[Summary: What if Gemma hadn't been found by that mystery person? This story follows her journey through Monoko after a year of isolation in forests throughout the region, with new friends and a goal of revenge.]

The Doors to Freedom

The Monoko Region, Pokoh's sister region that resides just a few tens of miles off the coast of the larger region. It's filled with deep forests and mysterious locations. There are just enough towns for the majority of the gyms, and small towns and even smaller beautiful villages that hold contests more than once a year. And many, many trainers travelling around collecting these badges and ribbons as well as whatever other achievements they want to go for. Filled with new Pokémon and myths that span millennia, the Monoko region truly is the home of legends and lore. This place is heaven for researchers and a beautiful place for children with all their fantasy dreams. But there's a darker side to the region, those who claim to help are in fact the region's enemy, and some of those innocent trainers burdened by this hidden Enemy.

Two such people walked out of the forests beside the entrance to the starter town of the region, Budbloom. Home to Professor Fir and Professor Pine's laboratory, and a beautiful, albeit small, Pokémon reserve. Fir and Pine both delve into the research of Pokémon's DNA, their gifts, and their ability to evolve. The two weren't interested in that though, all they wanted was to get through the town.

"I'm scared Nate…" The girl said, her hands wringing nervously, brushing against the red sweatbands she had on her wrists multiple times. Her light sandy coloured hair had a few twigs in from the trees, which the boy with her pulled out as he stood in front of her, brushing the two braids that hung by the sides of her face – one dyed red, the other black – behind her ears, and fixed an escaped braid from the bun created from multiple braids, before grabbing her wrists, a movement that from anyone else would make her flinch, and looked at her, leaning a bit to cover the nearly whole foot height difference.

"There's nothing to be scared about, Gem." The boy said, his dark blue hair blowing in the wind, the two black streaks down the sides seeming to have a somewhat life of their own compared to the movement of the rest of the hair. His blue eyes were reassuring, and he was giving the girl a small smile.

"But my parents…" Her grey eyes, tinted red, shone with a hint of tears behind her glasses, the sides thick and black and decorated with white roses and green vines covered in thorns.

"Might be here, or might not be. If you see them, tell me, and I'll hide us either behind a building, or at least hide you behind me, okay? Don't fret so much." The boy smiled, brushing away the tears and then pointing to her shirt, "What happened to 'Never gonna break me', huh?" He said, referring to the writing on her white turtleneck shirt, written above a heart of her own design, covered in bandages and Band-Aids and stitches. A lot of it was hidden by her black leather jacket, with a sewn white rose with blood stains and burn marks on the back. She smiled at the boy, and nodded, letting his black leather gloved hand grab her bare hands. He was in a similar jacket to her, just without the rose on it, and had a plain, long sleeved grey t-shirt beneath it. His pants were dark blue, and he had a pair of black boots on.

The girl moved so they were standing side by side, her reluctantly dropping her friend's hand, brushing over the hard section where a metal plate resided, and shoving her hands in the pockets of her black jeans, a similar design to that of the one on her glasses down the left leg, and she took a deep breath.

"I'm just scared that if I do meet them again… they won't want me anymore, because I'm a freak…" The girl sighed, before feeling her hand behind grabbed from inside her pocket. She looked to the boy, and he gave her a stern look.

"Don't think like that Gemma. How many times have we had to convince you of that?" The boy said. Gemma smiled weakly, before giggling.

"You can't say you didn't feel the same at first, Nathen." Gemma said, smiling still. Nathen shrugged.

"Guess I can't argue with that point. Now come on, shorty, let's get the supplies we need and move out of here as soon as possible." The boy said, starting to walk off, not letting Gemma's hand go. The eleven year old blushed a bit and followed after him.

These two are Nathen Pierce and Gemma Ashmore, two trainers who are now due to travel around Monoko. Gemma strives to be a trainer and coordinator, to enter the League and Grand Festival, with her team of Pokémon, a Monoko native girl. And Nathen, a Pokémon trainer not from the Monoko region, but from another region called Solace, a trainer striving to win the league. Both also have another goal, a goal to bring down the Enemy of this beautiful region, a goal of revenge.

"How many supplies do we need?" Gemma asked. Nathen shrugged.

