Elizabeth chewed the end of her thumbnail, nervous about what awaited her inside. She knew that she was fairly old to be only just now getting her first Pokemon, but she didn't mind. All the other kids had gotten theirs years ago and were building up their teams, most her age had left Pallet Town and gone off on their adventures. But Elizabeth had stayed, she'd wanted to learn from her mother how to bring out a Pokemon's inner beauty and after spending several years working at the family salon she finally felt ready. So today was the day. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and stepped into Professor Oak's lab.

By the time Elizabeth emerged from the lab, she felt like a whole new person. Now she was a real trainer. Now she could begin her journey. Now she had a Pokemon companion. Looking down at the timid Pikachu at her side, she crouched down and gave a soft smile.

"Now, what shall we call you?" The Pikachu tilted her head and lifted her ear, waiting to hear what she would now be known as. "How about... Bitsy?" The immediate look of disgust on the electric mouse's face told Elizabeth everything she needed to know. "Hmm, Fluffy? No, that's a bit... unoriginal. How about... Tippy?" The Pikachu considered this for a moment and then nodded. "Good! Now, I have a present for you, Tippy." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a pink ribbon, carefully reaching around Tippy's neck and tying it in a bow at the back of her neck. A pleased crackle of electricity came from Tippy's cheeks as she examined her new accessory before letting out a squeak of "Pika-Pi!"

"Oh, I'm so glad you like it." Elizabeth reached down and scooped the newly named Tippy up into her arms, letting her clamber up onto her shoulder where she settled and nuzzled against Elizabeth's blonde hair. Elizabeth smiled to herself. This was what it felt like to be a trainer... To have a companion that already felt comfortable with her was more than what she'd hoped for. She adjusted her bag on her shoulder, took a breath and set off towards her new future as a Pokemon trainer.

"Are you sure you want to do this m'dear?"

She remembered the way her mom had worriedly looked down at her as she shrugged on her jacket. It was then Milly had first noticed the toll age had taken on her mother. The fair complexion her mother had once had, was now distorted with faint creases that had burrowed into her skin after years of wear. Truth be told, she was fearful, but she feigned a brave nod in spite of it.

But now, as she stared blankly at the tall wooden barrier erected before her very eyes, she was suddenly even more afraid and she was not even sure what entirely of.

Taking a deep, cleansing breath, Milly pushed the door open.  At first, the new environment was too much to take in and she stood frozen to her spot.

The lab was littered with so many intriguing things, that she was overcome with excitement and curiosity. Yet, determination guided her past the distractions and further into Professor Oak's lab.

"Hello there, Mistelle."

Milly jumped and spun around on her heel with a start. The professor chuckled, but did his best to stifle it.

"I'm sorry to scare you," he said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose as his eyes met hers.

"No," she answered, a bit breathless. She swallowed. "You didn't scare me, I was just..."

Even to her own ears, the lie sounded weak. Fortunately, he saved her from having to think up an excuse and raised his hand to stop her from explaining.

"It is a pleasure to see you as always. Would you like to see the Pokemon choices?"

She nodded and followed him to where the pokeballs were showcased. Although there was still a decent selection, she was disappointed to see that the one Pokemon she had wanted was already taken.

However, that hardly deterred her from coming to a quick decision.

She picked up a pokeball and tested its weight within her grasp. It was warm at the touch and heavier than she had assumed.

"Is that your choice?" the professor asked, studying her.

She smiled and nodded as she pressed the crimson ball against her chest.

"Yes," she replied.

He nodded. "Excellent. Now, would you like to open it? A boy came in earlier and choice the same kind of pokemon, but his Charmander was such an unique color."

The professor looked deep in thought for a moment after recalling the Pokemon. After a short pause, he shook his head and gestured for her to open the ball. She complied and released the ball with some difficulty building up the willpower to do so.

When the ball reached the floor, an orange Charmander appeared.

 "What will you name him?" the professor inquired.

"Charming," she replied with an enormous grin as she studied the pokemon for the first time.

The professor nodded his head approvingly. After he gave her a few tips, she left along with Charming to begin her journey that, unbeknownst to her, had a lot more twists than she could have ever imagined.

