Updated 1/16/19.

Even only 7 chapters in, I look back at this and know it could be better. However, I like to show how far I've come as a writer, so I don't plan to edit it. If you decide to stick through this less-than-great writing, just know that the quality improves as the chapters go on. Thanks for reading! :)

All fires start as a single flame, a small spark trying to burn. With the proper fuel, a tiny flame can transform into a raging inferno, incapable of being stopped. However, if there isn't enough oxygen, it will die. Similarly, human potential has both the capability of being extinguished in a single moment or rising up and growing into an unstoppable inferno. However, a snuffed-out fire still smolders before it disappears forever. With but a spark, the flame will once again burn, with the possibility of burning even brighter than before.

Hidden inside the depths of a cave near Lake Acuity in the snowy, barren landscape of northern Sinnoh was one such flame. Barely still lit, the bright orange flame danced across a pile of thick branches found around the lake. The twigs supporting the blaze were flimsy and looked as though they were going to fall over at any time. Wind and snow pushed further and further inside of the cave's entrance, coming closer to the fire with every passing moment. However, the flame fought on despite its appearance flickering with the flow of the breeze.

Sitting on a flat stone by the fire was a young man with spiky brown hair; his bright green eyes were staring intently at the flames, never once flinching as the fire crackled. He was watching the fire so intensely that he hadn't moved for nearly half an hour. Naught but the orange, flickering flames attracted his gaze. Despite the attention, though, the blaze continued to burn, its only movements being the dancing with the wind.

Despite the freezing cold temperatures of northern Sinnoh, the teen was wearing only a pair of blue jeans, an unzipped gray jacket, and a red long-sleeved shirt. The fire did nothing to warm him, yet he did not shiver once. Instead, he continued his staring, seemingly entranced by the dancing sparks of the flame.

After another twenty minutes of silence, the young man dropped his gaze. He stood up and from the stone that he had been perched on for nearly an hour. A black Poke Ball belt upon his waist was visible as he stood up, though he had only one such capsule attached. The teen turned towards the cave's opening and watched the snow come down just as hard as it was nearly an hour previous when he entered the cave. With no sign of letting up anytime soon, the teen decided he had waited long enough.

"Let's go, Pyro."

The teen spoke in a low, stolid tone at no one in particular. However, immediately upon speaking, he heard a quick scratching of talons against stone from behind him. A small chick Pokemon was scrambling to his clawed feet, his yellow wings and orange feathers fluttering in the wind. The Torchic had been dozing up until that moment against the side of the cave in the shadows, kept warm by the flame in his belly. He instantly perked up as soon as he heard his trainer's voice, though, his eyes shining with excitement.

"Sounds good, Will! I was starting to fall asleep anyways!" the bird responded with the help of a small translator.

Like all domesticated Pokemon, a translator for any language was inserted into Pyro when he was captured. With the creation of the recent technology, Poke Balls were designed to automatically—and painlessly—implant them into all captured Pokemon.

The Torchic beamed at his trainer, but the young man, Will, said nothing in response. He continued staring at the snow outside the entrance, having never turned towards Pyro when the creature spoke. However, before he left and braved the wintry weather, the brunet walked over to the fire—still continuing to burn despite all odds stacked against it. In one fell swoop, Will forcefully stomped down upon the flames, restricting the flow of oxygen to the fire and extinguishing it in a single moment. Only smoldering ashes remained then.

Without another word, the duo headed into the cold as the smoldering ashes of the fire slowly died, finally losing its long, futile battle.

Back at Acuity Lakefront, Will and Pyro began walking due east, headed towards Snowpoint City. For nearly six years, Will and his parents—Leanne and Douglas Knight—have lived in the snowy, northern city. They had previously lived in the Hoenn region but moved immediately after Will's tenth birthday. Now, they lived in Snowpoint City, a town with few citizens—and no one near Will in age—due to the frigid temperatures year-round.

The pair was walking side by side in complete silence other than the crisp sounds of their stomping through fields of snow. Neither Will nor Pyro said a word to the other as they walked, but this was a common occurrence. Being partners for nearly nine years, Pyro knew that Will was no longer the young, innocent boy that he once was when they met. However, there was a difference between their usual silence and this feeling that Pyro had.