"We can just buy the usual amount, a few bits of this and that, and plenty of food. You eat us out of it veeeery quickly." Nathen grinned. Gemma blushed and looked down, wringing her hands again.

"Heh…"

"Come on, let's get this stuff, you want to be out of here ASAP, right? So we better hurry. We can do some training on the road." Nathen said. Gemma nodded, before she grinned and suddenly jumped on the elder boy's back, making him slump for a split second, but he was back up in less than a second, hooking his arms under her knees and grinning at her again, before rolling his eyes when she gave him a look for being so fast, "I know, I know, I can't help it."

"I count myself lucky on one thing, I only have one implant. Now come on, trusty Arcanine! Run, run, run!" Nathen sweatdropped, giving her a look.

"If that were anyone else…" He muttered before shaking his head with a chuckle and running off.

~X~X~X~

In another part of the small starter town, another girl was entering the calm streets from the port, where she had recently exited the boat that went from Unova to Monoko, a long journey I have to say, it stops at three different regions on the way! But anyway, the girl walked through the border that meant she was officially in Budbloom, and in the Monoko region.

"Here I am… Monoko, where I came from… this is going to be some journey. I hope I can find somewhere to stay, that journey was torture." She let out a big yawn and stretched her arms back above her head, emphasising her point, "Well, time to look around."

She ran her hands through her long red hair, the ends of it somewhat resembling the ends of a Blaziken's blonde feathers, and then started to wander around the friendly, albeit it slightly dark streets, under the cover of the canopy of trees that just about let in enough light for the town. She smiled politely at the locals and dodged kids as they ran around the town playing tag, and from what she could tell the occasional kiss chase. She looked around with wondering brown eyes at the new place, and occasionally glanced up into the sky when she saw a break in the trees, always looking disappointed when she saw nothing.

Her brown shoes scuffed against the ground as she walked slowly through the town, her blue t-shirt blowing in the wind that still managed to get into the town, and her running shorts weren't adequate cover to stop her shivering when the wind got cold, the purple skirt layered over it not helping in the slightest. She considered removing her wristbands and giving herself a bit more warmth, but the town was still too crowded for such a display.

"I wonder how Cheren and Bianca are doing on their next journey…" She pondered as she looked around, glancing to the sky again as she remembered her friends, "It's too bad they didn't want to come here too, but they did say that this was my journey to complete, as there's more to it than just the journey this time…"

This girl is Holly White, she's lived in the Unova region nearly her whole life, and has been on one exciting journey already so far! Her friends Cheren and Bianca are both currently travelling in a different region to her, whilst she came here, to Monoko, in search of not only another lost friend but also something even more vital. Her own past. The girl had been adopted at a young age by a woman native to Unova, but she had never known much more about her past than it had something to do with a region called Monoko. She has her own secrets, her own link to the enemy of the beautiful region she had now reached… not that she knows that of course.

"Well, this should be a fun and interesting journey, even if I don't find anything out at least I'll have had an adventure." Holly said cheerfully as she continued through the town, toward the Pokémart for supplies.

~X~X~X~

"So, we got the supplies. Now we just have to make our way out of the town, and damn well quick." Gemma said, now walking beside Nathen again with her bag newly packed with supplies. Nathen nodded.

"I know, we can get out of here now, I know you didn't want to linger here. You made it very clear. Though… I don't see why you don't want to see your family again, I'd give anything to see my family… to even remember them." He said, shoving his hands in his pockets. Gemma gave him a sympathetic, and somewhat empathetic, smile.

"I know Nate… but you'll find out what happened to you one day." She said. Nathen smiled back.

"I hope so, Gemma, I hope so." He said, reaching for her hand again. Gemma gave it to him, and squeezed it. "Come on, let's get out of this 'dreaded' town."

They started to walk through the town, not letting go of each other's hands. Even if both caught the looks from people and blushed deeply, their hands never disconnected. When suddenly Gemma spotted someone's look, not 'aw, such a cute teenage couple' look, a look of shock and utter disbelief of what they were seeing, and her eyes widened in a similar fashion, and she suddenly hid herself behind Nathen before the people had chance to look her over more. Nathen was confused, and oblivious he moved out of the way of her and turned to face her.

