A/N Hi everyone! This is just a little headcannon that got out of control when I was brainstorming with my boyfriend and, well, I decided to finally write something for this site. Hoenn region was always my favorite, so I hope I can do it justice. Just for timing purposes, but this is set a few decades after ORAS. Yes, the events did happen, no, I will not be rehashing them. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!
CH 1
"Kip, kip!"
Gemma stared in confusion at the blue little…thing that looked up at her before turning back to the professor.
"Take it back. What part of 'I'm more of a fire type of girl' did you not understand?"
Birch chuckled a little before replying, "well then you should have come by earlier huh? Besides, the fire type was taken and I haven't been able to find a decent treeko in a couple months. And don't even think about waiting until the next batch to get your first pick. There's not enough room."
Gemma's face fell at the anguished cry from the Professor. This semester's graduating class was tiny compared to next semester. If Birch was having trouble finding enough pokemon for just two people, no way would he be able to find enough for the twelve actually graduating on time instead of jumping the gun and graduating early. Only the very top of the class would even get the chance to pick their favorite starter, never mind someone who had that chance and passed the first time round.
She looked down at the blue mudkip smiling up at her and wiggling its little blue tail in anticipation before heaving a sigh. If she didn't get this one, then she'd be stuck with one of the pokemon on the nearby routes. If she was lucky, she could capture a decent Poochyena, but the Zigzagoon and Wurmple were much more common, especially since the uncharacteristic warmth meant a longer and more plentiful hatching season for both annoying species.
"Alright. I'll take it. But as soon as I find a torchic, I'm trading this thing away." She continued to stare at the incredibly happy blue pokemon in disgust. Not only was it a water type, but when it evolved, it would also gain a secondary ground type. To Gemma who loved all things fire, this was the ultimate sin. Besides, she wanted a pokemon that had an appropriately serious outlook on her upcoming journey, and the mudkip in front of her looked too easy going, too jolly, too happy that it was about to join Gemma.
How dare it be that happy! It ruined all of her dreams of traveling the land with a fighting firebird at her side. It was the only reason she had studied so hard in school!
"Excellent!" Birch broke her out of her musings. "Now then, why don't you give this girl a name?"
Gemma turned to him, startled for a minute. Did the professor actually think that she was going to name this thing when she would get rid of it the first chance she got? 'Well, I guess I should give it a name for the next person to have. It'll have to be something cool. Something appropriate as an apology for the poor sucker I foist this thing off on,' she thought. She brought her attention back to the obscene little pokemon still staring at her with a goofy smile between its orange gills. Gills. Gilly.
…
'Gilly? Really? The super cool name I come up with is Gilly? No, that can't be right. This name has to be an apology to its future owner. Think, think!' But no matter how hard she tried, the name seemed to have taken a space in her skull and lodged itself there like a particularly stubborn tumor.
Gemma let out another long sigh. "Gilly. Its name is Gilly."
Birch's smile practically radiated out from him. "An excellent name for a lovely lady." Was it just her, or did he put extra emphasis on the word lady? It wasn't like it would matter all that much what gender it was, as long as she could get rid of it as soon as possible. "Now, I'm sorry to push you out of here so quickly, but I need to get back in the field and get started on capturing enough pokemon for the next graduating class. I wonder if that grovyle tribe moved a little bit more east…" And without further ado, Gemma was suddenly pushed out of the lab and found herself staring at a closed door with a final "Enjoy your journey!" still ringing in her ears.
"Mud, ki!"
Oh yeah, and that damn mudkip practically attached to her leg.
Making her way to the first town was a surprising ordeal. As she had predicted, the zigzagoon and wurmple were everywhere. She couldn't take two steps without some fresh-from-the-egg pokemon challenging her. On the bright side, the mudkip was having fun tackling its opponents into submission. It even started to anticipate attacks and try to sneak up on whatever pokemon looked to challenge us next to get in the first move and bring them down early. However, the crush of monotony claims all victims and soon it would just try to spit water at them from a distance and drive them away. It wasn't that good at it yet, but over time the baby water guns became stronger and more accurate.
The sad thing was, it took the both of them almost a full day before they made it to the first town. A town Gemma could see over the horizon when the first stepped foot on the route. Each time she thought they were making any sort of progress, yet another zigzagoon would pop up. When she wanted to take a rest, wurmples crawled from the underbrush to ambush her. And through it all, not one poochyena.
