Chapter 1: Heiji’s Makuhita

Heiji watched his father put his Pokémon through the morning drills – running, weights, and sessions with the punching bags, etc. All of Heizo Hattori’s Pokémon are in shape and know how to fight. The Dewford Gym boasts the strongest Pokémon and has a reputation for being the toughest Gym to beat when qualifying for the Pokémon League.  

This day was special though. Today the new Pokémon – the recently captured and hatched – were going to be put through the paces for the first time. The baby Makuhita bounced eagerly on their feet, ready to join their parents and older brothers and sisters. Heiji had his eye on one in particular, one that was only two feet tall and the shortest of the bunch. He was already imitating the punches he saw his older brother throwing at a punching bag nearby. This one was a fighter. He’d grow up to be big and strong.

“Heiji!” Heizo called out to his son. “Get those young ones started.”

“Really?! Yes, Sir!” Heiji grinned, excited. Ever since he’d turned eight, his father had started allowing him to help more around the gym, slowly teaching him what it was like to be a Pokémon Trainer.

Heiji led the young and newly captured Pokémon to the track and obstacle course, showing them what to do, encouraging them as they got started. The littlest Makuhita dragged behind his siblings, but what he lacked in speed he made up for it with stamina and enthusiasm. He wasn’t as strong as the others, Heiji noted, when they started on the weights. Makuhita was struggling to lift the one it had chosen for itself but he never gave up, even when it was time for a lunch break.

“You can stop now,” Heiji told the Makuhita. “We’ll get started again after we eat.”

The little guy only grunted and kept trying to lift the weight.

“Lift with your legs,” Heiji suggested, not really knowing what it meant but he remembered his father saying that when one of his Pokémon struggled with lifting some of heavier weights.

The little Makuhita shifted its stance, and tried again. He was able to lift it a little better, but the weight was just too heavy for him.

“Hey, don’t strain yourself,” Heiji said, worried when Makuhita started to shake. “Take it easy. We’ll start you out with a lighter weight and work you back up to this one. Don’t sweat it. You’ll be lifting it in no time!”

The Makuhita allowed Heiji to take the weight away and plopped down on his butt.

“Maku…hita,” he panted, nodding.

Heiji smiled and helped him back up, leading him over to the others who were starting to eat their lunch.

Over the next few weeks Heiji watched that Makuhita strive to become just as strong as the others. He admired the little Pokémon’s fighting spirit and over time began to favor it. Heiji coached him more than the others, and the little Makuhita soon began to grow. He became faster, stronger, and slightly bigger than the other Makuhita he had hatched with.

“That Makuhita of yours looks good, Sweetheart,” Heiji’s mother, Shizuka, smiled. “He’s doing really well.”

“He’s a fighter, that’s for sure,” Heizo agreed, joining his wife and son to watch the new Pokémon spar with some of the older and more experienced ones that Heizo regularly fought against trainers that came to the gym. “You’ve done a good job with that one, Heiji.”
Heiji grinned proudly.

“Just don’t forget to give that sort of attention, time and dedication to the others though, alright?” Heizo said. “It does no good to have only one strong Pokémon. When you become a Pokémon Trainer and start your journey, you’re going to want a strong team, and not just a single strong individual.”

“Yes, Dad,” Heiji nodded.

For the next two years Heiji worked with many of the Pokémon his father had at the gym, but that one Makuhita was still his favorite to work with. He learned many things with that Makuhita about training Pokémon and after Heiji turned nine, together they helped weed out some of the weaker Pokémon trainers that came to challenge the Dewford gym. If they couldn’t beat Heiji and his young Makuhita friend, then they didn’t have a prayer against Heizo Hattori and his Hariyama for a Knuckle Badge.

Heiji learned a lot from those encounters with trainers. He couldn’t wait to turn ten and set out on his own journey. But as his tenth birthday drew nearer, Heiji realized something. Makuhita was his dad’s Pokémon. Heiji was only helping to train him and the others. When he started his journey to become a great Pokémon Trainer – a Pokémon Master – he would have to leave Makuhita behind.

Heiji started to feel conflicted. As much as he wanted to start his own journey to become a Pokémon Trainer, he didn’t want to leave his friend behind. Because that’s what Makuhita had become. A friend. For two years they’d trained together, battled trainers together, and had even had some fun adventures together exploring all over Dewford Island. Heiji didn’t want to imagine a life without Makuhita. He’d even given him a name – with his father’s permission of course. He’d named him Toushi, which meant “fighter” in the old native language*.

But that day did eventually come. Heiji’s parents threw a great party in celebration of his tenth birthday and many of his schoolmates and people from the village came to celebrate and wish him luck on his journey. It was going to be Heiji’s last day on Dewford Island until he returned as an official Pokémon Trainer to challenge his father for a Knuckle Badge. That evening after the party he sat behind the gym with Toushi and said his good-byes.

Both of them were sad and wanted to cry, but they didn’t. They had to be strong. Toushi was going to be one of Heizo’s new starter Pokémon in gym battles and Heiji was going to become a great Pokémon trainer. Heiji promised his friend that when they saw each other again, it would be in a gym battle and that they would both fight their hardest. They owed each other that. Heiji said his final good-bye and went home. Most of his things were already pack for him that night, so after packing what little there was left, Heiji said good-bye to his father he left with his mother for the docks where they took the last ship out of town that night to the Mainland.

