Foreword
NEW PROJECT! Pokémon is something near and dear to my heart; first game I ever played I'll have you know. I was talking to a friend about how we grew up with different generations of Pokémon and it gave me a bit of inspiration to write this, based on some of my own experiences with the games, and well…life stuff really. I know it seems weird but Pokémon taught me that some friends last for life, and memories can keep what you've lost with you forever! I dunno, anyways enough sappy stuff, I hope you enjoy Wayfarer!

"I can't believe my lil' bro is going out on his own adventure!" said a tall man with spiky aquamarine hair , "You're gonna be the next big wave, I'm telling you dude!" his face had a tearful expression as he uttered those words.

He put his hand on his younger sibling's head and ruffled his more steely blue coloured hair as their mother laughed behind them. The two brothers and their mother continued their walk together through the airport in Mauville City, where they went quite often to visit friends, but they all lived together on Dewford Island.

"Heh, thanks Brawly." The teenager said, pushing his older brother's hand off his head. Brawly was the current Gym Leader on Dewford Island and was six years older than his sibling. Despite his vocation, Brawly wore blue board shorts and a orange training shirt; more typical to that of a surfer, which was to be expected really, given he was an avid surfer and after all, he was an islander.

"When you come back, you better challenge the gym!" Brawly said, slapping his little brother on the back. "And you, little guy!" He knelt down to his brother's partner Pokémon, a young Growlithe. "Keep Si safe, alright?" The puppy Pokémon barked happily in response. "Good boy Merlin!"

"Oh stop it Brawly." Their mother chided, but her face adopted a sad smile as she looked at her youngest son. "Silas…" She placed her hands on her chest. "Please do be careful."

"I'll be okay mum." Silas said with a smile on his face, giving his mother a bear hug, which was reciprocated tightly to the point of his breath being stopped.

"I've packed spares of your clothes, any toiletries you'll need, some food for Merlin, a travel guide for Johto and everything you'll ever need." Silas' mother continued getting more emotional with each item, before just breaking down and hugging her son even tighter, if that was possible!

"Aww, mum." Silas let his mother let out her emotions for a good minute before pulling away. "You don't need to worry, I'll do you proud." He smiled. Silas' mother returned with a smile full of pride; her youngest child, all grown up and going out in the world, she was still a little surprised that she now stood a little shorter than him, as he was always smaller than her and Brawly.

Unlike his brother, Silas' hair was not spiked and he let it grow out longer; reaching down past his shoulders, with the top and sides pulled into a half ponytail; in fact he looked more like their mother than Brawly did, yet they shared the same sea blue eyes. He wore black three-quarter length trousers and some blue sandals, along with a white and grey t-shirt with a dark blue hooded vest-jacket, he also kept some blue and black headphones on his neck at all times; which his mother chided him for sometimes.

"Yeah mum, I taught him how to take care of himself, so OF COURSE he'll be fine!" Brawly said happily, which seemed to cheer up his mother. "And I know that he'll be one of the best trainers ever! Maybe one day as good as his big bro!" They all laughed at Brawly's lightheartedness. The three continued to walk to a hangar which was currently being used by a friend. Outside, Silas saw a girl about the same age as his brother with cherry red hair and a pilot's uniform, as they got closer she spotted them and ran over excitedly.

"Brawly! Silas!" She cheered as she ran over tackling Brawly with a hug, he replied by lifting her off the ground with a hug of his own as the two laughed. Silas sighed at his brother before speaking.

"Hey Skyla, it's been a while." He said with a smile on his face. Brawly let her go and Skyla squealed at the younger brother.

"Si! Look at you, you're as tall as me now!" Even though Skyla regarded Silas' height she still ruffled his hair like Brawly did. "You used to be so cuuuute." She teased.

"When I was ten maybe." He replied with a furrowed brow. Skyla used to visit Brawly and Silas when they were younger when she went on holidays, She and Brawly kept in touch more often; Silas knew they were always close and he sometimes teased his brother for it. Yet the steel-haired teen saw her as more of an older sister, right down to the constant teasing.

"Aww don't be like that." She chimed. Silas huffed before Skyla gave him a hug as well.

"Just joking, it's great to see you." He said with a light blush on his face.

