Hello there! I'm nicedaytoday, and being relatively new to and writing for it, I will definitely leave a few things out here and there simply because I am a little inexperienced. Please bare with me and possibly tell me what I'm missing.

I do not own any of the rights to pokemon. All rights to it belong to Nintendo. Co.

Legend:

*= environmental sound

Bold = character's thoughts

" = character speaking

Underlined = environmental description

() = psychic talking

Chapter 1: So the Story Begins…

It was completely dark. His senses have stopped working completely. He didn't feel cold or warm, but somehow, in this cold void he felt… comfortable. He couldn't see anything, nothing emitted light, yet he could see himself perfectly. There was no direction, no sense of time, nothing. He was simply stranded in a dark place, floating.

*BEEP BEEP BEEP*

Shawn, a 15 year old boy, angrily climbs out his bead after his alarm went off. "That alarm is unbelievably irritating, but hey, it does its job of getting me out of my haven, " He muttered to himself. Today was the last day of Pokémon trainer school. Unlike the other children, Shawn's parents emphasized on a better education. They were reasonable in thinking so, since the base educational system was not very helpful. Everyday he inched closer to the end of the school year, everyday he saw 10 year olds leaving the research laboratory and envied them.

He too wanted to go out into the world and experience what it felt like to be a Pokémon trainer. His aspiration had always been to be a champion. Shawn the champion, he thought to himself, it has a nice ring to it. Today was the last day, which explains why he got out of bed on time instead of 20 minutes later. He hurried downstairs, with his relatively empty bag and hastily put on clothes and began scoffing down his breakfast.

"Excited about your last day of school? I know it's every child's dream to become a Pokémon trainer, it's just that your father and I want you to have a successful one. One that doesn't involve many defeats all simply because you didn't know how to beat certain Pokémon effectively." Shawn's mother, Cilya, had been there for him all the way. She was the best mother Shawn could have, always believing in him and supporting his decisions. "After school today, I'll come back and say my final goodbye before I head over the laboratory. I love you mom!" He then returned the plate his breakfast use to be on, which was now perfectly clean, and headed towards the door. He swung it open to see the same thing he saw for 15 years now, but today, everything seemed to support him.

Flowers had bloomed along side the path towards the city. Their house was positioned on a small hill with a small dirt path that led down to a larger path. He could see a Pikachu and a Raichu playing together, a rare sight around here.

Shawn eagerly replied as he put pep in his step and skipped his way over to the school. Today seemed brighter than ever, the sun blared down but it made everything more vibrant. He saw the town folk talking and chatting, those who cycled past him said hello, receiving a "hello" back from Shawn.

It was beautiful. The sky, a perfect blue, the grass, completely green, and the flowers, brilliant colors. His body seemed to agree with the day too, it seemed much more eager, more energetic. No matter how exhausted he left as he skipped his way to school, his body seemed to magically get the energy to keep going. Today was perfect in every way it could be. After about a 10 minute journey, he reached school. Today was very short, being a simple reminder as what to expect in the world and what the course had taught them over the extra 5 years. Finally, there would be a graduation ceremony, where he could talk to his friends one last time.

"Well, here we are, at the end of the school term. Now remember what the course had taught you, in short, constantly revise the types and their counters, look at several statistics of a single Pokémon like its agility, special attack or even some physical aspects such as its size." It was the last thing Shawn's teacher said before the graduation. The graduation ceremony felt glorious, like a step closer to his dream, soon to become his destiny. He felt great after receiving it and after stepping down the stage, proceeded to his best friend, Jonathan, who was rather lonely. They had been together since the beginning of the 5 years in the school, helping each other with homework and struggles. You wouldn't find one of them without the other. They were inseparable with such a strong bond together.

"Well, this might be the last time you see me," Jonathan said with a sad hint in his voice, "we had some great times together, you and me bud, I still remember the great moments we had together, when we went to the carnival and you somehow managed to win every game, when we got in trouble because we vandalized the table with erasers, and especially the day when we first met. Now to finally see you and I moving on with life, it feels like I've been freed somehow, but I left something behind…" Jonathan said, with a deep sigh following.

