away. She really did have a long nap.

Waking up in the early hours of the morning would do that to a person though.

At the appropriate time in the morning, right between too early and too late, the alarm on Mytho's MP3 player clicked on, and his speakers blared out his favorite song. Mytho practically levitated out of bed and lunged over to turn off the alarm. The song was good; the window-shaking volume was not. Normally, he wouldn't have turned it up that loud, and in fact, he didn't. His parents did, because this was a rather special day for him, for obvious reasons. Getting one's first pokemon was a momentous occasion, almost like a birthday or something. It was definitely a coming of age, that was for sure.

Mytho got dressed and headed out to the kitchen, where his parents weren't waiting; they had already gone off to their respective jobs and left him to get ready by himself. That was fine by him; it was what they had always done. He got himself a piece of toast, loaded his pockets as usual, and headed out the door.

A few hitchhikes and a good bit of walking later, Mytho arrived in Pallet town, with more or less no idea where to go.

Vincent continued on his walk through the town being a little too enthusiastic about all the typical small town stuff he was seeing. Eventually he came to the hill of the town where the windmill stood. Looking up he whistled to himself that was quiet a hill he had to climb. Making his way up toward the top of the hill it didn't take long for him to start to worn out. This thing was really a little to steep if you asked him.
After having made his way about half way up the slope Vincent was leaning against a tree looking out across the town. He sat down underneath it's shade thinking he might just relax for a little while he'd made a pretty decent start and it wasn't like the lab was going anywhere.

A steady stream of young trainers to be flowed into Pallet Town, Lucas noticed while strutting slowly with his hand stuffed in his front pockets. There was a vague idea in his mind about where he should be heading towards in town. In actuality, he knew where he was supposed to be going, but he was nervous about going towards any specific place without knowing for sure that it was the right place. Lucas took in the foreign sights while his legs carried him faithfully towards the hill that led to the professor's lab. He could pick up on a few people farther up on the slope and decided to hurry himself up. No way was he going to show up late. The sun shined gently on his back now, warming Lucas and making him feel refreshed. The hill was just too big to him. He wanted to get there as soon as he could now. With that in mind, he jogged a couple feet, slowed, jogged a few more, and then slowed again.

Part of him was glad that he hadn't met up with any sort of company before the trek, leaving him to his own devices. It wasn't lonesome to be solitary then, just peaceful. He wouldn't be able to talk about the events without sounding over excited. Besides, he also still had that childish grin on his face.

The way the flames flickered over the horse's body...Felix sighed. It was the kind of beauty that occured for a fleeting moment in nature, never to-

The boat came to a halt, and Felix was broken from his reverie. One of the crew members was shaking him out of his daydreams.

"Kid, come on. We've got a bigger boat coming in soon and these docks are about to get crowded."

"Yeah. Sorry." Felix said rather unapologetically, getting up and grabbing his bag, which he slung over his shoulder. Perhaps placing it more firmly across both shoulders would keep his back from hurting and, you know, utilize the pack's full functionality, but damnit if the one-shoulder sling didn't look cooler. To Felix, at least. It's effects on anyone else...

Felix made his way off the boat: there wasn't a huge crowd, and Felix wasn't much in the mood to try and dissect who appeared to be there. He spotted a few kids, some adults...it was of no matter to him. Before the sun set today, he was going to have his first Pokemon. It sent shivers down his back and made him grin in spite of himself. His first Pokemon...

Felix walked down the short path into Pallet town and was a bit disappointed. He'd heard the place was a run-of-the-mill town, but he'd expected a BIT more. This was where the Professor lived? He was expecting what he'd seen from pictures of Ever Grande or the Indigo Plateau...this was a sore letdown. Still, his first Pokemon. The idea seemed to resonate through his head every few seconds, like he couldn't quite grasp it. He was going to be a trainer...He wondered how many Pokeballs he could fit in this bag. How many Rapidashes did that equate to?

Ah, he was getting ahead of himself. He had to physically receive the Pokemon first. Where was that stupid Professor's house, again? Ah, the top of a hill. Of course.

