This is a re-write of The Lost Mareep, with a new name and improved plot.

At the age of ten, most children got their first pokémon and ventured out on adventures far beyond their hometown. At the age of ten, Hadrian Potter had to hide in his cupboard for a week because his uncle Vernon was in a constant drunken stupor; the cause being that his son Dudley was away for his first pokémon journey during that time.

That was just one of many life-threatening situations in Hadrian's life, and one of the small ways in which he was different from his cousin. One of the most obvious differences between them was that while Dudley got the best pokémon-focused education that money could buy (in Kanto at least), Hadrian was only let out of his cupboard to taker care of the cooking and chores. It was a small mercy that his uncle was the only one in the household that was physically abusive towards him, when his aunt used words to create distance between them and his cousin barely knew that he existed. He often wondered who had left him there, as well as what had happened to his parents. The few times that he had dared to ask his aunt, he had been given a pitying look and a new chore to distract himself with.

Outside of the small Dursley family - which sadly included aunt Marge, Vernon's sister, and her Snubbull (illegally imported from Johto) - Hadrian was as good as invisible. Their neighbours were only aware of him to the extent one was aware of a mailbox; not at all until they were in danger of hitting him with their car.

Danger and Hadrian sadly seemed to go hand in hand; if it were not uncle Vernon, or aunt Marge's Snubbull; then it was stray pokémon; or even water. The first two were hard to escape, and stray pokémon rarely seemed to consciously hurt him as much as they flocked around him. Water… water on the other hand was a fear that he couldn't explain, but which followed him into his dreams.

Waking up in cold sweat after a dream full with the sensation of not being able to breathe was as much part of his daily routine as making breakfast was at the age of fifteen. Hadrian had dreamt of drowning for as long as he could remember, but the dreams had only increased with age. Frustratingly, his height had not done the same. It was a rather childish idea, but he still entertained the notion that he would feel braver in the proximity of water if he were taller than 165 cm. If anything, it would give him longer legs which would help him in situations like the one he currently was in.

Aunt Marge's Snubbull had evolved into a Granbull a few years ago, and while Hadrian thankfully was taller; he was by no means bigger and certainly not quicker. With Granbull close on his heels, he could do nothing but continue to run - he had long since left the house behind and found himself running towards route 9. It didn't take long before Cerulean City was behind him and Hadrian found himself falling. He hit the ground hard, and spent a few disorientated moments trying to collect himself. He had not stepped outside of the city even once since he was first left with the Dursleys, and as he had been more concerned by Granbull's proximity, there was no way for him to know about the ledge. It was a small mercy to hear Granbull's growling from a distance; it meant that the pokémon had not followed him down.

Hadrian slowly got up on all four, dully aware of the pain in his body. He still felt tense, even if Granbull seemed to have decided to turn back home. There was definitely blood coming from his forehead, most likely thanks to the rocky ground. He took a deep breath to ignore any injuries and scrapes that the fall resulted in; more occupied by the fact that he was lost. Immersed in thoughts of how to get back, Hadrian didn't notice that he wasn't alone at first. Then something touched his forehead, his nerve system dutifully signalling that he felt pain. He inhaled shakily and lifted his head to look at the offending thing; as properly as he could look with blurry vision. He was in dire need of glasses, but Vernon had broken the one pair that he had, and he had never gotten new ones. For that reason, Hadrian couldn't quite tell at first if the thing that had touched him was a purple balloon or if it was in fact a pokémon.

The more he looked at it, the more he started to suspect the latter. Besides being purple and shaped as a balloon, there was a yellow X in the middle of two black dots which he suspected to be eyes. He had not noticed at first as his hair had obscured his vision, but after he sat back on his knees it was more clearly. Looking even closer, he caught sight of what had touched him. There were suspicious red flecks on a yellow heart-shaped appendage, most likely it was a hand of some sort. Especially as there was a second heart-shaped appendage which was curiously patting his hair. Hadrian wished for a moment that he had a pokédex, because he would have felt a lot safer if he knew what kind of pokémon it was.

