Phantoms of Kanto

Phantoms of Kanto
(A Pokémon Fire Red Nuzlocke Story)
Alice’s POV

6 AM, Pellet Town in the Kanto Region, May 20th. The sun was just beginning to rise over the distant mountains. I looked out of my second story window to see a few wild Rattata scampering across the dirt roads that made Pallet Town. A mix of excitement and anxiety melded inside my soul as I packed the last of my things and flung my backpack over my shoulder. Today was the day, the day I’d been counting down to since I was old enough to count, my tenth birthday the day I received my starter Pokémon and began my journey! But before I go into that…
Hello, my name is Alice, I am now ten years old and about to choose my starter Pokémon from the one and only Professor Oak. My mom and I live alone in Pallet Town, my father…well…I never even knew my father. My mother said that he’d died of some mysterious disease, but I always thought she was just saying that to keep me from getting hurt. Oh yeah about my mom, she’s a Pokémon medium, and I guess I inherited her ability to speak with Pokémon or something like that.
As I made my way toward the stairs, I grabbed my hat, and placed it gently over my long dark brown hair. With a big smile, I nearly jumped down the stairs and walked into the living room, where my mom was sitting at the table reading something.
“Mom,” I spoke softly, trying to get her attention without actually scaring her to death. She turned at looked at me with the same gentle eyes that I’d known ever since I was little. A smile slowly began to cover her face, she knew that today was the big day for me, and she just had to accept that her little girl was all grown up now.
She stood up, and walked over to me, giving me a hug and then placing a soft hand on my shoulder.
“Right, I know that you’ve been dreaming of this for a very long time now, and today is finally the day… To think that you’re going to be starting your journey, I’m so proud Alice. I know you’ll be a good trainer.”
“Thank you mom, I’ll visit as often as I can ok?”
“I know you will sweetheart, now go on, Professor Oak is waiting for you.”
I smiled and walked over to the door, waving one last goodbye to my mom I walked into the cool spring air and smiled, this was it, my own adventure lay right in front of me on the horizon! Slowly I walked toward Professor Oaks Lab just down the road a ways from my house. Opening the door I looked inside to see all his assistants busy as Beedrills with their research. But the one thing that this scene lacked was the Professor himself.
“Well well if it isn’t Alice!”
A twinge of anger struck me as that whiney voice suddenly came from behind me. I turned and sure enough, there stood Archer Oak, Professor Oak’s grandson and class ‘A’ know-it-all jerk.
“Oh yeah I forgot that you would be here too.”
“Come on Alice is that anyway to talk to the future Kanto Champion is it?”
“In your dreams Archer like you’ll be champion before me!”
Archer threw his head back and laughed, making me sick to my stomach.
“You champion? Yeah, that’ll happen. But seriously now, Gramps isn’t here, I’ve been looking all over town for him! Old man probably forgot me again…”
Archer’s voice sank toward the end, and I couldn’t help but feel bad for the poor guy. His grandfather and his sister, Daisy, were the only family that he had, and with his grandfather aging, he often even forgot that Archer was his grandson.
“Listen, why don’t you go check your house one last time, and I’ll go check out Route 1.”
“Yeah…”
Turning slowly, he walked away from me with his head shrunk between his shoulders.
.
“I hate to say it, but I do feel sorry for poor Archer.”
I mumbled to myself as I walked toward Route 1, where many trainers had walked before I had, had their first capture, their first battle with their partners. But I’d also heard terrible stories, of Pokémon dying if they lost in battle. My anxiety kicked in again, I was afraid that I wouldn’t be a good trainer, that my partner would die if I wasn’t careful.
I stopped just outside the waist high grass of the Route and looked around, no sign of Professor Oak. Scanning the grass again, I saw something move and began to walk toward it. A voice from behind me suddenly yelled,
“Stop, don’t go in the tall grass!!”
But by the time I’d heard the voice, it was too late. A flash of a shape, and a wild Pidgey leapt up at me. I screamed and shielded my face from its scratching claws, it seemed I’d stepped on its nest and it wasn’t too happy about it. Just as it flapped its wings to back up, and get a running start at me with Tackle, a rock flew past my head and hit the Pidgey’s left wing, making it spin a bit before it flew away.
“That was close; don’t do that again without your own Pokémon to protect you!”
I turned around to see none other than the Professor, his hands stuffed into his white lab coat pockets and his face turning into that of an old mans.
“Oh Professor just the man I was looking for!”
He looked at me a bit puzzled, but once his memory came back he smiled.
“Ah Alice! I remember now, today’s the big day isn’t it?”
“You bet it is I can’t wait to start my journey!!”
Professor Oak laughed at my excitement, he’d told me many times before that he’d seen the same look on many other trainers faces as they were about to receive their first Pokémon.
“Alright come on to the lab and we’ll get you ready to go!”
I followed after him quickly, my heart racing as I was about to start my journey, pick the starter that I would travel with from this day forward, I could hardly keep myself from shouting in excitement!
As we walked into the lab once again, Archer stood in the back of the lab, looking over the three pokeballs of the starters that we could choose from. He looked up to see us walking in and turned toward us.
“About time, I’m fed up with waiting!”
“Now now Archer, be patient.” Professor Oak urged his grandson, patting him on the shoulder. Then he turned back to me and motioned toward the pokeballs.
“Now, go ahead and choose Alice.”
“What,” Archer exclaimed; obviously he wasn’t happy with the Professor letting me choose before him.
“Archer you know my golden rule, ladies first!”
Swallowing hard, I took shaky, nervous steps toward the table, and my green eyes scanned the three pokeballs on the table. Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander, the three starters that I could choose, I had spent the last two months trying to think of which one to choose, and now I’d come to my decision. My hand shaking, I slowly began to reach, for the pokeball on the right.
Turning back around, I pressed the middle button, and in a flash of bright light, a small orange lizard appeared and looked up at me with icy blue eyes. A small, flickering flame danced on the tip of its tail, and it had two claws coming from each of its tiny arms.
“I choose you, Charmander!”
“I see this little guy is a good choice for you Alice. I think you’ll raise him well!” The Professor exclaimed in pride and confidence, making a wide smile come across my face.
I bent down, picked up the little fire type and smiled at him warmly.
“So you’re a boy huh? Well, how about I call you, Dante then?”
The little Charmander exclaimed in joy, telling me without my medium connections that he liked his newly deemed name.
Dante
Male
Charmander
Docile Nature