Well, maybe one. Thank goodness it happened towards the end of the trail, otherwise they might have had to return to Littleroot by sliding down the hills to get the poor mudkip some rest. It wasn't really Gemma's fault either. She was just so bored. There's only so many times you can watch a mudkip completely school low level pokemon before you just don't care anymore. So she turned to her favorite pastime: daydreaming. Mostly about completing the Gym circuit and challenging the elite four with a firebird at her side. She already had the perfect name for it: Amber. Tough, but beautiful. The color a nice golden glow as if lit from a fire within, and hiding a ferocious capability to kill, or at least incapacitate.
Her Amber would take on all of the Gyms, even the last one that held water pokemon. She'd make sure of it. They'd travel across the land, searching far and wide for all who would dare challenge them. And at the end of the day, they'd recount their victories. There may be other pokemon along the way, but Amber would be the best and her go-to for anything they might face.
So it wasn't that much of a surprise when Gemma accidentally stumbled into a small hole. Ultimately, she didn't think it was that big of a deal and prepared to continue on. The family of nesting Poochyena did not share her views. One burst from the ground, snarling and looking like he would rip the trespasser into bite sized pieces to feed to his small pups hiding in the nest. Gemma only had a moment of shocked surprise before the wolf took a running leap and latched on to her arm, biting down hard through the thin jacket and using his back paws to attempt to rip her arm to bits.
"AAAAAHHHHHH! GET OFF!" The pooch ignored her plea and continued to gnaw and scratch at her arms, attempting to get closer to her face while she flailed around in a panic, falling to the ground in her moment of distress. "HELP!" she cried out, looking for someone, anyone! Even that annoying mudkip. That's right! Where was her mudkip? It could help her out of this mess! But no matter how much she looked around, she couldn't see her mudkip anywhere.
The poochyena was at her shoulder now, trying to get into a good position to do even more damage. Gemma's attempts to push the pokemon away became even more panicked as she thought about what would happen if it got its teeth on her neck. Her position on the ground hindered her movements, and no matter what she tried, the Poochyena continued to advance up her shoulder. "Mudkip! Mudkip help!" Still no help came. The stupid thing was probably stalking small fry further away, leaving its trainer to the mercy of the wild pokemon. "Help! Mudkip, come here!" What was its name? "GILLY, PLEASE!"
She felt a cold snout brush up against her cheek and turned to the wild pokemon as it opened its mouth wide for a devastating crunch on her face. She could see the jaws growing wider and wider, the red eyes of the pokemon staring at her in victorious fury and she knew. This would be how she died. An embarrassing death to the jaws of a pokemon without even seeing the first town. How pathetic.
"KIP!" A blast of water, the most devastating yet, slammed into the pokemon. Gemma had enough time to see its eyes go wide with shock before it was swept away from her, leaving her soaked and covered in minor injuries, but away from the crazy pokemon. She looked to where her Mudkip stood just a few feet away and was surprised to see its black eyes locked onto its new target, for once the smile gone and a look of determination on its face.
The poochyena took a moment to shake its disorientation before turning and growling at her mudkip, warning it to back away. Mudkip, of course, just became more determined. This opponent was much stronger than the newborns it'd been practicing on and it wanted a challenge to round out the day. This wild pokemon would do just perfectly, even if he was fresh and just a little bit stronger.
The battle between the two was pretty brutal. Gemma watched as her mudkip harried the poochyenna with tackles and water guns, all the while dancing away from any attacks the wild pokemon attempted. It didn't always work, and mudkip had quite a few injuries of her own from the vicious pokemon. It didn't help that while mudkip only wanted to cause the pokemon to faint, the poochyena was going for the kill. Or maybe that was just Gemma's perspective since the crazy pooch had just recently attacked her face.
Finally, the poochyena took one last water gun to the side and fainted. Her mudkip stared at the fallen foe for a minute, waiting to see if he was faking before turning back to Gemma with a goofy, if exhausted smile. "Kip. Mud, mudkip." It almost sounded as if her mudkip was scolding her for getting into this situation. Gemma looked at her mudkip, covered in scratches and bleeding some sort of ooze. It didn't have to come save her. Goodness knows Gemma hadn't been that nice or attentive to it. Yet it had still saved her life, and deserved something for that.
