Ripple

Full Summary: The little island of Sundance has been terrorised by a raging monster. It could burn down a village in a single night, and just one eruption of its furious flames can create a huge crater in the ground. But no one has ever seen this mysterious beast, not until a young man called Brendan stumbled upon its wrath.

Chapter 1

Sundance is a small volcanic island south of Kanto and Johto. Half the size of Hoenn, and near the equator, Sundance is blessed with plenty of sunshine. However, the island can only be so tolerable, as droughts are very common. It hardly rains, except for the month long typhoon season that occurs every summer, causing the island to be swamped with muddy floods, raging winds and stormy seas.

The residents of the island learn to be resilient towards the harsh weather system, and their hardy nature helped them cope with living in the complicated island. But it wasn't the typhoons or the droughts that made the island difficult.

It was the raging monster that resided in the mainland.

Crowe Copper, a seventeen year old boy from the small town of Breece, wasn't one to be content with over exerting himself. He sat on the beach, in an area known as south Palmside, and stared out to sea lazily with half lidded amber eyes. The sun shone on his bare chest, making the beads of moisture on his tan skin sparkle. Sighing, he ran his hand through his messy black hair, smoothing it down in an attempt to tame it before flicking off the sweat from his brow.

The waves crept up the shore, first tickling at his toes before suddenly rising up to soak his board shorts, and then hastily retreated back to the ocean, leaving only a white froth on the wet sand. Crowe smirked to himself, welcoming another wash of rushing seawater, enjoying the tickling sensation as the grains of sand were washed off his legs.

"There you are!"

Crowe suddenly closed his eyes, sucking in his lower lip as his brows furrowed together. He felt someone sit next to him, nudging him slightly with an elbow as this person huffed. He opened his eyes, looking over to his left as he stared at a girl sceptically. Her frost blue eyes bore into amber, her pink lips set in a thin line. She held a mischievious demeanour, and she looked mature by at least three or four years than her actual age of sixteen.

"What do you want, Jay?" Crowe mumbled as he faced the sea, watching a couple of Wingulls dodging the spraying waves. The girl, Jay Harrow, tucked a strand of her long sun bleached hair behind her ear. "You stalking me again?"

Jay scowled at the boy, tucking her long legs to her chest, digging her toes in the sand. "No," she seethed, trying hard not to shout. "I've just come to see you."

Crowe stood up, brushing sand off his knees and thighs before staring down at the girl. Jay looked up at Crowe expectantly, her attention entirely focused on the boy.

"See me?" he asked. "What about?"

"I dunno," Jay sighed, staring at the ocean as a wave welcomed her to the beach, wetting her tan brown skin and dampening her blue denim shorts. "Just wanna talk, yeah."

Crowe didn't reply. Instead he grabbed at his necklace, pulling off one of the three spherical pendants from the chain, and he looked at it lovingly. It was an ultra ball, the shiny surface reflecting the sun's rays, and Crowe stared at it with soft eyes. He pressed the button, enlarging the ball and then threw it into the air. A white flash escaped from the ball, zigzagging in the air before collecting itself on the sand, forming a glowing white shape. The light faded, and the blue ball on the ground uncurled itself, revealing a Vaporeon. It yawned sleepily, rubbing an eye with a paw as it tried to wipe away the sleep.

"Hey, Cobalt," Crowe cooed as he scratched the rubbery skin under the water dog's chin. "Wakey wakey, Coby, we have some training to do."

Coby the vaporeon, however, snuffled his head away, making it clear to his trainer that he was not happy from being awaken from its nap. Jay laughed, clutching at one of her own Pokéball pendants. Crowe removed his other Pokéball pendant and released it, a small green Larvitar jumping up and down in joy as it became excited.

"I guess it's me and you again, Emmy." Crowe laughed as he patted the small Pokémon on the head. "Wanna practice your sand attack on Coby?"

Coby's head suddenly perked up, his eyes wide on Emmy. The female Larvitar squeaked in delight while Jay and Crowe laughed among themselves.

