Perslas Region: Chapter 1

The sounds of the roaring crowd swelled throughout the stadium as two silhouetted figures appeared on opposite sides of the fields. Soon everything became quiet as the voice of the announcer boomed throughout the stadium.

“Welcome everyone to the final round of the Perslas Pokemon League Championship. Today we’ll find out who will be the Pokemon Master, and so let’s give it up for our two contestants; Mikhail Ruslan and Will Marshall.”

The crowd roared again as the spotlights hit the two contestants, especially as they hit a young, brown-haired boy in a polo shirt. He was standing there with a bit of a grin, brimming with confidence in the face of his much larger opponent. Pulling out the red and white sphere that was the Pokeball, Will was about to release his first Pokemon when an annoying buzz begun to pierce the scene.

“Time to wake up Will! Time to wake up Will!”

Will’s blue-eyes opened up in surprise at the blasting, annoying sound of the Chatot alarm clock of his. Depressed at being interrupted in the middle of such a wonderful dream, he shut the alarm off before snuggling underneath the covers again. Five minutes later, however, he jumped up in a panic.

“Wait, today’s the day I’m supposed to get my first Pokemon. Great, I’m going to be late.”

The young trainer had just celebrated his tenth birthday the day before, and would have gotten his Pokemon that day if the local lab wasn’t closed down. Then again, it wasn’t surprising; his own grandfather, the famous Professor Isaac Marshall, ran the lab. Of course the party was gone and done, and so it was time for that momentous occasion in any trainers life; his first Pokemon.

“And I’m going to be late for it.” He reiterated as he finished pulling on his jeans. Grabbing his pairs of shoes he raced down the stairs before putting them on (he had learned long ago to not to try and do both at the same time). He had just gotten his last shoe on as his mom walked in, carrying his backpack. One could easily tell she was upset, but what mom wouldn’t be when their child was going off to explore the world?

“Here you go Will. I packed everything you’ll need; extra clothes, some money, first aid kit, some food for the first few days till you reach the next town, a survival guide, and a map.”

Will grabbed the backpack, and without reluctance hugged his mom for what would be the last time before he headed out on his journey.

“Don’t worry mom, everything will be fine. Lots of kids go through this.” He said in an attempt to comfort both his mother and himself. Letting go he headed over to the door, and with one last goodbye he was off.
Seeing as the lab was on the other side of the town, he decided he’d get one last look of it while he had the chance. The first thing that anyone saw, after the lab of course, was the town banner that let everyone who came here know where they were. In big, bolded letters it said “Rising Town: Where futures rise to the occasion”. Admittedly the motto was a bit cheesy, but it was still his hometown. It was a small town, and most of the buildings were simple two-floor wooden houses. Even then there weren’t a lot of them, and that was part of the charm. Everybody knew everyone, though that did have the side effect of you not being able to hide anything.

“Hey there Will. Big day today, uh? Good luck with your journey. Tell your grandfather I said hi.” An old man said to Will while grabbing his morning paper.

“Thanks Mr.Taylor.” Will said as he passed by the man.

Eventually Will made his way over to the lab, and walking up to the door he stepped inside. No one was around, but right on the nearby table were three Pokeballs. Inside were the starter Pokemon for all who started their journey in the Perslas region; the fire-lizard Charmander, the water-turtle Squirtle, and the plant-monster Bulbasaur. Will walked up to them, and he was about to touch one of them when a voice boomed from behind him.

“Ah, there you are Will. Slept in again I see? Not a good way to start your journey, is it?”

“Hello there Grandpa.” Will said as he turned around. Standing in front of him was his grandfather in his usual white lab coat. Even for his age he was pretty fit, and his hair had only lost a bit of it’s brown-coloring, though there were a few white hairs in there. He wore a set of wire-frame glasses over his blue eyes that always had a hint of trouble in them.

“So then, any thoughts as to which of those three you wanted to start with. All of them are excellent of course, but it is up to you.”