Shortly after the boat from Cinnabar was emptied of it's occupants, and was lightly filled back up with some returning Cinnabar locals, it made a bee line back to it's resident island, about an hour up the sea. The larger passenger ship from Sinnoh was nearing the docks, aptly named the S.S. Vigor. Reyna watched the coastline with anticipation. The ship slowly coasted next to the port, weighed the anchor down, tripping a mechanism causing the bell to ring. The gate was open, the ramp was down, and Reyna more or less jogged her way onto Kanto soil. She stepped on the dirt path and inhaled the fresh air, unlike the unfiltered pollution such as the kind that came from the Mauville factory. The air was crisp still and cool, yet dryer than humid air of Hoenn. All in all, it felt like nice place, and she was glad she brought her jacket. She had all of her stuff on her, and Reyna strolled her way into rural Pallet Town.

From what she got from the letter, the event was taking place at Professor Oak's farm at the top of the hill. She looked around and, to her dismay, there was farmland everywhere! She wasn't sure where Oak lived and or how far his land stretched, but at the top of the hill was a large windmill, so she decided that would be a good place to start heading. Odds were that they weren't supposed to directly jump over a fence and into the farm. That would likely unsettle the Pokemon living there. For confirmation however she looked around to see if there was another kid that knew where they were going and follow them. Subtly, of course. Confrontations wasn't on her mind right now. She spotted a very, very pale child walking semi-slowly, albeit steadily a hundred feet off or so. She figured he would know where to go, and followed his pace.

Sean was unaware of "hitch hiker", so to speak, and he knew very well where he was going. He said hi to the man there once or twice. He looked up at the windmill up on the hill and sighed as he counted the steps up. He always hated this part of the trip though... he passed a kid leaning against the tree half way up and even.. actually, now that he thought about it, he was the first one up front. Oh goodness. Well... nothing wrong with being early, right? As Sean made his way to the top, he looked at a slot next to the doorknob. It indicated green. Shrugging, he opened the doorknob and inside he saw a small office. Inside was a dark green carpet and three other doors in the room excluding the one he just came through. Off to the left was a wooden desk covered in papers and computers and cabinets off to the side. A clean shaven young man with brown ruffled hair sat behind the desk in wheeled office chair, digging through files that layered inside a briefcase that was perched on top his lap. At the sound of the door opening, the man looked up at the Sean and smiled. "Oh hello, you're early!"

Sean nodded hesitantly, shy and modest of the professor.

"No need to be shy buddy, we're all friends here. I think we've met before but let me introduce myself formally," he took the briefcase off his lap and set it on the floor before walking over to Sean and shaked his hand, "my name is Professor Gary Oak; but like I said, we're all friends here, so please just call me Gary, or whatever you please."

"Yes, Mr. Oak."

"Hm. Alright, while we're waiting for the others to arrive, please just step through the door on your right, lean against the fence or whatnot, and we should be beginning shortly assuming the others come in at an early fashion such as you. Which, hopefully they will since I arranged the boat arrivals..."

Sean looked over at this right and opened the door, revealing him the spacious farm that stretched out for acres. Pokemon roamed freely, and here he was, finally able to step foot upon the famous farm of the Oak family. The door was place pretty much right behind the fence and so he stepped forward twenty feet or so after closing the door and leaned against the fence, watching the stream of kids walking by.

Lauren reflected on the trip as the cab pulled into Pallet Town. She had taken the Magnet Train, then hailed a taxi. She thanked the driver, paid him, and strolled into the town.

Instantly, she was taken aback by the immense sight of trainers happily picking their first partners. The windmill lazily creaked and turned in the distance, and Lauren could see the laboratory. She propped up her folding bicycle and pedaled to the farm.

Kids were streaming into the yard. Lauren wondered if she had missed an assembly or something.

She took in the vast expanse of farmland. Several Tauros were busy chewing away at the grass, while Bouffalants charged into each other for dominance. A few Slowpokes lazily bathed in the sun.

And eggs were all lined up all over the place. Lauren leaned over the fence, wondering which Pokemon to pick.

She realized she should probably see the Professor first.

She ran up the grassy hill to the laboratory and knocked on the door.

"Hello?" she asked.

While waiting for the answer, Lauren took note of the landscape. The sea sparkled in the distance. Pokemon leaped out of the ocean, sending sprays into the air. Waves crashed against the shore. In the air, a flock of Pidgeys were lazily flapping their wings and soaring through the sky.

Pallet Town sure was peaceful.

