Entry  1 – The start
of a journey

Amarillo.

If you are reading this, then I can only wonder how you

found it. I plan to keep this little book on me during my entire journey. A

journey, mind you, that I didn’t even ask for. But I suppose you can’t control

everything in your life. Sometimes fate just takes the reins and guides you on

her path. Fate must be behind your discovery of this journal of mine. This

little pack of paper that will hold the stories of the adventure I’m about to

undergo with my disgruntled electric companion.

I bet your curious now, aren’t you?

Well, like any journey, it all started like any other day. I

had just finished my final year of grade school and was taking full advantage

of my new found free time. Since I woke up early, body still wired for school

instead of lazy days of summer, I decided to play Pokémon Stadium on my

Nintendo. Virtual pokémon were much easier to handle and train than real ones.

Plus, in a video game, you don’t have to worry about losing. If your team is on

the ropes, just reset and restart. No big loss.

Pokémon Stadium was my latest favorite. It had the largest

variety of pokémon in any virtual battle game, including some rare phantom

thing called a mew. That’s how I learned to battle really. The types,

advantages and disadvantages… I could handle that. It didn’t really teach much

about the pokémon themselves, but not many people really understood pokémon

nature. I mean, in my entire little town, there’s only one family that really

knows the physiology of pokémon, and that’s the Oak family. My neighbors.

Professor Oak teaches a weekly lecture on pokémon in my school and I’ve seen

his grandson, Kurt, helping him out at his lab. Yeah, he has a lab in Pallet

Town. The air here is apparently very clean and perfect for raising healthy Pokémon

or something. Anyway, Kurt and I have been rivals since our dads left for the

war when we were just kids.  I guess us

pushing each other so much was why I got the second highest scores in that

lecture class. Kurt barely beat me.

But I’m getting off track here. My journey. Let’s focus on

that again. It started because I had scored so high on my final exam in

Professor Oak’s class. He wanted me to help him with some project of his. He

said it involved pokémon, so I agreed to hear him out. Of course, he wasn’t at

his lab when I got there. Kurt was just as impatient as I was. I saw him in

there, slouched in his grandfather’s computer chair just waiting. He had told

me his grandpa was going to give him a pokémon to train. That had surprised me.

I know most people own pokémon as pets and some decide to take up the training

profession, and it was true I did enjoy training my virtual pokémon, but a real

one was different.

At first I saw it as exciting. Maybe the professor wanted me

to raise one too. Raising a real pokémon to go into real battle? Maybe I could

one day raise a team so strong, I could rival the power of the league champion.

He’s said to be the strongest trainer of them all. But that’s way ahead of me.

First I had to figure out what exactly the professor wanted me to do. I left

the lab sending only a single curious glance at the single red and white pokéball

sitting innocently on the table.

Finding Professor Oak was no easy task despite the

relatively small size of my town. I was starting to think I had missed him

somehow and he was back at his lab already. Then I saw something in the

grass.  I know there are wild animals out

there and generally people don’t go wandering into the tall grass without some

form of protection, but I swore I saw something yellow in the grass. I had to

find out what it was, so… I headed out to find it. Not two steps in and the

very person I had been looking for came running up to me, calling ‘Wait!’

He told me what I already knew. Wild pokémon live in the

tall grass, I know, but I was 14. I could handle myself. Then that yellow thing

jumped out at us, as if just to prove the old man’s words were true. It was a

pokémon I had never seen in Pallet Town. It was a yellow mouse I had only ever

seen in my video games. A pikachu. The professor hastily through a pokéball at

it and I stared as the ball shook rather violently before finally calming. Then

the professor told me I shouldn’t wander into the grass without a pokémon of my

own to protect me. I doubt I could wipe off the huge grin that split my face

when the professor told me to follow him to his lab.

Kurt was still there, leaning on the table, watching the

pokéball that sat atop it. When he spotted us, he pretty much yelled at his

‘gramps’ for making him wait for so long. Judging from his grandpa’s reply,

Kurt wasn’t supposed to come until this afternoon anyway. But that wasn’t

important. Professor Oak had pointed to the ball on the table. He said it was a

pokémon just for me. Kurt seemed, oddly enough, hurt that I was getting it

instead of him. Despite his grandfather’s assurances that he was getting one

later, he still glared at me as I made my way over to it.

