“One more thing, Amber!” Amber’s dad said as she opened the door of their home. “I have a little gift for you.”

Her dad pulled a tarp off of something to reveal a brand new black bicycle with red handlebars and wheels underneath.

“Wow!” Amber exclaimed as she gazed at her new treasure. “It’s awesome!”

“I thought you would like it,” her dad said as he beamed at her. “The model hasn’t even been released yet.”

“Thanks, dad!” Amber hugged her father. “Bye, dad!”

“Good bye, Amber,” he said as she bicycled down the road to start her pokemon journey.

“Why, hello there,” Professor Oak said to the young girl who stood before him. She had brownish black bangs that framed her face beautifully and a ponytail with an anime style pointy end that flowed down her back. “You must be the girl from Viridian City.”

“I’m here to get my new pokemon,” she said.

“We don’t get many starting trainers from your area. It will be a pleasure,” Oak said. “What’s your name?”

“Amber,” she said.

“All right then, Amber of Viridian City, have you chosen your starting pokemon yet?”

“Yes,” Amber said excitedly. “I choose Charmander!”

Professor Oak led her inside to where three pokeballs sat. He picked one of them up.

“Here you go,” He said as he handed her the ball.

“Thank you so much!” Amber said as she released the pokemon in a flash of red light. A lizard like pokemon appeared. It was red and had a flame on its tail.

“It’s so cute!” Amber said.

“And it’s all yours,” Oak said with a smile. “Here are your pokeballs and your pokedex.” Oak handed her little balls identical to the one she had just received and a device that was handy for recording pokemon data.

“Thank you, Professor Oak,” Amber said as she grasped the items, hooked the five pokeballs to her belt, and put the pokedex in her pocket. Amber picked up the Charmander and dashed out of the building to her bike. She waved at Oak with a broad grin on her face.

“Good bye Professor Oak, and thank you!” she said happily. And with that, her journey began.

Amber sat cross-legged in the Viridian Forest staring at the pokemon before her. It was a purple color with leaves growing out of its head.

“Oddish?” it said.

“I’m going to catch you!” Amber said to it. “Go! Charmander!” The red lizard jumped in front of Amber.

“Char!”

“Charmander, use scratch!” Amber called.

Charmander extended its claws and prepared to attack Oddish. The little pokemon released a cloud of yellow spores and fled. Charmander froze in place, paralyzed. Amber did too.

“Note to self: avoid Oddish.”

“Char. . .” Charmander agreed.

“Ok, Charmander, this one is really ours!” Amber said, determined. “Let’s go!”

The pokemon in front of them looked like a bird.

“Spearow!” it said.

“Charmander, use ember!”

Charmander spit some flames out of its mouth. The Spearow looked annoyed. It gave a cry and its beak glowed. It charged at Charmander.

“Charmander dodge!” It tried to get out of the bird’s way, but wasn’t fast enough. The Spearow hit Charmander full force and it was knocked backward. The Spearow flew away.

“That went well. . .”

“Charmander. . .”

“Charmander, we’ll get this one for sure!” Amber said as she looked at another bird.

“Pidgey!” it said.

“Leer!” Amber ordered. Charmander did, and the Pidgey froze in fear. “All right! Now use scratch!”

“Char!”

Charmander leapt toward the Pidgey and scratched it with its sharp claws. The Pidgey flew up into the air and beat its wings, causing the wind to whip around Amber and Charmander.

“Use ember!”

“Char!” Charmander spat out embers. They hit the Pidgey and it fell to the ground.

“Go, pokeball!”

Amber threw a pokeball at the Pidgey. A red light surrounded it and it disappeared into the ball. The ball twitched a little, then stilled.

“Yes!” Amber squeaked. “We did it!”

“Char!”

“Do you want to say hello to our new friend?”

“Charmander,” Charmander said in a curios tone.

“Come on out and meet us,” Amber said as she threw the ball. The bird appeared in front of them.

“Charmander, Char,” Charmander said as it held out its claws. The Pidgey chirped and grabbed Charmander’s claws with its wing.

“See?” Amber said, smiling. “You guys are friends already! Here, Pidgey, climb on my shoulder.”

The Pidgey perched itself on her shoulder and looked at Amber. Amber smiled.

“Alright you two, I want to train you hard,” Amber said. “Together, we’ll overcome anything in our path!”

Several hours later, Amber set up camp. They had made good headway in their training and in traveling.

“I’m tired,” Amber said, yawning. The two pokemon agreed. They had been training all day as they traveled.

“I wonder what we’ll do tomorrow. I hope we reach Pewter City. I hear it’s pretty close to Mt. Moon. You know, I’ve been wondering.” Charmander and Pidgey looked at her.

“Now that I’m a pokemon trainer, what do I do? I can’t just wander the whole countryside without a purpose,” Amber sighed. “I guess, for now, we’ll try to reach Pewter.”

Amber stared at the stars, not having the slightest clue what fate had in store for her.