"Nice pokémon?" he tried carefully. The hand touched his forehead again, resulting in another bout of pain. Hadrian flinched away slightly; there were more red flecks on the hand now as if it was almost absorbing his blood. He prayed to Arceus that it was his imagination. It likely was as he got the unexplainable feeling that the pokémon was laughing at him; he couldn't come up with a reason for a dangerous pokémon to laugh at his pain. Except that when worded like that, it did sound like something a dangerous pokémon would do… His heart sped up for a moment as he let his imagination run wild, until he took a deep breath to force himself to calm down. Aunt Petunia's breathing techniques were definitely helpful in a situation like this.

Deciding to assume that the pokémon was harmless until he got further proof that stated otherwise, Hadrian slowly moved to a standing position. He brushed some of the dirt off his clothes, but he doubted that it made much of a difference. It was likely a waste of time anyway, he would get punished anyway whenever he managed to find his way home; unless he could get into his cupboard without Vernon noticing.

He started to look around after a way back but every time he turned his head in a new direction, his line of vision was disturbed by a big blurry yellow heart-shape. It did not help in any way as it made him feel more disoriented. The definite lack of directions drawn on the pokémon's hand was vaguely annoying as well.

"Unless you know the way out of here, I would appreciate if you got out of my face. Literally. Please?"

The hand poked at his forehead; a habit that he wished that the pokémon could drop. The sudden pain that his nerves spread through him had started to dull a bit by now, but it did not make it better. Frustrated, and suffering from a moment of questionable judgement, Hadrian reached up and grabbed the red-flecked hand. It turned out to have been the right decision as he suddenly felt a pull. With nothing better to do, Hadrian stumbled in the direction that the pokémon pulled him. There were two left-turns, and then they suddenly stopped. It took him a moment to realize that they had stopped in front of a large and unfortunately steep hill. It did explain how people traveled to Cerulean City through route 9, but he did not appropriate being forced to climb. Literally for that matter, as the pokémon pulled at his hand once more.

It quickly turned out that it was for the best that the pokémon was helping him, as it improved his balance; a necessity as there were loose rocks on the hill. There was a high risk that he would have fallen down without any help. The climb left him exhausted to the level that Hadrian sunk to his knees once they reached the top; the pokémon dragged lower as he had yet to let go. While he was used to manual labour, it could not be compared to the kind of exercise that hill-climbing was. Combined with the fact that he was severely malnourished - Vernon sadly had more control in the household than aunt Petunia - it was no real surprise when he blacked out.

Hadrian woke up a moment later, his vision filled with the colour purple. It took him a moment to realize that the pokémon was uncomfortably close to his face, and his vision had in fact not been affected.

"You're a real helpful balloon." he mumbled as he slowly got up off the ground. It was lucky that he had not rolled down the hill while blacked out; although it would not have surprised him if it had happened. The pokémon nudged against his head in response to the compliment, and it felt oddly like he had just been given a kiss. Hadrian smiled weakly and took the offered hand. This time, the pull directed him a few steps left - just enough for the hill to be replaced by yet another ledge - and then right. He absently noticed that there was grass underneath his bare feet as they turned left once more.

It should not have surprised him as it was common outside of the cities, but Hadrian still froze when he realized that the wall of green in front of him was tall grass. He couldn't help but feel anxious as this was his first time outside of the city, his first time venturing into the tall grass, and his only help was an unknown pokémon. Said pokémon must had sensed his reluctance to continue, because it patiently waited a moment before it pulled hard enough to force him to take a step forward. The encouragement helped slightly and Hadrian tightened his grip of the pokémon's hand. There was no way he would be able to find his way through the tall grass on his own, and hopefully the pokémon could protect the somehow in case something should attack...

They walked into the grass together. He could feel his heart as it rapidly beat against his ribcage. The fear he felt when walking through the tall grass for the first time, not knowing what was hidden… it was worse than then the fear he felt when Vernon raised a hand against him. With Vernon, he knew what to expect. This? This was new and filled his bones with anxiety. The pokémon gave him an encouraging pat on the cheek with its free hand, and Hadrian started to think that perhaps this was not that dangerous after all.

He stepped on something.

Hadrian immediately took some hurried steps back to put up some distance, but the damage was already done. Something purple shot up through the grass, and it was definitely not a friendly balloon this time. For one moment he almost hoped that it would be Granbull that had come back for him, but it was the wrong shade of purple, the wrong shape… not to mention that this pokémon towered over him. His eyes didn't quite dare look up to where the head was, instead focusing on a yellow stripe that broke the purple.