“Alright, then this one is mine!”
Archer said as he grabbed the pokeball to just the left of the one I’d picked. Returning Dante to his pokeball, I began to walk toward the door when
“Hey Alice, let’s have a battle and see what that fire lizard can really do!”
Before I could answer him, he threw out his choice, Squirtle and it seemed I had no other choice.
“Fine, but don’t start crying when I kick your butt!”
“As if,” he scoffed as I threw out Dante, him growling as he got ready to battle.

Archer’s POV
“Squirtle use Tackle again!”
“Don’t think so Archer, Dante use Scratch and finish this!!”
That Charmander of Alice’s was fast; it came right up to Squirtle and slashed it across the face, making it fall back in defeat.
“Oh yeah that’s what I’m talking about!!!! Bow to the queen boys!!”
Alice yelled and began dancing with her Charmander in victory, by boys she meant me and my Squirtle who was also a male. I picked him up and returned him to his pokeball. Looking up, I saw Alice return Dante to his pokeball and kiss its surface before placing it on her belt.
“You were just lucky, you won’t win again! I won’t let some girl like you beat me twice!”
Alice turned before she opened the door and smirked at me.
“Be careful now Archer, they say when a guy picks on a girl when they’re young, it means he likes her!”
A wild blush came to my face as Alice began laughing and left the lab. I clenched my fist, and gritted my teeth; she was always like this, even when we were little she was this snotty, back talking, hardheaded, smart…thoughtful…kind and…
My fist slowly began to loosen up from itself. No matter how I put it, Alice was right, me picking on her all this time was because…
Because, I did like her, more then she knew.

Dante’s POV
After the battle with Archer, we headed back over to Alice’s place, it was pretty late and Alice said we could get a start on our journey in the morning. I yawned softly and rubbed my eyes, Alice’s mom made a big fuss over me and all the excitement, plus the battle with Archer’s Squirtle made me really tired. Crawling up the stairs to Alice’s room, she began brushing out her hair, sitting in her two-piece Pikachu pajamas.
“I’m so proud of you Dante! We’ll make some great team I know we will!”
She exclaimed as she put her hair brush down and stood from her seat in front of her vanity. I smiled and then walked over to a corner of the room about to lie down for the night when Alice walked over and suddenly picked me up, holding me like a baby doll.
“Oh no, I’m not about to let my partner sleep in some musty corner of my room. You’ll sleep right next to me on the bed.”
She sat on her mattress and slipped under the covers, placing me over them so my tail wouldn’t light it on fire. I was amazed at how much kindness she was already showing me after having known me for just one day, then she kissed the top of my head and it made me blush softly.
“Good night Dante, I love you little guy. Don’t you worry, from here on out, we’re together in all this. I know we’ll make it through.”
Those words echoed in my head, even long after Alice had fallen asleep. It made me feel so warm and happy that I was lucky to get such a nice trainer. I’d seen so many before me get picked by terrible and even abusive trainers and here I was with a great one. I curled up by Alice, and her arm went around me in her sleep.
‘I love you too Alice, you’ll be a great trainer… I just know you will.’