Prologue

All appeared well in the secret underground headquarters. No one noticed a worker in a white lab coat slip out of a custodial closet. She had long red hair and piercing blue eyes. She made her way swiftly to the door that she knew would lead her to the main room. A man in a similar lab coat nodded at her as she passed.

Looking back at her, the man did a double-take, for, protruding out of the woman's lab coat, was a long, fluffy, black tail. Something seemed to click in his head, and then he shouted, "Zorua!" He grabbed the woman's tail, and she immediately turned into the dark fox Pokemon.

Zorua immediately bolted out of the room. There were two people working in the main room, but no one noticed her as she zipped by. Her eyes were on the stairs that led up and out of this dungeon.

"It's Zorua!" the first man cried. "Don't let her escape!"

The other two immediately got up and ran for her. The three of them pulled out a Pokeball, and out popped a Darmanitan, Scolipede, and Excadrill. Zorua had already leapt to the stairs before the men had a chance to call out any attacks.

Zorua turned on the stairs and shot three Shadow Balls at the Pokemon, sending them flying back. Then she changed into a human again so she could open the door and emerge out into the night. Realizing she could run faster on all fours, she changed back into normal form and did just that.

She skidded to a halt when she saw the guard Pokemon - four Stoutland - standing in her way. She remained calm and took a deep breath. Her eyes started to glow blue as she raised her front paws in the air. As her body became surrounded by a crimson aura, she brought her paws down onto the ground, causing a crimson and pink forcefield of energy to appear around her body and expand outward, hitting the Stoutland and causing them to fall to the ground.

Zorua bolted forward again, headed out of the forest and towards the city. It was not long before her path was blocked again. This time, standing in her way was an Infernape and a man with long, wavy, purple hair, piercing blue eyes, and a bright blue lab coat. Alistair! Zorua growled, using telepathy to communicate with the man through her mind.

"Zorua," the man said in a cool tone, "did you really think you could escape without my noticing?"

Zorua dig her claws into the ground and arched her back, the fur on it rising. Is it a battle you want? She was prepared to fight him. She could take that giant monkey.

"No. I just want to talk. I thought I had been good to you, Zorua. What could you possible want with the outside world?"

Zorua did not buy his feigned innocence. She knew who he was. I'm going to go find a strong trainer who will finish you! She could not take him and all of his followers on her own after all.

"You know what? I'm going to let you do that." A wry smile crossed his face at her confused expression. "I'm going to let you go. If you will not work with me, than go find a trainer you like, and I will convince him to join me. Then I will have what I desire."

Zorua swished her tail angrily. That will never happen!

Alistair smirked. "We'll see. Goodbye, Zorua. We shall meet again soon."

She did not know if she could trust him, and she did not want to find out. She began running through the forest once again without slowing down. Thankfully, she did not hear anyone behind her. She continued to run until she reached New Tort City.

Many people would not understand having an evil organization right next to Unova's biggest city, but it actually worked quite well. Everyone in the city was so busy with their own lives, and it was so crowded that no one even noticed the wacko in the forest. Headquarters was hidden in plain sight. She knew no one would follow her into the city and risk seeming suspicious, but she knew Alastair had allies in the city she had to be wary of.

She wanted to find a place to spend the night and then set out on her journey in the morning. She needed to get as far away from Alastair as possible. If she could make it, she planned to run all the way to the east side of Unova. Right now, tiredness was wearing her down. She looked back and forth as she walked, hoping to find shelter.

Hey! she heard a voice call.

She stopped and turned to see a group of Trubbish standing in front of an alleyway. They were watching her curiously. I don't want any trouble. Do you know I place where I can stay the night?

You can stay with us, said the Trubbish that had spoken before.

Zorua hesitated. Trubbish were not very attractive Pokemon, and she did not like the way they were eying her. However, she did not have time to find a better offer, and they were probably harmless. She bet they were just not used to having a pretty female around. Plus, their stench would hide her scent in case those Stoutland were still looking for her. She dipped her head to the Trubbish. Thank you.

The Trubbish grinned as they led her down the alleyway. There was a large cardboard box with some old cushions inside. Zorua lay down in the middle, and the Trubbish crowded around her. She was uncomfortable, but at least she was safe for now. The real struggle lay in the future. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, her mind filled with dreams of what was to come.

A/N: Hey, y'all. Sorry for the broad summary of this story. It's hard to be descriptive without giving too much away. There will be many shippings in this, but I won't tell you which ones. This is about friendship as much as it is about romance. These are the canon characters who will be major characters: Gary, Paul, May, Max, Drew, Dawn, and Kenny. There may be a few others that won't play as big of a role.

I just want to give a quick note on age since romance will play a big role in this story. I find it amusing that every other writing seems to think it necessary to raise the age of the characters outside of canon to make it legitimate for romance. Yes, 10 is young to fall in love, but I always though that people age in the Pokemon world different than in our world. After all, we wouldn't let 10-year-olds go on a journey alone in our world, would we? I always assumed that Pokemon characters from age 10-17 are basically as mature as teenagers. Kids younger than 10 also seem a lot more mature than in our world.

If you play the Sims, you can think about age in that way. All the trainers from age 10-17 act about the same, and in the Sims, the teenage age has everyone acting the same. Everyone can fall in love with anyone within that age range. The Sims kid age would be 5-9 in Pokemon. They also act similarly. Young adult would be where characters like Brock and Cilan fall. They too seem to act different than the adult age.

I hope that made sense. lol If you're still uncomfortable, just add three years to the ages of the characters. That should make everything fine.

Anyway, I hope you stick around. I promise it will get better and deeper into the characters as it goes along.