"What's up with you now?" He said. Gemma didn't answer, eyes still wide, just looking at the people who were now still looking at her. He looked back, and still confused at first didn't get the looks the three were giving to each other, before he saw the resemblance between Gemma and the adults, and cursed under his breath, shoving Gemma onto his back quickly and running off at inhuman speed through the streets. Luckily for them the town was still small, and not many people were out, but he was sure he'd knocked down at least two… maybe three people. Okay, maybe it was like five but he couldn't help it. Any other moment he would've stopped to help them and say sorry, but if Gemma didn't want to see her parents then he had to move.

They finally came to a stop behind a building, modern looking, and Nathen let Gemma down, not even panting from the speedy dash from the Pokémart to what appeared to be the Lab. Gemma immediately wrapped her arms around the boy, whimpering.

"Gemma…"

"They… they saw me, Nathen… now how can I avoid them?-!" Gemma exclaimed. Nathen put his arms around her too, and sighed.

"They'll see you on the TV in contests anyway, Gemma…"

"You know full well I decided to use a stage name for that, Nate."

"That doesn't stop you from being recognised, they're your parents, they know you well enough to see you and recognise you, what just happened proves that." Nathen said. Gemma looked up at him, before sighing and stepping back.

"I told myself I'd get through this… and look at me, I'm already a nervous wreck." She said, looking to her feet and wringing her hands around her wrists yet again. Nathen grabbed her wrists and stopped her doing her nervous little quirk, knowing in her emotional state if she knocked off her bands then her flames would easily light up by themselves. "Nathen… I'm still too scared…"

"Hey, how about we just get out mind off this? We must be by the lab now, and we need to get you a Pokédex, and maybe one of the new Devices they're making here."

"But…" Gemma tried to protest, but Nathen was on a mission now to try and cheer her up, not thinking about what might be in the lab. He took her hand again and lead her inside. Gemma tried to protest, but whilst she was grateful she just had the one implant, Nathen's extra ones gave him more strength and she could get out of his hold on her hand. "I hate it when he gets rash…" She muttered to herself, before starting to pray to god that the thing she dreaded would not be there.

They walked into the building, and were greeted with a room filled with technology, a lot of it seeming to be for display out the front, as the items got more advanced as they walked further in, and they could hear a panicky female's voice.

"Oh no, not there! Oh man, not again! Please don't explode, plea-…" The voice was cut off by a tiny boom, and the two gave each other a look, before running into the room. There was a small cloud of smoke, and the voice was coughing. Someone else ran into the room after the two, and wafted the smoke away, before going over to the other woman who was sitting on the ground, covered in residue from the explosion, and with her glasses wonky.

"Oh boy, Fir! You blew the Move Editor up again?" The newest woman said, her hair was brunette, and cut into a pixie cut. She looked young, but was dressed in a Lab Coat, meaning she was likely the professor in the laboratory, along with the other woman who was slightly older and also dressed in a lab coat.

Fir laughed nervously and scratched the back of her head, her hair a deep green in a messy style that looked more like she'd just woken up than a style in actual fact. She adjusted her glasses, and stood up a little clumsily, brushing off her lab coat.

"I guess I did, heh…"

"And you're the older one out of the two of us…" The other said with a sigh and a shake of her head, rolling her green eyes. The other professor laughed nervously again, and took her glasses from over her brown eyes to clean them.

"Sorry Pine…"

"Are you okay?" Nathen then spoke up. The professors looked to the two trainers now.

"Oh! Trainers! Sorry about that, my cousin here isn't exactly the sharpest professor in the toolbox." Prof. Pine said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"And neither are you for thinking of that phrase, which makes no sense." Fir said as she crossed her arms. Pine just rolled her eyes again, and looked back to the trainers.

"So, why're you here? Pokémon? Pokédex?"

"Pokédex thanks. And to be able to set up a link here so we can swap Pokémon." Nathen said, referring to himself for the last bit, he knew Gemma would likely take it easy on the Pokémon capture on her first journey, but that doesn't mean he had to.

"Alright, Pokédex Upgrade, or a new one?" Pine continued.

"Both. A new one for my friend, and an Upgrade for mine." Nathen said, gesturing to Gemma who gave a little wave.