"Who knows, maybe our paths will cross again, either as a friend or a foe, you'll still be you and I'll still be me." "Don't give me those cheesy movie quotes as an answer Shawn, it's great and all, but I don't think it will come true." My parents are moving and I'll be travelling with them to another place before I start my journey. It will be a fresh start for sure, but like a piece of paper, it's needs to be filled." With a smug on his face, Shawn replied "Jonathan, you flunked your English exam. Don't try and improve them now, it's just slightly too late, you know, a few months too late, but at least your starting somewhere."

An hour and a half later, all the students were saying their farewells to each other, teachers were congratulating their students for sticking with them through thick and thin, and Jonathan gave one last hug to Shawn. "Bring it in buddy," Shawn shakily said. "It's going to be a long, painful journey without you." The two finally thanked each other in a teary event with their wobbly smiles and parted ways. Shawn had just lost his friend to time, but he had to move on. Come on Shawn, pull yourself together! Big days always have big impacts on you, Shawn thought to himself.

In a matter of moments, there he was, standing in front of a white large building with glass all over it. He stepped inside to be greeted with a gust of cold air but greater by the warm smiles of the researchers there. There he was, Professor Softwood, standing by a table with three Pokéballs on them.

"Well, if it isn't Shawn, looks like the day has finally come, what took you so long? "

"I just finished my extended education programme today, so lay it on my professor!" Shawn excitedly said. He's about to get his very own Pokémon and he could barely control his excitement, to the point where he was visibly vibrating in position.

"Control yourself there Shawn," Softwood said with a chuckle before turning to face the Pokéballs, "inside these three Pokéballs are three different starters. A Torchic, which starts of as a fire type but evolves into a Blaziken, a Treecko, which evolves into a Sceptile and is a grass type, and a Mudkip, which is a water type that evolves into a Swampert, a water and ground type. You get to pick from the full selection because you're the first one here, so who will it be?"

"I'll go with the… ummm, huh.. Give me a moment please." This was a Pokémon who would be with him all his life, one that he had to show a real interest in so that the entire trip wouldn't be a painful adventure. He wanted to invest all his time, energy and passion into something he truly believed. It needed to have as much of a fighting spirit as he did. No, more than he did. I know I've got pretty high standards for a starter Pokémon, but I need some kind of flare, a fighter of sorts… Then it hit him. It was destiny. It was fate.

"How about the Torchic?" Shawn said with no hesitation in his voice. Professor Softwood raised an eyebrow. "Well, what an interesting choice, then again, I never took you as the type who really liked to do anything the easy way, but nonetheless, here." Softwood handed Shawn the Pokéball. "Please, take good care of her, she has a lot of emotional needs from my experience training her, but if you can take care of that, you've got yourself a very good fighter with a lot of potential." Softwood almost sounded like he was tearing up as his voice wavered a bit. I couldn't let him down. It's clear he cares a lot for this Torchic. I'll train and raise this torchic to become the best! I promise.

He walked outside and onto the training ground. "Let's have a look at what she looks like. Shawn threw the ball, followed by a bright light emitting from the Pokéball. In an instant, the ball returned to him and facing him was a little bird like creature.

"Torchic!" the little cute thing emitted. It then proceeded to run towards him and wrapped its legs around one of his feet. "Well, hello there little buddy," Shawn said, kneeling down to about Torchic's height, the little creature seemed happy with its new trainer, with a little soft smile on its face.

"So, let's see what you can do, think of it as a bit of a morning stretch." Torchic nodded and got into position, just a meter in front of him.

"Torchic use scratch!" Torchic leaped into action and began to use its claws to scratch the ground, leaving behind pretty deep marks on the ground, sure, it wasn't perfect, but it's probably her first time fighting.

"Torchic use growl!" Torchic then puffed out her chest and released a like squeak. Afterwards, she blushed a little and ran towards Shawn, blushing and digging her head into his shoe.

"Come on Torchic, no need to be ashamed, I'm pretty new to the fighting scene, all that matters is that you tried your best." Torchic raised her head and smiled. "So, what now, do you want to go back into the ball of walk side by side?" But Torchic had a better idea. She extended her wings and began to flap the furiously, sure, she wasn't moving but from her puffed out face, she was clearly trying.

Shawn picked Torchic up and raised her to his face level, but she was still looking up, eyeing something else. He then knew exactly what she wanted to do. "Oh alright." Shawn then placed Torchic on his head and with a little satisfied squeal from Torchic, she sat down comfortably on his head. Well, it is kind of cute that she's on my head, it's just that her claws are a tad bit too pointy. The view up there must be nice for Torchic though,, Shawn thought.

