Welcome to A Trainers Epoch and I hope to present a slightly different format of this story than you may have seen before. As said in the summary, this fanfiction follows no linear format. Well, the first two chapters do, but after that when and where the chapter takes place will be different. Sometimes we'll be in a new region, sometimes the same but forwards or backwards from the chapter we left.

Will this be confusing? Probably a bit at first, but I do intend on making it as clear and easy to understand what is happening in every chapter as possible.

Does this ruin the adventure? Seeing the trainer start and grow and fail and achieve? Hopefully not. I've tried to write this story before, more times than I'd like to admit, and I kept running into the same problem. It wasn't that I'd lose interest, no, but the slog of the adventure format wore at me. We've seen the Pokémon Adventure© story a thousand times over, kid gets pokémon, kid gets more pokémon, kid does this and that, and wins. The end.

It has been done well, in times been and I'm sure in times to come as well, but we've all experienced that story often in the same way, just with changes in characters. So, I thought to try something I haven't seen much of.

In my view, part of what makes a story worth reading isn't wondering IF the protagonists will get through the newest challenge (Because in majority of cases you can be confident that they will) but HOW they get through. I can keep that magic with this story, I think, and so here we are.

I did not intend on this author note to go on this long, I'll probably shorten it. So, if it is THIS long to you now, imagine how long it was to start with!

One last thing, I use italics in quotation marks to show thought. "This is speech text." "This is thought."

Alrighty then, let's get this show on the road.


Location – Sinnoh Five Years Before Start of Journey.

Solaceon Town Primary School.

Felix sat at his uncomfortable desk with a frown of concentration.

He would fidget this way, or that way, but no matter what he couldn't get comfortable. There was an odd weight in the back of his head, and a knot of muscles in his neck. Rubbing his neck didn't help, and the one time leaning to one side helped, he fell out of his chair.

The muffled giggles and concerned eyes of Miss Sandy were not worth the brief reprieve from the strange feeling, so he endeavoured to endure it.

Six-year-olds were not known for their capacity for patience or temperance and he found himself feeling only weirder.

Miss Sandy had observed his twitchy movements for a few minutes now, seeing Felix squirm and look overall very uncomfortable. She was concerned but didn't want to call him out in front of the class and so taught on until she could safely pause.

"Okay everyone, pencils down." She smiled as everyone dropped their pencils, some kids so quickly they could be forgiven for thinking their pencils were seviper. "You've all been so good today, we'll have free time ten minutes early today!"

There was a cheerful exclaim of delight in this and the kids all vacated their seats with varying levels of swiftness. Many going for the back of the room, where the toys laid, others mobbing into groups to talk everything related to pokémon.

Felix stood too, smiling at the fact that he no longer had to write the letter F down repeatedly. Before he could dash off to get into some form of trouble, Miss Sandy swooped down on him.

"You are getting very good at your writing," she complimented, looking down at his work. Felix appeared to have gotten bored at one point and started writing F's in extra loopy and fancy ways. None were very near, but far more legible than it had once been.

"Thank you, Miss Sandy," Felix mumbled, staring down at his feet. She refrained from making any sort of embarrassing coo's. Felix had been bashful since he stepped foot in her class.

Lowering her volume slightly, so Felix would be the only one to hear, Miss Sandy said. "I noticed you seemed very uncomfortable in class a few minutes ago, is anything the matter?" She knew it was a delicate process to approach a child about any discomfort they may have. Often, they would either overblow the issue or downplay it, but most were embarrassed either way.

"I'm alright," Felix replied, beginning to fidget again. One hand was clenched in his pocket and Miss Sandy decided to trust him.

"Come to my desk, I have a hall pass for you," she said, still lowly, and led Felix away from the crowd. He gave her a puzzled expression at the statement but followed dutifully anyway.

"You may go to the restroom now," she said, giving her young student a soft smile. Felix began to go red and he made an embarrassed squeak, he was sure he didn't have to go.