My hand was only an inch away as my mind could only wonder

what was inside that I’d soon call my own, but I saw a blur of blue snatch that

pokémon away. Kurt had snagged the pokéball. He stared at the form inside,

saying this was his pokémon and his alone. His grandfather had started to scold

him for the action, but he folded to his grandson’s wishes faster than the turn

of a page.  So what did I get? The

leftovers. That yellow mouse he had literally just caught. Untamed he called

it. Wild. So that’s what I’d call it to.

I started to leave with the pokéball containing my very own

pokémon, but Kurt called out to me. A battle right off the bat. That was fine.

It would be my chance to see just what Wilde could do… and it would give me the

chance to see just what had been inside that pokéball on the table.

My rival had gotten an eevee. A rare, fox like pokémon… and

he had been right. It was physically stronger than Wilde. But then, I had

learned in school that pokémon raised by a trainer generally are stronger than

ones just plucked from the grass. Wilde was on his last legs. Literally down to

his last bit of health when his electricity paralyzed Kurt’s eevee. We were

lucky this time. I think Wilde knew that too. 

Kurt just assumed he had picked the wrong pokémon. He didn’t know how

close Wilde was to fainting. Wilde was stubborn, I could tell just by looking

at the defiance in his eyes. He wasn’t going to go down without a fight. He

proved it when Kurt left and he forced himself out of his pokéball. I didn’t

even know a pokémon could do that, but there you go. Wilde just sat on the

ground, panting a bit from the battle, glaring at his pokéball like it was a

thing of evil. Professor Oak agreed that it was strange, but he told me not to

make a big deal about it. I could just let him follow me or something, and talk

to him to check to see if he’s happy. So I took the advice and bent down to say

hi to Wilde… but the stupid thing just walked by me with his nose in the air,

like he was better than me or something. He was MY pikachu, but already I was

feeling like I was the one being led around.

Too bad real life doesn’t have a reset button.

~Neo Amarillo

Entry 2 – A new mission

Having my own real life pokémon wasn’t as amazing as I had

thought it would be. Wilde sat in the window the entire night, staring at the

moon and the trees. He wouldn’t look at me no matter how much I tried to get

his attention or how much food I shoved his way. Eventually I ended up going to

bed smelling like a burnt out wire thanks to somebody small, fuzzy, and yellow.

Morning wasn’t any better. Wilde just paced around the

house, clearly annoyed with not just its new predicament, but me as well. If I

ever talked to him, he just kind of gave me a blank stare and twitched his ear

in clear annoyance. Taming wasn’t easy in real life. I liked it better in games

where the pokémon just listen to you without any work.

Professor Oak called my house later that day requesting I

take a trip up to Viridian City to pick up a parcel for him. He said it would

be a great chance for me to bond with my new pikachu and how being outside

might make him more relaxed. I seriously doubted it. With this particular

pokémon, I didn’t think anything would please him.

But I was proven wrong when Wilde all but jumped at the

chance to leave the stuffy house. It was the first positive reaction I had seen

from him since I got him. I opened the door, and off he shot, straight into the

warmth of the sun where he rolled in the grass and flowers. I should’ve known…

he really was still a beast of nature. The house had made him stir crazy.

The trouble started when he tore off into the grass without

warning. I had to run just to catch up with him, and it wasn’t even me who

stopped him. A boy along route one had caught Wilde and figured he was mine

when he saw me calling out to him. He didn’t question the scene. He could

probably tell I was a newbie trainer. He even gave me a healing potion as a

sample from the market he works at. Bet it was from pity. Me and Wilde probably

aren’t the most impressive duo.

Wilde proved it when he took off again. I waved goodbye to the boy and ran after the little rat. He

didn’t get far though. A wild pidgey made sure of that.  It just attacked out of the blue and Wilde

was so startled he could only stare. I couldn’t believe that thick headed

rodent was frozen in panic. His fur was raised but his paws were glued to the

ground as the pidgey came at him. A flap of the bird’s wings send a dangerous

gust of wind Wilde’s way, and I shouted the only thing that came to mind.

