The loud patter of rain thudded on the cover of the building and drained off the edges of the roof. An irritated grunt sounded from the blonde beneath the cover. So much for an adventurous first day.

Lucy leaned over in the bench she was sitting on, her feet swinging idly below her. It had rained all morning. Normally, she wouldn't mind since she was always holed up in her house, but now.. Now she wasn't. She was free.

And now that she had obtained her well deserved freedom, she wanted to go out and train. Though, the luxurious opportunity was stolen from her by the rain. Lifting her hands, Lucy dragged them across her face dramatically. Letting her arms fall back to her sides, chocolate eyes glanced to the bag nestled to her side. She traced her fingers along the smooth leather before unbuttoning the flap and digging around inside. Her hand fit snugly around one of the three pokeballs inside.

Knitting her brows together, she gripped the ball and pulled it from her bag. She knew it was Aquarius' pokeball. She knew every nook and cranny of it. After all, Aquarius was one of the few possessions she had left of her mother.

"A little rain never killed anybody," she murmured with a small grin, getting to her feet abruptly.

She swung the bag around her shoulder, her hair falling forward from the sudden movement. Lucy quickly tucked the blonde strands behind her ear and stepped out into the rain. Surprisingly, it was beginning to lighten up. Perfect timing, she supposed. And with that, the young coordinator began her journey.

Lucy crouched low in the grass with her eyes fixated on the young Buneary that lingered in the clearing. She just had to have it. It would be an amazing contest pokemon! When it came down to it, she wasn't exactly sure how to go about this. Did she just.. throw a pokeball at it?

Oh, I know! I have to weaken it first, she thought, looking quite proud of herself for coming up with the idea.

Aquarius' ball was still gripped tightly in her hand. She lifted it, staring at it longingly. If luck was on her side today, things would go smoothly.

She chucked the pokeball in the air and the ball popped open, followed by a flash of red light. The red light morphed into the shape of the pokemon that resided within. The Milotic that emerged swung its beautifully scaled tail to the side, turning its head sharply towards Lucy. It was glaring daggers.

"H-Hey, Aquarius! I just need you to do me one little favor," Lucy grimaced, throwing her hands up in defense almost immediately.

Aquarius was having none of it. On instinct, the Milotic let out a ferocious cry of defiance. Well, there goes the Buneary. Lucy let out a squeal, stumbling back at her pokemon's violent behavior.

Unfortunately for Lucy, her foot slipped off the still soaked edge of the path. She screeched as she fell backwards and began to tumble down the hill, losing sight of her pokemon who still remained at the top. Quickly, before she was too far away, she held up the pokeball that was still in her hand and summoned Aquarius back.

Finally, the tumbling girl came to a stop at the bottom of the hill. She hit the concrete with a harsh impact, Aquarius' pokeball slipping from her grip and rolling away.

She began to crawl after it and outstretched her hand to grasp it. She inhaled sharply when a foreign hand swooped down and picked up the pokeball before she could.

"It's a bit beaten up, don't you think?" the stranger spoke in a raspy voice.

"That's special to me, give it back!" Lucy demanded, brown eyes raising to meet those of the thief.

Her eyes widened at the sight of him; he was handsome, yes, but his hair.. it was pink.

"I wasn't going to take it from you, jeez. I was just going to help yo- Hey, what's so funny?!" he sputtered, eyes narrowing down at the female who was now in a fit of laughter. The Minun that sat on his shoulder peeked down at her curiously.

"Y-Your hair! It's pink!" she cried between giggles, using her remaining strength to sit up.

"It's salmon!"

"I'm pretty sure that's pink."

"Maybe I will steal your pokeball after all," he threatened with a smirk.

"No, please don't!" Lucy's voice had become shrill with panic. She couldn't let anyone take that pokemon. That was her mother's!

"Relax, I'm just teasing," he replied, his voice softening a bit. He outstretched his hand, offering to help her up.

Lucy accepted the offer gratefully, surprised at how snug his calloused hands fit around her's. She cleared her throat after he hauled her up and tugged her hand from his. She held it out with her palm face up.

"My pokemon, please," she chirped, trying to appear unfazed.

Dumbfounded, he placed the battered up pokeball in the blonde's hand.

Then, they stood there in silence. The Minun looked between the two before nudging his trainer's cheek.

"Happy says I should take you to a Pokemon Center so they can check you out. You got pretty beat up from your tumble," the pink-haired boy brought up in a matter-of-fact tone.

"I don't remember pokemon being able to talk. Anyways, I shouldn't run off with strangers," she retorted, propping one of her hands on her hips. She winced at the movement, lifting her hand from her hip to look at her scraped up palm.

"My name is Natsu. Now we're not strangers, right?" he grinned cheekily and grabbed her wrist before she could protest. He inspected her scraped up palm nonchalantly, rotating it at different angles.

"Well, you're not wrong. My name is Lucy," she replied quietly, her cheeks growing warm at the sudden contact.

She let out a yelp when he abruptly jerked her along and forced her to break out into a run.

"Come on, then!" Natsu beamed, turning his head back to look at her.

Her heart stuttered for a moment before she shot a grin right back at him.

"Right!"

this looked a lot longer on word lmao woops

yes hello i came up with this idea and doodled stuff for it but the doodling didn't fully satisfy me so i am now writing a fic rip

thanks for reading!