The town of Pallet was relatively small in comparison to the other cities and townships in Kanto. Most of the houses were built from wood, with the exception of a row of brick houses on the eastern boundary of town, which belonged to the families with lots of money. The sun rose steadily in the sky, lighting up and warming the town as a small breeze wafted along, drying clothes which were hanging on various clotheslines and rustling leaves on trees.
Professor Oak was one of the most highly regarded Pokémon researchers in the world. He had won the Kanto region's Indigo League — a tournament held every five years at the furthest point north-west in Kanto — twice and had dedicated his life to the study of Pokémon, their habitats, lifestyles and interactions with their trainers.
Since he was always known as the most renowned Pokémon expert in the entire world, the citizens of Pallet Town had always considered it an honour that he had continued to work in his home. Visitors felt that Professor Oak's Pokémon laboratory was the only real attraction in the town. It wasn't so much a tourist attraction, but more a place where interesting Pokémon events and discoveries occurred.
Pallet Town was hardly ever bustling except when the newest Pokémon trainers graduated from the magnet school — usually at the age of ten. The school taught the core subjects such as math, science, history, reading language arts, and so on, as well as courses involving studies of Pokémon, which ranged from raising, training, breeding and battling of Pokémon. Their journeys would usually start by travelling north to Viridian City, as it was the closest city to Pallet and the only city accessible by going on foot. Nothing but deep forest lay to the east and west, and the south was a large stretch of water where Cinnabar Island resided.
As the sun rose even higher, shouting was heard from within a house on the eastern boundary of town.
"Josephine! If you don't get out of bed right now and come downstairs, then Eevee will have to go up there and wake you up!" shouted a forty-one year old woman with pale red hair and hazel eyes which burned with fiery impatience. She wore a bright red sleeveless top and blue three-quarter pants. This was Fiona Harris, mother of a Pokémon trainer-to-be. She was a very kind and caring person, but she didn't want her daughter to miss out on one of the most important days of her life.
The Saffron-born Fiona's expression was always half blank, as though she was trying to recall something from her past, but couldn't do so for the life of her. It was said that, while growing up, she was childhood friends with Alexis Barrett – who later went on to become the mother of the renowned Psychic Gym Leader, Sabrina. But Fiona made a fatal mistake. When Charles arrived from Sinnoh at the age of twelve, she became rivals with him.
This act in itself completely destroyed Alexis' trust in Fiona, and the raven-haired pre-teen became very distant and cold – a trait that was clearly inherited by her daughter. Fiona tried to repair the shattered pieces of the friendship, but Alexis wanted nothing more to do with the person who had betrayed her. The relationship was non-existent, nothing but smashed pieces of a mistake gone wrong.
"Oh well! Eevee, if you don't mind, could you please wake her up so that she's not late for her big adventure?" Fiona asked the creature standing next to her, who happened to be the family pet. The Pokémon was small and fox-like in appearance; his tiny body was brown in colour with creamy coloured neck fur and his face wore a hardened, serious expression. Two long, rabbit-like ears, which emanated from the top of his head, twitched periodically as he listened to the human's request.
<No problem. In fact, I would have done it myself even if you hadn't asked,> replied Eevee. The Harris' were able to understand him because he had been with them since he'd been born, which was a few years ago now.
He swiftly sprang up the wooden staircase, bounding down the long hallway, and hurled his small body against a door at the end of the hall. He glanced up at it, rushed inside and grumbled to himself, because even after making that entire racket to come to the girl's room, she still hadn't woken up.
Josephine Harris was born into a rich family as the third child of four. Unlike other children from wealthy families, she wasn't overly spoiled. As with all of the other children in Pallet, she studied at the Pokémon Trainers' Academy – or Magnet School, as it was called by others. However, instead of beginning her journey at the age of ten – which was the minimum legal age – she had refused to go anywhere because she wanted to learn more about all of the different types of Pokémon.
Three walls of her room were made of brick – which had been painted a light green colour – and were completely devoid of anything, with the exception of a wooden framed unicorn picture on the wall opposite her bed and a painting of a girl feeding some duck-like Pokémon in the country on the right-hand side wall. On the third were posters of her favourite Pokémon. The last wall consisted of a security grill protected sliding door.
<Forgive me for this, Ho-oh, but I've got a lazy person who won't even get off her behind. Bloody hell, Josephine, wake up!> Eevee said loudly.