"You have good Pokémon," Jay smiled, fiddling with one of her Tankini shoulder straps. "But why won't you catch anymore? I already own around sixty, but you only have Shia, Cobalt and Emerald. You won't go very far in a Pokémon league if you only own a Pidgeot, a Vaporeon and a Larvitar."

The young man crossed his arms, watching Emmy toddle as she chased a groggy Coby across the sand. "Yeah, well…" Crowe didn't bother with giving Jay a proper reply. The two were left in silence, wordlessly observing Emmy as she pounced on Coby's tail, squeaking happily. "I'm not interested in the Pokémon league."

Jay gave him an odd sideways glance, as if she heard something vulgar. "You what?" she scoffed. The boy next to her shrugged, running his hand through his hair again. "The Pokémon league is every trainer's dream. You are good at what you do, and everyone says that you have great potential. You have a talent for it. Why… why waste that?"

Crowe didn't answer. Instead, he picked up Emmy, much to Coby's relief, and stroked the top of her head. She cooed happily, squeaking as she snuggled closer to Crowe's chest. He sighed, his amber eyes softening as he watched Emmy yawn, the larvitar curling up into a sleeping position. Coby made a small noise before sauntering into the sea, the saline waters pleasant to the vaporeon's skin. The two teens were silent once again as they stared out to the ocean.

"You miss him, don't you?" Jay sighed as she watched Coby's mermaid tail splash up some water. Crowe could only nod. "How often do you think of him?"

"Every day," Crowe replied, stroking the larvitar he cradled. "I'm always wondering what he would do or how he would react with Cobalt and Emerald if he were still here. Would he look out and take care of them like he took care of me?"

"Hm…" Jay looked up at him softly, taking in every word as she listened. "I'm sure he is still looking after us now. He was great."

Crowe smiled at Jay's kind words.

"Yeah," he chuckled. "Bubs the mudkip… he was fantastic."

Crowe's Pokénav was beeping and vibrating, causing Emmy to jolt awake in surprise. Jay's Pokénav also beeped an alert, and they both looked at their messages. Crowe's eyes hardened as he read the alert, scanning over the text angrily.

"There's another attack!" he growled.

Jay heard him mutter a curse under his breath as he suddenly ran off the beach. He yelled over his shoulder for Coby, who quickly sprinted up to the teen at they made their way to the mainland.

Jay followed, taking off her Pokéball pendant and releasing her Pokémon, a large swellow soaring out and flying beside her. She jumped onto it, and they both soared into the air. Ahead of them was a large billowing swell of smoke, black and dusty and dirtying the air. It was quite a distance away, about five minutes in flight, but they could still smell the stench of burning material.

At the source of the smoke was frenzy of fire, the swirling blaze wreaking havoc in one of the small towns of the island. She could see the flashing lights from numerous emergency vehicles, their sirens echoing over the panicked screaming and crying of the citizens.

"Oh jeez…" she swore as she glared at the burning town.

The cry of a pidgeot resounded to her side, and Jay could see Crowe riding his pidgeot, with Coby also comfortably seated upon the birds back. The pidgeot cried out again before darting ahead, into the huge column of dusty black air.

Brendan Kurtis, eighteen years old and teen Pokémon star, never was the sort of person to settle down. Ever since he defeated Steven Stone in the Hoenn championship league, Brendan's name had spread far and fast. He never complained with the fame, in fact he loved the attention and the recognition of his trainer abilities. The modest May Birch always scolded him for having a large ego though, and she often kept him in his place whenever his head over inflates.

"Aw, c'mon May!" Brendan chuckled, readjusting his headband against his snowy hair. May only glared back at him. "Jeez, it's not my fault that I have so many fans these days. I might as well get used to it, I mean, I've been training extra hard to compete in the battle frontier this year. Imagine the extra fans when I win this one!"

"Brendan, you're doing it again." May grumbled, her chestnut brown hair bobbing up and down as they walked back to her father's lab. "Shut up."

"Doing what again?" he said nonchalantly as he smiled at a passing girl, who giggled and blushed as she walked past. He chuckled to himself, smirking as he ruffled up his snowy hair with a gloved hand, completely oblivious to a fuming May stomping next to him.