"Still a bit cute though." She whispered, only making Silas blush heavier. "Heh, I'm joking…aaanyways, you got all your luggage?" Skyla asked. Silas nodded and pulled the large rucksack he was wearing off of his back and gave it to her. "…This isn't much y'know?"

"I know, I can't carry a suitcase with me on the road, so I'm taking essentials." The young trainer said.

"He's learnin' already!" Brawly said with a tear rolling down his face, clasping his hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Alright then, it's time to fly, Si!" Skyla cheered, she put Silas' bag in her plane's hold and strolled happily up the stairwell.

"Welp." Silas turned to his mother and brother. "It's showtime!" He then gave his family another close group hug before turning back to Skyla's plane. "Come on little buddy." He looked down to the Growlithe who had been sat loyally by his side; Merlin was his closest friend, he was a pet to their family, but Silas always took close care of him, and was always beside him. Silas took one of the three Pokéballs on his waist and clicked it's button, calling Merlin back. He walked up the stairwell and turned to wave at his family one last time before going into the cabin. "Wow." He closed his eyes and breathed in. (Time for my own journey, I'll make you both proud; mum! Brawly!)

The plane's cabin was pretty bare bones; after all, Skyla's plane was a cargo carrier, so there were only twelve seats in the cabin; six either side in rows of two. Before he went to sit down he saw that he wasn't the only person on board. There was a girl sleeping quite peacefully on one of the second row's seats, she had quite pale skin, unlike Silas' moderately tanned complexion, and she had a very large mass of long and wavy, silver-blonde hair. "Um, Skyla?" He said quietly walking into the cockpit of the plane.

"Hmm?" She responded flicking a bunch of dials on the dashboard that Silas had no clue about.

"There's a girl back there, asleep." He said pointing back to the cabin, Skyla turned to him and spoke as if she was broken out of some trance.

"Oh! Her, yeah she's from Mistralton, like me! She told me she wanted to go for a fly around the regions, but…" She scratched her face with an embarrassed laugh. "She's a bit of a sleepyhead. I'm a bit surprised her parents let her do this so often."

"O…kay." Silas replied looking back quickly at the sleeping girl.

"She'll wake up when we take off most likely." She flicked some more dials. "The flight'll be about five hours, straight to Indigo Plateau!" Silas chuckled at Skyla's enthusiasm before shutting the pilot's door and sitting down at the back row window seat, on the other side that the sleeping girl was on, as not to disturb her. After a bit the engines began to whirr up and they coasted out of the hangar to the runway, Silas looked out the window to see his family waving, they probably couldn't see him wave back, but he did so with a sad smile. As the plane took off Silas put his headphones on and began to listen to some relaxing music, the girl had the right idea, catching up on some sleep would pass the time. He let the music play and he shut his eyes and smiled contently. (My own journey…)

Silas awoke a while later, blinking a few times and letting out a yawn that would make a Slakoth jealous, looking out the window he saw that they were still flying over the sea. However, he noticed that he didn't have his headphones on, but he remembered that he had them on before he fell asleep. He looked to his right and his eyes widened immensely, the sleeping girl had moved seats to be sitting next to him, and she was wearing his headphones. (Who the heck does that?) Her eyes were still closed; yet she was bobbing her head lightly to whatever was playing, so she clearly wasn't asleep.

"Uhhh." He said trying to get her attention, but not to be rude. "Um, hello?" No response. This time he poked her lightly on the shoulder, she stirred and opened her eyes softly before turning to Silas. He immediately felt a little heat rise to his face as the girl looked at him with a studious expression, but what got his attention was her, admittedly very pretty, deep blue eyes. She then took off the headphones and spoke very softly.

"…Sorry…" Her voice was light and quiet, making Silas blush a bit harder.

"Uh-um not a problem." He stammered out. The girl tilted her head slightly as if she was examining his face.

"You have nice music." She regarded quietly, passing the headphones back to the boy.

"Well…thanks I guess." He scratched his head and chuckled off his blush. "So…what's your name?" Silas said nervously, just trying to make a little pleasant conversation. The girl quietly replied.

"Izabel." (Izabel? The 'I' is said like 'eye'…strange…) Silas thought. Her face didn't change at all from her curious stare, though she began to look Silas up and down. "…What's yours?"