Before they could go, Shawn had to fulfil his promise. He returned home to see Cilya and his father, Josh, at the table eating lunch. "Who's your little friend up there?" asked Josh. "Oh, it's my starter, Torchic, tough I don't really have a name for her yet." "Ooh, it's a her, stick with her long enough and she'll look like a strong independant woman, Who's stronger than any human as well as being rather hot, both figuratively and literally," Cilya added with a small smirk on her face.

"MOOOOMMMM!" Shawn groaned as he sat down and began eating his lunch. "Torchic?" she replied with a tilted head and a confused tone. After lunch, Cilya helped Shawn to pack his clothes, some of his little trinkets, his phone, a foldable tent and a little Swiss army knife. After packing his necessities, she lead him to the attic and gave Shawn a set of Pokéballs. "These are some Pokéballs that were left up here after your father and I ended our career of being Pokémon trainers. They're all empty and should still work. Good luck Shawn," Cylia said while tearing up," I'm just so proud of you, that's all. Be safe and remember to visit us after you've finished your journey OK?"

"I promise Mom. I'll come see you and dad with a full team. Make sure to make some of your great food when we meet then OK?" Cylia then hugged Shawn and sniffled. "You can count on that Shawn, your mother never forgets."

With a tear filled goodbye and a set of 10 Pokéballs, Shawn hugged his mother and father one last time before he truly went out. I'll miss them so much. I must not forget my promise to meet them or they'll be so heart broken. I couldn't forget about what my mother and father have done for me, all the sacrifices they made and the fact that they always accepted me for who I was.

And so they set of on their journey, with Torchic happily positioned on Shawn's head and Shawn releasing a little "ow" every few meters they travelled as Torchic's claws were bouncing up and down, poking into his scalp. About five minutes into the walk, Torchic stopped and hopped off Shawn's head onto his shoulders and fluttered, or at least tried to, down to the ground. "Torchic, I think you might be a flightless bird." Shawn commented as Torchic's face had plunged into the ground from the fall. "But what were you exactly trying to get?"

Torchic, with the help of Shawn, pulled her head out of the ground and began to trot towards a bush.

"Torchic Torchic!" she excitedly said as she pointed to the Bush. Upon further inspection, it appeared to be a berry bush. His mother had told him that they were littered around everywhere and that they were juicy fruit that resorted some energy as well as healed your Pokémon in a battle, which were perfectly edible to humans. "Huh, thanks a lot Torchic," Shawn said as he smiled at Torchic. "Mind helping me pluck a few from this bush? I'll let you eat some."

Torchic sprinted into the bush while Shawn began picking out the berries that were higher up. After about a minute, Shawn had picked a few ripe ones and looked down to see a small mass of ripe berries that had been collected by Torchic. As he bent down to pick it up, he could hear the bus rustling. "Torchic?" Shawn asked. And sure enough, Torchic leapt out of the top and landed right on his head with a berry in her mouth.

"Huh, so you scaled the entire bush just to get back up there? Not bad." Shawn zipped up his bag and continued down the trail. Again, they continued down the trail, but the sun was setting, the birds had completely vanished from the sky and sky began to turn cloudy with an orange tint. "We'd better hurry if we want to find a suitable campsite, alright Torchic? Torchic?" Shawn then realized exactly what happened. His head didn't feel painful. Torchic must've fallen asleep on the way there.

20 minutes later, Shawn and his Torchic finally found a little camp site, well, it was mainly Shawn who did. Shawn placed his bag on the soft grass and took out the tent that his mother helped him pack. He then laid Torchic down on the grass and began fumbling with the tent.

"These instructions are not extremely helpful, though at least it's super simplistic." Shawn sighed to himself after struggling with the tent, attempting it set it up and succeeding after a painstaking and embarrassing 10 minutes. He then turned around to see Torchic giggling while she sat down with her legs in front of her.

"Come on, I didn't laugh at you when you tried growling for the first time," Shawn added. Torchic still had a little smug look on her face as they went into the tent. Shawn, using his Swiss army knife, cut and shredded pieces of wood as tinder and setting in on a pile of logs, surrounding them with stones from a nearby river bank and started a fire. With a few sturdy sticks, a pot and some ingenuity, Shawn managed to create a makeshift stove. Now it was a matter of getting food. He then had an idea.

