Dawn awoke to the sound of a preset alarm going off. She nearly pressed the snooze button, but stopped when she noticed the date. Today was the day that she would be allowed to get her first Pokémon, having just turned ten. She leapt out of bed, getting dressed as quick as possible, and slid down the stairs. Her mother was already up, and had a lavish breakfast set out on the table. She smiled to her mother and swallowed the entire breakfast as fast as she could. "Slow down," her mother chided with a grin, "if you choke, you'll never get a Pokémon." Dawn laughed through a mouthful of pancake and followed her mother's advice. When they had finished the meal, Dawn leapt up, and made for the doorway, positively ecstatic. "Where are you going?" her mother asked innocently. Dawn's head flipped around, and incredulous looked on her face at her mother's lack of sense. "I'm going to Sangem to see professor Rowan." "Not yet." Dawn just stared at her mother, pure disbelief painting her face. "Why not?" "I'm going with you today, so we aren't leaving until I'm finished cleaning up breakfast." Dawn's face went beet red. "But Mom, I know the way to Sangem!" "I know that." "I'm already ten!" "Yes, as a matter of fact, you are." Dawn was getting very frustrated by her mother's lack of understanding. "It would be embarrassing!" Her mom turned to her, a very knowing look on her face. "I'm not going to be holding your hand while you're picking out your Pokémon; I just need to do some shopping today." Dawn was taken aback. "I, uh, o.k." Her mother laughed. "Now, I won't get anything done if you keep getting impatient, so go outside and play. And don't go to Sangem without me, or there will be trouble for you. Dawn nodded her understanding and sped out of the door.
Dawn closed the door behind her, and skipped to her favorite spot to play, the woods outside of her house. She walked calmly, wondering which Pokémon she would choose. Truth, be told, she didn't really know which ones professor Rowan had. Her daydream of Pokémon and great exploits was interrupted by the sound of hushed voices ahead of her. She was naturally a curious person, so she tiptoed toward the voices. She was soon overlooking a small drop-off, underneath which, four strangely dressed people were gathered. She strained her ears to hear what they were saying. "Enough Vitoria, we have our orders, we no longer get a choice," came the deep voice with a very thick accent. "I know that, Makarov," this voice was higher pitched, and it seemed to cradle each word before releasing it, "It just seems that we are always stuck with the dirty work." "That doesn't matter," the man called Makarov replied, turning so that his back was to Dawn, revealing a red R painted on his shirt. Dawn nearly gasped. These people were allied with the infamous Team Rocket, a band of outlaws that stole Pokémon from trainers and sold them on the black market. Dawn started to crawl backwards, but stopped when Makarov started talking again.
"Vitoria? Where is Rejik?" "Right here boss." Dawn jumped as a man spoke directly behind her. She tried to escape, but the man was too fast, and he caught her arm and dragged her to the group. She struggled, but all that that earned her was an angry rap on her head. Tears started to form in her eyes. "It seems that we have a little spy in our midst, Makarov," Rejik explained as he lifted Dawn into a standing position. "Ah, good work Rejik," Makarov said as he started to examine Dawn's face. Makarov was a rather handsome man. His black hair was cropped short, and his face was rugged like a western movie star's.
"This isn't a place to play, little miss," he began, "Do your parents know that you're here?" It was an innocent enough question, but Dawn was rather scared for her life at the moment, so she didn't answer. Makarov chuckled. He seemed to enjoy her torment. "It isn't wise to travel anywhere alone without Pokémon miss," he said in his low baritone of a voice, "surely you were smart enough to bring one with you, right?" "N-no." "Don't joke with me." When she insisted that she didn't have any, he started to get very angry. His face began to turn red, but he took a breath and calmed himself. "O.k. then, let's assume that you were stupid enough not to bring a Pokémon with you," he said, his voice shaking, "Do tell me why you were eavesdropping on my associates and I?" "I-I wasn't, sir." "Don't lie to me. Who are you helping?"
