HERE WE GO! :D Now, I understand a Pokémon fanfic might being a different audience than my usual Warriors ones, but I'm just as pumped for this one as I would be for any other story. :3 Let's do this!

Prologue

Slowly, I slipped from the cover of the hedges my mother had warned me about. I would prove to her that I was brave, braver than she was, so much so that I would do something even some of the full-grown Swamperts were too scared to do.

Carefully, I lifted one of my feet and hovered it uncertainly over the path I was always warned to stay away from. I slowly settled it on the path, small rocks rolling beneath my toes. A Pidgey chirped in the trees behind me. Nothing else happened. No explosions. No earthquakes. Just normal scenery. Yeah, this was so scary. I stepped all of the way out of the hedges, my small weight crunching fragile rocks.

I smirked and looked around, feeling extremely proud of myself. The rest of the Mudkip and Marshtomp and Swampert were all too scared for their own good. There was nothing scary about this place.

Then there was a yell and a crunch and a blinding pain in my head, unexpected weight on my back making me lose my balance and stumble forward. Sharp pain dug into my back, going through my soft scales, and I shook off my attacker, moving forward, disoriented, unaware that I was going in the middle of the path, not away from it.

I can't hear much, but I hear a faint yell. "Come on, Blaze!" A strange voice says. "Get up! We need to catch this Mudkip!"

Catch me? I stumbled forward faster.

"We?" An irritated, feminine voice growled. "It's me doing all the work."

I tripped and fell forward on my face. The world seemed to rock around me, gravel rolling beneath my paws rolling. There was a strange sound, like rushing air, and a hot blast of air enclosed me. I stayed where I was, the heat strangely nice for a moment, before it began to burn me. I scrambled to my paws and hopped clear of the heat, opening my eyes that I hadn't realized were closed and spinning around.

Flames billowing out of her mouth like a cloud quickly extinguished as the Flareon closed it, hard eyes glinting as she fixed her gaze on me. I had no idea what to do, or how to react at the Flareon lunged for me, pinning me down, the same sharp claws digging into the even softer scales on my chest.

I looked up into the Flareon's face, and a prick of anger burned deep inside me. This Pokémon had attacked me without a speck of reason. I'd done nothing to her, and now I was scratched, burned, and bruised. I mean, I've been Pecked by enough Pidgeys to know that aggravating Pokémon doesn't pay well, but I'd done literally nothing. My anger built slowly, but steadily, and shaped itself into a sort of bubble. The bubble made me braver, and I didn't feel any fear, even making me brave enough to look back up at the Flareon and glare. I opened my mouth to give a biting retort, but to my pleasant surprise, a high-pressure blast of water flew out instead, hitting Flareon square in the face and sending her flying. She smacked face-first into a tree-trunk and slid to the bottom, Fainted.

I rolled over on my stomach, the sudden blast of water leaving me utterly exhausted. A jolt hit me, and I felt suddenly proud. I defeated a Flareon! I learned how to use a different move besides Tackle! Water Gun! At least, that's what I thought it was. That's what my mother had told me using Water Gun would feel like. I smile, looking up to find the sky and instead finding myself face to face with a furious human.

I knew well what a human looked like. Mother had always told me about them, and about how they were the worst danger you could find out there in the forest. She told me how some of them carried devices that could Capture Pokémon, which she said was the worst thing they could possibly do to you. They'd abduct you with Pokeballs, she called them, little round balls with a red top and a white bottom and a button in the middle. She'd told me if I found a human, to get up and run the opposite direction as fast as I could. Except for, now I was exhausted and could barely muster the energy to look up.

So I slowly, slowly, began to push myself backwards slowly, towards the hedge, my eyes holding hers. Of course, she wasn't going to let me go so easily.

"No!" She cried, rummaging around in her bag. "You, stay! I'm going to Catch you! I need to!" She pulled out a feared Pokeball, and my breath caught in my throat. I started scooting away faster.

"No no no!" She dropped her bag and the Capture device and made a quick move towards me. I could do nothing to resist as she picked me up by my hind foot, dangling me and shaking me while I was upside-down. "If you can't stay put, I'm going to have to make you!"
If I hadn't been in such dire situations, I would have snickered and rolled my eyes. As it was, if I had been watching this scene, I would have been rolling on the floor with laughter. Now, being put in this situation, I could do nothing but stare with wide eyes, the blood rushing to my head making me dizzy.