"What's on your mind?" he asked innocently, all the while continuing to walk alongside the teen. "You're quiet today—even more so than normal."

Will kept up his pace, his face revealing no sign of him having even heard the Pokemon. Pyro didn't press his trainer, though. The teen continued walking in silence for another ten seconds before finally responding to the Torchic's question.

"Tomorrow's the day," he said simply. "We leave in the morning."

In less than twenty-four hours, Will was going to turn sixteen, the minimum age to become a Pokemon Trainer in the Sinnoh Region. His birthday should have been a happy occasion because of that, or so Pyro believed at least. They had to wait an extra four years as the previous trainer age of twelve was changed only months before Will came of age, so Pyro figured that Will must have been excited, even if he wouldn't show it.

"Yeah, it'll be great!" Pyro smiled as his eyes twinkled with excitement. "We're finally going on a journey together!"

Will opened his mouth to say something, but quickly snapped it shut, biting down hard on his bottom lip. He continued to stare straight ahead, as silent as ever. The small Pokemon next to him either didn't notice any of what had just happened or said nothing, but after waiting for nearly thirty seconds without a response from his trainer, Pyro stopped walking abruptly.

Surprised by the sudden stop, Will stopped as well and turned to his right, pivoting on his left foot and stomping his right into the snow. He turned towards Pyro to see the Chick Pokemon with his head tilted to the left, frowning as he stared right at Will with a blank look. The scene caught Will off guard; Pyro didn't normally question him about anything anymore. The teen sent the same look back towards the Pokemon, though he also furrowed his brow in an almost angry way. The two stood in silence for nearly a full minute before Pyro spoke.

"I'm confused, Will," he began. "I thought that you were ready for us to go on our journey."

The teen nodded his head in response, signaling that he was. However, he vocalized nothing, instead choosing to wait for the chick to continue with his thought. Recognizing this, Pyro continued.

"We've been preparing for this day since the day we met and became partners. Sure, we've had our ups and downs, but that day is behind us. We can start to finally move past it tomorrow. It wasn't your—"

"—It was."

Will cut Pyro off, not letting him finish his thought. The teen began to glare harshly, however, not at the Pokemon in front of him, but at the ground beneath his feet. After a moment, though, he shook his head twice slowly and began to inhale deeply. Then, after holding in the breath for a few more seconds, released it just as deliberately.

He stood quietly for another minute, but in the tense silence, that minute felt as though it dragged on for an hour to Pyro. He felt as though he could do nothing but stare as his trainer, waiting for him to open up. Will opened his mouth and took in one more long breath, paused, and released it again.

"I'm ready, Pyro."

The simple answer was much less than what the Pokemon had been hoping for but knew that there was no sense in pushing further. He was more likely to just anger Will if he pressed the issue. Sighing, the chick began to walk again, expecting Will to follow now that the conversation was over.

However, the brunet surprised his partner and added, "You might not think that I'm ready yet, but I'm getting there. I'll become strong."

Pyro went wide-eyed upon hearing that, completely stopped in his tracks. However, if Will noticed, he didn't say anything. Instead, he began walking again, leaving the chick behind as continued to gape. Noticing he was being left behind, he quickly recovered and ran to catch up to his trainer.

The silence between them then persisted until they arrived in Snowpoint City, neither Will nor Pyro able to find anything to say at that point.

"How was your day, Will?"

A plump woman with a head of long blonde hair and a bright yellow dress was sitting across a circular wooden table from the young man, a wide smile upon her face. Her green eyes sparkled as she stared at Will, the love and care she so obviously felt for the teen clear to see.

"It was alright," he answered, never once actually looking at her as he spoke.

The brunet simply looked down at the plate of food in front of him. As it was his last night home before his birthday and his Pokemon League journey, his family went all out. They were having steaks, mashed potatoes, and green beans—Will's favorite meal. However, the teen only rolled one of the beans around with his fork, his steak and potatoes barely touched.

