BlizzardNinja's Corner:
Hey everyone! I hope you enjoy reading A Sibling Rivalry. This is the first fan fiction story I have written and the first story I have posted for others to read. I've had this story in mind for a few years now, and have finally decided to write it. So please read and review the story to help me advance my writing skills so that the story will be as good as possible.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, the series, games, or any of the merchandise associated with it. They are fully owned by Nintendo, GameFreak, and the Pokemon Company. However, the original characters I create are made and thought of by myself.
Now with the author's note and disclaimer out of the way, let's get on with the story! Enjoy everyone!
Chapter One: The Awaited Day
'Being the child of a gym leader and a cop is not an easy feat. From a young age, there are high expectations and limitations about what a child in these circumstances can do. We are expected to be well behaved, strong, and brave. We are constantly compared to our parent's skills and asked if we've conquered the Silver Conference, the alternate name for the Johto League, yet. Unfortunately for us, our mom has had to raise us on her own for the last eight years. Throughout the years, when mom was battling challengers my older sister, Raveena, and I have been in charge of ourselves and our younger brothers. All that changes now that they have finally turned thirteen, the age our mom said we all had to be before she would let us go on our own journey,' I thought to myself smiling as I looked up at the mirror and pulled my long chestnut colored hair into a ponytail and tightened it. Getting up from my chair, I grabbed my grey messenger bag and looked back for one last time at the room I've grown up in since my mom became a gym leader.
Honestly, I would have preferred to leave earlier to go on a pokémon journey but I had decided to train at home for a year or two before leaving on my journey. Unfortunately, my choice to delay leaving home would last for far longer than I had originally planned. Something happened shortly after I turned eleven years old. There were news reports from the Johto government and alerts being sent to the gym leaders of Johto that due to the amount of injuries and casualties that had occurred due to recent incidents caused by Team Rocket and some pokémon lashing out violently, the minimum age limit for new trainers to begin traveling was pushed back for an indefinite amount of time. Effective immediately, any new trainers or trainers under the age of thirteen who were still at home would have to stay in their hometown if they lived in the Johto region. Any new trainers or trainers under the specific ages listed in the reports had to remain in their hometown until they either reached the age of twelve and traveled in a group of at least four trainers or waited until the age of fourteen to travel alone. The trainers who were lucky enough to have started traveling and received their first pokémon were allowed to continue traveling but were warned to do so with extreme caution and to try to travel in groups of at least three people.
*Flashback*
When I turned thirteen and was finally getting ready to set out on my journey through Johto in a few months, my mom offered me a deal to try to keep me at home for an extra few years. When I had asked why, she said that she felt nervous about the idea of having me travel alone after so many dangers had occurred in recent times. She offered to take a three week vacation during the Silver Conference to take all four of us to either Kanto, Hoenn, or Sinnoh for a vacation and let me travel with her to any gym leader conferences she had to attend before the twins turned thirteen. I debated my choice for a month and a half before I finally decided to take her up on her main reasons I took the offer were that I wanted to spend one last vacation together as a family since we would all soon be traveling and Mom rarely ever took vacations or days off from the gym. The other reason was that I knew that if I left on my journey alone, not only would I be putting myself and my pokémon at risk but I would also be trapping my brothers into the same fate I had set for myself accidentally. I had just recently started to desire to go traveling but they had been talking about it since they were around six years old and first started watching pokémon battles.
That year my mom ended up taking all five of us to the destination I had chosen, the Hoenn region. We took the national railway from Blackthorn City's train station to Goldenrod City, stayed there and shopped for a few nights and then flew from Goldenrod City to Larousse City. While in Larousse, we went to go see the local pokémon contest that had Drew, the city's top coordinator who had placed second in last year's Grand Festival in the Hoenn region, as a surprise performer and guest judge. He had flown in from the Kanto region to help judge the contest and visit his family since he had already obtained three of the five ribbons he needed to participate in the Kanto Grand Festival. He gave a special performance featuring his Roselia and his Butterfree. The contest was amazing and we were stunned to see so many new pokémon. The winner of the contest was a young local boy who was named Tory and had used two pokémon called plusle and minun. They were both small bunny-shaped bipedal electric type pokémon. Minun had blue patches on his ears, a minus sign for a tail, and blue cheeks with a minus sign cut out of the middle of each cheek. Plusle was similar to minun but there were some key differences. Plusle had patches of red instead of blue, had red cheeks with plus signs cut out of them, and a plus sign shaped tail.
