Ello awesome people of the Pokémon fandom. I'm going into this story with the wanting and idea of bringing in an unique concept for a story. Let's find out if it's a hit or miss, everyone. Hope you enjoy!

In order to find the truth…

Where was I?

In order to avert the tragic the fate of this world…

It was a white…emptiness. I felt like I was floating in sea of white light.

In order to find yourself…

Find…myself?

You shall face a terrible ordeal…

An ordeal? My entire life has been an ordeal…

But stay strong, as you always have.

As I always have…even as an Unbound, I haven't let people push me around. That's why I practice fighting so much.

Stay strong and you will prevail.

Stay strong…but, what am I prevailing against? The white light around me faded away into a bleak darkness. Darkness I felt powerless against. Darkness that would threaten to consume me.

"You know, I might end up hurting you really badly by accident if you keep spacing out like that, Sol."

"H-Huh? Sorry Trevor…"

I leaned my head forward to see him walking towards me from several yards. Standing at about five feet and seven inches, you'd be surprised at how much strength he had in his lean tan brown body. He was wearing a tight gray shirt, generally featureless, with simple blue jeans, making him seem all the less threatening. Short black hair and a constant smile, along with keeping his eyes narrow and calm, made Trevor Lark quite the hard character to read at first glance.

Much more then myself, at least. My strength wasn't hard to judge from my five feet and four inch thin frame. Brown straight hair reaching down to my shoulder with bangs reaching down just above my right eye complemented my light skin. I wore generally dark colors and jackets, a bit more bothered by Sinnoh's cold than most. Today I wore a black jacket with grey patches over the shoulders. Like Trevor, I wore simple pants blue jeans right now. Yep…poor Marisol Laine would probably not be getting any betters relying on her anytime soon.

In the end, though, finesse and technique could easily beat pure strength…when you're not spaced out about nightmares you had the night before. Not to say Trevor focused on nothing but strength, but he did just kinda knock me back a few yards…

Trevor just gave me his usual goofy smile as he knelt down and held out his hand, turning off his red energy sword and laying the hilt down in the grass. My sword lied a few feet behind me, still actively releasing its red energy beam, stuck in the ground with the hilt pointed upward. Must have hit the steel ground foundation under the lawn, considering it didn't just go as deep into the grass an energy sword would normally. Grass was a commodity in Hearthome nowadays, so I really should've taken a bit more care not to slash it up with a sword.

"I should really just start growing grass or something to start covering these burn holes," I laughed as I grasped his hand and sprung up.

"It's just a wonder that it doesn't start a fire or something. The pure energy from today's weapons is weird," he commented. "It's not like plasma or anything so it doesn't light things on fire, but it's strong enough to cut. It has form based on the crystal in the weapon, but no one can explain it."

"Weird, but it keeps us alive," I added, grabbing my sword and deactivating it rather than just pulling it out. "Though, I guess the fact that you think Zykite crystals are weird is understandable. They literally give out pure energy. You could compare it to some Pokémon attacks, like Flash Cannon, but that's still not really getting close to the truth."

"Seriously," Trevor nodded. "We're advanced to the point where we're harnessing energy crystals for weapons, yet scientists don't even know the origin or inner workings of a lot of it. Spirit crystals even have their unknowns. Then again, they're just a special Zyki-um…Sol?"

As usual, my heart skipped slightly when Trevor mentioned spirit crystals, and, as usual, my best friend noticed my facial expression giving me away.

"I should really stop bringing up spirit crystals so casually…" he said with regret in his voice.

"It's fine," I tried to assure him. "You can't help the fact that I'm Unbound. Besides, everyone else has one. It's not like I can escape it."

The two of us just stared at each other in silence for a little bit. Best friends or not, my status as an Unbound would always be a stumbling block to normal conversation.

"B-Besides, your Pachirisu is way too cute," I said, trying to salvage the conversation. I drew my energy sword. "Come on, I need to practice versus a Pokémon anyways."

"I was hoping you wouldn't ask for that kind of practice this morning," Trevor said with a small laugh as he pulled a small yellow crystal off of his belt. Hexagonal in shape, the crystal fit into the palm of his hand. A fancy tech strap made of steel with an alarm if it was disconnected wrongly linked the crystal to his belt, helping its owner not lose his most prized possession. "You're going to maul my poor Retto yet again!"

"Oh come on, you know that's not true," I complained and pouted playfully. "Retto has an even stronger shield then you do."

"Shield? As in the thing you never even touched on me in the last half hour?" he jibbed jokingly as he tapped his arm lightly with his now-drawn sword. A faint blue energy shield appeared each time his sword "touched" him, showing the body lining shield's presence.

"So where did you wear the shield band this time?" I asked. "I don't want to accidentally break your shield and hit the band at the same time. Shields cost way too much, you know."

"Cost way too much…coming from the girl who owns about five different kinds of weapons," he smiled.

"And who doesn't have a spirit Pokémon!" I scoffed back, slightly upset by his comment. My parents were by no means rich. They sacrificed a lot to afford me weapons to compensate for the fact that I was an Unbound.

