Finally, they’re letting me go.

  My name is Max Bo. I am 14 years old and I have been for a couple months now since the start of summer. Summer Pokémon trainer training is ending TO-DAY. Miss Olson is having the 6 of us graduating from her css receive our starter Pokémon. The ones that we asked for from the league.

  The main starters are the royal Pokémon of each of the main regions, Charmander, Treeko, Popplio and all the others like them. For them you just need to specify the species and the league ships a mass bred Pokémon to you through the summer training program. They do offer other Pokémon but for those you need to write an extra essay and plead with them to actually get it. I knew for certain since I was 6 years old that I would be taking the second option.

  Our css is full of those survivors who grew up in this vilge where you know everyone and everyone knows you. If you ever chopped a berry tree down all the neighbors would say how loud your chops were or how it took you forever to do it. Few would even care about the act but there was little to do except prepare and my mom made it clear that it was unhealthy to fall into that trap like the newer residents were prone to.

  Mom loved giving out mental health tips and ways to avoid the “traps” that people entangled themselves in. My dad liked to focus on the people themselves. Even though he ended up a failure, everyone who knew him felt a little spark go off in their soul. I sure did miss that feeling.

  I missed Aubree and Liam, my siblings, too but eventually I’d find them. Them and their Pokemon. Grandmother had heavily encouraged us to get a fighting type Pokémon as our starters and like me they ended up writing that self-deprecating essay to get a suitable partner.

  "I'm proud of you guys and I will miss you a lot this year! You will have a terrific time traveling Verk but don’t forget to come back to visit sometime like Brandon and Kelsy!" my teacher said giving us a hug as our final session ended. I was all smiles and so were the others newly minted trainers since we had finally gotten our Pokémon. Learning training theory, figuring out how to manipute energy, and remembering all the different types of Pokémon was tough, but it was all worth it with these pokeballs.

  "Go and hurry home, show your parents your new friends and have a fun filled journey this circuit!" she shooed us away, happy that her students had succeeded and hopeful that some of them would be talented. I was near the top of my css so I was feeling good about things, all I needed to do was form a connection with a Pokémon and the type energy would come flowing into me.

  With what I chose I was about to get tougher and get a twinge of creepiness applied to me. I was exhirated to finally get my hands on MY first Pokemon. Mom and grandpa would be happy to meet him. I already received my pokedex earlier in training to learn how it worked. It was really a simple thing with waaay too many upgrades avaible for purchase. Call for help with one button, arrows for selection, and scan Pokémon with another final button. The whole rest of what it did was mainly checking out moves, descriptions of Pokémon, and what ability a Pokémon had.

  My Pokemon’s ability was no guard which works weirdly, increasing reaction speed when he focuses but in that focus he only focuses on his offense rather than if he gets hit or not. The third Pokémon I pnned to get had this ability as an option too and it seemed pretty good, subtle but good. I couldn't find either species in the Strange Forest but I could definitely find one of the four I wanted as long as I looked high enough.

  I kept grinning all the way home. I opened the door and yelled "I'M BACK, TO THE BACKYARD!" before quickly sprinting through the house with loud stomping. Grandmother was fastest of the adults in my family with her enhanced and absolutely ripped body. She was already in the backyard after dropping from the roof she was ying on.

  She gave me a mean look but didn't say or do anything. Her family was all about fighting types and she was tough as nails for surviving it until she met grandpa. She wasn't strict or anything, just heavily passionate about the tradition. I would be following enough of family tradition that she'd overlook my Pokemon’s non-fighting types without giving me an earful. She knew I'd get one eventually and even helped me pick one out that she thought was a good choice for rounding out the core four.

  I nodded to her respectfully and turned to see grandpa opening the door for my mom. The heavy wood door smmed shut behind them as they walked over through the grass and flowers backyard. Carefully tended to by another vilger's Floette.

  "Well let's see it then, need to know what I'm entrusting my grandson to before he leaves" grandpa said. Mom nodded like she was ready and waited to see what Pokémon I got. We all knew what it was but seeing the Pokemon for ourselves was different.

  Sawk watched from farther away as he had been ordered, as did the other family Pokemon, while I released a sword from the red and white metal pokeball. Hovering there was a Honedge that was 2 feet of cold steel, almost 3 feet including its blue ribbon. I had already scanned him and knew he was a boy and the moves he knew already from his own training course. He hovered quietly as he looked at us with his eye and floated toward me since I had the pokeball, his pokeball. He bumped me with the tip of his scabbard and reached his ribbon around my back. The ribbon felt cold and I felt some of my energy draining as some touched my exposed arm.