"Follow me right this way, we do all that stuff in our trainer room. Fir, come on, you can set up the link." Prof. Pine continued, before walking out of the room.

"Don't mind her, youngest or not she's the strictest one here." Fir whispered to Gemma and Nathen before following Pine. Gemma and Nathen both sweatdropped, before looking at each other then following. Gemma was feeling a bit nervous again now, the trainer room could easily hold the thing she didn't want to see.

They wandered into a room filled with Poké Balls on shelves, some full and some empty. There were several computers connected to transporters, and a video phone or two. There were piles of bags of Pokémon food, and drawers with various labels on. Prof. Fir walked over to a computer.

"Hand me your trainer licence, please." She said to Nathen. He dug into his pocket and grabbed his trainer licence, handing it over to the woman who put it into a slot on the computer and let it scan in the information. Pine went into a drawer and pulled out a somewhat rectangular device, thick and long, that just curved at the bottom, to fit over something. She came over to Gemma, and fitted it against her arm, some mechanical straps coming from it to attach it to her arm.

"There, perfect fit. Now, this is slightly similar to one of the designs used by another region, but it's not the same exactly. The screen is this here," Pine said, gesturing to a currently black square on the top of the rectangle, "And two more screens pop out of the sides, they hold additional Pokémon images and information," She continued, now pressing a little red button on the predominantly white and black device, making two screens pop out of either side, still both currently blank, "Also, that dip here' she gestured to a circular dip, coloured black, 'Is for scanning in Pokémon's info, and for sending them to us, to swap them. Your friend can also use this application if he inserts his licence. And as a last feature, our newest device also attaches to this, the Pokémon Organiser, PokéOrg for short. It can record videos, it gives the Pokédex a Video Phone Application which is can also use when not attached to the Dex, and holds your map, as well as many other features."

"Cool…" Gemma said, looking it over. She pressed the on button, and grabbed one of her Poké Balls, a Pokoh Native Pokémon called Nixiona, who she calls Rylee. She placed the Poké Ball on the scanning dip, and on the screen appeared a Pokémon about the size of a Pidgeot, its head is red, and it has four wings, coloured light orange with golden tips. Its beak has a golden sheen to it, and so to its talons. Its underbelly is yellow, and there's golden plates on the tops of its legs, and short golden feathers on the back of its head. On the side screen, it held a male image of the Pokémon where the golden feathers were longer.

Nixiona/o, the Phoenix Pokémon and evolution of Nixwing. When male, Nixwing evolves into Nixiono, when female it evolves into Nixiona. It is a confident battler with a sense of responsibility, but with a mischievous side of it. It is said that they and their pre evolutions descended from the legendary Phoenix of the Monoko region, Pheoknight.

"Got that right." Gemma observed casually.

"Of course it does, it's a Pokédex." Pine pointed out. Gemma sweatdropped.

"True…"

"Alrighty, all set up, and your upgrade's done too!" Fir said, handing over the items to Nathen. He thanked her and put them back in his bag and pocket.

"Hey, is there anyone in here?" a girl's voice called.

"In the third room on the left!" Fir called back to them. A minute later a familiar girl popped her head in. Holly. She looked around the room, then smiled.

"Hi!"

"Um… Hi?" Gemma said. Holly stepped into the room, and went toward the four.

"I'm Holly White, I've come from Unova, and the locals told me to come here for my Pokédex upgrade and possibly a Pokémon Starter from here." Holly smiled, waving.

"That's quite a journey." Nathen said, "I'm Nathen Peirce, Solace Native."

"Solace? Never heard of that region to be honest with you. I've been in Unova most of my life." Holly said, shrugging, "Nice to meet you though, who's your little friend?" She asked, gesturing to Gemma. Gemma had gone into shy mode, looking at her feet. But she looked up when she heard 'little', "Sister?"

"Oi! How young do you think I am?-!" Gemma exclaimed. Nathen sweatdropped, and put a hand on her shoulder, subtly sending a calming aura through her.

"She's called Gemma, she's from this region. And don't ever call her little, she's a bit sensitive about her height, she's eleven. She's not my sister, we're good friends."

"She looks about 9… spare the clothes." Holly said, before getting the message from Gemma's glare to shut up, "Heh, sorry Gemma. Well, nice to meet you as well."