While in Larousse, we also went to check out the Battle Tower as it had a special tournament going on for three days and Mom had managed to get tickets together for all five of us to see the whole thing. It was called the Triumph Tournament and had a group of thirty-two competitors aiming for the top spot and a chance to battle the Hoenn region's ex-champion, Steven. The tournament was set up so that day one knocked the competitors down to the top eight by having the first round as a single battle and the next round as a double battle. Day two reduced the competitors to the top four through a series of three on three matches. On day three, they did full team battles and the winner was announced. It was a fierce tournament that produced many exciting battles and lasting memories. Nick had even been shouting and hopping in his seat a few times while Felix had jotted down notes on some well thought out battle strategies. After the winner was announced and given a trophy, he then left to the back room for his half an hour break before battling Steven. While the trainer rested, his team was being treated for any injuries they may have received throughout the battles of the day.
During the break, there was a draw held to determine a random winner of three prizes donated by the tournament's main sponsors. The seat number they called out ended up being the one where Nick was sitting. Nick and Mom went to go claim his prizes, excited to see what he had won. When he returned, he was carrying a folded red metal contraption while Mom carried a strange blue and yellow pair of goggles and a small yellow stone with a flame inside. We quickly asked them what the prizes were that he had won.
Nick first lifted the contraption that he was carrying with one hand, "This is an acro bike. It's one of the two top of the line bikes they sell here in the Hoenn region and was donated by one of the sponsors who owns a shop in Mauville City. It acts like an extremely versatile mountain bike that can let me use it to do special tricks and still rides easy in the city. I folded it up like this so that it would be easier to carry and that we could keep it with us while we watch the exhibition match."
Mom spoke next holding the weird goggles up. "This is a Devon Scope that was designed and donated by the Devon Corporation. It's supposed to allow the wearer to see hidden objects. They also mentioned that it might work on some pokémon, such as ghost types like gastly. The other item is a fire stone that evolves certain species of pokémon such as eevee, vulpix, and growlithe."
"Wow! That's an awesome prize! Congrats Nick!" I told him as I smiled.
"You're a lucky jerk, you know that?" Felix huffed, jealous that he was not the one who won the prizes.
Raveena looked at Felix and started pulling one of his cheeks. "Come on, grump, lighten up and congratulate your brother."
"Ow! Stop! Raveena, that hurts!" Felix cried as Raveena repeatedly pulled his cheek.
"If you want me to stop, then congratulate Nick for winning the draw," she retorted with a smirk as she enjoyed teasing her brother like this. It was a rare treat to be able to do this since he was usually so quiet and reserved.
"Okay, okay! Congratulations! Now stop pulling my cheek, Raveena!" Felix called out but his voice was distorted due to Raveena still stretching his cheek out.
Nick chuckled at the squabbling between Raveena and Felix before taking the Devon Scope from our mom and turning to me. "Here, I want you to have this as a thank you for getting Mom to bring us here. Besides, I think you may need it more than me with the amount of times you misplace your wallet and house keys," he said as he handed me the Devon Scope and started to laugh at the extra nudge he was able to give me. Mom, Raveena, and Felix all started joining in the laughter at his joke that was at my expense while I sat there grumbling about it being an exaggeration.
Soon, the winner's team was healed by the local Nurse Joy and returned to him. As he walked out, an announcement echoed in the arena announcing of his return to the battlefield and that the final match was about to begin. A few minutes later, Steven walked out and took his place on the opposite side of the battlefield. They soon released their pokémon and began to battle at full force. Unfortunately for the tournament winner, he had lost all six pokémon without being able to defeat any of Steven's. His team had been completely defeated by Steven's metagross in about twenty minutes. We just sat there staring in shock and awe at the power displayed by Steven and the only pokémon he had used. As we were about to leave the Battle Tower, Mom had one last surprise for us as she led us through a set of hallways instead of heading to the elevator to leave. When we arrived at our destination, she gave a few brisk knocks on the door and informed the person inside as to her identity before being given an answer to come in. She opened the door and ushered us in to meet Steven himself. After an hour of talking and answering our questions, he informed us that he had to leave to get to Lilycove City before the ferry leaves. Before he left, Nick asked if he would take a picture with the five of us to which Steven happily agreed.
