Hello! I've been wanting to write a Pokémon fanfic with a more serious and darker setting while keeping the 'fantasy' feel of it. Hence, I decided to give it a shot by writing this. Hope you'll enjoy reading it! :D

Disclaimer: I do not own the Pokémon series

It was a hot Summer day, and the sun was shining brightly; so bright that it hurt my eyes when I stared through the window.

I didn't want to go out like usual. Well, it's not like I go out often anyway. Staying indoor was the best for me. For some reason, I really loved to stay in my room. There, I was free of any worries, I felt at ease. I spent my days by sitting in front of the computer, playing online games, browsing, listening to music and such. I did not need anything luxurious. All I wanted was a peaceful day in my room. I did not find the outside world interesting, and I did not understand why people like to go hang out with their friends when they have the time. I only went outside when it was necessary. What's so fun about the outside world? I was a shut-in, you can call it, and I do respect people's opinions regarding on how to spend their free time.

Then, the sound of the door to my room opening could be heard, slamming the side of the wall with a loud 'bang', the figure of my sister came into view, with her big smile, she said, "Big brother! Let's go to the newly opened mall today!"

I turned over to her. Still sitting on my chair, I took my headphone off, "Why didn't you knock first?"

"I did! But you didn't respond," She said.

Really?

"Stop playing those games, they are bad for you! Rather, let's go out!" She said that while maintaining her cheerful smile, which was plastered on her face quite often at the house.

My little sister was the complete opposite of me. She loved to go outside and she was really active. She had good grades, whether in academics or sports. She was also quite popular in her school. Everyone always praised her. Her crimson colored "almost" shoulder'length hair, her bright yellow eyes, short figure, everything. She was 2 years younger than me, which makes her 14 years old. She often asked to me go out with her during the holidays, though I often rejected her. I just didn't see the point of going out.

"What's the point?" I put my headphone back on and turned away from her, returning to my game.

I could hear her voice telling me to stop playing, but I ignored her. Then, I suddenly couldn't hear any voices coming out from my headphone.

It had been unplugged.

I took it the headphone off and turned around to her once again, a bit frustrated.

"What did you do that for!?" I put on an annoyed expression.

I noticed that the bright happy expression on her face was no more, but rather, replaced with an annoyed expression that you usually put on your face when somebody ignored you on purpose, which was exactly what I did. Raising the volume of her voice, she voiced out her perfectly plausible reason, "Because you kept on ignoring me!"

Even though that was fair enough of a reason, I still didn't find that enough of a reason to actually persuade me to go outside. "...Whatever, I won't be going outside today. It's too hot." I turned away from her.

"You always have excuses! Last time you said it was too cold!" She complained.

Ignoring her, I plugged my headphone back on to the computer.

"W-Why won't you go out with me...You used to-" She brought up the past, but I cut her short.

"People change," I said that sternly, looking at the PC monitor, clicking my mouse on an FPS game, without looking back at her.

I could sense that she was about to tear up after hearing that, but I was too busy to turn around. Still, I wouldn't be able to do anything even if I could. It wasn't easy to change one's nature, and I knew this was probably my fault, but that was how I was.

There was silence for a while, to be specific, around ten seconds. Either she was so frustrated she couldn't argue anything, finding it extremely disheartening to have a big brother like this, or she was giving me a chance to apologize, to redeem myself for all the misbehaviors I did on purpose.

The silence, however, was broken down by a shout of frustration after that flow of thought within my head. "I hate you, big brother!" She then ran off, but still closed the door to my room properly without smashing it.

I sighed, "I couldn't even remember when did I turn out to be like this..."

I kept on staring into the screen for a couple of hours, playing games for hours and hours. I considered apologizing, but the online-games distracted me for enough time to eliminate that thought from my head. When it was dinnertime, I unplugged my headphone, stood up, did a bit of stretching and went downstairs.

The food was on the table, arranged neatly. Other than a bowl of white rice, there were miso-soup, fish, and vegetables; your typical Japanese dinner course in an average family, and all the family members, including my little sister, were already sitting on the chairs.