Felix stared down at the hall pass for a second before deciding a ticket out of class was worth taking, and he'd even walk to the bathrooms anyway. He was sure that wasn't the problem but going outside seemed to be a terrific way to figure it out.

Miss Sandy watched him scuttle out with a smile, Felix was a good kid and she knew he wouldn't get into trouble with the hall pass. Turning her gaze back on the classroom, she mentally tracked those she had an inkling would get into mischief if given the opportunity.

(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)

Felix splashed some water on his face, enjoying the coolness of it against his skin. He continued flicking his fingers, sending droplets of water against his face, even as he left the restroom. The Solaceon Town Primary School was a relatively small one, and only had two sets of restrooms for the students, one for boys and one for girls.

There were rumours of a teacher's restroom, but anyone who knew anything knew that teachers didn't need to go to the restroom.

The water was nice, but it didn't help. Walking around helped a little, though, so Felix decided to wander for a bit. He enjoyed wandering, pacing, exploring the edges of the school, it gave him time to think, to imagine. There weren't many things he enjoyed more than just imagining epic stories and adventures all in his head, and walking helped that along.

Reasoning that he was given a hall pass, and free time meant freedom, Felix didn't walk back to class. Once this class was done, it was recess anyway, so he was confident to go for a walk.

Felix put his mind towards his most recent fantasy, him being the Super Trainer of Bismark. What Bismark was he wasn't sure, it just sounded cool.

"Bismark!" he shouted, doing an air kick. It was fun for a moment, but the trappings of lala land left him and Felix found himself unable to float back.

It was all very odd.

Felix rubbed the back of his neck as he walked on; the knot was only getting worse and his head was feeling extra funny. He thought he had heard some voices too, but looking around he only saw empty play area, empty benches, empty pavement leading to the classrooms that had people in them. The only other things around were a pair of starly, but one flew off.

"-rly rube."

"There it was again!" Felix thought, head darting back and forth, looking for the source of the voice. Still, there was just a starly.

"What?" Felix growled, suddenly feeling unusually irritated. Marching up to the tree the starly roosted in he pointed an accusing finger up at it. "Was it YOU who talked?"

He laughed and turned to march off when he heard the voice again. "Sta, arly ly, yes. I wasn't startar ly you though."

Felix froze before slowly turning back to look up to where the little bird pokémon was staring down at him. "What?"

"Star."

"What?"

"Ly."

"WHAT?"

"Star, star! Ly!" The starly ruffled its wings before taking off, a single feather drifting down to fall on Felix's nose.

He blinked and jerked back as the feather tickled him. Rubbing the itch off his nose, he grabbed the feather and looked it over.

"It's totally a normal starly feather," he said. "From a totally normal starly. That's it."

Thoroughly unnerved at the event of the, partially, speaking starly Felix decided to go back to class. On his way he thought about telling Miss Sandy. "She'd probably think I am nuts and have me locked up!"

Deciding that the reasonable authority figure was not the way to go, he considered further options. "What about Angie? Her family has the care place for pokémon, she always says she knows everything about pokémon, maybe she knows something about talking starly?"

It wouldn't be long until recess and he'd be able to ask her in private too. Pleased with this new plan, Felix marched forward, unconsciously pocketing the starly feather.

"-lp."

He resolutely ignored that.

"-elp."

Whistling, or at least trying to, a jaunty tune, Felix blocked out all things of this new, unfavourable reality.

"Help me."

Hearing voices was crazy right? Well Felix decided it was responding to the voices that made your crazy, for all he knew everyone heard voices.

"Please."

Curse bad fortune for putting him right where he was, Felix tried to remember if he had seen a honchkrow lately or not.

Felix wasn't one for swearing, Miss Norrie disallowed such things at home, but as he burst out running he was inwardly thinking up every swear word he could. He got as far as shit before stopping, fearful that Miss Norrie would know regardless. She always knew.

"Who needs help?" He asked aloud, but no one responded.

