Pokémon Pilgrimages: The Journey of Jessica Styles
Co-Created and Written by: Valery Valentine and Kaizer Michaels
Chapter One:
The Dreams of a Water Princess! (Part I)
It was beautiful day in the seaside city; better known as Cerulean City in the northern part of the Kanto region. A soft gentle breeze happily blew in from a sea inlet a little further north of the city; where it's peaceful streets and lively atmosphere made it the perfect place for many families; tourists and of course Pokémon trainers to start out there journeys from with the clearest of minds. Cerulean City is widely known for its impressive water shows; synchronized swimming events and their resident gym leader: Misty; a master of water-type Pokémon. Misty is quite the celebrity in Cerulean City due to her past travels with the current Kanto Champion, one: Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town and her unique battling style in many of the town's gym battles. A Cascade badge is given to those who triumph over Misty inside the Cerulean Gym. But the real story here is about to make her debut appearance for those of you watching at home…
"Oh no, oh no! I'm sooooo late! Darn reality shows!" said a young female voice; who is seen running down the walkway in direction to the Cerulean gym. Meet Jessica Styles though she prefers to be called: Jess. A girl; of 15 years of age who was born and raised right here in Cerulean City. She has quite a petite but athletic body frame standing at a height between both 5'7"to 5'8". She has long; straight light blue hair that comes down just behind her shoulders which occasionally caught some of the passing breezes and blew slightly upwards.
Jessica's attire consisted of a pair of black shine-high; tight-fitting combat leggings, a black low-cut top (worn by females wearing a fitness bra in the gym), one small dark blue denim jacket and a pair of black and dark blue trainers with a baseball cap of the same colours positioned sideways on top of her head on a slight diagonal.
"Misty is going to kill me! Time to pick up the pace!" said a rushing Jessica. Jessica started to run a lot faster and soon found entering the gym through its automatic glass doors and stopping behind those same doors bent over and panting heavily to herself with her hands on her knees. "Phew…j-just….made…it…" Jessica said rather breathlessly.
"JESS!" said a mysterious feminine voice annoyingly. "Oh no…" sighed Jessica. Jessica looked up and saw a young woman in about her early 20s standing there with her hands on her hips: "Misty!" said a slightly worried Jessica taking a step back. "Late again, I see?" said Misty with a look of frustration on her face.
Jessica looked down at the ground adjusting her black & dark blue; single-stripped fingerless leather gloves and sighed. "Sorry Misty, it wasn't intentional believe me!" replied Jessica looking up at her mentor feeling guilty.
Misty looked at her young apprentice and just let out a rather large sigh: "This has to stop, Jess! How can I train you; if you can't even show up on time? Especially; when you're so close to starting your own journey!" stressed Misty walking up to her young apprentice and placing her hand on Jessica's shoulder.
"I know…" sighed Jessica looking down for a second "I'm sorry, Misty. It won't happen again! I promise!" said Jessica have made eye-contact with Misty once again.
"See that it won't. Now come on. I have some people, I'd like you to meet!" said Misty with a smile on her face. "You do?" replied an intrigued Jessica. "That's right! Follow me…" requested Misty. Jessica just shrugged her shoulders a little and smiled as she followed Misty towards the gym section of the gym. Misty opened the doors with Jessica following behind wondering just who she was about to me.
Misty and Jessica walked past a set of stacks, which revealed two men talking to one another; Jessica saw the back of what looked like a Pikachu with its tail in the air on one of men's shoulder and the other was wearing a long; white lab coat. Jessica raised her eyebrow as she continued to walk past the side of the pool towards them. Misty stopped a short distance away from the two men smiling to herself with Jessica coming up next to her and stopping…
"Hey guys! There's someone here, I'd like to introduce you to." said an excited Misty. The two men soon turned around revealing themselves to be none other than Professor Samuel Oak; who stilled look the same but just abit older and Ash Ketchum who also was in his early 20s a bit taller now and seemed a little more muscular. They both smiled at Jessica; whose jaw just dropped: "OH MY GOOODDD! No way!" shouted a super excited Jessica whilst Misty just laughed.