"Thanks mudkip." A flash of something crossed Mudkip's face. Slightly drooping eyes, strained smile. Then it was gone and her old happy mudkip was back. It turned to continue through the last stretch of brush before the town and stumbled, just a little.
"Gilly!" The cry was drawn from her lips without thought. Immediately, Gemma wanted to take back this small gesture of familiarity, but the look on her mudkip's face was too hopeful. She couldn't break its heart by taking it back now. She cleared her throat before continuing. "Be careful. You're in no shape to protect me from rogue poochyena, and I will not be the loser that died on the road between Littleroot and Oldale." Still her mudkip looked up at her with hope and joy.
Dumb thing.
They walked forward together, so close to safety. The night would provide a bit of a reprieve from the zigzagoon and wurmple, but evening was when poochyena were most active. Gemma picked up the pace a little, mudkip shuffling closely behind. Neither wanted to have another run in with the aggressive pokemon.
A few minutes later, Gemma looked down, expecting to see the mudkip dogging her steps. Just to make sure its injuries weren't too severe. Instead, she had a brief moment of terror when she realized that she was once again alone and without protection. Whirling around, Gemma frantically looked for her single pokemon, the only protection she could have in this surprisingly dangerous area. Her eyes narrowed when she saw the mudkip behind her, smiling its annoying little smile.
"What," Gemma growled as she stalked back the not insignificant distance. "You think it's funny to leave your trainer all alone, huh? You-" The Mudkip stumbled again just as she reached it, letting out the smallest of whimpers as one of its cuts was bumped. All the anger drained out of her, making her feel cold and vile. Of course the little idiot would be slow. It had just sustained heavy injuries in a fight for its life after a full day of exercise and battling.
Gemma stared down at the Mudkip for a minute, then stooped down and picked it up. No use in tiring out her only protection. And her mudkip could still snipe enemies away with a well-placed water gun or two. Besides, it was only a few more feet before the gates of the town, and it was getting dark out. No one who mattered would see her somewhat caring for the little thing, even if it was only by necessity.
Unfortunately, mudkip took this gesture to mean Gemma was finally accepting the little beast into her journey and would not stop wiggling about in her arms. Eventually, it calmed down and rested its head on Gemma's shoulder, exhausted from the ordeal before.
And that is how the two entered Oldale; tired, scratched up, but together.
The first order of business was to get to a pokecenter. There they offered free rooms if there was space and at least one meal, two if you were lucky. All she needed to do was show them her trainer badge and they would let her stay for a maximum of 6 nights before needing to move on. Oh, and they could patch up mudkip to be almost good as new.
It was dark when they finally made it to the center (who knew it would be so hard to find in such a small town?) and there was only a chancy behind the desk. She looked up as the doors to the center opened, and immediately noticed their blood-stained clothes. "Chancy!" She yelled out, pushing a button on the counter before it bustled over to the two of them. The chancy tried to take away mudkip from Gemma, but she was still a little wary of lone pokemon after her last encounter and refused to willingly give the healer her mudkip. Honestly, panicked would be a better description than wary.
"I don't care, I'm looking for a Nurse Joy!" Gemma shouted at the chancy. "You're not taking her away from me, OK? I want to get my mudkip to a real nurse who will be able to take care of her." OK, so not her best idea to yell at the healer, but honestly, anyone would be high strung after the day she'd had.
The chancy puffed up and was about to start shouting at the two of them when a gentle voice stopped her. "Actually, the chancy are the real pokemon healers. We're just here to provide a friendly face and fix minor human injuries. And direct the chancy when there's a serious pokemon injury that they can't immediately fix." A woman with pink hair in two messy loops walked in from the side room, stifling a yawn. "I'm Nurse Joy. How may…I… Oh my gosh! What happened to you two?!"
Gemma looked down at herself, noticing the bite and scratch marks on both her and her pokemon and realized what a sight they must be. Her shorts were ripped and stained from where she had fallen earlier. Her legs weren't too bad, but there were deep wounds on her arms and shoulder still weeping blood. The light jacket she'd chosen to ward off the wind was tattered and ruined, having given up its usability in an effort to protect her arms. Mudkip's wounds had continued to ooze, staining her once red shirt to a dark purple. Her entire wardrobe for the day was ruined.