Seeing that he got no reaction, Eevee's eyes narrowed and an evil sort of smirk appeared on his face, as he said <Sorry, kid, you asked for it!>
After saying that, the Pokémon jumped onto the girl's bed and tore off the covers with his paws. He then placed his fluffy brown tail in front of the girl's nose and proceeded to tickle the olfactory. Moments later, a loud sneeze ripped through the air, as Josephine sat up and wondered what sort of pollen had drifted through her open window.
Seeing the brown coloured fox sitting on her bed with his tail curled around his body, she asked "Why did you do that?" seemingly appearing to forget that today she was to leave Pallet to begin her journey.
<We have to get downstairs and you need to get ready for your journey. Remember?> the fox-like Pokémon gently reminded the girl.
"You make it sound like the Pokémon Trainers' Academy. But I know that this journey is going to be a lot better. Okay, let's go," Josephine answered, smiling at the family pet.
She moved Eevee off her and jumped out bed, as she headed towards her ensuite. The red-haired girl opened the door, closing it upon entering and then turned on the water.
*****
After showering herself, Josephine proceeded to dry off her thin frame of medium height and build. She then rubbed the moisture out of her hair, allowing the wet strands to fall to her shoulders, and then dried and brushed it until it was in a suitable enough position for her to wrap a hair tie around it, creating a pony-tail look.
She went over to her closet and removed two hangers, one of which held a grey sleeveless top, with the other holding a yellow miniskirt. The teen dressed herself, before slipping her feet into a pair of yellow-striped purple sandshoes, and casually placed her black sunglasses over her eyes. In the past, she had received criticism from her peers as they wondered why she had come to classes with her sunglasses on, but she ignored them, as it was just a strange mannerism of hers to do that.
After placing her digital watch on the wrist of her left arm, she headed down the hall.
Heading into the reasonably large kitchen and preparing herself a bowl of cereal, she spotted her mother relaxing on the cyan sofa. After eating, she then checked to ensure that her bright yellow backpack with the imprint of a Poké Ball on the side was packed. Finding out that everything was in there, she placed the breakfast bowl in the sink, ran some water in it and headed to the door.
"Honey, wait," the voices of Josephine's parents spoke up. The girl's mother rose from the sofa as her father wheeled himself into the room. The masculine-toned voice had come from Charles, Fiona's husband.
Saying goodbye was going to be difficult and sad.
"Yeah?" the teen turned and looked at her parents as tears started to form in her eyes.
"It's good to see that you are finally ready. Professor Oak rang and said he wants you to meet him at Saffron City," Fiona told her, apprehensive that her daughter was finally setting off. She was worried that what had happened to her husband could possibly happen to Josephine as well. Her expression showed narrowed eyes and a slight frown.
Josephine stood there with a puzzled look on her face, wondering what the researcher needed to give her, but then it clicked. "Of course!" Josephine mentally slapped herself for forgetting such a simple thing.
As she was about to run out of the house, she remembered that this would be the last time she saw her parents before she left. She turned around and looked at them. "Mum, Dad… this is goodbye for now. I'll miss you."
Her father stared desperately at her, while her mother placed a hand on her shoulder and answered, "Yes, we'll miss you, too. You have grown up incredibly fast, Josephine, and we understand that you want to go on this journey."
"All right, I'll see you later, guys."
"Goodbye, dear. Know that whatever happens, I'll always think of you as a Pokémon Master. I will think that because you went and attempted to accomplish your dream," Fiona said, as she smiled at her daughter. Charles manoeuvred his wheelchair backwards, determined to talk to Fiona in private once Josephine had left.
Just before Josephine set off, she gave her mother one last farewell hug, allowing the tears to freely flow down her cheeks.
Wiping away the tears, Josephine started exiting the building which had been her home for the last fifteen years.
Her boyfriend, Prince Arthur Regan, met up with her at the exit of Pallet Town. "I'm going with you," he stated.
"Arthur, you can't," Josephine replied.
"I can and I will. You'll need someone to watch over you while you travel to all of these other regions, and that someone will be me." The Prince folded his arms. It indicated he declared the conversation over.
"Okay, okay. You win," the redhead sighed in defeat.
Half an hour of travelling later, at which point they'd arrived in Viridian City, they were approached by a woman. "You wouldn't happen to be on your way to Saffron City for the beginning of the new League would you?" she questioned Josephine.
"Uhhh..." the red-haired trainer didn't know what to say.
"I am going to be your escort there."
"I'm coming, too." Arthur insisted.
The woman ignored the Prince and stepped behind the female teenager for a moment and suddenly she felt a slight jolt in her neck, which caused her to fall unconscious.