I snapped out of my reverie as my aipom, Snatch, jumped at me and climbed up my other arm so that he was perched on my shoulder. He gave me a slight glare and nudged me with his tail trying to get me to leave. I rubbed his head and did what he was wanting as I opened my bedroom door. Looking at us in the mirror before I did my final tasks before being able to leave, I remembered something that might seem unusual. When we leave Blackthorn City, we may get some attention or funny looks because of Snatch. He's slightly different than other aipom that could normally be encountered. Instead of having a light purple coat and peach coloured hands, belly, and tail palm, he has a dark violet coloured coat and his belly fur, hands, feet, and tail palm look as if they were made out of gold. When I had first gotten him checked up at a Pokémon Centre, the nurse commented that his fur colour was unusual, even for abnormal coloured aipom. However, she had also said that he was fine health-wise but advised that we get Professor Elm to look at Snatch for some possible answers. We briefly shared a look amongst ourselves as the realization donned on us that after today we would not be seeing this room for quite a while. Smiling with a bittersweet feeling, I reached out and attached the six pokéballs on my dresser to my belt. There were five normal pokéballs on my belt and one luxury ball. The luxury ball had a golden star etched into it along with the word Snatch, as it was his pokéball. However, he was rarely kept inside it as he had made it rather obvious that he preferred being outside of the ball. With a sigh, I closed the door behind me and headed down the stairs to join my family for breakfast before our journey began.
"Mom! Felix is hogging the maple syrup again!" cried Nick as he reached futilely for the syrup bottle in Felix's hand.
"Ha ha ha! You're just jealous that I got it first," retorted Felix with a smirk as he poured the syrup on his stack of pancakes. Felix was loading the syrup onto his pancakes and smiling evilly at Nick, the silent threat of using all the syrup made clear as Nick glared back at him.
"Boys, that's enough. Finish your pancakes so we can give you your gifts. I've been looking forward to giving them to you and there is someone who has been waiting to start their journey with you," chastised our mom as she winked at me.
Within a few minutes, both Felix and Nick had emptied their plates and were waiting anxiously for their gifts. Raveena approached them first with a large gift bag in each hand, giving the dark red bag to Nick and the dark blue bag to Felix. Ripping the tissue paper out of their respective gift bag, each boy found a large backpack patterned with their respective color, black, and white. It was a fairly stylish and large bag that looked athletic yet casual at the same time. Black and white lines went up horizontally, vertically, and above the pokéball design on the front of the bag. Felix's bag had dark blue pockets and the top half of the front design was dark blue while the bottom half was white. Nick's was similar in design to Felix's except it was dark red instead of blue. Both boys smiled and thanked Raveena as they went to set down their bag.
"Before you put them down look inside your bag," Raveena instructed them with a smile and a wink.
Inside the bag was a box with four normal pokéballs and a special one. Nick's special pokéball was a heavy ball and Felix's special pokéball was a dusk ball. Nick grinned happily upon seeing his extra gift from Raveena and ran over to hug her. Felix briefly looked up at his brother's antics before going back to studying the pokéballs he was given.
"Thank you Raveena, these will be helpful on my journey," Felix calmly noted.
"Yeah thanks! These are awesome! I'm going to be able to catch so many cool pokémon with these!" shouted Nick as he held up his heavy ball.
Our mom approached them next with a wrapped rectangular box in each hand. Like Raveena's gift wrapping, the boxes mom gave the twins were dark red and dark blue respectively. Inside the boxes were a set of new clothes for each of them. Nick's box contained a long sleeved bright red hooded sweater with black cuffs and waistline. There were also silver lines that went straight up his sleeves and outlined the black. It had a deep pocket on each side of the zipper and a pocket on the inside as well. Underneath the sweater was a pair of fabric biking gloves that matched his new jacket in colors. They covered his hand and cut off after the second knuckle of each finger. The fabric by the fingers was the same bright red as his coat. There was a bright white line that cut across the red fabric on the top of his hand and separated the red from the black fabric at the bottom part of the top part of his hand. On the bottom of the gloves was a leather base to help strengthen the grip and protect the palm of his hands. Beside the gloves under the jacket was a baseball hat that Nick had been looking at. It was bright red on the base and bill of the hat with black and white stripes stretching in an alternating V pattern on the front half of the cap. There was also a dark blue pair of jeans and black coat with red and whites crossing diagonally at the bottom on the left side.
Nick stared in awe at his new clothes and quickly put on the new sweater over the black t-shirt he had been wearing. He then pulled on the new pair of gloves and put on the new hat with the bill sticking out behind him so that his bangs could stick out the front of the hat. He also admired his new coat and the pair of jeans a bit more before putting them in his bag from Raveena.
