My last Pokémon was exhausted. My poor Machoke had battled through five of my opponents Pokémon in order to become Hoenn League champion, but no, there just had to be a Flygon as his last opponent!

"Hurry Machoke, focus punch!" I yelled desperately as my options seemed to dwindle before my eyes.

"Finish it with gust attack," my opponent said, as if this was already over.

"Machoke, Protect!" I said just as the opposing Flygon started speeding up its wings and building up a hurricane of wind.

I watched as my Machoke braced for impact, but suddenly the attack stopped, The Flygon's wings just kept buzzing loudly but nothing happened.

*BUZZZ* *BUZZZ*

I woke up with a groan. I couldn't believe it. The same dream three nights in a row, and not once did I get to finish it. I rolled over hitting the snooze button, hoping to get a couple more minutes of sleep, I when all the sudden it hit me, I forgot to set my alarm an hour early today. Today was the day I was supposed to get my first Pokémon and I was already late!

I raced through my morning routine, my hair still a mess when I sped out the door, but who cared. I was going to miss out on my first Pokémon!!!

I ran along at breakneck speeds, nearly running over my neighbor as he bent down for the paper. I managed to get out a quick jumble of words that might have passed for an apology from a half dead Girafarig then pretty much ran him down again on my rush to get going. He understood though. I had been waiting a long time for this. My parents were a little overprotective and made me wait till today, the day after my sixteenth birthday.

Anyways, I reached Professor Birch's Laboratory just in time to see him turn the key and begin to walk away, probably off on another one of his wild escapades.

"Wait,"*pant*pant*, "I'm here!" I managed to shout between greedy gulps of air. The professor turned around with a look of surprise on his face when he saw me standing down the driveway.

"What kept you Chris?" he asked me with that telltale grin of his showing he was playing with me, "I was sure you would be on time, seeing as how well your outstanding record in the past has been."

I swear my face must have gotten at least three shades of red brighter at the embarrassment of being reminded again of my tardiness.

"I'm sorry, I really meant to be on time today," I blurted out.

"Don't worry I was just kidding with you. Now, let's get you your first Pokémon."

My face must have lit up like a Christmas tree. "You mean it Professor? There are still some starters left? Oh I hope there's a Treeko!"

"Not exactly," He stated with a little bit of a nervous laugh, "You see, we ran completely out of starters, but you caught on so quickly in my classes, I thought I could give you one that's a little more of an advanced difficulty level to train."

"Well what is it?" I asked, visions of my Machoke from my dream filling my head.

"Well why don't you come with me into the lab and I'll show you." He said as he opened the door he had just left.

The lab seemed unusually clean today, probably because of the new trainers getting their first Pokémon just like me.

"So where is my Pokémon?" I inquired, a little impatient due to my excitement.

"Hang on a sec," said the professor as he dug through perhaps the only messy file cabinet in the whole place. "Got it," he stated triumphantly, holding a small red sphere in his hand.

"Why is the pokeball red on both sides?" I wondered aloud, for indeed the pokeball the professor held in his hand was indeed a custom pokeball, usually reserved for the favored Pokémon of very rich trainers.

"This Pokémon has been a good friend of mine for awhile now, and I've gotten quite attached to him Chris. He was abandoned by an eccentric millionaire who only wanted electric Pokémon. A sad story really, since this Pokémon is still in the prime of its youth. But enough talk, why don't you let it out and see what he is. I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised. Not too many trainers get the privilege of raising one of these so early on in their career." He said that last part as he handed me the pokeball.

"Pokeball go!" I shouted throwing it into the air. A custom white and red beam shot out of the pokeball and took the shape of a Pokémon. I couldn't believe it. There, standing before me with a cool look of self-confidence was the sleekest Zangoose I had ever seen. "You're giving me a Zangoose?!" I cried out in shock.
"GOOSE!" This seemed to startle my new Pokémon a bit but then he saw the noise that startled him came from the same human holding his pokeball and seemed too calm down.

"I have the utmost confidence in your ability to take care of this Zangoose. Now I have a few things to give you and tell you before you go alright?"

"Ok," I replied, knowing the next few minutes would be standard procedure information and gear.

"Now the first thing I need to tell you is actually this Zangoose's name. It won't respond to anything else, trust me I've tried. His name is Neo. It's pretty simple so I expect it won't take you too long to memorize it. The next thing I need to do is give you these pokeballs and carrying belt, and of course, your pokedex. I've taken the liberty of signing you up for the Hoenn league already and your trainer card is already downloaded into your pokedex. My recommendation is that your first stop should be to head to Oldale Town and then on to Petalburg City. Other than that I have nothing left to tell you. I can only wish you good luck on your journey."

"Thank you professor, I'll do my best," I said with confidence, and headed out of the lab into the fresh morning air. I headed out towards Oldale town with a sense of determination, my Zangoose at my side, ready for what the world may send. No matter what though, I knew that I was in for one hell of a ride.Chapter End Notes:Well what do you think? My first non horror story and I still find it scary, but not in a good way... Ah well just please leave reviews on the good points as well as how to make it better