Note: Hiya Everyone! I'm very excited to launch this story, but before I start, just a little warning that this story is rated T for minor swearing. That's all! Just teenagers being teenagers, so nothing other than a few minor swear words. With that being said, enjoy the story!
'Bring bring, phone call phone call. Bring bring, phone call phone call.'
"Chris! Get out of that bed and answer the phone!" a voice yelled from the downstairs of the house.
"Ughhhhh" another muffled voice responded from under a pile of blankets. A young girl at the age of 16 laid in the bed with the pillow covering her face. Her name is Chris, and she is starting her pokemon journey today. If she gets out of bed that is.
'Bring bring, phone call phone call.'
"Ugh! I'm coming!" Chris groaned, throwing the pillow across the room at the video phone. Dragging herself across the room to the desk, she tripped over one of the many hoodies that littered the floor.
"Gah! Damn it!" Chris exclaimed while picking herself and the hoodie off the carpeted floor.
"I heard that!" the same voice from earlier yelled.
"Sorry, mom!" Chris retorted, sliding the old hoodie over her head, sighing in relief as the warmth encased her again, even if it wasn't her bed, she welcomed it.
'Bring bring, phone call phone call.'
"Oh for the love of Arceus, I'm coming!" Chris muttered under her breath angrily, to avoid getting caught by her mother. She shuffled to the video phone and clicked accept on the call. The screen flickered to life, showing a boy around the age of 15, with dark brown hair and eyes and freckles that dotted around his nose, grinning at the camera.
"Heya Chrissy! You look like you just rolled out of bed!" a scratchy voice said through the monitor's speakers.
"Ugh! It's too early to deal with your shit, Isaac!" Chris said irritably, rubbing her eyes with the backs of her hands. "Also, stop calling me Chrissy! I freaking hate that stupid nickname!" she said glaring at the boy on screen, who was laughing rather loudly.
"You kiss your mother with that mouth, Chrissy?" Isaac retorted while letting out another series of laughs. Chris glared even more at the screen, crossing her arms over her chest. If looks could kill, Isaac would be six feet under.
"Oh har har. Do I need to hang up? Or are you gonna pull your head out of your ass anytime soon?" She said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Alright, alright! I'm done." Isaac said letting out the last of his laughs, gasping for breath with a mocking grin plastered on his face. "Aren't you excited though? You're finally getting your first pokemon today! I figured you'd be bouncing off the walls like a sugar rush by now. What gives?" Isaac asked, this time his voice laced with hints of confusion.
"You try being woken up by a damn machine. Besides, I'm still pissed that my parents wouldn't let me start my journey like everyone else," she stated. It was true. Chris's parents didn't want her to start her Pokemon journey at 15. Something about, 'no responsibility'. Chris let out a scoff at the thought. No one wanted to be friends with the teenager in town with no pokemon. She at one point tried to convince people that her dad's Charizard, Fireball, was her starter she got from Kanto, but no one bought it. Same story with her mom's Flareon, Guss. No one bought that either due to the pokemon being rather famous because of her mom being a coordinator instead of a trainer like her dad or her brother, Donnie. Donnie is older by two years and is off collecting gym badges somewhere in the world. Chris let out a sigh at the thought of her older brother. She hasn't seen him in years. On the day he started his journey, he went to see the professor, claimed he already had a starter pokemon, then got on the first plane to Kanto. She hasn't seen him since. She and he had always been close when they were younger. They always snuck out at night into the woods to search for wild pokemon and eat the berries they found. She'll always remember the time he tricked her into eating a spicy tamato berry. She smiled sadly at the fond memory.
"Hello?! Earth to Chris! You still with us?" Isaac's voice yelled, snapping Chris from her thoughts, and stared blankly at the screen in front of her.
"W-what?" Chris stammered, confused.
"Ya spaced out for like, five minutes there. I seriously thought a Gengar came and took your spirit away." He said looking at the poke-etch strapped onto his wrist, with a grin. Chris couldn't help but let a small smile creep onto her face as well. In the 12 years she knew him, his sarcasm and snarky remarks always made her feel better.