“Well, I’m not really sure. I can see an advantage for all of them in battling against the gym leaders and…” Will started to say before his grandfather interrupted him.

“Will, how many times have I told you to not worry about things like that. Sure, there are strengths and weaknesses amongst the Pokemon of the world, but just because one Pokemon is mathematically better doesn’t mean it’s truly better. Just go with the one you think will suit you best.”

“Alright Grandpa, I’ll try.”

Will always got speeches like that from his Grandpa, and was a perfect way to show the difference between them. Will’s grandpa preferred to look at things in a more emotional, philosophical way while Will tended to gravitate towards mathematical way (which makes him wonder if maybe they would do better to switch their views on life). Of course they overlapped quite a bit at times, but in general Isaac was more laid back than Will.

With that in mind Will decided to try and think more like his Grandpa as he tried to make his decision, but his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell going off. Isaac told Will to focus on choosing his Pokemon while he got the door, but Will had to turn around to see who it was. It was a man whose clothing was all black and grey, though the main features of him were his black coat (with tails), gloves, and snow white hair.

“Are you Professor Isaac?” The main asked.

“Yes, is there something I can help you with?”

“I’ll be needing all of your research on the legendary Pokemon Lugia and Ho-oh, and I’ll be needing it now. If you will not comply then I will use force.” The man said. Though Will couldn’t see it, he knew that his grandfather was smiling.

“Well then, I guess you’ll have to use force then because quite frankly I am not going to give a thug like you that information.”

The man frowned, and soon with a flash a Pokemon appeared in the lab. Near the man was an all black Pokemon with very sharp claws; a Sneasel. Isaac, however, had not released a Pokemon yet, instead just standing there smiling.

“Come on old man. Let out your Pokemon or I’ll just have my Sneasel here go through you himself.”

“Why, my Pokemon is already out and about. Ah, here he comes now.”

The man looked around the lab to see what Isaac was talking about, but he was soon knocked out cold a massive force hit him in the back of the head. As the man collapsed a round, pink Pokemon appeared on top of him and said only one word; “Jigglypuff.”

“Now then Jigglypuff, use Rollout on this Sneasel here and we’ll be done here.”

As Jigglypuff plowed into the bewildered Sneasel, Will was busy watching the entire scene from the background, laughing at it. He knew full well that his grandfather used a Jigglypuff, and that said Pokemon could be very vicious. Anyone who knew his grandfather would have known not to try something so stupid as threatening him directly unless they were asking for a Rollout attack to knock them out.

As he stood there, however, Will heard noises coming from upstairs. He was going to alert the professor, but it seemed that the man had recovered from his injuries and was up and going again. The Sneasel and Jigglypuff were locked in battle, and it looked as if it wasn’t going to end anytime soon.

Whoever is up stairs must be working with this guy, but grandpa’s too busy to stop it. I guess I’ll have to stop them myself… but I don’t even have a Po..ke..mon.

Will mentally slapped himself as he recalled the three Pokeballs behind him. Grabbing the first one he saw he ran up the stairs to find a women, wearing the same outfit as the man, grabbing the professor’s laptop.

“Hey, give that back. That belongs to my grandpa.” Will said, holding the Pokeball in a ready-to-throw pose. The woman just rolled her eyes.

“Please, a little punk like you isn’t of concern to me. Houndour, take care of him for me would you.” The woman said as a flash of red light materialized into the black-furred dog Pokemon, just as she left the room by the window. This of course led Will to release the Pokemon he had brought up with him, and was glad to see the familiar shape of Squirtle appear in the light.

“Squirt?” The turtle said, confused as to what was going on. All it saw was an angry Houndour and a human that looked as if it was expecting something.

“Squirtle, see that Houndour there? It works for some people trying to hurt my Grandpa, Isaac.”

