"Leigha!"
The twelve-year-old's face suddenly drooped as she heard her father call.
"Coming!" she shouted, and ascended the staircase to her father's office, where she found him at his desk huddled over a pile of papers.
He glanced up at her with cold, unfeeling brown eyes. "I need you to over to Silph for me to pick up a package. Make it quick."
Leigha nodded obediently, her jet-black hair swaying. "Yes, Father," she murmured and scurried downstairs and out the door.
As Leigha marched towards the streets of Celadon City, anger coursed throughout her veins. 'I'm his slave,' she thought with fury.
Ever since his wife died when Leigha was four, Mr. Riley had been a completely different man. He had completely immersed himself into his work at Silph, and acted as though Leigha was there for his benefit only. He hadn't even allowed her to go on a Pokémon journey when she had turned ten.
'Instead, I'm forced to stay at home and wait on him hand and foot. He wouldn't even give me a reason for not letting me leave! Some father.'
Leigha's anger rose with each step she took. But her train of resentful thoughts was cut off abruptly as she heard a loud curse, followed by a Pokémon's cry and a series of crashes.
Leigha glanced around quickly. Because of her father's work, they'd long ago moved to the outskirts of town, because it was peaceful. However, the peace had just been broken.
Leigha, biting her lower lip, scooted towards the small house the sounds were coming from. 'More of a cabin, really,' she thought absently. She peered through the dirt-encrusted window where she saw a man, roughly forty years of age, repeatedly kicking a Pokémon. Furniture was overturned, and the poor Pokémon was cowering in a corner.
"Oh, no" Leigha whispered. "I have to stop him." But then the rational part of her mind took over. 'I can't just barge inside and demand him to stop!' Leigha wanted to do something, but she just stared.
Finally, the man stopped screaming gibberish and kicked the Pokémon one last time. He then strode towards the front door and burst through before Leigha had time to react.
The man glared at her, his eyes narrowed in contempt. "And waddaya think yer doin'?" he asked gruffly. Leigha didn't answer.
The man suddenly tossed out a Pokéball. "Scyther, go!" he cried. "Get that girl! Don't let her get away!"
"SCY-ther!" screamed the fierce-looking green Pokémon.
"No one can know what she saw!" roared the portly man. "Finish her off!"
Leigha stood frozen in fear as the Scyther advanced, swinging its blades about viciously. Before she gained control of her senses as began to run, the door of the cabin opened and a Pokémon bounded through.
"Flaaare!"
It was the one that had been abused. Leigha couldn't identify what it was; she's never seen one like it before. But she did see the limp in its right hind leg and its heavy breathing.
The fluffy Pokémon opened its mouth and released a fiery blast, instantly frying Scyther.
Leigha's protector then scampered off towards the woods, Leigha following closely at its heels. The man's loud curses faded as he was left far behind.
Finally, Leigha slumped to the ground, panting. The Pokémon climbed into her lap. "Flareon," it murmured.
For the first time, Leigha had a good look at what she now knew was called a Flareon. It had a pink face and legs, with deep, intelligent, black eyes, a ruff of white fur around its neck, a tuft on its head and a fluffy white tail.
And it was in critical condition.
Flareon had cuts and bruises all over its body, and one of its eyes was almost swollen shut. It seemed to be having much difficulty breathing, and of course there was that limp.
Leigha gasped. "Oh, you poor thing!" she said. "I have to get you to the Pokémon center." She stood up, cuddling the Flareon close, and ran back to the city.
*
After Flareon was bandaged and healing, Leigha contemplated what to do. Her father wouldn't allow her to keep the Pokémon, she was positive. Besides, she couldn't keep it legally without a trainer's license.
'Well, at any rate, it'll be awhile before Flareon's released from the center. I have that long to figure something out.' Leigha rose from the hard plastic seat in the waiting room and approached the counter. "Excuse me," she said to the pink-haired Nurse Joy. "Can you tell me when Flareon will be healed?"
Joy smiled brightly and glanced down at a clipboard she was carrying. "Of course. Let's see, Flareon... oh, it's in bad condition. It will be at least three days before we can let it go."
"Thank you." Leigha exited the Pokémon center and headed home.
*
Leigha sat on her bed, glowering at the wall. Her father had been absolutely furious when she'd returned late-and without his package for that matter.
"You are a disappointment." Those hurtful words echoed through her mind.
"I can't believe he said that," Leigha muttered. The nerve! After all she'd done for him, always obedient and respectful. 'Then one mistake and I'm an utter disappointment in his eyes.
'Well, I won't have to deal with it much longer,' Leigha decided. 'I'm leaving.'
It was a crazy notion, she knew. For one thing, she wasn't a licensed trainer. Owning any Pokémon would be considered illegal.
For another, she had no place to go. 'I suppose I could just wander, as if I really were a trainer.' She rather liked the idea of herself as a Pokémon trainer.
Then suddenly she heard her father grumbling downstairs, and recalled his putdowns. That cemented it.
"I'm going," she said aloud, a giddy grin plastered across her face. She felt suddenly extremely excited.
Leigha would be free. No more attending to her father, obeying his every word. No one to listen to, no one to be ordered around by. Just her and her Pokémon.
Leigha's smile faded. Free? No. She would be a criminal. 'It doesn't matter,' she thought, fighting her conscience. 'If I don't, what will happen to Flareon? To me?'
She swung her legs over her bed, stood, and began to pack.
*
Over the next couple of days, Leigha didn't mind her dad as much as usual, knowing that it would soon be over. She did as he commanded almost cheerfully.
On the third day, by pure luck, Leigha was asked to pick up yet another package. She knew this was her chance.
She nonchalantly made her way out of her house, trying to remain inconspicuous, despite the fact that her back was loaded with a sleeping bag and a knapsack.
She needn't have worried. Her father didn't even look at her. 'I should have known,' thought Leigha bitterly.
Her first stop was to the local store to buy a Pokéball for Flareon, plus a few others for catching wild ones. As the total was tallied on the cash register, the cashier peered curiously at Leigha. "Are you from around here? I think I've seen you before."
The girl laughed nervously. "Oh, yeah, I live... nearby."
"Oh, really? Are you starting on your Pokémon journey then? You look a bit older than usual..."
The cashier was getting too nosy for her own good. Leigha grabbed her purchase. "Uh, yeah, something like that. Bye." She raced out the door. She was going to have to try to avoid any more confrontations like that one.
Next, Leigha went to the Pokémon center to find a very happy, healed Flareon. It yapped happily when it saw Leigha.
"Hiya, Flareon," she said. "Thanks, Nurse Joy!" The two left in high spirits, but sticking to the shadows to remain unnoticed.
Finally, the companions reached the forest marking the boundary of Celadon City. "Here we are," Leigha said. "So, Flareon, how would you like to come along with me on my Pokémon journey?" She held out a red-and-white Pokéball.
"Flare!" The fire Pokémon eagerly entered, and the red light dimmed. Flareon was now Leigha's.
Illegally.
'Stop it!' Leigha gave herself a mental slap. 'Feeling guilty will not help matters any.' She shook her head as if to clear it. Then Leigha Riley walked into the forest, ready to meet her destiny.