The woman across from him watched with a crestfallen look at the scene but said nothing. Instead, she took a deep breath in and turned to her right where a man similar in age to her sat eating, watching the scene in front of him with a concerned look. He looked just like an older version of Will, with the same brown hair—though it was better kept than Will's head of spikes, tan skin, and green eyes. Clearing his throat, the man smiled at the blonde woman.

"Thank you, Leanne," he began. Then, looking to his right towards the teen, continued, "This food tastes great! Don't you think, Will?"

The brunet in question looked up towards him briefly and shrugged his shoulders, all the while never making eye contact. He then brought his attention back downwards towards his plate and finally picked up a bite of steak.

"It tastes good," he said, just before eating the bit of food.

The older man—Douglas—sighed, but Leanne smiled slightly, apparently glad to have at least a slight reaction. At the same time, Pyro was sitting across from the older man on a booster seat so that he could also reach the table. He had the same meal in front of him, but unlike Will's plate, the Pokemon's food was nearly completely gone.

"It really is good, Mom!" he exclaimed, looking at Leanne with a sparkle in his eyes. "Dad was so right!"

Pyro, having been with Will since the teen was seven-years-old, was incredibly close with his family. After a few months of living with the Knight family, he too began to call Will's parents Mom and Dad. Despite being a Pokemon, Douglas and Leanne Knight considered Pyro to be their second son, and he saw them as parents.

"Thanks, Pyro!" The woman smiled at the Pokemon to her left, clearly appreciative of the compliment. She looked back towards her son, hoping for a reaction to the Pokemon's words, but when nothing came, she decided she would leave him to his thoughts, as they often did when the teen didn't want to talk.

Throughout the conversation, Will didn't look back up from his plate, considering his part in the discussion to be over. Instead, he thought more about his upcoming journey, a common subject for him recently.

I can finally get stronger. He thought. As soon as I leave, I can find others to defeat for training. Hardly any trainers ever come here except for those nearing the end of their journeys, and there is no point in me trying to train with them—they'd destroy me at my current level. But not forever.

His pessimistic view on success in battling against others in Snowpoint was not unfounded. In the near six years that he and his family had lived in the northern settlement, they had seen less than ten trainers that were beginning their journey. Of those trainers, nearly all were from the Battle Zone, an island east from Snowpoint that sent only the best of the best to challenge the Pokemon League. Without the formal training that Will could only begin with his Trainer's license at sixteen-years-old, there was no sense in training with them, he knew. It's against the law to participate in any Pokemon League-sanctioned events without a license, so while it was not strictly illegal for trainers to battle with someone without a license such as Will, few would enter that gray area.

Whenever my Trainer's License comes in tomorrow, trainers will finally accept my challenge, and with that, I will become strong! No longer will anyone be able to push me around! No one will ever—

"—you think, Will?"

He heard only the ending of what seemed to be a question directed towards him by his father, causing the brunet to instantly tense up. His shoulders rigid and gaze ever-piercing, Will scanned the dining room and noticed both of his parents and Pyro staring at him expectantly. Will stayed tense, and noticing this reaction, Douglas repeated what he had said, his face revealing only the same caring smile that he almost always wore.

"Ready for tomorrow, do you think, Will?"

The brunet nodded his head, his face still as stolid as ever. He slowly set down the knife and fork that were in his hands onto the table next to his mostly-untouched plate of food. He then clenched his hands into fists as he looked up and to the left, towards his father. With his face devoid of any emotion, Will nodded his head slowly.

"I've been ready for a long time."

The answer seemed simple, but there was more depth to it than seemed possible. Will, for the first time since they began eating, locked eyes with his father and didn't shrink from the continuous eye contact. Surprised by the answer, it was Douglas that looked away almost immediately, appearing to feel almost guilty of something. The man stared down at his nearly-cleared plate, eyes wide open as his wife did the same. However, she recovered much sooner than her husband.

"But it's dangerous out there, Will!" she cried, staring dead-on with her son. "You know that better than anyone! It wasn't—"

"It was. But I'm ready."

