A/N: I replayed the games and got the teensiest bit nostalgic. I know there's a whole host of people who are against it but, damn it all, I want FR/LG remakes, and I want them right now. Until Nintendo and Gamefreak get their stuff together, however, I will be forced to make do by writing shameless fic. I plan on updating this every Thursday, or, if that doesn't pan out (my work schedule can get kinda sporadic sometimes) late Wednesday.
About the story: It's basically a FR/LG retelling... novelization... thing, following the female player character. Because let's face it, Red always has all the glory. She'll be going by the name of Leaf, the fanon (? I'm pretty sure it's only fanon, anyway) name for the female PC. There will be some eventual Conflictingshipping/Oldrivalshipping (i.e., player x rival), but that comes way later. They're like, ten. So, some hinting, some kiddy fluff, but no kisses and stuff like that until later.
This chapter is quite short, but it's only the beginning, my friends! Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon!
look over your hills and be still
the sky above us shoots to
kill
rain down, rain down on me — mumford and sons, thistle and weeds
Prologue
The last thing she remembers before the darkness are her parents.
Later, her memory of them will become so cloudy that there will be nothing but the brief feeling of warmth, with them — but as of then the memory is fresh, and clear, and she can see them in the deep and dark of her memory.
Her father, big hands and bigger heart, eyes like hers. Hair like hers. Teeth, so white they're nearly blue and glinting in the fluorescent lights.
Her mother, so demure and quiet, blonde and striking. A soft and singing voice, so calm and lovely, and she loved her, hadn't she? She'd loved her. She said so.
She remembers this lightbulb-flash-image of them before the warmth got too hot, before the bed she laid in got too cold and a Pokémon scream-sang.
There is a sound like fluttering wings and something very soft, and her mother is crying and apologizing but she doesn't sound very sorry. There's a bird and a dragon, fire and ice, and then there's nothing.
Nothing at all.
The rain fell heavy on the tiny town, the downpour uncharacteristic for that area of Kanto. In fact, the weather was uncharacteristic for any area of Kanto — the region was usually quite mild, and the sudden storm had most people tutting in confusion.
Rain, like this? Sure it's autumn, but this is ridiculous.
It had left Pallet Town in the throes of annoyance, honestly — even the more mild-mannered of the citizens, like Delia Ketchum, could only frown at the stone gray skies and the seemingly endless downpour that came from them.
"Quite the storm," she murmurs, driving slow through the thick haze of rain. Rudy, her Growlithe, whines in agreement from the passenger side as they swerve down the winding streets. "We're almost home, though. Then we can start up a nice fire, have some cocoa, get cozy — how's that sound?"
Rudy yips excitedly in agreement. It's the only real uplifting part of all this rain — to be able to snuggle up to his favorite human after her long shift at the laboratory, to doze to the sound of the rain outside. There's the thunder to consider, sure, but that could be ignored if there was a fire nearby.
Really, he's just ready to sleep —
Delia slams down suddenly on the breaks — hard enough for Rudy to nearly go flying off the seat. He barks in alarm, tiny paws slipping on the upholstery, looking in confusion as his former-trainer-current-owner slides quickly out of the driver's side and into the ice-cold downpour.
Rudy jumps over the gear-shift and attempts to follow, but thinks twice once he sees how heavy the rain is; he pauses on the driver's seat and strains to hear over the weather.
"Oh, sweet mother of Mew," Delia curses, and even with Rudy's superior eyesight, he has to squint to realize his human has picked something up — a bundle, limp, from the middle of the road.
Rudy whines when she approaches the car, swinging the back door wide open and laying the bundle gently inside. "That cocoa is going to have to wait," she tells her Growlithe apologetically, before sliding back on the driver's side and making a beeline for Pallet Town Memorial Hospital.
Rudy whines, knowing the smell as soon as it hits his sensitive nose — he's smelled it before, had smelled it after nearly every battle he'd ever participated in.
The smell of burning skin and fabric, burning fur — only it's not fur, it's hair.
Human hair.
He turns slightly to try and glimpse the bundle — it is a girl, a human girl, too young to be considered anything except a pup. She is half-turned in on herself and shivering, buried in a pink blanket that seems to swallow her whole.
"At least the rain's stopping," Delia says, and Rudy tears his gaze away from the girl long enough to see she's right — the rain is stopping, leaving golden streaks of sky behind in its wake and a rainbow, glimmering brightly in the distance.