"Ekans?" Hadrian mumbled to himself, as he made note of the blurred characteristics. It was thankfully not an Arbok, but an Ekans was still not on his list of pokémon that he would like to find himself face-to-face with, ever. By his side, the unknown pokémon pulled its hand free from his grip. Hadrian felt a split moment of bone crushing anxiety at the thought of being abandoned before the pokémon flew in front of his face. He had to blink a few times to really believe what he was seeing - the pokémon was protecting him from the much bigger Ekans.

It was just in time too, as the next thing he knew Ekans striked at the pokémon, wrapping it's long body around it. Hadrian couldn't help but wait for the sound of a balloon popping; then suddenly Ekans let go and fell to the grass with a high pitched hiss. It was almost as if it was confused. It looked around before suddenly slithering away into the grass, the movements jerky as if Ekans was in pain. Hadrian turned to the pokémon that had saved him, expecting some show of victory. Instead he realized that it was slowly sinking lower and lower. Worried, Hadrian hurried to gather it in his arms. It seemingly weighed nothing, which worried him even more, but then… it was some sort of balloon, was it not - even if it was a pokémon?

He pushed away the thoughts of the pokémon's identity, more worried about its health. It had likely fainted after getting crushed by Ekans like that… at least he hoped that it had only fainted. With a feeling of determination replacing his anxiety, Hadrian continued forward in the tall grass. Luck was on his side as he got out of it without disturbing another pokémon, although he had almost walked into a mountain wall. He had been focused on the ground - to not make the mistake of stepping on something else - and his blurry vision had certainly not helped matters. He had realized that the grass stopped before he collided with the mountain, and had instead turned left as there was no other way to go. There didn't seem to be anywhere to go outside of the tall grass either - the road suddenly stopped.

As there didn't seem to be any other choice, he carefully approached the ledge. It was quite a bit down… With no other option coming to mind, Hadrian took a deep breath and then jumped. The pokémon in his arm seemed to keep them both floating for a moment, but then gravity went into action and his knees met the ground, hard.

He ignored the pain that shot through his nerves at the landing and instead forced himself to stand. After checking that the fainted pokémon in his arms hadn't been affected by the jump,Hadrian started walking. It was thankfully not hard to find his way out of route 9 now that he was back to where he had fallen earlier. All he had to do was follow the road until he was back in Cerulean City.

It took longer to return than he had imagined, as he was exhausted and famished. It hurt to move, but it was a dull pain with the exception of his knees. They didn't approve of being put to work so soon after his harsh landing. A break would do wonders, but he had no water for his dry throat or food for his empty stomach, and the pokémon in his arms needed to get to a Pokémon Centrum. He had to push away all thoughts of a break in favor of continuing walking; he could already see the buildings looming over him. There was only one problem left - he had no idea where the Pokémon Centrum was.

Perhaps he should have been more worried for his own life than the life of the pokémon, but he couldn't help but feel that the pokémon's life was more important than his. It was perhaps the only lesson that Vernon had taught him that he could agree with; Hadrian was worthless. He doubted that his aunt or cousin would care about his well-being any more than his uncle would - making this the perfect opportunity for him to leave them behind. Had he been a less realistic person, he would have taken that opportunity but as he didn't even own the clothes on his body… there was no way for him to survive outside of Cerulean City, or even outside of the Dursley's home.

He hadn't been looking where he was going, too busy with trying to see if he could identify any building as the Pokémon Centrum. Therefore, when he suddenly realized that someone was walking towards him, Hadrian froze. His body tensed up, his instincts yelling at him to flee. To make matters worse, the stranger was approaching him. If word ever got back to Vernon that he had interacted with someone-

"Harry? Is that you? And is that a Drifloon?"

Pokémon Trainer Hadrian
Team: Drifloon (fainted)

Next update might not be until November; school takes a lot out of me, and I don't currently have my own computer to write on.
Until then I'm planning to update the following:
The essence of red poppies
Death's Childe
Riddle's Evil Inc (AO3 only)
Flight from Death (AO3 only)

Please review xxx