Pokémon Phantom Black: Journey through Johu

Chapter 1: The Beginning

Brandon was happy. He was relieved.

Most kids get pokémon and leave home upon turning 10. However, his mother decided not to let him after his father went missing. With that, he spent 5 extra years in his home town of Nuwork. Luckily for him, his friends decided to stay too, to keep him company. Now it was his 15th birthday, when his mom decided to let him go.

Brandon woke up, took a shower, ate breakfast, and was packing his bag when there was a knock on the door. He instantly knew who it was.

"Ready to go?" It was Kyle, his neighbor and childhood friend. He had moved to Nuwork Town 6 years before, and met Brandon shortly after. Since then, both had changed a lot, except that they both always wanted to travel the Johu region. 

"Almost, just got to pack. Plus, we can't go, Charlie's not here yet."

"Then hurry it up, slowpoke."

About 10 minutes later, Brandon finished, but Charlie hadn't arrived. Kyle came up with the idea of going to her house. They knocked on the door, and got no response. Then they started pounding and yelling.

"CHARLIE!!!!!"

"Coming." said an angry voice.

"What brings you two here?"

"Did you finish packing?"

"No. I was watching TV when the two bozos decided to interrupt my relaxation."

"How are you not ready yet?! We leave today!"

"No we don't, idiot. It's tomorrow."

Charlie had always been the one smart person in the group. As such, she had every right to get annoyed at the others' stupidity. After all, she's been putting up with Brandon even before Kyle came. After he did, her peace ended. His competitiveness made for a lot of games. For instance, the time he challenged her to a match of water polo in the middle of winter, leading to both getting wet and sick.

Brandon and Kyle went back to their homes. While for Kyle it was regular, Brandon usually didn't make such dumb mistakes. He came to the conclusion that he was way too anxious. He went to his mom, asking for a pokémon, embracing the anxiousness instead of avoiding it. 

"Well, son, I have an egg I could give you. However, it will take some time for it to hatch."

Brandon went out for a walk, knowing that the physical activity would speed up the hatching progress. A few hours later, the egg finally hatched. He then went to sleep.

The following day, all three of them got together. Then Brandon showed his new pokémon to his friends.

"A Togepi, huh? Let's see if she can beat my Mareep."

Brandon accepted not expecting to win. While Togepi hatched the day before, Kyle had his Mareep for some time, and had even trained it in anticipation for leaving. However, Togepi managed to hang on for quite a while. But in the end Kyle won.

After the battle, the three went to Professor Spruce's lab. They healed Togepi and Mareep, and the professor gave each a Pokédex to help them. After thanking him, they went on to the nearby Rednag Town.