Author's Note: Before we begin, I would like to take a moment of your time to say a few things. Pokémon has been a very large part of my childhood, and was my favorite franchise for a very long time. There was a time when I would eagerly await each new game to come out, and I'd play the hell out of it when it did. As the years went on, however, I realized that the series was not keeping my attention as well as before, and I was slowly losing interest. By the time Sun and Moon were released, I was barely interested even though I did ultimately get the game. To this day, I have not finished it.

However, while my interest in the series has been declining for a while now, there was still something I wanted to do. I had an idea for a story. Granted, it wasn't fully fleshed out yet with the characters and story arcs yet, but I still had an idea. I held this idea for a while, putting it off until recently, when I decided that if I didn't act on the idea now, I probably never would, and I would go the rest of my life wondering about the story that never happened and the characters I had created that would never have their story told. And so I began planning and writing, and came up with what you are about to read. Because even if I am almost done with this franchise, even if after this story is finished I cut ties with the franchise that has been with me for so long, I'll at least have ended it on a high note with what I hope will be a wonderful story based on the games that I know and love so much.

And so, without any further interruptions, welcome to Pokémon: Contrasted.

"Good night, Nora."

Nora Winterbourne lay still in her bed as she heard her mother whisper good night to her from the doorway. She wanted her mother to believe she had already fallen asleep; it would make what comes next that much easier.

Nora watched as the light from the hallway was replaced by darkness as the door creaked shut behind her. She sat up in her bed and turned towards the door. She could still see the light coming from the hallway outside underneath her door. Impatiently, she waited, constantly checking the digital clock on the nightstand next to her bed. "Doesn't this woman ever go to sleep?" Nora thought, as she heard the sound of feet walking back and forth every now and then across the hallway.

Eventually, the hallway light turned off, and Nora heard her mother's footsteps retreating back to her room for the night. "Finally," she thought as she slowly slid out from under the covers and knelt down below her bed, pulling out a light blue duffel bag with a white Pokéball design. Inside this bag were all of the essential items that Nora had packed for her adventure. Food and water, money, extra clothes, it had all of that and more.

Placing the bag on top of her bed, she made her way over to her dresser and pulled open one of the drawers. Inside, already wrapped up in a bundle, was the outfit she decided to wear when beginning her journey; a white blouse and capri pants. She also grabbed a white straw hat that was sitting on the top of the dresser.

Once she had finished getting dressed, she walked over to the corner of her room and bent down over a tiny bed. Sleeping on the bed was her Vulpix, a Pokémon she had gotten long ago as gift and had taken care of her ever since. She admired how peaceful Vulpix looked for a moment, then began to stroke Vulpix's fur to wake her up. As Vulpix began to wake up, she locked eyes with her trainer, who was holding a finger to her lips. Not that she needed to do so in the first place, since Vulpix knew what was going to happen tonight. Nora wouldn't stop talking about it to Vulpix for the past few weeks, it actually amazed Vulpix that Nora's mother hadn't found out by this point.

"Come on, let's go," Nora whispered as she scooped Vulpix up into her arms. Vulpix didn't protest, but instead squirmed in Nora's arms until she found a comfortable position to continue to sleep. Nora then walked over to her bed, and grabbed her bag, slinging it over her shoulder. She pulled her phone off it's charger, opened it, then went to her contacts list. She scrolled down until she got to the name she was looking for. She tapped on the name to open up her messages with that person, and sent a message:

"I'm ready."

Suddenly, there was a small burst of light in the middle of the room as a young white haired woman appeared next to a Pokémon in a black dress. Once the teleportation was finished, the woman's eyes met Nora's, and the she couldn't help the smile that had spread across her face.

"Thea!" Nora whispered excitedly as she wrapped her arms around the woman and hugged her. Smiling, Thea did the same.

"You're sure you have everything?" Thea asked. "Once we leave, we can't come back."

Nora nodded. "I finished packing a while ago. If I had forgotten something, I would have had a few days to remember it."

"You have your trainer card too, right? You'll need it." Nora reached into her pocket and pulled out a pink ID card with her photo on it.

"Good. Then let's go." Thea raised her hand towards Nora, who stepped forward and took it. Thea then grabbed her Gothitelle's hand.

"Gothitelle, teleport," she said. Nora took one last glance at her room as the light began to wash over her, wondering if or when she would ever see it again. Then, Nora watched as the room faded away and an unfamiliar sensation washed over her.

When the teleportation had finished, Nora felt dizzy, and Thea and her Gothitelle rushed to hold Nora as she began to sway. "It took me a little while to get used to teleporting as well," Thea chuckled. She looked down to Nora's arms and saw Vulpix squirming again as she began to wake up. "It looks like Vulpix isn't a fan of teleporting either," Nora said.

As Nora began to look around, she recognized her new surroundings. Gothitelle had teleported them to one of the ports located at the south of Castelia City. She turned around to face the city, trying to see if she could find the building she had once called home.

