Just A Normal Guy
Far off in the land known as the Hoenn region, there lives a trainer who wants to be the very best. He's spent years training his pokemon just so he could follow in his father's footsteps. Said footsteps would be leading up to winning the Hoenn League. Of course, his father lost in his champion bout against Wallace. But our protagonist has learned from his mistakes and plans to surpass him and Wallace. This is his story.
In the quaint town known as Verdanturf Town, a fierce battle ensues and it attracted quite a crowd. On one side, there was a trainer and his Aggron. On the other side, was a trainer with his Linoone. "Aggron, Flash Cannon!" "Dodge with Double Team, Linnone!" Aggron prepares for the Flash Cannon as Linoone splits into four. "Aggron!" the metal monster roared as it fired the Flash Cannon. The beam scaled across the four Linoone, blowing up dust as it did. "That's it for you!" Aggron's trainer boasted. When the dust cleared, there was a small hole in the ground. "N-no way!" Aggron's trainer gasped. "You wish! Show them the power of your Dig, Linoone!" Linoone trainer smirked. The ground between Aggron's legs bulged up, and then, "pop" went Linoone. The long-bodied creature scored as powerful blow to Aggron's jaw! "Strike it now! Thunderbolt, Linoone!" "Liiii…Noone!" Linoone exclaimed as it unleashed the electric blast. The attack was so bright, it blinded everyone who was watching. When the light subsided, there laid a scorched Aggron. "Amazing!" said someone in the crowd. "I know! The battle had gone on for about 20 minutes, and Aggron didn't land a single attack on Linoone!" said another crowd member. "Knowing its trainer, it's no real surprise!" another person complimented. "It's my win! Good match!" smiled Linoone's trainer. This is our protagonist, Liam.
Liam, a 15 year-old boy, local resident of Verdanturf Town. His father, James, had competed in the Hoenn League and won. But he lost when he battled Wallace for the championship. Liam was there, watching all of his father's matches from the stands. James was a water-type pokemon specialist. He believed that since there were so many water pokemon, the possibilities were endless. Many of them are dual type and can use a variety of moves. That's what allowed him to come so far, but it wasn't enough to beat Wallace. Liam believes that his father relied too much of types and moves while Wallace just believed in his pokemon. He believed while his father was a better strategist, Wallace was just a better trainer all-around. Liam does believe in his father's ideals, but he also believes that loving your pokemon will really bring out their true power. So he decided that he'll specialize in normal-type pokemon. They offer variety and they were just fun to be around for him.
His trusty partner, Linoone, has been by his side for the past three years. It was the first pokemon he caught back when it was a Zigzagoon. They became great friends, eating together, bathing together, and sleeping together. They've gotten into a few arguments, but they never stay mad at each other for long. Linoone is a pretty quick pokemon that usually likes to combine Double Team and Dig to close distance between it and its opponent. When facing an aerial foe, it launches its devastating Thunderbolt. And when it needs real power, it has a secret, devastating move.
"Alright, that's 150 straight wins, Linoone! I think it's time we start our journey, don't you?" asked the pumped-up Liam. "Noone!" the rushing pokemon responded. "Right then! Let's quickly get back home and get our stuff!" Liam says as he runs out from the middle of the crowd with Linoone following after. "Go get 'em, Liam!" "Become Champ, buddy!" "Make your dad proud!" shouted some of the people from the crowd.
As the two comrades sped through down the small path of the town, Linoone stopped for a second. "Noone?" it inquired as it sniffed around. "What's wrong, Linoone?" Liam asked as he stopped and jogged in place. Then, the ground under the two started to rupture. "Oh, that's Dig! Run for it!" Liam exclaimed as he leapt off the spot. Linoone leapt up high as the ground sudden ruptured, sending rocks and dirt into the air. "What the hell was that?" Liam asked as a blue figure popped up and shot at the airborne Linoone. "Linoone!" Liam quickly called out. The blue blur tackled the long body pokemon and slammed it into the ground below. "Linoone!" Liam exclaimed even louder than before. The dust cleared to reveal the assailant. "Quag…" it smirked. "Ugh, Quagsire…" Liam sighed in relief. "Sire, sire," the pokemon said, trying to get the boy's attention. Liam looked up and saw where Quagsire was gesturing to: the spot where it slammed Linoone. There was nothing there. Then it hit him. "Where's Linoone!?" he started to freak out. Then, his little buddy landed right on his head. "Linoone" it said, like a child at roll call. "Nice job, kiddo!" said another voice. From behind the dust, a man walked out. "Yep, typical dad sneak attack," Liam chuckled sheepishly. "Indeed, and you passed with flying colors, son. I'm proud of how well you trained Linoone," James praised the duo. "Well, we know your favorite combinations, dad. With Quagsire, you like to use Dig and Slam," Liam explained to his father. "True, and you were able to successful dodge it without even giving Linoone a command. Linoone used Double Team right before Quagsire grabbed it and it managed to escape harm," James added on as he rubbed Linoone's head. "So I take it that you're leaving for your journey now?" he asked his son. "Yes sir! I have a 150 win streak, so we should be able to handle anything that's thrown our way," Liam said with confidence. "Yeah, I saw that match. Good job," James chuckled.
