Chapter One Ð Imagine That

Ben Mills was in his room, unpacking his belongings. It was two weeks after Ben's fourteenth birthday, and also the day after he and his mother had moved from Pallet Town in Kanto to Violet City in Johto. The move was to do with Ben's brother, Adam. He had been murdered four years before. His mother was still mourning, but Ben had sort of gotten over it. It wasn't always on his mind, but whenever he was alone, he though about it.
But Ben was never alone anymore. For his birthday, Ben's mother had bought a Pokemon off of Professor Oak and ordered a Pokedex and PokeGear. The Pokedex wasn't here yet, but he had his Pokemon.
As he pulled his quilt cover over his quilt, and put his pillows in their respective cases, his new friend hopped onto his fresh bed and began growling. Bulbasaur wanted to play. It was jumping at Ben and smiling. "Not now, buddy. I'm sorry but I've got to sort my room out." Bulbasaur sank back down and curled up on Ben's pillows. Ben sighed and began putting his knick-knacks on the shelves that were on his wall.
Ben was about 5"5 with spiked brown hair which was supported by his flight goggles that were given to him by his brother. He wore a black shirt and a white tie, which were above his black khaki three-quarter length trousers. His shoes were white with three black stripes on the side.
He was just about to put the now empty box of knick-knacks by the door when his PC made a sound. Ben approached it and saw that he had a new email. He entered his email address and password and clicked on the inbox icon. There was only one new message and it was from Kanto. Perhaps one of Ben's old friends? Ben clicked it anyway and found that it was in fact Professor Oak! Ben called the lazy Bulbasaur over and read the letter to him:

To, Ben
How are you? I hope you have settled in to Johto nicely! One of my associates, Professor Elm works in New Bark Town, but I understand that New Bark Town is literally a step back for you if you hope to enter the Pokemon League.
Sorry, I was drifting off topic there. What I really wanted to say was that I received a message from the Pokemon League saying that your Pokedex and PokeGear are on their way to your house as we speak. You should receive them either tomorrow or on Saturday.
Good luck with your adventure, I'd like constant updates on your progress.
Yours truly, Oak

Ben closed down his computer and looked at Bulbasaur. "I hope you're ready, Bulbasaur. You can't rest whenever you want in the wild, it's dangerous; there are wild Pokemon!" Ben said. "So you can rest up today and then we're off as soon as my Pokedex gets here, got it?" Bulbasaur nodded an enthusiastic nod and hopped back on to the bed.
Ben sat in his computer chair and span around to face the TV. He turned it on watched the Johto National News. The reporter was a woman and she was looking very serious. Ben turned the volume up.
"ÉAcross the region. If you do see them in your City or Town, please report it to the number on screen." Ben was trying to figure out what they were talking about. "Please be warned that this band of thieves are very dangerous. Team Rocket have been known to kill in the pastÉ" Ben dropped the remote on the wooden floor and the batteries fell out and rolled under the bed. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion after that. Ben slipped off of his chair and bumped his head. He was unconscious.
Ben seemed to wake up in the middle of a town. He heard a familiar voice. It sounded similar to his own, except it couldn't have been his. It was his brother's.
He was having another nightmare.
He was ten again. He didn't have Bulbasaur, but he was still practicing battling with Adam's Typhlosion. Adam was cheering him on against a Pidgey. Typhlosion was obviously going to win, but Adam wanted Ben to grow confidence.
Ben won and ran back to Adam, Typhlosion following him. Ben stood to his brother's left, whilst Typhlosion stood on his right. Adam was staring at a man in a suit and sunglasses. He had a gun.
"Wanna come with me, Adam?" The voice wasn't very clear. Ben must be regaining consciousness.
"Leave here" Adam said calmly. Typhlosion jumped in front of Adam defending him, but the man shot Typhlosion, killing him instantly. Ben gasped. The gun was now pointed at him. Adam jumped in the way of Ben, but he was shot as well. Ben's screams of fear faded away as he was plunged back into the real world.
The TV was still on, but a music show was on. Ben stood up and switched the whole thing off. He was white as a sheet, but was slowly regaining colour.
Bulbasaur was asleep, but had moved slightly, he had obviously checked to see if Ben was alright and then slept some more.
Bulbasaur wasn't asleep for long though. A shout and a smash came from somewhere outside. Ben ran to his window and saw that it was actually the house next door. There was only a metre gap between the two houses and a window between the two upstairs bedrooms. Ben looked through the window of the other house and saw a girl of about the same age shouting at someone. A pair of hands pushed her down and a large woman appeared, obviously her mother.
The shouting continued for a minute or two and then there was a slam of a door. Ben peaked through the window and saw the girl trying to open her window. He crouched beneath the windowsill so as not to be seen. Ben was hiding there with Bulbasaur for thirty seconds before he heard his own window open and the screech of a monkey. An Aipom hopped in, followed by its trainer. They had just jumped over Ben, and had obviously not realised that he was there.
The girl was pretty. She had brown hair in a ponytail and wore a white hooded sweatshirt; it had a picture of a Poke Ball on the back. She wore blue skinny jeans and black boots. Ben nervously stood up, cradling Bulbasaur in his arms. "What are you doing in my room?" Ben said shakily.
"Your room? This is my hideout!" The girl swiveled round but stopped and blushed when she saw Ben. "Oh, sorry," she muttered, "I come here when IÉ Never mind, what were you doing under the window?'
"I heard you and your mother fighting, I wanted a closer look, but I didn't want you to see me" Ben said quietly.
The girl stared him up and down, thought him to be alright, and nodded. "Sorry, you need to get used to that," she extended her hand. "Alysha Leverett, and you are?"
Ben took Alysha's hand and said his name.
"I'm fifteen by the way. And I'm still not technically a trainer. I don't have any Poke Balls."
"But you have an Aipom" Ben said puzzled.
"An gift from my dad. I would thank him if I knew him. He left when I was small and I haven't seen him since. What about you, is your family more dysfunctional than mine?"
Ben swallowed. He fought back tears and tried to hide the sadness in his voice. "My dad left too." He didn't want to mention Adam just yet.
"I guess we have things in common. I'm going looking for my dad, I just need a friend to come too" Alysha said hopefully. She thought that Ben looked up to adventure.
"I'm leaving this week too, although we've just moved in. My Pokedex is coming tomorrow, so I'm leaving then. You can come too, but I'm battling in Gyms." Ben didn't really need another companion, but he could use the human company.
"I'm not telling my mother though, I've already packed, I'm just waiting." Alysha smiled.
"Waiting? For what?" Ben asked.
"Someone like you! Someone who will take me with them!"
"OK then, you can come" Ben said. As soon as Ben had finished his sentence, Alysha's Aipom began losing it. It flipped and squeaked and screamed.
"Damnit, my mother's coming to my room, see you tomorrow, Ben" Alysha said. She ran to the window and jumped the metre gap, landing on her windowsill and climbing through, Aipom followed. Alysha winked at Ben as she closed her window. Ben closed his own window and sat on the bed with Bulbasaur, who lay on Ben's lap.
"Well that was weird!" Ben muttered.

