6 Pokémon Trainers
Lynier No. 4 Primary School Gymnasium.
It was Graduation day.
Hundreds of parents and relatives were sitting on the stands at the side looking proudly at their children.
The Principal stood at the center of the stage shaking the hands of the children whose name was called, along with their particular achievements.
The student would proudly walk across the stage to receive their special diplomas accompanied with the generic and repeating, but heart-touching graduation song.
Every time a student went down the stairs, their parents and family would receive them and would take a picture for commemoration. Proud and smiling parents, joyful siblings, with the occasional reluctant brother or sister, took a family photo with their son or daughter who was now of age.
The Master of the Ceremony had almost reached the end of the list. The Principal sent off the third top student down to her family with the special diploma and a couple of medals.
"Our Salutatorian! Max Brown of Class 6-A, Silver Medal. Achievements include: Excellence in Pokémon Studies, Silver Medal; Excellence in Sports, Silver Medal; and Excellence in Academics, Silver Medal." The emcee mentioned all his achievements in one breath.
Max proudly walked the aisle with confidence in himself. He wasn't bothered by his silver medals as he knew who the 'Top Student' title rightfully belonged to.
Shaking hands with the Principal, he received a red device, a tube with a ribbon, and four silver medals. as he was walking down the stage stairs, he put out his tongue towards a person waiting in below.
"Lynier No.4 Primary School Valedictorian. Raiden Creed of Class 6-A, Gold Medal. Achievements include: Excellence in Pokémon Studies, Gold Medal; Excellence in Sports, Gold Medal; and Excellence in Academics, Gold Medal."
All the people looked at him. He was the top student of the entire school. His schoolmates knew how great he was, and they envied and admired him for his smarts.
As he walked through the aisle with hundreds of people looking at him, he inwardly felt ashamed. He had already passed this stage in school, so it was not difficult to always ace his tests. In sports, he had trained in Taekwondo in his past life and was quite good at it.
About Pokémon Basics, who would be smarter than the developers and Bulbapedia? It was quite easy to recognize and identify Pokémon after he watched the anime and played the game.
But oh well, it wasn't wrong to utilize knowledge from his past life to his advantage.
As he stood in front of the Principal, they shook hands.
"You did well, young man. I pray that you will achieve your dreams and live a life worth living for." The Principal sincerely said.
Honestly, to Raiden, it was a bit cringy. But he still accepted the praise with a "Thank you, Sir".
He received the same thing every graduating student received. A red device and a tube with a ribbon representing a diploma, along with his four gold medals.
He grasped them tightly as he knew what they were. A Pokédex and 5 Pokéballs!
Raiden didn't delay as he went down the stage towards Max, who was with Mom and Dad. They didn't take a family picture without him but waited for him to join them. It really touched his heart that they truly consider him family.
After the event they went to thank their teachers and met with the parents of other students. After meeting many parents and their children, and congratulating each other, they met with the parents of the female student who got possessed by Rotom.
It seemed like she wasn't that affected by the incident as she didn't remember the moment she got possessed. Although she dislocated her arm that time, it wasn't much of a problem. Her dream was still that of a Pokémon Trainer!
But not everybody was fine after that day. The 10 odd students who wanted to become a Trainer dropped to five and three students dropped out from school. It really was a pity.
After leaving the school, they ate out in a fancy restaurant and was served by a Magneton.
They then talked about their plans for their future.
"Raiden, Max, I already know but let me ask you again, what do you plan to do for the next three years?" Dad asked smiling.
"Of course, we will become Trainers, complete the Junior Gym Challenge, and become Senior Trainers!" Max said as a matter of fact.
"Hey! Why are you speaking for me?" Raiden denied.
"Huh?! I thought we made a promise! Think straight dude, or I'll beat you up." Max was exasperated. Was this bastard going back on his words?
"I don't want to become just a Senior Trainer. I wanna enter the Azrel League and win it! And then become a Pokémon Master!" Raiden declared with confidence.
"Yeah! That's the spirit! It may just be an impossible dream, but at least we'll try our best! But what the hell is a Pokémon Master?!" Max wondered. Was there a term called Pokémon Master? Is that like the Champion?
"You know, I don't know what it actually means. There was a weird kid yelling he wanted to become one, over and over again." Thinking about that never-aging, bringing-problems-wherever-he-goes kid, his head ached.
Mom and Dad were very proud of them. They were worried about their children becoming Pokémon Trainers and the dangers they would face, but they weren't small kids anymore. They can decide and take care of themselves. As parents, they have to respect their decisions and just give their full support.
"Hehehe... Talks like that are just bullshit." Dad said bluntly.
"Dear! Watch your language. Else I'll cut your tongue off and make you watch me clean it." Mom said while smiling.
The three boys shivered. Mom was the scariest when she says terrifying things in a calm manner while smiling.
"O-okay... Boys, you don't even have your first Pokémon and yet you talk about being a Senior Trainer? Ha, don't come home crying." Dad shook it off like an experienced husband and went back to the topic.
"Ha! Just wait, I'll catch a Pokémon sooner than you think. I already have thought out a grand, master plan!" Max said while spitting out some rice that he was chewing.