"Anyway, here you go," James said as he handed Liam his backpack. "I had a feeling that today was the day you would leave for your journey, son." Liam hastily puts on the backpack as Linoone leapt up onto his head. "So have you any idea where you're headed first, kiddo?" James asked. Liam took a second to think of his answer. "Well, I figured that I should start with the closest gym. That would be Mauville City," he answered. James's happy expression changed to a sour one when he heard Liam's answer. "I'm sorry, son, but that won't be happening for a while. I heard that poor Wattson was hospitalized recently. Lord knows when or if he'll get out," he told the boy. "What!?" Liam exclaimed. "Yep. The only other gym that's closest would be Rustboro City," James said with a stern look. Liam was little disappointed, but he quickly sucked it up. "Well, as long as I can earn a badge, I'll go. I just don't like going through the Rusturf Tunnel…" Liam said with an uneasy tone. James rolled his eyes. "The Whismur won't bother you. After that ordeal with them in the past, they've settled down and become peaceful. Besides, they know your pokemon are much stronger than they are," James assured. Liam nodded, still a little unsure. "Come on, kid. I'll walk you to the tunnel," James offered. "Quag…" Quagsire said in its quiet voice as it followed its trainer.
A few minutes of walking, and they were at the tunnel's entrance. "See? Nothing to worry about," James reassured. Liam stuck his head inside, only to see the Whismur were all asleep. "Of course, they usually take a nap during this time," he chuckled. "Just do you best, Liam. And don't underestimate a Gym Leader. The Rustboro Gym Leader's name is Roxanne. She uses rock-type pokemon. Even with my water-types, she was formidable," his father advised. "Formidable? Even to water-types?" Liam gulped. James sighed. "Relax. You beat that Aggron earlier. So you should be okay against her pokemon." "Noone!" Linoone called out. Liam smiled. "You're right, Linoone. Just because she's a Gym Leader doesn't mean that I should get cold feet. Let's go!" he exclaimed as he ran through the cave. "WHISMUR!" shrieked a group of voices as Liam disappeared into the darkness. "Oh boy, he woke up the Whismur…" James chuckled lightly. "Yet, he's so focused on the challenge that he's ignoring them. We should be careful in the future. Right, Quagsire?" "Sire…" the pokemon replied. Thus, begins the adventure of the normal-type pokemon trainer, Liam.
That's it for the first chapter. So I know you guys are wondering some things. James, the father, is based off of me. My name is James, for those who don't know. The main character, Liam, is based off of my son, whose name is (of course), Liam. My son IRL isn't 15. If he was, that would mean he was born in 1999, back when I was nine years-old. Liam will be eight months on the 28th of this month. The inspiration for this story came from me thinking about my number of water team playthroughs in the past. But my love for water-types has decreased for some odd reason. So I though about other types to do a full playthrough of, then I thought of normal-types. See, like it was stated in the story, my self-inserted character likes the variety and flexibility of water types. If I'm not wrong, water-type pokemon are still the most dominant as far as numbers go. (They surely were back in first and second gen.) And most of them are dual-type. Because of that, they learn all sorts of attacks. And once Volcanion is finally released (officially), then the water-type would have claimed every other type in the series. Seriously, all they need is Volcanion, and they'll be part of every other type. But I digress, I feel the same about normal types, in general. Of course, normal-types may not be as strong, but they are still interesting. That's why Liam is a normal-type trainer. But now that I've thought about it some more (as I typed this up), I believe in the anime, one of the Unova Gym Leaders (either Lenora or Cheren since they both use normal-types), mentioned how normal-types can use a lot of different attacks. Anyway, during my normal playthrough of Platinum, I thought about making this into a story, and here we are. Sorry for all of the rambling. I do that a lot. Hopefully, this story will come out great. I don't want to get started and lose interest in it (I do that a lot). But from what I've thought of so far, it won't be anything big. It surely won't be like the anime as far as story goes. There will be no evil teams, no random characters that'll only appear for one chapter and disappear forever (Just few if you don't count the Gym Leaders). It'll just be Liam going from one city to the next, challenging gyms, earning badges, and getting into the Pokemon League. There will be some story, but I'm not going to milk it as much as the anime does. Otherwise, I'll be working on this story for about four or five years. So stick around for the next chapter if you're interested. It'll come soon, and by that, I mean eventually. I'm very busy, unlike I was in the past. I do have priorities that are far more important than FF, so bear with me please. I won't crank out another chapter just because you PM me. And don't badger me about it either. I've had enough of that from one guy, who will remain nameless. I reiterate, sending me a PM won't make the story progress faster. That's even moreso for rude PMs. I don't know what makes a person think they can get what they want by being rude, but it surely will not fly with me. Yes, Mr. Anonomyous, that's definitely directed toward you more than others. I know you started following me and my stories after I blocked you, which is quite sad. Really, they should fix that on this site. If you block someone, they shouldn't be able to follow you AT ALL. To be honest, I believe they shouldn't even be able to read your stories. But that's not the case, unfortunately. Anyway, that's it for my tangent.