Eevee learned Sand Attack

Rosey heard a voice behind her and Lucky peeked around her. "Wee? Eeveeee?" The little critter seemed to be curious. She turned around and there was the boy from Professor Oaks office. "Hello! Cool Charmander!" She stood up, Eevee rand over to check out this new pokemon. Walking around him and sniffing at him. Then ran behind Rosey's legs and started making frantic little sounds. "It's okay Lucky, calm down." Rosey looked down at Lucky and patted her and then back to the boy. He complimented her and introduced himself and his pokemon. "Well thank you! Lucky got really winded, and I think Lucky may have fainted if I hadn't thrown the pokeball. It was my first battle. I should have focused on winning instead of catching. I'm Rosey by the way."

She wondered vaguely about throwing Eevee into another battle with Coal, but instead she would give the little critter a rest. "Eevee and I are headed up to Veridian City." She looked the boy over. He looked older than 10. And Coal was his first pokemon? Well age doesn't matter so much. Maybe his age would give him an edge. Maybe his age would give her an edge. "Are you headed that way? Perhaps we could walk together!" She looked to Charmander again. Nobody would ever believe her about him if she told them. She pulled out her Pokedex. Probably a good idea to snap a picture of Eevee while she was at it. She took the picture, and couldn't help but smile at how adorable she was. Maybe this partnership wouldn't be so bad. "Would you mind too terribly if I took a picture of Coal? He is just so darned adorable.

Two wild Rattata ran up to them, full charge. "Eevee go!" She commanded. She looked to Zaran. "Eevee can't face two alone!" She looked to him pleadingly then turned back to Eevee. The first one charged right at her. "Eevee use tackle!" Eevee took off after the pokemon like a batt out of hell, catching it off guard. When Eevee stepped back the Rattata lunged at her and delivered a bite. Eevee whined and moved back toward Rosey. "Eevee use tail whip!" Limping, holding up her left back leg she ran forward and obeyed. The Rattata let out a yelp and moved back. "Use tack-" Without finishing her command Eevee did just that. But the Rattata moved out of the way too quickly and then lunged for Eevee again delivering another bite. The pokemon whined and tried to move back to Rosey. "Tackle again!" She commanded. Eevee charged at the Rattata this time delivering the final blow, the rattata slinking off and fainting. Eevee fell to the ground and wined. Rosey ran up and looked Eevee over. She was bleeding. After digging through her bag she found another potion and used it on Eevee, then for her own safety. She turned to see how Coal and Zoran were doing in the surprise attack.

200 PC awarded as Battle Reward

After a few more moments of unbridled affection that were given to her Squirtle much against its eventual distaste of the clinginess, Iris stopped and carefully set it back on its feet where it looked at her while puffing up its chest slightly. It squabbled with her in its tongue it couldn't quite understand, but she slowly felt as if she got the hint as it patted its chest while parading about her with its fake and almost laughable gait that could have been meant to show power. "Ohhh...I see I see, you're very strong yes? Getting caught having hugs and snuggles like that embarrasses you?" Squirtle shot her a quick look agreement that was followed by the crossing of his arms, leaving her smiling and laughing slightly. It was truly invigorating to see such a small creature full of such...determination! "Alright, alright. I'll only hug you when you want me to then, is that alright, Squirtle?" It gave her a nod, followed by his name's repetition and Iris let out a slight sound of realization that she needed to figure out where they had to get to in the first place!

Sitting on her knees, Iris rummaged through the unused pink bag and searched for her Pokedex which wasn't very hard to find. Truth was, Iris had prepared for this a long time ago and had just never used it; inside the bag was a fresh, never used Pokedex followed by a Pikachu shaped pouch that held her funds. 1,000 PC that she'd saved for years by doing her chores, 3 Pokeballs for she had no idea how many she'd needed when she was ten years old,  3 potions as well, and finally she had another pouch covered in a flowery design. "Oh...I forgot about this." Iris's attitude seemed a little more morose than usual as she opened the pouch and a small assortment of small, stale cookies fell into her palm. "Ahhh...they're all gross now. I'm really lucky I kept them in this pouch." Turning around to crumble up the cookies that had turned to powder in the motion, Iris turned back around only to find Squirtle seated in her bag, shifting around and getting comfortable before sitting down with his arms crossed. "Ahhh...no no, what are you doing, ah don't sit on my sweater!" She whined and whined and they bickered...well, Squirtle bickered and Iris whined until it became painfully apparent that he wasn't moving and possessed no intention of going back in his ball. With a loud sigh, Iris gave in. "Okay okay...I wasn't going to put you back in anyways. You're my first Pokemon after all, I..I want to spend as much time as I can with you!" Satisfied with her answer, her Squirtle cozied up in her bag and Iris flipped open her Pokedex. "First thing's first...cheese!" Without much warning, she'd snapped a picture of him with a quiet squeal of delight at how innocent and off-guard Squirtle had looked and as it bickered about the flash, Iris checked through a few things while gently rubbing Squirtle's head with the other. Squirtle attempted to keep up its angry and demanding air, but soon found itself closing its eyes and nodding off with the petting. "Okay so...I-I looked things up online a long time ago and I think that we should visit Pewter City first. I don't want to fight the gym leader at all...but I would like to go to Mt. Moon. The views from the mountain should be really beautiful and..and I'd like to start my journey off with a really great view." All of this talking and Squirtle had already fallen asleep, but her hand still gently pet and pat at his smooth head while she flicked through a few more things. "So with the 2000 PC we already have, plus my allowances over the years, we'll have 3000 and the closest route is this way..."