"Eat first, talk later. Your food will grow cold." Mom said gently. She seems to have a lot on her mind.
After lunch, they did not immediately return home and stayed for a while at the restaurant. Everybody was like this. Who would immediately head home when dining in a restaurant?
Raiden and Max were excited on what they were about to do. They took out the Pokédex they received from the Principal.
It was a 6-inch long, 3-inch wide red device that looked very much like a smartphone. As soon as they turned it on, they asked to input their profiles like name, date of birth, and other personal information.
As they quickly filled out the forms, it finally asked for a final verification. It asked for their bio-metric print. There was button at the lower portion of the device that glowed.
"Oh? So it uses a fingerprint to identify the user." Raiden commented.
Mom and Dad smiled as they watched on.
"Hehehe. Are you ready, Raiden? Let's register together in 3, 2, and 1..." Max counted down.
As soon as they pressed the button-
"Ow!" Raiden and Max almost dropped the Pokédex in shock.
There was a small needle in the button drawing their blood, as the Pokédex completed their user registration.
"Hehehe. It really brings me back to the old days." Dad chuckled at the scene of two grown-up boys sucking on their thumbs.
[Congratulations! You are now an official Trainer.]
[Raiden Creed: Junior Trainer
Trainer ID: 869105172
Junior Badges: None]
[Max Brown: Junior Trainer
Trainer ID: 869105173
Junior Badges: None]
They were now officially registered as Pokémon Trainers! Max and Raiden were ecstatic they had now finally reached the starting point of their journey. And now they only had one thing left missing.
What they lacked now was a partner.
"You already have a Pokémon in mind to choose as your partner, right?"
The boys nodded.
"Where will you get them?"
There were many ways a Trainer could get their first Pokémon. They could choose to get from the Pokémon Center, gifted from family and friends, or catch them personally.
Pokémon from the Pokémon Center were those who were raised by the League for Beginner Trainers to use. They weren't the usual starter Pokémon, but local Pokémon found near the area. They were raised in a way that they were familiar with humans and easy to train. But they were too timid and weak in battles.
Inherited Pokémon were stronger as they were older and had experience with battles. But the stronger the Pokémon, the more life force they drain, and children could hardly withstand this.
Mom and Dad already told them that they couldn't give yet their Pokémon as it may affect their health.
"Of course we'll catch them personally." Raiden spoke for the both of them.
"I'm going to the West Lynier Forest." Raiden had already researched where that Pokémon lived.
"I'm gonna be searching in the Lynier Plains." Max had already chosen who his partner was gonna be.
When they made the promise to become Pokémon Trainers, they were destined to be rivals. They couldn't travel together. They each had their own path they want to take. And when one day they meet again, they would definitely have a battle.
Personally caught Pokémon were hard train, but along their journey they would form a strong bond as partners.
"By yourself? You want to catch a Pokémon without Pokémon? What are you gonna do, throw rocks at them? You wanna die?" Mom said threateningly.
Raiden and Max didn't know whether to laugh or cry. They had thought of this before and they haven't come up with a solution yet. But they didn't want to choose from the Pokémon Center. They had set their sight higher up and far into the future.
Before they could answer, Mom asked, hiding her worry behind her scowl.
"So, when will you go?"
"Tomorrow." They answered at the same time.
It was already set in stone. Nothing could dampen their excitement, just like every child.
"And… will you return immediately?"
"…"
Mom sighed as she closed her eyes. She knew how her children think. Almost all new Trainers would come back every day, but not these two boys. They were really going out on their journey, relying only on themselves. Yet, she asked anyway. It was for the hope that they would stay, but she couldn't change their minds.
"I'm just gonna check first the situation, then come up with a solution by then. Mom, don't worry. I'm not going to do stupid things. I'm smart remember?" Raiden reassured her.
"Me too, Mom. You know that I'm smarter than I look." Max said stupidly.
Mom quietly stared at her children as she made up her mind. Taking a quick glance at her husband who was playing with table napkin, she gave a sharp kick to his shin.
"OW! What? You know you and I can't stop them. What do you want me to do? Cry?" He quickly said as he saw his wife glaring at him.
Mom then sighed as she accepted reality. "Just be careful."
"We will!" They quickly replied. They finally got the official approval of Mom. Of course, they would still leave tomorrow even if she did not agree.
Later that night, Max and Raiden were busy preparing for their journeys tomorrow.
It was at this time, Mom and Dad took out the gifts they had prepared earlier. They had prepared four sets of Trainer outfits and a tent for each of them.
They also gave Raiden and Max storage boxes. These storage boxes had adapted the Pokéball's technology and each of them can expand into a large box with a size of 9 cubic feet. These boxes were very expensive, and only a few would use them. Mom and Dad had an impressive 10 storage boxes altogether and gave them four boxes each.
Mom prepared food to last for two weeks, which were mostly canned, dried or salted. She also packed them a water purifier each, occupying an entire storage box.
After double, triple checking, Max and Raiden were tired, but they couldn't sleep because they were too excited. So they just chatted until late at night, and said everything they wanted to say.
Tomorrow, they were going to wake up as a new person.
They will become Pokémon Trainers.
