Disclaimer: Pokémon is owned by Satoshi Taijri, Nintendo, Game Freak, and Cartoon Network, this is just for fun.

A/N: I wanted to see how Max's journey would have gone if they aged in the Pokémon anime so I wrote this. It might be a little slow to start but it will get better, enjoy.

As the first rays of the sun shone through my window and hit my face, I hopped out of my bed. I was 10 years old today; I could become a Pokémon trainer and compete in the Hoenn League. I ran to my dresser and grabbed my clothes, so I could get dressed. I looked myself over in the mirror above my dresser. I pushed up my glasses from where they slid down my nose, so I could get a better look at myself; I thought my blue cargo jeans with a hunter green tee-shirt over a grey long sleeved shirt looked good. I then put on and tied my black sneakers, before I grabbed my already packed blue camping backpack that had grey side pockets, from where it was leaning against the foot of my bed. With my backpack on my back, I raced down the stairs.

My Mom and Dad were in the kitchen, they were sitting at the table drinking coffee, and my Dad looked up at me. "Good morning Max, I see that you're all ready for your journey." I had a huge smile on my face and I started bouncing on the balls of my feet with excitement, "yep I sure am." Just than my stomach started growling, "maybe you can have some breakfast before we drive over to Professor Birch's lab." My Mom said to me with a little chuckle, I said okay to her and put my backpack down. I sat at the table and ate a bowl of cerealand some fruit, than I washed my breakfast dishes. My Mom and Dad were just finishing their coffee and put their cups in the sink. I grabbed my backpack to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything and it was all there including my newly updated Pokenav. I ran out the front door as my parents followed at a much slower pace to my Dad's tan truck. I put my backpack in to the truck bed and climbed in to the truck cab so I would be in the middle. My parents got in and soon we were off to Littleroot town.

The drive to Littleroot town took us about a half an hour, but we finally got there my Mom got out and I eagerly got out of the truck after she did. I quickly walked in to the lab with my parents following behind me. I saw Professor Birch walking up to me carrying a tray with three Poke balls sitting on it. "Good morning Max, today is the big day, when you'll be starting your own journey, huh?" I nodded my head quickly, "I'm so excited to start catching and training Pokémon." He set the tray on the counter to my left, "Well, let's let them out and see who you choose?" One by one he let the three Pokémon out of their Poke balls.

I looked over the Mudkip first; I squatted down to be more at its level. It smiled up at me and I petted its head, it happily accepted the attention it was getting. Than just as quickly it walked away from me, it found a spot in the corner of the room, to lay down where it quickly fell asleep. "I guess it wasn't very taken with you, maybe one of the other two?" Professor Birch said with a slight chuckle.

The Torchic energetically ran around me in a circle, I tried to get it to calm down a little but it wouldn't listen to me. "Just relax for a minute will ya Torchic, please?" It stopped suddenly and it allowed me to pick it up. While holding it with my left hand, I petted its head with my right. And just as I was starting to think I could choose and raise a Torchic just like May did, it chose that moment to make me think otherwise. It was still very excited to see me and get attention from me, and in its excitement it shot a very small Ember attack burning my fingers. I almost dropped it but my Dad was able to catch it before it fell on the floor and set it down just in time. "Maybe I'll get one that's not as energetic as the Torchic." I said as Professor Birch handed me Burn heal to use on my fingers. My Mom looked at me a little worried but I told her I was fine.

Finally it was time for me to look at the Treecko, or should I say it was time for it to look at me. It had a serious look on its face as it looked up at me, I tried moving toward it but it stopped with a raise of its scaly paw. I stood still but tried to talk to it, "hey I just want to be your friend Treecko." It calmly walked to me and started to climb up my body like I was a tree. It circled around my body until it stopped in front of me. Its tail curled around my upper chest on my right side and its paws rested on my shoulders. I held on to its little waist as it still stared at me with that serious look of its. I was nervous as it looked me over; I wondered what it thought of me as a trainer and as a person. I was starting to really like this strange Pokémon, with the way it approached me. After what seemed like forever, it grew a smile on its face and patted me on the shoulder with its right paw, "Treecko tree." It happily said to me, "well I guess we found you're first Pokémon, Max." Professor Birch said to me as I hugged my Treecko I than set it on the floor.

Professor Birch handed me my Pokedex and ten Poke balls, "one of the Poke balls is Treecko's of course, and the others are extra for when you catch your other Pokémon. I also downloaded your information in to the Pokedex in case of an emergency." I flipped open the Pokedex to see all of my information on the screen. "Thank you so much Professor," he had a grin on his face, "it was no trouble at all, I enjoy helping young trainers get their start." I put six Poke balls on my belt, I'd put the other ones in my backpack. I put my Pokedex in the lower left pocket of my cargo jeans. All of us walked outside, Treecko was right beside me as we made it to my Dad's truck. I grabbed my backpack than set it on the ground so I could put the extra Poke balls in a side pocket. I put my backpack on and Treecko climbed up and sat on my pack with his paws on my shoulders.

My Mom walked over to me and gave me a hug which I returned, "I want you and Treecko to be careful out there. Spend your money wisely and don't talk to strangers, okay Max?" My Mom let me go so she could look at me, "I will, and I love you." My Mom got teary eyed and hugged me again, "I love you too." She let me go so my Dad could talk to me, "Max I'm sure you'll make us all proud with your training. And I just know you'll take the Hoenn League by storm. I love you son." My Dad gave me a hug, "I love you too." Professor Birch gave me a handshake and wished me good luck in the League, I thanked him for everything.