"I'm not helping anyone; I was just playing, honest!" Makarov's patience was waning quickly, and Dawn could see it in his face. "Rejik, see if you can make her talk." Rejik grinned and began to drag her away. Dawn realized that this was probably the only chance that she would get, so she kicked him in the fork of his legs. Rejik doubled over in pain, releasing her. She didn't wait long enough to see how anyone would react to what she had just done, but began running immediately. She didn't watch where she was going, her only thought being escape. After a few seconds, she could hear them following her. She fled as quickly as she could, but they were adults, and she only a child. She knew that they would catch her eventually, and she had no clue where she was going. She was tackled after only a couple of minutes of running at full speed. She fought her attacker with everything that she had. With a well-placed kick, she was free again, and she was running again. She twisted her way through the forest, trying to throw them off her trail. Finally she reached a ravine, and she stopped to catch her breath. Her break was prematurely ended by the crashing of one of her pursuers running out of the forest towards her. She didn't look to see who it was, but simply slid into the ravine.
She looked back to see that her follower was sliding down the ravine as well. Her attention was immediately diverted as a loose rock cut into her left leg. Pain blasted through her. She rolled out of the ravine, clutching her leg. She looked up to see that she had landed near a road. As she seemed to have lost her attacker, she limped toward the road, as roads normally meant that a city was close by, and a city meant a hospital. Just before she reached the road, she was tackled again. She tried to struggle, but her leg throbbed too much. "Now I've got you, you little bitch." She looked up into the face of her assailer.
It was Rejik.
His shirt was torn to bits, his arms and legs were bloody, and he was quite obviously furious. He easily pinned her to the ground. "Now I get to teach you a lesson." Her heart thumped as she saw his hand raise, clenching into a fist. She closed her eyes, but the strike never came.
"Now, I don't know what is going on here, but surely you don't have any reason to punch a little girl." Dawn opened her eyes to see where this new voice had come from. She saw a tall boy with shoulder length black hair and a trench coat effortlessly holding Rejik's hand back. To his side was a Gengar, a rather infamously mischievous ghost Pokémon. Rejik's face was as red as it could be as he looked at the boy. "Now, get off of the girl," the boy said, emphasizing his statement by twisting Rejik's wrist until it almost broke. Rejik was quick to obey. He jumped to the side, but rather than keep running, he reached for something on his belt. "That isn't a good idea," the boy said. "Shut up!" Rejik bellowed as he threw the revealed pokeball. The pokeball opened, summoning an Arbok, which uncoiled itself and unfurled its hood as threateningly as possible. The boy sighed. "Now Arbok, make them pay for embarrassing Team Rocket!" The snake leapt toward the pair with a scream. The boy didn't say anything. He simply walked over to Dawn. "Are you okay?" "Aren't you going to help Gengar," she asked, but soon saw that he didn't need to.
Gengar simply stepped aside, allowing the Arbok to run headlong into the nearest tree. Gengar grew a wicked grin and he lifted his small hand. Dark energy formed into a ball in front of it. The grin grew even wider as it leapt forward, firing the ball of shadow directly into the Arbok's head. The snake was blasted through the tree and into the next tree, immediately falling unconscious.
"Oh I think he'll be ok," said the boy, turning back to her, "but that leaves my question unanswered. Are you ok?" Rejik gasped in disbelief, returning his Pokémon to its pokeball, and running for his life, swearing. Dawn was about to tell the boy that she was fine when a wave of pain shot through her leg. "I guess not. Well there is a small town ahead that can fix you up." He lifted her into a piggyback position on his back and began walking along the road. "Gengar, can you grab the suitcase?" The Pokémon shouted the affirmative in its own language, grabbing a slender brown case from the road and running to his side.
She was about to ask him any number of questions when he offered her a small flask. "Drink it," he said, "it will make the pain go away." She didn't argue, after all, he had just saved her life. She drank the bitter liquid and coughed. She soon felt warmth coarse through her, inviting her to sleep. "You drugged me." She halfheartedly accused. "Yes, and unless you want to lose that leg to infection, you won't argue about it." She thought about it for a minute, which was hard as she was getting increasingly tired, then nodded and fell asleep.