Memoirs of a Pokémon Master 2002
Chapter 1 - A New Beginning
By Mega Raichu

    The sky was clear, the sun was bright, and the air was warm. The sounds of the sea filled the air around the dock I stood on. In the water, Raichu was surfing on Wartortle’s back. I stood back on the cemented side of the pier. In my hand I held my favorite skateboard. The underside was worn with marks as I had used it several times since my past victories in the Pokémon League. You can barely make out the picture of a Raichu balancing itself atop a pokéball from underneath the scratches. Kanto can be quite dull when you’re at the top of your game, so I took up skateboarding as a side hobby. I’ve gotten quite good, to tell the truth. Raichu started waving at me, as did Wartortle.
“Oh you wanna race huh?” I shouted at them. “Let’s go!”
I dropped my board and launched myself down the pier. Wartortle surfed as fast as he could, while Raichu kept himself low to reduce the wind resistance. The pier was a straight shot back into town and was lined with benches, boxes and tables. I was grinding everything I could jump on. As I grinded my way down the pier, my speed increased, but it didn’t worry me at all. I was totally confident in my abilities, and I have the scars to prove it. At the end of the pier, a short set of stairs with a railing going up the middle of them waited. It was a perfect way to end my grinding session. Raichu saw it too. I whipped out Wartortle’s pokéball. Once I got close enough to the railing, I jumped and grinded my way up the railing. As I did that, Raichu leapt into the air and I called back Wartortle. Raichu and I landed above the steps at the same time. I pushed myself as fast as I could towards my house, but Raichu was already using his superior agility to get way ahead of me. By the time I got back to my house, he had already curled up on the front porch and was pretending to take a nap. I picked up my board and sat down next to him.
“Alright, you win... again.” I said.
He sat up and smiled at me. I put an arm around him.
“You always win.” I said with a small laugh.
“Chu!” He replied happily.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see another Raichu running towards us. I didn’t even have to turn my head to know that it was Alexia’s Raichu. But Raichu noticed and ran to her. I looked and saw that Alexia was not too far behind her Raichu. Our two Raichu’s came together in a loving hug. Alexia and I did the same.
“Well, are you ready to go?” She asked.
“Go? Go where?” I asked, feigning ignorance.
“Did you forget? We have to go meet with Prof. Elm today about getting into the Johto League.”
“Oh, that. No I didn’t forget. I thought we were going to meet a Prof. Utsugi?”
“No, we’re going to meet Prof. Elm. We got the wrong information last time. But we’re still going to the same place, New Bark Town.”
“Oh that’s right, thanks for reminding me.”
“Which pokémon are you going to bring with you?”
“I’m just taking Raichu.”
“You’re just bringing Raichu? Why?”
“Hey, this is a whole new place for us. I want this to be a challenge. Going in there with my best team wouldn’t be very fair now would it?”
“I suppose not. Well, if you’re only going to bring your Raichu, then I’ll only bring mine.”
“That’s fine. But Raichu’s not the only thing I’m gonna bring on this journey. Come see.”
I lead her into our garage. Our two Raichu’s followed.
“I’m going to be prepared.” I said as I produced a backpack.
I started rifling through it and pulled out some items.
“A Bowie knife, a Swiss Army knife, a compass, a butane-lighter, a calculator...” I said.
“You’ve got a calculator?” She interrupted me.
“Yeah, you never know. I’ve also got a pad and pencils, a first-aid kit, and a hammer.”
“Wow, you packed everything but the kitchen sink.”
“Nah, the sink wouldn’t fit.”
Raichu tugged on my pants leg.
“And let’s not forget the batteries.” I said.
“You’re bringing batteries? What are those for?” She asked.
“Yeah, for Raichu in case he runs out of power and we’re nowhere near a pokémon center.”
I pulled out an object that looked like a short rod with a shiny end on it.
“And these aren’t double A’s either. These are NiCad power cells.” I said.
“Chu!” Raichu said happily.
“They’re his favorite. It gives him a couple of good charges when he’s fresh out.”
I packed all the stuff back in the pack.
“I also got some spare pokéballs in here too for catching those new pokémon.” I said.
“Looks like you’re ready for survival camp rather than a pokémon expedition.” She said sarcastically.
“Alexia’s sharp today, she is. Mind you don’t cut yourself.”
She smirked. Then she pulled out a PDA and fiddled with it for a moment.
“We are scheduled to go on a ship that will take us straight to Johto. From there we’ll meet up with one of Prof. Elm’s aide’s who will fly us to New Bark town.” She said.
“Wait, the ship won’t take us straight to New Bark Town?” I asked.
“No. There’s no port in New Bark. We’ll be stopping off at Olivine City. We’ll meet the aide on the dock.”
“Well that’s certainly odd.”
“What, did you expect it to be easy?”