He couldn't not do something when someone said please, not in that tiny desperate way he had just heard. Felix wasn't sure where he was running, but the feeling in the back of his head was getting stronger and he was utterly terrified.

"Who's asking for help?" He thought, wondering if maybe since he was hearing it in his head, they would hear him if he thought it back. No response.

As he was already running towards, he hoped, the source of the words the thought of stopping was what terrified him, and he ran faster than his six-year-old legs had ever before. Up towards the back of the score, past the basketball courts, past the storeroom, up to and including the fence that was there to stop stray pokémon from getting in and damaging things.

The fence was what finally forced him to stop and Felix gasped for breath, feeling his heart pump rapidly in ways that were no way in relation to that bout of extreme running he had just done.

He was terrified, and he had no idea why. Thinking about why he was scared was a bad idea, as his mind immediately went to how disappointed Miss Sandy would be in him for running to the edge of school, then how disappointed Miss Norrie would be in him for doing so.

The sheer panic that gripped him then nearly caused him to run all the way back, he was already down the slope before he heard the voice again.

"help."

It was both louder, and weaker. He was close, but whoever was talking was losing strength.

"Are you there?"

Overpowering the fear of disappointing authority figures with the need to give all the help this voice was asking for, he ran back to the fence. He curled his fingers into the wire and began to walk, feeling the metal pull at his fingers but giving him something to grip when his mind ran away from him again.

Following the fence led him to one of the corners of the school. An area technically out of bounds as it was too far to be monitored. There was rubbish here, bits of graffiti one some rather smashed stone blocks.

Felix stepped cautiously, the feeling was so powerful here, his head buzzed but his neck had stopped feeling strange.

He kicked a can out of the way and suddenly, everything stopped.

Blinking mutely, Felix was nearly bowled over by the sudden withdrawal of the panic, the need to help, more of the panic, and was left almost confused. He remembered everything up to this point, but almost like it had happened to someone other than him.

Had he been older, he may have wondered what kind of creature would lead him so far out of the way, alone, and ran for it. As a child of six years, he was only more curious and continued on.

There wasn't far to go, and the land was relatively flat. Right at the end, there was a hole in the fence. It was too tiny for him to squeeze through, but the hole was not what captured his attention.

A bundle of old wire, too tangled to be useful to anything and dumped in this forgotten corner, had ensnared a pokémon.

It had blue fur all over it, besides its abdomen, back legs, mask-like feature on its face and two odd tassels that hung down each side of its head.

And two red eyes, narrowed in a glare the likes of which Felix had never seen.

"LU RI!" It shouted, fury emanating off it. Felix himself felt his emotions grow angry before he realised the pokémon was trapped.

Both its paws and one leg were fine, but the last foot was trapped tightly within the tangle of wire and it seemed unable to get out.

"Are you okay?" He asked, stepping forward, only for the pokémon to take a swipe at him. It was nowhere close to being in range, but the warning was there, and he heeded it.

"Do you need help?" Felix didn't step any closer, not did he back away. "I can go find my teacher, she'll know what to do." He turned to run back to class, only to be stricken with a level of fear so intense he staggered and fell to the ground, curling up in a foetal position before remembering himself.

"Ow," Felix moaned, he had scraped his arm on the ground. He pushed himself back to his feet and looked back at the pokémon, it was shivering, and its eyes were flicking between overwhelming anger and crippling terror.

The idea of leaving this thing, when it didn't know he was coming back, stumped Felix. "I'll be back," he tried, deducting that him leaving was what made it so scared. "But I'll be back, and I'll bring more people, people who will know what to do with you!" He smiled to cap it all off.

His smile froze and then shattered, the pokémon had begun to cry, tears collecting in its red eyes before spilling down. It was completely still now, the fear preventing even shakes.

"Hey, hey," he skittered forward, feeling absolutely terrible for the scared pokémon. "It's alright, you're gonna be, OW!"