  "He's very nice dear, look at him even giving you a hug" my mom spoke up.

  "Little soul stealing bitch…piece of metal junk..." grandmother muttered.

  "No need for that Patty, it's going to take care of Max for a while. Maybe even the rest of his life if they get particurly close" grandpa said, putting a hand on grandmother's shoulder and giving her a squeeze. The act looked weird with how big he was as he had to lean over to get to her level.

  "Do you like Ian?" I ask. Technically to confirm that he was on board with my nickname, but really just to force it upon him. Supposedly Honedge were swordsmen that inhabited their swords so he likely had a name beforehand and doesn't remember it.

  Ian slides his bde partway out once and rapidly shuts it once. "One sheathe for yes?" I question.

  Ian does it again "Cool, well Ian, my name is Max Bo. Pleasure to meet you. This is my grandpa, mom, and grandmother" I wave my towards each of them in turn. Ian turns to face them but is otherwise silent except for a light humming that I can't tell where its coming from.

  "Before you leave tomorrow we need to figure out what Ian eats dear, Ian honey, can you say yes if I say something you eat?" mom asks politely. Ian sheathes his bde twice quickly "Oh, do you not eat because you're a ghost?"

  "Honedge don't eat per se but they do use steel cleaners and get sharpened" I expin “We went over this mom.” My dedication to the Aegissh line wasn't for nothing and I looked up in a couple of the older Pokémon encyclopedias about them. We don't have the internet here, only ndlines, but we know about it. One of the things I'm looking forward to most is actually checking out a real library for the first time.

  "That's nice dear" she responds, gd that my costs should be lower. I only have 1000 pokedolrs to take with me along with a couple clothes, 3 pokeballs, and a potion. The items came with Ian and are good enough for now but pokeballs can be pretty expensive if enough Pokémon break out. The money amount was a family tradition. Grandmother was stingy with my siblings their first year so I didn’t expect to be able to convince her to give me more despite at least 3 attempts this summer to get more. My friends were loaded, but I wasn’t going to be an Eelektrik.

  "Let's go celebrate, we can show Ian around and I can have a good chat with him before you leave, old man to old man" grandpa jokes, walking back towards the house.

  "Wait, we should see the moves he knows first before that. What was his ability boy? No guard like Machops?" grandmother asks.

  "Yes, and he knows 3 moves. They are swords dance, furry cutter, and scratch" I say without pulling up my pokedex again. Ian dances in the air, twirling about for a couple seconds before swords appear surrounding him. They're small but they also move in time with Ian before pointing at him.

  "No absorb or anything? He feels like he's stealing energy from me" mom asks just as grandmother is saying something about Ian being clever just with curses and old nguages that she picked up during her journey.

  "That effect is just a species trait, one day it might get strong enough to be a named move or something but its just a passive effect" I answer. Ian goes and slices at a couple flowers, cleanly cutting them.

  "Oh great, a fucking kitchen knife is his first companion. Come on and try me Ian" grandmother taunts while opening herself up for an attack, widening her arms and standing tall. Ian doesn't see that he is getting pyed but before I can stop him I see light green energy start to hover around his bde faintly and he sshes at grandmother. She barely moves, and Ian gets a clean hit on her arm. It cuts deeply, about an inch into her muscly arm and the bug type energy infests the wound to spread to the rest of her body.

  "Good, good..." grandmother says, pulling Ian out of her before flexing and spitting on the cut. Grandpa just throws his hands in the air and walks away.

  "Easy grandma" I say.

  "Grandmother, just because it's your st day here for a while doesn't mean I will let you sng my title away" she says while rubbing in the spit.

  "Its not even a real title though" I try to argue. She snickers before pcing her injured side hand on my shoulder.

  "Titles have meaning boy, you know this" she says before giving my shoulder a sharp squeeze "and I very much like mine to be respected."

  Ian just stares dumbly at her. I nod to him as if to say, lets have a good long journey before we return, as much as a nod can say that. Ian sheathes his bde without taking off the blood, draining the vigor from it and not caring about a stain. How could a swordsman treat his bde like that? I'll have to clean that tonight you damn ingrate.