I said goodbye to everyone and told my parents that I would call them when I made to the nearest Pokémon center. With Treecko sitting on my backpack, we headed north in to the forest. As I walked I noticed a flock of Taillow flying overhead, I thought about catching one but decided against it. There was a different Pokémon I wanted to catch first, Ralts. I just knew I would find her out here somewhere. With that thought in my mind I had a new spring in my step as I walked along the path.

I stopped to rest after two hours of walking; Treecko and I sat in the grass while I leaned against a tree stump. I took a drink of water from my dark green canteen, than I offered some to Treecko who took a few gulps of it. I stretched out my legs as I watched a Wurmple crawl up a tree; it crawled to the lowest branch and went to sleep. "Hey Treecko, do you want to train for a little bit?" It nodded its head and jumped to its feet, "Treecko." I stood up, "okay let's try Pound." It jogged away a little bit, than it raced back and hit the tree stump with its head, leaving a small dent in it. "That was great let's try again." We worked on it for about half an hour, the tree stump had a baseball sized hole in it. Then we switched to Quick attack, Treecko zoomed toward the stump, hitting it and nearly uprooted the thing. I noticed Treecko started to get tired so I told it we could stop. I told Treecko that it could rest in its Poke ball while I walked some more.

By the time it was getting dark, I had found a good spot by a small creek to make camp. I set up my surprising roomy one person tent and had a fire going before I let Treecko out of its Poke ball. I ate a sandwich and some apple slices while Treecko ate its Pokémon food; I shared some of my apple slices with it. As soon as we finished eating, we both let big yawns so we decided to go to bed. I put out the fire before I crawled in to the tent with Treecko. With the tent zipped up I settled in to my sleeping bag, Treecko was right beside me, "goodnight Treecko today was a great day." It said goodnight to me and we both fell asleep.

The next morning we woke up and had some breakfast than I packed up our camp. We kept walking north, farther and farther we went. We stopped to rest and trained a bit more; I quickly learned that my Treecko was a male, though I should have known that from his male to female gender ratio. His Pound and Quick attack were getting really good. After a while we started moving again, this time Treecko rested on my backpack.

As we walked we came across four Stantler grazing in a small meadow. Treecko was curious about them and so was I, so we slowly made our way over to them. I crouched in front of a bush so they wouldn't see us. They quietly ate some grass and even a few wildflowers, they were so beautiful looking. I wanted to learn more about them, I got out my Pokedex and turned down the volume on it first. I learned that they could create illusions and that they could learn some good attacks, like Hypnosis. Suddenly there was a noise coming from the far side of the meadow and the Stantler quickly ran away. As I was turning to leave too something caught my eye, it was a Ralts, Kirlia, Gardevoir, and an Abra.

The Ralts and Abra started running around and playing as the Gardevoir and Kirlia stood by watching them. I couldn't believe my eyes first that an Abra would even be moving so much while not battling. And second I started to think that this was the same Ralts I had met three years ago. I stared wide-eyed at them and I knew that Treecko was probably a little worried about me by the way I was acting. I felt Treecko start to shake my shoulders to get me to move but I couldn't.

I slowly stood up and started moving toward them, the Gardevoir and the Kirlia got in to a fighting stance when they saw me. "Ralts is that you, it's me Max." Ralts and Abra stopped playing; Ralts looked at me and started walking toward me. Gardevoir and Kirlia settled down, Ralts and I stopped just a foot away from each other. Just then Ralts ran to me, I bent down to catch her. I sat on the ground and hugged her; she looked from me to Treecko and smiled.

The Abra stood and looked at the two of us and back at Gardevoir, trying to understand what was going on. Ralts slipped out of my arms and walked over to her friend; she grabbed one of his claws and brought him over to me. Ralts introduced us, "hello Abra nice to meet you." I held out my hand and shook his claw. Treecko jumped down off my shoulders, he wanted to play with the two of them. I sat and watched the three of them chase each other, Gardevoir and Kirlia stood next to me. "I'm a trainer now and I want to take her with me. Would that be alright with you?" Gadevoir looked at me than at her child, she nodded her head, "Gardevoir."

I smiled and got up to run toward her, "Ralts you can come with me." She got a surprised look on her face than a big smile. I picked her up and hugged, Treecko cheered for the both of us. But Abra got a sad look on his face like I was taking his best friend away; Ralts asked me if it was okay if Abra came too. "You can come with us if you want Abra." He looked up at me with his squinty eyes, smiling big. He ran toward me and hugged my legs; I leaned down and patted his head.

Ralts was very happy that she could come with me that she rushed over to Gardevoir to thank her and to say goodbye. After everyone said goodbye to each other, Gardevoir and Kirlia teleported away in an instant. Now that there was only the four of us, I decided to put Ralts and Abra in to their Poke balls for a second. I took out two of them from my belt and enlarged them; I then sat down in front of Ralts and Abra. I gently tapped them on their foreheads with the Poke balls; they shrank down in to red beams of light as they were sucked into the Poke balls. I let them out after a few seconds.

I had captured two Pokémon as a real trainer, I was happy to know that Ralts was one of the first I ever caught. I also knew that her friend Abra would be a great addition to my team; I just couldn't separate two best friends like that. I sat and watched as Abra started up a game of tag with Treecko and Ralts. I was still amazed at how active he was considering he sleeps up to 18 hours a day. I wound up watching them play for hours; they even got me to play for a little while. As the sun started setting we had made camp and ate dinner, and we were also able to find some berries to eat.

After we ate, we sat around and looked at the stars; I couldn't believe that I had three Pokémon already. I really wasn't sure what tomorrow would bring for the four of us but I knew that it would be great. Soon Abra yawned and made everyone else yawn, so I put out the fire and we got into the tent. I got in to my sleeping bag and everyone else snuggled around me as we all drifted off to sleep.

To be continued…

A/N: Please tell what you guys thought about the story so far, I'd really appreciate some feedback on this, thank you