[Pokémon] A Road Not Taken

CHAPTER 1
Instead of taking the dirt road that led out of the valley, Chaos decided to run through the field of Sunflora and Sunkern. With the sunrise, they rose out of the grass but instead facing the sun as they traditionally do, they all faced in Chaos's direction. As she walked by, Sunflora and Sunkern alike brushed their leaves against her.
Their way of giving me their blessing? Chaos guessed but she was still moved by the gesture and bowed her head respectfully in response. These Pokemon meant a lot to her. She was born and raised in this valley; she grew up with a lot of these Sunflora and now that she was leaving, she knew they were happy for her and wished her the best of lucky on her journey.
She finally made her way out of the valley and headed east towards the coast where Fourtresser City lay. Walking the silence, Chaos took the time to daydream about what Pokémon she would choose. Even though she read up on each starter and the full evolutions, she still had trouble deciding. Would she go with a fire type? If so, from which region? Water perhaps? Grass, maybe?
"Ugh! This is so difficult!" Chaos putting her hands on her head, yelling into the sunrise.
Chaos had her preferences of what she is looking for in her Pokémon, but her mother's words echoed into her head, "What you want is a fantasy. You can't build the perfect Pokémon"
At that, Chaos sighed. Her mother was right, as usual. As she continued to walk the eastern route, she started to hear Pokémon waking up from sleep and starting their day. Pidgey, Tailow, Spearows and other bird Pokémon flew above.
This is bad, Chaos thought as she sped up her pace towards Fourtresser City, Pokemon are starting to wake up, people could be waking up too!
By that thought, Chaos started running toward the city. It didn't take long to get the cobblestone under feet. Catching her breath she speed walked over to see the street lights of Feltree city still on. She walked on the cobblestone path until she reached the heart of the city. Chaos started to look around for a sign or a map that would point her in the direction of the stadium. Luckily few people were about the streets at this hour, and for Chaos's relief they were only early birds on their way to work.
Finally, Chaos found a map of the city near a vending machine. She searched for the YOU ARE HERE sticker to get a handle on things. She only had been to this stadium once when she was a kid with her mother. She vaguely remembered what it looked like let alone where it was. Once she found the location, she was she quickly found the direction to start heading toward it. Thankfully the map also had pamphlets that showed what the attractions of the city looked like including the stadium. Chaos gladly took one and ran in that direction.
A few turns here, backtracking there and a few streets up, Chaos finally found the Sawk Soccer Stadium. Chaos surveyed the area to search for anyone waiting in line already. Thankfully she was the first one there. With that secured, Chaos finally started to relax as she casually walked over to the stadium entrance. As she walked over, Chaos took the time to take in the magnificent stadium. A large copper statue was off to the side surrounded by benches. The statue was a detailed sculpture of a Sawk skillfully kicking a soccer ball. The entrance had a large screen above it with the words, Come All Beginning Trainers! Don't Miss Out On Getting Your Starter! , flashing on it.
Chaos plopped herself directly in front of the door with the sign Line Starts Here at her side. She opened her pack to fish out whatever her mother packed for her journey. Chaos pulled out a small bag of pre prepped food. She pulled out three jars of honey a small pouch of flour tortillas, three bottles of water, some assorted berries, a jar of homemade Pokémon food for her future starter Pokemon ---whichever it may be--- her coffee mug and a can of coffee grains. Her mother took her addiction to coffee into consideration when she was packing. God, she loved that woman.
She took out half of a tortilla and opened a jar of honey for breakfast, and started thinking about what Pokémon she should have for her starter. She started to think about her past encounters with other Pokemon, maybe she could get an idea of what fit her best. At that moment she had a flashback to her cousin's wedding reception at the family estate when she was 12 years of age.
She hated being around those people, with their money and snobby attitudes, so she wondered off into the gardens to pick off some berries. She gathered some Pecha Berries into her shirt and found a bench to eat in peace.
While enjoying a delicious berry something moved in the corner of her eye. She turned to see a large, brown and green Pokemon coming toward her. It hard large green leaves protruding out of its back and yellow fruit hanging under its neck. Chaos started to panic but she couldn't move. The Pokemon sensed her anguish and with seconds, Chaos was awash in a sweet scent that put her mind atease. Her body felt heavy and her eyes felt droopy and she fell back onto the bench. By then the large green, Pokemon was at her side. It tiled its neck, offering a fruit. Chaos cautiously reached up and grabbed a fruit. Pulling it off didn't hurt which Chaos was relieved with. She took a bite into the yellow fruit; with her surprise it had a dull texture but it still had a sweet subtle taste. She reluctantly pulled herself out of her daze and started to walk back to the wedding. The large creature followed her all the way to the entrance. Chaos thanked the fruit carrying Pokémon and headed back to the reception.
