Chapter One: A Traveling Partner.

There are creatures in this world called Pokemon. They inhabit the places of the world where humans do not, but they also coexist with people. They work together to create a better world, or at least a better harvest. Some people study Pokemon, these people are called Pokemon Professors; they study the behaviour, the habits and the evolution of the many different species of Pokemon. The foremost expert in the field of Pokemon research is Professor Samuel Oak, who resides in the Town of Pallet in the Kanto region. He studies Pokemon as a profession after becoming too old to travel the world and capture new species. Now in his Pokemon Laboratory he studies both the Pokemon he caught himself when he was a trainer and the ones that new trainers send to him.

Many Pokemon Professors are envious of Professor Oak's Pokemon preservation; the fields , forests and lakes surrounding both his laboratory and Pallet Town belongs to the Professor and house the many Pokemon that he researches. It is also the place where the Pokemon from trainers who left Pallet run free in the wild when they are sent to him. Being the Pokemon Professor in Pallet Town meant that Professor Oak has a few extra responsibilities. The first and foremost is to provide new trainers from Pallet Town with they're starter Pokemon; traditionally either a Charmander, a Bulbasaur or a Squirtle (Fire, grass and water types respectively). This means that at least one day a year the Professor takes time off his research to help new trainers to chose their partners. Of course, this year is no different.

To start a Pokemon journey the trainers have to be over the age of ten at the very least before the Professor will provide them with a Pokemon to look after. Sometimes this is thought too young, but usually the newest trainers go from strength to strength with their partners making their ways further and further away from Pallet Town and home. It is always hard for the people left behind but as ever in Pallet, the slow gentle pace of life moves on.

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It was a bright sunny June morning when our story begins properly.

Our young hero (yet to be seen if he lives up to that title or not)a boy who has just reached the age of fifteen, has been preparing to start his Pokemon journey the next morning. The boy's name was Gary Oak. He was the grandson of Professor Oak but not much else about his family was known. He is an only child living alone with his mother.

Gary Oak was roughly five foot three inches tall which was impressive considering his age. While he wasn't as muscular as some of the older boys his body was lean and toned, the muscles shaped and formed to compliment his body perfectly. The boy's unruly dark chestnut brown hair naturally spiked up from the back of his neck moving up until the spikes started to fall forwards across his forehead. No matter what was done to Gary's hair it was still as messy as ever looking like the boy had constant bedhead.

Right now the time is eleven fifteen at night and young Gary should be in bed but instead he is glued to the television watching a battle from the previous years Indigo Plateau Pokemon Championship Competition. The battle was a fierce one to decide which of the two trainers was going to make it through to the finals to fight for the right to be called Indigo Pokemon Champion. One trainer had sent out the Ghost type Pokemon Gengar; the other was using a Poison type called Nidorino. The Nidorino started the attack with a powerful Horn Attack, jutting it's head forward as it ran towards the Gengar trying to pierce it's skin with it's poison horn, but failing spectacularly because of the Gengar's superior dodging abilities. Then it was Gengar's turn to go on the offensive sending out a powerful Hypnosis attack putting the Nidorino to sleep.

Watching this Gary was getting more and more psyched up to start traveling. He imagined himself being at the Pokemon League in a years time, standing right where one of those two trainers were, battling to move forward in the competition, him and his Pokemon winning match after match after match. The smirk on his face spread and grew, his bright chocolate eyes glazing over a little as he imagined standing on the podium in first place; Indigo League Pokemon Champion.

Grinning boyishly he indulged one of his fantasies by picking up a replica Pokeball from his bedside table. The Pokeball was actually his alarm clock. "Hear me Pokemon of the world." He said in a slightly childish voice moving as if he was about to thrown the Pokeball to catch a Pokemon, "I, Gary Oak, will become a Pokemon Master!"

Then he threw the ball across the room lost in his imagination, only to hear something he didn't want to.

"Gary Oak!" An irate voice shouted through the young boy's hardwood door a second before the door was thrown open. The woman who appeared through the door was Gary's mother, May Oak. She was a redhead with a temper to match but generally she was a laid back individual with a lot of patience. As the ball traveled towards her with speed May deftly plucked it out of the air and opened it to reveal the clock face, "What are you doing up and awake at eleven thirty young man!"

