Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Kel awoke very slowly as his consciousness became aware of the blaring alarm clock. Kel hopped out of bed and flew straight to his closet to change. He tossed his pajamas into the clothes bin. Hopping around the room trying to get his shirt on, Kel shut his alarm clock up. Now that the morning rush was over his brain began to realize something. Kel never sets his alarm clock, which means somebody set it for him. That means that today is important, and he has to remember why. He paced around his room stroking his chin, hoping an idea would come to him. His very intensive brain exercise was interrupted by Hector, his family’s pet Yamper, barging in the room. 

Kel gave Hector some pets and scratches to satisfy the beast. As he was giving Hector his love he remembered something. Everyone in Kel’s grade had been given their final assessment of the year. Something Kel had been waiting for years, ever since his brother first took the test. It was finally time for Kel to take on the gym badge challenge. Kel can’t believe he almost forgot. 

Kel ran down the stairs, Hector following him. He swung by the dining room to see his father feeding Sally, and his mother cooking bacon on the stove. She turned her head to see the newcomer for a second before returning to her cooking. “You’re awake, good. I was worried that not even an alarm clock right next to your ear could wake you up.” His mother said with a slight chuckle. 

Kel sat down at the table thankful his mother isn’t mad anymore. She and Kel got into an argument yesterday, because Kel wanted to bring Hector with him on his gym challenge. She never listened to anything he said and just called him irresponsible. It still peeved Kel off, but at least he’ll be out of the house for a long time. 

Kel remembers when Hero first left home to start being a full fledged pokemon trainer. He always used to come home every once in a while and Kel would gawk over the pokemon he brought home. Hero came home less and less. Hero always comes up with some excuse about filling out the pokedex. Kel can’t help but feel lonely for those extended periods of time without Hero. Sally isn’t much help since she’s only a year old. 

Finally a plate was sat down in front of Kel. Kel tries to put off the sad memories and fill his head with excitement. He ‘s been waiting for this for years after all. Kel chews through his breakfast at a record breaking pace. “Slow down there champ. I don’t know how to perform CPR.” Kel’s dad laughed as he tried to help Sally out of her high chair. He walked over to where Kel sat with Sally in his arms. “Good luck on your journey, I know you got this.” He put his free hand on Kel’s shoulder. “Knock ‘em dead for me champ.” Kel nodded and smiled. “Of course I will.”

After finishing breakfast Kel got everything he’ll need on the trip; Camping supplies, A good assortment of snacks and drinks, and his official league card which should have enough cash on it to last him the whole journey. Before he left he made sure to give Hector one final goodbye pet. With all the confidence in the world Kel took a step outside and smelled the fresh air. 

Unfortunately he was not allowed to bring Hector with him on the trip like he had planned, so he’ll have to get a pokemon from somewhere. Luckily enough for him there is a pokemon lab in town that offers to help new trainers catch their first pokemon. With his first destination decided he heads off to start his journey. 

One problem Kel had not taken into account was that he had no idea where the lab even was. Well guess he better ask around town if they know the way. Kel ran to the middle of town trying to find someone to help him. Normally this shouldn’t take long, but it was early in the morning on a weekend, when most preferred to stay indoors. Luckily enough Kel saw a familiar blue haired girl in the crowd. He ran up to his friend Cris. “Hey Cris!” Kel called out with a huge smile on his face. 

Cris turned around in recognition. “Oh, hey Kel what’s up?” Kel sheepishly rubbed his hand behind his head in embarrassment. “Well, I was going to go to the lab so I could get my first pokemon, but I uh… well I can’t quite find it.” He said trying to keep up his goofy smile. “I was wondering if you knew the way.” 

“Well you’re in luck, cause I just got my pokemon from there.” Kel’s stance went from awkward to very excited. “Woah! You’ve got a pokemon now?” Cris smiled superiorly and flashed a pokeball. She pressed the small button in the middle and a flash of red light came out. Then Kel saw a Popplio rest itself on Cris’ shoulder. 

 “Woah, that’s so cool!” Kel exclaimed. There wasn’t a good variety of pokemon that lived around Faraway town. The ones that do have become so mundane. A day doesn’t go by without seeing a Patrat walking about. The only chance he could see pokemon these cool were in his textbooks or when Hero would visit. 

Cris laughed as she petted Popplio on the head. Popplio nuzzled itself against her hand as a result. “Don’t worry I’ll show you the way.” Kel could hardly contain his excitement. “Alright, let’s go!” Cris bolted down the road and Kel was not far behind. They reached the edge of town and continued on the path that led into the woods. There they reached a clearing with a large white building with a few pinwheels in front of it. 