"So," Chris said with a smile still on her face. "You're getting a pokemon today too, right?" She asked, remembering their previous conversation on her getting a pokemon.
"Yeah!" he said excitedly, his eyes lighting up at the topic. "I just don't know who to pick! A Turtwig would be smart, but Piplup is really cute. Chimchar is really cool though. It's going to be the hardest decision of my life!" he exclaimed running his hands through his wild, unkempt brown hair. Chris chuckled at how stressed he looked, even though she was in the same boat. She had no clue who to pick.
"Your starters are different in Alola from Sinnoh starters, right?" he said seemingly calmed down some.
"Yeah" she replied, picking up a pokemon magazine given to the new trainers to help them pack their things, and pick their Pokemon partners. "The starters I have to choose from are Litten, the fire type, Popplio, the water type, and Rowlet, the grass type." Chris said, showing him a picture of the three pokemon in the magazine.
"Wow! They're all so cute! Who are ya gonna pick?" he replied looking very interested in her choice. Chris sighed irritably before looking back at the pokemon in the magazine.
"I don't know. I always wanted a Turtwig, but that hope went to shit when my family moved here last year." she angrily. Chris was still pissed at her parents for the random region move. Something about her mom wanting, 'a change of scenery'. They'd taken her from her only friend, and her future starter, as they wouldn't pay to have a Turtwig shipped to Alola for her.
"I know, me too. I hated that you moved away. We were gonna travel together when we finally got our pokemon. It was going to be so cool." Isaac said looking down at his feet, off-screen. He then looked up, smiling again. "But hey, at least we stayed in touch." he said smiling guenully. Chris gave a small smiled back. She turned and glanced at the time on her poketch that was charging. It read 9:46 a.m. She turned back to the screen.
"Hey, I gotta go. I have to meet the professor at 11 and I have to get ready and finish packing up my stuff." she said to the boy on screen, who smiled even brighter.
"Alright! Be sure to tell me who ya pick! See ya later, Chrissy!" Isaac yelled through the speakers, before quickly hanging up the call to avoid facing Chris's wrath for using her hated nickname. Chris glared at the screen, despite it just being her screen saver.
"I'm gonna kill him someday." she muttered, standing up from her desk chair and stretching out her back. Walking over to her dresser, she opened the top drawer and pulled out a white long sleeve shirt, along with a short sleeve red one with a Pokeball design on it. Taking off the baggy hoodie she was currently wearing, along with her undershirt, she pulled on the white long sleeve while also putting on the red shirt overtop of it. She opened another drawer and pulled out a dark pair of jeans, and quickly put them on. Shuffling over to her bed, she sat down on the mattress and slid on her black and white trainers. Grabbing a light blue backpack from the floor, she began stuffing clothes and supplies, along with the trainer's magazine guide in her bag before zipping it up. Passing her desk, she grabbed her charging poke-tch and strapped it to her wrist. Glancing around the room, she nodded in satisfaction that she had everything she needed, and walked out of her room. Strolling into the kitchen where her mom was cooking on the stove.
"Morning mom." Chris greeted in a monotone voice while walking over to her mother's Flareon, Guss, and began petting him behind his ears. Her mother looked up in surprise at her daughter before glancing at the clock.
"You're still here Christina? You're supposed to meet the professor at 10!" Chris's mother shrieked at her oblivious daughter. Chris stared at her mother in shock.
"What! I thought I was supposed to meet him at 11!?" She yelled, running to a basket of berries that sat on the table, and stuffed a few into her bag, before throwing it on her shoulder. "I gotta go bye mom!" Chris yelled quickly to her mom while dashing out the door. Her mother stood frozen in the kitchen, staring at the door in shock.
"Flare?" Guess piped up, snapping his trainer out of her state of shock. She smiled down at her partner.
"This is why I made her wait. She is so not responsible." She said with a chuckle, turning back to her cooking.
Chris ran frantically along the path that took her to Heahea city. She glanced at the poketch on her wrist and cursed.
10:13a.m. She was late.
