This is my first fanfiction and I've recently decided to scrap and redo however much of the story I had written by then. I'm also obligated to say that I don't own Pokemon and Nintendo does, but they haven't sued in 20+ years, so it's unlikely that they'd start now.
I hope you enjoy.
Brendan Birch, aged 14, did not have a particularly tortured life, but at the moment, he would have preferred a frying pan to his head compared to the cruel treatment that he was suffering through.
Of course, Brendan, consistently annoyed, had a flair for the dramatic, so it was kind of, remotely possible that he could've maybe over exaggerated a tiny bit.
And then a box fell on top of him, and he fainted on the spot.
He arose to consciousness when his body jumped 3 feet off of the ground.
Groggily, he opened his eyes. He was smack-dab in the middle of a plethora of boxes, all emblazoned with a picture of Machamp. Machamp Moving Men, it read. And to top it all off, an Azurill doll was placed precariously on his head. He quickly shook it off, his face burning red. He could still remember Gold and Lyra laughing hysterically when they had broken into his bedroom the day before, finding the doll tucked into Brendan's arms.
"Where... where am I", he asked, still unsure whether or not he was fully conscious, or even fully sane.
And then a blinding light overcame him as if Arceus themselves had come down from the sky.
Spoiler alert, it wasn't Arceus.
"Brendan, you're finally here!" exclaimed his mother. She then adopted a stern look. "Do you know how long I've been waiting for you? I've been so worried! I called your father and the movers..."
As she droned on, Brendan's mouth kept opening wider and wider. First of all, he wasn't even driving the car. He was in the back, for Ho-Oh's sake. And it sure as heck wasn't his fault that he was stuck in the back of that nefarious thing anyway. His mother and father got to sit in a direct flight from Goldenrod to Mauville City, followed by a train ride from there to Petalburg. Meanwhile, Brendan was shipped to Olivine, where after a 5-hour layover, he was then sent to some place called Slateport, after which he was shipped back here in his new home of...
"Littleroot Town, you silly billy," said his mother. "My my, if you can't even remember where you live, how will you ever remember to get a girlfriend?"
"Mom. No."
She just chuckled and gestured for him to follow her into their new house. On the inside, it was like a whole new world. Even though the moving truck had just got here, the inside was fully decorated, as if the Maple family had been living here for years. Brendan pondered upon that a bit but left it as the will of the gods, or the creepy old dude that loves to scare children off his lawn.
Two Machamps were standing right past the threshold, clearly waiting for his mother to sign some papers. After doing so, the Machamp took the paper, bowed to Brendan and his mother, and promptly left the building. The boy wasn't sure who was driving the car, but he was hoping that Pokemon couldn't receive driving licenses.
"So what do you think Brendan? Isn't this place nicer than that cramped Goldenrod apartment?" Caroline said, depressingly unaware about her son's obvious distaste of the whole situation.
"Let's go with that," replied Brendan.
"Now Brendan," his mother said while raising an eyebrow. "Don't be that way. You should go see your new room! And Dad brought a clock to celebrate the new move!"
"I don't think that celebrate is the right word."
Brendan trudged down the hallway toward the stairs as his mother positioned herself in front of the television. He walked over to the farthest room on the right. The door had a sign that said 'Brendan's Room' in calligraphic handwriting, no doubt his mother's work. He stepped inside and the room was arranged just as he would have imagined it as if his other had plucked it out of his brain and into reality.
His bed, desk, and television were all in place, and there was a map of the Hoenn region to accompany the brand new clock. Brendan set the time, took one last look at his new humble abode, and walked downstairs. Just as he was about to run out and maybe go to the Ice Cream Shop for an Oran Berry Pop, his mother beckoned him over.
"Brendan! Get down here right now! Your dad's on TV!"