Staring at the clock and then his mother's face Gary struggled to come up with an excuse as for why he was awake, dressed and throwing his alarm clock around his bedroom, "Um, well, you see... I was watching this Pokemon program... and err... lost track of time?" He tried smiling as innocently as he could.

May just sighed at her son, walked over to the bedside table to put the Pokeball alarm clock back there, "Well, if you are going to be up all night watching Pokemon, at least watch something useful." She said softly, taking the boy's remote and changing the channel, "This is a rerun of one of Grandpa's Pokemon talks about the three starter Pokemon. It might be useful for you to watch."

"Oh alright, thanks mom." Gary replied already losing himself in the Pokemon on the screen.

Walking out of her son's bedroom May closed the door behind her and smiled softly to herself, "He's just like his father and grandfather. He'll be fine tomorrow."

It was twelve midnight by the time that the Pokemon rerun was over, but Gary was far too excited about the next morning to go to bed. Instead he changed into his pajamas and settled himself in front of his computer. By logging onto the mainframe that his Grandpa had set up for his Pokemon studies Gary was able to see where different types of Pokemon appeared, what their strengths and weaknesses were and what different Pokeballs worked best to capture them. Normally when he was on the mainframe Gary would be researching a type of Pokemon for his Grandpa because he loved to help out with his work. However this time Gary inputted the information for Pallet Town and the Pokemon that were known to commonly appear in the surrounding area Route One.

"Okay, so Pidgey, Spearow, Rattata are commonly found around the Route One area. Pidgey and Spearow are generally woodland or tall grass with a few trees while Rattata are more exclusive to the tall grass. Pidgey evolves into Pidgeotto at level eighteen and then into Pidgeot at level thirty six; Pidgey are known to have a docile nature and this says that they are perfect for new trainers to capture. I think I should go after a Pidgey first then." The ten year old muttered to himself softly, making sure not to alert his mother that he was still awake. "And possibly stay away from Spearows... though that might be hard because they like the same habitat as the Pidgey." Scratching the back of his neck the boy glanced at the clock before deciding that he was going to have to get to bed.

"I'm leaving first thing in the morning... but I'll be back in a year to prepare for the Indigo League!" Gary vowed to himself, shutting down the computer and settling into bed, falling asleep dreaming about Pokemon. As always.

In the morning Gary was awoken by a piercing beeping sound making its way through the walls of his subconscious into his dreams. The brunette groggily turned his head to look at where the offending noise was coming from, "Ah, the alarm." He said after a moment, his mind not yet woken up properly. He was wondered why his alarm was going off.

However a few seconds later yesterday clicked and Gary bolted out of bed and over to his wardrobe. "Leaving today... leaving today." He chanted over and over again happily. Thumbing through his clothes Gary struggled to pick out what would make the best traveling clothes. In the end that job was taken away from him when his mother walked through the door.

"Good morning son," She said moving over to the boy, ruffling his hair, "Bedhead as always, I sometimes wonder why I expect this to go away one day."

"Don't know Mom." Gary replied his voice gruff wishing that his mother would learn to leave his hair alone. He smiled, something he wouldn't miss about being in Pallet is way that his Mom ruffled his hair every morning.

"So what are you doing?" May asked a few seconds later noticing Gary had just continued to stand there staring at his clothes.

"Trying to pick out a good traveling outfit. I've got some spare jeans and t-shirts in my bag but I need something to wear today." Gary replied, sifting through the clothes again.

May sighed and shook her head. Sometimes Gary could be the most organised person in the world, but other times he was just like a little boy. "I could help you know."

Before Gary could reply May was in front of his wardrobe looking through his clothes. After a couple of minutes searching she pulled out a pair of very dark purple cargo pants that were made out of a strong material, "Here." She said handing them to her son, "These are good." Then she moved onto finding a t-shirt and some kind of jacket for the boy. " These as well," May turned to her son holding out a black t-shirt and a jacket that had short black sleeves and a blue body with a large white pocket area in the front, there was also a black hood on the back. "Shoes wise you should wear those leather boots that your Grandpa brought you not too long ago."

"Okay." Gary replied, taking the clothes from his Mom and shooing her out the door.

