I'm back with a new story (sort of)! For those of you who have read my story Pokémon: Rise of the Poké-Teams, or for those of you who have OCs on the Rival's Team, I've created an alternate version which takes place with Muffin and his Team. It's a good alternative to the original, because it places a (mostly) familiar story in the eyes of a different character. So, if you enjoyed the original, I hope you like this one just as much (if not more)!


Running.

Attacking.

Winning.

Muffin dreamt that he was battling, but was bigger, stronger, more... evolved.

He dreamt of being a powerful umbreon, striking the champion team's Mega-Evolved gardevoir with his powerful Shadow Ball. He dreamt of standing atop the Pokémon League. He dreamt of being the newest champion.

Of being alone.

Muffin was a young eevee who lived in Vaniville Town. He had long bangs covering his right eye, which very few eevee had; other than that, his hair was spiky like any other eevee's hair.

His dream took a dark turn when the champion team's goodra used her Muddy Water attack. As soon as the water hit him, his dream changed to show him his old Human owner. The scientist was holding a lever as Muffin, inside a glass cage, felt a large object transported into his stomach. He remembered the torracat in pain as it tried and failed to produce a flame. He remembered being forced to sit through a video on learning to use Flamethrower. With difficulty, Muffin shot a blast of fire toward the target placed in front of him.

His dream shifted The Human tightly gripped Muffin by the scruff, and was holding his head in a tub of water. He winced as he recalled the sharp, piercing voice of his owner.

"Now get in the cage!"

Muffin whimpered in his sleep as he was dunked once more in the cold, piercing liquid.

Muffin gasped and rolled off of his bed onto the floor as he was awoken by one of his neighbors, who was squealing for some reason. He knew she lived nearby, and that she was a shinx, but the two of them had never personally met. He cringed and covered his long fluffy brown ears, but it was too late; he was awake.

When she finally stopped squealing, he began to drift off again, but was awoken by his doorbell being rang. He groaned and turned over. The doorbell rang again, and again. And again.

Muffin growled as he pushed himself off the floor. He got up and went down to the front door. He began to charge up Shadow Ball, the only TM move he liked, in case it was another caterpie messing with him.

Muffin jumped up to the doorknob and twisted it as hard as he could until it swung forward a little. He pushed his door open with his left paw, and outside was the delivery delibird. Muffin's Shadow Ball faded.

"Good morning," he said. "I'm here to deliver a bag of Oran Berr-"

"Not mine," Muffin interrupted. "I ordered a bag of Sitrus Berries and a Steel Model Capture Beam."

"Oh, yes. The Capture Beam is yours, but it'll take a few weeks to replace the Oran Berries with Sitrus Berries. I'm sorry."

Muffin groaned as his ears went back in frustration. It was either take Oran Berries for the price of Sitrus Berries, or wait three weeks before starting his adventure. "I'll just take them now," he grumbled, snatching the bag in his teeth and paying the delibird. He closed the door with his right-hind leg before the delibird could reply.

Muffin sighed and tore the package open. Inside was the Steel Model Capture Beam that he ordered two weeks ago. A Capture Beam was a special rod that used the technology of Poké Balls from when the Humans were alive. Many Pokémon, including many magnemite and magneton who helped out at the Poké Ball Factory, located north of Laverre City, worked together to recreate the satisfaction of working together to be the strongest, without adding the captivity of having to take orders from their "trainers" or be concealed in a ball for most of the time.

He took the Capture Beam out of the box and put it in a small saddlebag, along with the Oran Berries. He walked outside and realized that he would probably need to buy status healers. He moaned, knowing that he would have to deal with other Pokémon. He usually didn't like to talk to others. If anything, he wanted to avoid them at all costs.


Muffin walked down Vaniville Pathway (known by some as Route 1) and noticed a black and blue Pokémon watching the floating vivillon and butterfree. His ears drooped as he felt something strange in his chest. It wasn't happiness, nor was it necessarily pain. It was like a hole had dropped inside of him. He suddenly felt like the world was just a dark void around him. Whatever it was, it wasn't a pleasurable feeling.