With that in mind, Chaos tried to think what that meant. Even though she was dazed from whatever the fruit pokemon did to her, she didn't feel in danger at all. She felt the same way she's around the Sunflora back home. So does that mean she felt connected to grass types? That idea clicked with Chaos. Maybe she should see what a Grass type starter would do for her…
Chaos checked the time on her Poketech. It was 5:32. About an hour and a half to kill, so Chaos just reached in her pack and pulled out her music player and started playing Bone Thugs and Harmony. Right when she got into the groove of her music, she felt a slight tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see a cute young girl with bouncy blonde curls tumbling over her shoulders framing her face. Wearing blue blouse and white bow tie had emphasized her piercing blue eyes that seemed unblinking and stared straight into Chaos. But her smile stretched from ear to ear is what Chaos's eyes glued to.
"Hello! Is this where the line starts?" This Strange Girl asked.
"Yes, and I am first in line." Chaos said promptly
"Oh. Alright." The Strange Girl asked as she sat directly behind Chaos.
Chaos stiffened. Living in an isolated valley with only one house in the entire valley, Chaos wasn't the most sociable as she should at her age let alone, comfortable with people so close behind her.
The Strange Girl started tapping her fingers impatiently. Chaos's jaw slackened trying to block out the annoying, repetitive tapping she turned up her music.
"So what starter are you getting?" the Strange Girl blurted out.
Did she say something? ****, she wants to socialize? Gritting her teeth, she slowly rotated her body and said "I beg your pardon? Did you say something?" Chaos made a gesture of removing her earbuds slightly away from her ear, hopefully making this an indication that she would rather listen to her tunes.
"I said 'what starter are you going to get?'" The girl repeated. Hint not taken.
Chaos gave in, figured what the hell, it's just talking to another human being. How bad can it be? "I'm not sure. Whatever grass Pokémon that suits my needs, I guess," Chaos shrugged. I ask a question back, right? "What about you?" Yeah that's sounds good.
"Ohhh, you have a type down. That's smart. I don't care what I want. Yep, yep. I'm just going to cross my fingers and let the Universe do the rest." The girl said smiling. "Oh my, I'm being rude. My name is Maximus. But everyone calls me Max. What's your name?" Max said leaning forward.
"Chaos." Chaos said leaning away. Then she blurted, "How old are you?"
"How old do you look?"
"10."
"17."
"Well, f***, you look young." Chaos said shrugging nonchalantly.
"I like you. You say it like it is, no filter." Max said with a smile she still hasn't taken off her face.
"Thanks, I guess." Chaos was getting good with this conversation thing. "Well do you have any idea about what you want?"
"Nope." Max smiled.
If Max wanted to go in half-cocked then by all means. Chaos will be long gone to see the outcome of that train wreck. Her eyes caught movement behind Max. She stared into the distance to see a boy maybe sixteen or so. With straight blonde white hair covering part of his face, he wore aviator sunglasses. She stopped there. He was obviously a douchebag.
Max followed her gaze to the boy. Her smile didn't falter as he silently stood behind her. A few other new trainers appeared and started to approach.
"Well hi there!" Max said cheerily looking up at him. "Are you starting your journey too?"
"Obviously, "The boy said not even looking down.
While Chaos eyed him, Max seemed completely oblivious to his rude answer.
"Oh so what starter are you going to pick?" Max started as she got up. She didn't nearly stand as tall as this boy, or Chaos for that matter. Chaos just turned forward and returned to her honey dipped tortilla but she kept and ear out for the conversation.
"Charmander. " The boy said curtly.
"Oh that's good! You have an idea at least. I'm just going to pick whichever I seem to bond with more. "Max said as she started to rock back and forth on her heels looking at more trainers coming up to wait in line.
"That is ridiculous." The boy said pushing his glasses back.
Max stiffed at his words but continued to rock on her heels. "Opinion."
"Pardon?"
"What you said. It's an opinion." Max stated with a smile, but there was no joy behind it.
At that Chaos smiled but didn't say anything and continued to eat the other half of the tortilla.
"Maybe so." The boy glared behind his glasses. "But it's a reasonable response. This is going to be your first Pokemon. You can't base it off of personal feelings. You need to do research and see whose stats---," the boy started.