Felix had stepped too close, too eager to prove that it would be fine, too hopeful that he could soothe the pokémon and it had swiped out, punching him in the stomach with the strength of a Fighting type pokémon and knocking him back with a cry of pain.

Felix coughed twice and nearly wretched. He was stunned silent for a moment, the hit hurt, yes, but the sheer fact he had been hit paused him. Once it all sunk in he wheezed and rolled over onto his front. "YOU'RE TERRIBLE!" He shouted back at the pokémon, not seeing it clearly with the angry, and hurt, tears clouding his eyes.

Felix ran off, trying to stem the sobs. He couldn't stand the thought of being hit, he was only six years old.

He collected himself before he reached the populated school yards, recess had started, and kids were eating their morning snack and playing around.

Felix rubbed his face, trying to hide the fact he had been crying, and ignored the offers to play from everyone. He avoided Angie, she would make him talk if she saw him, and just found a place to sit and wait out the rest of the day.

He didn't tell anyone about the pokémon he had found, he was too angry at it.

"I was just trying to help, and it attacked me for no reason!" He growled to himself, mood becoming steadily filthier. If Miss Sandy noticed, she didn't say anything, perhaps being too busy containing the terror trio from wreaking havoc during art class.

He painted things with dark reds, blacks, and other colours he thought were angry and once lunch came he stomped off to be alone again. Angie tried only once to talk to him, and once it was clear he was in a bad mood she did the wise thing and gave him some space.

As angry as Felix was, a part of him was feeling bad. That part was mostly his stomach, the pokémon hit him hard enough to bruise, but also his conscience.

The pokémon had been scared, and probably in a lot of pain. He knew how uncomfortable it could get when you were stuck, it still caused shivers just to think about the times Daisy, Liam and Sean trapped him under his covers. Not being able to get out, to move his legs as he had Daisy sitting on them.

Finding the school's outside clock, Felix learned he still had ten minutes of lunch time. There was no time to go and find anyone else, and he knew once class started no teacher would dare risk not be there on time. Resolute that he had to do this alone, he ran back to where the pokémon was trapped.

It was still there.

He knew that well before he saw it. Just approaching the hill left a sour feeling in his mouth and explained why no one was playing around anyone near here, only he seemed to know what it was though, and Felix pushed forwards.

He called out before he could see the pokémon, hoping to soothe it with the knowledge it was just him. "Hey, uh… pokémon. I'm back."

He stepped into view and was disappointed with the response. The pokémon seemed no happier to see him back, even began snarling again.

"It has very sharp teeth." He noted and stepped more gingerly.

"I've got about five minutes before class," he said, holding his hands out. His pokémon classes suggested to let the creatures see your hands. Letting them see you had nothing hiding was meant to put them at ease. "Was it the front or back of my hands?" He wondered and decided to flip one hand around, so it was both, just in case.

Happy that he had remembered how to make a pokémon relax around you, Felix stepped forwards with new confidence. "I think I can get you out of that, I'll just untangle you with my hands! Look, you can see both of them!" He smiled, showing perhaps ten-too-many teeth. The pokémon had stopped shivering, and Felix stepped right up to it again.

He stared down at it, hoping it'd just remain still and everything would be fine. Bending down for a better reach he said. "Okay, just stay still and I'll get you-"

The pokémon punched him. Again.

This time right into his chin, knocking his head back with a rather loud crack and sending him onto his back. He hit his head on the ground and falling onto the ground knocked the air out of his lungs.

"RI!" The pokémon snarled. "OLU," it continued. "NOW LEAVE!"

Felix didn't register that he had heard actual words that time, he simply picked himself up and ran away. His teeth hurt, having been rattled by the hit, his chin hurt, his head hurt, his feelings were hurt.

He didn't let himself cry again, tears welled up in his eyes, but Felix did not let any sobs spasm in his chest. He ran back to class, ducked himself in his corner spot and glued his eyes to the book.

The last words he let himself think about the pokémon were mean ones, cruel ones, ones best imagined by a child who had been attacked when they thought they were only trying to help.