He shook the feeling from his head and kept walking. Not wanting to be seen, he silently dashed down the pathway to reach Aquacorde Town. Muffin slipped between a fence and a lamp post to reach an alley behind some buildings. He stepped around another lamp post and entered a small store.

The small fox Pokémon walked up to the counter and placed some money down. "Five Cheri Berries and five Chesto Berries," he muttered. A cherrim passed the requested berries to Muffin. "Here you go," she said.

Muffin slipped the fruit in his bag and turned around to see a shinx with a cream-colored bandanna wrapped around her neck, with a light pink heart stitched onto it. As the shinx entered the shop, Muffin ran and slipped past her and out of the building.

On his way to Avance Trail (also known as Route 2), Muffin thought about the shinx. She seemed to be his neighbor from next door, and she appeared to be the perky type as well.


Muffin entered the Avance Trail and began to look around. As much as he despised being in contact with others, he knew he would have to train to come even close to defeating the champion.

Muffin noticed a litleo that seemed to be enough of a challenge to be beneficial. He crept toward the litleo, keeping his tail and ears as low to the ground as possible.

Muffin prepared to pounce at the litleo, but he felt the pressure of four paws painfully landing onto his back. He winced as the Pokémon pounced off. The litleo noticed this, and ran off to another patch of grass, looking enraged by the unwanted confrontation. Muffin sighed, assuming she had gone somewhere else to rest.

Muffin turned around to see the shinx looking around. He had just about had it with this Pokémon. Wherever he was, the shinx was there as well, and her presence brought nothing good. He charged a Shadow Ball at the shinx, and released it with full power.

The shinx apparently noticed this, and dodged this attack at the last second. She ran toward him charged with electricity, which he avoided easily. The shinx seemed to match his speed. Not necessarily caring for power at this point, he continuously fired Shadow Balls at her, all of which she avoided. When the blue lion cub Pokémon sped at him with Spark again, he stumbled but managed to avoid the attack.

Muffin had enough of this Pokémon avoiding his attacks, so he charged at her with full speed. When she fell on the ground, he blasted her with his signature Shadow Ball. He was satisfied to know he got his message across.

However, as he turned around to leave, a painful Spark slammed against his side, knocking him off his paws. Muffin noticed that his Capture Beam had slid out of his bag. Preparing to continue the battle, he began to push himself up off the ground. He was about to strike again, but noticed she was looking at something on the ground.

"You're a team captain?" she mumbled.

It looks like we have something in common, then, Muffin thought. "Yes," he sighed as he pushed himself up from the ground.

"Oh. So, I guess you had wanted to make me a part of your team?" the shinx asked. "Oh, I'm Bolt, by the way!"

Muffin forced himself not to attack the shinx. Sweet Arceus, is she blind or is she just dumb? He brushed his bangs over his left eye. "To answer your question, you kinda used me as a stepping stool. And it's Muffin."

"What!?" The shinx's face went completely red. "I am really sorry! I was trying to catch up with a fletchling. From the looks of it, you were trying to do the same with a litleo?"

Muffin groaned to himself. He just wanted to be alone. He didn't want to be with any other Pokémon. He just wanted to become the champion by himself. He didn't need anyone else. Was that too much to ask? "Something like that. Is there anything wrong with that?"

"N-No, not at all." Bolt smiled. "I just noticed her running from where you were when-"

A pillar of fire blasted in the distance. A loud growl could be heard, as well as the whimpering of another Pokémon. A small burst of fire flew by and hit Muffin firmly on the side. He cringed from the burn of the flame. Muffin got up and shook the embers out of his fur.

"Come on!" Bolt jumped up. "Someone is being attacked. We need to help!"

However, Muffin was two steps ahead of her, as he had a Shadow Ball forming rather quickly. He wasn't going to work with another Pokémon, and he definitely wasn't letting himself be ordered around by someone else.