Ben woke up that morning to find that Bulbasaur was scratching at the door. Ben got out of bed and opened the door. Bulbasaur shot downstairs and ran back up whilst Ben was putting his tie on. "What is it, buddy?" Ben asked, but he saw the parcel in Bulbasaur's mouth and knew what it was automatically. "My Pokedex! Professor Oak was right!" Ben ripped open the package and dropped all the paper on the floor. Ben pulled his computer chair up and sat at his desk with Bulbasaur, who was on the desk.
The Pokedex was green and had a blue flashing light on it. It looked like a phone crossed with a notebook. It opened like a book, but you had to turn it sideways to type and see the screen. Ben did this and saw Oak's face.
"Hello, Ben. Oak again. This a pre-recorded message for you.
"You have probably already figured out how to use it, but if not, you can phone me with your PokeGear, which should have been in the package," Ben picked up the pedometer-like device and pressed the one button on it. It grew into the shape of a touch screen phone. It now had the three common phone buttons; the central 'select' button, the green phone button and the red phone button. Oak was still talking whilst he did this. Ben turned PokeGear into the pedometer which meant off and focused his attention on the Pokedex.
"You control everything from the phone mode. Now I'll let you play with the new edition of the PokeGear in a second, I do hope you like it, they had a choice of blue, red or white, so I chose white, same with the Pokedex, pink, red or green.
"Please remember to be careful. As you well know, it's a dangerous world out there. Now good luck!" The screen went blank.
"Awesome" was the one word that Ben muttered. He turned around and saw Alysha at her window. Ben jumped and then realised that she wanted his window open. He did and a black bag came flying through.
"My stuff" Alysha giggled as she came in the room.
"Oh no! I forgot to pack!" Ben quickly grabbed his pajamas, a sleeping bag and roll mat, a dog bowl for Bulbasaur and Bulbasaur's Poke Ball. He never used it, but he might have to one day. He also grabbed a handful of them and put them in a separate compartment of his old, torn backpack. "I'm all set!" He picked up his Pokedex and PokeGear and clipped them to his trousers. He then walked out the door, Bulbasaur at his heels. Alysha followed, Aipom on her head.
"Look at you, Ben!" his mum said when they came downstairs. "You must be Alysha, Ben told me about you" she said turning to Alysha.
"He has, has he?" Alysha laughed. Ben blushed.
"We're leaving now."
"I guessed. Oh, I remember the day that your brother left." She burst into tears."
"I'll phone every week, I promise, OK?" Ben said to his mum.
"I love you. And I want front row seats when you're in the Pokemon League, too!" Ben's mum laughed. "Alysha, does your mum know that you're going too?"
"No, and it's going to stay that way. She's the reason I'm leaving. I'm gonna find dad and live with him."
"Well good luck to both of you. Bye now!" Ben and Alysha stepped out the door and it closed behind them.
"Where to now?" Alysha asked.
"I'm not sure" Ben replied.
"You have the Map."
"Oh yeah." Ben pulled out the PokeGear and loaded the Map up. "I'd like t check out the Gym, there are probably trainers around there that are up for a bit of training."
"To the Gym then!" Alysha said, marching purposefully like a soldier. Ben laughed and jogged to catch up.
Ben was starting his adventure with Bulbasaur at last. He also had a great friend and her Pokemon too. Imagine that.

Thanks For Reading

FoxesPlayingBanjos 2010

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