Chapter One

Slowly, Amber Sky rose from a deep sleep. She had no idea how long she'd been out for, but judging by the harshness of the sunlight shining through her flickering eyelids, it must have been a while. She lay in silence for a moment. Getting out of bed was always the hardest part of the day.

As each of her senses began to wake up, she started to realise that something wasn't quite right. No, a lot of things weren't quite right. For starters, she certainly wasn't in her bed, and the ground beneath her was oddly cold and damp. Her clothes felt all wrong too, far tighter than her usual night-wear.

She tried to convince herself that she was in some weird dream. Everything would surely go back to normal if she just stayed there and let herself drift back into consciousness. As she tried to close her eyes tighter, however, she noticed something else.

The sound of waves.

Amber bolted upright, opened her eyes wide and gasped as she realised her surroundings.

She wasn't in her room. Hell, she wasn't even in her house. Above her was a clear blue sky and intense sunlight. She looked down to find that the cold, damp substance she had been lying on was a soft, golden sand.

Where… am I?

It was pretty obvious that Amber was on a beach, but it certainly wasn't like any beach near her home. The only place similar in Unova that she was aware of was the Desert Resort, but nearby cities were always in view there. She turned her head and stared out into every direction, but there was nothing. Just the sand stretching out in front of her and an endless ocean behind her.

She stood up and tried her best to recall how she had gotten there, but ended up with nothing but a mild headache. The last thing she could remember clearly was eating dinner with her mother and sister, but she couldn't even tell how long ago that had been. Everything afterwards was a total blur.

Where were they now? Still at home, she hoped, although the idea of them waking up and finding her missing wasn't exactly a pleasant thought. They'd probably end up call the police, but how were they meant to find her when she herself had no idea where she was.

She pulled herself to her feet and examined herself. She was wearing a sleeveless, orange jacket, a pair of old jeans and worn out trainers – the same clothes she had worn on her journey a few months ago. She was glad that her clothes were at least familiar, although she had no idea what had convinced her to put them back on after all this time. Well, at least she hoped that she'd put them on herself.

She took a quick glance at her belt and saw that she had a single pokéball on her. She unclipped it and could immediately tell from the scratches who was in it. Emolga.

She breathed a sigh of relief. At least she wasn't totally alone, and the electric squirrel was as good a friend as any to get totally lost with. She contemplated letting it out for a moment, but decided not to and clipped the ball back onto her belt. Who knew how dangerous the area was? It was a beach, after all – it wouldn't be totally surprising to find some rock types lurking about.

As she took another look at her surroundings, something on her left wrist caught the corner of her eye. She brought her arm up to her face and found that she was wearing some strange kind of digital watch. The screen was blank. Amber tapped it furiously, trying to get some kind of response, but it remained completely dead.

Must be out of batteries or something…

She stood still for a moment and assessed the situation. She was alone, on a strange beach she'd never seen before, wearing clothes she hadn't worn in months. The only sound she could hear was the crashing of the ocean and there didn't seem to be anything in front of her but miles and miles of sand.

It seemed that the only appropriate action was to break down into tears, but that wouldn't help the situation at all. Instead, Amber took a deep breath and thought things through carefully. If she wanted to find a way home, she had to first find a way to survive long enough to put together a plan. That meant that her first objective should be finding some food.

She took one last look at the ocean and tried to see if she could recognise anything in the distance, but found nothing. She ran a frustrated hand through her short, red hair, then turned and started walking in the other direction.

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After walking for a good twenty minutes, Amber realised that she was almost at the end of the beach and some buildings were finally coming into view. It was about time too, as the trek had left her completely exhausted. Apparently sitting around the house doing nothing for months on end wasn't the healthiest of lifestyles.

What she hadn't seen on her walk was any signs of life, which was odd considering it was such a nice day. Why didn't anyone want to spend some time on the beach?

She stopped in front of a small shop that sat between the beach and what looked like a small city. She could now see a lighthouse and some other tall buildings not too far from her, but she decided to try the shop first.

There was an old, faded sign stuck firmly in the sand that read Seashore House along with a short list of food and drink items that were apparently for sale. Unfortunately, however, the shop was almost definitely shut. The windows were all boarded up and there was no noise coming from inside.

