The tension in the lab was all time high, everyone was waiting for Damien to choose his Pokemon. Damien’s hand moved toward the little fire lizard’s pokeball and opened it up, the first thing Charmander did upon being released from its ball was release a torrent of flames in the air. In front of him, stood a young human kid with dark black eyes and light blue hair, Charmander would have preferred it to be red personally.
Charmander has always been the odd one in his group of siblings, he was never the one for much patience. Whereas his siblings never cared about anything less than sleeping all time. He was the strongest one in his siblings. His father was the strongest Charizard in their clan. Every Pokemon in their territory depended on him for protection from other Pokemon species in the forest. He was really proud of his father.
But then, sometimes his father would leave the forest with an old man, instead of driving him off like other humans. To say the least, Charmander was really surprised to see his father, the strongest being he knew, follow another being, especially a human. The surprises didn’t end there. One day his dad came back and took them to a human settlement, where his father explained to him that this human was his father’s trainer.
Charmander was simply baffled to say the least. To think that his father would follow another human was certainly not possible, at least not in his expectations.
Curious.
He questioned his father. “Why do you follow that weak human, when he’s so weak? His father said while laughing, “Little Char, I follow the Oak, not because he’s the strongest but surely the wisest human I have ever known.”
Charmander was surprised to say the least. “Do you want to know why we live together with humans?” His father questioned in his fatherly tone. Charmander nodded, curiosity radiating from his face.
A long time ago, Only one Pokemon existed, when there was not even a universe , in its entire existence. It was none other than Arceus, the almighty god, who created the world. But it was a lot of responsibility for the almighty god, so he created the first Pokemon in existence, Mew. Mew was a curious creature, one day the curiosity got the better of it, it started creating new life from its own blood. That’s how Pokemon came into existence. Humans were inherently weak, thus they became prey to the Pokemon and started getting hunted down. Soon after, they were in danger of going extinct, seeing this problem Mew went to Arceus for advice. Arceus hearing this problem, Arceus gave the boon that if humans and pokemon started living together both sides would grow stronger. That’s how Humans and Pokemon started living in co - existence.
After hearing this, Charmander seemed in a daze, and that day he decided he would join a worthy trainer in his adventures. One day he requested his father to take him to the human settlement where he could find a worthy trainer for himself. But what awaited him was disappointment. Not a single trainer was worthy of him. Some trainers returned him to Professor Oak of their own violation or he escaped by himself back to the lab.
Today wouldn’t be any different or so he thought. Something in the boy’s eyes was just different; he didn't know how to explain it. When he looked in the eyes of his trainer, he saw the same fire for power as himself. That was the final push for Charmander to accept Damien.
Damien was excited. He thought he would feel any other emotions: joy, shock, bewildered, blanking out.
Damien gets down in front of the table where Charmander was standing, and slowly puts his hand on Charmander’s head to pat him. Charmander leans on the soft touch, his flame shining a little brightly due to the unexpected gesture.
“Hi, Charmander. My name is Damien Terrous and I am going to be the strongest Pokemon Trainer in the world, but I don’t want power at the expense of my Pokemon. Will you help me complete my dream?” His voice was filled with a strange conviction and hope.
Charmander nodded, eager to join Damien on his adventure in the Kanto Region.
“Charmander” Damien asks, staring straight at him. “I will be honest, I don’t know what is going to happen during our adventure. But, the one thing I can promise is that you are not going to regret it.” Charmander looks up and meets his gaze with confidence and jumps on Damien’s shoulder with a deft hop.
Damien was surprised to say the least. He hadn’t thought Charmander would bond with him that easily. According to Daisy, Charmander was one of the most troublesome Pokemon in the lab. He was the offspring of Professor Oak’s Ace Charizard.
“Good choice, Damien, Charmander is one of the best hatches from my Charizard. I hope you take good care of him.” Professor Oak said, waking Damien out of his brooding.
“Of Course Professor, you don’t have to worry about anything.” Damien assured the Professor and Charmander tilted his head up and down in agreement.
“This is the Pokedex, it records the data of every Pokemon you encounter. If you want detailed information about any Pokemon, you will have to catch it.” Professor said, while handing the Pokedex to Damien.
“Thanks Professor, for giving me this opportunity, I promise I will never disappoint you and become the best Pokemon Trainer possible.” Damien replied, his voice filled with respect which Professor Oak in the original timeline would never have expected from him, not that it was the original timeline anymore.
“Well, I am not giving you anything for free, it’s your own hard work. You got this chance after beating thousands of kids, aspiring for the sponsorship. So don’t belittle yourself.” Professor Oak replies.
“You deserve it, Damien. If not then I wouldn’t have accepted you as my rival aside from Ash, that Troublemaker.” Gary Oak spoke from the side.
Damien never expected this type of support from them, there was always that nagging feeling that his secret will be discovered someday. But, that fear never manifested in the reality, which he was glad for.
“Damien, if you aren’t afraid, then I am giving you the honor of my first Pokemon Battler.” Gary said, his voice full of confidence, like victory was already in his grasp. To tell you the truth, Damien was also itching for a Pokemon Battle, ever since reincarnating in the Pokemon World, only God knows how he survived the last ten years.
