Starter Pokemon

The next day, it was just over a week until the contest. Ash felt ready for it because of his practice with Dustox. But May didn't feel ready yet so she decided to practice with Beautifly some more. Torchic wanted to practice too, but May told it to wait with the others and she walked off with Beautifly. Max was starting to think that May was paying too much attention to Beautifly, and was leaving Torchic out a lot. He told Ash, Tomo and Brock about his feelings while they were at the Pokemon Center. 
"It's true that May is paying a lot of attention to Beautifly right now because of the contests." Ash said. "But that doesn't mean she'll stop caring for Torchic."
"Ash is right." Tomo said. "May loves Torchic and since Torchic was May's starter and very first Pokemon, Torchic is more special to her than you think."
"It's true Max." Brock added. "I mean, no matter how many Pokemon a Pokemon trainer captures; their starter Pokemon will always be special to them."
"That's correct." Ash continued. "I've caught a lot of different Pokemon traveling across Kanto, the Orange Islands, Johto and Hoenn, but they are all very special to me especially Pikachu because Pikachu was my starter Pokemon."
"Same with me and Growlithe." Tomo said. "Growlithe was my first Pokemon and we've been together ever since I left Ranger Jenny to live with Ash. And Growlithe is special to me too, even though I have more Pokemon now."
Max started to think.
"I must admit." He said. "When I caught Zigzagoon and Linoone for my own, I felt really happy because they became my starter Pokemon. And even if I now have three Whismur, a Poochyena, a Shroomish, a Wingull, a Shuppet and a Seel, well I still like Zigzagoon and Linoone a lot."
"That's the spirit Max." Brock said. "A starter Pokemon will always be special to a Pokemon trainer no matter what."
"So Brock what was it like when you got your first Pokemon?" Max asked. 
"Ah that day was the best day of my life." Brock said.
Brock explained on the morning of his tenth birthday, he was starting to wake up and then an Onix peeked through his bedroom window. Then Flint entered the room; Flint had captured the Onix and it was Brock's birthday gift as well as his starter Pokemon. 
"It was the best birthday that I ever had, and even though my Onix is now a Steelix and back at the Pewter Gym he will always be special to me." Max started to understand now.
Then Nurse Joy walked up to the gang.
"Hello there." She said. "I heard you guys talking about the starter Pokemon, and I was wondering if you boys would like to see the Treecko, Torchic and Mudkip that I will be handing out to a Pokemon trainer today."
The boys accepted Nurse Joy's invitation. Nurse Joy explained that since there was no Pokemon lab in Slateport City beginning trainers would get their starter Pokemon in the Pokemon Center. The Treecko, Torchic and Mudkip were in perfect health and were ready for the trainer. Ash bent down to say hi to them and tickle their chins. The Mudkip and Treecko accepted it, but the Torchic pecked Ash's finger and tried to scratch him.
"Oh dear, I am sorry about that." Nurse Joy said. "That Torchic doesn't like strangers very much and it makes me worried how it will react to new trainers."
Suddenly the phone rang; it was May.
"Nurse Joy, there's a problem on the beach." She said worried. "I was training with my Beautifly, but then we saw a Wailord wash up on the beach and it looks sick."
Wailord was a big blue and white whale Pokemon.
Ash looked Wailord up on the Pokedex.
"Wailord, the Float Whale Pokemon. Wailord is the largest of all identified Pokemon up to now. This giant Pokemon swims languorously in the vast open seas, eating massive amounts of food at once with it's enormous mouth."
Nurse Joy had to leave the Pokemon Center to help the Wailord and Brock offered to help. She asked Ash, Max and Tomo to look after the three starter Pokemon while she was gone. What they didn't know was that a shady-looking man was listening and left the Pokemon Center, grinning.
Once Nurse Joy was gone Torchic began running to go outside.
"Hey come back here Torchic." Max said.
Ash used his psychic power to stop Torchic and then grabbed it so that it wouldn't escape again. 
"Sorry Torchic." Ash said. "But you have to stay until the new trainer gets here."