Chaos tuned out the conversation and turned her wrist to see what time it was. 6:50. Chaos immediately started to close up her jar of honey and started to pack her food supply; carefully putting each jar and pouch into the bag neatly so they don't rattle against each other when she starts her travels. She shot to her feet with her back pack in hand, zipped it up, and threw it over her shoulder.
She took a glance behind her and the line had grown in seconds, definitely more than eight trainers. Chaos knew that a lot of people have moved here for this exact event. It's not every day you can have the choice of any starter. Serenic Region had access to any of the six regions in any direction you go. All the Pokémon from all the generations all reside here in some form or another. So how would one pick a starter if there were no initial generation to begin with? So Leagues of all the Regions came together and came up with the solution of having all the professors meet here with their generation's starter. They were also just finishing up building Gyms and hiring gym leaders for their cute little region.
The creaking of the stadium door distracted Chaos from her thoughts. Everyone suddenly became silent as a man in a grey suit and sleeked back hair walked out. He smiled happily as he raised his arms and announced, " Welcome to this wonderful event!
"I won't start an unnecessary monologue so I'll get started and bring in the first new trainer in line." He smiled wide as he held out his hand and motioned for Chao to walk forward. She followed him into the stadium, through a few doors and finally they reached the last door; the man in the suit stopped and turned to Chaos.
"Are you ready?" He asked with a smile.
Chaos only nodded. For some reason, her heart started to race. Has she really been this anxious? Finally he opened the door and for a moment she was blinded by the unexpected light, but her vision quickly came back. What she saw was an amazing sight she will never forget. The stadium grass smelt like fresh cut grass and even though the stadium was small, it was still mighty and glorious just like the pamphlet said. But what really got her attention were the Pokémon playing on the grass field.
She couldn't help but smile as they ran around with the professors standing next to their tables talking to one another, looking over their research or watching the Pokémon. Chaos took in a deep breath as she walked out onto the field making the professors look up from their activity and some of the Pokémon stopped playing.
A professor broke the silence by waving his arm yelling, "Welcome, young trainer! Please come over here!"
Chaos automatically recognized him. That was professor Oak of the Kanto region. As she walked up, she did a mental note of the Pokémon he would be offering: Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle. The grass type of that region was Bulbasaur. She bowed as she came to Professor Oak and saw more professors were coming in their direction.
"Hi, I'm Professor Oak from the Kanto region. You're a lucky girl to be the first to pick any of these Pokémon. Congratulations! "Professor Oak smiled.
Chaos bowed again, "Thank you so much. It means a lot to be the first one here." She said sincerely.
"And we appreciate your arrival. We were looking forward to this day, " a woman professor said, which Chaos recognized as Professor Juniper.
"So what kind of Pokémon are you looking for Ms…?" Professor Oak asked.
"I think grass would be good for me. " Chaos replied. This seemed to make Oak's eyes glitter with curiosity.
"And why would you say that?" He asked.
"I like how mellow they can be since I'm pretty mellow myself." Chaos answered back honestly.
"Oh well I think Bulbasaur would be great pick for you----," Oak started
"What are you rambling about, old man? We aren't working on commission for Arceus sake." An old man chimed in from behind as he approached Chaos as well.
Chaos recognized him immediately as Professor Rowan. He specialized in the study of Pokémon evolution and at some point even worked with Professor Oak. He was from the Sinnoh Region where the starters were Turtwig, Chimchar, and Piplup. Turtwig is the grass starter.
Turtwig, hmmm? Chaos thought. She remembered back to what she read about the little guy. He is a plant based Pokémon so he has to rely on getting nourishment through photosynthesis. His final evolution was a tank of a Pokémon. One of the largest of all starters and because of the tree protruding out of its back, it has been dubbed as the Walking Forest in some cultures. Decision made.
"May I see Turtwig, sir?" Chaos asked Rowan.
"Why, certainly young girl." Rowan said over Oak's sputtering.
He led out a hand to lead the way to where the three were playing. Chaos walked over to the table and sat on the chair. Her hand quickly went to her temples. As someone who drinks coffee every day at the same time for 12 years, she can have withdrawals like a drug addict if she missed even once.
"Coffee?" Rowan asked, holding out a little paper cup.
"You are a God." Chaos wasted no time adding cream and sugar, and chugged down the contents.
"Hardly so, I just enjoy a cup in the morning." Rowan inquired.
Chaos leaned forward to get a better look at the turtwig she deemed hers already. It was practicing its "Take Down" with Chimchar jumping and tumbling out of the way. Piplup was instigating and cheers on the side lines.
