Chapter One
Memories
Steven looked over the pokemon surrounding him.
Torchic, Mudkip, Treecko.
He had already chosen his starter, years ago, hence him being Pokemon Champion. It was his youngest sister, Olivia, and his second youngest brother, Michael, who were choosing their starters.
Michael had gone for Treecko immediately. Olivia, however, was choosing carefully. She had gone over the final evolution and had decided that in order from favorite to least favourite, design wise, she liked Blaziken, Sceptile, Swampert. She was now looking over stats.
"Treecko is the fastest… I think… but it's defense is low," Professor Birch explained "Mudkip has high attack but low speed-"
"Cross Mudkip off the list, then!" Olivia said happily, before turning to the Mudkip and saying "Sorry".
Professor Birch continued.
"Torchic's highest stat is special attack, and it's lowest is defense."
Steven realized that if she chose her starter due to pre evolved stats, she might not get what she wanted during final evolution. He had to stop that from happening.
"What about final evolution?"
Professor Birch turned to the monitor and waved at the diagram.
BLAZIKEN; HP 80; ATTACK 120; DEFENCE 70; SP ATK 110; SP DEF 70; SPEED 80
SCEPTILE; HP 70; ATTACK 85; DEFENCE 65; SP ATK 105; SP DEF 85; SPEED 120
SWAMPERT; HP 100; ATTACK 110; DEFENCE 90; SP ATK 85; SP DEF 90; SPEED 60
"Well, Treecko sounds like my kind of Pokemon!" Olivia laughed.
Michael nudged her "But I chose Treecko!"
Olivia's eyes widened.
"Well, Blaziken was always my favourite final form, so Torchic, I guess..."
Torchic let out a cry of happiness.
"Tor-chic!"
Steven smiled, a memory stirring in his mind.
The door slammed open. A girl with long, violet hair stepped into the room. Of course, he couldn't tell it was long, as it looked short under her hood.
"Let's get this… over and done with..." the girl said.
"But first," Steven started, "a proper introduction"
"Very well," the girl muttered "my name is Courtney Kagari, and I have no time for amateurs."
Steven smiled.
"Well my name is Steven, Steven Stone."
Courtney glared at him.
"Well, shall we begin?" Steven asked innocently.
Courtney stepped back, and threw a Pokeball. Out came an Absol, pre mega evolved.
"Neptune, battle ready!" Courtney yelled as Steven reached for his skarmory's pokeball. The Absol crouched low, teeth bared.
Steven threw the pokeball he was holding. Skarmory flew out, light reflecting off it's metal body.
"Neptune, use Thunder!"
Skarmory was fast, but Neptune was MUCH faster. It hit Skarmory with a wicked jolt of electricity, knocking it out completely.
Steven quickly sent out Armaldo.
"Use Crush Claw!" he yelled.
Neptune was way too fast. She avoided the attack, and used Secret Power without being told. She left Armaldo with only 7 HP.
Armaldo took this chance to use Crush Claw. It knocked out Neptune.
"KAORI!" Courtney screamed in agony. She quickly recalled her pokemon, and sent out Ninetales.
The saga between the two was short lived, Ninetales trying to use Overheat, but, Ninetales too however, was also knocked out by Crush Claw.
Courtney sent out Kaji, her Camerupt, who managed to knock out Armaldo with Take Down. Steven cursed himself for not using a full restore.
Kaji had quite some trouble with Cradily though. It didn't know any moves that could take down grass or rock types, and soon it joined Neptune and Ninetales, knocked out by Cradily's Energy Ball.
Shiny the Shiny Sylveon was Courtney's next choice. However, before it could use Shadow Ball, Cradily knocked it out.
Courtney's eyes narrowed. Maybe Steven was a formidable opponent? She sent out her other Absol, Calamus.
Calamus used Ice Beam and knocked Cradily down to half health. But then Cradily used Energy Ball, one hitting Calamus.
Courtney's eyes widened. That was unbelievable! And worse, she was down to her last Pokemon.
"GO FOR IT VERITAS! GIVE IT ALL YOU'VE GOT!"
And out of the Pokeball Courtney threw, came a Latias.
Cradily used Stone Edge, knocking Veritas down to 6 HP. Veritas used Draco Meteor, leaving Cradily with… one HP. How nice! And with one final energy ball, Veritas was knocked out…
Leaving Courtney with no more pokemon that could battle.
Courtney let out a cry of anguish. She always knew that she wouldn't get it the first time, but it was still shocking to see all her pokemon hurt.. She collapsed onto the ground, trying to stop the tears. But they came no matter how hard she tried.
Steven looked at her. Sure, he had got a lot of people crying after they had lost in such an important battle, but this girl, she was different. She wasn't weeping because she lost, she was weeping because her best friends were hurt.
Steven walked over to her, and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up, her face furious but her eyes sad.
"You have... no idea… how big… a blow… losing to… you is… for me…" she muttered.
"Well, you can always try again?" Steven suggested.
Courtney looked at him, her eyes fierce. She got a few max revives out of her bag, and wordlessly began healing her pokemon.
"STEVEN!" Olivia yelled.
Steven snapped back into reality.
"W-What?" he stuttered.
"I've been yelling at you for ages! We're going!" Olivia yelled at her elder brother. Steven blushed. He often drifted off, sometimes for hours on end. He couldn't help it, sometimes he just got caught up in memories.
"Uh, ok," Steven muttered, following Olivia and Michael out of the professor's lab, out into the morning sun.