    It wasn’t long before we were on our way to Johto. We took the cruise ship S.S. Gold from Vermillion City to go to Johto. The boat ride itself was fun. There were other trainers from different parts of Kanto. There were many pokémon battles, as well as other fun and games. Some were showing off their prize pokémon, others were lounging on the deck near the pool, or were in the arcade playing video games or battling. Alexia and I were in the pool. Well I was in the pool, she was sunning herself on the deck near the pool. Our Raichus were in a small kiddy pool nearby. But what we didn’t know was that two figures were watching us from afar. Atop the bridge, two young men, wearing Team Rocket uniforms were watching us through binoculars.
“There they are bro.” The younger of the two said.
“Yeah I see them. And they brought the Raichu’s with them.” The older one said.
“We just gotta get his Raichu. Or the boss’ll have our heads.”
“You got that right… but how are we gonna go about doing that?”
“It looks like the only pokémon he brought with him was the Raichu! We can easily beat him!”
“Then let’s get to it!”

    I pulled myself out of the pool and dried myself off. Once I was sufficiently dry, I sat down next to Alexia. Her bikini left very little to the imagination. I smiled as I contemplated this. But the peace was suddenly broken by a roar and the cries of kids, men, women, and pokémon. I looked up and saw that a Charizard was flying around the ship, blasting it with fireballs. Standing atop the Charizard were two young men. I didn’t even need to guess at who they were. The Charizard landed in front of us amidst the chaos on the deck. Jared and Jace disembarked and immediately went into their Team Rocket motto. Or at least they would have, had I not interrupted them.
“Hey! Can’t you see that I’m taking a cruise right now!? Can’t we do this later, like in ten years or so!?” I shouted angrily.
“Unfortunately, we can’t. We’re here to take your Raichu and everything else of value on this ship!” Jared said.
“Yeah, so just give us everything you’ve got. Otherwise we may have to sink this ship.” Jace said with a wicked smile.
“You wouldn’t dare!” Alexia replied.
“We would! My Charizard can easily scuttle this ship with minimal effort!” Jared said in a matter-of-factly tone.
“It can’t scuttle a ship if it’s fainted!” I said. “Raichu, attack!”
Raichu rushed to face the large fire lizard.
“Raichu! You help too!” Alexia called to her Raichu.
Alexia’s Raichu responded quickly and was by my Raichu’s side in mere seconds. But Jace was one step ahead of us and had already let loose his Raichu, who decided that it would be a good idea to take on both of our Raichu’s at the same time. While the three Raichu’s battled it out, the Charizard leapt into the air and started blasting the ship with fire blasts again.
“Give it up now and we’ll let this ship stay afloat!” Jared shouted.
“I’ll never give up!” I shouted.
Just then the Charizard let loose with a flamethrower attack on the smokestack of the ship.
“Charizard! What are you doing!? Not the smokestack!” Jared cried.
But it was too late. A wave of fire had already worked its way down into the engine room of the ship. The explosions that followed rocked the ship violently. People started rushing to the lifeboats. An explosion ripped open a hole in the deck near us and threw us overboard. Jared, Jace, and his Raichu went one way, me, Alexia, and our Raichus went the other way. The rocking and sinking ship was making large waves in the water. The waves were so large that the others in the life boats did not see us as we clung to pieces of wood to keep us afloat. We watched the boat sink as the tide took us in an unknown heading.
“So who’s bright idea was it to let Team Rocket come in and crash our party and sink our ship!?” Alexia shouted, obviously perturbed.
“You know them. They always show up when you least expect them.” I said as I helped Raichu to steady himself on the plank that was keeping us on the surface of the water.
“How are we going to get ourselves out of this one?”
“I have no idea.”
We floated along, letting the tide take us to wherever it would go. Soon it became evident to both of us that no one was going to come for us. I don’t remember how long it was before I blacked out. All I remember is that Alexia was crying.

    The sun was warm against my face. Someone was calling out to me. I felt someone nudging me. Someone was trying to wake me up. I felt so tired. I just wanted to sleep forever. But whoever it was that was trying to get me to wake up was being overly persistent. I opened my eyes and saw a man staring down at me. He seemed to be young, probably in his twenties. He had short light brown hair and thin framed glasses.
“You must be Trey. Prof. Oak told me to expect anything from you. Sinking that cruise ship certainly got my attention.” He said. “I am Prof. Elm, pleased to meet you.”
I sat up and tried to regain my bearings.
“You’re Prof. Elm? So are we near New Bark Town?” I asked weakly.
Raichu came up beside me. I breathed a sigh of relief now that I knew he was safe. I looked around and saw that Alexia was coming to, as was her Raichu.
“Yes. New Bark Town is not too far away. As soon as you two are ready, we’ll start heading over there, and I’ll show you to my lab.” He replied.

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