Vincent took notice of all the people that were now starting to pass him and he figured it was about time he got going the rest of the way. Sure he was still early but while he may of not wanted to be first he sure didn't want to be last. Pulling himself up he started up the last half of the hill, though at least he'd be going down hill after this. As he reached the top of the hill he could see as people were filtering through the building and ending up leaning against the fence around the farm.

Vincent entered the office and looking around he could see the professor and saw the last person go through the door on the right. I'm finally here Vincent thought a giant grin stretched across his face. "So we just go this way right?" he questioned pointing towards the door on the right. While he asked he was already making his way through the door. I'm sure he'd tell me if I was going the wrong way, Vincent thought to himself as he walked out on to the farm.

EDIT: Sorry about the dice thing I was just messing with the buttons on the posting page.

Upon reaching the summit (if you can really even call it such a thing) of the hill, Lucas looked back and down the slope that he had been walking up for what felt like a blink of an eye. This was rather high up now that he though about it. Time flies, eh. It was a memorable scene, to him. One that would stick with him and one day when he had grown old, he had a hunch that he would think back to now and remember the day he became a Pokemon trainer. Lucas wondered how many young men and women had walked up that same trail, packing the dirt tightly. Even his older sister must've come this way. It was a strangely comforting thought to him. Perhaps it was because of the over excitement that he was feeling. It kept him calm and in a preferable mood.

The professor's lab verified that this was, in fact, the correct location. Some sort of odor made his nose wrinkle up in dismay while he was still examining the proud standing building; the smell of farmlands or the creatures living there, or something. Everything was so different from the dense concrete and asphalt roads that lined Goldenrod. The modernized and sleek look the buildings had or the partiall polluted air. However, this new frontier appealed to him. He liked it the wild nature of Pallet Town. A sense of freedom, he guessed? It almost seemed like he was some great adventurer, or at least so in his imagination. Hell, he may as well become one in the near and approaching future.

Lucas redirected his attention back to the building and got back to the task at hand instead of continuing his childish daydreams. Two others, he observed, walked through the door already just minutes before. Some pale kid and a really tall dude. They would no doubt be his first contact with others of the same age range. Following in suit, he put a couple fingers up on the front door of the building, and pushed it open, just a tad of caution in the action. Upon seeing the professor he ushered a quick greeting and followed in line with the others who were exiting out the door to the side. There he found his place slumped against the fence, waiting.

((Toad, can you please read the posts to see what's going on?))

Oak looked up to see a couple more kids walk through the door, among them was Vincent, whom the professor nodded and smiled to. He turned and directed him to the door in which the previous child, Sean, had entered. Piping up some words of encouragement, he said "Right this way sir, you got it."

He turned to face another child, Lucas. He did the same for him and directed him towards the door, while announcing that as soon as a couple more people appeared, they shall be starting shortly. Reyna opened the door a minute later and looked around the unfamiliar place. "Hello!" Oak chimed. Reyna just stood there rather awkwardly and waved her hand. "Is this the right place?" She asked.

"Yes ma'am, just take the door on your right. We shall be starting soon."

"How much longer?" She asked.

"I cannot imagine anything past a half hour. Just give it ten more minutes."

With that said Reyna walked through the door in which she was directed and found herself on the farm. Around her was a short pale kid, a tall colorful (in personality) kid, and some other guy around her size. She felt kind of weird around this group, but it was tolerable enough. She leaned herself against the fence before lifting herself up and sit on the rail. Sean was ignoring everyone that came through and was making a sketch of a Tauros off maybe a hundred yards or so, a safe enough distance as to not aggravate it. As he was doing so, he heard a large banging noise that sounded off from behind the building, with the shout of a man echoing afterwards. It sounded as if some metal object hit the floor or something. It disturbed Sean enough to the point where a steak of pencil lead ruined the whole picture!

Sean sighed in resignation before flipping a new page and starting over. What was next, a chunk of bird poop flying down on his notepad?

Whoever it was that hurt themselves, it definitely wasn't coming from Gary Oak's direction.

Lauren saw a bunch of other kids walk into the door, and felt very stupid.

She opened the door. A bell rang, signaling her appearance. "Hi, Professor," Lauren said sunnily, before walking out to join the other kids who were leaning against the fence.

She was able to see the Pokemon up close.

