Welcome to my first fanfiction. I have a (hopefully) good story planned, and I hope to let it live up to its full potential. (Don't we all?) Anyhow, it is a story about a kid rising to a Pokemon Master, based a lot more on the games. And without further ado, here it is:

I drifted back into consciousness, and rolled over in bed to see the clock. It said 5:43. I turned and sat upright, planting my feet on the floor and yawning while rubbing my tired eyes. I usually sleep in, especially on my birthday. My birthday. Oh yeah- let's see, I'm 10 now. Double digits. Not nine anymore. Not since five hours and forty-five minutes ago. I looked up again. 5:46. Okay, so that's actually five hours and forty-seven minutes. I really didn't feel much older or smarter. I looked around my cluttered room. All kinds of books, magazines, figures, and other things on the same subject: Pokemon.

I have lived and breathed pokemon ever since I learned to read at age four or five. My mom says I'm talented and way ahead of my age. I'm not sure, but I think she means I'm smarter than usual. I don't feel smart. But I can name all seventeen pokemon types and what they're good and bad against.

I looked up at the clock again. 5:57. My, how time flies. I stood up and yawned again. I would have gone back to sleep for another 15 minutes, but the suspense was killing me. I finally took the plunge and went downstairs early.

"Morning, Joseph," Mom said when I came to the bottom of the stairs. "I'm not quite ready making breakfast."

"That's okay, Mom, I don't mind waiting." The truth was, I did mind. But I didn't want to let it on.

She only took a couple minutes to finish, and I wolfed it down as quick as I could. I looked at the clock. 6:10. Twenty minutes till I had to be at Professor Oak's lab. I would receive my first pokemon and begin my journey to become a Pokemon Master.

Twenty minutes can go fast. Right then, it sure didn't. 6:30 was being as slow as Christmas.

I left my house at 6:28 because I couldn't stand the suspense. "Say hi to the professor for me, and come back to open your presents!" Mom yelled after me as I ran out the door.

The trip was very short due to the fact that Oak's house, er, lab, is one of four or five buildings in Pallet Town. Yeah, I know, very small town I live in. On the way, I didn't see a peep out of any of the buildings except a light on in my house and Oak's.

I came though the door just in time to see a very groggy Prof. Oak eating a piece of pizza for breakfast. "Hi, Professor, Mom says hi, guess what day it is? Yup, you bet it's my birthday! Are those anchovies and spinach on your pizza?"

A very tired-looking Professor Oak responded, "Hello, Joseph, Happy birthday. And yes, I like those on my pizza." The pizza of which we were speaking had suddenly disappeared. Sometimes I swear that guy's magic. "Speaking of your birthday, I'd like to give you a present." I like this guy. He's a little old, but he gets right to the point and didn't have to be reminded about my present.

I went over to the thing that I can't figure out whether it's a desk or a machine or a table or what, the thing with the red tops of three pokeballs sticking out of it. Except there where only two. "Hey, there are only two of the starters! What's the big idea?"

The professor frowned. "I'm sorry, Joseph, but another trainer got here before you did. I've been up since five." The last bit annoyed me slightly. I didn't get first pick, even though I got up extra early. No matter.

"Professor, which one did they take?" I asked. "Bulbasaur, I believe. Went to a very good and responsible trainer." Was he talking about Ash? I knew Ash. He's a good friend of mine, nice and dependable, but a little dense. He probably wouldn't get that particular kind of praise. And the prof. knew him, so he would have mentioned him by name.

"So that leaves Squirtle and Charmander to pick from." I said. The professor nodded. "Smart boy," he said. I sometimes wonder about the professor. It didn't take a genius to figure that one out.

I took my time. I like all three pretty equally, but with one choice gone, the slimmed down options made it either easier or harder to choose. Eventually, though, I picked Charmander.

