The Red Trainer (Part A) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

In Saffron City, lived a Pokémon pro-to-be.  
His name was Ricky Zane, but he preferred to be called Rick’.  
A seventeen year old with long spiky black hair, some hung over his head and a 
little fell back into a short ponytail, he recently started to dress in a red 
coat and blue jeans.  
He was a kind yet confident kid with loving parents and a family of Pokémon.  
Rick’s mother, Marisa, was a beautiful woman with long blonde hair, she was a 
teacher at the local college who did evening classes, and by day, she was 
Rick’s private teacher.  
Rick’s father, a dark haired kindly man with a moustache and beard, was a great 
doctor for people and Pokémon, he worked in the regular hospital but was 
sometimes called to the Pokémon Centre.  
In her day, Rick’s mother was quite the pro trainer and owned a horde of 
Pokémon that had won her the Kanto Pokémon League nineteen years ago, two years 
before Rick was born.  
She always told him stories of her travels and how she met his father, a young 
doctor that had gone out of his way to follow her on her journey because of a 
rare illness that she had.  
A simple dose of medicine every week would have done the trick and she needn’t 
have had him tagging along, but he was deeply in love with her and they married 
one year after she had accomplished her dreams.  
She had returned most of her Pokémon group to where they had come from but six 
Pokémon wouldn’t leave her side.  
All named with relatively normal names rather than strange ones, there was 
Serena:  Marisa Zane’s loyal Jynx, Lucille:  An adorable Ninetales, Calvin:  A 
happy mellow Vileplume, Maisy:  Marisa’s stern Marowak, Eddie:  A confident 
sensible Primeape, and Vega:  A responsible Scyther.  

They were all helpful around the household and with Rick’s upbringing, seeing 
as his mother was weak from her illness and needed help with everything, and 
her husband was very busy with his job as a doctor.  
Maisy, Eddie and Vega were in charge of guarding the house at night and also 
served as builders and helpers when the house was being modified or repaired.  
Calvin used his flower powers to take care of the garden and was happy being 
there all the time.  
Lucille helped with some cooking by using her firepower and otherwise acted 
like a housecat and playmate for Rick.  
Finally, there was Serena, Marisa’s first Pokémon and the one with the most 
responsibilities, she took care of Marisa a lot and went wherever she did, 
unless Rick needed attention.  
When he was a baby, Serena helped out a lot as well as the other Pokémon, but 
Serena was always in charge.  
She served as a maid around the house and a nanny for Rick.  
Though handicapped in many ways, Marisa always showed her love towards her 
family of people and Pokémon.  
But then there was a tragic night, Rick had just reached the age of seventeen 
when it happened.  
It happened while he was out with his father to celebrate his completion of the 
Pokémon exams.  

Some people had broken into their house and Marisa had taken a turn for the 
worse.  
Five of her Pokémon had suddenly vanished and Marisa had to be rushed to the 
hospital.  
Rick was very confused at what had happened and was stuck in the waiting room 
while his father tried to stabilise Marisa, Serena was assisting because of the 
lack of doctors that night.  

“Marisa...  This poison...  It reacted with your illness...  God I wish this 
wasn’t so...  You’re dying.” said Marcus sadly.  
Marisa breathed slowly, she felt dizzy and fragile.  
“Does... Rick... know?...” she panted.  
“No.  He doesn’t.”  
“Please...  You cannot tell him... the truth...  He wouldn’t... be able... to 
deal with it...  I was prepared for death anyway... because of my condition...  
You have to tell him that it was the cause...” pleaded Marisa.  
“Lie to Rick? About something this important?...” asked Marcus shocked.  
“We’ll never bring the real culprits to justice...  I didn’t get a good look at 
them...” said Marisa weakly.  
“Jynx...” said Serena sadly.  
“Serena...  There’ll be nothing for you soon...  I beg of you...  Please go 
with Rick on his journey... and protect him as I would...  Be the mother figure 
he’s about to lose...”  
Serena held Marisa’s hand and nodded, “Jynx...”  
“Marcus...  Serena...  I always loved you...  Tell Rick... to never give up on 
his dreams... and that I love him... ... ...”  
With that, she closed her eyes, and was silent and motionless.  

Marcus later found the courage to come out of the operating room and confront 
his son.  
“Son...  I’m so sorry...”  
Tears welled up in his eyes and he slammed his face into his father’s chest and 
wept.  
“Jynx...”  
Serena was ready to take on her trainer’s final wish.  
“Oh Serena...” cried Rick, running to her and letting her hold him close.  
“The illness finally got to her...  You were always wary of this...  She died 
peacefully and she never wants you to give up on your dreams.  She always loved 
you.” comforted Rick’s father.  
Rick couldn’t stop crying, while Serena comforted him, his father simply stood 
and looked glum, but he was hurting deep inside.  
“Doctor Zane, may I have a word with you?” asked Officer Jenny.  
“Of course, Officer.”  
“Dad...  What’s going on? Why are the police here?” asked Rick suspicious.  
“Its nothing important son.” said Doctor Zane seemingly rushing Jenny to a 
private room, though trying to be subtle.  

Rick refused to go on his journey and sunk into a depression for two weeks.  
The majority of his family had been taken away from him and most of which 
without an explanation.  
Serena served and catered for him until he realised he was going against his 
mother’s final wishes.  
He was rejecting his dreams of competing in the League like his mother, and 
dishonouring her memory by doing so.  
He pulled himself together and left his home to travel to Fuchsia City where a 
sponsor had seen his test scores and asked him to come over for his first 
Pokémon.  
Serena followed him and he officially had to carry her Pokéball around, though 
he didn’t want her to stay inside.  
Serena was always his nanny and very similar to his mother, and it didn’t feel 
right to treat her like a pet.  

