Prologue

When I was younger and silly and easily upset, my mother would tell me the best way to see the bright side of a dark situation was to put a humorous spin on it.

As I look back, I can only wonder how what had happened to me can in any way be considered humorous.

More so painful, confusing, and terrifying.

Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that I was ridiculously lost, perhaps that my Oddish had been unconscious for the past two days, maybe it was because a Geodude fell onto my foot and it started swelling up badly, or because I'd wasted all of my Pokéball trying to catch some stupid Clefairy with suspiciously green ears.

But I think it's mostly got to do with the lunatic that ran away with my stuff and the giant hole I fell into.

Before detailing how I ended up limping through a Zubat-infested cave and into a hole, however, a bit of backstory may be important.

My name is Jenelle Thompson and I train Pokémon. At this point, just one. Or, more appropriately, none. I hoped to one day become Champion of Atora but I soon gave up on this and hoped only to finish beating every gym.

Why? I'm not sure. Perhaps it's appropriate to say it's because I liked Pokémon, but that isn't really true. They're sort of annoying after a while.

But really, I just wanted to do something cool. It's thanks to the massive amounts of grandeur they place on being a powerful trainer that I even considered challenging the Atora region's league, and even then it took me another four years and less than subtle prodding by my parents to decide to actually start.

So far in my journey, I'd caught zero Pokémon, gotten one gym badge, and won around seven or eight battles.

It doesn't sound half bad, unless you consider the fact that I'd been out training for a year.

Now, it wasn't necessarily because I was a bad trainer, but more that in that year I'd been screwing around trying to find out where to go and getting ridiculously lost in the process. Surprisingly, the maps you find of the region do not help you navigate the streets of some large city, scale a mountain, or find your way out of a spiraling maze of a forest.

After finding my way to a town I didn't recognize, called Fresheast Town, I ran into a few trainers talking about great cave off to the north where a lot of rare Pokémon lived. Looking back, I realize the word 'cave' alone should've been a clear indicator that it was a dangerous place, but rare Pokémon sounded great, and I was getting rather bored of Oddish, so I bought a few supplies and went on in.

I knew a few minutes in that I should've turned back immediately, after losing pathetically to a hiker with a giant Onyx, but I was soon entranced by the Chingling, Sandshrew, and Clefairy scurrying and digging around. I really wanted to catch one of them.

Things went wrong when I shined my flashlight into a Geodude's face accidentally and, in turn, the crazy thing flew from the rock it as hiding on and onto my foot.

In severe pain, I started to limp my pathetic butt back the way I came from when I say that Clefairy. Of course, I couldn't resist trying to catch it, and 10 Pokéballs and an unconscious Oddish later I found myself very upset and tired.

Finding nothing else to do, I took a short nap. A stupid mistake, because I woke up to some felon snatching my bag from under my head.

I chased after the person a bit, but my foot hurt way too much and I fell behind, and with this the real story begins.

The cave was dark save the weak light coming from my flashlight (my only possession at that point) that illuminated only a few feet in front of me. Occasionally, I'd point the light to the ceiling to chase away any Zubat hanging out above my head, just because I could.

I limped along at the approximate top speed of a Slakoth, which in my state was the best I could do. But even still, I was furious. It had been about three hours since I'd woken up to see a figure run away with my bag in hand, and in that time I had only managed to let the person get away deeper into the cave. As I was injured, unequipped, and it was stupid to go deeper into the cave, but what did I care? I needed my stuff.

After half a day of dragging my foot along and crying a lot, I was hopeless, tired, and ready to give up. I wondered at that point if I really needed my stuff. In an attempt to make myself feel better, I started talking to myself.

"Well, Jenelle, if you want to not die, I'd think so."

I paused to consider this. "Yes, that's true. But if I turn back now I could probably make it out alive… But no, you're hopelessly lost, Jenelle."

I stopped for a few minutes, feeling like a complete idiot, but eventually muttered. "What if the guy that took my stuff is a crazy murderer?"

"You can't leave Oddish with them, then."

I faintly thought of Oddish freaking out upon regaining consciousness and sighed. Unfortunately, I was right.

Of course, I wouldn't give up, but a long nap and some water sounded like a good idea.

Since I didn't have any water on me, I decided a nap would suffice until I could find a nice puddle. I took one last tentative look at the area, spotted a comfy looking rock nearby, trudged slowly towards it—

And then I fell into a giant hole.

After a year-long hiatus in which I endured massive writer's block, quit fanfiction, started writing CYOA novels for money and eventually got writer's block again, I'm back and writing this stupid story because I hate myself.

It's the prequel to my other fic, Cold Oatmeal, which I'm releasing in a few months. Woo.

It's really weird. It's going to be really weird and dark and very pointless but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. Sorry this was so short, Chapter One is five times longer, so.

Updates will be every Thursday, I guess.