I sat down beside my little sister, and grabbed the pair of chopsticks. The dinner went on quietly without any significant conversation. Usually, my sister talked about her days at school, her school rumors, her friends, her academic performances, the anime episodes she had just watched; in conclusion, she never ran out of topic to be talked about during dinnertime.

Tonight, however, she sat quietly, grabbing little balls of rice from her red-colored bowl with her also red chopsticks, putting them into her mouth, while wearing a lonely expression on her face.

It was my fault.

I knew that all along, but I just couldn't do what I was supposed to do. The simplest thing imaginable that can potentially resolve the current problem, apologize. Still, just like any irritating big brother in this world, I sat next to her, had my meal silently without striking up a conversation nor any efforts to solve the uncomfortable tension.

After dinner, I stood up and grabbed my dishes while turning towards the sink to wash them. My little sister followed after me, and she seemed a bit down. It was definitely from earlier.

I proceeded to wash the dishes while she put hers beside the sink.

"Um, big brother," She called out to me.

"What?" I answered her while doing the dishes, without looking at her.

Was she going to give me a lecture regarding on how to be a proper big brother? Or on how to become a productive person that can bring this nation to a better future rather than becoming a shut-in that sat in an air-conditioned room all day playing videogames? No, no, she wasn't that type of person. If I wanted to apologize, now was the perfect time to do it, yet, I couldn't even look back. Stubbornness was probably my one and only talent, and strangely enough, I didn't find that bothering.

She was quiet for a few seconds, she seemed to be deciding on what to say, and a somehow loud voice emerged, "I-I'm sorry for earlier...I shouldn't have-"

"It's fine," I cut her sentence before she had the chance to finish it.

So that was how it was going to be. I was the one rude to her, and she was the one apologizing. Sometimes, I wonder how people with a supreme authority over other social classes with lower powers could do what they want, or why were there such ironic social phenomena in the first place. People like my sister were probably one of the reasons on why the act of punishing the weak, or the simpler act of bullying is present in this society.

Seeing this, I couldn't help but smile slightly, silently. I wasn't smiling because I thought I could abuse this good-natured timid little sister of mine, but rather, I smiled, knowing that I might not actually deserve this little sister. She possessed more courage than me, wiser thoughts. Despite of this, I still had trouble say that single apologetic word that could end this somehow awkward situation.

I could hear light footsteps after that, she seemed to be planning to go back to her room. The footsteps are small, and without looking back, I could visualize that she was staring down at the floor while walking, dejected, just like somebody who just got rejected after a confession in an anime. Was I really so pathetic that I would let this continue, after potentially ruining my little sister's day? As annoyed as I was earlier, and even though I couldn't possibly change the inherent nature of being a shut-in, I…

"Hey," I called her while still doing the dishes.

I should have done that ages ago, in spite of my rock-headed character, this was the proper thing to do, yet I didn't do it. Determined to end this in a way as nice as possible, I opened my mouth, "Do you want to go outside tomorrow?"

"Eh?" A small tone of voice, full of surprise, and I could guess that her eyes just got a little bigger while still looking down.

"I'm fine about going out for tomorrow," I put the dishes in their proper places, and turned back, facing her, with a forced smile, and a very slight one on top of that. I must have looked strange, or simply a poker face due to the failed attempt.

"R-Really?" She turned back, and for some reason, the gloomy aura around her was gone. She nodded frantically, and that usual smile on her face returned, and I could see tiny bits of tears wanting to leak out in her eyes, "Yes! Let's go out tomorrow!"

I just felt that I should at least grant that little wish of hers, to get rid of that tiny pang of guilt inside me. I had no idea that decision of mine would change my entire life...

,

The next day, during breakfast, my little sister started saying that we would be going out that day as if America had just dropped another atomic bomb on Japan.

"Hiro? Going out?" My mom looked shocked to hear her son going out of the house with his little sister, "What happened? Usually, you just ignored Rei, didn't you?"