Shit...
Running along route 4, Chris let the world pass her by. She had to meet the professor at the dimensional research lab to get her starter along with two other trainers. She couldn't remember their names at the moment. Kylie and Tyler was it? Maybe they were siblings.
"Riol!"
Chris was torn from her jumbled thoughts and quickly skidded to a halt at the distress call. She looked all around the path that was enclosed by trees.
"Riolu ri ri!" the same voice yelled. Chris whipped her head in the direction of the call, instantly dashing towards it off the path. Running through the thick trees and brush, shielding her face from the low branches that could cut her. A shadow ball attack hit right at her feet, causing her to lose her footing and fall into the forest grass. Chris looked for the source of the attack and found a large panther pokemon with sleek light purple fur and a blue gem on its forehead. Chris recognized the cat pokemon as a Persian in it's alolan form. Chris stared at the panther pokemon with her mouth hung open in shock. The Persian was advancing towards her and she had no pokemon to battle with. Suddenly, a blue and black blur rammed into the purple cat, knocking it to the left.
The move was so quick, Chris wasn't sure what happened at first. She whipped her head to the left to see a small blue and black jackal-like creature with tendrils hanging from the side of its head. It was in a fighting stance, snarling at the Persian, that quickly got back to its feet and was snarling back at the small pokemon. Chris slid her bag off her shoulder and rummaged through it, pulling out the pokemon magazine. Opening it to a page that showed pokemon from Poni island, she found a picture of the small pokemon on the page, labeled as a Riolu. Riolus only stayed on Poni island. What was one doing all the way on Akala island?
Chris was torn from her thoughts when the Persian formed another shadow ball attack. The riolu was quicker and began to glow a light blue, with the tendrils on the sides of its head raised to a parallel position. The riolu began forming a shadow ball. Chris watched in amazement as the Persian jumped into the air and used its claws to cut the ghostly energy in half, both halves flying past it and crashing into the ground. Before the riolu could move again, the panther pokemon raced forward at an amazing speed and slashed at the riolu with its claws. The small jackal-like pokemon flew back and rammed into the back of a tree. It's small arm reached up to grip its injured left shoulder. A small cry of pain escaping from its lips as it looked up fearfully at the purple cat advancing towards it. The Persian bent down and tensed its muscles, a sign it was about to pounce. The riolu struggled to stand, and collapsed back on the ground, shaking in fear. Chris watching the scene hesitantly, then made a decision in her head. Picking up a fallen branch nearby, she got to her feet and raced to the Riolu's aid. Before the Persian attack hit the Riolu, Chris jumped in front of it and held the large tree branch with both hands in front of her. The Persian's claws sliced through the dead wood, causing it to clatter to the forest floor. The Persian stood back tin shock, while the Riolu stared at the human in front of it with wide eyes.
"Stop fighting! You've already won the battle. It can't fight anymore so just leave it alone!" Chris yelled at the Persian, overcome with fury at the panther pokemon. The purple pokemon snapped out of its state of shock and began snarling at the human girl in the way of it's hunt. It's claws growing with a slash attack, it charged at an unarmed Chris. With no weapon or pokemon, and too slow to doge, Chris brought her arms up to block her face. The slash attack piercing her forearms and shredding her long sleeves. Chris flinched at the slight pain, but was otherwise just fine. Before the cat pokemon could move away from her, Chris grabbed a half of the recently cut branch and swung as hard as she could at the panther's head. Upon being hit, the Persian was thrown to the side. It quickly stood to its feet, snarled once more are the pair, and scampered away into the brush.
Chris watched the Persian dart away and out of sight. She let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding, and turned to face the injured Riolu. The small pokemon was stilled cradling its injured arm close to its body. The Riolu stared wide eyed at the girl that stood in front of it. Chris knelt down to examine the Riolu's wounds. Unsure of what the girl was doing, the Riolu pulled back its lips and let out a small snarl at her. Chris leaned back and put her hands up in a surender motion.