At least its not afraid of fire types. Chaos thought as she approached the trio. They stopped what they were doing and stared up at Chaos. Chimchar waved happily as Piplup started to waddle up chirping cheerfully. She leaned down to pet the two, but made a mistake of keeping Turtwig out of her sights. It was too late when she heard the rustling of the grass and then she was staring directly into the grass.
Casually rolling over she thought, Not so mellow as it would seem…
She stayed on the soft grass enjoying the feel until she felt foot prints climbing on her stomach. Looking up she sees black pupils staring back her. Turtwig was smiling.
"Your way of greeting people is acceptable." So maybe a little impish instead, I can dig it.
She looked up at Prof. Rowan -- who seems unfazed by her casualty of laying in the grass—"I will still have him, if," She looked back at Turtwig who was still laying on her chest, "He will have me?"
"TURTWIIIG!" he exclaimed happily.
"Sounds like a yes to me." Said Prof. Rowan, "But before you leave, I have some items that might come in handy for your journey."
Always ecstatic to get free s***, Chaos gathered Turtwig into her arms and stood up to follow him. Going back to the table he reached under the table, grabbing his briefcase. He pulled out a sealed bag and laid it on the table. Taking his keys he broke the seal and laid the contents onto the table. Chaos leaned forward with Turtwig in her arms, looking at a red, sleek Pokedex and a folded pamphlet. Placing Turtwig on the table she reached and picked up the Pokedex, turning it around in her hand. Rowan reached over the table to pluck it out of her hand and turned it on. He pulled out a small microchip and placed it inside the Pokedex. With some beeping sounds and some button pressing he removed the chip and handed it back to Chaos.
When Chaos slipped the Pokedex into her bag, Rowan opened up the pamphlet, and put the same microchip in the middle of the paper. When Chaos leaned over, she realized that the pamphlet was a map of the Serenic region. A very advanced one she might add. There were electric pulses coursing through the map from where the microchip was placed.
"I am just updating the map, programing safe routes, Pokémon inhabitants, trivia for towns, as well as side notes on how to act when you go into the towns. Since majority of the villages and cities in this region are separated by mountains, caves and valleys, the culture tends to vary. It is just a precaution. " Rowan inquired.
"That makes sense. Thank you, I appreciate it. So if I may ask, where do I head out for the first gym?" Chaos asked glancing at the map.
"Ah yes, you are going to take the east gate way, out of Fourtresser City, heading out into 'Skov Af Stemmer'", Rowan explained, using his finger to trace out the route.
Skov Af Stemmer…Danish for the literal translation Forest Of Voices. There were strict rules of staying on the path, lest you get plagued with voices in your head. The forest wasn't necessarily haunted but the ghost Pokémon that came out at night had no mercy. Chaos grimaced at the thought.
"Once you get through the forest, just manage your way through the cave, which will lead you directly out into ummm… a village in the mountains. I do not recall the name. My apologies, but there will be a gym there. After that you are on your own." Then with a hard stare, he looked at Chaos then at Turtwig. "Lastly, would you like to give a nickname to Turtwig?"​

CHAPTER 2​

~~~​

To avoid the new trainers waiting outside the stadium, she slipped out the service entrance out the back, leading into an alley. With Rakuto in her arms, she hurried down the narrow alley way into the streets. Twisting her head around to get her bearings, she realized it took her into the east wing of the city directly into the market place. Chaos was immediately over taken by smells, sights and sounds all around her. All sorts of food and clothes vendors were hollering over each other to be heard by the city folk.​

Letting Rakuto down at her feet, he walked beside Chaos as he too gazed at all the commotion. Chaos could imagine with the event going on at the stadium, it would definitely be great for business. She wandered over to a vendor who seemed to have a little bit of everything. With Rakuto in tow, she began rummaging through some of the clothes the man had in a box. Pulling out some pieces of clothing she found satisfactory she reached into her bag to pay the man. Glancing back at Rakuto to make sure he was still in sight, she saw him eyeing a yellow belt. Chaos reached down a pulled it off the display looking at Rakuto, who now looked a little sheepish getting caught looking at it.​

"Don't look embarrassed, Rakuto. I'll get it for you, " Chaos said as she placed her clothes and his yellow band on the table to pay for.​

With her new items stowed away in her bag and Rakuto sporting his Power Belt as it turned out to be called, she headed out of town. Even with the gate in her sights she had to stop at one last market vendor, purchasing herself pokeballs and a portable coffee maker.​