"Silas, pleasure to meet ya, Izabel." He responded with an awkward smile. Yet he found himself doing the same as Isabel; looking at her attire, she wore a little white bow in her long blonde hair and a cream coloured wool-sweater with a black shirt underneath, the sweater was a bit big for her, so it wrapped around her fingers, which made her look cute. She wore a black skirt which had a white floral pattern around the edge and black leggings, she must have been a bit cold, also she wore simple black flat shoes which had little white bows on them, like in her hair.

"Silas," She tried the name out. "I heard Skyla call you 'Si'." She brought her sweater covered hand to her face. "May I?" Silas blushed once more before stammering out.

"Uh, y-yeah sure." He smiled sheepishly.

"Si," He saw Izabel smile a little bit behind her hand. "It's a nice name."

"Th-thanks." He felt his face get hot again and blushed like a tomato. "Soooo, why're you flying with Skyla?" He questioned.

"I like to come along…to think about things." She responded whilst looking down at her feet. "And you?"

"I'm starting a journey in the Johto region!" Silas replied with a cheer, which made Izabel's eyes widen as she leant in quite close to his face, making him blush again.

"Are you a Pokémon trainer?" She said with the most emotion yet.

"Well I'm still a bit green, but yeah I'd like to think so." He scratched his head with a laugh. "My brother taught me all I know."

"You must be close." Izabel said pulling back a little bit.

"Heh, yeah." He laughed dryly, feeling a bit homesick already. "He's one of the reasons I'm even on this adventure." He smiled remembering the times he spent with his older sibling in their youth; surfing around Dewford, wandering around Granite Cave, travelling to the mainland to visit 'Old Man Briney' or any of the other Gym Leaders that Brawly knew, like Flannery, Norman or Roxanne. "He's always had my back, so I want to get on level ground with him…as a trainer."

"…That's nice," Izabel replied with a somewhat empty smile. "You've got a goal, a…purpose…" She whispered the last part, quietly. The two teens sat next to each other in an awkward silence for a while, Silas not looking at the girl sat by him. But he felt his shoulder heat up and turned his head slowly. Izabel had fallen asleep again, but she rested her head on Silas' shoulder, he looked down at her pale face and felt himself flush again; Isabel's lips were parted slightly as she breathed through her mouth slowly, making barely any noise. (She's…like a child…cute…) He smiled and let her keep sleeping as he rested his own head back in his seat and drifted off to sleep himself.

"D'awww." Skyla said in a hushed voice, looking down at Silas and Izabel. She was surprised that they had slept through the landing process, well at least for Silas. She flicked the teen on his forehead who stirred and rubbed his forehead.

"Owwww…" He blinked a few times. "Oh, hi Skyla…" He yawned for a few seconds. Skyla giggled a little bit.

"You comfy there?" She pointed to Izabel, who was still sleeping on Silas' shoulder.

"Um…" Silas blushed and looked over to her. "Izabel?" He moved his shoulder lightly, trying to wake her.

"Mhmmm…" The girl grumbled, not waking, instead burying her face harder into Silas' shoulder. "…Don't wanna…"

"You two are so adorable!" Skyla squealed. Silas' face was as red as a Darmanitan, Izabel finally sat up and glared at Skyla.

"Wait." She said, softening her eyes. "Are we here?"

"Yup." The pilot replied as chipper as ever, then turned to Silas. "Indigo Plateau! Your launch pad to adventure Si!" Silas' blush faded and was replaced with a joyful smile.

"Whoa!" He looked out of the plane's window and shot up out of his seat, heading past Izabel and Skyla; rushing to the cabin's door. "Finally…" He stood out the plane and inhaled the air deeply. "It's showtime!"

Closing Comments

First chapter in the books! This was fun to write, Pokémon is a world which I can do SOOOO much with! And that's great for a story like this. I made Silas a relative of Brawly because I feel that the Hoenn gym leaders need some more love! And Brawly's one of my favs, I mean A. He uses fighting types. (One of my fav types.) B. He learned how to fight by surfing! Unorthodox like no ones business! Anyways, I hope you enjoy where this goes! -Muffin