"Torchic, could you come over here?" Torchic perked her head up and lazily strolled over the Shawn. "Torchic?" She responded. Shawn then proceeded to use her little claws as a sort of sharpener, sharpening a small bent piece of metal. There, his old fishing hook was somewhat serviceable. With one of the berries he picked earlier, he used it as bait and casted it into the small river. About half an hour later, they caught two fishes and cooked them.

Both Torchic and Shawn plunged into their self-prepared meal and boiled the bones of the fish into a sort of soup. After their meal, Shawn put the fire out and they headed towards the tent. Placing his bag to the side, Shawn then rested his head down against the pillow in his sleeping bag and began to fall asleep. "Torchic." Shawn opened his eyes slightly to see Torchic sleeping onto of his sleeping bag. Slowly, they drifted away.

*Shhh Shhh*

Shawn perked his head up with both of his eyes still feeling heavy. Something was outside. Perhaps it was just the wind.

*maw…*

"Torchic, wake up, I think there's a Mawile outside," Shawn whispered to Torchic. Torchic immediately perked up and seemed extremely active, perhaps it was a mixture of the feeling of a first battle as well as the rest she got earlier. Slowly, Shawn unzipped his tent and sure enough, a Mawile was outside. It seemed to be in a rather bad mood, destroying little bushes and their little makeshift fire place. "Ready?" Torchic nodded.

They fully unzipped their tent and stepped out, though Shawn wasn't the most quiet at unzipping it. The Mawile head and turned around, storming towards them. Let's put my education and Torchic to the test. "Torchic use scratch!" She dashed towards the Mawile which tried to use iron head, barely missing her as she scratches the Mawile in the body. From it, the Mawile was pushed back a bit, but it still had steely determination written on its face. It lunged towards Torchic attempting to use its massive jaw to bite it.

"Torchic! Dodge that attack and scratch its back!" Again, the Mawile had suffered another blow, but in one last desperate attempt, It ran backwards towards Torchic. "Torchic, dodge!" But this time she didn't she stood there with her mouth open. Suddenly a small flaming projectile shot out of her mouth and went straight into the Mawile's Jaws. A small explosion followed, with the Mawile scurrying away with a small black patch on the back of its head.

"Torchic, you could use ember?" Torchic nodded its head, with a wide smile on her face. "That's great, but maybe you should tell me next time." Torchic looked rather annoyed and let out a little hmpf sound. Again, they entered the tent and slowly fell asleep.

Back here again. Don't we always come back here eventually? The empty void. But this time, I felt warmer. Better, knowing I had a great friend by my side. But it was still cold. Oh it was still so cold. So empty. It's vastness couldn't be described, yet it was conceivable. He knew he would forget all of this when he woke up. When he changed states. But he knows that, deep down, it's always waiting for his next return.

It was another beautiful morning. He could hear the Taillows chirping in the trees from within the tent. Torchic was still happily sleeping on him, so Shawn took Torchic and placed her on the tent's floor. He unzipped the tent and peered outside to see Oddishs running around making little funny sounds. The grass was again a vibrant green, the flowers were a beautiful pallet of colours and the river had a few Azurills in it, happily playing in the river. After washing up and packing the pot, Shawn poked his head into the tent to see Torchic still snoozing comfortably.

"Come on, we've got a big day ahead of us Torchic," Shawn said as he packed his bag and began to fold the tent. "Torchi…" She rolled over and stood up, then proceeded to hop on Shawn's head once more and settle in. "You know Torchic, maybe I should give you a name, but what would a good one be?" Torchic then stood up, pressing her claws against his head and slowly prodded it with her beak.

"Ow! Torchic, I'm thinking, and I don't think poking me would help." She sat back down, but his head still ached a bit. "What about… Phoenix?" Phoenix then began prancing around on his head. There was no doubt that she liked the name, it was just that it didn't help his hurting head.

They were only a few kilometres away from the first gym until the heard a scream. It wasn't one of pain, but one of anger. "USELESS! You can't even defend yourself against a Taillow!" Shawn jumped slightly, but was intrigued in what was happening. He hid behind a nearby tree and saw another male trainer throwing a Pokéball into the wilderness before storming off. There sat a small little scared Raltz.