"Ah, I almost forgot, we need to get you food! Ugh, I'm so dumb...I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Iris lamented to her sleeping companion while gently sticking her Pokedex beside its snoozing form, carefully putting on her bag as she dusted the sand and dirt from her stockings before heading towards the Item Store. It didn't take too long for her to find what she was looking for and she hummed to herself quietly, filled with an optimism and determination she hadn't held in a very long time. "Hmm...I don't really know what you like though...I guess I'll get two kinds then." Two purchases of a sweet and a sour pack of Pokemon food later, 40 PC down, Iris headed back towards the way out of Pallet Town. This part of the journey was both the hardest and the easiest; Iris feared the unknown and the land outside of safe little Pallet Town, but she held no fond memories here either. Taking a deep breath and eyeing her Pokedex's map, Iris decided they'd head first to Viridian City and see where they got from there....

An hour later and she was wheezing while her Squirtle still pleasantly snoozed to the point of envy. "It sure would be nice if I could be carried..." Sulking and aimlessly wandering, Iris couldn't take it anymore with the way her legs hurt so badly. Finding nearby shade, Iris happily fell against the tree with her loud panting being heard as she bodied heavily into the sturdy wood. Taking off her backpack and setting it carefully onto the ground so as not to jostle Squirtle too much, Iris flopped down with her eyes closed, chest rising and falling quickly while she rolled up her sleeves. "Ahhh...ah..ah..." All the preparations she'd made and she hadn't thought to at least run or work out a little bit to prepare her for this...and she still had THREE more hours to go!! "Ughhh..." Slowly opening her eyes, the sunlight that dotted through the leaves was refreshingly pretty and she rested until she could feel the burn in her lungs subside a little bit...then she noticed something falling from the tree.

The soft fluff fell on her face and she sat up, confused as she held a single brown feather in her hand. "Hmn?" Then suddenly she heard the loud chirping as more feathers fell down from the leaves until the Pokemon possessing them fell from the tree all talons and beak. "AH!! Squirtle, Squirtle wake up, wake up!!" Iris squealed as she turned tail and ran, the angry bird vehemently chasing her and pecking for her ankles, making her whine to the point that the volume woke up her cranky companion. At first, Squirtle watched groggily as Iris scrambled about before falling and covering her head as the small bird pecked her. Admittedly, it didn't hurt and the experience as a whole was more surprising than scary, but she didn't know what to do! "Squirtle please, I need your help!! Use Tackle!" The tiny turtle Pokemon sighed as it crawled out of her bag and the wild Pidgey stopped attacking her to square off against the new challenger.

Sniffling and scrabbling away, it was Iris who looked more pathetic than ever as she hid behind her Pokemon, rubbing the dirt off her cheeks with a sleeve that had fallen down. "U-Use Tackle!" The battle that ensued was a bit one-sided; Squirtle's tackles landed most times and Pidgey's tackles did as well, but between his irritation of having woken up and his pathetic trainer being hurt, Squirtle managed to land a single crit that wounded the Pidgey just enough and it allowed Iris to see her opening. Reaching behind her, blindly searching through her bag, Iris produced a single gleaming Pokeball and just as Squirtle was about to attack she launched it with precision she wasn't even aware she'd had. The Pidgey, caught off guard let out a confused squak before the ball hit it and it disappeared with the bright ray of red light, the ball falling to the ground shortly after and slowly rocking back and forth as the button glowed red in the center. Iris and Squirtle watched, Iris biting her nails slightly as it rocked slowly side to side before emitting an angelic ding that left them both in silence for just a moment that was quickly broken by her loud squeal. "Oh my god, my first captured Pokemon!! Squirtle,  you did it!! Oh my goodness, you're so amazing!" As if replaying their first meeting, Squirtle was caught in an embrace that almost suffocated him even with his shell in the way, but he allowed it for this kind of fawning was what he deserved after all!!

