It's not often that one just happens upon a pokeball wedged deep into the road. On a rainy day I'm been hurrying home in the rain with my purple cardigan lifted above my head when my foot strikes something hard in the mud. When I look back I see something red poking out of the road and go over to dig it out of the wet surface with my fingernails. I can't believe my luck, someone had just left a pokeball lying around the mud and hadn't bothered to pick it up. Stealthily, I slip the pokeball into my pocket and continue running in the rain until I get to my house.
I live on a little ranch a little outside Aspertia City in Unova. Even though I'm fourteen, I've never been allowed my own Pokemon like some of the other kids because my parents say it's against their morals. They don't like that kids are allowed to control such powerful creatures and think it's dangerous. Of course our ranch has lots of Pokemon on it. I'm a shepherdess myself and I tend to all the Mareep, but my parents won't let me raise any of them the way a trainer would because they have dangerous electrical power that could hurt me if I got to close.
When I enter the house I wipe my feet on the mat and put my boots near the door. I tie my purple cardigan around my waist so the bulge in my pocket is less noticeable then sneak past my mother in the kitchen. Upstairs I have a good view of the sheep from my bedroom which is shaped a little funny because of how the house was built. The upstairs is really more of an attic but I sleep up there because there's nowhere else for me to go. I have a pretty messy bedroom, not that I'm proud of it. My bed is unmade and I have clothes all over the floor as well. My parents don't let me have any electronics either so at least I don't have to worry about losing any in the mess.
I sit down on my bed and pull out the Pokeball still covered in mud and clean it off with a handkerchief. It had been forever since I was allowed to hold one of these because my friend use to bring over her Pokemon before she left for her own journey. The red and white pokeball grows to a larger size in my hand and the big white button in the middle is oh so tempting to press. Maybe I can catch my favorite Mareep with it and mother wouldn't notice if just periodically disappeared from time to time. I could train her and once she was good enough, then I'd tell my parents about the Pokeball and they'd be so impressed they'd have to let me go on a journey.
I pressed the white button in the middle as if to practice catching a Pokemon but the ball surprised me when instead of opening up to reveal the technology inside, a red beam shot out towards my bedroom floor. A huge shape suddenly appears in my bedroom like a giant bear and I have to clap my hand over my mouth in order to avoid screaming. The bear growls and I pray my parents still haven't heard a sound. Rapidly I press the center of the ball over and over again trying to get the thing to go back inside but it doesn't work. The terrifying Pokemon continues to stalk forward towards me and suddenly it rears back and lunges. I close my eyes but instead of a whirlwind of teeth, fur and claws, a much smaller thing lands in my lap. Looking down I see a much different Pokemon, a furry black dog, with a mischievous grin on it's face.
I've never seen this Pokemon before. It's not one of the dog Pokemon we have working on our ranch but it could be very similar. The Pokemon begins liking my hands affectionatly leaving more startled than before. Maybe this was one of those special Pokemon that could transform. This little dog might not even be it's true form. I could be holding a disgusting, vile beast in the form of a little black lap dog. Either way I realize the truth. Someone hadn't just discarded a Pokeball in the middle of a seemingly abandoned road, they'd abandoned their Pokemon.
From downstairs I hear barking and pawprints mounting the stairs to my attic bedroom. Quickly I shut the Pokeball this time and then press the button. This works and the lap dog disappears in a beam of red light. Lily, one our ranch Herdiers pushes her nose into my room and sniffs around as if confused why only a moment ago she'd smelt another dog.
"Come here Lily," I say and pat my lap.
Lily jumps up onto my bed which normally my parents don't allow and pet her affectionately. She barks happily and my mom appears in the doorway.
"Lily," said my mom with half a frown. "Get down from there."
Lily sadly jumps off my bed and shamefully walks over to my mother who has her arms folded over her chest. My mother looks a lot like me in the way that we both have brown hair and blue eyes. My hair is pretty short in length, I had it cut into a bob a few weeks ago. Unlike my mother, my face is full of freckles and I have a sharp nose and long eyelashes.
"Aunt Elena is here. Time to come eat Stefanie," says my mother turning around with Lily at her heels.
I carefully hide my new Pokeball underneath my pillow and follow my mother downstairs where my favorite aunt in the world is sitting at our little dinner table. Aunt Elena lives in Nuvema town where she gets to work for the famous Professor Juniper in her lab. It's only so often that she get's to visit so I hug her as soon as I reach the table.
"Stefanie you've grown so much!" Aunt Elena says. "And your hair!" she exclaims, noticing my haircut. "I love it."
I want nothing more than to tell Aunt Elena right then about the abandoned Pokemon but I bite my tongue long enough to sit through dinner. While most kids are out having their typical Pokemon adventures as soon as they turn ten, my parents had me stay home so they could homeschool me so throughout dinner I have to listen to them brag about my academic achievements to aunt Elena.
"Wow," my aunt says. "That's very good Stefanie. You know since you've decided to stay in school you could become a Pokemon Professor someday like Juniper," she says with the hint of a smile.
"Stefanie doesn't want to do that," says my mother with the shake of her head. "It's much too dangerous to be around so many Pokemon. I think a good strong career in nursing will do her good."
"Not Pokemon nursing," adds my dad. "Just regular people nursing. I really think the world needs more of those these days. We've let Pokemon take over our lives and we've forgotten to take care of ourselves."