I sent the small orange lizard out of his ball, and he looked up at me with his great big green eyes. "Char!" he exclaimed, and the flame on his tail seemed to burn brighter. "Thanks, Professor!" I said, and took out a berry I had picked on the way to his house. Lab. Whatever. "Char! Mander Mander!" he said, as if to say, "I love my trainer!" or, more likely, "Yay! Breakfast!" But as soon as he got ahold of the berry, his tail flame turned from red and yellow to green and orange and he sneezed on his prize. The berry, now ash, slid through his stubby, pointy reptile fingers like sand. His tail fire returned to normal, but he sat down and cried. "Looks like he is allergic to that kind of berry. Here, let him have this one," said the good professor.

"Don't cry. Here, have this one," I offered to my poor Charmander. He brightened right up and took it. It disappeared the same exact way Oak's pizza had. Then he hugged my leg. I looked at the remains of the first berry on the floor. "I think I'll nickname you. How does Ash sound?" My small new friend looked up at me and gave me a happy, toothy grin. "Ash it is."

It was right about then Proffesor Oak's grandson Gary walked in. "Hey, Gramps, guess what I'm here for!" Professor Oak said, "Gary! Nice to see you. How's your mother?"

Gary just ignored him. "Where's my Bulbasaur? I told you I want Bulbasaur!"

"I'm sorry, Gary, but Bulbasaur was already taken this morning."

"Okay, I'll just take Charmander."

The professor opened his mouth, but didn't get to say anything because Gary had already seen my new pokemon and yelled out, "Man! I never get to pick anything around here!"

He then proceeded to grab the ball containing Squirtle. "Squirtle! I choose you!"

This didn't turn out well for Gary initially. The first thing Squirtle saw when he popped out was me.

"SQUUUUUUUIRRRRRRRT!" he screamed, and leaped into my arms and gave me a hug.

"Hey! Squirtle! I'm your trainer, not him!" Gary shouted incredulously.

Squirtle wiggled out of my arms and dropped to the floor without so much as a hint of reluctance. Then he ran over to Gary and glared back at me, striking a defiant pose.

"That's more like it," said Gary approvingly. He then turned to Prof. Oak. "That all, Gramps?"

"Not quite," said Oak, "I have one more thing to give you." He then proceeded to pull out two shiny new Pokedexes. "All right!" yelled Gary, as if the Pokedex was really a big deal. I accepted mine just to be polite, but I probably had more information stuffed in my head than the Pokedex could offer. I refrained from pointing this out and thanked him anyway. I didn't know Gary very well, but I did notice he never thanked his grandfather for anything.

After thanking the professor for everything one more time, I started to head for the door. "Wait!" I heard Gary call as he caught up with me. "Let's you and me have a battle." I detected a sly twinkle in his eye and a slight grin on his face that said it all. He thought he knew something I didn't.

"Okay," I said, trying to suppress a tiny grin of my own. I knew I knew something he didn't. "Go, Ash!"

"Squirtle, I choose you!" His little smirk broke into a full-out sneer. "Squirtle! Bubblebeam!"

At this point I couldn't resist a smirk of my own. Squirtle sucked in air, and then blew out as hard as he could. Nothing came out but air. The poor turtle fell over on his face and let out a wheeze like a sick animal. Now I was grinning at Gary's confusion. Gary had thought he had a type advantage, water on fire. But I knew for a fact that our pokemon at this stage knew no elemental moves, so his "advantage" was totally nil. We where on even ground.

I didn't feel like pointing this out to him. I told Ash to use Scratch while Squirtle was down. Squirtle got back to his feet, clearly dizzy and rethinking things. Gary was panicking. "Squirtle-uh-try Withdraw!"

Squirtle popped back in his shell. Shoot. "Ash, use Growl!"

My Charmander playfully purred, and Squirtle relaxed a little. So did Gary, not realizing what this would do.

"Now use Scratch again." I was still going strong. Ash had so far taken no damage and Squirtle was not looking very good.

"Squirtle, Tackle attack!" Squirtle was tired, but still completed the attack.

"Growl him again," I instructed my pinned Pokemon. That made Squirtle back off a bit, allowing for a final Scratch attack. Squirtle fell on his face in exhaustion.

"Squirtle, get up! Get up! I'm not about to lose to this joker!" Gary screamed.