Thundershock. Instantly Wilde responded to my command, charging up and shooting

a bolt of electricity through the wind and hitting the pidgey. It flew away

without looking back. Wilde and I caught each other’s gazes after that battle

and I think we had an understanding. Well, at least he didn’t try to run away

after that. He just sort of walked in front of me, with a smug little

expression on his face whenever he took down another pokémon. So smug, despite

the fact he didn’t know what to do without me to guide him. Still, this was a

step in the right direction. At least he wasn’t completely ignoring my orders.

I’m staying overnight at the Pokémon Center. There is

apparently a center in every town but Pallet, and they have free lodging for

travelers. That’s a relief. I don’t really have any camping gear on me. I’ll

make a note to grab some things when I get home.

~Neo Amarillo

With the start of a new day, I thought I’d look around

Viridian City before I headed home. I mean, it wasn’t my first time in this

city, but Wilde was still giving me dirty looks so I figured maybe walking

around the town could get him to relax. It didn’t, but it was worth a shot.

Maybe if our trek hadn’t been cut short thanks to a cranky old man who thought

he owned the road… but whatever. I had Oak’s parcel and I had to deliver it

anyway.

When I stopped by the lab to drop of the package, the

Professor actually said he thought Wilde and I were getting along pretty well.

He said I had talent as a trainer. I don’t think he was really looking at my

pikachu , or else he would have realized the thing still hated me and I was

clearly doing a pathetic job at taming a mere mouse.

The parcel Oak had gotten had a fancy pokéball inside. It

looked like it was made from an apricorn, so it was probably ordered from the

Johto region. I’ve never been there, so I couldn’t be completely sure, but I

knew they liked to use apricorns to make pokéballs, so it made sense.

The professor put the ball aside and slid two little red

metal books off of the table beside him as he spoke to me about another favor.

I tried to give him my attention, but the red things had stolen that

completely. It looked like he had had them hooked up to one of his research

computers. Before he could tell me more about them and the favor, I heard a

familiar call from behind. Kurt had come to show what just a day’s worth of

traveling had done for his eevee, and I could only glance at Wilde, knowing

Kurt was already a step ahead of us.

His grandfather seemed pleased Kurt had come, and apparently

the favor he asked of me was a favor for both of us. The red things in his hand

were called Pokédexes, mini computers that stored information on captured

pokémon. He wanted me and Kurt to go and ‘catch them all’ you could say. He

wanted to create the ultimate encyclopedia on Kanto pokémon, but he was too old

to go out and collect the specimens needed himself. That’s where we came in.

I accepted this mission despite believing that I could never

catch every pokémon out there. I mean, I wouldn’t really have to. With both me

and Kurt working on the pokédex, the professor could just combine that data

into one or something later. I have just wanted to go on a journey out of this

town for a while now. When I heard Kurt was going to be leaving after grade

school to go on a research expedition around Kanto, I had been jealous of him

and had decided then and there that I would go on a journey too. I didn’t

expect it to also be a research mission, but beggars can’t be chooses. If I

could choose, I wouldn’t have saddled myself with a pokémon that thinks he’s a

god and I’m garbage.

Kurt told me he wouldn’t need my help to complete the

pokédex. He was eager about the assignment and practically ran out the door. He

had always been more of a science guy in school anyway, following after his grandpa

where as I had been more interested in following the footsteps of my father.

He was a great trainer in the army. That’s why I had confidence I could be a

great trainer too. Until I actually got a pokémon. Now my confidence is a bit

shaken.

~Neo Amarillo

 Entry 4 – Finally, Some Progress

I awoke early today so I could cover a lot of ground in one

go. My mom gave me a spare health potion for Wilde as I said goodbye, not

knowing when I’d be coming back. I also stopped at the Oak’s house to say bye

to Daisy. Daisy was Kurt’s older sister, and practically my sister too. Since

my mom works to keep food on the table, when I was younger she had Daisy

babysit me. Daisy stepped up to the role pretty easily. She had been taking

care of Kurt since their mom passed away, so adding one more kid to the mix was

no big deal. She wished me luck on my journey and gave me a map of Kanto

despite Kurt telling her to let me wander around trying to find my way to the

next city. Thank god Daisy is nice and helpful instead of being like her

arrogant brother.

When I reached Viridian City again, I instantly purchased a

few pokéballs and some antidote with the allowance I’ve been saving. Trainers

earn money by beating other trainers, so I’ll have to actually beat other

people if I want to be able to fund this mission, and to do that I’ll need

something else besides a pikachu that only knows how to wag its tail and shock

people.

