The Present

The First "Catch"

James' POV:

Finally saying those words felt so relieving. I had always wanted to pick Treeko, he seemed the coolest out of the three. I always liked grass types, as well as ice, and water, but i didn't really like Mudkip. Now I officially had my first pokemon, and it was a moment of my life that I'll never forget. After choosing I kind of spaced out. The professor snapped me out of my daze, "So James, why don't you meet your best friend for the rest of your life?"

"Oh," I replied,"I'll do that now"

"Well first you should go outside. It's not safe to have a pokemon in the lab"

"Alright, lets go" the professor and i went outside, and bumped met a special surprise.

Ruby's POV:

I left ten minutes before we were supposed to arrive at the professor's. It was my dream to become best friends with a pokemon of my choice. I never could decide which of the three I wanted. I never really stressed it much but I wanted to know before I had to make the decision. I didn't expect to meet anyone at the lab because i got there early, but when i opened the door i ran into James and Prof. Birch coming out, and James was holding a pokeball in his hand. I immediately knew that I was not the only early one.
Seeing James, my best friend, there just as early as me (if not a bit earlier) gave me such a feeling of joy. I've always felt a special feeling for him that i couldn't explain, and never told anyone about. Whenever I was around him I wasn't afraid to be who I really am, because he was ok with it. Sometimes I feel that I want to be more than just friends. We had known each other since our first day of trainer school, and we grew closer since. It didn't matter that he was the adopted son of the most famous trainer in the world, because he was nice to anyone even if they were mean to him. I never really understood that. Today seeing him I almost jumped on him and hugged him, I was so excited. I thought I would have to wait here forever until someone else showed up. Finally, the professor snapped me out of my thinking,"Hello? Are you here to receive your first Pokemon? If so you should follow me."

"Oh um..," I replied shyly," Yeah, I am. Oh and hey James, I didn't expect to see you here. I'm glad I'm not the only early bird, heh."

"Yeah, hey Ruby, I didn't expect to see you here," He said, "C'mon, I want to see what Pokemon you choose." We walked into the lab where there was a table with two pokeballs on it. The professor explained how James had already chosen treecko, and something that even surprised James.

"You and James are going to travel the region together." James raises his hand," Please save your questions until I'm finished." James sadly put his hand down,"So, there will be 1 of each starter in each group, whoever arrives next will receive the starter that's left. You will choose a partner to travel with this, anyone in your school. This is the person that you will train with until you each defeat all 8 gym leaders, and take at least one attempt at defeating The Elite 4 each. After this you can travel the world however you want. Now, Ruby, choose your starter. Mudkip or Torchic?"

My heart was racing. I felt like all of the pressure was on me. James sat in a chair looking at me in a teasing way saying "No pressure", of course that just made it worse, but that was our friendship. Finally I blurted out the first thing that came to my head," I choose Torchic!" I am proud of my choice.

James' POV

"That's a great choice, Ruby!" I exclaimed,"The first thing I want to do, is have a...."

"Pokemon Battle!" She finished, we love finish each others sentences. We ran outside like little children going into a candy store but really, she was 13, and I was 14, her birthday was later in the year. We ran outside to the moment we had been waiting for almost our whole lives. It was time to battle!

The professor watched as we called our pokémon.

"Go Treecko!" I called throwing my pokéball.

"Go Torchic!" Ruby called right after me. I let Ruby make the first move,"Torchic use tackle!" She exclaimed.

"Look out Treecko!" I warned. Treecko tried to dodge, but was hit by Torchic's tackle,"Its alright Treecko, just hit back harder!" He seemed to be a bit hurt, but was able to keep going,"Alright hit back wth a tackle!" It was a direct hit! Treecko knocked Torchic back and it seemed that he did a good amount of damage. Torchic looked hurt, and Ruby cheered it on.

"Its alright Torchic, you can do it! Hit back with another tackle!" Torchic ran, but it seemed to move slower.

"Treecko its moving slower, dodge it now!" Treecko did, and got away from Torchic's attack,"Finnish it off Treecko, use tackle!" Treecko landed a successful hit and Torchic fell, and the battle was over.

Professor Birch, who had watched silently now offered to heal each of our pokémon. He revived Ruby's Torchic, and healed my Treecko. After that I realized that I had not introduced myself to Treecko. I knelt down and began to talk to him,"I'm sorry for throwing you into battle like that without introducing myself. Hi, I'm James, nice to meet you! I hope we can become friends!" I smiled, and it seemed that Treecko smiled back and nodded. Now that Ruby had seen what I did she did the same. She picked up Torchic in her hands and began to talk to it.

"Hi, Torchic, my name is Ruby, nice to meet you! Sorry for not introducing myself before battling with you, but I hope we can be friends!" Like me Ruby smiled to her pokémon. Her pokemon cheered, and jumped up and down in her hands, it seemed ecstatic to meet Ruby.
Then I asked Treecko,"Are you ok with being in a pokéball?" Treecko nodded," Alright then, I said, "Treecko return," I held out his pokéball and he disappeared in a flash of light.

"Alright, James!" My dad cheered from a bench,"That was great for your first battle. You did well too, Ruby. Now, someone wants to join you," He threw up a pokéball, and in a flash of light, Eevee appeared.

"Wait," I said,"When did you do that?"

"Just before we left the house," He declared proudly,"I had a spare pokeball and I thought hey, lets surprise James with this. Now I'm giving Eevee to you. Here," he held out the pokeball to give to me. I took it, trying to hide how excited I was. I almost jumped up and down like crazy. I never considered bringing Eevee along my adventure with me. Now that it happened I was imagining evolving her into my favorite pokemon ever, Glaceon. I always liked ice types, and I always wanted one for myself. Now I was able to have one! I was going to have the best adventure ever! I couldn't wait to get started.