“Ricky Zane.  You’ve finally arrived” said Professor Blossom, a beautiful lady 
with long green spiky hair and a lab coat, “I heard what happened and-”  
“Its just Rick, and you don’t have to worry about it.” he interrupted.  
“I’m afraid other misfortunate events have occurred, one of the Pokémon was 
already picked up, the other was stolen, this leaves only one Pokémon and I’m 
very sorry you didn’t get a choice in the matter.” said Blossom nervously.  
“You don’t have to worry.  Starter Pokémon are usually for new trainers so that 
they can defend them from wild Pokémon.  I’ve got Serena to do that, but it 
doesn’t feel right to order her around when she’s been in the family for so 
long.” replied Rick.  
“Of course, though she officially counts as one of your Pokémon so you could 
only ever have five other Pokémon.”  
“I understand totally.”  
He picked up the ball and released it.  
“Vol-torb!”  
“This is your Pokémon, an Electric-type called-”  
“I don’t mean to be rude but I’m familiar with it.”  
“Voltorb, this is your new trainer, he’s had a tough time which I’m sure you’ll 
find out and I’d like you to go easy on him, no exploding without his 
permission.”  
“Voltorb...” it said in a guilty tone but it was ready to comply.  

Blossom explained about the Pokémon Transport system there, and then and gave 
Rick his Pokéballs and Pokédex.  
She didn’t ask him to record all the entries as she had another trainer 
carrying out that task for her and because Rick needn’t have any more burdens 
or problems.  

Several months passed and after many adventures with Overload and Serena, Rick 
emerged with three badges and several new Pokémon:  
Blazer:  A playful Growlithe that served as a companion when they weren’t 
training or battling.  
Ooze:  A tricky Grimer that changed into many shapes which was helpful in some 
of Rick’s more dangerous adventures.  
Rocky:  A strong Graveler that was the strongest of Rick’s original squad.  
He was stern and tough and a little fierce in rare circumstances.  
Vortex:  An orphaned Poliwag that had lost its parents to some evil Rockets 
during an experiment.  
It had a vendetta for all Rockets after that, and lashed out at them whenever 
Rick encountered them.  
Leafer:  A baby Bellsprout that Rick nurtured and cared for, like a cross 
between a child and a flower.  
It liked to entertain and play around with its stringy body.  
Ostrio:  A pre-named Pokémon that was one of Rick’s modes of transport.  
It was cute, helpful and very fast, but the two heads sometimes argued.  
Crusher:  A raging Pinsir, it never changed after capture and struck quickly 
and deadly, it defeated opponents without a second thought and Rick had trouble 
controlling it at times.  
Finally there was Wyvern, a Dratini that Rick had swiped from a Rocket test 
with two leading scientists.  
It was lovable yet hesitant to battle.  

After a stunning victory in Damask Town which earned him his third badge, Rick 
headed up north to his home, Saffron City.  
He’d have had four badges, he was sure, if Fuchsia Gym wasn’t closed when he 
was passing by Fuchsia City to visit Professor Blossom, still, he used the time 
of a Gym Battle to go to the Safari Zone where he had picked up his Pinsir, and 
his Dratini that was being experimented on by two clowns calling themselves The 
Screwloose Brothers.  
When he got home, he’d visit his father, pick up some supplies, pay respects to 
his mother, and finally take on the Gym Leader, who he was familiar with.  
Until recently she never spoke to anyone, until a Haunter broke her sternness 
and got her to laugh again.  

It had taken a few days to get back home via the Vermilion North Gate which was 
an uphill struggle through a forest, but Ostrio got some exercise and helped 
Rick up in record time.  

Serena was out of her ball like most other times and Rick currently had his 
Doduo, Growlithe, Poliwag, Bellsprout and Grimer with him.  
It was night, but Rick didn’t feel like sleeping in this place and would 
probably catch up on sleep when he got home.  
He felt like he was being watched, and in this typical situation, he was.  
“Serena, I’m getting a little scared...” said Rick softly.  
“Jynx...” comforted Serena.  
She came closer to him and wrapped her left side of hair around him to keep him 
warm.  
Rick looked ahead and saw a bruised pink Pokémon.  
“A Clefairy, and its hurt!”  
He ran up to it and picked it up only to find that... “Its a Clefairy Doll!”  
Five figures in different coloured uniforms leapt from the treetops and 
surrounded Rick and the Jynx, they were all of dazzling colours and designs, 
and each person looked dark and evil.  
One, a spiky copper haired woman in a yellow skintight outfit.  
One, a dull looking man dressed in dark green whose hair was brown, greasy and 
draped off his head messily.  
One, a large muscular man with red straight upward hair in a slightly armoured 
orange outfit.  
One, a mysterious looking woman with curtain style auburn hair and a pale blue 
outfit with draping white cloth attachments around the wrists, shoulders and 
waist.  
And finally, a crazed looking female with frazzled orange hair and a torn 
purple outfit.  
Serena looked angrily at them as she did with anyone that would harm Rick, but 
then looked a little shocked and afraid.  
All of them had a badge with the Rocket design.  
“Serena, what’s wrong?...” questioned Rick.  
Apart from the obvious difference in number, Rick wasn’t in any immediate 
danger, at least he hoped not.  
“We are the Lunar Crew.” said the copper lady, “The greatest Pokémon thieves in 
the world.  Hand over your Pokémon or face a terrible fate!”  
Each member drew a Pokéball and held it menacingly.  
Now Rick was aware of the danger and returned the trembling hug to Serena.  

End of Part A  

Part B
Back to the Side Stories
Back to the Pokézone