Wanna make this clear, Azure Town is between Fuchsia and Vermillion.

A cool, overcast day in Azure, on June 25th, at 10:30 AM

Today was the day. Not just because I finally get to leave today, and pretty much every other kid my age as well. Not just because I was finally able to evolve my Haunter, Nocturne at school yesterday and he scared the crap out of my Pokemon Care teacher as a Gengar and didn't get caught. Not even because I battled Ally's Vulpix during the passing exam and won, or even because yesterday was my last day of school ever and I graduated and my guardian was letting me and Daisuke go today.

Well actually it was because my guardian was letting me go and Saya Alani Ogura was freaking hyped and THAT was the point.

What usually would be summer vacation from school, this year is going to be the first few months of my Pokemon journey while all the younger kids would stay home. I was about to embark on the rite of passage almost everyone else my age embarked on, and I swear to God, no matter what, Me and Noct were going to take on the Pokemon league within a year...

My ears perked up when I heard voices outside at the front of the house. An excited grin stretched across my face and hurriedly dashed towards the front porch with my full backpack that had been packed since last night clutched tight in one hand. It felt like I was six years old again, shuffling out the front door with little Nocturne trailing behind on our way to Pokemon trainer's school.

The image was gone when I felt a hand shuffling things around in my back and turned to see Mika, my gaurdian stuffing my favorite orange and black jacket into the largest pocket. "You never know when the weather throws a curveball at you, Saya. You might need this earlier than October. And who knows how long it'll be until you and Daisuke visit home? Do you have your sleeping bag and toothbrush?"

"Yup."

"Three changes of clothes and some camp food?"

"Yup-yup!"

"One thousand pokedollars starting money? And your pokedex? Please, Saya, do not forget your 'dex."

"I got everything!"

"I can't believe you actually remembered it all," my best friend/brother Daisuke laughed as he stood at the steps of our porch. He hoisted his black and red pack over his shoulder, smirking at me. I smirked back and narrowed my blue eyes playfully at him.

"Well," We both turned back to look at Mika. "You two go for it. Don't you guys dare stop halfway through your badges like I did! The League is your dream and I can't wait to see you on TV when you're there! No matter how long it takes you, I know you'll make it." She beamed at the two of us, her eyes brimming with love and pride. She locked her eyes on her son. "When Huttser evolves, you better take a picture of him right away and send it to me, okay? I mean THAT DAY, and not next month."

"I will, mom. I promise." Daisuke assured with a smile. She pulled us both into a crushing hug. She finally let herself cry, and squeezed us one last time before pulling away. "Y-You two should let your partners out of their pokeballs. They ought to be walking with you. When you two walk out of the town, you won't be back for a long time."

'Way ahead of you.' I nodded and reached for the single black and blue pokeball on my belt and tapped it, Daisuke doing the same. It opened, and my Gengar, my companion since my first week living with the Ogura's, materialized. Mika took the ghost Pokemon's hand and kissed it.

"You help protect Saya out there, you tough guy. Show the world how battling is done. It won't always be as easy as practice battles in school." The blue Gengar nodded with a cheshire smirk.

Mika turned and knelt down next to the sitting Growlithe and placed a hand on his head. "You be sure to take care of Daisuke too. Don't overwork yourselves training, please. Saya and I won't be there to remind you two to eat and rest." Huttser smiled up at his trainer's mother and howled softly at her.

Mika stood straight up and choked out, "Go on, before I change my mind and decide to home school you kids for a year!"

Me, Daisuke and our partner Pokemon quickly ran off the porch and pegged it towards the main road. "I LOVE YOU! BE SAFE!" Our mother's shout reaching us from the distance, bringing embarrassed but happy smiles to our faces.

We ran several blocks to the edge of town before finally slowing. I turned to Daisuke with a knot in my stomach, knowing that we were about to part ways as well. His dark eyes met mine, and smiled sadly. "Well, this is where we say goodbye for now, Saya. Did you decide on which gym you want to take on first?"

I gave him a subdued grin and glanced towards Nocturne. "Yeah, me and Noct decided to start at the Poison gym. We should encounter some decent Pokemon on the way to Fuchsia City and can check out the Safari Zone while we're there. Also it'll be super hot out so a trip to the beach sounds amazing too, right bud?"

"Geng!" Noct grinned back at me.

Daisuke shook his head and sighed. "Well I agree with you there, but don't forget to train and take this journey seriously. It's not a vacation, Saya."

I pouted at my brother, while Noct sent him a flat stare. "I know bro, but I'm not gonna miss the chance while I'm there! Don't be a downer." I teased, dropping the pout. "Where are you headed?"