Squirtle just tilted his head, confused as to what was going on. He knew who Isaac was, but he had no clue who this human was. And what was the Houndour doing to them anyways?”

“Houndour, use Ember.”

Will looked up at the window, startled to find a small spy cam was floating in front of the window. It was kind of clever of the woman really; by being outside she could make a quick escape if needed, but the camera allowed her to see the fight. Adding in that Pokeball (that was probably Houndour’s) she could move quick and easily.

That, however, would have to be dealt with later. Right now a burst of flames was being sent towards Squirtle, and Will had to react quickly.

“Squirtle, get into your shell and use it as a shield to defend yourself.”

Not needing a second opinion Squirtle did as he was ordered, hiding inside his shell until the flames were gone. Soon the turtle popped out, and looked much more determined than before. It knew that this human was in danger and that Isaac was in danger. What better reason to fight than that?

“Alright then Squirtle use…”

Before Will could get an order out Squirtle was running straight towards the Houndour, ready for a full blown Tackle attack. The Houndour, Will noticed, wasn’t moving an inch at the sight. Which meant only one thing.

“Squirtle, jump!” Will said. Squirtle looked back at Will, but when the temperature of the room went up he knew more flames were coming. With a quick jump into the air Squirtle dodged the flames (though Will had to run into the hall to avoid them), and finished off with a Tackle right on Houndour. It didn’t take long for the dog to go down after that, and he was soon returned to his master. The woman, however, was long gone with the laptop, so it didn’t really matter.

“Good job there Squirtle. We make a good team, don’t we?”

“Squirtle squirt” The turtle Pokemon said, and Will had to assume it was meant something along the lines of “I agree” since Squirtle seemed proud and glad when he said it.

“And I agree with Squirtle there. You two make an excellent team. I assume that he’ll be your starter then.”

Turning around Will found his Grandpa and Jigglypuff standing in the doorway, both smiling. Will started trying to explain what had happened (since the room was singed all around he needed a good reason), but his Grandpa stopped him.

“Don’t worry about it, I have a good idea what happened. Lucky for me that laptop had nothing about Lugia or Ho-ho on it, or at least not anything people can find out normally. Bunch of low-brained crooks really. Did they really expect me to have important research just sitting on a table?”

“Uh, Grandpa?” Will intervened.

“Oh, right, sorry. Anyway, I’ve contacted Officer Jenny, and they’ll track down that woman. As for the man, he and his Sneasel are down for the count. Seems they couldn’t withstand Jigglypuff’s Rollout.”

“Jigglypuff.” The Pokemon said, crossing his arm’s and standing heroically.

“So then, just come downstairs and I’ll give you your Pokedex and starter Pokeballs.”

The group headed downstairs, and Will waited anxiously as his grandpa grabbed his started gear.

“William Marshall, I officially recognize you as an official Pokemon trainer with Squirtle as your starter. Here is your official Pokedex and starter Pokeballs. Good luck on your journey.” Isaac said in a mock ceremonial voice.

“Thank you Grandpa. I’m going to make everyone here proud. Squirtle and me are going to be the greatest Pokemon-Trainer team that ever lived, aren’t we.” Will said to his new friend and partner.

“Squirtle” The turtle Pokemon said with a nod and a smirk.

“I know you will make us all proud Will. And remember, if you ever need any help please give me a call.”

And with that Will and Squirtle headed off, ready to take on whatever the Perslas region could dish out. Wild Pokemon, trainers, Gym Leaders, they were ready for anything.
---------------------------------------------

“So then, that laptop you have recovered from Professor Isaac’s lap didn’t contain any new information concerning Lugia or Ho-oh?”

“No sir, there was nothing. It seems that the Professor is smarter than most on keeping his important files safe.”

“Indeed he is. However, this is just a minor setback. The information he has is available outside of his works, though admittedly it was already neatly packaged in his works. We’ll just have to take the harder route of getting it in bits and pieces throughout the region. Oh well, it makes things more…interesting.