Dreams and Adventures: Route 1

Route 1: The World of Pokémon
And so it all began, on that one day in a quiet peaceful town. It must have been roughly nearing noon-time, as the sun was shining brilliantly upon the landscape below. Within the town, in some grassy meadow surrounded by vibrant trees, two silhouetted figures stood adjacent of each other. They stood each other down in complete silence, as if waiting for the other to act first. One of them gripped their hand tightly in anticipation as the other kept watching. After what felt like an eternity of waiting, one of the shrouded figures arched their arm back, then swung it forward, looking as if they had released something from their grasp. The other individual quickly imitated the same action immediately afterward. "Go Nidorino" one of them shouted; "Go Gengar" the other exclaimed. Between the two stood a pair of what could only be described as monsters; one was a pink quadruped with large rabbit-like ears and a single horn protruding from its forehead, while the other was a frightening visage of a bipedal living shadow, standing with a rather stout physique and a sinister grin.

Seemingly excited for this confrontation, the horned rabbit-like monster hopped back and forth a few times. Taking this as an opportunity, the owner of the living shadow outstretched their arm and gave a command; "Gengar, Scratch it!" The shadow, named Gengar, moved in to swipe at the opposing monster. "Nidorino, dodge it" the other person yelled; causing Nidorino to hop back and easily avoid the harmful scratch. Without missing a beat, both Nidorino and its commander prepared themselves for a retaliation; with Nidorino once again hopping in excitement and the commander extending their index finger forward in an authoritative manner. "Quick, before it attacks again, use your Horn Attack!" Nidorino complied with a nod before rushing in towards Gengar in order to stab the nightmarish creature with its horn. Just as Nidorino's horn was about to collide with Gengar, the sound of strange growling and roaring suddenly emerged. What appeared to be a couple of fighting monsters just a short while ago seemingly turned into a mock wrestling match between two young boys; both of which whom were now grappling with each other while making menacing faces and snarling. They kept at this for a minute or two before finally wearing themselves out. Exhausted, they ended up laying on their backs side by side, all the while allowing themselves to catch their breaths.

From appearances alone, the boys were quite young indeed; with one appearing significantly older than the other. On the right was the older boy, sporting a blue T-shirt and equally blue jeans, along with white sneakers (which also possessed a blue zig-zag styled decal.) Next to him, the younger boy was wearing a plain white T-shirt, as well as the same blue jeans as the older boy. On his feet were a couple of tan work boots; both of which looked to be particularly useful for outside work. Perhaps what set them apart from each other most of all though was their hair. While the boys shared slightly similar eye colors (the older's being blue and the younger's being green,) the older boy had red hair while the younger had blue. Despite the difference in color though, the two shared the same hairstyle; both owning shaggy hair that typically fell down around every inch of their heads, including an inch or two of bangs that drooped over their foreheads.

Once the two boys had finally caught their breaths, things began to fall silent for a bit. The blue haired lad looked up longingly at the white fluffy clouds floating overhead, while the red haired boy had his eyes closed and smiled contently. For a while, things were silent and calming as the two kept laying still and soaked in the pleasant weather. The peace wasn't meant to last however, as the red haired boy slightly tilted his head to the other boy and began to speak. "Man, I can't wait until we get real Pokémon!" For emphasis, the young man raised both fists into the air above him as his smile grew into a bigger grin. "Then we could have real Pokémon battles! And do all sorts of exciting things!" The blue haired youth tossed his head to the side in response; "sounds pretty cool. What do you think we should do first when we get our Pokémon?" The red haired boy lowered his arms as his grin relaxed back into the previous smile. Now in thought, he propped his arms behind his head and went silent for a few seconds. "...Guess I'll figure it out when the time comes. For now, I just want a Pokémon so bad."

"Yeah..." sighed the other boy in agreement; now also dreaming of what a life with Pokémon would be like. Now you see, the reason they focused so intently on these things called Pokémon was simply because of the world they live in. Pokémon, short for Pocket Monsters, are strange, wondrous and whimsical creatures that have inhabited the planet alongside humans for an unknown length of time. Due to this coexistence, humans and Pokémon have learned to live with each other, and even work together for similar shared goals. In a world filled with at least 150 different kinds of Pokémon, humanity has discovered many equally different kinds of ways to enjoy the company of these creatures. Some care for Pokémon as pets and live with them at home, others diligently raise Pokémon to become strong and powerful in order to have them fight against other Pokémon for sport; and then there are those who study Pokémon in an attempt to better understand the many facets that make up these amazing beings. And these two boys we've been focusing on will some day too find their calling in this wonderful world of Pokémon.

After the make-believe Pokémon fight between the two, the boys had gone on to walking throughout their town; spending some more quality time in the meanwhile as they talked about anything that popped into their heads or caught their attention. After a few minutes of this, they stopped at one building in particular. Before the older redhead could proceed towards the door, the younger of the two spoke up, causing the young man to pause. "Hey Mike, are you actually sure about this?" The younger boy sounded worried for some reason, given the tone of his voice became stern, matching the caution in his eyes. The other boy, named Mike, turned around to face him. Mike's face appeared tired for some reason, and yet his voice sounded reassuring as he responded. "Look, trust me, I know what I'm doing here. I thought it out a whole lot, so there's no way we could get in trouble or in danger or something. If you're that worried though, then you don't need to come along. It'll just be the two of us; is that OK?" The young boy looked down for a second or two as he thought the proposal over. After that had passed, he looked back up, still looking somewhat concerned. "...No, it's fine. If something happens to you, then I want to be there to help. OK?" Mike's tired expression softly shifted into a warm smile. "Alright then, but that means I'm gonna work twice as hard to watch your back, got it?" The other boy gave a nod with his eyes closed. After that had finished, Mike returned to the door of the house he had been standing in front of. With a few knocks on the door, he then waited for someone on the other side to come out and greet him.

STILL IN DEVELOPMENT. PLEASE WAIT.