"Oh, we ran into a wild poochyena on the route up here. I think it was protecting its nest. Before it attacked, I may have stumbled into the opening without realizing." Gemma gingerly handed over her mudkip to the chancy, who looked a little more understanding at her previous reluctance upon hearing that they'd already had a bad run in with a lone pokemon.
The chancy whisked Mudkip away to be tended to, leaving Gemma alone with the nurse, who promptly dragged her away into the back to be checked over. Nurse Joy dithered over the injuries before forcibly injecting a rabies shot into her arm. "Normally trainers don't need one, but then again, we rarely ever have serious bite injuries, let alone crunch injuries. You're lucky your jacket was in the way or you'd have lost the arm. Normally it's the pokemon that get so injured. Why didn't your mudkip keep it away? Or did your injuries happen after your mudkip fainted?"
"Ah, no. It was off stalking other pokemon and trying to make a game out of it. We left Littleroot this morning and spent all day wading through the newly hatched zigzagoon and wurmple. The crazy pokemon had me pretty much by the throat before Mudk- Gilly stepped in with that water gun and pushed it away." She quickly changed how she called mudkip at the nurse's sharp stare.
"Oh, you're one of the new trainers I was told to watch for. I have something for you when we get you all fixed up. Oh stop squirming; the bandages need to be tight to prevent future bleeding. You can take them off in a day or two. Where were you attacked? In cases such as this, we usually remove the aggressive species from the first route at least since there's not a lot of trainer supervision. And poochyena bites aren't normally this deep. I think we might have let this one grow too much, they don't normally learn crunch until well after they evolve. I think I know which one it was too. The professor should have removed that one once it started really attacking him and not just playfully nipping."
Gemma took a moment to nod, thinking back through the babble to answer the question. "It was just before the gates. It's just my luck that I get stuck with my least favorite starter and get attacked by a strangely overpowered poochyena on the same day." Nurse Joy slowed in her bandaging, a strange look on her face.
"You don't want your starter?" Gemma shook her head and explained her dream of traveling with a torchic. "Well, I'm not one to tell you what to do, but it seems to me like a mudkip was exactly what you needed there. A torchic would have burned you badly, and treeko are usually standoffish with their trainer at first and may not have helped you. Most of the other pokemon on the route wouldn't have been strong enough to help, but your mudkip – Gilly, you said? was able to not only separate you two, but fight down a very overpowered pokemon, sustaining pretty heavy injuries in the process. So try not to take it out on your pokemon that she's not exactly what you wanted. And who knows maybe you'll find dreams don't hold a candle to reality."
Gemma was stunned for a minute at the impromptu speech. It's true, a torchic probably would have set the pooch on fire, but then she would've had to deal with a flaming poochyena that was intent on killing her instead of just a normal one. And the water gun came in the nick of time to save her from becoming puppy chow. An absorb or ember wouldn't have been able to force them apart. It still wasn't enough to stop her from wanting a torchic to travel with, but maybe it would be ok to help her new companion before getting one. After all, a stronger pokemon would mean a better trade for that perfect fighting firebird Amber, right? Right.
"Fantastic!" Ah, she must have said that out loud. "Now, you're just about done, and then you can head up to one of the rooms here. Your Gilly will be right as rain tomorrow, and I need to let Officer Jenny know that we need a pokemon removal squad." Gemma was ushered out to the lobby and pointed to the stairs where she could find a room.
Gemma trudged up the stairs, feeling every moment of this terrible day. Maybe tomorrow would be better. Maybe today was just a stress dream bringing up the worst possible scenarios. She barely registered walking into a room and collapsing on the bed, losing herself in blissful sleep.
A/N So there's the first chapter. I hope you liked it, and if you think that Gemma is too harsh and annoying, keep in there. This is a very character-driven plot and she will grow as a person, as will Gilly and any other pokemon that joins Gemma's party.
Speaking of plot, I have the main skeleton of this story planned out from chapter one to the end. That being said, it is just a skeleton at this point and if you have any headcannons or cool ideas, please send them my way. I'd love to scream along with you about my characters and flesh them out more. If an idea or headcannon catches my fancy, I might even write a short one-shot about it.
This story will update monthly, so expect the next update next month.
Thanks!