Trevor quickly noticed that we weren't joking around anymore. "Look…sorry about that. I should keep my wack sense of humor in line more often…"

"N-No…it's fine. I snapped when I shouldn't have," I responded.

Cue another awkward silence with both of us saying nothing for about half a minute. "But if you didn't have your wack sense of humor, you wouldn't be Trevor!" I giggled.

"So that's all I'm good for, huh?" he smirked back. "Nah. You love me because I'm a good practice partner. So let's keep sparring."

I simply nodded at that. We needed to keep moving anyways. Practice was important, and that's why we hung out so early in the morning, but today was the first day of classes at Hearthome University and we needed to be headed there in another hour. The sun was barely hanging over the horizon, obscured partly by random skyscrapers from the city center. We lived out towards the outskirts, but cities often built upward as fast as they built outward. Besides, with mega-cities in the world, you would eventually start to run into other cities, and other cities wouldn't take too kindly to that. The "outskirts" were surrounded by large buildings still, many connected by walkways. Small houses like mine would dot the landscape here and there, but overall, it was in a small alcove like many other cities. The city was multi-leveled. Not miles and miles high, but ground level wasn't always the most efficient way to travel. Sure the subway was useful, but with monorails, moving conveyors between building walkways, and some spirit Pokémon, there were better ways to travel.

I shoved my thoughts on Sinnoh's current events towards the back of my head. It was practice time. Without a spirit Pokémon of my own, this time was always important. I wouldn't have any help if I needed to fight. Solution? Learn how to fight as well as I could, as many ways as I could.

Today was sword training. Trevor and I walked away from each other, spacing ourselves about ten yards apart. Running back wasn't an option, with my somewhat small yard's steel walls holding us in and the electronic gate door to the front locked. It was fine by me. If I were to get into a dangerous situation forcing me into a fight, I probably wouldn't have the luxury of running away anyways. Too many Pokémon are either too fast or have some kind of way to keep an opponent from escaping to make running away something actually worth practicing often.

Besides, I wasn't a runner. Small little bursts of speed? Completely necessary. A lot of Skills required the ability to move fast. Long-distance running was a bit more difficult, especially considering there weren't really that many Skill crystals available to the public for things like high stamina and running speed.

With that last thought in my mind, I shouted to Trevor, "You didn't change out any skill crystals while I wasn't looking, did you?"

"Would you know in a real fight with a stranger?" he responded.

"I guess not. But I know all of you Skills already, so I guess I shouldn't even care," I smirked.

"That works both ways," he stated as he pointed his red saber at me, "Ready, Sol?"

I simply nodded.

Trevor opened by swinging his spirit crystal in front of him and pointing it to the ground. A white light shot out from it, quickly gaining form and revealing his Pachirisu, Retto. The small white electric squirrel cried out in joy on its reveal, as eccentric and hyper as his Partner.

"You know, that blue stripe running across Retto make for an excellent vertical cut target," I smirked, playfully swiping my sword in front of me to make a vertical cut motion.

"I just had a terrible thought concerning a world without Pokémon energy shields," Trevor…and his Pachirisu deadpanned. "It's ok. You already know Retto has a stronger shield than I do," he smiled, looking at his spirit Pokémon.

"It's awesome how you care about Retto so much," I said cheerfully, thought slightly jealous of the bond on the inside. "I'd imagine a lot of small spirit Pokémon's Partners would give their Pokémon weaker and cheaper shields, relying on them not getting hit. You don't take that risk."

"Pfft," Trevor scoffed with a smirk. "Thanks. Though…I could put no shield on Retto and he'd still be more of a match for anyone. Up to and including you."

"Trash talking already, huh?" I smirked back.

Once again, he pointed his sword at me. Retto darted off to Trevor's right, making the three of us space out like a triangle. I simply held my sword in a defensive position, waiting for him to make the first move.

Trevor quickly broke the anticipation. "Retto! Use Spark and Tackle Sol!" he shouted while at the same time running towards me.

Trevor would take some time to get to me, albeit only by seconds. Retto was my main focus as he quickly closed the distance between us, jumping straight at me with its body crackling with his blue electricity. Trevor was only feet away from at this point.

Stamina was never a problem. Technique was important, but technique was nothing with decision making. That was my focus, and my decision for this single instance was made and ready to be acted on.

I quickly started to run forward. Retto was too fast for me to dodge outright, so I went for a forward stab at his head with my one-handed sword. The attacked connected as Retto got blasted away from the quick impact on his shield. He probably landed just fine and was already moving, but at that point I was only a second away from Trevor. My right arm and sword was still extended to my left, so I quickly swiped back horizontally as I met Trevor. His response was a vertical block before I connected with his side. Instead of letting it turn into a deadlock or letting him make a move, I carried my forward momentum onward and sprinted past him, doing a quick crouching turnaround. Trevor sprinted forward as well, getting just out of range in case I went for an immediate backstab. We knew each other way to well.

I looked to Trevor, who quickly pointed his sword straight at me. "Skill Shot…"

I braced for impact. I knew a few of Trevor's Skills, and the one I was thinking of was a projectile that would fire from his sword."