Will spoke quietly, though there was a force behind his words that caused his mother to stop speaking instantly. The same look of guilt that her husband still carried returned, and it struck her instantly. Leanne dropped her gaze as a lone tear began to slide down her cheek.

She wasn't wrong, though, and Will knew it. In the past five years or so, attacks by Pokemon had become almost common. Along with being every bit as intelligent as humans, Pokemon also had the same emotions, so if one was scared, angry, or confused, Pokemon would attack. Another common cause behind attacks was trainers not knowing how to avoid a Pokemon territory, and some creatures were more territorial than others. To help lessen these attacks, Sinnoh's Champion, Cynthia, raised the age for a Trainer's License from twelve to sixteen and had students take classes before they could apply for their license.

Since the shift, attacks were lower, but still prevalent. Fewer trainers were making the common mistakes of angering or scaring a Pokemon or entering the home of a territorial Pokemon. However, there were still some attacks. Experts—Pokemon researchers, Gym Leaders, and other such authorities—believed the answer was simple: some Pokemon were evil and just wanted to attack others.

Like humans.

Pyro watched the scene in front of him play out in silence. Like Leanne and Douglas, a look of pure guilt had taken over, and he couldn't look up at Will. Instead, he just looked straight forwards and watched the two people he considered his parents in a moment of shame. Will, meanwhile, stood up from the table, his plate of food still mostly full.

Without looking at anyone in particular, apparently unable to look at them either, he asked, "I need to finish packing. Can I be excused?"

He phrased it as a question, but Will was already leaving before anyone responded, leaving the three of them in silence as he left the kitchen and headed towards his bedroom. His parents watched him leave, their looks of guilt replaced by regret. However, they simply stared at his retreating figure as Pyro hurriedly left his chair and followed the teen.

The Pokemon turned back towards Leanne and Douglas to give them a reassuring look and found them staring at each other, not even noticing Pyro. Understanding why, he decided to just keep moving on towards his partner, hoping to make him feel better.

As the duo left, though, Douglas finally spoke again, saying, "He'll get past it, Leanne." The man spoke with such confidence, despite the scene that had just played out in the kitchen. "Our little boy will come back to us." He had went and hugged his wife, whom did nothing but cry, no longer keeping the tears back.

Pyro could barely hear them, though, and hoped that Will didn't whatsoever. He didn't turn around or say anything, so the Pokemon thought he had gotten lucky. The teen just continued walking upstairs to his bedroom.

However, he was clenching his fists tighter than ever as a droplet slowly dripped down his face and fell to the carpeted stairway.

When they got upstairs to Will's bedroom, Pyro shut the door behind them, knowing how much Will valued his privacy. As they entered, the chick noticed a large, black sling backpack with a red outline sitting against the bed. The zipper was not fully closed, so he could see the content: a few days' clothes, rope, extra shoes, and two water bottles in the pouches on either side. Seeing the pack, Pyro tilted his head to the right in confusion.

"Did you forget that you packed this morning before we went to Lake Acuity?" he asked the teen, who continued walking towards his bed. As he laid down—still silent—Pyro continued, saying, "You told Mom and Dad that you still had to pack."

Will, lying on his bed, turned towards the Pokemon and staring at him dead-on, replied, "I know." And with that, he turned back onto his back and closed his eyes.

Sighing, Pyro walked over towards his own bed—a miniature mattress made just for smaller Pokemon like him—next to Will's, deciding to lay down as well. He stared upwards towards two posters on the ceiling that Will kept—the only decorations that he had in his room—of two Pokemon trainers. One had black hair that he kept under a red hat and the other had dark blond hair. Both trainers had the same Pokemon, an orange, dragon-like creature that Pyro knew to be a Charizard.

Will wasn't a sentimental person. There was a meaning for everything that he owned, be it for physical or mental reasons. For the soon-to-be-rookie trainer, staring at the posters of two of the most powerful trainers in the world was a motivator for the brunet. Will would look at them each night as he fell asleep and first thing in the morning; they were his reminders of what strength looked like.

Seeing them, Pyro smiled a bit. "Soon we're gonna make sure you're a Champion, too, Will! Just like them! Are you ready for that or what!?"