Felix then opened his box from our mom and had a similar coat, jacket, and gloves as Nick but with dark blue where the red was on Nick's. The baseball hat inside of Felix's box was a dark blue with a white curve that looked like the top half of a pokéball on the front side of the hat that was cut off by the bill. It was identical to the baseball hat that Felix's inspiration for wanting to become a trainer, the Kanto Pokémon League Champion, Red, had worn when he first received his title except that Felix's hat was dark blue instead of red. He also received a pair of dark grey cargo pants if he decided to switch out of his black jeans or the light grey track pants he had decided to pack. Felix smiled and put on his hat, coat, and gloves. He then packed the jacket and cargo pants in his new bag.
"Don't forget about my gift you two," I reminded them with a calm smile as I handed a wrapped box to Nick and Snatch handed a wrapped box to Felix. Inside each box was a shiny metal case with the map of Johto engraved on it. In the top left corner was their name and in the bottom right corner Johto was written in simple but nice writing. Nick's had a dark red tint to the cover while Felix's had a dark blue tint to the cover. On the inside of the cases were black frames made of a solid material with cut outs for the badges of Johto on the bottom and pin holders for ribbons on the top. Under each cut out was a small silver rectangular plaque that could be engraved with the location and date of each ribbon and badge received. "I wasn't sure which path either of you would choose, so I thought it would be best to get the base for both just in case," I added in as I started rubbing the back of my head in embarrassment at the looks of awe they each had as they stared at the cases I had given them.
"That's easy, sis!" Nick shouted with a huge smile on his face. "I'm going to try both and I'll fill this case you gave me."
"I'm going to get eight badges and do my best to win the Johto league," Felix replied before looking at our mom. "That means I'll be back here to challenge you when I have seven badges, mom."
"Good! I wouldn't have it any other way," mom retorted with a smirk. She then looked towards Nick and I. "If either of you decide to challenge me as well, I welcome your challenges."
"Of course I'll be back here to challenge you for my eighth badge," I told her as I pulled out my own case for both badges and ribbons to show her the engraved labels under the empty gym badge placements. My case was similar in design to the cases I had given Felix and Nick but was slightly different as it was a dark purple on the cover and the map and writing was engraved in a golden color, matching Snatch's fur. I had already decided on what cities I would be aiming for if I decided to continue aiming for the pokémon league after my first gym battle so I had already gotten the locations engraved. The metal labels under where my future ribbons would go remained blank for now as I was not sure where and when I would win them, if I did manage to win any.
I glanced at the clock as I put my case away. Upon seeing the time I started to get up and put my dishes in the sink. "I have to go do something before we leave. Why don't you two go finish packing and say goodbye to your friends who are in town before you leave? I'll meet you at the southern hill in a couple hours," I told Felix and Nick as I gave my mom a hug and headed towards the front door.
"If you don't want to say goodbye to your friends, you could always come with me," Raveena commented with a devious smile and a mischievous glint in her eye as she stared at us. "Maybe we could even drag Laila along if she's not out of here too soon. It never hurts to have a wing man or woman with you when scoping out hot guys. Besides, the cute assistant at the Pokémon Center smiled last time I was there with you little ones."
"N-n-no, you can go flirt by yourself. We don't want any part of it!" We stammered simultaneously as we snuck back towards the door desperate to get away from Raveena. As soon as we reached the door, we bolted towards our destination – and as far away from the Pokémon Center as possible.
Staring out at the long dirt road towards New Bark Town, I couldn't help but smile. It was almost time for me to finally be able to start exploring the Johto region. I thought it was kind of bittersweet that I would be starting my journey with my younger brothers and guided by our older sister. I wouldn't be getting the total independence most people did with a pokémon journey but at the same time I would not be alone. At the moment, I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about that. On the one hand, I felt somewhat hurt and controlled since even though I would finally be able to leave Blackthorn City, I would still have limitations set on my freedom that have been enforced and imposed by my mom. However, I also felt somewhat happy because I knew that I would not be alone and that I would get to see my family for a bit longer before we all grew up and went on our own individual journeys.
I started to walk towards a tall pine tree on one of the hills on the side of Route 45, which lead to New Bark Town. It was on one of the many hills on the route and had a good view of both Blackthorn City and the southern hill, which was the first hill on Route 45 when leaving Blackthorn City. Looking down route 45, I could also see the winding river and wooden bridges amongst the hills towards New Bark Town. We would soon be walking down that road and beginning our adventure. I could hardly wait, but first I had to figure some things out and think about my overall plans for the journey.