"My, my quite the set of lungs your young student has there; Misty." said Professor Oak with a smile. "No kidding Professor" said Ash, "Pik-a-chu!" chuckled Pikachu. "True." giggled Misty. "I-I'm sorry, heh…" apologised Jessica rather bashfully.
"It's quite alright, my dear." assured Professor Oak, "Yeah, no need to worry." said Ash; "Pika-Chu!" added Pikachu with a friendly smile closing its eyes briefly. Jessica smiled, as Misty started speaking again: "Well even though, I'm sure you know who these two are Jess? I'll introduce you anyway!" said Misty with a cheery tone to her voice. "This is the famous Professor Oak and our very own Kanto Champion: Ash Ketchum and his Pikachu." added Misty.
"Hi!" said Jessica with a smile. "Guys this is my top apprentice: Jessica Styles from right here in Cerulean City." introduced Misty. "Hello Jessica, I've heard quite a lot about you. It's great to finally meet you in-person." said Professor Oak who extended his hand out to Jessica. "You have?" replied Jessica shaking Professor Oak's hand. "Oh yeah, tons!" replied Ash extending his hand to Jessica, who shook it.
"Awesome!" said Jessica smiling to her-self. "There's a reason, I asked them to come here today Jess." said Misty. "There is?" replied a slightly confused Jessica. "That's right!" Ash replied with a smile, "It's more of a test really…" added Professor Oak with a smile also. "Test?" said a now even more confused Jess looking up at Misty, who just smiled at her young apprentice.
"Don't worry Jess; it's nothing to be alarmed about. It's about time, I see just how much you've learned whilst studying and training here at the Cerulean gym. So I've asked Ash here to be your opponent for a little test battle, just to see how you can handle yourself against someone other than me or my sisters. You're my only apprentice, so of course I want to see succeed! So this test battle will show me that…So you up for this challenge?" asked Misty.
Jessica gulped a little staring at the Kanto Champion thinking to herself: "Me against Ash? Oh my god! I-I can't beat him! He is the champion, after all! He'll cream me." She soon exited her thoughts, as he replied to Misty looking down a little: "I-I don't know." muttered Jessica.
Ash smiled a little, as he walked up to Jessica placing his hand on her shoulder crouching down infront of her looking up straight into her crystal blue eyes: "Jessica, I believe in you. And so does Misty. We all do. She wouldn't have called me here for this favour, if she didn't think you were ready right?" Ash said with a sense of comfort in his voice. "I-I guess." said Jessica with some uncertainty.
"From; what I hear you quite the trainer in well training! Heh…and I know you specialize in water-type Pokémon also like Misty. That's why I'll be battling you 3 on 3 with Pokémon who are a fire-type; a water-type and a grass-type." confirmed Ash. "This will allow us to see, just how you battle against Pokémon who have an advantage; a disadvantage and a sense of equality in-type involving water-type Pokémon." added Ash.
"I maybe the champion, but don't let that stop you from giving me your all and becoming a great water-type Pokémon trainer. I am looking forward to our battle very much. So will you battle with me, Jess?"
asked Ash with a friendly smile. Jessica took in everything Ash had just told her and smiled knowing that even if she loses, she'll know just how far she has truly come during her time here at the Cerulean gym.
"Okay Ash, you're on!" replied a smiling Jessica as she raised her right arm clenching her fist with excitement and nervousness. "That's the spirit! Alright!" replied Ash, who quickly stood up smiling looking all fired up, as well.
Misty and Professor Oak just smiled at one another, whilst Ash and Jessica stared each other down with smiles on their faces looking forward to their test battle together…
..TO BE CONTINUED! -
NEXT TIME: -
Chapter Two:
Dreams of a Water Princess (Part II)
How will Jess fair against the reigning Kanto Champion: Ash Ketchum in her test battle? And is she truly ready to start her own Pokémon journey across countless regions as a fully-fledged Pokémon Trainer? Find out during the next chapter of my story...
P.S. I am also looking for any members, who want to participate in Jess's story with their original characters. If Interested drop me a private message and I'll reply to you with all the relevant information. Also don't forget to review my story, guys! Thanks in advance! And I hope you all enjoy my story! :)