Once upon a time...
Don't they all start that way? The old tales, I mean. The ones that have a happy ending.
Once upon a time...
It lets you know that no matter how much evil there is in a tale, the end will always work out.
Once upon a time...
Sometimes though, the tale comes from real life, and the "once upon a time" is the happy part, and the end is where the evil comes up and swallows our hero whole.
This is the "once upon a time" of a girl and her friends, and it is, unfortunately for them, one of the latter.
Once upon a time, there was a girl. She was not a very spectacular girl, nor was she exceptionally beautiful. In fact, she was quite a plain and altogether normal girl. She was not meant for a great destiny, and one did not find her. What did find her, however, was an adventure above and beyond what had ever transpired in her little world, and it left its mark on her as such.
The day was bright and sunny; the starly, pidgy, and spearow were merrily chirping and cawing outside, making it seem even more bright and cheery. Kelly O'Gyra had awoken early, eager to leave for the lab up the hill. She had slept fitfully, when she had slept at all, but this did not deter her in her mission to be up, packed, and dressed a full four hours before she was even due to leave the house. The only thing that broke her concentration on the little list she had been going over since dawn was the sound of her mother from the doorway behind her.
"How long are you going to go over that list? You'll wear a hole through it with your eyes soon!"
"But mom! I have to make sure I have everything. I can't just come back home every time I run out of something! I have to make sure I have enough supplies to get me through until I can make some money."
"I know that sweety, but you also need to remember that we O'Gyras are a tough bunch. You have the knack like us all. We're resourceful, we survive, we soldier on. It's what we do, and we do it well."
"I know! But I still want to be sure. I've never even left the town and you and dad both told me about your adventures as kids in the forest!"
"Your father, rest his soul, was a trouble maker who drug me along in his wake!"
"But still..."
"Still your tongue is more like it, missy! Now finish up and come down to breakfast. The least I can do is see to it that you have one last good home-cooked meal before you're stuck on trainer rations and handouts."
Making her way downstairs after checking her pack one last time, Kelly had a hard time getting her food down, and watched the clock with the anticipation that children get just before Delibird comes on Christmas. When finally the time to leave had come, she hugged her mother goodbye and began to make her way up the hill to the lab at its summit. The facility took up over half of what made up Pallet Town, and it stood as an imposing trial to all the new trainers. Many lost nerve at the bottom of the hill, and would back down from it until the next year, when they would try again.
Reaching the top, the girl stood in back and listened to the professor welcome the new trainers to his lab.
"Welcome, new trainers! I'm Professor Samuel Oak. Today you start on your adventures as Pokemon trainers! Some of you will go on to take the gym challenge; others will complete your two year mandatory trainer period, enrolling in the academy and becoming professors and lab assistants yourselves. I hope you each have a wonderful and exciting life with your partner Pokemon, and that you can form the strong bond that makes being a trainer so special! Now then, if you'll all take a seat in the waiting room, we'll be calling you in for your interview, processing, and partner choosing."
The twelve or so potential trainers who were there sat down in a large area in the front of the complex, talking excitedly about what Pokemon they were thinking of asking for, where they were going after today, what their ambitions were, and who the top trainers to beat were once they were set loose into the world.
Slowly the number of those who had yet to be interviewed went down. After about the fifth or sixth of them had been called, a voice broke the nervous concentration of one girl.
"Kelly O'Gyra?"
With a start, Kelly got up and walked towards the door that led to the exam room.
"Please be seated. The Professor and Nurse Joy will be with you shortly."
"O...Okay..."
Not two minutes after the lab assistant had left the room, the older man from the morning speech and a bubbly, pink haired woman in a rather short skirted nurse's outfit walked in, seating themselves on the opposite side of the table from Kelly.
"Good morning, Kelly! As I am sure you know from my little speech this morning, I am Professor Oak. This is Nurse Carol Joy of the Official Pokemon League. We'll just be asking a few questions and going over your records from trainer school."
Kelly's heart caught in her throat. Her record? Her permanent school record? Her nerves all stood on end at once. While she had never done anything criminal, nor had she been abusive toward the school's Pokemon, she was still ranked as one of the lowest grade battlers in her class.
"I see your last name is O'Gyra? Was your father named Seamus by chance?"
"Ye..yes sir, he was."
"I'm sorry for your loss. He was always a favorite of mine. The consummate trouble maker!"
"I...didn't know him well, sir. He left when I was very small. My mother told me it was league related, but that was all she would say about it."
"I see. And how is Sarah these days?"
"She's fine sir." Kelly said, feeling a bit more confident now that they were talking about familiar things. "She was happy when I told her I wanted to be a trainer."
"Yes, let's get to that subject! What made you want to be a trainer?"
"Well sir, my mom told me about the "Triumvirate" incident. She was a trainer in Hoenn, as you know. She told me about how she had helped in the defeat of Team Aqua afterwards, and I wanted to make my own story. Something like hers. Getting to see a legendary like Rayquaza or Groudon. I wanted to make memories like that, and share them with my friends."
"Do you consider Pokemon to be your friends?" Nurse Joy asked.
"Oh yes! While we may battle them and test both ourselves and our Pokemon in what we do, they are still our friends. They grow with us, and we gain as much, if not more, than they do from the bonds we make and share."
"On the subject of battles," the professor went on, "I see you are actually ranked fairly low as far as battling goes. However, your pre and post battle preparation and care, as well as your knowledge of type matching and enthusiasm show a genuine want to become a better trainer for not only yourself, but also the Pokemon you lead. This will prove a great benefit for you out in the world. Do you have any ideas that might help to make you a better battler?"
"I'm really not sure," came the nervous reply, "I just try and do my best to study my opponent and judge my next best course of action from there. I feel that if I try my best and believe in my partner Pokemon, then even a loss counts as a win because of the knowledge we all gain."
The smile on Nurse Joy's face told Kelly the words that came next before they were even said.
"Kelly O'Gyra, congratulations on becoming a Pokemon trainer!"