"I just thought that going out might be nice every once in a while. Plus, I need a new mouse for my computer," I said while putting rice inside my mouth.

"Make sure to take care of Rei, okay?" Mom said while smiling a bit.

I realized that I was a person that played so many games inside his room that even his parents had given up hope to persuade their son to go outside, experience the sunshine and become a more productive person. I glanced at Rei, who was stuffing rice into her mouth quicker than usual. She didn't talk much again, but this time, she looked happy.

During the noon, I was prepared to go out, so I went to tell Rei.

Her room was located just beside mine, with a pink cat head-shaped plastic plate that had her name engraved on it hung on the front. I ascended the stairs while walking to her room, and when I was at the front of the door, I knocked, "Hey, are you done?"

I could hear she told me to wait a minute. So, I waited in front of her room, expecting her to come out in a quick while, while staring around the house. The cream colored walls, brown stairs, the room where I would be inside right now playing games with my headphone on if not for Rei, and the plastic plate on the door to her room.

Which led to me wondering, how long had it been since I went inside her room? Months? Years? I didn't really remember how her room looked like. As far as I remember, there were a few cat dolls, pink rug spread on the floor with re-colored pink carpets, and the rest were pretty much the average stuffs inside a room; desk, chair, bed, and so on.

I was so caught up with my self-thoughts and virtual world inside my room that I didn't even recall those things. Apparently, there was a time where she would come to my room and sleep with me when we were little; usually when it was raining, when a blackout occurred, when she couldn't sleep, or after we had watched a horror movie. The memories were blurred, but I could recall those things. She probably stopped doing that just a few years ago.

Until that time, I was being a normal big brother who cared for her little sister. Speaking of which, there was a time….

"I'm done, big brother!" She opened her door and her cheery voice sprang up, interrupting my thoughts.

She wore her casual clothes, a red colored shirt, skirt and white knee-high socks.

Looking at her face, I couldn't help but thought that simple actions did possess the capability of changing the way things were. Well, I was still a shut-in at heart, and I was doing this in order to be freed from the guilty feeling inside me, and maybe, all human beings, as heartless as they were, had to do good deeds every once in a while.

"Well then, let's go," I smiled a bit, and proceeded down the stairs, and she followed me down after giving a cheerful nod of agreement.

,

The mall was not far from our house as we could reach there in ten minutes, walking.

While walking for about five minutes, she talked about her expectations when we reached our destination, saying she would like to buy a few new dolls or two, that she would like to pick up a few new shirts for me (which was unnecessary, in my opinion). I was kind of grateful for those talks as without those, we would be walking in silence, bringing back the awkwardness.

All of a sudden, I felt a grip on my right arm, and when I looked, Rei was clinging onto me with a mischievous expression. This was like the situation in eroges where you go through the forbidden route with your little sister. Slightly bothered, I asked, "What are you doing?"

"Nothing, hehe," She tighten her hold while smiling.

I suppose this wasn't that big of a deal, but it just felt weird to have a pair of siblings doing this, or maybe it's normal for siblings to do this? I was lacking social interaction so much that I couldn't differ common and uncommon social interactions. There was nothing I could do, and forcing her to release the clinging would just raise the uncomfortable tension between us again, so I refrained from doing so and kept walking with her. The strange thing was, I didn't see any people walking on the streets. Maybe it's due to the hot weather or something.

After a few more minutes of walking, I could feel a slight tremor on the ground.

"What is this? Earthquake?" I thought to myself. Surely, I didn't think that I'd be so lucky to encounter these things during my first time going outside after a while. If this happened to be a real earthquake, I would probably be the unluckiest person on earth. Experiencing this right after I decided to become a better big brother, for at least today.

The tremor got stronger and stronger. Before I realized, I was having trouble standing firmly. I started to lose my balance and fell onto the ground.

"What the-" I couldn't stand up.

"B-Big brother, what's going on?" My little sister was beside me, still grabbing my arm.