Thea seemed to catch on to what Nora was doing immediately. "I doubt you'd be able to see it from here, even if you did live in the penthouse." She walked over to Nora and placed a hand on her shoulder. "It was hard for me too, when I first began my journey. Everyone wants to leave home and start their journey, and yet I don't think there are that many people who are entirely prepared once the time comes." Thea bent down a little so that her eyes were level with Nora's. "If you're having second thoughts and feel like you aren't ready, I won't blame you. I could have Gothitelle-"

"No," Nora said. "I made this decision for a reason, and I'm sticking to it." She met Thea's eyes with an intense stare to make sure she knew she meant it. And Thea did.

"Alright then. If you're mind really is made up, then let's go. Follow me." Thea began to walk down the port, her Gothitelle floating beside her and Nora following closely behind them both. They walked past several boats, all tied to the port so as to stop them from drifting off. Finally, Thea stopped in front of one, a boat that Nora had seen and was quietly hoping wouldn't be the one.

"It's not as bad as it looks," Thea said, clearly having seen the look of disdain on Nora's face.

"This dingy boat? It's small," Nora replied. "And does it have to be such an ugly color? Our family has money. Couldn't we have rented a yacht or something?"

"Nora, if you're going to go on a journey like you said, there are gonna be times where you're going to have to do things you aren't comfortable with," Thea told her. "Think of this as an introduction to that."

Nora opened her mouth to say something back, but at that moment a young man walked down the port towards the two girls. As soon as Nora laid eyes on him, she definitely pegged him as the sailor type.

"Thea!" He exclaimed as he walked towards the older girl and embraced her in a hug. "It's been a while! Great to see you again!" It could have been her imagination, but as Thea returned the hug, Nora could've sworn she saw Thea blushing a little. "It's nice to see you again too, Spencer."

As the two pulled away from each other, Spencer turned to Thea's Gothitelle. "And you've grown quite a lot since I last saw you, haven't you? Last time I was with you guys, you were a little a Gothorita. And if I remember how strong you were then, you're probably a real powerhouse now, huh?" Gothitelle clearly enjoyed the praise, as she smiled and replied with a cheerful sounding "Gothitelle!"

"This is Spencer," Thea told Nora. "He's a sailor I met while traveling the region. We've run into each other a couple of times, and we've become good friends."

Finally, Spencer looked at Nora. "So you're this cousin of Thea's I've been hearing so much about? I'm Spencer, nice to meet you." He held out a hand to Nora, who shook it. "I'm Nora. It's a pleasure to meet you," she said.

Apparently, Nora wasn't as good as she thought at hiding her facial expressions, since Spencer seemed to have noticed her clear disdain for his boat as well. "I know she's not much to look at, but she gets the job done, I'll promise you that," he said.

"And besides, even if the two of you run into problems on the way, Spencer is fully capable of dealing with a threat himself," Thea reassured Nora, motioning to the Pokéballs on Spencer's belt.

"Wait, two?" Nora asked Thea. "You're not coming?"

"Unfortunately, I can't. Don't forget, I still have my own journey to focus on. I still have two badges left to earn." Seeing how let down Nora seemed about this, she quickly added "but don't worry, I'll come visit when I'm done with my Unova gym run to see how you're doing."

"But I can't do this by myself! You have to teach me! Help me learn!" Nora began to stomp her foot on the ground as she whined, but Thea wouldn't budge. Instead, she put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "If so many people before you were able to do this by themselves, I have faith you can do it too. And don't forget, I didn't have any help when I first started, and look how I turned out!"

Nora couldn't argue against that, her cousin had become pretty strong since the last time she visited Nora. "Fine," She said, pouting.

"Are you ready to go?" Spencer asked Nora. "The faster we leave, the faster you can get off this dingy boat." He flashed a grin to Nora. "Uhh, yeah," She said. "Shoot, he heard that?"

"Actually, could you give us a minute? I want to give Nora a bit of last minute advice," Thea said.

"Sure thing. I'll be waiting on the boat," Spencer said.

"If you are to begin you journey, there is something important for you to understand," Thea began as she started stroking Vulpix's fur. "Vulpix has been with you for a while now, but as of today she's no longer just a pet. She's your starter, and while you are responsible for her wellbeing, she is now also just as responsible to protect you. You're a team now, and the two of you will need each other, and will need to trust each other. Do you understand?" Nora nodded. "Good. Now, go on. And don't forget to call." They hugged each other one last time, and Nora turned and walked onto the boat. Spencer untied the knot that kept the boat from drifting off, and they began to sail.

Nora went to the back of the boat where she saw Thea still on the port, watching as the boat sailed away. She waved to them, and Thea and her Gothitelle waved back. She waved until Thea was nothing but a speck on the horizon, and Castelia City itself, a city Nora had always viewed as a large, sprawling metropolis, looked so tiny now.

"This is it," she thought. "I'm going to Sinnoh."

"You're late."

Aaron Noir stood in a back alleyway in Castelia City. The shady looking man he was talking to, Jeremy, was the eyes and ears for Castelia City's underground. If something was going down in Castelia City or Unova, he would know. And, for the right price, he might also just happen to know about anything going on outside of Unova as well.