"Sorry, buddy, but I think this joker just beat you. Good match." I held out my hand. Gary wouldn't shake it. Oak came up.

"An impressive first battle, Joseph! But I think you and Gary had better heal your Pokemon before you get on your way." To make a long story short, he healed our Pokemon and we got on our way.

On the way home, I bumped into Ash. He looked groggy and slightly panicked, and his trademark hat was ruffled and a little crooked. "Hey Ash. What's up?" I asked.

"I gotta go get to the professor! It's eight o' clock and I'm late!" Eight o' clock? Dang, I've been at the professor's for an hour and a half!

"I got my first Pokemon today. Wanna meet him?"

"Sure," he responded, although I could see he was in a big hurry. I tried to make it quick.

"Ash, this is Ash. Ash, meet Ash."

"Whuh?" Asked Ash(with the hat). It was then I realized my mistake. My friend had the same name as my Charmander. "Char?" he spoke up, clearly as confused as I was.

"Oh, I get it," said 'hat Ash,' and ran off toward Oak's house/lab.

It was 8:15 when I walked in the front door. "Hi Honey," said my mom. "Did you say hi to Sam for me?"

"Sam?"

"The Professor."

"Oh yeah. I did." I scanned the table. There was the cake, and bunch of presents. Mom rounded up my younger siblings and the cake vanished. At least I got a slice. Maybe that's why it went so fast. After my younger siblings quieted down, we got on to the presents. I grabbed the biggest one first. It said, 'from Caleb: Open last,' so I moved on.

Caleb is my big brother, and he's already beaten all the Elite Four of every region up until Sinnoh. That's where he is now. We get updates about his journey now and then. I hope to live up to him.

Most of my loot was suspiciously geared toward my upcoming Pokemon journey. A new backpack, the latest model designed especially for trainers, a belt that holds up to six Pokeballs so I didn't need to dig through my bag to get my Pokemon, and new shoes(my old pair was warn out and I had been mowing the lawn with them). There where also some more or less important stuff like a larger-than-normal quantity of birthday money and so forth.

Finally I got to Caleb's gift. I tore it open, and inside was some more extra cash, a note, and three shiny new Pokeballs. I pooled the cash with my other money and picked up the note.

It said: 'Hey Joseph, I hope you like my gift. The pokeballs contain all three starters from Kanto. They are pedigree bred from my own pokemon and have moves they wouldn't normally know so far ahead of time. (these are called egg moves) As I understand, you already have one of these starters from Professor Oak. Give the one I sent of the matching species to Emily.

That's all and with love, your big bro,

Caleb'

Emily squealed as I handed her the red, black and white ball. "He's all yours, Caleb's orders," I said. She let it out immediately.

I left her to play with her new buddy while I got acquainted with my two new companions. But first I let Ash out so he could meet them too.

First I let out Squirtle. He was pretty happy when I explained I'm his new trainer, but there was no enthusiastic hug like with Gary's Squirtle. He got jealous when I explained about my Charmander, and tried to Hydro Pump him. He missed by a hair and as his punishment I made him wipe up the water off the kitchen floor. Thats how he earned the nickname Hydro Gun. I tried to make them shake hands, which Ash went tenderly along with, but Hydro Gun refused.

I gave up trying to make my water turtle make peace and decided to meet my new Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur took to me almost faster than Ash did, and needed a lot less explaining. He caught Hydro Gun trying to sprinkle Ash behind my back and Vine Whipped him in the rear. Apparently this was a great day for nicknaming; I now had a Bulbasaur I call Bossplant. This made me decide i would craft a nickname for all of my Pokemon companions.

And thus ended my life at Pallet Town. I said goodbye to Emily, her new Charmander, my other younger siblings, and my mom. And thus began my journey.

Wow, I didn't anticipate how long my most planned chapter would be. Well, there it is, (finally) so now I can move on. Please review(no swearing). All feedback is appreciated, especially constructive, friendly criticism. If you don't like it, tell me how it could be better. Well, signing off now, hope to write more soon.

Signed, Pokelegend