After the trainer was gone, Shawn, with Phoenix close behind him, crept towards the Raltz so as not to scare it. Upon closer inspection, it looked beaten and worn. It had several scratch makes on it, a buise on one of its arms and was crying, trying to hide it's face with its hands. The wounds look fresh, with blood slowly dripping out of them. What a terrible trainer, Shawn thought to himself as he approached the Raltz. When it looked up from its hands and saw Shawn, it scrambled away, or at least tried too. It was too weak even to lift itself up from the ground. It couldn't muster the energy to let out a scream or yelp for help. It just looked at Shawn, petrified, expecting the worst.

"It's OK little buddy." Shawn proceeded to hand it a small pile of berries from yesterday. "Here, this will help a little before we can get some proper help." The Raltz slowly reached over and took one of the berries before retracting back quickly. It began to bite into the berry. After each berry, it began to look as if it felt better. It still seemed cautious of Shawn but seemed much more relaxed. Phoenix went up to the Raltz and began talking to it.

"Torchic Torchic. Torchic Torchic, Torchi." The Raltz then turned towards Shawn and faintly smiled at him before getting back to eating the berries. After eating the small pile of berries, the Raltz stood up and gave me a little hug. "Well, come on Phoenix, let's go." But something held his foot down. He turned to see both the Raltz and Phoenix tugging at his shoe.

(Please, I want to stay with you. I don't want him to come back. Let me be with you. Please. Please.)

Odd, where did that come from? Shawn thought as he raised an eyebrow. "Did any of you say anything?"

"Torchic?" Phoenix asked as she tilted her head in confusion. "It sounded rather women like, pristine and clear, but if you didn't hear it where did it come from?" Shawn turned to the Raltz who had tears rolling down its face while hugging his leg.

(I don't want to go with him. You saw what he did. Please. Every moment I spent with him, he would hurt me both physically and emotionally. No more. Not again.)

Shawn, now sniffling a bit looks into the clear red pupils of the Raltz's eyes. He knew leaving it alone would devastate him. "Come on little pal, let's go find your Pokéball." He said as he lifted the Raltz from the ground and cradled it as if it were a young child. With the help of Torchic, they eventually found the Pokéball. It seemed covered in dirt and grime, barely cleaned, even before it was thrown.

"Are you sure you want me to become your new trainer?" Shawn asked the Raltz. It seemed hesitant and shy to answer but eventually starred at him and nodded firmly. "Alright, I'll return you to your ball and get you some help as soon as possible." With a bright red flash, the Raltz disappeared from his hands. He grabbed Torchic by the head and placed it on his. "Torchic!" She replied with an annoyed tone. "Sorry Torchic, but we've got to get this Raltz some help quick. Those wounds seem pretty serious and I'm in no position to help it. I've got no healing item besides those berries. Though remind me to get some at the store later." Though he was in terrible physical shape, he managed to rush to the nearby Pokémon center and burst through the door.

"What's the ru-" Shawn hastily replied before the nurse could finish her sentence. "Sorry to interrupt but my Raltz is extremely injured and needs some help ASAP." The nurse sprang from her chair and took the Pokéball from my hand. We sat down and waited nervously for her to get back to us. After a painstaking 5 minutes of tension, she returned.

"She looks relatively hurt, but it's nothing serious. She'll be ready to be discharged at about 12 pm."

"Thanks a lot nurse, I'll head out and come back at 12 to pick it up." Shawn breathed a sigh or relief.

"Actually it's a her."

But by the time Shawn heard it, he was already almost out the centre. They headed down to the local Pokémart and began stocking up on things that they certainly would need on the journey. Shawn bought several healing items including multiple potions, a few revives and a few more Pokéballs just in case.

After strolling around the town and locating the gym, they returned back to the Pokécentre. "Ah, your back! Your Raltz seems to be feeling quite well rested."

*pit pat pit pat*

Looking down, Shawn saw his Raltz skittering towards him. He welcomed the Raltz with an embracing hug. Phoenix turned her head away from the two while they were hugging. It could be from disgust or from jealousy, but it didn't matter. All that did then was that Raltz was safe.

"You know, maybe I should name you, but I'm not entirely such what…."

(Go ahead, I'm open to anything)

"Hmm, you're a female and a Raltz. How about a nice graceful name like… Alice?"

So, what did you think about it? An introduction to the 3 of the main characters and a bit of background to them. Please take the time to leave some constructive criticism. I'm always looking to improve.