Light of Hoenn
Erika looked up at the board as professor Birch began writing on the board his name,
"Alright hopefuls, today is the day you'll each receive a Pokemon to aid you in your quest to become Pokemon professors." Erika Yamino daydreamed of what laid ahead. In New Bark town, it was the place where people came to try and become professors of Pallet Town, professor Oak was growing older and older everyday and was looking for a new apprentice to take over for him. Ever since she was born, Erika wanted to become a professor. Pokemon training just never appealed to her as much as the chance for discovery.
"Now," Professor Birch stated, "I'll hand back the professors test to everyone, if you got a c or below, you can try again next time" Erika sighed, though 14 and intelligent…she was horrible at school and C's seemed to cling to her like bacteria looking for a new host. Professor Birch stopped by Erika's desk and smiled,
"Don't be so down, you passed…. pretty good for someone your age, I have high hopes for you"
Erika smiled and looked at her paper, many students had already left except for a handful who were still seated, including her rival Seth. Seth glanced at her and smirked, "I got the best grade in the class…guess you got second?"
Erika smiled, "Better than failing"
Seth snorted and Professor Birch stood in front of the class again,
"You have all grown up so much, and now it's time to fulfill your dream, as I call your name I'll give you your things and you may head out. The state government gave us $700 to give to each of you, which means at some points the going gets tough and you'll have to get a job. Once you leave here, say good-bye to your parents outside and start on your journey and don't look back, a professor must not look to the past, but what's in front of him or her" Erika sighed, her aunt wouldn't be outside, she had died just the month before and now she was living on her own until dad came back from Celadon city on a business trip. Her mother had died giving birth to her and the only family she had left was her uncle and father.
"Yamino Erika!" Professor Birch called. Erika hopped out of her desk and grabbed her pack. She walked to the front and Professor Birch handed her five poke' balls,
"To be used for catching Pokemon"
A guidebook,
"Can't be caught without this!"
A cell phone, pokenav and a pokedex.
"Finally here is your Pokemon that matches your personality best"
"Alright, good luck!"
Erika walked outside the laboratory and noticed her rival leaning against a tree and smoking.
"Took long enough Yamino, how about a battle?"
"Hm…put out that cigar and I will."
Seth hissed and spit on the ground before tossing his cigar on the ground and crushing it under his feet, "I choose my Pokemon, Treecko!"
"Go…. um whatever you are!"
In a flash of red lights two Pokemon emerged, the grass type Treecko and Torchic the fire bird. Erika whipped out her pokedex and pointed it at Treecko,
Treecko the wood gecko Pokemon. Treecko is cool, calm, and collected; it never panics under any situation. If a bigger foe were to glare at this Pokemon, it would glare right back without conceding an inch of ground.
"Treecko's brave, so what's Torchic like?" Erika thought and pointed her pokedex at Torchic.
Torchic the chick Pokemon. Torchic has a place inside its body where it keeps its flame. Give it a hug and it will be glowing with warmth.
"Looks like your Pokemon's a total softy, just like you you wuss, chicken wuss"
Erika smiled, "Torchic lets go, use scratch!"
"Treecko," Treecko leaped away from Torchic, "use tail whip!" Treecko spun around and whipped Torchic across the ground with its tail and pulled the leek out of his mouth,
"Torchic, use growl then try another scratch!"
"Treecko, dodge and use pound!" Treecko pounded Torchic into the ground and began beating Torchic. Locked under the brute Treecko, Torchic was powerless. "Torchic, use ember!"
Torchic tried to use ember but failed as Treecko dug her deeper into the ground. We can't win like this…
"Torchic! Use growl!" Torchic yelled into Treecko's face and Treecko dug her deeper into the ground, she cried out in pain.
"Erika, don't you know anything? Growl type attacks are ineffective against Treecko's! Now Treecko, lets finish this, use a toss and end this now!"
Treecko clutched Torchic out of the ground and flung Torchic into a tree. Erika gasped and ran over to Torchics side, "Torchic…."