"... And that was the report on the Petalburg Gym. Now Juan, the Gym Leader of Sootopolis City, has been arrested for being too Kalosian for a Hoenn gym leader... Over to you, Gabby…"
"Well, I guess it's over. So I'll just head on over to the Ice Cream Shop and..." started Brendan, before feeling a sharp tug to his ear.
"Not so fast there, young man. One of Dad's friends lives in this town. Professor Birch is his name. He lives right next door, so you-"
"Mom!" The reply was short and sweet, but he could already feel that ice cream slipping out of his reach.
"Now Brendan…" his mother replied, with a raised eyebrow.
A quiet staring contest happened between the two, but soon the young boy caved in.
"All right, I'll go!" Brendan said, fully knowing what would happen next.
"That's my boy."
Brendan walked out of the door, and walked the ten feet across his lawn towards the only other house in town. He looked at the sign which read 'The Birchs'. The boy, receiving no reply after knocking the door, opened the said door to reveal… the mirror image of his own house.
Brendan could not believe how stupid this was.
A woman about the age of his own mother was busy in intently reading a magazine, and Brendan wasn't sure what to do. After standing awkwardly like that for about 30 seconds, he, well attempted to clear his throat, although it was more of a cough/gag/chuckle. Nevertheless, that seemed to lift the woman from her 'trance', and her confused face quickly turned to a smile
"Oh, and you are?" she inquired.
"I'm Brendan Maple, the son of Norman, the gym leader of Petalburg City," Brendan replied.
"Brendan!" she said, beckoning him inside. "It's been so long since I last saw you. Oh how handsome you've become!"
"Umm, riiight. And you are?" he said.
"Oh, silly me. My name is Jane, Jane Birch. I'm the wife of Professor Birch. We have a daughter who is about your age. Go upstairs and meet her."
Nervously, Brendan walked up the oak staircase toward a room that was covered in zebra striped patterns and pink ribbons. He knocked twice, but there was no response. Debating his choices (and ultimately punching out the moral side), he entered the room and saw a room, scarily much like his own, except pink.
"Who are you?" asked a voice on the far side of the room.
Brendan quickly turned his head and noticed a girl that he hadn't noticed earlier. She was about his height and slim, with long and thick brown hair. Her eyes were blue, a lot like his. She wore a scarlet tank top with a black undershirt, white shorts with black leggings underneath, yellow and black ankle boots, and a red and white bandanna.
"Who are you, and who let you into my room?" the mystery girl asked, her face clearly irritated.
"Oh I was just…" Brendan began to reply, but it immediately became evident that the girl was just teasing with him, and the boy calmed down just as quickly.
"Sorry to give you such a scare like that. My name's May, May Birch. But who are you?"
"Oh!" Brendan replied. "My name is Brendan Maple. I just moved in next door."
"Oh that's right!" May said, her face lighting up. "Dad was telling me something about that. So you're the new gym leader's kid."
Brendan sighed. The gym leader thing again. Norman was good, but he wasn't Diantha or something. How would people recognize his dad in the smallest town in anywhere?
May grinned. "I know how you feel. I get that a lot too. I mean- Oh wait! I forgot to do something! Nice meeting you, Brendan. See you later!"
"Umm. Bye, I guess?" but it was of no use, as she had already left the room.
Brendan decided that he was bored enough as it was, and decided that he wanted to leave the house as quickly as he could. May's mother was already back at reading her magazine, staring at its pages. Now that he thought about it, his mother had the exact same magazine delivered to their house. Huh, their marketing strategy must be amazing.
Leaving the house, Brendan blinked his eyes uncertainly, almost vampire-like. Ready to finally get some ice-cream, he heard a scream in the distance. When he went closer, against his gut feeling, as he would later remark, he saw a boy, who told him that the scream had come from up ahead, and that whoever it was going to need a miracle. He wondered if that miracle was supposed to be 14 years old, wildly sarcastic, and otherwise normal in every other way.
Of course he had to intervene.