“You are on Gary, just don’t go crying to Sister Daisy, Little G.” Damien was up for the challenge.
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“We will see, just you wait.” Gary shot back with equal excitement.
“If you want to have a battle, please use the Pokemon Corral behind the lab, if not the damages will be taken from your sponsorship.” Professor Oak reminded them in a serious tone. Both of them moved to the Coral behind the lab.
Gary moves a good distance away and releases his starter Pokemon Squirtle, who takes a graceful flip and takes a battle ready stance. Damien decides to call Vee out, so that both of them can bond before the battle. Damien released Vee from the Pokeball, she landed on the ground and started looking around. Her gaze fell on Charmander, who was standing with his head held high. Vee moved forward and started sniffing him, Charmander was confused just what was she doing, after a moment she stopped sniffing him and gave him a nod in acceptance as if saying he was acceptable then jumped on Damien’s shoulder leaving Charmander dazed, what just occurred?
Damien just sighed in exasperation. Leave Vee to her pranks, he wouldn’t be using Vee for this battle it would be too much for squirtle.
Damien quickly checked Charmander’s moveset on his Pokedex which included: Ember, Tackle, Tail Whip, Quick Attack, Fire Spin, Smoke Screen, Sunny Day.
“So how are we doing it?” Gary called from another site, “Is Forfeit and Knockout good?”
Damien closes his hands in excitement and nods, he wasn’t seeing any problems with this setup. “Are you ready, Charmander?” Damien asks his red lizard despite already knowing his response, who simply nodded in agreement.
Gary looked around and picked up a stone from the ground. “When this rock hits the ground the battle will begin.” Without waiting for an answer, he throwed the rock in the air, both trainers were looking up with barely invisible tension. Every second felt like an eternity as the stone continued to fall in the air.
Finally the rock reached the ground, causing both the trainers to tense up, suddenly the air grew cold as if anticipating what was coming ahead.
THUD! The rock bounces off the ground.
“Charmander, Smoke Screen and Sunny Day!” Damien shouts before Gary and Squirtle can even blink.
The lizard takes a deep breath, a compressed plume of smoke gathers in his mouth, then the plume shoots in the air and hits the Squirtle with surprising speed. The turtle rubs his eyes in fright, to lessen the itch in his eyes, at the same time, the sunlight increases due to the effect of Sunny Day. Squirtle grimes, faltering on his feet.
“What the hell?” Gary grunts, shielding his eyes from the Sunny Day, “How does Charmander know Sunny Day and Smoke Screen?”
“Did you really not check the moveset of your Squirtle, Gary?” Damien calls back, and shields his eyes from the harsh light. “The Pokedex has a feature to check the moveset of your captured Pokemon.”
“Of Course, I know.” Gary shots back in protest.
“Oh Gary, and you call me an idiot.” Damien shrugs.
“Doesn’t matter. We’ve got a match to win Squirtle, use Water Gun!”
Squirtle steadies himself and launches a Water Gun in a wide arc clearing the smoke in the coral.
“Now Tail Whip!” Damien doesn’t give Gary a breathing chance and keeps the pressure up.
Squirtle feels his energy getting drained up and looks up to his trainer for help. Gary was flabbergasted, he never expected Damien to put up such a good night. Well, thinking wasn’t going to do anything, he will have to do something soon or he will lose rather purely and Damien will make sure to rub it in his face.
“Remember Gary, what moves does Squirtle know: Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun… A move that can be used from far while keeping distance between them. Why not com..
“Squirtle use Rapid Spin and Water Gun together.” Gary practically shouted on the top of his lungs after this spectacle causing Vee and Damien's ears to twitch in irritation.
Squirtle charges forward with increased speed leaving blurs in the air. Damien knew if he didn’t do something, it would be all over.
“Dodge it now with Quick Attack, Charmander.” Damien frantically shouts.
Charmander jumped to the other side in time barely dodging the move.
“It isn’t over just yet, Damien.” Gary called from the other side, “Squirtle spin yourself up and down.” It created a muddy field on the ground, now dodging the moves was hard so it was now a match of endurance.
“Now, Tackle!” Gary roared in high spirits.
Damien’s heart started to beat loudly in his chest due to excitement, his knuckles turned white from the pressure. His eyes started glowing shadow blue, “Charmander, dig into the ground!”
Charmander quickly obeyed his trainer’s orders without any complaint.
“Squir” Squirtle asked Gary for the next command. “Keep looking Squirtle, don’t close your eyes and try to sense his location. Squirtle quickly got to work.
Something Gary nor Squirtle expected happened in the next moment. Flames erupted from the ground, knocking Squirtle off the ground, Squirtle’s eyes went wide in shock. He wasn’t even able to react to the attack, he bounces off the ground many times before coming to a painful halt.
Gary moved to Squirtle’s unconscious body and picked him up in his arms, he muttered a compliment with a sigh, “You did your best buddy, take a good rest.” Squirtle mumbled an apology and went back to his Pokeball.