"Its okay. I just need to looks at your wounds." she said calmly. The Riolu let the snarl fade and eyed the girl again. "Can I heal your wounds, please?" Chris asked in a comforting voice, holding out her hand to the small jackal. The Riolu looked at her hand, then back at her. Feeling more at ease, it put it's injured arm in her hand. Chris smiled at the pokemon, happy that it trusts her to help. She looked down at the tiny arm, seeing three claw marks running across the arm. The marks were not deep enough to draw blood, but deep enough to cause discomfort and pain. The Riolu flinched when she gently ran her fingers over the claw marks. She gave the small pokemon a sympathetic look, before releasing the small arm and sliding off her backpack.
"You got yourself quite the cut there, little buddy. I think I packed some bandages and medicine in here last night." she said as she rummaged through her bag. The Riolu watched in fascination as she pulled out a roll of bandages and a medical cream. Chris gently took the Riolu's arm in her hand again and opened the antiseptic cream. She softly rubbed in the cream on the three cuts on its arm. The Riolu hissed with clenched teeth at the harsh sting, but it soon faded. Chris grabbed the bandages and began tightly wrapping the cits in gauze.
"There ya go! All good!" Chris exclaimed happily, putting the extra bandages backs in her bag. The small pokemon sniffed the bandages wrapped around it's arm, then looked up at Chris with a wide, toothy smile.
"Ri riolu!" it exclaimed happily, standing up and bounding over to Chris in interest.
"You're welcome." she said laughing. "By the way, my names Chris." she said pointing to herself. "Riolu lu ri." The small pokemon answered back enthusiastically. Suddenly a low grumbling noise sounded in the clearing. Chris's smile turned into a shocked look as she watched at the small jackal clutch its stomach.
"If you're hungry, I have some berries in my bag." Chris said, once more digging into her backpack. She pulled out a few varieties of berries for the Riolu to choose from. "Alright! So I've got some oran berries, petcha berries, sitrus berries, and a few tamato berries. Pick out as many as you want." She said to the small pokemon with a smile. The Riolu excitedly grabbed a sitrus berry and began hurriedly gobbling it down, throwing the stem onto the grassy forest floor.
"Woah! I guess you really were hungry. It looks like sitrus berries are your favorite, huh?" Chris said with a chuckle, while the Riolu quickly grabbed another berry, eating it slower than the first. The Riolu looked up at Chris with a smile on its face, while chewing on the bitter-sweet berry.
"So, Riolu. Do you live in this forest? I really thought your kind stayed on Poni Island?" Chris asked curiously, while raising an eyebrow at the small blue and black pokemon.
"Ri?" Riolu said, tilting its head to the side and swallowing the last bit of the berry left in its mouth. "Ri riolu riol ri." it answered, looking down at its paws that sat in its lap. Chris shifted slightly at the Riolu's change of mood from happy to sad so quickly.
"Man, it's times like this that I wish I could understand pokemon speech." she said with a half-hearted chuckel, while still looking down at the jackal. The Riolu looked up to meet her gaze and tilted its head. Suddenly a broad smile spread across its face and quickly bounded up, thoroughly surprising Chris. The small pokemon dashed off in the opposite direction of the path.
"Hey! Where are you going?!" Chris yelled, turning her head to follow the Riolu as it ran. Quickly throwing her bag over her shoulder, she pushed herself up with her arms, wincing at the strain caused by her injured forearms, and ran after the Riolu. Shrubbery from passing trees and bushes hit against her face and shins as she ran after the hard to see pokemon. Suddenly, the Riolu fell from sight, and before Chris could stop herself, she started rolling down a steep hill, finally landing in a shallow lake.
"Ugh, what the hell? Where am I?" she groaned, pushing herself into a sitting position, in the shallow water. She looked around the the small clearing that the lake was in. There were a bountiful supply of berry bushes, that bird pokemon were happily snacking on. There was a small waterfall that splashed into the lake while water pokemon swam without a care in the world. Chris stared in awe at all the beautiful pokemon in the clearing, when a splash of water hit her in the face. Shaking her head to clear off the water, she looked in the direction the water came from, to see a smirking Riolu with dripping wet paws.