"I...Have no idea." I observed our surroundings even among the intense vibrations. The strange thing was that nothing seemed to be getting damaged, not even one bit. Heck, they didn't even look like they were shaking.

The tremor got even stronger, and before I knew it, I was thrown into a pitch-black world. I didn't even remember what had happened. Did I close my eyes?

,

After a while, I could feel my eyes opening slowly.

"Uhh..." I raised up, it looked like I had collapsed.

I found Rei beside me, unconscious. When I tried to wake her up, I realized something.

I turned my head around, observing our surroundings. However, I couldn't recognize where we were. It was a place filled with grasses and several trees in the distance. There was a small pathway that seemed to lead to somewhere.

"Where...are we?" I asked myself a question that couldn't be answered, at least not by me and my unconscious little sister.

I tried to wake Rei up, but she wouldn't respond. Was she dead? No, that couldn't be possible. I was perfectly fine, and I couldn't find any physical injuries on me or Rei, so she should be fine. She got to be fine.

What if, she never woke up again?

That irrelevant thought suddenly crossed over my mind. Of course that wasn't possible…..or was it? We just experienced an earthquake in the middle of the day on the street where there was no civilians, and got 'teleported' into this place, in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nothing but grasses and trees.

For that instant, I regretted the choice of going outside, and considered blaming my little sister, who was clearly not the one at fault here. Soon, however, I realized how wrong that thinking was. How could I blame her for something we both didn't know would occur? Quickly setting that negative thoughts aside, I noticed that she was breathing; she seemed more like to be….sleeping?

Relief washed through me, Rei was alive. Of course she was alive; I was just too paranoid due to the result of locking myself up in my room for too long. Seconds after, I sensed something behind me. I turned around, and found a purple colored creature. Its red eyes were aimed towards me. It had large teeth and long whiskers. It resembled a...mouse?

It jumped towards me. I was frightened by its sudden move, so I brushed my hand away, hitting it in the process.

The creature fell, but it got back up in no time. It screeched, preparing to attack once again. Then, I saw four more. There were four more of them behind that creature.

Considering the fact that it resembled a mouse, the size was certainly different. Furthermore, those teeth seems to be able to chew through anything. I was afraid, I wanted to run away. However, I couldn't just leave my little sister behind. I was so pathetic. I couldn't even do anything against a few mi-, I didn't even know if they could be considered as mice.

All of them were glaring at me. I could only look at them. Just when they seemed ready to leap forward, though, a kind roar could be heard.

That roar sent the 'mice' to flee, leaving me and my little sister alone. I was relieved. But, I still couldn't grasp the situation that we were in. Where were we? How did we get here? What exactly had happened?

Those thoughts vanished when a figure seemed to have descended on the grasses.

The figure looked like a...dragon? Dinosaur?

It opened its mouth, and flames began appearing from the depths of its throat. The flames engulfed one of the mice that was left behind, burning it. I couldn't really describe the state it was in.

"We could try having this one," A voice can be heard. There was another figure on the mid-sized creature.

The figure turned towards me, and looked like he said something to the 'dragon'. Then, it flew and landed in front of us.

"What are you doing here? Taking a nap? It's quite dangerous here without any sort of protection, you know?" The figure said. She was a girl. A girl that seemed to be around my age. Her scarlet hair, tied in a ponytail with her also scarlet eyes looked matching with the beast that she was riding on. However, I was in a state where I didn't pay any attention to those things. I was stunned at what was before me.

Still bewildered, I opened my mouth, "W-Where is this?"

The girl looked a bit confused, then she answered," This? This is route one."

"Route one?" I was confused even more. Was there a certain place on this earth that was called route one? Even if there was one, I imagined it would be in the form of a highway for vehicles, not a field of grass with deadly large mice.

Maybe I shouldn't have gone out, after all. However, it was too late.

I hope that you enjoyed reading it! Reviews are highly appreciated. In fact, I need your reviews to know your opinions on this story, so I can improve it in future chapters. So, please leave a review! :)