A couple of minutes later Gary appeared outside his bedroom door with a backpack thrown over his back which contained everything he was going to need on his journey. The bag was split in half vertically down the middle with a weeks supply of clean underwear, socks and a couple of t-shirts, a spare pair of jeans and two pairs of shorts in one half and cooking equipment, food and snacks for a week in the other side. Tied onto the bottom of the bag of a super compressed sleeping bag and in the right hand side pocket there was a water bottle waiting to be filled up. Gary had already decided that he was going to carry an A5 sized paper book of maps for all the routes he would be taking so he didn't get lost. That was inside the largest cargo pocket on his right leg. Around his waist the belt he was wearing would also hold the Pokeballs that would have his Pokemon in them and a little bag around his waist attached to the belt would hold spare balls so he could catch more Pokemon on the go.

May met the brunette by the front door, after wiping a few blondish red locks from her eyes she bent down and wrapped her arms around her son, "Take care honey."

"I will, promise Mom." Gary replied turning his head a little so that his mother wouldn't see the tears in his eyes. He was going to miss her while he was away; no matter how much she could annoy him she was still his mother after all. "You'll see, I'll be back in no time qualified for the Pokemon League!"

"Just see that you are back in one piece please." Was all that May said in reply, standing up and waving Gary off as he marched down the path from their gate determinedly. "Good luck Son." She whispered to herself turning around when she couldn't see him any more and going back inside the house.

Gary didn't turn around when he walked away from his house because he knew that his mother was still watching him and he didn't want to see her sad. After all he couldn't turn around and tell her that he wouldn't leave because he'd been looking forward to going on this journey since he was a little boy and now was his chance to make her and his Grandpa proud of him. He wasn't going to let them down.

After Gary had walked down his street and turned onto the main road he quickly looked at his watch and smiled to himself, "Seven thirty. I'm so going to be early."

As he walked the brunette took the chance to take in Pallet Town because he knew that he wouldn't be returning there for a while. Pallet in itself is a quaint town, the houses were small and homely as if they were inviting people to live in them. The streets were more often than not just dirt sometimes with weeds going everywhere trampled by the foot traffic. Fields stretched out around Pallet Town on one side and the sea on the other nestling Pallet Town between them. Overall Pallet was a quiet place where there was never any sort of trouble, it was peaceful. It was the perfect place for a Pokemon research centre, because there were no big cities or companies or anything around to disturb the environment and habitats.

Of course the other thing about Pallet Town was that it was still quite a small town in view and so it didn't take Gary all that long to walk from his house up to his Grandpa's mansion. The gate up to the main doorway had been left open for the new trainers so that they could just walk up the stairs. Walking the winding pathway of stairs Gary found himself wondering about which of the three starter Pokemon he was going to take, each of them had their advantages, but each had their disadvantages too. It was something that Gary would have to be careful of when he chose which one he wanted. Upon reaching the front door Gary pressed the doorbell and held the button down for a moment hearing the loud ringing go off around the mansion before he released the button.

On the other side of the door there was a loud crash before a creaking noise came and the door was thrown open to reveal Professor Samuel Oak, Gary's grandfather and the foremost expert on Pokemon in the Kanto region. The greying man smiled down at his grandson, shaking his head slightly, "I should have known you'd be here early too."

The Professor stood back and opened the door wider so that Gary could enter through it. "Well, just getting a head start is all." Gary replied as he shrugged.

"Not as much of a head start as you thought you would be getting I'm sure. Three other Pallet Town trainers have already turned up, received their Pokemon and their starter packs then left." The Professor replied motioning for Gary to follow him up the stairs to his Pokemon laboratory.

"So what does that mean for the starter Pokemon?" Gary asked worriedly.

"Well, it means you won't be getting a conventional starters. That's all Gary." Professor Oak said gently, tapping the boy on the shoulder to get him to follow him over to the dais in the middle of the room, "Here is where I kept the starter Pokemon reserved for members of Pallet Town. Normally this would be the time that I ask you if you want a Charmander, a Bulbasaur or a Squirtle but as you can see, all their Pokeballs are empty. Instead you get another one I've picked out which I think will suit you just fine." The Professor picked up one of the two Pokeballs that were in the middle of the dais and opened it. A flash of white light burst out of the ball and formed a shape on the floor. A beautiful brown fox like creature appeared on the floor and Gary smiled brightly.