He smiled and ran a rand through his black hair, and ran the other across Huttser's back. "I'm going to go ahead and start at Celadon. I want to stock up on supplies at the super mart there. From there I haven't decided yet if I want to go to Fuchsia or Saffron, though."

I nodded, thinking that it made sense that he would want to go to a gym that he had a type advantage over first. "Well, maybe we'll meet up again soon and can have a battle!"

"Count on it." He agreed and reached his hand out. Immediately knowing his intent, I also put my hand out to do our hand shake. I went to slap his hand but intentionally missed so that it passed over his, then he repeated my gesture, and we ended the shake with a fist bump. We simultaneously turned away from each other and faced the separate roads we would be taking.

"Take care, Fam." Daisuke called over his shoulder and began running away with his Growlithe at his heels. I took a deep breath and shouted, "Later, Bro!" and also started jogging away with my blue Gengar flying next to me.

After about five minutes of running we finally hit Azure City limits and slowed to a walk upon entering Route 14. I reached over and affectionately ran my hand through the ghost's dark materialized spikey fur, Noct doing the same to my blonde spikes. "This is it bud," I said quietly to my other best friend. "Let's do this." He nodded and narrowed his eyes in confidence.

"Geng, gar." We both exchanged wide grins and started down the road before hearing a call.

"Hey, Saya! Wait up!"

We both looked up ahead and saw a fellow graduate come from the surrounding grass and jog towards us. I smiled and waved while calling out my own greeting. "Hey, Becca! You just starting out too?"

She finally reached us and shook her head, and held up a pokeball. "Nope, I left earlier this morning and decided to do some Pokemon hunting before I traveled too far. I already got two new ones!" She said triumphantly.

I looked down at her belt and noticed two other poke balls attached and huffed in envy. "That's awesome! Me and Daisuke just left, so we haven't run into anything yet."

Her eyes lit up like most girls' did when my brother was mentioned. "Oh yeah? Did Daisuke decide to go up through the biker route instead of this one or did I miss him?"

I resisted the urge to roll me eyes at the pining tone her voice now held. My brother was quite the popular one when it came to the ladies. "No, he went the opposite direction. He wanted to take on Celadon gym first."

Her shoulders sagged a bit in disappointment that he wasn't going the same way as her, but soon perked up again. "Oh, that makes sense! His Growlithe will totally destroy the grass gym! Your brother is SO smart!" She let out a happy sigh.

This time I did roll my eyes. "Well, how about we have a battle? A battle to start off our career!"

"GengGAR!" Noct let out victory cry and fist pumped into the air. Becca raised an eyebrow at the display. "You only have your Gengar, right? So a one on one battle?"

I shrugged. "Sure, that sounds good. " I quickly backpedaled a fair enough distance so that I would be a safe distance away. "Ready? Go!"

Becca huffed. "You're so impatient, Saya." She plucked a pokeball off her pink belt and tossed it out. It opened and the white matter materialized into a small Krabby. It frothed at the mouth and waved it's pincers threateningly at Noct. He gave a shark like grin in return.

I tilted my head at her questioningly. "You're using Krabby? Not one of your new ones?" The other girl shook her head. "No, I just caught them and they're kind of weak from battling. Besides, they might not do to well against that terror of yours anyway."

I shrugged, accepting this. We wanted a challenge, anyway. "Alright. Noct, Shadow Claw!"

He didn't need to be told. Noct rushed at Krabby with plasma claws wrapped around his little digits like a gauntlet. In a panicked reflex, the small crab dashed to the side just in time to evade most of the attack, the slashing attack gouging the ground where it stood moments ago.

"Ggghh." Krabby gurgled.

At the same time Becca glared down at my ghost-type all tactical looking and said, "Relax, Krabby. That arrogance will trip him up. Get closer and give him a Bubble Beam." I grinned at her.

Krabby zig zagged up to Noct and barely dodged yet another Shadow Claw. The Bubble Beam attack hit the ominous blue Pokemon in the face and the pressure knocked him flat on his back. Clenching my fist in frustration, I called, "Why so serious, Noct?!"

My Gengar got up and stared unblinkingly at his opponent, cheshire grin stretching to impossible lengths. The phrase, "Why so serious?" was an inside joke between me and Noct after watching the Dark Knight. I teased the ghost that he would have a similar grin to the Joker when he evolved, and it escalated into a battle strategy. We worked for two weeks prior to graduation on the strategy of throwing in a Night Shade attack when the phrase was used in battle.

He crouched slightly, preparing to leap forward. I knew exactly when the time was right and shouted, "Now!"

