Games - http://maxpages.com/mps/Episode_1_The_Journey

"'To protect the world from devastation! To unite all peoples within our nation! To deny the evils of truth and love! To extend
our reach to the stars above! Jesse! James-'"
"You missed one," Misty interrupted. "It went, 'Prepare for trouble! And make it double!' Remember?"
"Oh yeah." Ash laughed. "Okay, it was-'"
"We get the idea!" Laura said.
Ryan was interested. "They really said that over and over?"
"Oh, yeah! Every time we saw them, in fact. They never seemed to get bored, either."
"Come on!" Laura said, laughing. "I believe it when you said Team Rocket was dumb, but not that dumb!"
Ash Ketchum looked at his daughter. "Believe whatever you want. I'm only trying to tell you two everything I can to get you
ready for pokémon training."
"No offense," Ryan, Laura's brother, said, "but how important is the motto of a team you broke up when you were Laura's
age?"
Ash groaned. "Not at all, really, I was just telling you everything."
Misty sighed. "Why don't you just let them train their own way? Just because what you did made you the Pokémon League
champ, doesn't mean everyone has to if they want to win!"
"You're right. Okay kids, time for bed!"
"It's only 9:30!" Laura protested.
"Go anyway. You have a big day ahead of you."
Ryan's jaw dropped. "Wait a minute! You don't mean-"
"I didn't say anything. Go to bed."

*****************************

"It's 11:00! Are you up yet?"
Ryan sat up groggily. "I am now! What's the rush?"
Laura was grinning widely. "Guess what today is?"
"I give up. What?"
"It's the annual pokémon convention, and Professor Oak is sponsoring Pallet City kids who want to start training! They're
giving away Pokémon!"
Ryan was, quite suddenly, fully awake. "Cool! So that's what he meant! Let's go!"
They walked the short distance to the Oak Pokémon Research Lab. Pallet may have been a big city, but they happened to live
close. (Apparently Pallet had once been a small town, but that had all changed after Ash had become the Pokémon League
champ.)
When they arrived they were greeted by an amazing sight. Tons of pokémon pictures and other stuff were being shown,
including a rare picture of a Mew. Some kids were playing on simulators, and one guy was talking about some new legendary
bird that had been seen. "This is too cool!" said Ryan.
They found themselves in the center of the convention where Professor Sarah Oak, the original Prof. Oak's granddaughter and
Gary's sister, was organizing pokémon to give to the new trainers. "Hi, Prof. Oak!" Ryan called.
"Hi, Ryan!" she replied.
"What do you have available?"
"We have one of every kind, except ghost and dragon, we couldn't spare any. The room's already open, why don't you go
see?" The kids thanked her and went into the room.
People were yelling. "Stop it!" one aide yelled. "Stop this immediately!" Two of the pokémon, a Machop and an Oddish, were
starting to battle.
"What's all the commotion about… oh no," Ash said, following the two into the room. He reached out and grabbed the Oddish
by the leaves, putting it down behind him to separate the fighters. "I told you guys not to fight!"
"Oddish, oddish, oddish!" Oddish protested.
"Yeah, well it takes two to fight. Come on, we don't want any of the new trainers going home with weakened pokémon!" Ash,
having been with pokémon all his life, and his kids, who had since they were born, had eventually learned the language.
"Machop, chop," Machop muttered.
"Hey! I ought to put up a big sign: 'this Machop has an attitude problem!'"
"Wait a minute, you organized this?" Laura asked, surprised.
"Yeah, I've been a friend of most of the Oaks for a long time. And I guess Gary's okay now too."
Laura and Ryan looked over the available pokémon. There were information posters on the different choices as well, so they
didn't just choose by how they look. There were a Rattata, a Vulpix, a Staryu, a Pikachu (they're traditional), an Oddish, a
Seel, a Machop, an Ekans, a Sandshrew, a Spearow, an Abra, a Caterpie, and a Geodude.
"I have a bit of advice," Ash said. "Don't choose the Pikachu, the Sandshrew, the Machop, or the Rattata. They have no effect
against certain types. Not the Abra either, it doesn't learn any good attacks for a while. When Caterpie evolves into Metapod,
it won't be able to attack for a while either."
"Great, so we're left with Vulpix, Staryu, Oddish, Seel, Ekans, Spearow, and Geodude," Laura said to herself. She shook her
head. "I still can't decide."
Ryan grinned. "I can. I'm going with Sandshrew."
"That's probably not a good idea."
"You survived, going with Pikachu. I'll be fine. Besides, what fun is this if you don't take a few risks?"
"Whatever," Laura said. "I'm not sure myself." She looked at all of them carefully. They all seemed about equally good,
although the Oddish seemed to have a general predisposition to fighting, which she didn't want. Generally, Geodudes and
Spearows did as well. Water-type pokémon like Staryu and Seel weren't easy to use on land, and she just wasn't very good
with poisonous pokémon like Ekans. That left Vulpix.
More kids had come into the room while they talked. Suddenly the lights in the room went out. Everyone stopped what they
were doing, surprised. Turning the lights back on, Prof. Oak walked to the front of the room.
Professor Oak smiled. "For lack of a better way to do this, we are choosing names out of a hat. First pick gets first choice of
pokémon. Any questions?" There were none. Professor Oak nodded, and picked up a hat off a table. "All right then. The first
trainer is… Amy Becker."
"I want Pikachu!" cried a girl in the middle of the crowd. Several others groaned.
"Somehow I knew he'd be first pick. Second is… Ryan Ketchum."
"Sandshrew!" Ryan called.
"All right, Sandshrew goes to Ryan. Next is… Jeremy Oak."
Jeremy and his sister Sheena were Gary's children. Gary may have matured in time, but they hadn't. They had long been Ryan
and Laura's rivals.
Jeremy smirked at Ryan. "I want Spearow!" Ryan scowled.
"All right, Spearow. Next… Darryl Berry."
"Vul- no, wait, Machop!" A boy called. Laura sighed with relief.
After three more trainers, Laura's name was called. "Vulpix!" she said, without hesitation.
Then, in a couple more, "Sheena Oak."
Sheena smugly said, "Geodude!" Laura groaned. The Oaks were choosing pokémon powerful against theirs, and knowing
them, it was on purpose.
After all the trainers had been called, they went up to get their pokémon. "Sandshrew!" Sandshrew called when Ryan came up.
"Shrew, sandshrew?"
"Yes, I'm the one who chose you, and no, you weren't hearing things. You were second pick, and I'm not sure Pikachu counts
anyway, since everyone wants one ever since Ash got so famous with his."
"Sandshrew!" Sandshrew cried, alarmed.
"Of course I can. I've lived with more than 500 pokémon around since I was born, so naturally I'd learn the language!"
"Sand," Sandshrew said, amazed.
"Yes, me too," Laura told her Vulpix, who had been listening in. "Everyone thinks Pokémon-ese is impossible to figure out, but
it's easy once you get the hang of it."
"Vulpix pix, vulpix," Vulpix said.
Laura was going to reply when Professor Oak said, "What are you kids doing here still? Go out and enjoy the convention! It
only happens once a year!"
"Yes ma'am!" Ryan said, smiling.