After the two had gathered their bearings, Iris was now one Pokeball short and she had a few scrapes and scratches, as did Squirtle. She carried her Pokemon tenderly in her arms, her Pokeball stashed inside of her bag as they walked the next three hours with one-sided conversations on Iris's part. "You're so strong and cute, I can't believe it! I can't wait to take Pidgey and you to your very first Pokemon Center visit, Nurse Joy will fix you both up and you'll be great friends! Ahhh...I can't wait!" Through sheer optimism alone, Iris found herself feeling better than she had in years and even though Squirtle acted as if it distaste the way she'd behaved, her fawning and sunny demeanor after the battle was refreshing and it left him feeling a little proud of her too.


1000 PC Awarded for savings

40 PC Spent in Pokemart

Zoran's parents were talkative. And they were in love with Coal! His mother just wanted to hug and kiss on the small lizard pokemon all day, but Cairo had things to do. While his parents enjoyed the Charmander, Cairo headed out to the Pokemart.

He didn't have tons of Cash, but he had more than enough to get what he needed. Three Pokeballs, Six Potions, Two super Potions, and a week's worth of Pokemon food. He had spent over half of his money that quickly... With a sigh, he packed his supplies into his bag, and walked out of the shop and headed home to find Coal standing on the counter watching his mother make lunch. "You're just in time honey!" She said. "Lunch is done!" Another sigh

Supposing this could be the last time he saw his parents for a while, he stayed and ate lunch with them before taking off. His parents caught him at the door with one final gift; A transfer of 1000 PC into his account!  "I'll try to send you a little something every week." He said. "It may not be this much, but it'll be something! He thanked his parents and ran out the door, to the edge of town. He looked at the path north, and hesitated. This was it... The beginning of his journey... He kissed the Pokeball containing Coal, and prepared himself to take those first steps...

1140 PC spent at Pokemart
1000 PC Added as Allowance

Rosey was eagerly on her way to get her first pokemon! Professor Oaks office was only a few more minutes away. The ten year old could hardly wait. But what if she couldn't handle it? She stopped and took a deep breath, her hand forming into a fist. "I will be the best! I just have to try my best." She looked up at the sky and pumped her fist. Then she took off at a run for the office. When she got there though right as she was going to knock she saw another boy in there. She would have to wait her turn. With curiosity the child watched as the boy picked Charmander! She wanted Charmander! Now she couldn't pick him because that would be copying. Her eyes lit up when she saw the color of the Charmander. It was dark grey. Immediately she was jealous.  When the boy got his Pokedex, he took the Charmander and left.

Professor Oak smiled and waved her in. "Hello Rosey! Come in come in. You must be so excited for your first Pokemon aren't you?" He smiled warmly and she stepped forward. He directed her to the table and asked her to choose. Now she didn't know which one she wanted! It was a hard choice having wanted them all. So she settled on it by closing her eyes and putting her hand out. She lay it down on a picture and opened her eyes to meet Professor Oaks. "I want this..." She turned to see which one she had chosen. "one." She sighed and looked down. She had chosen Eevee. Suddenly she regretted her choice and wished she had chosen Charmander as she originally planned. "Don't be sad, you may be surprised. Eevee isn't a bad choice." She took the ball and dropped it on the ground. The Eevee looked up at her and Rosey let out a sigh and a little smile. "Hello there you lucky thing you." She smiled again. "I like the name Lucky, I think I'm sticking with that." Professor Oak nodded and smiled. "Remember be grateful for your Pokemon and love Lucky. Maybe you will be brought some luck in your journey!" She received her pokedex and said her good byes to the Professor. "Come on Eevee." She said and headed for the door. Lucky right by her side. Maybe she could get used to having Eevee.