A Magnemite hovered up and down, its magnets twirling in opposite directions. Two Elekids were fighting for dominance, whirling their arms to generate electricity. Meanwhile, a Miltank lazily dozed under a tree next to a pond where a Poliwhirl splashed about.

Everything was pleasant, until a Koffing came along and gassed up the area around the Pokemon she was watching. The Elekids held their noses and rolled on the ground. The Miltank mooed and fled. The Poliwhirl dove into the water. Only the Magnemite didn't seem bothered.

Lauren moved away from the area she was standing, edging toward the other kids.

She decided to make small talk.

She approached the girl on the fence. "So, which Pokemon do you want?" she asked.

Vincent just about hopped a couple inches off the ground when whatever crashed crashed. Being curious by nature Vincent was hard pressed not to just go off and investigate. But with the egg selection about to start he really didn't want to go and get lost somewhere. The fact that someone was crying out made Vincent far more interested. If someone was hurt then they should help them. Vincent walked a little ways away from the fence before turning back toward the others. "Anyone else want to go see what's going on?" he asked breaking the silence.

Reyna dryly looked over to see a girl a tad younger than herself floundering over to socialize. The girl herself looked rather bright and colorful in her personality. To be honest, she really didn't know what to do. She really wasn't in the mood to make friends, but really didn't feel like being mean to the poor thing, at least not on the first meeting. She sighed as she decided to play along with her, hoping she would leave. She raised her head up and thought; oh, she really hasn't thought about it that much. "Um..." Reyna looked a little embarrassed. "I really don't know," she admitted, "anything that probably won't annoy the hell out of me."

Sean clutched his ears. He didn't like mean words. Mean words, bad words, swearing, cussing, cursing, all that jazz. It bothered him, it disturbed him. All those words were just so negative and it really did have an impact on his environment. Even hearing it makes him uncomfortable. This one kid tried making him say the "fuck" one time and oh God, it was awful. Every time he refused, he'd get a titty twister. His chest was all red by the end of the day.

"What about you?" Reyna asked, trying not to be inhospitable.

Meanwhile when Vincent walked around around the corner to see where the noise came from, he was cut off as a tall, skinny man with ruffled red hair and stubble all over the bottom half of us face held an ice pack against the side of his head, groaning. He had bags under his eyes, and his eyes themselves were an amber color that looked slightly bloodshot. It looked as if the man was overworked and didn't get enough sleep. In his other hand was a cast iron pan with two fried eggs and three strips of bacon. A force was embedded in one of the eggs and the yellow yolk oozed out and covered one of strips of bacon in it's sauce. The pan itself smelled rather aromatic.

Reyna, following her nose, looked over to see the man walk from behind the corner. His appearance momentarily unsettled her, and feather was rapidly replace with uncertainty. Was this the man hosting the event? He didn't look like a good role model at all. Like, at all. "Uh, who are you?"

Sean looked up, curious to see what was happening now, and his mouth dropped at the sight of the man. Was... what? Who? What was wrong with him, and who is he? The man looked over at Reyna who was still perched up on the fence. "Oscar," he said. He sounded tired, but was starting to sound better as he went on. "Oscar Gene. Has the event started yet? Oh lordy, I am tired..."

Gary Oak, on the main office, looked out the window, not seeing many people coming their way anymore, and decided it would be best to begin. He opened the door to be greeted by the group of kids and Oscar, who welcomed him with a nod of his head. "Alright then," Oscar said, "it's probably time to begin."

Gary went off behind the building to haul what was needed, and Oscar sat criss-cross on the ground, setting his pan of food down. Talking between bites, he started.

"Alright. Our goal for all of us being here, besides obtaining your first Pokemon, is to achieve what we never knew we really wanted in the first place: the closest relationship with your Pokemon as possible. As such, you are to choose an egg at random as to avoid any bias one of you might have, assuming you know what egg you're looking at. I have had much experience with Pokemon, so I can tell you that you will know which one will be yours, and it is all a matter of fate. You were meant to be with them. Any questions?"

Reyna looked at him hairy eyed. "Are you sure you're a trainer?" She asked.

"Actually, I'm a scientist."

Vincent groaned a little, he clutched his stomach and a little bit of drool might of been hanging from his mouth. Great he though my one weakness bacon. But there was clearly not enough to go around so Vincent really needed to cut off this line of thought. Broccoli, asparagus, pine apple on a quesadilla, Vincent repeated these thoughts in his head to try and get rid of his hunger.