Oh yeah, did I mention? The pokédex tells me what moves my

pokémon know, what level they’re at, how much health they have left, and their

stats. Talk about convenient.

I learned more about the pokédex when I caught my first

pokémon. Wilde and I headed west of Viridian and ran into a spearow. A bird

like spearow wouldn’t have been able to handle Wilde’s electric attacks. I had

learned that after frying all the pidgey on route one with one hit, so I just

threw a pokéball at it and prayed for the best.

Miraculously, it actually stayed in the ball. Even more

miraculous, once I caught it, Wilde actually smiled.

I stayed in the grass for a little while, running into wild

pokémon so that Wilde could practice his electric attacks and I could practice

with my new spearow. Of course, once the spearow saw Wilde taking down another

spearow, training went on hold for a bit. I decided to call the spearow Ronin

after he challenged Wilde to a dual without using any pokémon abilities. Wilde

won fairly easily, claiming his spot as leader of the team or something. Ever

since that little spat, Ronin has been incredibly respectful to Wilde. He’s

also been respectful to me, though for some reason I think he ranks Wilde

higher than me in the chain of command.

I continued along the route only to run into Kurt along the

way. He made fun of me, saying I was headed to the pokémon league. I gave him a

look and checked my map. Sure enough I was going the wrong way. He just laughed

at me, so I decided to point that that he too was coming from the wrong

direction. Next thing I knew, we were in a pokémon battle.

Kurt had captured a spearow too, but Wilde made quick work

of that bird. Nothing feathery could stand up to this mouse. Then Kurt sent out

his eevee, and I had wanted to call Wilde back. Eevee was stronger than him, I

knew that, but Wilde just stood there as his cheeks began to spark. He wanted

to do this fight and I decided to let him. I was nervous during the battle.

Like I expected, that eevee was physically much stronger than Wilde. One hit

lowered wild’s health by a third while he’d need to hit that eevee with at

least five thundershocks. It didn’t help that the eevee kept throwing sand in

Wilde’s eyes. But again, we were lucky. A critical hit made up for some of the

damage, and Wilde was able to get in a strong thunder wave. Kurt’s eevee was

stuck, unable to move, twice, giving Wilde two free hits. Again, another

critical hit. Then another. The eevee went down and Wilde leveled up.

Kurt said we were just lucky this time, and he had no idea

how true those words were. After he left, I found Wilde staring at me, except

this time, not with distaste. He was smiling. At me.  I smiled back. He was a tough little mouse,

wasn’t he?

Wilde walks beside me now instead of behind me. He still

seems pretty full of himself, but it’s nice not having a small yellow mouse

glare at the back of your head all day. That battle with Kurt triggered

something in the little guy, and I’m not as mad about getting the ‘leftover’

pokémon anymore.

We got past that old man this time around too. He’s not

nearly as grouchy in the afternoons as he is in the morning. He even offered to

show me how to catch pokémon even though Ronin makes it pretty obvious that I

already know how. I humored him anyway, but he ended up failing the catch. Oh

well. While he went to go buy more pokéballs, I made a dash towards Route 2.

It wasn’t a long route, but that didn’t mean there weren’t

any pokémon. As soon as we got there, a rattata attacked us. Ronin subdued it

and I snagged it with a pokéball. You never know when fangs like that would

come in handy. As soon as I got it, the pokédex registered the purple pokémon’s

information, even giving a little informational blurb about the species. Once

again, Wilde got excited when I made the catch. I think he likes having more

pokémon around to keep him company.

I named my new rattata Kora. She and Wilde get along pretty

well. Must be a rodent thing.

~Neo

Entry 5 – Kora

Alright, so Kora may have been pretty easy to tame, but

she’s not as easy to level up. Kora is by far the friendliest of my trio, and

she’s already become fond of me for reasons unknown, however while we were

training this morning, Wilde had to bail her out of a tight situation more than

once. She’s the only one that needs help taking down an enemy. I just hope she

will grow strong enough to take care of herself soon. I’ve decided to back

track a bit and try to train her in a weaker area before moving on ahead.

