Unoriginality 1: An Original Trainer Story

The Early Bird

Aaron trotted along Route 1, heading toward Viridian City, the morning sun not yet high in the sky. It was his first day as a trainer – his first hour, even, as he'd gotten his pokemon at seven o'clock sharp, the moment Professor Oak's lab had opened. He'd picked bulbasaur, his favorite as well as the one suggested by all the guidebooks, and was feeling optimistic. He knew it would be a long, hard road to being a trainer, as he slowly built up his team, trained his pokemon, battled others until he was finally deserving of eight badges and worthy of competing at the Indigo Plateau.

He managed to catch a pidgey, female nidoran and mankey by the early afternoon. He alternated between them as he trained against the wild pokemon of the area. He used potions to heal his pokemon between fights, glad he had spent his hard-earned money on the items. It was a good investment, and also made things easier on his pokemon. Once he got to Viridian he could use the Pokecenter there, but he didn't want to delay his training.

"Hey!" shouted a voice behind him.

Aaron turned to see a girl his age running up the path behind him, with four pokeballs on her belt and a backpack positively bulging with supplies. He recognized her as one of his classmates, although he didn't know her well. Her name was Luki. So, she'd gotten her first pokemon today as well.

She caught up. "Hi Aaron! You started today too?"

Aaron nodded. "I picked a bulbasaur. You?"

Luki giggled. "Well, I was late, so...why don't we have a battle, and I'll show you?"

"Okay," Aaron agreed, picking his pidgey's pokeball.

Luki giggled again. "But I should warn you, there's no way you'll beat me!" She threw out a pokeball.

A shiny umbreon appeared, obviously high level. Aaron stared. "That's your starter?"

"Well, Prof. Oak was out of the regular starters by the time I got there. I overslept a little, so I didn't wake up until one. By that time, all the others had been picked. But, I begged Prof. Oak for a pokemon, so he gave me these! Also he gave me lots of cool items."

"These?" Aaron repeated with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Yep!" She threw out the three others. A dragonair, an aerodactyl and a..."That's my starter," she said proudly. "Mewtwo!"