"Guess I can say the same… not the best start though." But Gemma, despite saying this, did manage a giggle. Holly smiled, then look to Fir and Pine.

"So, can I get an upgrade and Starter? Oh, and a switch link." Holly said to them. Professor Fir nodded.

"Of course! Hand me your Trainer Card and Pokédex, Pine can sort you out with the starter of your choice. We don't have any trainers due, so it should be fine." Fir said. Holly handed over the requested items, as well as one Poké Ball. "Oh?"

"My Stoutland, to start the link and also so I can keep the starter with me." Holly explained, before going over to the brunette professor, who was pulling out three Poké Balls. Gemma started to tense up at the repeated mentioning of the starter Pokémon.

"Very well. Come here then, these are the starters." Pine said, holding three Poké Balls and standing by a table where the Pokémon would sit. Gemma tensed ever more. "First, there's Water, Merbble, this one is the male form."

She opened one of the Poké Balls, and out popped a Pokémon maybe around the size of a baby. Its tail merges into its body so you can barely see the difference despite the colour, its body is humanoid but it has scales on its arms, and it only has three fingers and a thumb. At this stage both have a symbol on their chests in the shape of a trident. Its tail is a dark, deep ocean blue, the fins on the end in sharper shapes and opaque, same around the top of it and on its arms and ears. The scales on its arms are dark blue too. Its eyes are purple, and its hair is short, choppy and the same shade. The male Merperson Pokémon looked up at the trainers, before looking down at its fins, shy.

"Cute." Holly commented. Nathen held his Pokédex up to the Pokémon, seeing as Holly's was yet to be upgraded.

Merbble, the Merperson Pokémon. Merbble and its evolutions are said to be the decedents of the true mermaids of legends, though the myths about the legendary Mermaids faded. Merbble are generally very shy, but when with someone they trust they are playful and joyful. When threatened, they will not hesitate to attack.

"And now Grass."

She opened another Poké Ball, and out of it popped a small Pokémon. It even the size of an average real foal, it is small. Its main body is very light brown, and has a tiny horn of a pale yellow colour slowly starting to form on his head. On its back there are little stubs where wings would be, and there's a pale pattern on the coat under them in light yellow that seems to be the shape of feathers. Its eyes are a wide, light yellow. It looked up at Holly in particular now, and smiles sweetly, letting out a neigh of its name.

Pegaseed, the Wingless Pokémon. Pegaseed is a playful Pokémon, and despite its lack of wings at this stage it is forever trying to fly. This Pokémon is favoured by coordinators, due to its cute appearance and future forms.

"Now that one looks good… I think I might go with her, she's cute, and I do need a grass. But I'll see the fire type first." Holly said. Gemma was praying she didn't need to when she heard the start of her sentence, but the end bit made her prayers stop and her body tense again, hands starting to wring her wrists once again.

"Very well, here's the fire type." Pine said, opening the last Poké Ball and letting the fire type starter out onto the table. Gemma bit her lip, not wanting her mind to force her into the reaction she knew was coming.

A small, cute little wolf pup had appeared. He had small ears, and a short snout with a highly sensitive nose, his eyes were deep red but at this stage – being only a pup – its eyesight isn't all that good, and thus its eyes seem out of focus. Its main fur is a deep charcoal colour, with a tint of red, whilst its tail is a long burning flame, which curls around its body to keep it warm when even its natural heat can't do the job. Its paws have a flame around them, but its weak and barely noticeable. Around its eyes are white patches, like a smoke cloud around them.

"Olf?" The little Embolf said, looking at the group, mainly at Gemma, with its red eyes, and grinning a sweet grin.

"Aw, I think he likes you." Holly said. Gemma couldn't take it now, the memories piled on her and she couldn't stay there any longer, she tore out of the room at full speed.

"Wha… oh crap how could I be so stupid?-! Gemma! Gem! Wait up!" Nathen said before running after her. Holly was confused for a second, before turning to the professors.

"I'll take Pegaseed. And have you finished with my stuff? I doubt I'll be coming back for it." She said. Fir nodded and handed over the items, and Pine gave her the Pokémon's Poké Ball, after returning Pegaseed. Holly clipped the Poké Ball to the sides of her bag where she kept all her Pokémon, then ran off without another word.

