North, South, East and West: North – Hoenn: Of Ground and Water
North, South, East and West: North – Hoenn: Of Ground and Water
Hi all and welcome to one of four stories that make up this arc of the NSEW saga. This story follows directly on from the Original North, South, East and West which can be found in my author profile. So please go and read that first otherwise these first few chapters may not make much sense. Also, please note that this story will only follow Richard on his journey through Hoenn. If you want to follow Chris, Amy or Rebecca, please go to their own stories which will be up on my userpage soon. Thanks and enjoy.
Special Note: I am still accepting applications for Original Trainers. There are currently 6 slots available (1 with Richard, 2 with Chris, 2 with Amy and 1 with Rebecca) and the only restrictions on any submissions I get are thus.
If your Trainer has one of the official starter Pokemon on their team you can now only pick from Charmander, Squirtle, Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Mudkip or Chimchar. If you intend to make a full team without any of these Pokemon then please ignore this note.
No Legendaries. I'll just ignore you if you put any legendaries in your team.
If your character is not picked please specify if you don't mind your character being a travelling partner for Chris, Amy or Rebecca. Once all travelling partner positions have been filled any other Trainer submissions are likely only to appear as brief cameos. Sorry.
Disclaimer: Pokemon and all related Characters are the legal property of Nintendo and Game Freak, not me. I own Richard, Chris, Rebecca and Amy. That's all. Also Jeffrey is the legal property of Blake-Wilson and has been submitted by said user.
Chapter 1: Embarkation.
Richard inhaled the invigorating sea breeze as he stood on the dock watching the waves. He was currently in the seaside town of Gateon Port (little XD reference for you) and was waiting for the ferry to come in which would hopefully take him over to Hoenn where he could begin his journey. Richard had rarely been outside of his home city and as a result was quite literally staggered by the sheer weight of people and Pokemon that crowded the streets of the resort town. Richard had decided to keep Zubat in his Pokeball for this short leg of the trip in order to avoid any enthusiastic rookie trainers challenging him to a battle.
Even the piers, which Richard had thought would have been fairly deserted, were still full of people. A fisherman had set up his gear a few metres from Richard and was sleeping underneath his hat as his Huntail took great pleasure in scaring the local fish Pokemon. Richard suppressed a chuckle as he realised that the man probably wouldn't be catching much today. With a sigh, Richard sat down on the edge of the pier and pulled out a thoroughly creased tourist information brochure from his jeans pocket. He opened it and flipped to the back page where the ferry timetables were listed. He ran a finger down the entries before checking his watch. The ferry was due in about ten minutes. Richard grinned to himself and put the brochure back in his pocket, lay down on his back and tried to catch a few minutes of sleep.
Richard had only been asleep for three minutes when he was rudely awakened by something very heavy running across his stomach. Gasping for breath, Richard sat up clutching his stomach in pain as the mysterious trampler rammed into his back sending him flying forwards. With a snarl, Richard got to his feet and turned to face his attacker. To his surprise, the mysterious assailant turned out to be a Phanpy. The tiny Pokemon smiled up at Richard and blew a single note from it's trunk. Richard's previously thunderous expression softened and he knelt down to the elephant Pokemon's level.
"Hey there. What are you doing all the way out here?" he asked, reaching out a hand. The Phanpy butted into it vigorously and Richard thought he heard a bone break. The Phanpy trumpeted again and began running in circles around the boy. Richard sucked on his hand as he watched the little elephant fall over in its self-inflicted dizziness. No ground Pokemon would naturally come near to this much water so there must be a Trainer nearby. Glancing at his watch, Richard decided that he had just about enough time to take the Phanpy to the Pokemon Centre before the ferry came. Reaching down, Richard grabbed the Phanpy around the middle and picked it up. Or at least tried to.
"Geez, you're heavy!" Richard gasped setting the Phanpy down again. The Phanpy just trumpeted again and smiled. With no other alternative, Richard tried just walking away down the pier and was relieved when the Phanpy stood up and began following him.
Worming his way through the crowd, Richard soon found himself in the Pokemon centre. The Pokemon centre was an expansive building with two floors. On the left of the glass doors was the reception counter and check-in desk. A communal area with a wall-mounted television took up most of the rest of the first floor and multiple green sofas were arranged in front. A large pair of double doors in the back of the room indicated the entrance to the cafeteria and a large spiral staircase was situated next to the doors. Richard stepped through the motion sensitive front doors and held them in place while Phanpy trotted through after him. Once the blue Pokemon was safely inside, Richard walked over to the receptionist desk and glanced at the Phanpy which had somehow managed to discretely pluck Zubat's Pokeball off his belt and was happily banging it against the floor with it's trunk. On one of the many bashes, the button on the front of the Pokeball was activated and Zubat found himself face-planting into the linoleum. With a screech of rage, Zubat turned to the Phanpy which was still bashing the now empty Pokeball on the floor.
"What the hell are you doing?" Zubat screamed, trying to rub its injured face and stay aloft at the same time. The Phanpy looked up from its destruction and seemed to notice the irate Zubat for the first time. The little Pokemon's face broke into a massive grin.
"Friend!" It cheered. And before Zubat could act, the little Pokemon had rushed forward, grabbed Zubat around the middle and began bashing him against the floor. It was at this point that Richard ran forwards with a cry and tried to untangle the stricken bat from Phanpy's trunk and also tried to prevent the bat from exacting a particularly violent revenge upon the young Pokemon. The Nurse Joy who had arrived from the back room in response to the commotion looked down at the baby elephant and her face brightened.
