This is my first fanfic, so don't be too cruel. I just woke up with all these ideas for a story, so I decided to try them out. Depending on your reaction, I might do more than one chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. If I did, I wouldn't be in technical school worrying about all the money they're sucking out of me or of loans I know I'll have to deal with sooner or later.

Chapter One: The Beginning

"Uhh...," I moaned as the killjoy of good dreams commonly known as an alarm clock tore me out of a good night's sleep. "No matter how late I set you, you always make me very upset," I muttered to my inanimate, mechanical enemy.

Hi, my name's Rebecca Shonta Jones, and I'm inspired to become a prime Pokemon watcher and researcher. I'm eighteen years old, just got my Pokemon trainer's license, and I'm still worried about when I'm going to go for my driver's license. Someone call Ripley's.

"Rebecca! I've been calling you for half an hour! Get up or you'll miss your meeting with Professor Cedar!" Mom yelled. Good ol' Mom. She calls me by my first name when she's edgy. If she's this edgy about something like this, imagine her at the day of my high school graduation. She was bouncing off the walls! She knows that Professor Cedar normally schedules his appointments with the new trainers in the afternoon. It was just 10:00 in the morning.

I rolled off my soft daybed complete with warm sunshine and stumbled into the kitchen complete with electric light. My fourteen-year-old brother Rod was already seated at the table and inhaling his food. That Rod: not getting younger and probably will never get any thinner.

"Careful, Hot Rod. You're already shaming Lickitung. Don't make the Snorlax stare," I commented as I went for my usual bowl of cereal. My family calls him Hot Rod because if he worked as much and as fast as he ate, we could send him away to be part of a race car pit crew. My favorite nickname for him is Mario.

"You shouldn't talk, Becky. You just now have your Pokemon trainer's license, and you still can't drive. At this rate I'll have my driver's license before you," he countered as he finished off his breakfast, his mouth still full of food. He likes calling me Becky because he knows I don't like that version of my first name. His favorite nickname for me is Luigi. Together we are the Mario Brothers.

"You still have one more year," I shot back. "A lot could happen in a year. And you don't have a trainer's license at all. At this rate I'll be laughing at you from Indigo Plateau before Mom lets you have your first Pokemon." Of course I knew that my heart wasn't in being a Pokemon master. I just wanted a Pokemon for a friend and companion when I go to Ecruteak College, Johto's answer to Pokemon Tech.

"You two stop bickering and get ready to get out of this house. You know my co-workers are waiting for me to call them about which Pokemon you get, Rebecca," Mom yelled from the living room.

"You should call the crazy house before Becky starts hearing voices, like the time we went on that camping trip," I heard Rod quietly say. But I was too busy finishing my cereal to listen to him.

I walked back to my room and put together my clothes for the day. As I was slipping on my favorite clothes, the boom box was blasting the newest Missy Elliot hit. As always, I found myself bouncing to the music as I slipped on my favorite purple T-shirt, baggy blue jeans, and slightly dirty Air Force Ones. I frantically searched for my light blue bead bracelet and found it next to my sketch pad.

I slipped on my bracelet then sat on the daybed while flipping through my sketch pad. One thing about me: I was terribly antisocial but a very good sketch artist. All through high school, I would always rather read about and draw Pokemon than go to a prom. I viewed some pictures I drew of my brother ("I do not look that fat!" he'll always say), my mother, and some fairly good drawings of Dragonball Z characters. Then some Pokemon pictures. There was a sketch of a running Rattata, a flying yet angry Spearow (that one cost me some pain), and... i that /i sketch. My pride and joy. My secret treasure. My Raikou sketch. As soon as I laid eyes on that drawn Raikou, the memory of the night that Rod was commenting about earlier flashed in my mind.

i It was one year ago, in the summer before my senior year in high school. We decided to go camping with my uncle. Too bad we didn't think about the weather, for soon we were faced with a thunderstorm warning. I took advantage of this and managed to make a sketch of a couple of electric-types that were growing excited of the coming lightning while everyone was sleeping. With all I was doing, I didn't notice a mischievous Pichu zooming by and snatched the pencil from my hands until it was too late.

I chased the Pichu through the woods, only half aware of the Pokemon that could be lurking behind the trees. I finally caught up with it when it stopped from exhaustion at the edge of a small meadow. "Okay you little rugrat, that's my last pencil and I'm taking it back!" I demanded as snatched the pencil from the electric rodent's mouth and glaring at the small teeth marks indented in the wood. Unfortunately, the demand took the last of my energy and I plopped down in the soft grass.

I didn't like the look on that Pichu's face. It didn't look angry or scared; it looked shocked. It was staring at me, its little mouth and eyes as far open as it could possibly go.

"What's the matter with you? Cat got your tongue?" I finally said after a moment of silence. I regretted the words as soon as they left their mouth. I thought it would shock me, or run back to its family, like I should be doing. Instead I got the first shock of my life.

"AHHH! TALKING HUMAN!" it screamed, its body seemingly paralyzed in place.

I scooted a foot back from the rodent, my heart trying to get back online. "WHAT DID YOU SAY?" I screamed back. The two of us spent what seemed like forever screaming our heads off, our voices almost as loud as the incoming thunder. Then, as I looked around for the prankster that must have been behind this, I spotted something across the meadow that took my mind off the incredible speaking Pichu.

An intimidating Pokemon stood across from us. Yellow with a lightning bolt pattern streaked across its body and showing its steak knife-sized teeth, I was looking at the legendary dog of thunder. I could hardly see it when it was dark, but when the lightning flashed, it might as well be just an inch from my face. The Pichu, which seemed to have stopped screaming, turned its gaze to look at Raikou. At that point we were both totally paralyzed. The Raikou was staring at the two of us; no, at me. For the next two minutes, I took in everything, from its muscular-looking paws to the electricity that was radiating from its body in the form of mini lightning bolts. Then, as just disappeared, just as mysteriously and suddenly as he came.

The Pichu and I just stared at each other until the small electric-type darted back into the woods. Too tired to try to stop it, I shakily stood up and managed to find the campsite. I crept in my sleeping bag without my family noticing. The next morning, I sketched the Raikou I saw with surprising detail. /i

"Hey, Becky! Mom's about to leave you!" my brother rudely yelled in my ear. I snapped out of my trance, called Rod a name that not even eighteen-year-olds should know, and dashed to the car. My brother followed, told Mom what I called him, and threw my purse at me. My adventure's about to pick up where it left off.