Chapter 1: V1 C1 – A Huge Problem

For the past few years, Joe had been working at the PokeMart in Olivine City as a store clerk. With sightseeing being one of his favourite hobbies, he’d been saving up plenty of money so that, one day, he could go out and explore the world. Since Johto was the region he lived in, he’d taken short holidays here and there to see what interesting locations he could find nearby, but now it was time to explore other regions.

As Joe was finishing up one of his last days at work before his big expedition, a hiker who was passionate about his hobby showed up in the shop. It only took a few minutes for this kind older gentleman to get Joe interested in hiking, an idea popping up in the young man’s head mid-conversation. He planned on going to Kanto first since it was Johto’s neighbour region, so going on a hiking trip up and around Mt. Silver sounded like it would be worth the effort.

He continued to think about it even after the hiker had left, slowly convincing himself that it was the best option. So it was settled. Joe quickly glanced around the shop to see that the shelves were stocked and there were no customers. It was early, after all. Not many people were awake at this hour, and there were no immediate tasks to attend to. Seeing as his work wouldn’t suffer for it, Joe pulled his smartphone out of his pocket and began enthusiastically taking note of everything he could remember from his conversation with the gentleman. He recalled knowledge about needing to pace himself so as to not overdo it. Hiking is a more strenuous activity than regular walking. Joe also needed to buy a variety of equipment, but he couldn’t recall everything at this point. Hopefully looking around a specialised shop for outdoor activities would remind him of the parts he’d forgotten.

For the next few days, Joe purposely stopped wearing his watch in an attempt to force himself to not look at the time, although there was a clock behind the counter of the PokeMart so he couldn’t help but look every five minutes. His last three shifts were painfully slow, but eventually Joe’s year-long holiday adventure began. He wasted no time going on a shopping spree around Olivine, buying any equipment he needed for his upcoming adventure. If anything, he bought too much gear. But it was better to be safe than sorry.

Once Joe was sure he had fulfilled all requirements for a hiking trip, a ship ferried him around the South of Johto. Joe got off at New Bark Town as the ship continued along its route, heading into Kanto. After a brief break at a coffee shop, enjoying the quietness of a small town, Joe walked across a sturdy wooden bridge with a vivid blue river flowing underneath and began his ascent of Mt. Silver. It was an extraordinarily large mountain East of New Bark, and it sat between the Johto and Kanto regions.

At multiple points on his journey up the mountain, Joe stopped to take pictures of whatever caught his attention. Before dirt paths were covered with snow, Joe found vibrant, 5-petalled purple flowers being harvested for pollen. A tiny yellow and white Pokemon, with what looked like a brown scarf around its neck, and transparent wings fluttered about from one flower to the next.

As the sun began to set on his first day of hiking, Joe unhooked a lantern from the bottom of his heavy backpack, bringing it before him as he peered into a pitch black cave. Inside he saw two sleeping Pokemon. One was much larger than an adult human, had a body the same tone as rock with some orange stone around its torso and two horns on its head. The other was significantly smaller in comparison, and was sleeping atop the large Pokemon’s stomach. Its body was a bright yellow, but the tip of its tail and half of its head were black, including the long ears that dangled like overly large earrings.

His lantern was lighting up the small cave just enough to be able to see, but not enough to wake up the Pokemon. Joe hurriedly took a picture, making sure the flash on his phone camera was off. He thought it was an adorable scene, two completely different Pokemon resting together like that.

The next day eventually rolled around, and Joe was not used to feeling this cold when he awoke from a deep slumber. He was definitely going to be sleeping with more layers of clothing on, or at an inn when possible. He liked camping, but not on a mountain where it was going to progressively get colder and colder.

Despite his complaints, he was content. He left his tent and stretched, opening his groggy eyes to see a vast land covered in shadow beneath him. It was currently late Summer, so the sun rose somewhat early still. New Bark was covered in shade, but he felt like he could just about make out the cafe he stopped at the previous day. In the far distance was an ancient tower, the metal outlines on its roof glinting from the sunlight. That had to be Violet City. Joe couldn’t make out any other details from the city, just that one tower that, from his perspective, was to the right. This meant that far to the left, where the land met the sea, was Cherrygrove, a city known for its expansive beach.

Digging through his tent to find his phone so he could take a picture of the scenery, Joe thought about what was beyond Cherrygrove. It would be Azalea Town, with its lush forest and its old well home to a strangely large amount of Slowpoke.

“Now then…” Joe whispered, looking up at the path he was going to walk along. He was not the type to often talk to himself, but after getting ready to start hiking again, he let the words slip.

Continuing up the mountain, a few more days passed. Joe came across a Pokemon Centre on the third night, which was a sight to behold. It was almost like a mansion, due to it also functioning as a large hotel for anyone in the area that needed to rest. A bright red roof and Pokeball LED light signified that anyone could have their Pokemon looked after for free at this building. Using the hotel facilities cost money, but a room and food were cheaper than expected. Perhaps due to the solar panels on the roof, energy costs were kept low so prices were reasonable for customers.

Moving on to his fourth day, Joe felt refreshed thanks to sleeping on a mattress. With renewed vigour he left the Pokemon Centre and hotel hybrid to hike along the frequently used path. Mt. Silver was home to many Pokemon and received many visitors, so the main path never had anymore than a small layer of snow atop it, making it easy to see where to go for the hikers and Pokemon that came after.

Keeping up this pace, he was likely to finish his hike up Mt. Silver today and would then begin his four day descent into Kanto soon after. However, a Pokemon currently blocked the only path forward. The creature on four legs looked ready to pounce, the front of its body lowered to the ground while baring its fangs at Joe.