It irks me that my parents seem to agree on everything. For once I'd just like for one of them to realize that maybe I don't want to do exactly what they suggest. The only person I've ever told otherwise would be Aunt Elena who is hitting me with a sideways look of sympathy.
After surviving dinner mom asks me to excuse myself so the adults can chat. I don't see why I have to, I am old enough to listen to whatever sophisticated business they might be talking about but part of me was glad I was allowed back up to my room so I could check on my Pokeball again. I mount the stairs and open my bedroom door to find a girl sitting in my chair with her back to me. I'm so startled I almost tumble back downstairs but remember to compose myself and bravely take a step forward.
"Hello?" I say in a hushed tone.
The girl doesn't respond or even turn around. She has long, cascading black curls and is wearing a long plain, purple dress.
"Hello," I say again, this time closing the door behind me and walking around to face the girl.
Her face is a very pretty but the image is ruined by the mischievous grin and twinkle in her coal black eyes. Our eyes meet and and the girl's image starts to shimmer and alter. Soon I recognize my own self staring at me from the chair. Brown hair, blue eyes, freckly face, everything down to the purple cardigan I was wearing. It was a perfect copy, except for the mischievous grin which gave it away. It took every bit of willpower not to scream out loud. I go over to my pillow and check under it. Sure enough the pokeball I'd stashed under there was cracked open and empty. The Pokemon had somehow escaped and become me.
"What are you?" I say, sitting down to face me which was the weirdest thing I'd ever done.
The double me doesn't respond and I wonder if it can even talk. I watch as double me gets up and walks over to the door as a feeling of dread pours over me.
"No no no!" I whimper but it's too late. Double me opens the door and starts walking down stairs before I can catch it. I'm forced to look on in agony as double me goes down and sits at the dinner table with my parents and my aunt. They're going to be so mad.
"Stefanie I told you to go wait upstairs," I hear my mother say as she tries to remain bubbly and as composed as possible.
Double me doesn't do anything but reaches for some bread from across the table.
"Stefanie," my mother says, raising her voice a little this time. "I think that's enough bread for tonight."
Still without a word, double me takes the entire bread basket and starts shoveling it in her mouth to my horror. My mother looks appalled.
"I'm sorry Elena," she says. "You know her. She doesn't usually act like this. I don't know what's come over her."
Aunt Elena laughs. "It's alright Sarah, I'll take her back upstairs and see if we can't make her feel a little better."
My throat tightens and I dive to the only hiding place in the room. Since I live in the attic there's no room for a closet so the next best place is under my bed. It's dusty and gross under my bed but it's better than Aunt Elena coming in her and finding two Stefanies. I hear footsteps coming upstairs and some shuffling from double me. There's a creak as my door opens and then another sound as the door closes behind them.
"Stephanie?" calls Aunt Elena.
I peek my head out from underneath the bed and see my double being firmly handled by my aunt. She smiles at me and lets go of my double to help me out from my tight spot.
"Where'd you get the Zorua?" she asks.
"The what?" I say.
My Aunt Elena laughs as she brushes a dust bunny off of my pants.
"This is a Zorua," she says, referring to the double me.
Upon hearing that, my double begins to change and reverts back to the little black lap dog I'd seen earlier.
"You can always tell the difference between a copy and the original because of their smile," she says and points to where the little dog's mouth was curved on one side and not the other. "They're very mischievous Pokemon and actually quite rare. Not only are they rare they're even harder to put in a Pokeball which makes me wonder where you got yours."
"I found it in the mud," I say. "When I was walking home from the Ponyta showing it started to rain and my boot hit it in so I dug it up."
"Wow," says my aunt. "Unfortunately people do sometimes choose to abandon their Pokemon. It's really sad, but it's also very unusual that someone would have just thrown away a Zorua. They're evolution is so powerful, I would just love the chance to study one. This little Pokemon must have cause some real trouble to get her trainer so angry."
"Her?" I repeat.
"Yes," said Aunt Elena. "Your Pokemon is a girl."
"My Pokemon?" I breathed in awe. I felt like a Hoothoot now, repeating everything it heard.
"I don't see why not," said my aunt. "I reckon as long as your parents don't find out you're free to keep it. But be careful though, people will do a lot of terrible things to get their hands on a Zorua. They're pretty valuable these days."
I look back at the little dog Pokemon happily curled up on my chair and wonder what it would be like to go on a journey with it and leave this country side like all my friends had years ago.
"I want to go on a journey," I suddenly say, before I can stop myself.
Aunt Elena smiles and begins rummaging in her bag. "I thought you might," she says. "I'm not your mom, I can't help you there, but I thought I might just give you this to see if it helps at all."
She hands me a little pocket size book labeled 'A Beginners Guide to Pokemon Training'. I flip through it to see colorful illustrations of different Pokemon and basic information about them.
"Thank you," I say and graciously tuck the book under my arm.
Aunt Elena nods and gets up from where she's leaning on my desk.
"Good luck kiddo," she says, winking at me. "I hope you find your true calling. Maybe not a nurse," she says with a grin.
The Zorua surprises me by hopping into my lap as Aunt Elena leaves the room and I begin reading chapter one as she curls up in my lap and falls asleep.