She leaned down and picked up the dropped Pokeball, making a big show about it.

"This!" She said, brandishing the feared thing in front of my face with wide gestures. I noticed a tiny flame design, right above the button. "Is a Pokeball. It's the place where I keep my starter, that unconscious Flareon over there. Her name's Blaze. I can't believe she couldn't make you… what's the word… Faint!"

I rolled my eyes, the foot she was holding me with starting to go numb. If I had to be Caught by a human, couldn't I have been Caught by an intelligent one? I knew by now this is what was going to happen. I let out a gusty sigh.

"You probably don't know anything, little Mudkip." She flounced. "I'm a Trainer, and my job is to Capture Pokemon and train them up to be the best they can be."

You forgot the part where you rip them out of their homes first.

"Blaze is my starter. My mum went out and Caught her, fresh from the woods, and gave her to me. She let me name her and everything! Blaze is super strong, and I don't know why you managed to make her… Faint." The Trainer shrugged. "But watch this."

The Trainer held out the same Pokeball with bravado and pointed the button at the Fainted Flareon. She clicked the button, and a read laser-like beam of light shot out and engulfed the Pokemon, retreating and leaving nothing at the base of the tree. I blinked, amazed.

She smiled and tucked the Pokeball neatly back into her bag, slinging it back over her shoulder. She dipped her hand quickly inside, and brought out another Pokeball with a tiny lightning design where the flame was. "Inside here is a Shinx, the very first Pokemon I Caught." She shook it for emphasis. "He's not very strong yet, but he's cute. I named him Lightning."

I watched emotionlessly, my foot actually starting to hurt. The human was interesting me, no matter how much I wanted to deny it.

She put the Pokeball away, picking out another one with no tiny design on it. I gasped, a fluttering inside of me guessing what she was about to say.

"Those are the only members of my team. I only have two Pokemon, and I was hoping to recruit you as my third." I looked at her in disbelief. Then I started struggling, arms waving around furiously. "Hey!" She cried. "Stop…moving!" She was struggling to keep hold of me. I felt my leg slipping out of her grip and suddenly the gravel path was rushing towards me. A sharp pain cracked through my head and pushed me into darkness.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I wasn't ready to wake up, but I realized I wasn't awake. I was half-awake, my awareness sliding and slipping. Then I became aware of an odd pressure, around my hold mind, my being, and I didn't like it. I pushed back, but I was exhausted, I had no energy. I pushed with all my mental, focusing, abilities, but it simply wasn't enough. My thoughts went spiraling off in every which direction, my focus spinning and the pressure completely squashing every rebellious thought I had, shoving me into the comforting nothingness of complete, dreamless, unconsciousness.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Come on out, Miss Mudkip."

It was the first thing I heard, from the voice of the Trainer, I remembered.

There was an odd feeling, like I was expanding quickly and condensing back into my normal self. I opened my eyes, staring at blue paws thankfully. I was still that same. Maybe it was just a dream, but that voice… It had seemed so real.

"I'm glad you're back to healthy!" The sing-song voice came again. I looked up, straight into the face of that Trainer.

I couldn't help it. I leaped backwards. She frowned, holding out a Pokeball at my eye level.

"Look!" She cried. "I even got a tear-shaped sticker to put on your Pokeball!"

I stared at her, I stared at it. I can't believe it didn't make me feel any better.

"Okay, maybe this will help." She rummaged in that same bag I remembered, pulling out two Pokeballs, one with the flame design and the other with the lightning bolt. "Blaze! Lightning! Come out and show this Mudkip that life isn't all bad!"

Tiny lightning bolts and flames filled the air, and when they cleared, the Flareon and a Shinx stood side-by-side. I glared at the Flareon, the gathering of the energy bubble becoming automatic. I fired the Water Gun at Blaze, hitting my unsuspecting target straight in the chest and slamming her against a… wall? A brick wall?

The Trainer scolded me as I walked past the again Fainted Flareon and the Shinx, who jumped out of my way in a hurry, interested in the brick wall. I noticed the ground was smooth under my feet, like stone. I looked up, hoping to see the sky and instead finding shadow-filled rafters.

Of course. I'd been Caught.

Well? I thought it turned out rather well. :D Review, please! I did put a lot of real effort into this, so yeah, it would be nice to know what you guys out there think. :3 By the way, there's no death in Pokemon. Just as a side note.

-Graywhisper