Still, it was worth a try, and Amber placed her hand against the rotting door and gently pushed against it. To her surprise, it swung open and the path in front of her was lit up by the sun.

As she hesitantly stepped inside, it became clear to her that someone else had been there recently. Even in the dim light, she could tell that the tables and chairs that were lined up against the walls were in almost perfect condition, and the air was filled with the smell of food.

At the very back of the room was a small fridge. Amber slowly opened it, releasing more light into the shop. She gasped, surprised to discover that the fridge was filled with food. She grabbed a cheese sandwich from a plate on the top shelf and examined it carefully. She hadn't realised just how hungry she was until now. The food smelled fresh, and there didn't seem to be anything too suspicious about it. Still, it was impossible to tell. After everything that had happened already, poisoned sandwiches would hardly be surprising.

Even so, it didn't seem likely that someone would take all the effort of dumping her on a beach only to kill her with poison twenty minutes later. Besides, if she didn't eat at some point she was going to die of starvation anyway, so what difference did it make?

As she tore into the sandwich, she examined the other contents of the fridge. It seemed to be mostly filled with assorted rolls and sandwiches, each of them made-up with various vegetables, jams and cheeses. There were also a couple of cartons of milk and some tubs of yoghurt.

Once she'd finished her sandwich, Amber stepped back from the fridge and examined the rest of the room. She was standing in some sort of kitchen, complete with an oven and a small sink. Then she noticed it - sitting on one of the tables was an empty backpack.

Suddenly she felt very uneasy. She hadn't really noticed it before because she was too preoccupied with filling her stomach, but everything about the room was too perfect. It didn't seem like someone was trying to kill her. It was almost as if they were trying to keep her alive, long enough to…

To what? She had no idea, but it probably wasn't good. Still, it wasn't like she had a choice. She grabbed the backpack off the table and unzipped it. It was fairly big, and she was sure it could hold enough food and drink to last her at least a few days.

She searched through the kitchen's drawers until she found a roll of cellophane and used it to wrap as many sandwiches from the fridge as she thought was necessary. She then took one of the milk cartons and emptied it down the sink before filling it back up with water from the tap. She stuffed everything into the bag and swung it over her shoulder.

She almost felt like she was back on her journey, about to venture off into the unknown with only her pokémon to protect her. Of course, this time things would be far more dangerous than they were back then, and that was saying something. She hoped desperately this adventure wouldn't end up like the last.

No, I'll be fine. I'll just do my best to avoid any fighting until I can figure out a way home.

She was just about to leave when the device on her arm lit up, illuminating a tiny bit of the room in front of her. She quickly pulled her wrist up to her face to see what was happening.

On the screen was a large, orange D. Before Amber had the chance to wonder what the letter could stand for, a voice spoke out from the device.

"Greetings, trainer," the voice spoke. It was heavily synthesised, to the point of it being impossible to tell even the gender of the speaker. "By now you are probably wondering where you are. Well, don't worry - all will be explained. Currently, you are standing in the Hoenn region."

Hoenn? The name was familiar, although Amber had no idea why. She was certain she'd never been before. Trying to remember just resulted in another headache.

"If you'd like to know your exact location, please look at the bracelet on your wrist."

The image on the device flickered and was replaced with a tiny map of the region. A square towards the south of the map was flashing rapidly. Amber tapped the square and the screen changed again to a more detailed, birds-eye image of what was clearly the beach she was standing on, complete with the Seashore House at the very top. Above the image were the words Route 109. She tapped the back button and was greeted again with the full map.

"Now, I guess all of you want to know how to get home. Well, I do apologise, but leaving just isn't possible at the moment. But don't panic, returning is easy."

Amber breathed a sigh of relief. There was a chance. All she had to do was do whatever this person wanted. Sticking to the rules was admittedly not one of her strong suits, but she was confident she could play along if it meant seeing her family again.

"All you have to do is what you've always had to do – win. More specifically, win the Hoenn League. You have three months to collect all eight badges and defeat the Elite Four and claim the champion's title. Whoever holds the title at the end of the three months will get to leave."

Oh God, I'm never going to get home…