Wait Vincent thought as he realized he was supposed to of been listening the whole time. He hadn't got much but the words random, choose, fate seemed to be important. So they'd be randomly choosing their fates? Well Vincent wasn't sure what that was about but it seemed like they were about to choose their pokemon and he couldn't get much more excited as a huge grin was now attached to his face.

Taking into account his appearance and the fact that he was just sorta sitting on the ground eating food, Lucas thought the scientist Oscar a rather eccentric man. And he didn't think it was just him, either. He thought it something that most would think if they witnessed this groggy looking man. Still, he had never been one to judge and pushed the opinions out of his mind, instead choosing to focus on his words of fate and such. Scientists had never struck him as the type of people to believe in those sort of things, and he thought it was a bit funny.

Then again, the idea that whatever egg that he chose, it was meant to happen was kind of cool. In all honesty, Lucas didn't believe in that mumbo jumbo about destiny. Entertaining nonetheless, though, to consider the possibility of it. He liked this scientist the more he thought about, even if he was a tad odd. His behavior was entertaining, he guessed?

In response to the scientists question, Lucas raised his right hand up into the air, the left one fiddling with the fence. Not waiting to be picked or anything he asked, "So, um, when are we going to pick an egg an all?" It occurred to him that he might have come off anxious. Ah, hell, he didn't care. He had more fun things going on in his head.

YOU'RE LATE. YOU'RE LATE. YOU'RE LATE!

Who or what was chanting that?

Amy rolled over, smashing her hand randomly around on her bed side table, trying to make the annoying noise stop. During her thrashing she was able to unplug her alarm clock and knock over everything on her bed side table. The sound of objects crashing to the floor was finally enough to snap Amy out of her sleep. She quickly began to put those eight plus hours of rest to use as she got dressed in record time. As Amy hurried down the stairs, almost falling when her feet skipped a step, checking to make sure all her clothes were on right side out. She noted that her socks were different colors, but decided that it wasn't enough for her to go back upstairs and change.

Amy didn't slow down as she passed her older sister, asleep on the couch. Amy quickly shifted directions, pouncing on top of her sister. "Wake up! I'm gonna be late to get my new Pokemon!" Amy had never seen her sister scream so loudly. But at least she was awake. While her older sister made breakfast as fast as she could, Amy began to tie her shoes and checked to make sure she was ready to leave. As her sister handed her a plate of pancakes she noticed something. "I don't have a bag packed to leave!" Amy began to shovel pancakes in her mouth.

Her sister laughed and ruffled Amy's hair. "Don't worry Kiddo. Old Oaks place is just down the road." Amy finished the pancakes and handed the plate to her sister. She then ran towards the bathroom to brush her teeth. "While you are getting your Pokemon I'll pack your bag and meet you there when you are done!" Amy's sister was suddenly met with a huge bear hug and before she had time to hug back Amy threw the door open. "Thanks so much!" Amy called back as she ran down the road, one of her shoes untied.

Amy hurried down the road, almost getting lost on the way there. She would have gone completely off coarse if she hadn't seen some other kids off in the distance. Amy wasn't very used to this area, since she lived currently in Vermilion. About a week ago her and her older sister had rented a house in Pallet town but her mother had to stay at their normal house for work related purposes. Amy didn't mind however since recently she wasn't on best terms with her mother.

Amy rounded the corner, seeing the building she had been trying to get too. She watched as the last of the straggling kids walked inside. She joined the back of the group right as the doors began to close. Amy straightened her hair, picking a near-by seat and catching her breath. Moments after arriving Professor Oak began to talk. Amy listened internally, her eyes shining.

In reply to Reyna, Lauren said, "Well, I've been partial to Grass-types. It's more of a sentimental thing..."

But just then, a slim man carrying a skillet of bacon and eggs walked out. He had sat down, and was explaining how the system of selection had worked. Lauren raised her hand to ask a question.

"So we just pick any old egg?" Lauren asked, crossing her fingers on both her hands and silently hoping that if this were true, she would get a Pokemon that she would like.

Though, in all fairness, this was a good system, as what the man said made it feel like the children weren't choosing pets rather than their future companions.