Summary:

To say she hated trainers could be a valid understatement. To say she loathed them for what they did to her... that would be a true statement. But a move to Hoenn presents a new challenge that comes in the form of a pokemon... It looks like the only way to go is forward.

~Updated (4/19/14): I basically rewrote the whole thing, but I tried to keep the concept the same~

Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon because, though I spitball and draw my own pokemon (mainly Eeveelutions) with my friends, I can only speak very little Japanese. Enough to introduce myself, ask for directions, and say thank you, you're welcome, please, etc. I don't even live in Japan, so me working on the Pokemon games is very unlikely. This will be the only disclaimer throughout the entire fanfic (highlight fan, as in fan-made), so don't come whining to me saying I haven't 'disclaimed' or 'disclaimed clearly enough' because one paragraph is all your getting on this subject.

So just enjoy!

((As of 6/2/2015 , I am back and editing this sucker. I'm also sitting my ass down and dedicating time to actually continuing as well. Horay!))

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Love is a hard thing to describe. It comes in all shapes and sizes. There was romantic love, sibling love, parental love, even the love you give to your best friends and pets, but that morning on her birthday, Izzy experienced love-at-first-sight.

In her father's hands, a delicate egg rested, streaked with silver and black pawprints. It gleamed brightly in the artificial lighting. As soon as her six year old eyes laid eyes on it, it became the focus of her entire world. To some, that may seem like an over exaggeration, but if you saw her eyes light up like her parents did, you would realize that it was so. Once her father lowered the egg to her level, it was a matter of guessing where she'd hide it and take care of it until it hatches, for the egg had disappeared along with herself.

For many a days she cradled that egg in her arms, marveling over it for a good portion of those days. Nor parent or pokemon saw much of her except at meals and bedtime, and they were unawares of it hatching until her and the small poochyena reappeared later one evening.

From then on, the two were inseparable. The poochyena, whom they called Alexander, followed Izzy around wherever she went. He played with her outside, protected her from bullies, padded on besides her on errands. They grew alongside each other, evolved together - although in Izzy's case it was her personality that changed - and did practically everything together. Some would compare them to siblings, except for they fact they never fought.

Six years passed this way. In a mere few months, Izzy would become a trainer at twelve, and although she could not bring Alexander along as a battle partner, she could take him as a friend and protector, as he had been for those many years. All the forms had been filled out. One more day of Poke-Academy was all it would take, and the rest of the time she would pack supplies, ready herself for the journey ahead, and say goodbye to friends.

But it was that last day at Poke-Academy that everything went wrong.

Being in Unova meant listening to the pro-pokemon Plasma's lectures about liberating seemingly almost once-a-month, but this was the first time they ever went this far. They were spotted mere miles from the small town with an army of fire pokemon, at least 300 in strength - merely a hundred less then the population - but the amount of pokemon accounted for over half that number. If it wasn't for the psychic pokemon's warning, it may have been too late until they knew their intentions.

Poke-Academy was let out before lunch, the children urged to hurry home to their mothers and fathers, their older siblings, their pokemon, and flee.

With Alexander in tow, it was extremely hard for Izzy to navigate the crowd, and by the time they were able to get to their street, Team Plasma was upon them. In a last ditch attempt to escape, they fled into the forest just as they turned their corner. But they were seen, and in less than seconds, a shower of fire was raining down on them, catching the brush on fire and suffocating them with smoke.

Their pokemon surrounded them, trying to find their way through the towering flames, but they were becoming trapped by dead end after dead end. Eyes watering, Izzy's father ordered them all to latch on to their pokemon and run in whatever direction they could; traveling in a group was almost impossible now. Soing as she was told, Izzy called to Alexander and hopped on top of him. With a cry of "I love you," they bunded through a gap in the fire.

After a while, she had to bury her face in his fur to glimpse any relief. Coughing into her Mightyena's scruff, she felt him jump a fallen log, and knew he was growing weary by the way he stumbled when they landed. Cracking open an eye, she saw that the fire still raged on in front of them still. The smoke had grown thick. Hope seemed out of reach. Coughing again, Izzy closed her eyes and clenched him even tighter, giving into unconsciousness.

But Alexander was unwilling to give up just yet. Panting from the heat and effort, he maneuvered through the licking flames as best as he could, trying to carry her to a place where she could breath fresh air. His pads were raw from running, and quickly crisping from the steaming earth, but he endured.

Eventually the forest seemed to thin out, and hope didn't seem such a difficult thing to imagine.

Suddenly, just as they were about to clear the flaming trees, a Emboar ran to block their way, snorting embers. Eyes wide, Alexander attempted to halt in his tracks and turn around, but it happened to be just then that the tree behind them fell and blocked their escape route, a shadow briefly flickering overhead.

Running out of options, Alexander growled ferociously and barreled forward. But the Emboar let loose a vicious hose of fire straight into his face. Howling in pain, he continued on, tackling the overgrown hog and tumbling out into the grass on the other side.

Shaking loose Izzy, and making sure she was out of harm's way, he turned back to the Emboar, who had risen, tusks gleaming in the firelight.

Using his sense of hearing and smell, which had luckily escaped the wrath of the flamethrower, he attacked the fire pokemon again, biting down on exposed flesh.

With a roar, the Emboar threw him off, and out of the pit of it's belly, released an extended torch of fire, finishing off the Mightyena. Next, it turned to the little girl, aware of its masters orders: "Kill everyone in sight. Leave no witnesses."

Letting out another roar, it launched itself forward, preparing for another belch of fire. The girl looked beaten up and seared enough. All it would take is one hit. Before he was able to deliver the final blow, a torrent of water hit him in the back, releasing itself into steam upon contact. Enraged, it turned around, shaking the ground with angry stomps. In front of him now stood a Vaporeon and a Feraligator, soot covering every inch of their hairless bodies.

Thanks to the combined power of both the water types, the boar was disposed of quickly.

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When Izzy awoke next, it was in a clearing and to her father's face and his two water types, Priscilla and Eragon. But not Alexander. Immediately she was on alert, almost leaping to her feet.

"Shhh... shhh... lay down, honey... lay down... please." Her father attempted to soothe her, but she had already seen it. The charred, almost unidentifiable corpse of her best friend laid a few meters away, still and unmoving.

"D-dad...? I-s that..." Her voice jumped as tears already began to trek a trail down her sooty cheeks. "... Alexander?"

Without saying a word, he held her close, running a hand through her dirty hair. "Shh... shhhh..."

It was only when she finally realized another was missing that she cried even harder. Mommy... All but seven - the seventh being her dad's Pikachu - of a family of sixteen (pokemon and human) survived.

That day, she experienced her first true lost. It crushed her heart and spirit like they shouldn't be for her age. Alexander hadn't left her side once for six years, and now that he had, she didn't know what to do with herself. She had become depended on him, and now there was a hole in her heart where he should have been. She didn't know how she would keep on living.

Team Plasma had just broken their whole family apart in the name of liberation. The word left a nasty taste in her mouth.

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Over the years, that gaping hole was filled with anger and depression, when there hadn't been any before. On that day something changed. No longer did she believe there was good in every person. Now, people were black or white to her. They were either good or evil.

Since that day, she locked herself in her room, crying her heart out. Every night she had a nightmare, a twisted memory of that day. Even after they moved to Hoenn, those never ceased. Hardly ever did she leave the sanctuary of her room.

But at the age of fourteen, she looked out her bedroom window, at the pattering rain after an especially difficult nightmare that left her restless and crying. In between the sheets of water she saw the tiny green shape of a pokemon.