"If it wants to stay there, it can stay there forever!"

Scratching a hole into his writing book, Felix decided he hated the pokémon and would leave it there without telling anyone about it.

(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)

Felix laid awake in his bed.

It was not fair, he decided, his stomach hurt, his chin hurt even more, and he couldn't even sleep because of that mean creature.

Miss Norrie had asked about his chin three seconds after stepping in the door, he pretended he didn't hear her. A mistake. She asked again, the note of warning in her voice that he hated to hear. Despite the overwhelming need to speak the truth, Felix had stuck true to his decision not to tell anyone about the pokémon and claimed he had knocked his chin when playing on the mankey bars at school.

Miss Norrie gave him that look, the one where she recognised the potential truth of the statement but wasn't sure but let him go on without any further interruptions.

Dinner had been a quiet affair. Daisy was as loud as always, Liam and Sean flicked peas at one another until Miss Norrie asked them to stop. Miss Norrie was their foster carer and had dealt with many children during her time as a foster carer, she knew how to break up fights and instil some discipline in the children.

She was a perfectly adequate carer, but she made it clear she was no one's mother. They treated her with respect, and if they behaved she would allow privileges in turn.

Despite Miss Norrie being the only carer Felix had known, he didn't see fit to tell her the truth of his chin, nor show her the bruise on his stomach. He had still been too upset.

Now, lying in bed and unable to sleep, he could think of nothing more than that pokémon.

"That mean, nasty, jerk of a pokémon," he mumbled into his pillow. Tossing and turning failed to find any comfortable position and Felix sighed, sitting up.

It wasn't just the pokémon, it was its eyes. It had been so scared. He didn't know why, Felix was sure he wasn't scary, but it had been.

It was stuck too. Badly. He had ignored it the second time, but Felix was pretty sure he had seen some blood around where the wires were trapping its foot.

He remembered how Miss Norrie would fuss over them if they got a scratch, putting the stinging solution on and telling them not to cry over the pain, that it had to be done or the cut would make them sick.

Felix didn't know much about it all, but Miss Norrie never fussed over much.

Feeling guiltier he dangled his legs over the edge of his bed and stood up. He creeped out the room and into the hallway, where he had to be even more silent. He was the eldest, and so was lucky enough to have his own room, but the floor was creaky, and the other kids would wake up at the slightest noise.

Felix creeped his way to the kitchen, hoping to find Miss Norrie still awake. To no avail. She wasn't in the lounge room either. She must be in bed.

Biting his lip, Felix considered his options. "I could wake Miss Norrie up…" that idea held ramifications. You were not to wake Miss Norrie up for anything below an emergency. He had woken her up during a storm when he thought the house was going to fall down, which had been a considerably large mistake.

His other option was to go back to bed.

He looked back to his room with a mournful expression, sleep was not going to come tonight, and he was already up, it felt like he had already slept and going back to bed would just be uncomfortable.

"What if I…" Felix walked back to the kitchen and looked in the cupboards. It only took three tries and balancing on his toes before he found the scissors. They were strong ones, larger than his hand but very sharp. Miss Norrie used them to cut pieces of wire she made into coat hangers, and other objects, and Felix was sure they would be capable of cutting other wire.

The last thing to gather was a flashlight, one that was low on batteries and so old it barely lit up two meters in front of him. But it was the best he had.

Pulling his shoes on, Felix remained in his pyjamas. It was night, he was sure no one would see him.

His heart pounded as he ran back to school. He had never been to the school when school wasn't on, and the place was creepy in the dark. The whole town was creepy in the dark, mutterings and whispers were heard all over.

He comforted himself with the thought that they were all in his head, just like the voice of the pokémon he was going back to save.

Trying not to think of that Felix blindly groped his way to where the pokémon lay trapped. He was shivering, it was often cold in Sinnoh and while his pyjamas were good, they weren't good enough for the outside at night.