Heiji wasn’t sure where they were, but it didn’t matter much. Shizuka booked them a room at the local motel and as soon as the sun rose the next day, she rented a car and they drove a long way before finally reaching the small, but well-known town of Littleroot, home to the Hoenn region’s Pokémon Professor, Hiroshi Agasa.

“Ah! Welcome my boy!” Professor Agasa greeted, ushering Heiji in. “You are just in time.”

Heiji looked around the laboratory he found himself in and saw a few other kids who’d recently turned ten as well. Most had one or both of their parents with them like Heiji, and some appeared to be alone. Once a kid in Hoenn turned ten, they needed to meet with Professor Agasa if they wanted to become official Pokémon Trainers. Professor Agasa as a busy man, but he met with children on the second Saturday of every month to give them their first Pokémon, an official Hoenn Trainer’s license card, and their Pokédex, which doubled as their Trainer ID. The reason Heiji and his mother had to leave so soon after Heiji’s own birthday was because his tenth birthday had fallen on the Friday before the second Saturday. If they hadn’t left when they had, Heiji would have had to wait another month before starting his journey.

“All right, children. Settle down now, eh?” Professor Agasa said before launching into a long speech about Pokémon, partnership, what it meant to be a Pokémon Trainer, and the responsibilities they would have to their Pokémon as their trainers. It wasn’t anything Heiji hadn’t heard before from his father already, so Heiji looked around at the other kids.

Most listened with intense concentration, probably hearing this speech for the first time. No one really stood out to Heiji much except for a pair of twin boys standing off to the side with their mother. They looked nearly identical except for their hairstyle. One had messy brown locks while the other’s hair lay nice and neat and flat atop his head apart from a tiny cowlick that stuck up in the back. The messy haired twin was bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet, looking around the lab. His twin was listening to the Professor, like the others. Occasionally their mother would put a hand on the messy-haired twin’s shoulder and he’d still for a moment and perhaps pay attention to what the Professor was saying for a few seconds before starting up again. His brother even elbowed him in the side at one point and hissed at him out of the corner of his mouth without ever taking his eyes off Professor Agasa. Heiji snickered when he saw that, earning a swat from his mother who told him to pay attention.

Finally Professor Agasa was done speaking and he led Heiji and the other children over to a podium where a number of pokéballs sat waiting and he introduced the three starter Pokémon: Treecko, Mudkip, and Torchic. There was enough for everybody and he called the children up in order by birthday to select their Pokémon. Agasa always started with the oldest, working down to youngest so that those who’d waited a while could start their journeys first. This meant that Heiji would be last.

“May 4th, Shinichi Kudo,” Professor Agasa called first.

A May birthday? And one at the beginning of the month? Heiji frowned. This kid should have started his journey two-and-a-half months ago. Why had he waited? Maybe he was from one of the towns way up north, or one of the eastern islands. Some kids had to travel pretty far to start their Pokémon Trainer journeys.

The neat haired twin approached the podium and examined his choices before going with a Mudkip. Heiji waited for the kid’s twin to be called next, but a girl with an early June birthday was called next, and then two boys and another girl with mid-June birthdays.

“June 21st, Kaito Kuroba,” Professor Agasa called, and finally the messy haired boy bounced up to pick his Pokémon – a Torchic.

Heiji was surprised. The two boys had different last names, so they were not twins or even brothers. They had to be cousins, then. There was too much of a resemblance for them not to be family in some way.

A girl was called next with an early July birthday, then a few other boys, and then finally…

“July 12th, Heiji Hattori.”

Heiji approached the podium and examined his choices. All three would evolve into really awesome Pokémon, but Heiji only had one in mind. He picked a Treecko. He wasn’t going to stick with one that was cutesy from the start. Treecko were well known for their fighting prowess from the beginning. It was the perfect starter Pokémon for Heiji, who’d grown up around the fighting type Pokémon his dad raised.

After that, Professor Agasa handed each of them their Trainer’s license card, six pokéballs and their Pokédex, and wished them luck on their journeys. As Heiji and his mother left the Professor’s laboratory, Shizuka started giving him as many tips as she could between the laboratory and her rental car that she’d drive back to the docks and return before taking the boat back home to Dewford.

“Mom! I got it, ok? Really. I’ll be fine,” Heiji smiled, hugging her. “I’ll see you and Dad soon enough, and I’ll be sure to call you when I get to Petalburg City.”

“Alright,” his mother smiled, hugging him tight. “Safe travels and take care of yourself and your Pokémon. Oh! I nearly forgot! Your father and I wanted to give you something.”

“Mom! My bag is full,” Heiji protested. “I don’t think I can fit much more in it.”

“You’ll have room for this,” Shizuka beamed as she pulled out a pokéball. “Here.”
Heiji took the pokéball and released the Pokémon inside it.

“Makuhita!” it said.

“Toushi!” Heiji cried, hugging his friend.

“Your father and I agreed that Toushi is your Pokémon. It wouldn’t have been right to separate you two,” Shizuka smiled. “You both take are of each other now, you hear?”

“Yes, Ma’am!”

“Maku!”

“Good. Now go start your journey,” Shizuka smiled after giving her son and his Pokémon a hug before getting in the rental car and drove away.

“Awesome! You ready, buddy?” Heiji asked.

“Makuhita!”

“Then lets go.”