As soon as he released the Shadow Ball, he realized he had made a mistake. It was only when he released it that he saw his target: the litleo he had tried to battle before, who was impervious to Ghost-type attacks. The Shadow Ball landed and burst near a group of weedle, who scurried away in fright.

"Keep back the litleo, I'll help the froakie!" he heard Bolt call.

Muffin huffed. "You don't need to tell me what to do," he replied, rolling his eyes.

Deep down, he knew that it was his fault that this was happening, but he didn't care. If it weren't for that hyperactive shinx, the litleo wouldn't have been enraged, the froakie wouldn't have gotten in trouble, and he would have gotten some experience. The way he saw things, this was all her fault.

He swiftly charged at the litleo, slamming his body into her. The litleo spat a cluster of embers at him in response. The embers created a flame on Muffin's tail. As he tried to whip the fire out of his tail, the litleo slammed her body into him.

Muffin growled, the flames on his tail burning with every second, and used Quick Attack once more. The litleo fled into the forest, seeming to have finally gotten the message. Muffin's legs ached more than he had known before, and his flaming tail stung with every second. He knew that he should have picked up some Rawst Berries while he was at the shop. He turned to Bolt and the froakie, who was now freed from Fire Spin.

"Thank you, guys! Thank you!" The froakie cried.

"You're welcome!" Bolt said. "I'm Bolt, and this is Muffin. We're each starting our own teams!"

"Cool! I'm Kiki!" The froakie said cheerfully. "Do you think I could join one of you?"

"Take your pick!" Bolt offered happily.

Muffin, on the other hand, was not eager to have the Water type on his team, or anything related to that substance for that matter. He remembered it all too well, and how it would immediately flow painfully into his nose and mouth whenever he gasped for breath, and how it would sting his eyes when he couldn't close them in time.

"I-I think that you should just s-stick with her…" he mumbled, his fur standing on end.

Kiki tilted her head. "How come?" she asked.

Muffin noticed that he was shaking; his whole body was, for that matter, and his back had been arched. He immediately stood up straight. It was nothing anyone else needed to know about, especially these Pokémon.

"You're scared of fire from the looks of it, even though you're strong against it," he huffed. "I don't think someone like that would be a helpful partner."

Muffin turned around and began his walk back to Aquacorde Town. He winced as the flames licked his tail. Of course, the first status-healing item he would need, and he didn't think to buy it. He entered the small town and entered one of the shops.

"Need Rawst Berries," he muttered, placing a few coins onto the table.

"That burn looks pretty bad," the cherrim at the counter pointed out as she pulled out a small pouch filled with berries. "Did you make a litleo mad or something? I suppose they can be a little aggressive. Be glad you weren't a leafeon yet."

"Yet…" Muffin rolled his eyes. Him, a leafeon? "Of course…"

"Well, it never hurts to prepare for any situation," she said, handing him the pouch. "You never know what'll happen to you out there. It surprises me that so many Pokémon prefer the wild."

Muffin took the pouch, not responding to her. She talks like this is nothing new, he thought as he left the shop and headed for Santalune Forest. Is it really that common for something like that to happen? He was so used to his old lab, as horrid as it was, where everything was controlled. The only surprises there were related to the, ugh… experiment. If it was common enough for the Pokémon in such an isolated place as Aquacorde to know about it, then it was probably something he should prepare for.

Muffin approached the forest's entrance, finishing a fresh Rawst Berry. In front of him was a whole new world, a reality he had never seen before in his life. He inhaled deeply, and walked into the forest.


Well, there's that! I hope this was a good first chapter. It's funny, this version is actually twice as long as Bolt's version. xD

I know that Bolt and Muffin's stories are fairly similar thus far, but as the storyline progresses, Bolt won't see much of Muffin, and vice versa.

Also, for those of you who were wondering: I choose not to capitalize the species' names because it makes specifying things easier.

Muffin belongs to my good friend Squishy Blue,

Bolt belongs to me,

And Kiki belongs to chimpy888

If you were confused at any part, or would like more context, read Bolt's side of the story; that should clear some things up!