The scream in person was a man, and Brendan would have never related the two if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes. He had a bit of a gut on him, but had smile wrinkles on his face, although he wasn't smiling right now. His face was strangely familiar as well, like Brendan had seen it just a few minutes ago. His shoes were muddy, and random pieces of equipment were strewn everywhere. On a completely unrelated tangent, it looked like the room of a regular tween-teen boy, with random objects and laundry in all directions. In this wilderness, throw in a TV, and Brendan would have felt right at home.
All of that put aside, that man was running, chased by a Zigzagoon, or more commonly know as, HM slave.
If this was another time, Brendan would have instantly forgot the importance of the situation, and take advantage of the comedy that was unfolding. If he had his camera, this would instantly be online, boosting him to power, fame, and soon, world domination. But alas, that was not to happen.
The man was in no true danger, and Brendan was going to put it aside, but sadly, the mystery man noticed him and called him from afar.
"Hey you! I've got some Pokeballs in my bag! Take one and save me! Please! I am going to die!"
Well this man had a flair for the dramatics. Brendan reached out into the aforementioned bag, and threw out one of them. It revealed to be be an orange, chicken-like Pokemon, with its beak out and ready to battle. The good news was that the Zigzagoon was no longer chasing the mystery man, but the bad news was that it was facing him instead.
Using basic training knowledge that Norman had given him, Brendan just called for a Scratch, and the battle began.
Brendan would have liked to say that the battle was long and grueling, and would have definitely given a boost to his already inflated ego. Instead, the Zigzagoon was actually a bit of a joke.
After the Zigzagoon had retaliated with a Tackle, Brendan decided to continue the Scratch on Tackle match. After a few more turns, during which Brendan thought of many colorful names for the man, the Pokemon accepted defeat, and slunk away into the wildlife.
"Hey you! Wait up!"
The man, who was actually Professor Birch, couldn't stop stammering his thanks, much like another professor that he had read about.
Professor Birch told him to follow him to his lab, slowly humming some kind of Pokemon song. Brendan shared a look of confusion with the Torchic, who was still out of its ball. Scowling, the two followed the professor to his lab, now with a skip in his step, like nothing ever happened.
Once they had arrived, the professor took the two to the back of the lab, and started ranting about various things. Brendan didn't hear anything; for all he knew, it could just be wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff. Instead, he was staring around at the lab, which looked to be very modern, surprising considering the out-of-nowhere location of this town.
When Birch mentioned his name, Brendan jerked to attention.
"... and that's how I got stuck in that little incident there. Any questions?" the professor asked.
"You had Pokemon right there. You're the professor, for Arceus' sakes!"
"Heh, heh," Birch said with a nervous grin. "Anyway, speaking of more important things, I have a proposition for you. During my annual visit to Kanto, Professor Oak entrusted two Pokédexes with me. One I gave to May..."
"Nepotist," Brendan growled.
The professor, pretending that he hadn't noticed, continued, "And when I heard that Norman's boy was moving here in Hoenn, I decided I would stall to give it to you as well. So-"
"No, no, no, no, no!" Brendan exclaimed. "I'm not getting involved with a Pokédex. Pokédex carriers usually have to save the world from impending doom. There was that incident with Red and Blue in Kanto, and the Slowpoke tail thing in Johto. Hoenn is going to be next, and I want no part in it."
"Don't be ridiculous Brendan. There's no guarantee that Hoenn's next. You'll have a harmless time, I assure you. Plus, I let you have that Torchic. Would you like to give her a name?"
"Her?"
"Yes," Birch said patiently. "That's a girl."
After a few moments of deliberation, Brendan decided, "She looks like a Grace to me."
"Wonderful!" said the professor. "Now, your first mission is-"
"What?" Brendan replied, shocked.
"I need you to go bring May. She should be on Route 103."
Brendan just stood there, his mouth open.
"Go on, shoo."
Brendan rolled his eyes. He was in for a long ride.
A/N: Updates will most likely be every week.