Noct leaped, and the Krabby was unprepared. His eyes glowed and bolts of dark energy struck Krabby's front. Becca screamed in surprise and jumped back from the attack, following her Krabby's falling back and skidding towards her. He would have his Becca's legs if she hadn't bent down to catch him. Krabby flailed its limbs for just a moment and then jumped back up into a standing position.

"That's my boy! Let's do a rapid fire Bubble Beam!" Krabby obeyed.

Noct danced and phased around the attacks, grin still in place. I grinned with him. We still had our trump card. "Why so serious? Thunderbolt!"

Becca gasped. "What?!"

Once again, the Gengar shot the Night Shade attack off at Krabby, missing, but effectively distracting him from the main attack. "Dodge, Krabby!" Too late.

Noct gathered electricity around his body like a demonic Pikachu, and released an intense bolt of lightning at his opponent, sticking out his large tongue to add insult to injury. The bolt hit the crab head on, and the smoking Krabby went down.

"YES!" I ran up to my partner and threw my arms around him. "You were great, Noct! It went great! You're amazing buddy!"

He returned the hug and puffed up his chest in pride. "Gen, gar?" I rolled my sapphire eyes fondly at his arrogant sounding answer and giggled. I looked up towards the other girl to see her clumsily lifting a cheap potion from her purse. She sprayed Krabby's wounds and watched them sizzle and smooth over before her eyes. She tossed the rest of it to me. "Here, the rest should be enough for Nocturne's wounds from Bubble Beam." I thanked her and urgently sprayed my friend's face and chest.

"So, when did you teach him Thunderbolt?" Becca asked, sounding put off by her defeat. I shrugged. "The night of our graduation, mom gave me and Daisuke a TM each as a gift. We kept them secret from each other though."

"Oh, okay." She nodded. "Well, I'm gonna head back out and train up my new pokemon. And maybe work on Krabby's evasion, too." Becca recalled the unconscious water-type back into it's pokeball before waving to me. "See you!"

She waved and smiled turning back towards the grass. I nodded and smiled back. "Yeah, I think I have a two day hike ahead of me to get to Fuchsia. Bye!" I called and took off running again, Noct right beside me.

June 26th, 9:13 AM, the smothering woods which line the road connecting Route 14 and 15

All day yesterday was spent trying to find a new Pokemon and training. We found some dropped items laying around in between our exploring, including a greatball. I wasn't really interested in any of the more common Pokemon found so far. Some Pidgey, an Oddish here and there, and a family of Venonat were near the clearing that we camped in for the night. Noct gained more experience in using Thunderbolt when fighting near every Pidgey encountered, and loved to scare the hell out of the local grass-types around.

Noct was still out of his pokeball, having not been returned to it since our departure yesterday. Since he spent most of his life out of the capsule ball, he preferred to be

out and about more than not. Currently, he was gliding around above me, peeking into nests in the trees and trying to get a bird's eye view of the area ahead of us. Suddenly, a loud grumble broke through the peacefull, quiet clearing. Noct floated down and peered at me curiously at the noise. I blushed and rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly.

"Heh, I don't know about you bud, but I'm ready for some breakfast! I'm practically starving where I stand!" I cried out dramatically.

Noct cackled at my silliness, and nodded in agreement. "Geng, gengar gar geng."

The ghost-type flew up above the tree line to search for a public camp site. If there wasn't one near by we'll probably just find a clearing and make our own, but it was always nice to find an area where they could sit at a table and use an actual grill instead of a hand made fire pit with no grill to cook things on. Unfortunately I didn't have enough room in my bag for a portable one.

"Geng! Gar gengar!" Noct flew back down to my level and started towards the direction he saw the camp. I grinned and jogged after him.

"Awesome! I can't wait to stuff my face with some hot dogs and ramen noodles!"

We slowed back down to a walk once we had the picnic area in sight but came to a abrupt stop when something else in the camp. By a trashcan by the edge of it, really. A pink something.

I spotted a creature with huge, spiked ears, and recognized a Nidorino immediately, snuffling around in the trash. My Pokemon Care teacher would have been proud of me. And I was suddenly proud of myself, because I could already see myself catching it. Finally, a uncommon find!

"Sneak up to it, Noct. When you're close enough, use Lick," I murmured over to my ghost-type, who grunted softly in reply and phase into nothingness. While we crept forward I gently put a hand into my pack to search for a ball. I felt one and drew it out: the greatball, awesome! I was close enough to to be in throwing distance now.