The world Joe lived in may be inhabited by many wondrous creatures called Pokemon, but he had never felt the need to have his own as a pet or a partner. He watched league battles on TV whenever they aired and he happened to be home, and he had of course received some amount of education about Pokemon at school. Due to this, his knowledge on Pokemon was severely limited. He could maybe recall a dozen or so Pokemon off the top of his head. Joe had never really thought about looking into Pokemon in his own time either. He hadn’t done his own research. Travelling up Mt. Silver had resulted in Joe seeing many Pokemon, but he was clueless about them all. Even the Pokemon before him now, growling with its pearl white teeth on display, was a complete mystery to the young man.

He awkwardly scratched the back of his head and gave a wry smile. “You wouldn’t mind moving, would you? I’d like to keep going. Make it to Kanto before the week ends.”

If this took too long, Joe was likely to become annoyed. He wasn’t too far from the summit of the mountain. It may be Summer right now, but this is a high elevation. Staying still for too long was going to result in Joe becoming too cold for his liking. Running with all this equipment strapped to his back would probably work up a sweat fast enough, but Joe would like to avoid that scenario if it were possible.

The Pokemon barked its name in response, its long white fur swaying with the bitter wind that chilled Joe’s cheeks. The long but thin horn on the right side of its head began changing colour from red to pink.

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“I know that’s probably an attack. Please don’t.” Joe stammered, instinctively taking a step back.

Not even a second after Joe had finished talking, the wild Pokemon stood tall and swung its head down. A pink arc crashed into the ground mere centimetres from the young man’s feet, kicking a small amount of snow into the air and leaving a mark some inches deep in the ground. If the constant growling wasn’t getting the message across, surely a warning attack would. This Pokemon, for whatever reason, didn’t want Joe to continue along the one and only mountain path.

Once again, the wild Pokemon barked at Joe in an attempt to get the human to walk back the way he came.

Joe had no idea what he was about to get himself involved in, but it wasn’t good. Absol needed to keep the place clear of both humans and Pokemon until the approaching problem blew over. Being a Pokemon, of course, Absol had an easier job convincing the other Pokemon on Mt. Silver to stay away. Joe didn’t know this, but the reason he hadn’t encountered any other life on the mountain today was because of the diligent Absol now standing before him.

While fiddling with one of his bag’s shoulder straps, Joe took another step back. With a sigh and a glance back down the path he’d come from, he responded with defeat. “All right, fine. I’ll leave.”

It wasn’t worth it. One of the limited bits of information Joe had on Pokemon was that it was rare for them to threaten humans like this. The creature with white fur and red skin must have a good reason for its actions. It was pointless to be stubborn about it. He could just as easily get to Kanto another way, either by ferry or by plane. And when he reached a different region, he could go hiking away from troublesome Pokemon.

Unfortunately for Joe, it was already too late. A huge bolt of bright gold and white lightning struck the side of the mountain, just up from the path from where Joe and Absol were standing. Absol turned to see its worst fears recognised.

The blindingly bright electricity, paired with heavy chunks of rock crashing onto the path, threw a large amount of snow into the air, forcing Joe to shield his face with an arm. He didn’t want to completely blind himself to his surroundings, so he managed to keep an eye half-open. As the snow began to settle he could see the path forward was entirely blocked by displaced earth. Joe really should’ve taken the hint from Absol because he knew just as well as anyone else what stood atop the boulders now blocking the way.

There exists a special set of Pokemon labelled Legendary. As the name implies, they are power creatures that surpass regular Pokemon, but they can be quite elusive. It’s not often that they show themselves to humans. As a child, Joe had history classes like every other child that went to school, so he knew a bit about the various regions throughout the world. One of the subjects he remembers vividly is one of the earlier sightings of the three Legendary Beasts from Johto’s history.

“Why is Raikou here…?” A rare Pokemon appearing out of nowhere like this was enough to make a grown man worry.

Raikou the Legendary Beast Pokemon stood atop a pile of rubble of its own creation, sending a piercing glare at both Joe and Absol with its red eyes. The purple fur that looked like a cloak on its back was moving with every breath Raikou took, while its short yellow and white fur was pushed about by the mountain breeze. Some static remained, buzzing around Raikou’s body and onto the rocks where it was dispersed and lost its power.

Now that it’d come to this, Absol had to try its best to ensure the safety of the human behind it. It called out to Raikou, trying to reason with it, but the Legendary simply glared at Absol, not saying anything in return.

Is it trying to talk to Raikou? The clueless human thought to himself as he stood there, not moving a muscle. He was experiencing a number of emotions right now, with one being awe at the sight of such a rare Pokemon. Another emotion was the opposite, fear of the worst. Of what could happen now that such a powerful Pokemon had made itself known. 

While every thought imaginable ran through Joe’s head, Absol grew impatient. Or at least from Joe’s perspective it seemed like impatience. But in actuality, Absol knew that attempts to communicate with Raikou were going nowhere and that the Legendary would eventually attack. With no other option, Absol simply wanted to strike first.

The wild Absol initiated the same attack as before, its horn becoming pink, followed by a pink arc of energy flying in the direction Absol swung. Of course, the attack was launched at the Legendary Raikou, but the beast simply used its fangs to bite the arc of energy in two, causing the attack to dissipate into nothing.

“Why would you do that?!” Joe called out to Absol, worriedly taking another step back.

Absol barked at the human as it leapt to the side and hurtled past Joe, down the path the human had come from. Out of the corner of its eye, the wild Pokemon looked at Joe to ensure he eventually ran too. After a brief stumble, that’s exactly what the human did: Run. If Raikou didn’t follow then everything would be fine, but if it did then Absol would have to keep the human safe no matter the cost. It was a tall order considering the difference in strength between a regular Pokemon and a Legendary Pokemon, but no one else was going to do it.

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