"Woah! You get to battle wild Pokémon and catch them to be your partner!?"
Glen shouted, startling the Treecko in his head, who had been standing steadily, putting it off balance. Anthony remembered that the child in front of him is a very big enthusiast of pokemon battles and seem to insist that he just have to borrow a pokemon from his father and catch his own pokemon, however, like Hana's, all of the pokemons of his father is already fully evolved and thus the "battle" that would happen will become nothing but bullying, so the father adamantly rejected Glen until the boy relented.
It's not like Glen hated Treecko, but it seems like he wanted pop his cherry in pokemon battles early, so he still held some grievances, not to mention Glen can't just go catch pokemons juts because he have one already, he will just be allowed if he officially got his trainer's ID and pokedex, so that just added to his saltiness.
"Yes, I'm quite excited."
Anthony nodded lightly while smiling and waving his hand at the Treecko, that already started to play with Baby Kangaskhan. Anthony knew that Grovyle and Sceptile would be more collected and composed, so he watched this scene while putting his hand in front of Treecko, who then played around his fingers.
"Sigh... my parents are too protective, they won't even let me catch a Pokémon. Well, I get to have a cute and strong Pokémon like Treecko, so everything turned out well, but I would prefer it more if I got it with my own hands."
Glen sighed, grumbling while sighing.
"And look, as long as there's an adult with a Pokémon supervising you, it's not even bad to catch one."
At such a notion, Anthony shook his head.
"You only have your father as a trainer/breeder in your family, remember, 'adult and a trainer, active or retired' and unfortunately, your family is either too shy or too prideful to ask my mother for help."
Glen and Anthony sighed again, and as they did, Treecko, who is at the top of Baby Kangaskhan's head, stood upright and bowed at the back of Anthony.
"Do I hear myself in there? What are you talking about, boys?"
Hana smiled before patting the head of Anthony and waving her hand at Treecko, who also did the same while crying "Tree! Cko!" as it did so. Glen became a little embarrassed that a former famous trainer heard his grumbling, so he replied immediately.
"N-nothing Ms. Dover, we we're just talking about stuff... haha..."
Hana smiled knowingly at this before saying.
"We are about to go have lunch, how about going with us?"
Anthony nodded at this, it would be a good chance to integrate the current Anthony to the previous Anthony's connection, though some kids his age have started to go to Pallet for some trades or gifts they have struck or are busy being home schooled because they are not as independent in terms of learning as Anthony, so they are currently having troubles going outside their house.
_If I were to go to Pallet Town one week from now and catch the attention of Prof. Oak, then I might not be able to go meet with friends that often._
Anthony lamented while Glen answered to such an inquiry of his mother.
"Oh... Is that alright? I'm quite shy..."
Anthony looked at his friend climb over the fence and couldn't help but think that such a reply would be more convincing if he didn't readily jump over, though Anthony doesn't particularly mind.
Seeing its master go over the fence, Treecko cried out happily and jumped back to the head of Glen.
"I'll phone your mom about the lunch."
Hana smiled while she guided the kids towards the dining area, where a soup with pink broth with chopped tail of a slowpoke, a delicacy of the Johto region, as well as a Farfetch'd meat stew, is served. These foods are considered to be staple stuff; however, if not for Anthony not wanting to worry his parent, he would never eat any Pokémon and would turn vegan, but because he knew that his mother is still worried about his concussion, he steeled himself and his stomach.
Now, he is more or less adapted to it, though it might be because he never watched that much of the Pokémon anime, so he never really saw them that much moving and emoting, Pokémon other than the mainstays of his teams in the games.
"I already phoned your mom, let's eat."
Soon, Hana, who went outside to phone Glen's mom, went back.
Hana smiled, causing Glen to beam with happiness and for Treecko to cry out too, though the Hoenn starter is currently with the baby Kangaskhan, who was allowed to eat inside, while the mother Kangaskhan, Scizor, and Venusaur are outside for their lunch as they're too big.
The trio ate the Slowpoke tail soup and the Farfetch'd stew, with Anthony being the first to finish. First of all, he still needs to study general indicators on the growth potential of pokemons, because stats do not exist in this world, yet of course, potential still does.
_Anthony should have read all of the books in his room instead of just his favorites; this is such a hassle._
Anthony sighed and was about to go to his room and let Glen do the honors to help his mom with cleaning the dishes, however, he saw their home Pc that's located in the living room that connects all the bedrooms and the 3 hole-like compartments in it's side shine lightly and when it dimmed down, three pokeballs appeared.
_Woah... that's the first time I saw that in the flesh._
Anthony was intrigued and walked towards the Pc and poked the pokeballs with his fingers, though he was careful not to open them as they seemed to have pokemons inside them, and who knows if it's his mom's Gyarados or other gigantic pokemons of hers.
_Oh, there's a mail._
Anthony saw the notification in the mail icon of the Pc and hesitated if he should open it, but in the end, he choose not to in fear that he'll discover how did Hana, his mom was able to control a Gyarados and a Charizard at the same time, so he went back to the kitchen wherein Hana and Glen who was dragged to wash the dishes just finished what they were doing are located, he then said.
"Mom, there's a mail for you in the Pc, also the pokeball compartments are full."
Hana then replied while Glen's eyes lit up.
"Oh, so they arrived here already, let's go see Charizard, Venusaur, and Blastoise's children."
Glen's eyes lit up further.