They walked through the front door together and Kel felt real out of his element. Huge machines were placed around the room. All this science stuff was really confusing, but that’s not what he’s here for. He’s here to get a pokemon. 

There were only two people in the lab.A boy who looked to be Kel’s age who had short black hair and was tinkering with a machine on his desk, and an older looking woman with long black hair was standing in front of a hologram and taking notes. The woman seemed to notice the presence of the newcomers and turned around to greet them. “Hello again Cris, did you leave something here?” She asked her tone soft and gentle. “Oh no, I’m good. Just wanted to drop off my friend here. He wants your help with getting his first pokemon.” Chris explained to the girl. 

“Ah, I see.” She said simply. “Let me introduce myself. I am Prof. Mari Suzuki, though you can just call me Mari. This is my lab assistant and baby brother Sunny.” She said, pointing to the boy who was now hunched over the desk exaggeratedly. “Ahhh!” Sunny had exclaimed as a gear had flown out of the machine and landed on the floor in front of Kel. Kel picked it up and handed it to Sunny. “Finally, it came loose. It felt like it was welded into it. Thank you-” His sentence petered out as he realized that there were guests here. 

“Oh, I didn't know there were people here. Hello.” He said quite meekly. Sunny felt extremely awkward and tried to position a bit of himself behind his sister out of reflex. Mari chuckled to herself over her brother’s antics. “I’d love to help you, but I’m quite busy recording the simulation data. Sunny, could you help him out please?” Sunny seemed a little stunned by the suggestion. “Oh uh, yes I can do that.” He said, not fully sure of himself.

“Mewo!” Sunny called out. A Meowstic had appeared from somewhere and rubbed her head on Sunny’s leg. He bent down and started petting it. “Hey Mewo, do you want to help us catch a pokemon?” The Meowstic purred in response and Sunny seemed pleased. Mari handed Kel a handful of pokeballs. Kel stuffed them away in his bag. 

“Alright, have fun you two!” She said as she returned to her projection. Kel waved goodbye to Cris and thanked her for the directions to this place. Sunny grabbed a pokeball from the shelf and returned the Meowstic to their ball. “Are you ready?” He asked. “I was born ready!” Kel cheered as he raised his fist into the air. “Let’s go, I can’t wait!”

Chapter Text

Sunny firmly closed the laboratory door and turned to face Kel. "Alright, let's go get you a new friend." Kel pumped his fist into the air in excitement. Kel ran off sprinting into the forest. "Hey wait!" Sunny tried to yell, but it wasn't very loud.

Mewo took it as her cue to lift Kel up using psychic and bring him back. Kel was dumbfounded on how such a small cat was able to lift him up and move him. Sunny scratched Mewo between the ears as thanks, to which she mewed happily. "Try to stay close to me. The woods are full of wild pokemon so I need to be near to protect you."

Kel sighed dramatically. "Well then hurry up, this is too exciting to just be standing around." Kel was absolutely teeming with energy which wasn't going to leave if they just stood around. "Don't worry we'll get there soon. Just don't run off, please." Sunny pleaded. Kel and Sunny had started their walk down the forest trail. "There are a lot of different pokemon that live here so I'm sure we'll find one you're gonna like." Sunny said with a fondness in his voice.

"Have you ever been here before?" Kel asked, looking around the beautiful scenery. "I used to go all the time with my sister. I always loved laying on the grass and playing with the pokemon that would show up. " Sunny closes his eyes as he reminisces on the fond memories. "That sounds nice." Kel said, scanning over the forest for any signs of hidden pokemon.

A silence grew between the two. Sunny felt really awkward being alone with a stranger for so long. He never talks much except to his family and his few friends. On the other hand, the silence is killing him, so Sunny bites the bullet to alleviate the awkwardness. "What about you, have you ever been out here?" Sunny asked.

"Once, when I was like 12. I was taking my pet Yamper, Hector, out for a walk when he saw something and dragged me in here. We ended up playing a bunch and lost track of time. My brother had to come and drag me back home and I got an earful from my mom. I got grounded for a whole month." Kel sighed at the unpleasant memory of his mother's yelling.

Sunny suddenly stopped walking and Kel looked at him confused. He hopped off the rocks he was balancing on and joined Sunny. "We're getting close to the lake. That's where most of the pokemon are." Kel followed Sunny past the deep bushes and they came to a clearing in the forest.