~Neo Amarillo

 Entry 6 – Sleeping In the Forest

The Kora exclusive training paid off. She learned Quick

Attack and seems to be able to hold her own at last. Now that I’m more

comfortable with her being able to defend herself, I took my team into the

Viridian Forest. The trees are so large and overgrown they pretty much block

out most of the sun. I couldn’t see a single step ahead of me, but my team was

on top of it. Ronin even brought back dinner, except I wasn’t one who liked to

eat bugs. Instead of roasting the large caterpie Ronin found, I just captured

it and added it to the crew.

Safe to say, Glit and Ronin don’t get along very well, what

with Ronin constantly trying to eat him. On the plus side, their constant

bickering was apparently giving Glit plenty of experience… because by night

fall he had evolved into a metapod. Not even Ronin’s tough beak can crack that

cocoon.

I also met a girl in the forest talking about pikachus. They

are apparently native to this forest, though I haven’t seen a single one since

I’ve been here, but this could explain why Wilde has been so mellow lately. He

really seems to love this forest and spends all of his free time just enjoying

nature rather than butting heads with me. So I told him we were going to be

staying the night in the forest. He looked ecstatic.

~Neo Amarillo

Entry 7 – Battle

I battled some trainers today. A lot of them actually. Most

of them raised bugs so they weren’t exactly hard to take down. I know that

sounds bad considering I’ve got a big on my team too, but Glit was really the

weakest on my team. Was being the key word there. I remember learning in class

that bug pokémon are notorious for growing quickly, and Glit is no exception.

He evolved again today. I didn’t know butterfree could learn psychic attacks.

Confusion will definitely come in handy.

Wilde seemed disappointed when we left the forest behind,

but I think I’ve gained some loyalty from him since our journey began. He chose

me over a tree. That’s a plus in my favor.

But the moment we left the forest behind, a pidgey came out

of nowhere, aiming to make a meal out of Glit. It’s a good thing Glit had so

much battle practice in the forest. He took care of that bird brain easily and

we even added her to the team.  Now both

Ronin AND Kori dislike Glit, but at least they have each other to distract them

now. I’m actually really surprised how easily it was to control Kori after her

capture, and I’m pretty sure it has something to do with Ronin.

But that’s a mystery for another day. Pewter City is in the

distance and my team and I need to get to sleep.

~Neo Amarillo

Entry 8 – Rock Disadvantage

Kori is a natural born fighter.

I caught her at level 3 and didn’t have high hopes for her.

I actually intended to box her since I already had a bird on my team, but Kori

caught up to the rest of the group before it was even lunch time. I’m still

floored by her growth. Wilde helped her out in the beginning, but now she’s

tackling anything that comes her way.

It still won’t be enough though. I’ve been talking to a few

of the people who live here and I’ve learned that professional trainers take on

gyms in order to earn badges. If I can get eight badges, I can gain entry to the

pokémon league and challenge the league champion. I know I thought this was

only a dream and I laughed about it when Wilde and I first met, but we’ve

really grown as partners, and I’m starting to think this isn’t so farfetched of

a goal after all. I’ve decided to take on the gym challenges… but fate is not

kind to me. Leaders tend to specialize in training a specific type of pokémon

and Pewter’s Gym Leader is a rock specialist. Ronin, Kori, and Glit will be

slaughtered by one rock move, and Wilde’s electric attacks will be next to

useless. Even Kora’s fangs will find it difficult to get through solid stone.

That’s why today is just for training. Tomorrow we will see if we can take down

this so called mighty Brock character. At least the boy training under him wasn’t

that tough to beat. Wilde took care of his diglett and sandshrew with just a

handful of quick attacks.

Well, my team needs to get its rest after such a long day of

training. Still, I feel like preparing for this battle has brought us all

closer together. I can’t believe just a few days ago Wilde wouldn’t even walk

beside me. Sure he’s still no cuddle buddy, but I consider us pals now. We make

quite the team and I think Wilde is finally ready to acknowledge that. When I

told him I planned to use him against Brock, he even rubbed his head against my

hand. He still doesn’t go in his pokéball, so I can’t really say he’s tamed,

but I think I’m close.

I can hear the jigglypuff’s song out in the lobby. I

don’t think I’ll be able to keep my eyes open much longer. Good thing that

jigglypuff is here though. I’d never be able to get to sleep with all this

excitement for tomorrow’s gym battle welling up inside me.

~Neo