Here is my rendition of Pokemon. Warning, some content may not be acceptable to all readers.

I do not own Pokemon. Tyler and Brody are mine. So is everyone else who isn't listed in the Pokemon database as a Trainer.

Chapter One

There have been a lot of boys who came in and out of my life. Many of them to which I was attracted to. I basically flirted with all the boys in town, especially the cute ones. But none were quite as forgiving for my flirtatious attitude as Dan Santos.

Dan lived down the street from my house. He was a nice, burly boy with a to-die-for body, a swoon-inducing smile, calculative hazel eyes, and dark hair that made him all the more handsome. He was a fast talker and even faster with his hands. But, he was also wild and had a quick temper.

Because of his wild demeanor and quick temper, my mother used to warn me against the Santos men. There were five boys and four girls in all. Alex, Branden, Charlie, Dan, and Ethan, Felicia, Ginger, Hannah, and Ivory. All nine of them, except for Alex and Branden who were twins, had two years between them and were of varying sizes.

The boys were wild and crazy. The girls were wild and crazy, too, but they never got caught by Officer Jenny like the boys did. Dan somehow managed to avoid getting detained. Alex, Branden, and Charlie weren't so lucky. Ethan was the only one who didn't have a criminal background as of yet.

Maybe that's what attracted me to Dan Santos. There was something about a bad boy that got me thinking about him. Mom didn't want me to be with them but I was stubborn a curious, two things that should never mix for a kid my age.

During the day, after finishing my chores around the Pokemon Rehabilitation Center, people could usually find me with the Santos brothers. I liked being in the company of men. I felt safe, even with these wild boys. But, I felt particularly safe with Dan.

We would run around, climb trees, pretend we were Pokemon Trainers - something not unheard of since kids everywhere could be a Pokemon Trainer when they reached the age of ten. At the end of the day, I always came home in a state that sent Mom into a tizzy.

"Tyler, why are your knees skinned?" "Tyler, why are your pants torn?" "Tyler, why are you all wet?" "Tyler, Mrs. Vejeeta saw you with the Santos boys! I told you I don't want you hanging out with them!"

"But Mom! They're so much fun to be around!" I would protest.

Brody would just stand in the doorway and shake his head at me. Brody was the more sensible one. At least he listened to Mom's orders.

My name is Tyler Ketchum. In case you couldn't tell, I'm actually a girl. Yeah, that's right, I'm a girl with a boy's name. As it turns out, the name Tyler is actually neutral. And it was the name my parents decided upon when Mom was pregnant with me.

"Tyler, boy or girl."

Either way, I was stuck with it.

My parents wanted names unique to our area of the world. The Kanto region had too few Brodys and only one female Tyler before I came along. After I was born, my parents were done with having more children. The major factor being the Kanto region was now over-populated. I've heard of some families having twelve kids. So my parents were stuck with the two of us. Brody and Tyler. Two of a kind.

Maybe that's what Dan liked best about me.

I wasn't like the other girls in the neighborhood. Hell, I wasn't even like his sisters. Sure, his sisters were wild and crazy, but I was quicker at keeping up with Dan and his brothers. Felicia, Ginger, Hannah, and Ivory couldn't keep up with the boys. I could. The other girls in the neighborhood couldn't keep up with them either. Also, when I flirted with the boys, they knew I was doing it but it wasn't near as awkward as when the neighborhood girls did it.

Of course, Alex and Brandon didn't really like having me around. They claimed it hampered their style with a non-family girl with them. Charlie didn't mind having me in their gang. Dan gave me more allowances than his older brothers did. And Ethan never left the house. While Alex and Brandon were in town, tensions were high when I escaped home to join them. When Alex and Brandon hit ten and joined the legion of Pokemon Trainers leaving the little town of Pallet in the region of Kanto, the tension lessened some. A couple years later, Charlie joined. Soon, it was just Dan and me.

Two years after Charlie left, Dan became old enough to pay a visit to Professor Oak and select his starter Pokemon. Dan stopped by my house on his way out. We stood on the porch a while, me with my arms crossed over my chest, holding back the tears that threatened to show and Dan with his hands thrust in his pockets. Backpack full of supplies slung over his shoulder, black hooded sweatshirt with the sleeves rolled up past his beefy forearms, and single Pokeball attached to his belt.

"You're leaving?" I asked. I could barely contain the sob that formed in my chest.

"Yeah." Dan said. He gave me a weak smile. I knew he wasn't happy about this either. "I'll be back though."

"When?"

"Just soon. You'll see me. I promise."

I had to look up at him. Dan was two years older than me, five and a quarter inches taller, and about thirty pounds heavier. Dan could easily pick me up with one arm if he wanted to. And, with that wanting to, he could also take me away with him on his Pokemon adventures. Then, we could come back in two years and I could get my own starter Pokemon from Professor Oak. As it was, Dan could be arrested by Officer Jenny for kidnapping and Mom probably wouldn't let me go Pokemon Training again after that.

"Hey." Dan said, gently. He wrapped on arm around my shoulders and hauled me close. "Don't cry for me, Ty. In two years, I'll come back and get you. I promise."

I trusted him, even though I shouldn't have. Because when my two years were up, Dan didn't come back for me. I couldn't help but feel betrayed.