"…"

I held my guard, wondering what he was stalling for.

"Just kidding," he chuckled.

I gasped as I realized his trick. As soon as he said "Skill Shot," I expected a Skill to fire at me. Instead, it was a bluff. I quickly looked left and right.

Retto was nowhere to be seen.

Everything happened within a few seconds. I fell for the trick, and I immediately felt a spike of pain. Retto was behind me, directly tackling me with his Spark-infused attack. My blue shield reflected across my entire body as blue lightening arced across my body.

"Get off me!" I screamed, the pain building up fast. Shield protected you, but there you would still take a portion of pain from things like electricity and several other things. Shields were great at making you…well, not get cut in half, not saving you from pain entirely.

After what felt like an eternity, Retto's attack stopped with the Pachirisu falling from my back. Knowing exactly where he was, I sprinted forward at Trevor. Retto just attacked. He would still be contemplating what to do next or he would be waiting for an order. Turning around to punish Retto's attack would only leave me open to Trevor.

"Wait a second," I muttered to myself as I charged at Trevor. "Where's his sword?"

"Skill Shot: Lightening Rod!" he shouted. The glove on his hand started glowing yellow.

"Pachi!"

I turned around immediately when Retto cried out, bracing myself for some weird Partner-Pokémon Skill, but instead, I looked in horror as the Pachirisu dodged to the left. Trevor's sword was planted in the ground with the hilt pointing straight up. Blue lightening arced from his glove to the sword's hilt, zapping me in between. The constant stream of lightening dealt a large amount of pain. After about another five seconds of helplessness on my part, Trevor released the Skill. I fell to the ground face-first instantly, in too much pain to move. My shield barely survived the attack. If Trevor wanted to kill me, he could have with that kind of attack.

Trevor quickly rushed over to me. "Are you okay!" he said, kneeling down and leaning over me, quickly rolling me over.

"T-The hell kind of skill is that?" I said weakly. "You've never used something like that before…"

"New Skill my parents gave me for a gift for getting to university," he responded quickly. "More importantly, are you ok? I've never used that Skill before, so I didn't think it would be that destructive. I was expecting, like, a small bolt of lightning, not a freaking storm!"

"Y-Yeah, I'll be fine. My shields somehow didn't break, so I didn't take any direct damage or anything. Still…that stung a lot," I responded, trying to get up.

Trevor held out his hand for me. I grabbed it and an immediate spark snapped at him.

"Ouch!" he exclaimed, pulling back his hand and dropping me halfway up.

"Instant karma!" I laughed from the ground, fist pumping into the air. I took a deep breath as I got up on my own. My sword was next to me lying on the ground. I picked it up as Trevor walked over to his. As he walked over, I looked over to his glove. I'd never actually noticed him wearing it before, so it's no wonder I got caught off guard.

"How did your sword end up there without me noticing, by the way?" I asked.

"When lightening hits you, your eyes close by reflex whether you realize it or not. As soon as Retto connected with Spark, I jumped up in the air and threw my sword behind you."

"Jump boots are going to be the end of me," I sighed. Most everyone, including me, had shoes that came standard with a crystal that allowed for a higher jumping ability. Trevor used his to jump high enough to throw his sword at the ground at a good enough angle to act as a lightning rod.

"Don't say things like that," Trevor laughed. "That's like, epic foreshadowing or something."

"And don't say things like that!" I retorted, slightly aghast. "It's not like our lives are going to play like some action or adventure or whatever book!"

He just laughed as we walked towards my gate. "You should, um, let me out. I've got to stop by my house before we head to the university."

I nodded as I headed to the gate. I simply pressed my hand on the sensor next to it and it slid to the side and opened, revealing the metal street in front of my house. I walked out with Trevor and looked to my right and left.

"The city's getting denser and denser," I commented as I took in the fact that businesses and bridges connection buildings that weren't there only months ago were now there. It was getting crowded, and that's coming from someone who lived in a city that had hundreds of skyscrapers and miles and miles of steel.

"Yeah. Sooner or later, I won't be able to find my way around anymore," Trevor replied as he walked in the direction of the subway. "See you soon!" he said as he left, Retto hoping to the side.

"See you later!" I cried back as I headed back inside. My parents weren't home, off working for me to make something out of myself.

I sighed as I entered the house. Time to make myself presentable for my first day of classes. As I looked into the mirror in the bathroom, I smirked at myself.

"I can't believe he's using attacks that make me look like this in front of him."

Extremely frizzy hair that shot into all sorts of angles and looked like a bolt of lightning just went through it didn't quite seem to be presentable.

There you have it. Like I said, different. Since it's so different, I'll be actively answering questions in reviews for this story as long as they don't reveal spoilers. Stay active and communicate with me!

If being in an art program as taught me anything, it's that nothing's really original and everyone draws inspiration from different places. Same applies here. Besides the obvious, can you name any other inspirations I might have had for this story?

Hope you enjoyed the first chapter!

Stay lovely, Pokémon fandom~