"You're getting cocky again!" she snapped. Her anger rose when Brendan rolled his hazel eyes. May huffed, slapping him lightly on his arm. "For goodness sake, Brendan! Why are you so… so bigheaded and… and- Argh!"

May stomped ahead of him, growling a long string of curses about her travel companion, not caring if he heard any of it. She leered over her shoulder to give Brendan a hard glare. Her usually cool blue eyes suddenly alit with ultra violet fire. The smirk on Brendan's face suddenly dropped, and he slightly frowned as he watched May's form disappear into a lab building.

"Jeez," he hissed under his breath. "I've been travelling with that girl for far too long."

He stepped into the building, whistling to himself like nothing had ever happened and grinned at a familiar face inside.

"Why, if it isn't Brendan," greeted professor Birch, his brown hair sticking to the sweat on his forehead. "It has been a while since I last saw you face to face. I've only been catching glimpses of you on television every now and then. You make me proud."

Brendan laughed at the compliment, eagerly shaking the professor's hand before giving his assistant one of Brendan's winning smiles. "Thanks, professor," the teen grinned, sticking his hands into his pockets. "So, what's up? When you called me and May you sounded pretty urgent."

"Ah, about that," the professor ran his hands across his lab coat, smoothing over any creases, and to dry off his sweaty hands. "I have received a call from one of my colleagues in Sundance, and I've been told that the island has been going through a very unfortunate and difficult time."

Brendan crossed his arms, listening to professor Birch as the man paced around his lab.

"Do you remember your encounter with the legendary Pokémon, Groudon?" the professor asked, his lips stretched into a thin and serious line. Brendan nodded. "Well, the island has been terrorised by a powerful fire Pokémon, and they are in desperate need of a trainer to solve this problem. With your experiences with Groudon, and with your status as the Hoenn Pokémon champion, I suppose that you are the perfect candidate to help solve their problems."

The young man smirked at him, his arrogant smile radiating his confidence. "A powerful fire Pokémon, huh?" Brendan mulled over the concept. "Do you know what that Pokémon is?"

"No." Professor Birch shook his head as he said this. "Nobody has ever seen it. But we suspect that it could quite possibly be an undiscovered species, of perhaps, a legendary Pokémon."

There was a heavy silence in the lab, bar the humming of the machinery the professor used for his research. Brendan crossed his arms as he thought over what was being offered. Another adventure? The concept is incredibly tempting to take up.

The teen gave in, accepting the mission, or challenge as Brendan liked to put it, and offered his hand once again to shake with professor Birch.

"Sure," Brendan announced, his hazel eyes ablaze with newfound determination. "Should be a piece of cake."

Professor Birch gave Brendan a serious stare as the man stood up straighter. "Brendan," he sighed, his voice soft yet it still carried an urgent tone. "I want you to be careful. Don't get over confident. Don't be rash. I am giving you an extremely dangerous task."

The teen raised a brow, and he shifted slightly to match professor Birch's stature. "How dangerous?" Brendan asked, his voice slightly unsteady.

The professor placed his hands on Brendan's shoulders, squeezing them as he crouched lower so they could be at eye level. "What I mean is," the man paused, thinking over what to say. "People have been killed. One of the island's best Pokémon trainers is unavailable. You will be there to fill his shoes."

"Unavailable?" Brendan wasn't sure if he should take up this mission. Reason told him not to, but his drive of adventure urged him on. "What happened to him?"

Professor Birch sighed, releasing Brendan's shoulders. "He's currently comatose." He replied, his expression grave. "But I've been informed that he may never wake up."

Reason screamed at Brendan to tell him not to accept, but there was some sort of sick satisfaction that Brendan took pleasure in when it comes to danger. The young champion smiled, more out of understanding rather than confidence, and shifted his weight so he leaned to the side. "Don't worry," he said, reassuring the professor. "I can handle myself. I promise you that I won't get into too much trouble."

lol... I'm such a nerd. Tell me what you think :)