Sitting down under the pine tree on the hill, I pulled out the three pokéballs I had hidden in my bag. Carefully, I held them and looked at the star outline I had engraved on each of them. One of the engraved stars was an alternating white and sky blue, one switched between a dark purple and light brown outline, and the last one switched between a lime green and burgundy outline. Smiling, I replaced three of the plain pokéballs on my belt with the three engraved ones. However, I made sure to line them up in a specific order: Snatch's luxury ball, the purple and brown star, the green and burgundy star, the white and blue star, and then the two plain pokéballs.
With that finished, I pulled out two paper copies of the Johto region map. One of them I had bought at the Pokémart when I first turned ten and I had marked on the back things I wanted to do and circled different towns I wanted to visit. The one beside it, I had bought last week and it was unmarked. I decided to leave the new map unmarked and pulled out a notebook and pen to jot down the main things I was planning on doing when I was ten that I still wanted to try. I also pulled out my combination ribbon and badge case. I pondered where I should and would be able to win my five ribbons and what path I should take so that I would be able to obtain all eight badges and the five ribbons I needed to compete in the Johto Grand Festival and the Silver Conference, the Johto region's Pokémon League. However, I knew one city I badly wanted to win the ribbon of and if I managed to do so, it would be one of my greatest victories.
Looking up, I saw my two younger brothers and older sister waiting at the south hill. Getting up from my spot and walking towards them I observed what they were doing. The boys were busy talking amongst themselves, probably about the upcoming journey and which pokémon they would choose to be their starter. Raveena was watching two of the pokémon she was bringing on the journey with her run around while holding onto the third. The pokémon in her arms was her newly hatched smoochum, Smooch, who matched her nickname by being as flirtatious as her trainer. Smooch also wore a necklace that was made especially for her around her neck. The necklace was an everstone carved into the shape of a small heart with a tiny diamond in the middle of it. Surrounding the everstone heart and part of the connecting rope were small sheets of ice that Smooch made which further protected the everstone. Raveena had originally given the necklace to her to prevent Smooch from evolving into a jynx and as a gift to try to strengthen their friendship. Her other pokémon were her starter from when we lived in the Kanto region, Ivy the ivysaur, and her first captured pokémon after we moved to the Johto region, Grant the granbull.
Despite living at home for most of the time and coming on the journey with us, Raveena had gone on a journey of her own before today. She had traveled around the Kanto region with some friends back when she was thirteen. She had tried to make it to the Kanto Grand Festival but ended up only earning three of the five ribbons needed to be able to go to the Grand Festival. When her friends that she had been traveling with brought her back home, she had been devastated. She even locked herself in her room for a week only opening the door to use the washroom or get something to eat. When I asked her to explain why she was so devastated, she had explained to me how contests work and how a coordinator needed to earn five ribbons in order to be able to participate in the Grand Festival. Despite working her hardest and planning the best appeals she could, she had only managed to earn three ribbons when the Grand Festival started. Her rivals and one of her traveling companions had managed to earn all five ribbons and had to go participate. After watching them participate and rank in the Grand Festival, she was heartbroken and realized how far under their level her skills as a coordinator were. After that, she decided to just go and travel with her pokémon when she wanted to and otherwise just stay home and help our parents with us while they were at work. She may have been a great help to our parents by watching us while they were at work, but I know that she is capable of more than that and I hope that this journey will reopen her eyes to that fact.
Seeing my approach they started to slowly walk towards me. Raveena returned Ivy and Grant before turning to me. She briefly looked at me then both of my brothers before smiling and asking, "So, are you all ready to get this show on the road?" With an excited nod from each of us, she smiled brighter than before and started leading us down Route 45 towards New Bark Town.
"Yahoo! This party is finally getting started!" Nick screamed as he started to run down the route.
I smiled and shook my head watching him. "I'm just glad that I finally get to leave Blackthorn City," I commented as I sped up to catch up to Nick.
"Ha ha, yeah, and when we get to New Bark Town, I'll finally get a pokémon of my own," Felix replied as he started to run beside me.
Raveena followed behind us and smiled knowingly. She knew the joys and challenges we might face on this journey and she would be there to watch us go through this next step of our lives. Picking up her pace, Raveena could not help but to think to herself, 'I never expected that the next time I left to travel around would be with my siblings. Looks like I get to watch the next generation grow after all.'