"Humph, give it up Torchic girl, professor oak wants someone who cares, understands their Pokemon and is a good trainer, defiantly not someone like you!" With that Seth spit into Erika face and walked off into the woods. Erika wiped her face and hugged her Torchic, "I'm sorry"
Seth sneered at Erika, "If you want to be the one to take over for Professor Oak, you better start shaping up"
Erika shook her head, "Don't forget, your judged in twelve different areas; Battle, Reaction, knowledge, test, number of Pokemon caught, badge quantity, pokedex filled, Evolution knowledge, location knowledge, simulation, actual effects, one type quantity and interview."
Seth stuck his tongue out, "See you later Erika" Erika turned to Torchic and pulled a potion from her pocket, "Here Torchic" Torchic opened its mouth and drank the pink liquid from the potion bottle. Torchic beamed with delight and jumped into Erika's arms, "Torchic, I love you!"
Torchic sat on Erika's shoulders and chirped along with other birds in the woods.
"Hey Torchic! Look up ahead, it's a Wurmple!" Erika whispered to Torchic seeing a Wurmple ahead of them. Erika crept up to the Wurmple and confronted it head on. The Wurmple looked at Erika for a moment before beginning to crawl away. Erika turned to Torchic and nodded, signaling Torchic to battle Wurmple. Torchic unleashed a scratch attack on Wurmple who cried out in pain as each peck and scratch met Wurmple head on.
"Alright Torchic," Erika said calling back Torchic, "pok`eball go!" Erika thrust a pok`eball at Torchic who disappeared in a red flash of light into the pok`eball. The pok`eball violently shook and a bright red light was in the center. After a while the light faded and the ball quit shaking and Erika reached down and picked up her new Wurmple smiling, "Come one out Wurmple!"
The red bug with spikes over its body came out and smiled at Erika and Torchic, "Wurmple!"
Erika picked up Wurmple carefully and dug out her pokedex, shifting the weight of Wurmple and her pokedex,
Wurmple, the worm Pokemon. Wurmple is targeted by Swellow as prey. This Pokemon will try to resist by pointing the spikes on its rear at the attacking predator. It will weaken the foe by leaking poison from the spikes.
"Don't Worry Wurmple, I won't let any Swellow eat you, you're safe with us" Erika said smiling. Wurmple smiled in its own way and crawled up to Torchic and began talking to Torchic in its own way. Erika just smiled, "I wonder what they're saying?" As Erika was deep in thought, Wurmple talked with Torchic and explained that Erika and Torchic had just saved its life;
TORCHIC: Hello!
WURMPLE: Thank you both, for saving my life, you see a Swellow was after me and when…err…what's her name caught me that Swellow knew it couldn't attack.
TORHCIC: (sweats anime style) you mean…you LET Erika catch you?"
WURMPLE: (Grins half-hearted) Yeah….
Erika brought herself back to the present and sat down by the two chatting Pokemon, "I wonder if there's a Pokemon center around here?" Erika opened her pokenav and scanned through a map of Hoenn, "Hmm…. no…not until we reach Old Dale Town in the north, about thirty miles too, we can walk for another hour or two then we'll have to find a place to camp for the night." Erika stated looking at the sky turning a darker shade of blue. Erika recalled Wurmple and Torchic and put her pokedex and pokenav in her pocket. As Erika started she heard a rusting in the bushes and snapped her head back, "Hello?" No one answered and Erika shrugged walking off, deeper into green forest. Erika watched behind her remembering the stories of team aqua activity in littleroot town. They sought out trainers and stole their money, supplies and Pokemon, all to achieve their goal of filling the world with water. I'm sure they'll love drowning in the oceans too. Erika thought with a sigh. The wind had picked up and the sky was turning a dark blue fast, it would storm that night. Erika looked around and spotted a cave. Erika sighed with relief and just as she did a heavy downpour started. Erika shrieked and grabbed a handful of sticks and bolted into the cave. She threw out her Torchic and Wurmple and panted out of breath. Torchic and Wurmple sat next to Erika as she laid the five sticks she had gotten and into a semicircle and took her pack off of her shoulders. She dug through one of the pockets and pulled out a match and ran it against the box, it went out as a strong gust of wind blew through the cave and the three of them shivered. Torchic realized what Erika was trying to do and used an ember on the wood, causing a gentle fire. Erika hugged Torchic and crept outside and pulled two handfuls of grass from the ground and set them in the fire. She went out seven more times until there was a decent fire roaring and putting off heat. Erika rummaged through her pack and pulled out a box of giant goldfish and a box of Pokemon food. Erika pulled out three bowls and poured Torchic and Wurmple each a bowl of Pokemon food and herself a handful of goldfish. The three ate in silence and each quickly ate one, two then three servings each before growing tired. Erika yawned and put everything away and added two more handfuls of grass to the fire and lying down for the night.
