Chapter 1 

A boy stood at the railing of the SS Mary, the sister ship to the SS Anne. 
He was a rather average looking boy.  He was of medium height, and medium 
build.  He had brown hair, which was waving in the wind coming off the 
ocean, and he was excited.  In fact, at that moment the boat he was on was 
bound for Pallet Town, where he would get his first pokemon from the great 
Professor Oak himself, along with a group of other kids from his town.  His 
home town, Puce Island, was very small, so it didn't even have a resident 
pokemon expert like Professor Oak, so there was no one to get a starting 
pokemon from.  Most of the other kids from his town he didn't know very 
well, but he had two good friends, Bob and David, who he was planning to 
go on his journey with. 
Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder.  "Hey, are you awake?" David, who 
had walked up beside him while he stood lost in thought, said.  David was 
small and thin, but very nimble.  He had black hair, which he had hanging 
down, and brown eyes.  "What pokemon are you planning to get?  I hope they 
have a squirtle.  Water pokemon are the best." 
Bob, hearing the conversation, walked over to add his side.  Bob was the 
tallest of the three, with a large build and blonde hair.  "Yeah right.  
Everyone knows that psychic pokemon are the best.  The abra I'm going to 
get can beat a squirtle any day." 
Jack broke in "Maybe we shouldn't boast about our pokemon until we get 
them?  And besides, a balanced team is the best."  This, of course, started 
a huge argument involving almost all the kids on the boat, until finally 
the parents who had come along to see their children off broke it up.  
Everyone was mumbling to themselves about how they would have won the 
argument, but that stopped when the boat landed at the docks. 
When the boat bumped against the wooden planks of the dock, all the kids 
cheered.  Then, they waited impatiently while the boat slowly unloaded its
cargo before letting of the passengers.  When the crowd finally got off the 
boat, after driving everyone else insane with impatient yells and 
questions, there was a mass rush for Professor Oak's house, which everyone 
had been told the location of beforehand.  Professor Oak was standing in 
the doorway to his lab, waiting for the arrival of the children from Puce, 
when he saw a cloud of dust rising above the road that led to his lab.  "I 
wonder what that is," He thought to himself.  The cloud of dust got closer 
and closer,  and then suddenly resolved itself into a horde of children 
coming straight at Professor Oak.  Professor Oak yelled in terror and dived
out of the way.  The children, who varied in age from ten to fifteen, 
finally settled down and waited for instructions.  Jack and his friends 
were at the upper end of the age spectrum. 
"Ok children" Professor Oak said "Please write your names on the pieces of 
paper I'm handing out, then put them in this hat.  I will randomly draw 
names to determine what order you choose your pokemon in.  We have several
pokemon available.  There is the basic bulbasuar, squirtle, and charmander,
but there is also a few others.  There is a nidoran male, an abra, and an
eevee.  I will now take the names out of the hat.  The first person is 
Bob." 
"Yes!"  went Bob.  "I'll take an Abra." 
"Abra is a good choice"  Oak said.  "If you treat it well you should be 
able to get far with it." 
The picking of pokemon went on like this for a while, with neither Jack nor 
David's name being called, until about halfway through David was called and
chose a squirtle.  Jack still wasn't called, not until the very end.  After
the long wait, Jack finally came up to the front of the room.  "Ok" he 
said," What pokemon are left?" 
Professor Oak began sweating.  "Well," he said, "I seem to be one pokemon 
short+ICY-" 
"So?  Am I not going to get a pokemon?" 
"Not exactly+ICY-" 
"Listen do you have any pokemon left?  Any at all?" 
"Well, I have two left+ICY-" 
"What are they?" 
Professor Oak was really sweating now.  "They are+ICY-  A psyduck and a 
magikarp!" 
Jack fell over.  "That's all?!?!?!  I guess I'll take the magikarp.  At 
least it will evole into a gyrados." 
"I'm really sorry about this."  Professor Oak said, handing over a 
pokeball.  "Here, as a slight consolation you can have an ultra ball.  It 
is much better at catching pokemon then regular pokeballs.  And don't 
forget to take your pokedex and pokeballs as you leave."  Jack walked out 
of the lab, grabbing his pokedex and pokeballs as he left.  Bob and David 
were waiting for him outside. 
"So, what did you get?"  Bob asked. 
"A stupid magikarp." 
"Why a magikarp?  Why didn't you choose something else?" 
"It was the only pokemon left!" 
"I'm glad I managed to get my abra then.  Let's all call out our pokemon 
and say hello."  The trio walked over to a secluded spot and called out 
their pokemon.  "Abra, go!"  "Squirtle, go!"  "Magikarp, go!" 
"Ok Bob, let's see which is better, physic or water."  David said. 
"Fine.  Abra, go!" 
"Squirtle, go!  Use bubble!"  Abra flinched as the bubbles popped on it's 
forehead. 
"You don't have to take that!  Teleport behind it and kick it!"  Squirtle 
yelled in pain as it was booted from behind. 
"Squirtle!  Tackle it!"  Squirtle ran at abra and hit it straight on, 
knocking it out. 
"Looks like I won." David said.  "Let's get our pokemon over to the 
pokecenter and heal them."