"They were a lively bunch!" Fir said. Pine facepalmed.

~X~X~X~

Gemma ran and ran, she wasn't nearly as fast as Nathen with his Arcanine DNA, but any Pokémon DNA implant added to your speed… unless it were something slow like a Slowbro or Snorlax, of course. She cursed the horrid group who had done this to her and her friend over and over in her mind and aloud as she ran. She hated them, hated them with all her heart… or maybe not all, there was a tiny space for love for a select few people and Pokémon… the largest space for someone in particular.

She shook her head, tears starting to form, the happy thought of a certain boy was pushed away by the horrid memories of what those… those… bastards had done to her precious, loyal little partner who stuck with her when her Bunnop and Hopare didn't. And seeing that Embolf, so cute and innocent, looking at her just like her own used to, it tore her heart to shreds all over again. Why the hell didn't she just let Nathen take her to another region? Somewhere that wouldn't be so heartbreaking?

She stopped when she reached a clearing just outside of town, collapsing to her knees and sobbing hard. She punched the ground and tore off her bands, just about not breaking them. Flames burst into light on her wrists, and her ankles soon joined them, not even her tears putting the fires out. She punched the ground harder and harder before suddenly she heard a dark voice.

"Well well. Lookie here, a fire type implant. Can't say exactly which, but you must be quite uncontrollable, kiddo." The voice said, it was male. Gemma looked around frantically, standing up.

"Wh-Who's there?-!" She exclaimed, powering her flames more, tears not stopping.

"Seems to be a bit of a cry-baby too." The voice continued, before a man stepped into view. He had ice blue hair, with a white fringe, his eyes were ice blue, and he seemed to have ice around his wrists that was now growing to form up his arms. He was in a plain black t-shirt, and his trousers were orange with a Black stripe down the side that formed half way down into a zigzagged E. Gemma whimpered recognising the uniform, and knowing all too well what he was. "You must be a runaway agent."

"I-I w-was never on-one of you!" Gemma sobbed, flames flaring more. The man just laughed, and a ball of ice formed in his hand, "I-I can melt that!"

"Whatever you say, cry-baby." He snickered, before going to fire the ball of ice.

~X~X~X~

"Nathen! Hey! Slow down Mr. Speedy!" Holly called. She was running at inhuman speed too, but she wasn't quite as fast as Nathen was.

"Holly? What the…?-! How are you…?-!" Nathen exclaimed.

"Looks like we have something in common. And I bet Gemma has something similar in common with us too, right? Explanations later, we better find Gemma. What set her off? Embolf?"

"Explanations later, just like you said. But I don't think she'll want to talk about that. You're right though, we gotta find her, who knows who could be in this wood." Nathen said, speeding up, not slowing.

"Hey! I'm not as fast as you!" Holly said, before pushing herself to run as fast as she possibly could. She just about reached him, lagging behind by only a couple of feet. "Are we getting close?"

"Hm… I think we might be, I can feel her aura an-… oh shit! Run faster!" Nathen said, speeding up again.

"I can't run faster! Ugh…!" Holly groaned, forcing her body to push all her energy into the run. "God what is he…?"

"We're almost there! Just a few more… here!" Nathen said, before coming to a sudden stop, dead still without any skidding or effort. Holly, on the other hand, skidded a foot or so in front of him before coming to a stop. Nathen could see Gemma now, and the man who was with her, and the man could see him and Holly. He smirked, and without a word he suddenly grabbed Gemma, holding her by her neck and pushed her head back, forming a dagger out of the ice he controlled and pointing it to her neck.

"Well well, more of you."

"You… you Existence members… you're just as bad as…" Nathen growled, and stopped before finishing. The man smirked. Great… we just got here and already we've ended up facing them… this is just not our day…

~X~X~X~

Me: How was this? It won't be updated for a while, probably, due to me needing to finish the Pokédex and towns and general stuff before I can really continue. But, there is no open to OC policy spare to Legendary Fairy and Final Heir, who are probably my best readers, you're all great but they help a lot behind the scenes too. You can tell who's is who's. This is mainly an introduction to the characters, so… Oh, and Nathen, I hope the Pokédex design isn't too similar to yours.

R&R!