"Oh? So that's how it's gonna be, huh?" Chris said standing up in the water, with a playful smirk plastered on her face. Cupping her hands together, she scooped water into her hands and flung it at the water soaked Riolu. The small jackal dodged the water as its paw started to glow and slammed it into the water, creating a large splash. Chris fell over from the force of the water and landed on her back. The Riolu yelped and ran over to the fallen human, helping her sit up. Chris looked at the Riolu, then threw her head back and laughed, while the small pokemon snickered.
"Oh man! I think I've had enough water for today." she exclaimed while standing up. As she walked through the water to the shore, she wrung out her shirt, as the Riolu followed close behind. Chris dropped down onto the soft grass, letting out a small grunt when the Riolu jumped onto her lap and sat down. She shifted into a more comfortable position and smiled down at the small blue and black pokemon. Bringing her hand up to the Riolu's head, she pet between its ears. The small jackal let out a yip of contentment, closing its eyes.
"So, Riolu. Do you have a name I could call you?" Chris asked curiously. "I don't want to just call you Riolu." she added at the pokemons confused look. The Riolu shook its head, indicating it had no name. Chris scrunched her eyebrows in thought, then perked up. "Well then, how about I give you a name!" Chris exclaimed, smiling wide at the shocked pokemon in her lap. The Riolu broke into a large smile and let out excited yips of agreement.
"Alright then! Let me think." Chris hummed, tapping her chin in thought. "Hmm. How about, Small Fry?" she asked with a chuckle. The Riolu shook its head with an amused grin on his muzzle. "Aww damn. This is gonna be harder than I thought. Let's see. You're a boy Riolu, right?" Chris asked with a questioning look. The small pokemon laughed as it shook its head yes, saying HE was indeed a boy.
"Okay then. How about, Cobalt?" Chris asked with with an eyebrow raised at the pokemon. The riolu thought for a moment, then looked up and smiled at the name. Chris perked up at the motion. "So you like Cobalt, huh? Well then, that's your new name!" Chris said rubbing Cobalt's head, as he yipped in response. Chris fell on her back laughing, causing Cobalt to fall onto her stomach, also laughing. Both trainer and pokemon calmed down and just lied on their backs, watching the soft clouds drift across the bright blue Alolan sky. Bird pokemon chirped around them happily munching on the sweet berry bushes.
"Ya know Cobalt, my great great grandfather had a Lucario as his partner when he challenged the Sinnoh League." Chris said, breaking the comfortable silence. Cobalt looked as her with interest swimming in his ruby eyes. "They were so close to becoming the champion, but they just couldn't take down the current champ." she continued with a downcast smile. "He was the first person in our family to even come close to being champion." Chris brightened up, while cobalt remained quite, contently listening to her story. "He's my hero. I want to be just like him. It's my dream to be the first in my family to become champion." Chris said with determination burning in her eyes. Cobalt smiled at the sky, enjoying the story and listening to young girl talk about her dream.
"I just can't wait to start my journey! I'm even getting my first pokemon today- son of a bitch!" Chris yelled, springing up, causing Cobalt to yelp in surprise and fall into the soft grass. "I'm supposed to get my first pokemon today! I'm late!" she yelled stuffing everything in her bag, taking a quick glance at the time on her poke-etch. It read 11:42a.m. Chris swore again, picking up her pace. Throwing her bag over her shoulder, she got up and dashed in the direction of the path.
"See ya around Cobalt! Take care of yourself!" she shouted over her shoulder, running up the hill she fell down earlier. Cobalt watched as she disappeared from sight. Cobalt looked around the clearing, it feeling empty despite being filled with wild pokemon. Cobalt replayed the things Chris had said in his head, looking in the direction she ran. Thinking it over, he ran off after Chris, leaving the clearing behind.
So what'd you guys think? Bad? Good? In the middle? I hope it's the latter. Be sure to leave a review! Constructive criticism is greatly encouraged and appreciated. And let me know if I made any mistakes. I am and amatur author after all.
Thanks for reading!