"Listen man, I ran into some trouble on the way here. I had to take a detour, alright?" Jeremy said. "Besides, I had to make sure it was you, too. I could barely see much in the dark, and add to that the fact that you're wearing all black?"

"I don't care," Aaron said. "Did you find out anything?"

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. "That depends. You got the money, or not?"

Aaron reached into the pocket of his hoodie, pulled out a wad of cash and handed it to Jeremy. Jeremy flipped through the wad, counting the amount, and then paused. "This isn't enough man. If you don't have the cash, well,"

"Here," Aaron said through gritted teeth. He pulled out an expensive looking gold watch and handed it to Jeremy, who took with a greedy look in his eyes.

"Oh, now that is beautiful!" He said, holding the watch in his hands.

"Jeremy, pay attention. The info?" Aaron asked.

"Oh, right. Ok, so I did some searching, and I found out that the guy you're looking for, what was his name? Zane, Zoe-"

"Zach."

"Right, Zach. Anyways, I heard that about a month or two ago, the dude hopped on a boat to the Sinnoh region. I think he wanted to try his luck at taking on their league, since he failed the few times he tried over here." He scratched his head. "Can't for the life of me understand why, Sinnoh's champion seems to be a lot stronger than old man Alder."

"I don't care about all that, I just needed to know where he was," Aaron said. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know a way to get to Sinnoh, would you?"

"Well, that's asking a bit much, don't you think?" Jeremy joked. Based off of Aaron's unwavering stare though, he could tell the joke didn't land and he kept going. "Yeah, I know a way. I heard the other day that there was this one trainer who was hanging out in Castelia for a few days, and somebody overheard her talking about a boat leaving for Sinnoh." Jeremy smiled again, and Aaron caught the greedy glint in Jeremy's eyes again. "I might be able to remember where it was. You know, if there's more where this came from?" He raised his arm to show the gold watch that had now found it's way onto his wrist.

Aaron sighed, trying to calm the rage that was building up inside of him. "I don't have any money left," he said.

"Oh, come on. There's no way you don't have anything. You weren't just gonna travel to Sinnoh without any cash on hand?" Jeremy began to advance towards Aaron, who took a step back. "Just cough up the dough, and I'll lead you to the boat. Everyone wins in the end."

"I'd take a few steps back if I were you," Aaron said.

"Why? So you could run? I'm not dumb, kid." Jeremy grabbed Aaron by the shoulders and pulled him so that their faces met. "Just give me the mon-ARRGH!"

Jeremy shouted in a mixture of surprise and pain as he was flung against the wall. Aaron looked up to see his Bisharp standing between him and Jeremy.

"Hey buddy," Aaron said. The Bisharp looked over his shoulder to Aaron.

"Bisharp?" The Pokémon asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Aaron said. "But we still need to get to the boat."

Bisharp nodded, and turned back to Jeremy. He raised one of his blade like arms to the man's throat. "Bisharp," He said.

"He's telling you to get up. Oh, and don't try to get any funny ideas," Aaron said.

Jeremy got to his feet with a confused look on his face. "You can understand that thing?" He asked. Bisharp growled.

"I don't think he likes being called a 'thing,'" Aaron said.

Aaron and Bisharp led the man out of the alleyway and into the streets of Castelia. Bisharp lowered his arm, but kept an uncomfortably close distance to Jeremy to let him know not to try anything. Jeremy kept walking south, and after a little while, the three reached one of Castelia's ports.

"It's this one." Jeremy pointed to one of the ships.

Aaron and Bisharp both looked at the ship. "That's a pretty ugly color," Aaron said. "Bisharp," Bisharp agreed.

"You better get on, the crew's probably coming back soon. They're leaving tonight," Jeremy said. Aaron stepped on, and motioned for Bisharp to get on board. "Thanks," he said.

"You're lucky you're leaving the region after what you just pulled tonight," Jeremy said. "When you're done with all of this, don't think about coming back to Castelia. People pay a lot of money for my services, and anyone that messes with me puts a target on themselves. You come back here, you'll be dead within the hour."

"Lucky for me, then. I don't plan on coming back." Aaron turned and walked towards the stairs leading below the deck and began looking for a place to hide.

"Good riddance. I never liked the vibes from that kid," Jeremy muttered to himself as he walked away.

As Aaron and Bisharp hid, he heard voices coming from above. "Sounds like the crew is back," he whispered. "We should be leaving soon, then."

After a few minutes, he felt the boat begin to sail. Anticipation welled up inside of Aaron as the realization of what was happening began to sink in. After all this time, his journey was about to begin. He looked to his side, and his eyes met Bisharp's. The amount of determination he saw in Bisharp's eyes was enough to rival his own. Even if they were about to go to a foreign land, Aaron knew Bisharp would have his back, and Aaron would have Bisharp's.

"There's no going back now," he said. "We're going to Sinnoh."