"An Eevee!" He laughed and held out his hand for the Pokemon to smell. "Hey there little guy."

"This Eevee has a kind nature but he is a fierce battler at the same time, he'll be a good Pokemon for you Gary, just remember to treat him well and train him properly. It might take some time, but you'll be able to see the advantages of proper training in no time. I'm sure about that." The Professor smiled and handed Gary Eevee's Pokeball, "Now another thing, Eevee doesn't really like being inside a Pokeball, so it's probably best not to force it to go inside one, being out in the open will do it no harm."

"Okay Eevee, you ready for our journey?" Gary asked the small Pokemon softly scratching it behind the ears.

"Eevv.." The small Pokemon mewed softly then nodded it's head as if it understood Gary.

"It's a smart little one too, don't be fooled by the cuteness." Professor Oak joked, "Now, onto the other matters..." He turned around and wondered over to his desk, grabbing a thin red box like object and a set of six round Pokeballs before returning to Gary. "Here are your Pokeballs, they are used to catch Pokemon in, but I'm sure you knew that. And here is your Pokedex, it records the data on Pokemon you've caught and seen. It also allows you to see the data on Pokemon that you scan with it. It'll be a great help along your journey Gary."

"Thank you Grandpa." Gary said slipping the Pokedex into a pocket in the front of his jacket and the Pokeballs into the bag on his belt. "Anything else?"

"Well yes," Professor Oak reached into the pocket in his lab coat and pulled out a thin booklet, "This is a guide to entering the Pokemon League, the Gyms you'll find along the way, where you need to go to sign up and the routes you'll need to take to go places. Its a present to help you along the way," The Professor blushed slightly, "Its from me and May so you don't get lost."

"Anyone else getting one?" Gary asked, eying what seemed like to be another book in the Professor's pocket.

"Ash Ketchum. His Mom wanted to give him something useful but didn't want it to seem like it was from her because she doesn't want to baby him any more. So I agreed to give it to him when he arrives to collect his Pokemon." The Professor frowned at that moment and turned to look at the clock, "Which should be any moment now."

"Ashy-boy late as usual." Gary replied smirking.

It was then that the door bell rang and an out of breath voice called through the front door, "Professor Oak! I'm here! I'm here to get my Pokemon!"

That was the sound of Ash Ketchum arriving late after not sleeping the night before and waking up to a smashed alarm clock an hour or two later than he hoped to. Of course to complicate matters Ash and Gary have been rivals since they were both young children, once they were friends but then they tried to best each other at everything and their friendship went downhill. Nonetheless Gary still grudgingly respected his rival because of the fact that he never gave up, something he liked to think was true of himself too.

"Gary, I'm sorry to cut this short, but could you please go let Ash in? I'm afraid that he'll scare the Pokemon if he doesn't stop screaming." Professor Oak asked turning to his Grandson. "You can stay if you want?"

"Nah, I think I'll be on my way to Viridian now Grandpa. There is a lot for me to see and I've got to get started, now I have Eevee I'm all set for the road ahead." Gary replied turning towards the stairs. "I'll call you when I'm in Viridian later Grandpa, so you and Mom know I'm fine!"

With that Gary and Eevee walked slowly down the stairs and over to the front door. Smirking the brunette pressed down on the handle and pulled the door open sharply. He side stepped when Ash fell face first onto the floor because he'd been leaning against it. A second later the young boy was on his feet again, wiping himself down.

"What was that for Gary?" Ash asked in a rather annoyed tone glaring up at the older boy.

"I was just opening the door. Not my fault a loser was stuck to the front of it." Gary shrugged and smirked at Ash. "Grandpa's waiting for you in his Lab Ashy-boy."

However Ash seemed more focused on the Eevee that was rubbing itself along Gary's leg affectionately, "Is that your Pokemon?" He asked excitedly.

Once again Gary found a smirk spreading across his lips, "The one and only at the moment."

"So cool!" Ash exclaimed and ran up the stairs forgetting all about Gary and Eevee in his rush to get his new Pokemon.

Shaking his head the older boy just walked through and closed the door behind himself. He turned to look back at the mansion and Pallet Town once more before he started in the direction of Route One, and the beginning of his quest to be a Pokemon Master.