It was in that moment that the Nidorino saw me. Its ears pricked up, and it screeched. Noct suddenly phased into a solid being in front of the now startled Nidorino and used Lick and struck the poison-type on its leg, making it step back. It held the leg up as though it couldn't hold weight. It was paralyzed! But that didn't stop him. He growled, and charged.

He was using Horn attack. If a Nidorino's horn pricked me and I didn't get to a hospital in half an hour, I was dead. So many teacher's warned me about it.

"Hurry, hurry! Shadow Claw!" Noct flew in front of me to protect me, and knocked his plasma claws into the incoming horn, causing it to poke pointlessly over the ghost's shoulder.

While it was disoriented from the sudden shift, Noct threw his other hand up in a Sucker Punch; a move he learned last night, and socked him in the face. The Nidorino shook his head and moaned in pain. 'This is my chance!' I thought. I quickly tossed my greatball and it smacked the poison-type on its back. It made a frightened, even horrified face before warping into white matter inside the ball. It didn't even wobble.

"Yes! Critical capture! We did it!" My Gengar ran over and glomped me, sharing my joy. I pulled away and beamed down at my partner.

"Dude, did you see how awesome that guy battled? Who did he remind you of?" Noct blinked and squinted his eyes in confusion. "Oh, come on, Noct," I huffed. "What's our favorite anime?"

His eyes lit up in recognition and he shot his arms forward in a mock Gum Gum attack. "Geng!"

"That's right, One Piece! I'm totally gonna call him Zoro! Did you see him waving his horn like a sword? I bet his Pokemon friends think he's a total badass. Let's let him out and officially meet our new friend!"

I ran over to the greatball that was still laying on the ground and tapped it. It opened and my new Nidorino formed a few feet away from me. He slowly checked his surroundings before locking his green gaze onto us. I hesitantly walked over to him and knelt down to his level. He peered at me warily.

I smiled at the poison-type. "Hello, there. My name's Saya. It's nice to meet you, Nidorino."

He gazed at me for a few moments before inclining his head. His eyes shifted towards the blue ghost-type hovering over my shoulder, and started to look slightly intimidated. I reached behind me to pat Noct on the head. "This is my other Pokemon, Nocturne. By the way, do you mind if I name you Zoro? I wanna name you after one of the coolest, and most powerful swordsman ever, because, like, you fight so great with that horn, y'know?"

Nidorino was looking up at me with a prideful expression. He nodded. "I'm glad you like it bud." I grinned down at the pink Pokemon.

I fiddled around in my bag until I found one of my cheap potions and sprayed Zoro's face to heal most of the damage. "There ya go, Zoro." I stood up and rubbed my belly.

"Welp, I'm still starving for some breakfast. We saw you looking for food too, Zoro, get in on this!" Zoro let out a happy bark and trotted after me towards the grill, Noct only a few steps behind us.

June 26th, 11:42 AM, Route 15

After breakfast, I had Zoro show me what moves he knew, and it turns out that he had a pretty decent moveset. It also turned out that Zoro was holding a TM that it had found in the trash earlier, and it turned out to be Toxic. Psyched that it was a good move for my two poison-type Pokemon, I went ahead and taught it to both of them. After that, I returned Zoro and also finally returned Noct as well, since he usually prefers to sleep during the day anyway. I walked down the road, still feeling the rush of catching a badass Pokemon, when I saw a trainer up ahead casually counting some pokedollars. A younger boy was walking away with a dejected look on his face.

The long blonde haired girl noticed me and a half-smile grew on her face. "Oh, hey. Are you a trainer? If so, I challenge you. You don't look like much, but hopefully you'll give me more of a challenge than the kid from before."

'Yeah, hello to you too, chick.' I scowled. "I'll have you know, that I'm awesome! I'll totally take you on!"

She scoffed and put her money in her purse, and pulled out a pokeball. "Okay, Miss 'Awesome'," The girl said slowly. "How about two-on-two? You switch when your Pokemon faints, and only then. Sound good?"

"Sounds great." I told her, and immediately found my new Nidorino's ball. I tapped it to make it grow, and tossed it lightly in my hand. "My name's Saya, by the way."

"Mine's Lucy." She smirked, and tossed her pokeball up. I watched as the ball zipped back to Lucy's hand, the white matter from inside slid together to form, a little tan and white bird. "Here's my new baby. Caught him two hours ago."

For a few seconds, I was distracted in watching the Pidgey circle above me, but I shook my head to bring myself back, and tossed Zoro's ball straight out. I gleefully saw the look of slight curiosity and wonder as Zoro's body shape came to be.

The Nidorino lifted his head slightly to look at the opposing girl and sniffed in her direction. I tried to keep from jumping up and down in excitement at getting to battle with my newest Pokemon. "Hey! Hey, Zoro, let's win this, okay?"