"The Kanto starters are yours!? Aunt Hana!?"
As Hana, Anthony, and Glen walked towards the Pc while baby Kangaskhan and its new friend, Treecko, followed behind, Glen couldn't help but ask, though Hana shook her head.
"No, it just so happens that me and Ben's caught starters are the ones who bred with the Charizard, Venusaur, and Blastoise to produce the eggs of this batch of starters, so I can have a little bit of privilege like seeing them before they are distributed."
Anthony and Glen nodded at this while asking.
"Mom, is the pay for the contracted buyout of the services of you and Dad's pokemons big?"
Hana nodded.
"Well, you can say that it is, though not THAT big, it certainly puts us in a good position and lets us comfortably go about our lives without me or your dad working on a regular paying job."
Anthony nodded at this as they arrived at the Pc Hana read the email that says: Please return the pokeballs after 3 days for their attitude check and the test for their aptitude in battles and long journeys before clearing them for the distribution.
It was from Professor Oak.
"Woah, Anthony, your mom was mailed by Professor Oak!"
Glen put his hands on Anthony's shoulders and shook the owner vigorously.
_Didn't you see him in person just a week ago?_
Anthony thought while he was being shaken, and as he did, Hana pressed the button in the middle area of the three pokeballs one by one and threw the pokeballs upwards lightly, causing three streaks of light to shine within the pokeballs, revealing three pokemons.
One is an orange Lizard with the burning tip of its tail as its most iconic feature; it also has dark blue eyes, while one seems to be a combination between a turtle and a squirrel; it has a blue body and a sturdy shell that covers its body. Lastly, there is also a green frog Pokémon with organic shape spots all over its body and unlike its other counterpart, this Pokémon, which looks like a frog, is standing on its all four limbs while a bulb of a yet to fully grow flower is above its back.
"Char-char!"
"Squirtle! Squirt! Squirt!"
"Bulba! Bulbasaur!"
The Kanto starters, Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur greeted everyone, seemingly not needing any kind of attitude test.
"Tree!"
"Kangaskhaaan!"
The two pokemons at the side of Hana, Glen, and Anthony, happily cried out too and immediately ran towards their three new friends to play.
"These three pokemons will be lent to you, Anthony, for you to catch your very first Pokémon."
Glen's eyes lit up again as he looked at his friend with envy before saying.
"I hope I can have a battle soon too..."
Hana saw the kid's sulking face and remembered how the kid was always throwing rocks around and pretending to use one of the three starters or sometimes even the pokemons of his father.
Hana decided to play Santa Claus. He picked up Bulbasaur, who was happily circling around with his other 4 companions, making it cry out a confused sounding "Bulba?" before saying.
"How about battling me then?"
Treecko and its trainer immediately froze up before their face burst into excitement.
Anthony, who was still being held by the shoulder, couldn't help but think.
_Is it legal to use a starter before its official distribution?_
The previous Anthony's studies are yet to dive into that topic, though Anthony knew that things are only illegal if it was seen by law-enforcing people or nosy neighbors, and if only they knew that the pokemons are technically not his mom's own.
_I want to watch a battle, so whatever._
_______________
In a vacant part of the mini farm of the Dover family, two green pokemons are facing off, one has a likeness that of a lizard while one is that of a frog with a flower bulb. The two pokemons are smiling, though in their eyes is a fighting spirit that two rookies in battles have in their very first battle have.
Behind their backs are their trainers, one is a boy in shorts and a t-shirt who has a nervous and excited expression on his face, while the other is a middle-aged woman, her hair is casually tied in a bun, and her two hands are resting on both sides of her slender waist.
Anthony, the referee and the only one of the three without a Pokémon, is in the middle, right side of his mother, Hana, and Glen.
"Alright, we have already agreed on the rules earlier, it's a one-on-one, no destructive moves, and upon a Pokémon faints and is unable to battle, the last one standing will be considered the winner."
Hana and Glen nodded while the two pokemons also cried out their affirmation, these two are not given the iconic 'pokeball toss' and then appear entrance because it was not really a random stranger Pokémon battle in the middle of the city, but rather just a friendly match.
Anthony raised his arms, causing the two trainers to get ready, though in his mind, he couldn't help but think.
_Mother is known to beat up children who challenged her, but that's only known by the previous Anthony because of the crying kids with their pokemons fainted and also some parents who talk to her because of this..._
Anthony wondered how will his mother would fight now that he's watching.
"Begin!"
Anthony stopped thinking about such things and made his hand descend, and as if to take the initiative, Glen immediately shouted his very first command in a Pokémon battle.
"Treecko, use Pound!"
Hearing this, Treecko immediately jumped in an arc towards Bulbasaur, who calmly waited for a command as Anthony said, Starters like Treecko and Bulbasaur are raised by their parents and their professors to be strong.
Treecko somersaulted, readying his tail made out of a fleshy leaf to use the Pound move, Glen and Hana watched Treecko, Glen with bated breath while Hana with calm, steady gaze, whilst she put her index finger up and said.
"Bulbasaur, use your mouth to catch Treecko's tail."
Glen's, Treecko's, and Anthony's eyes widened while Bulbasaur obediently obeyed the command, opening its mouth and biting the incoming leaf tail of Treecko, and even though Bulbasaur winced due to its first time receiving such an odd and painful command, Treecko's tail was successfully caught.
"Treee!"
The Pokémon of Glenn cried out in pain and shock.