Erika woke up the next morning to hearing a loud roar next to her. Erika bolted up and turned beside her to see an Ursaring growling next to her. Erika shrieked, "Ursaring!"
Torchic and Wurmple bolted up to Erika's ear-shattering scream and the three fled the cave, Erika grabbed her pack and tumbling outside onto the soggy ground. The three panted, "Had no idea…(pant) Ursaring lived around here" Erika brushed herself off and recalled her two Pokemon and slipped her pack over her shoulder. The growl continued through the cave and Erika gulped, racing along the wet grass deeper into the woods.
"What beautiful trees" Erika said looking up at the sparse trees littering the forests. Fresh puddles of water were scattered everywhere and many trees had lost their limbs from the strong wind the night before. Up ahead a large crowd was forming around a dense part of the woods. Erika ran up to the crowd and looked around she noticed Seth and scooted away, but he saw her,
"Survive the storm, bummer, I prayed that you would die"
"Good morning to you too Seth" Erika smiled sarcastically.
"I guess your too stupid to know what's going on right now, so I'll tell you, every month, trainers can pick five berries apiece from the berry tree, and its only $2.00"
Erika shook her head and got in line for the berries. The line moved quickly and when Erika got up to first in line the berries were almost all gone,
"Hello!" Greeted a middle-aged man with yellow hair and a beard, "What would you like today, perhaps our orange berries?" Erika nodded, "Five orange berries please" The man smiled and put five large berries the size of his hand into a paper sack and handed them to Erika, "That'll be $2.00" Erika handed the man the money and thanked him and walked away from the crowd to an empty bench and sat down, she let out Torchic and Wurmple and offered each of them a piece. They each took apiece happily and began eating them. Seth sat on the bench beside Erika and sighed, "Only two Pokemon, and ones very weak, and doesn't get much stronger, tsk, tsk"
Erika looked at Seth as he threw out three pok`eballs and three Pokemon appeared, a Treecko, Lotad and a Poochyena. Erika took out her pokedex and pointed it to Lotad and then Poochyena.
Lotad the waterweed Pokemon. Lotad is said to have dwelled on land before. However, this Pokemon is thought to have returned to water because the leaf on its head grew large and heavy. It now lives by floating atop the water.
Poochyena the bite Pokemon. Poochyena is an omnivore-it will eat anything. A distinguishing feature is how large its fangs are compared to its body. This Pokemon tries to intimidate its foes by making the hair on its tail bristle out.
"How about a battle Erika? Or are you still hurt by our last battle?" Seth taunted.
"Sure Seth, a rematch sounds great" Erika said.
Seth burst into laughing and recalled his Pokemon. He walked deeper into the foods and waved, "Why waste by time and my Pokemon's time battling you?"
Erika shook her head, "He wasn't always like that…when we were kids we were best friends, then when he went to go live with his father, he changed, got a bad temper, a bad mouth, everything about him became bad, I wonder, if this is how he cries out for help?" Torchic and Wurmple looked at Erika symapatically and Erika smiled, "Thanks for listening" and recalled Torchic and Wurmple. Erika threw away their berry peels and put the rest in her pack and continued on, deeper into the forest.