“Is Squirtle fine?” Damien asked, while patting Charmander on his head, which the lizard seemed to love. Vee was standing on Damien’s right side, congratulating Charmander on his first ever victory. “Don’t worry he will be fine after a good rest.” Gary clips Squirtle’s Pokeball to his shirt, before turning towards Damien, then in a surprising twist of maturity Gary presses forward a hand, “Good battle Damien, don’t expect it to be that easy next time.”
Charmander and Vee slide to him and place each other on his shoulders.
Am I having weird dreams or was Gary always this mature? Something to think about.
0-0-0-0-0-0
[Professor Oak’s Lab]
Samuel Oak had everything in his life: Fame, Glory, Family. He was the former champion of the Kanto Region. The Strongest Champion in history, he fought for his people in the Kanto - Johto War, even stole a dratini egg from Blackthorn City, they even hate his guts for that, not like anyone knows, they are too prideful to admit it to the public. But soon enough he grew tired of it all and gave his title of champion to that Dragon Master Lance, even if People tend to forget it nowadays. He represents the persona of a kind old man to a T.
This generation belonged to the younger generation, It was their time to shine. He watched the battle between his grandson Gary Oak and the Topper of this year’s Trainer School Batch Damien Terrous. He couldn’t wait to see how this battle would turn out, because in a Pokemon Battle Knowledge amounts to nothing if you don’t know how to use it.
And the result surprised him, it wasn't anything he expected.
Gary has always been the talented one from the trio, Damien was the silent and curious type, less said about Ash Ketchum is better. Damien’s battling style was the exact opposite of his personality- the word for it was- Aggressive. Not giving your opponent any room to fight back, but due to his brilliant mind Gary managed to retaliate. Even in that perilous situation, Damien managed to keep himself cool headed, achieving a perfect victory, even Professor Oak Couldn’t believe it was their first official match.
Surely, the future of the Kanto Region was in good hands.
[Outside The Lab]
Run Run Run..
That was the only word in Ash Ketchum’s mind, as he kept running toward the lab at full speed in his pajamas. Why? Well, he fucked up on the day, he was going to start his journey to become the best Pokemon Master, like no one ever was. But first, he needed to reach the lab on time.
He was just about to reach the lab when the door opened and Damien and Gary came out of the lab, he was unable to stop himself from crashing into Gary, whereas Damien stepped aside at the right time.
Gary and Ash bumped into each other.
THUD!
“What the hell Ash? Can’t you see while running? Why are you running cluelessly like a Psyduck?” Gary asked, while rubbing his forehead.
“Sorry Gary, I didn't see you coming.” Ash apologized, scratching his head laughing nervously.
“Com’on Gary, you know that Ash is a big trouble magnet, you should ‘ve kept your eyes open.” Damien spoke from the side.
“That’s true.” Gary replied, releasing a sigh.
“HEY, I AM NOT A TROUBLE MAGNET.” Ash shouted on top of his lungs.
“We believe you, Ashy Boy. we do.” Gary said, while Damien barely managed to stop himself from laughing out loud.
“‘Wanna guess which starter Pokemon we selected?” Damien asked, hoping to spare Ash the embarrassment.
“‘SURE!” Ash practically jumped in excitement.
“First, Gary.” Damien said, giving Gary the first chance.
“Charmander!”
“Wrong.”
“Bulbasaur!”
“ARE YOU EVEN TRYING ASH KETCHUM!” Gary exclaimed, “How can you be wrong two times straight.” Saying that, Gary released Squirtle from its Poke ball, Squirtle looked around expecting a battle.
But when he saw no one, he met his trainer’s gaze, as if asking “What is all this about?”
“SO COOL!” Ash said and tried to pet the turtle Pokemon, but Squirtle jumped aside and fired a Water Gun on Ash’s face. Ash yelped and fell on ground due to the sudden surprise.
“Ash, you really should look out for yourself more, not every Pokemon is going to be friendly with you.” Damien said, trying to save Ash from the embarrassment he is going to face today.
“Well, he deserved it.” Gary spoke, oozing self satisfaction on the suffering of Ash.
“What Pokemon did you choose, Damien.” Ash asked, still excited at the prospect of meeting new Pokemon.
“Hmm— I chose Charmander.” Damien hesitated, he really didn't want Ash and Charmander to meet each other, it was a certified recipe for disaster. And, he really didn't want to trigger the plot.
“Show me, Damien. I want to see him.” Ash requested, “You see… he is not feeling well after our Pokemon Battle, I hope you don’t mind.”
Hearing that, Ash’s face fell, Damien really felt like a jerk right, but he couldn't let Ash steal Charmander from him.
Gary gave him a suspicious look, but let the matter go.
“My bad, I will see your Charmander some time again, I am going to get my starter from Professor Oak, Good luck, guys.” Saying that, Ash made his way to the lab, still in his pajamas.
“Well, I'm going Damien, let's meet in Pewter City. Don’t you dare get pushed around, you’re my rival, behave like one. Smell you later, Damien.” Gary said, and went on his way, seriously what was with his weird fetishes. At least, now his life is turning for better or worse, only time will tell. A little taste of his mother's cooking certainly didn't sound bad before his journey.