Torchic started to peck at Ash's hands to try to escape, but Ash didn't let go having barely felt the pecks.
"You okay Ash?" Max asked, worried.
"Yeah I'm good." Ash replied.
"I think we should return Torchic, Treecko and Mudkip to their Poke Balls before anything else happens." Tomo said.
Ash and Max agreed and Max returned them to their Poke Balls.
Nurse Joy, May and Brock returned to the Pokemon Center.
"Thanks for taking care of the Pokemon for me." Nurse Joy said.
"No problem." Ash responded. "Is the Wailord okay?"
"Oh yes." Nurse Joy said. "I've given it some medicine and all it needs to do now is rest. Then it will be as good as new."
Nurse Joy then noticed the red marks on Ash's hands. 
"Torchic gave you a hard time didn't it?"
"Yeah." Ash nodded, looking at his hands. "But Torchic and the others are back in their Poke Balls, all safe and sound."
A few moments later...
A girl and a man, her dad, came to the Pokemon Center.
"I'm here to pick up my starter Pokemon Nurse Joy." The girl said. She was the beginner trainer.
"Okay Stephanie." Nurse Joy said. 
Stephanie was the girl's name. Max sent out Treecko, Torchic and Mudkip from the Poke Balls for Stephanie to see. Stephanie looked at them and started to think about what Pokemon to choose. Suddenly a boy rushed into the Pokemon Center.
"I saw a man attacking a Wailord on the beach with an Electrode." He said.
Nurse Joy was horrified. 
"I'm sorry Stephanie." She said. "But I need to go help the Wailord."
Stephanie didn't mind. She and her dad went to contact the police. The gang went with Nurse Joy to help and the three starter Pokemon followed too.
The shady-looking man from earlier was on the beach and he was just about to catch the Wailord with a Dive Ball. A Dive Ball was a pale blue and white Poke Ball used to catch water type Pokemon. But the shady man was stopped in his tracks by a Thunderbolt. It was Nurse Joy and the gang; they had just arrived on the beach.
"I've heard of you." Nurse Joy said to the man. "You capture Wailmer and Wailord to sell them for money."
"That's right." The man said. "And this Wailord will certainly fetch a good price."
The gang was shocked.
"Not gonna happen!" Ash shouted. "This Wailord's not going anywhere."
"Try and stop me kid." The man said.
He told his Electrode to get them out of the way. Ash released Aron from it's Poke Ball and then ordered it to use Roar. The roar caused the Electrode to return to it's Poke Ball.
"Okay Aron use Headbutt." Aron headbutted the man hard and he dropped his Dive Ball.
Then the police arrived and arrested the man.
"Thanks for helping us capture him." A police offer said. "He's been capturing and selling Wailer and Wailord for a while now. But he's no longer going to be doing that where he's going." 
Nurse Joy and the gang were delighted to hear that.
After that everyone went back to the Pokemon Center and now Stephanie could pick out her Pokemon without any further interruptions.
Stephanie was just about to say what she wanted, but then Torchic jumped off the table that it, Treecko and Mudkip were on and ran over to Ash.
"What's the matter Torchic?" Ash asked. "Do you not want to be chosen?"
Torchic spoke to Ash.
"Okay." Ash said.
He explained that Torchic wanted to go with him; it was impressed with how Ash battled the man and it wants to become strong like that.
"Sorry Nurse Joy, Stephanie, do you mind if I take Torchic?"
"I don't mind at all Ash." Stephanie responded. "The truth is I decided to have Mudkip as my starter Pokemon. And I think Torchic suits you more than it would me." 
"I don't mind either." Nurse Joy smiled. "I think Torchic will be happy with you and no other trainer."
So in the end, Ash got Torchic and Stephanie got Mudkip. As for Treecko, Stephanie's dad liked Treecko and claimed it for his own. So everything was well in the end. The Wailord fully recovered and was now happily swimming in the ocean. Ash was now happy to have all three starter Pokemon from the Hoenn Region.