As promised a whole bunch of different pokemon were bustling around the area. Kel looked out in bewilderment at pokemon he's never had the chance of meeting before. Kel and Sunny made their way towards the pokemon.

"Alright, let me show you how to catch a pokemon." Sunny said, as he pulled a pokeball from his bag. "I know how to catch pokemon." Kel huffed impatiently. "Have you actually caught one before?" Sunny asked incredulously. "No... but, I've learned a lot from school." Kel said defensively. "Well, then you should pay attention to this." Sunny said, eyeing up a Kricketot "Mewo, be ready." Mewo stretched her arms and took up a fighting stance.

"Mewo, use zen headbut!" Mewo readied herself for the attack. Her head glowed a bright purple and she lunged towards the Kricketot.  She hit the Kricketot dead on and it stumbled to the ground. Sunny quickly pulled out a pokeball from his bag and threw it straight at the Kricketot. A red light engulfed it and then it was gone. The ball shook three times then stopped. Sunny reached out and picked the ball back up.

"And that," Sunny stopped to let Kricketot out of their ball. "Is how you catch pokemon." Kircketot jumped up into Sunny's arm. Sunny placed the Kricketot onto his shoulder. Kel cheered out of excitement."That doesn't seem so hard. Ready or not, here I come." Kel shouted. Sunny gave him an incredulous look. Kel bolted around the clearing and checked behind every bush for some cool pokemon.

While Kel was searching, Sunny's gaze was drawn to the lake. Memories began to claw their way to the surface of his mind. Sunny tore his eyes away from the lake and took deep breathes to calm down. Sunny finishes composing himself right as Kel calls out to him. "Hey dude, come check this out." Sunny briskly walked over to where Kel was crouching by a bush.

Sunny gave a questioning look at Kel and in response he just pointed to the area behind the bush. There was a bunch of Aipom swinging around in trees and playing tag with each other. A wide grin plastered itself onto Kels face. "I think I want one." Kel said absolutely in awe. "Just be careful with them. Mewo is a lot stronger than you think," Sunny advised Kel.

Kel popped from out behind the bush and set his sights on an Aipom munching on berries. "Alright, use uh... psychic, erm... attack?" Mewo looked at Kel with an unimpressed look. "Please?" Kel added on pleadingly. Mewo continued to look at Kel with a slight frown. Sunny sat there amused by the scene before him. "Try telling her to use psyshock." Sunny quietly suggested.

"Alright, get ready and use psyshock!" This time Mewo complied and began charging the move. The Aipom frantically scrambles around before being hit by the psyshock attack. Aipom tumbles to the ground dizzy. Kel stood there unsure of what to do next. A lightbulb  went off in his head and he searched his bag.

After a few seconds he produced a shiny red Pokéball. He aimed for the Aipom and threw the ball. It ended up going right over the Aipom. Kel stared incredulously at his pokéball that rolled away and into the thicket.

Kel pulled himself out of his stupor and dug into his bag for another pokéball. He took one out and tried to toss it again. The ball went flying toward the Aipom before it veered off the left.

"Oh come on!" Kel cried out.

Sunny quietly giggled to himself at Kel's frustration. Kel angrily pulled a third ball out of his bag and took a deep breath. He got pumped up and threw the pokéball, giving it his all.

He watched with baited breath as the ball arced above him and landed right on top of Aipom, A bright red light enveloped the Aipom. The light slowly receded into the pokéball before it closed.

Kel’s eyes widened immensely in suspense. Sunny stood up from his resting position and shared Kel’s suspense.

The ball shook once…

Kel could feel the adrenaline pumping in his chest.

The ball shook twice…

Kel is imagining all the things he’s going to do as a real Pokémon trainer.

The ball shook thrice…

Kel froze on the spot, he couldn’t believe it. He looked to Sunny, mouth agape. Sunny simply gave him a thumbs up. He rushed over to his new Pokémon screaming with his hands in the air. “Yeah! Let’s go!”

Sunny traveled into the bushes to retrieve the two missed pokéballs. Kel held the ball in his hands. He pressed the small button on the front and it flung open

A red light swarms his hand and the Aipom is slowly formed. Kel smiles at his brand new partner. “You and I are gonna be best friends. I just know it.” The Aipom cheers in a like-minded fashion. Sunny just puts the extra pokéballs into Kel’s bag, not wanting to ruin their moment.

Kel high-fived the Aipom. Kel is now officially a Pokémon trainer!