"Oh, thank goodness. We'd been turning this entire building upside-down looking for that little one." The nurse turned her head and called towards a table at which two girls were sitting. The first one was drinking coffee from a mug and trying to comfort the second who was younger and was crying into a handkerchief with Clefairy embroidered on the corner. At the nurse's shout the two girls looked up. The younger girl saw Phanpy, gave a squeal of delight and rushed towards the Pokemon, grabbing it in a bear hug around the middle. The little elephant returned the hug by wrapping its trunk around the girl's head. The older girl walked towards the group with a much calmer demeanour and extended a hand towards Richard who risked removing a hand from the still enraged Zubat in order to return the handshake.
"Hi. Are you the one who found Phanpy?" The girl asked. Richard smiled and nodded.
"I guess so. I'm Richard and this is Zubat." He indicated the struggling bat who was still yelling incoherent profanities at the elephant which was still hugging its trainer. The girl nodded.
"I'm Sarah and that," she indicated the girl who was hugging the Phanpy, "is Amanda. Thanks for finding Phanpy, you have no idea how much hell I would have gone through if we hadn't found the thing." Richard rolled his eyes and followed the two back to their table with Zubat now calmer and perching on the boy's head. Sarah finished off her coffee and sat back with her hands behind her head.
"So, what brings you to Gateon Port? Shopping or the social life?" She smiled and indicated for Richard to relax. Richard smiled warmly and sagged in his seat. Sarah was at least twenty and a good two years older than Richard which was making the younger trainer tense.
"Neither. I'm just about to catch the…" Richard's voice trailed off as his eyes flicked up to clock on the wall. It was styled in the shape of a Mr. Mime and the hands were indicating that it was half past three. Richard had missed the ferry by at least ten minutes. Richard grimaced before smiling ironically and shrugging. "I was going to catch the ferry to Hoenn. I just got my trainer licence and I was going to start my journey today. Looks like I'll be starting it tomorrow instead now." The boy sighed and laid his head on the table almost dislodging Zubat. Sarah smiled and stood up.
"Not necessarily. Follow me." Richard stood up and followed the girl out of the Pokemon centre, a bemused expression on his face. Outside, in the Pokemon centre's garden, Sarah turned back to him.
"You were going to go to Lilycove and just trek backwards to Littleroot Town?" She asked taking a Pokeball off her belt and enlarging it. Richard shrugged again.
"Sure. Why not?" he responded returning Zubat from his head. Sarah sighed and shook her head.
"Listen. No offence kid, but it's a long way from Lilycove to Littleroot on foot. Through a lot of rough terrain with wild Pokemon. With only a Zubat as a partner?" she raised an eyebrow and Richard sagged.
"Ok. Fine, but I didn't really have much of an alternative." He complained putting his hands on his hips and looking about five years old in the process.
"Well, now you do." Sarah grinned as she threw the Pokeball forwards. "Let's Go! Tropius!" The glow reformed into a colossal Pokemon. It was at least ten metres tall and leaned down with it's prehensile neck in order to rub against Sarah's head. The girl laughed at the action and gently batted the head away. Once the Tropius had stopped being affectionate, Sarah climbed onto its back where she nestled among the leaf-like wings, or the wing-like leaves, Richard couldn't decide which. She turned around and gestured to Richard who was staring at the majesty of the giant Pokemon. She rolled her eyes and held out a hand.
"Come on, are you going to stand there all day or do you want to get your journey started?" This spurred Richard into action and he scrambled up the rough hide of the Tropius. At Sarah' behest, he wrapped his arms around her stomach and, with a cry, Tropius flapped its great wings once, raising a cloud of dust before shooting into the sky.
The flight from Gateon Port to Littleroot Town took just over an hour under Tropius power. Before too long, the Pokemon with the two trainers on its back glided down through the cloud layer and Richard could see Littleroot Town coming up underneath him. As the Pokemon descended, Richard could see a number of young children come rushing out of their houses to marvel at the giant Pokemon.
Once Tropius had landed, Richard clambered unsteadily off. Sarah didn't disembark. She just turned and regarded Richard.
"O.k. I'm going to head back now. You can take care of yourself from here?" she asked. Richard nodded in response. Sarah smiled and dug her heels into Tropius' flank. With another great cry, Tropius took off once more and soon both Pokemon and rider were lost in the clouds. With the main attraction gone, the small crowd that had assembled around Tropius dispersed back into their usual routines, except for one.
The boy who remained was about seventeen, the same age as Richard. He was wearing a white T-shirt with a Pokeball on the front and faded jeans. He was wearing faded trainers and the laces could be seen underneath the frayed ends of his jeans. His hair was obviously dyed as no one Richard knew of had hair that was bright yellow, that and the fact that the yellow dye faded at the tip of each gelled spike to reveal the boy's natural black hair. A black headband held the hair out of his eyes and he was clapping slowly.
"Impressive entrance." He grinned gesturing to the clouds where Tropius had disappeared. "That was your sister?" he asked. Richard laughed.
"No, just a friend. Why? You find her attractive?" he asked. The boy laughed in response and shook his head.
"Not really. Anyway, enough about her. You here to get a starter from professor Birch?" Richard nodded and the boy pointed to Zubat's Pokeball on Richard's belt. "You already have a Pokemon though." Richard shrugged.
"Yeah special case." The boy nodded in understanding and then pointed to his own chest with a thumb.
"I'm starting out too. Decided to wait until I was old enough to know something about the basics before I started out." Richard nodded. He could empathize.
"Pleased to meet you. I'm Richard." Richard said holding out a hand. The boy looked at it for a moment before taking it and shaking it.
"I'm Jeffrey."
So there you go. Chapter One is completed. Hope you enjoyed it. If you did, why not drop me a review? Don't forget to submit an original trainer for me to use if you want. Thanks for your support.
