Hello, this is my first Pokémon fic on here, so please be kind! this story features OC Poppy Smith and her Dratini, mainly. There will be many other OC's, but also many characters from the anime. Will be written in order, but I'm only going to write the parts I consider exciting enough to publish. Feedback is greatly appreciated, and if you have any OC's you'd like featured in this, please let me know!

Poppy Smith, a fourteen year old girl with wine-colored hair, sat by the edge of a pond, clearly deep in thought. Her feet dangled into the pond, as she kicked gently at the water, and watched her Pokémon best friend, Dratini, splash and play about in the pond. With a sigh, she hung her head, and shoved her free hair behind her ears. Sensing that its trainer was upset in some sort of way, Dratini swam over and nuzzled Poppy's legs. For a moment, she seemed to cheer up, seeing that she smiled and gave the Pokémon a pat on the head. Dratini slithered out of the water and curled up next to her, resting its head in her lap.

"You look like something's bothering you," came a voice from behind her. It was her older brother, Pokémon researcher and former Johto League Champion, Mitchell Smith. "What's on your mind?"

Turning to her brother while clutching Chinchou to her chest, and opened her mouth to say something, but she didn't. Mitchell took a breath and took a seat in the grass next to his younger sister. They shared the same wine-colored hair, though his was neatly tied in a small ponytail, while hers was wild. Though they looked similar, that was all that was similar between the two siblings. He was confident, strong but silent, and wise beyond his years. She was shy, not at all confident, and didn't know of her own wisdom. In fact, that was her foible - she lacked any confidence whatsoever, even if she had plenty to have confidence in.

"C'mon, Poppy, I'm your big brother," Mitchell said. "I know when there's something on your mind."

For a minute, there was silence. Poppy stared straight ahead, at the view off the mountain they all lived on. She looked over the beautiful Johto forests that seemed to stretch forever on the ground off of the mountains, and wondered what lay beyond them. She'd rarely been off of the mountain. Of course, she'd been into Rowan Town, which lay in the valley on the south side of the mountain, but that was it. She always wished to see the rest of Johto, like her brother did, when he went on his Pokémon journey.

Finally, she just blurted it out, and bursted, "I want to go on a Pokémon journey, like you did."

"That's great!" Mitchell exclaimed, giving his little sister a quick hug. Looking down at her, he asked, "So, when are you gonna go?"

Again, Poppy hesitated, chewing her bottom lip as she hugged Dratini in her lap.

After what seemed like an eternity to Mitchell, Poppy finally responded, "I don't know if I'm going to go."

"What do you mean?!" inquired Mitchell, looking completely shocked. "Why wouldn't you go? It'd be great! You'd be great!"

"But I'm not you," Poppy mumbled. She was just barely able to look at her brother through the corner of her eye. "Dratini and I aren't like you and Muk. Sure, Dratini's an amazing Pokémon, but I don't think I have it in me to be a great trainer like you, Mitchell. I don't think I can do it."

"Don't say that!" Mitchell told her. He even leapt to his feet, because he felt so strongly that his sister could do it. "You're great with Pokémon. You and Dratini are as close as a trainer and a Pokémon could be, and that just goes to prove my point about how great you are with Pokémon. Besides, if you never go on a Pokémon journey, then you'll never know what kind of trainer you are. And if you never go, you'll always wonder what it would have been like, and you'll regret it. I don't want you to have to regret anything, Poppy."

"You really think that?" Poppy asked, wide-eyed.

"Yes, of course," Mitchell assured her. Laying a hand on her shoulder, he added, "I believe in you, 100%, Poppy. And I think you should go on that Pokémon journey of yours."

With a strange and sudden burst of confidence, Poppy leapt to her feet, still clutching Dratini, and exclaimed, "You're right! I should go on a Pokémon journey!"

"Yes, you should!" Mitchell encouraged her. "And now that you've said it, it's settled. You're going the day after tomorrow. That's that."

"What?" Poppy asked, suddenly crashing down to reality. She wanted to go, but in two days? Maybe not so soon.

"It's now or never," Mitchell said. "Knowing you, you'd change your mind in two days, unless you actually left for your Pokémon journey. I can't let you change your mind, so you're going to go."

"But...who'll help you with the lab?" Poppy questioned. Mitchell happened to run one of the most prominent research labs in all of Johto, and Poppy was his dedicated and dutiful assistant. Showing her worry, she continued with a string of questions. "Who'll feed all the Pokémon? Who'll make sure that Cubone's bone gets polished? And who'll recharge all the Magnemite and Magneton when they're running low on electricity? Who'll see to it that Onix and Steelix get polished every week? Who'll brush all the Mareep and give that one Butterfree its special fruit diet? What about making sure that the Gloom get perfect amounts of sunlight and water? And counting all the Shellder and Cloyster? What about making sure Alakazam has good spoons?"

Again, Mitchell set his hand on Poppy's shoulder, attempting to shake some sense into her, as he said, "There are always a million reasons not to do something, Poppy. You shouldn't worry about the Pokémon and me, we'll be fine. I know I can take care of them on my own until you return. You need to do this. You need to go on this Pokémon journey."

"Mm," Poppy nodded. She was just starting to realize how right her brother was. She knew she needed to go, but now she really knew. "I do. And I will. I'll go."

Send in your OC's via PM or review! Here's the form!

Name:

Age:

Gender:

Hometown:

Looks/Clothing:

Personality:

Trainer, Coordinator, Regular Citizen, Researcher, or other profession? (If Trainer/Coordinator, how many badges/ribbons does he/she have?)

Pokémon: (up to 6, order by preference, please)

That's it! Thanks so much for reading and supporting!