The attempt at cheering up his trainer seemed to work, or at least that's what Pyro thought. Rather than lying still without comment like he usually would, Will rolled back onto his side again and faced Pyro beneath him. However, he wasn't smiling whatsoever, despite his partner's hopes. Thinking he failed and was about to get a short answer, Pyro sighed.

Opening his mouth, Will took in a breath to speak. However, in an unexpected twist, the teen snorted once and began to laugh: a sound that Pyro did not hear often. The laughing was short, though, with Will stopping after only a few mere seconds.

"I don't want to be Champion, Pyro," he said, his face stolid once more.

That bombshell hit the Pokemon hard; did Will not want to go on a journey anymore? Pyro must have looked incredibly surprised, because Will went on further, answering the unsaid question.

"I still plan to leave tomorrow." He paused. "But I have no desire to be Champion. I've been thinking about it a lot recently."

The chick couldn't think of anything to say, so he waited, hoping that Will would explain himself. He did nothing but stare at his trainer, silently hoping that he would open up just a little bit more yet.

"I will become strong. That's all I need. I'll defeat all evil. Nothing else matters, not a flashy title or anything else," he ended, sounding snarky as he finished speaking.

After explaining all that he had to say, Will turned back onto his back and closed his eyes, appearing at peace. Pyro watched the scene in front of him play with wide eyes, not completely certain that he understood everything that had happened. He knew Will better than anyone, but he had no one idea that his partner felt this way.

"Are you alright?" Pyro asked, his voice slightly shaky.

Will, who had previously appeared relaxed and at peace, clenched his fists, hiked his shoulders, and sat up quickly on his bed within a second of hearing the question. He looked down towards his starter Pokemon and frowned.

"You know that I hate that question, Pyro."

His frown lessened as he realized whom he was talking to, but the effect was all the same. Pyro sighed in response and looked up to his trainer dead-on, his gaze more piercing than Will had seen it in a long time.

"You'd tell me if there was something worrying you, though, right – More than normal?"

Will sat on his bed staring at the Pokemon for several moments before ever replying, and even then, didn't verbalize the answer. Instead, he merely nodded his head slowly and laid back down, the peace from before returning but not in full. Pyro, realizing that he would get nothing more, sighed once again and stood up. He walked over to the light switch, turned off the lights, and went back to his mattress.

"Goodnight, Will," he called up to his partner as he closed his eyes, preparing for the early morning.

"…Night," the teen replied moments later, his eyes now open and staring at the posters above him.

As he became more tired, Will felt his eyes begin to close naturally, though his gaze never left the posters. The Champions above him stared down upon him, seemingly inviting him to join them. With that thought, the brunet finally drifted into a dreamless sleep, ready for the next day and everything that would come with it.

He would finally be a Pokemon trainer.

Hey everyone, thanks for reading. This is going to be an interesting story, if I do say so myself. Pokemon are, in my mind, every bit as intelligent as humans, so that will be reflected here. Pokemon aren't mindless slaves that fight only for the trainer's goals (Usually), and that'll be shown with Will's team. Each Pokemon is their own unique character, and I'm excited to share that with all of you.

There will be several arcs for this story, with the first being the Strength Arc, as you can see below. Each arc will have an overall theme that ties in to a part of Will's growth. Thanks again for reading!

1. What are your first impressions of this story?

2. Predictions for the chapters in this part of the arc?

3. Team Predictions for Will?

4. Any major hopes for the story?

Next Chapter: Returning Home

With his Trainer's License finally arriving, Will is able to start his Pokemon journey in earnest. With his first Pokemon Gym Challenge in Snowpoint City, however, he decides to train before staying in the Pokemon Center for the first time—a way for him to signify his new independence. What surprises wait him on his first day!?

Strength Arc:

Snowpoint City:

Chapter 3: Polar Prankster!

Chapter 4: The Rookie Among Rookies

Chapter 5: Left Cold!

Chapter 6: Warming a Cold Shoulder

Chapter 7: A New Dawn!

Chapter 8: Avoiding the Avalanche!