The pink Pokemon turned half-around to look at me. "You need to take that pigeon out of the sky. Ram it through like you almost did with Nocturne." Zoro looked up at his new enemy and slowly, slowly, started growling. "Good boy! Now use Poison Sting!"

Thank god I went over his moves earlier! Zoro lowered his body a few inches to the ground and then sprang back up to normal height; as he did so, a tiny purple barb shot from the end of his horn up at the flying Pidgey. The bird swerved and avoided it easily.

"Are you serious?" Lucy laughed. She tossed her long hair, still chuckling. "Okay, Pidgey, Gust!"

"Pidd-geyy!" Pidgey fell into a spiraling dive that was way too fast for me or Zoro to react. The poison-type could only yelp and spring out of the way, but he couldn't manage it when a gust of wind blasted him in the torso. I scowled. Just because the thing could fly, it thought it could be hit. Bullshit.

"Hit it with Toxic." I commanded. As perfectly as a trained guard dog, Zoro spat a glob of purple spit up at the air, not where Pidgey was, but where it would be in three seconds, two, BAM! It was spiraling again, but this time straight to the ground.

"No! No! Pidgey, get up, hurry!" Lucy cried. I didn't give her the chance.

"Hurry, use Horn attack!" Zoro started charging, and as he got closer, he bowed his head. Pidgey wasn't getting up fast enough. The Nidorino's horn punctured its body and it reared its pink head up, hurling Pidgey up like a chef tossing a pizza. The little flying-type fell onto the ground with a little trail of blood marking its path. It panted twice, and didn't move.

Zoro stomped his foot and said powerfully, "Rino."

I smiled and cheered for my poison-type while Lucy returned her Pokemon.

"Okay, that was good," she said grudgingly. "But how about my other baby?" "She pulled out a luxury ball from her purse and tossed it out into the empty road before her. A Meowth appeared. "No more messing around. Cyrus, Fury Swipes!"

The Meowth charged at the Nidorino with surprisingly long claws. It must have surprised Zoro, too, as his eyes went wide and he started frantically blocking the attacker's paws with blows of his horn against the little cat's palms. Cyrus was driving Zoro backwards, but not for long!

"Push him, Zoro!" I shouted. "Poison Sting, now!" In near-perfect sync, Zoro ducked his horn underneath the Meowth's paw and stabbed it into the spot where chest and shoulder met. Cyrus screeched suddenly, but didn't look done yet.

"Feint Attack!" Lucy shouted.

While Zoro drew his horn away, the cat disappeared, and reappeared as a shadow, and went away multiple times, until at last it appeared by my Nidorino's left side and kicked him hard. Zoro rolled over twice and hissed at the pain. "You can do it, Zoro! It's okay. Double Kick!"

Thankfully, the hit had not damaged my Nidorino's spirit. With it's now-usual prideful frown, it lowered its head and charged again. The Meowth made as though to run away or block, but wasn't fast enough. It got a face full of purple feet.

"Cyrus!" Lucy cried. "Cyrus, please get up! Show him what you're made of!" Cyrus got up, and ran straight at Zoro again. "Meet him head-on, Zoro!" The poison-type ran straight at Cyrus, too. They would crash in seconds, heartbeats.

"Fury Swipes!"

"Horn Attack!"

It looked like horn and claw would clash again, but Zoro's horn was faster, or rather, more prepared. He moved his head at the last fraction of a heartbeat, moving its horn out of the way of its enemy's claw and straight at it's enemy's chest. It punctured.

The Meowth's eyes filled with tears, and he cried, "MeeeeOTH!" Cyrus fell backwards holding his paws over a bleeding hole in his little chest, and went unconscious.

I held in a shout of joy and instead threw back my shoulders and sauntered up to my new Nidorino's side. "I knew I picked an awesome name you. You really do use your horn like a freaking sword." Zoro looked up at his trainer smiled one of his rare smiles.

The electronic sound of Meowth being returned to his ball forced them both out of their staring. I couldn't resist adding, "So, how much money do you think that match deserves?" Lucy's furious scowl made me realize that maybe she didn't think that was funny.

"Right. Here," She walked over and shoved the twenty-three pokedollars towards me. "Next time, I'll get past your little sword fighter." She said, started down the way I came from.

I finally let out a grin and drew out Zoro's great ball. "Good job, buddy. Take a rest," The pink Pokemon formed into white matter and flew back into the capsule. I put it back onto my belt and continued through the rest of the route.

'Fuchsia City, here I come.'