He was just happy, for the first time in his life, that Miss Norrie lived close to the school. It had taken him a mere ten minutes to run there and another five to make his way to the back of the school.

"Hey?" He whispered. He wasn't sure why, it just seemed appropriate to whisper during the night, even if no one else was around to hear you.

"Ri…" he heard a weak whimper return his call. "Ri ol lu come back?"

The torch illuminated, as best it could, the sorry state the pokémon was in. Its fur was matted, it was skinny, its eyes were bloodshot and actual blood had dried all along the wire, yet fresh blood still oozed as the pokémon desperately dragged itself forward. It wasn't in the literal corner of the school anymore, it had almost reached the hill now, having dragged itself by its arms, pulling the entire spool of tangled wire along.

"I'm here to help," he explained, lowering himself to his knees, and then further onto his behind, staring much more equally into the pokémon's eyes. "Please let me help."

The pokémon stared at him in silence for a painfully long moment. The rage in its eyes had burnt out, it had no tears left to cry, there was just a deep sorrow along with the dimly flickering embers of defiance. The pokémon had nearly given up.

"Okay," it said, and Felix smiled. With much less terror in its voice Felix could hear a feminine tone to her voice.

"You won't hit me again?" He had to be sure.

"No."

He came forward slowly, carefully, just in case she changed her mind. He was sure of that, that this pokémon was a girl, he didn't notice it before, but her words were making sense and it kind of reminded him of Angie.

He brought the scissors up and the pokémon cringed, closing its eyes. Felix was as careful as he could be. With the dexterity of a six-year-old that wasn't perfect, but he managed to snip some wires.

It was difficult, even though the wires were old, and the scissors were strong, he was not used to using his muscles like this. Slowly, but surely, he began to make headway, breaking through the tangle.

He got down to the last bits of wire, looking around for somewhere he could cut. The pokémon had struggled so much the wire had cut deep into her flesh and with the dim light and dark area he could barely see where the wire began. He felt the pokémon shiver besides him and felt a bead of fear slip into his gut as well.

Moving faster he pushed the pokémon slightly, unmindful of actually touching it, and manoeuvred her until he found something he could cut.

Five snips later and he was able to pull her free. The pokémon hissed in pain as the wire was pulled out of the wound in her leg, taking dried blood and opening it up to bleed again.

Felix smiled at it but the pokémon did not smile back. She shoved him, softly, but enough to cause him to lose his balance and ran off.

Or at least, tried to.

Whimpering in pain, the pokémon fell several times, before trying to drag itself off. Felix picked himself up, not bothered by the weak assault, and walked over to the pokémon.

"Hey," he started and the pokémon moaned. "I can take you to my house, it's close by and I can give you some dis… disfectant. Dissifectant. Um, medicine for your leg so you'll get better."

The pokémon stopped trying to drag itself off and looked back at him, distrust evident in its eyes even to him. "Why?"

"You're hurt," he replied, unbothered with the thought of talking too a pokémon. There would be time for that later, and he was still half-convinced he was just hearing voices.

"I…" the pokémon hesitated before a distant sound caused her to freeze up, Felix barely registered it but whatever happened seemed to make up her mind. "A-alright. Lead the way."

Felix grinned broadly and began to march, but he quickly found that the pokémon couldn't keep up with him. It was too cold to walk slowly, so he thought of a better solution.

He picked her up.

"Unhand me iolu!" She snarled, Felix failing to understand the last word. For the best, that was.

"We're going to my house anyway," he argued back. "And it'd be so much faster, and warmer, if I just carried you. You're real light anyway." He grinned again and the pokémon seemed to wilt.

"Have it your way then," she muttered, shivering as another howl echoed through the night.


Awe, wasn't that the cutest first meeting ever?

It had blood, pain, assault and crippling terror!

That is what cute is, right?

Anyway, the next chapter will lead on from this in a way. It's the closest thing I have planned to linear storytelling here, as I think it is important to still set up the two characters we'll be seeing the most of throughout this collection of stories.