*****************************

"It was night, and I was on a midnight stroll," said a pokémon trainer, "when I saw a silhouette block out the moon." Ryan and
Laura were sitting in a circle among other people around a trainer who was talking about a new legendary he thought he saw. "I
sent out my Zubat because it was very high and it was dark out. Anyway, around the treetops he went crazy and then was
attacked by a ferocious drill peck attack. But nothing came anywhere near it that I could see. I think my Zubat echolocated
something coming though."
"How did you know this was a legendary bird?" called a voice from the crowd who Laura recognized as Amy, the girl who had
started with Pikachu.
"It was a reasonable assumption," said the man, "since it was flying and no one else has ever reported anything like it."
"Good point." Amy sat down, looking embarrassed.
"Hey, has anyone seen this?" A boy walked over with the picture of the Mew. "Now this is a legendary! I saw it over at the
photo safari island."
"There are Mews there?" cried Darryl, the boy who had almost claimed Vulpix.
The newcomer shrugged. "Apparently. Isn't this amazing? This is the rarest pokémon in the world!"
Sarah Oak walked up. "That's not quite true. Haven't you been listening? This man just said he saw a brand new pokémon that
has never been seen before, and I believe him. Well, not saw, but you get the idea. Also, you're forgetting about the Mewtwo,
which there is only one of."
"That new pokémon could have been a dark-colored Golbat or a ghost for all we know," the boy said, "and I'm not sure
Mewtwo counts since it was genetically engineered." He sounded embarrassed, though.
Eventually the crowd thinned, and Laura and Ryan, having seen everything, left to start their adventures.
"Hey, Ryan! Hey, Laura! Come here, unless you're too chicken to fight!" It was Jeremy, Sheena following close behind.
"You two are such wimps you had to cover it up by choosing pokémon strong against ours," Ryan countered truthfully. "You
wouldn't stand a chance if I had a pokéball or two and an hour to catch some pokémon in!"
"You'd just run off," Sheena said. "Let's fight now, unless you want to go build up your levels first?" She said this as though it
was a capital offence.
"Fine, Jeremy and I are first," said Ryan. Jeremy sent out Spearow, Ryan sent out Sandshrew.
Jeremy told Spearow to use his peck attack, but instead he went down and started talking to Sandshrew. "Spearow?" asked
Spearow.
"Sand, Sandshrew," said Sandshrew.
"Huh? I said Peck!" said Jeremy.
"You forget, only talented people and/or people with badges can control pokémon." said Ryan.
Spearow got cocky and said, "Spearow, Spear ow!"
"Sand Sand Sandshrew!" said Sandshrew with hurt feelings.
"Spear," Spearow said smugly.
"Shrew!" yelled Sandshrew as he attacked. The battle was short. Sandshrew used Sand-Attack six times and Spearow
stopped hitting. Sandshrew won by a long shot using only scratch after.
"That had to be cheating," Jeremy said disappointedly.
Sheena was a little more successful. Smiling maliciously, she cried, "Geodude, do whatever!"
Geodude immediately leapt at Vulpix with a volley of tackle attacks. "Vulpix, ember!" Laura said quickly. Geodude was blown
back in a burst of fire. He used a quick defense curl to remain safe. When Vulpix had stopped fire-breathing, Geodude came at
her with another tackle. "Vulpix, roar attack!" Laura yelled. Geodude was thrown off-balance by the sudden blast of sound that
was Vulpix's roar. "Vulpix, quick attack!" Vulpix attacked the exposed Geodude. When it had little effect, she attacked again.
And again.
After three more quick attacks, Geodude was out cold. "Yeah!" Laura exclaimed. Ryan gave her a high-five.
"Aww, that was a fluke!" Sheena groaned. "I'd like to see you do it again!"
"No, you wouldn't," Ryan said smugly. "See ya!" They left the two Oaks to contemplate revenge.
So Laura and Ryan Ketchum set off for Viridian City, not knowing what lay ahead. Neither noticed a birdlike blur pass over
the setting sun…

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