Hello, this AN is to inform everyone of the updating schedule for this fic. Nothing really important. In the next few days, I plan on posting the second chapter, then after that I will move to weekly updates. All right then, this first chapter is a bit slow, but the second's the one that'll get the story going. Thanks for everyone's time. :)

I will never own Pokemon.

1

My father got the job at the Goldenrod Radio Tower. Yeah, it's great and all, but I can't say I'm happy about moving from the Hoenn region. I don't have any friends in Johto and I don't know anything about the pokémon there. I had planned to go on my own League challenge in Hoenn and I'd started on some research and everything. Now I'd have to start all over.

That's what my parents suggested at least. The thing is I can't say I'm even excited anymore. It kind of burst my bubble. It was bad enough that as a sixteen-year-old, I should have already gone on my own challenge, but now I'd have the further embarrassment of not knowing anything about whatever is considered common knowledge here.

So, here I am, about to start the tenth grade with some kids that have already gone and finished a challenge. I was sort of nervous, like any person would be who isn't antisocial anyway, but I knew that this wouldn't be too bad. At least, I hoped it wouldn't.

I couldn't help but think that my optimism wasn't going to help me. I wasn't really a loner, but I haven't exactly had many friends. I've found that I have a problem with relating to people usually, I only have one or two friends and the two I had are back in Hoenn.

As soon as I was led to my homeroom, I was introduced to my new classmates as Rylie Richards. I found that I really didn't enjoy being thrown in front of a room full of people that I didn't know and then be expected to answer questions all about where I was from and such. I sort of froze up though, and was only to mumble some answers that I didn't remember after I was allowed to sit down at the back of the classroom.

"Hey" my neighbor, small, brown haired girl whispered, "don't you hate it when teachers like Patterson do that?"

I came from a tiny town back home, so I didn't even know there were teachers that actually did this sort of thing. However, I didn't want to seem like some hick from a backwater town, so I lied.

"Uh, yeah, they're pretty…unfair." I said lamely.

The girl didn't seem to notice my terrible answer. She just smiled at me sympathetically. I didn't know whether I should be irritated that my pathetic situation had attracted what may be the school welcome mat, or happy that I met what might be someone friendly.

"I'm Sara," she told me.

"Oh, ah, I'm Rylie."

"Yeah," she giggled, "Rylie Richards."

I blushed as I realized that she pretty much knew my whole back-story from that introduction my homeroom teacher had forced me to give. Yeah, I've always wanted to have a reputation for being an idiot…. I'm starting off stunningly.

Sara ignored my forgetfulness and went back to our whispered conversation.

"Goldenrod's not that bad, though. There are plenty of shops, a bike shop and there's that park to the north of the city so there's always something to do here," she continued, "We've even got our own radio tower."

"My dad got a job there. That's why we moved here," I told her, not really enjoying the reminder of how I ended up here.

"Really?" Sara asked excitedly, "That's awesome! I've always wanted to see what it's like to work there. Did you know that Professor Oak himself has a broadcast? Maybe your dad could give us a tour or something."

"I guess he could, but he's only a producer for one of the late night segments so he doesn't really get the chance to meet anybody from the popular broadcasts," I didn't really like that Sara seemed to be one of those people that only wants to get something out of others. She might just be interested in the Radio Tower, though, so who really knows?

"Oh, well that's cool that he works there anyway. You want to go to the department store after school? You know, just look around and stuff," she offered.

I was surprised to find myself relieved that Sara hadn't lost interest in me when she realized that I couldn't get her into the radio tower. I often find myself thinking the worst of people. I'm just not good with the trusting people thing.

"Yeah, I'll ask my mom."

We had to stop talking after that because it was time for second period. Sara had me show her my schedule and she revealed that we only had lunch and last period, which was P.E., together. I found myself feeling disappointed about this; I didn't like hearing that I didn't have the majority of my classes with what I hoped to be my new friend.

Sara was nice enough to show me where my next class was, which was math. The class was Algebra II to be exact. I like math, there's only one answer to every problem and since it's such a straight forward class, it's very rare for the teacher to force us to work together. I don't enjoy group work. At my old school, any group I was in tended to do nothing and left the project for me to do. That's the curse for not having many friends, yet having good grades, get you, I guess.

The teacher didn't make me do anything introductory wise. She looked like one of those cut-and-dry, no nonsense types, and I knew I was going to end up liking this class simply because the teacher was going to leave me alone.

My classmates didn't bother me too much either. I guess with them living in such large city for so long, they were accustomed to having new students show up from time to time. Really, the only thing they were interested in, as far as I went, was the Hoenn region. They wanted to know what kinds of pokémon lived there, how strong the trainers were, what the gyms were like. However, it soon became obvious that I didn't know anything about that. I only knew the local pokémon and our region's legendaries. A little bit about the gyms; I may have done some research, but I had to be honest. I really wasn't in a position to claim I knew anything. They listened to me talk about the legendary pokémon for a while, but soon lost interest in me. I was surprised that no one made fun of me for only knowing the extreme basics of Hoenn's gyms or my not knowing anything about trainers.

Lunch came quickly. I was probably the most boring new student in the history of Goldenrod High, home of the Miltanks. I pretty much followed the rest of the students to the cafeteria like I was part of a herd of pink, milk producing bovines and found that I couldn't really make fun of Goldenrod's mascot.

After getting my food, I found myself experiencing NSL syndrome. This is more commonly known as New Student Lunchtime syndrome. Common side effects are feeling an increase in heart rate, standing in front of a large crowd and staring at various tables, and an overwhelming desire to eat in the library, bathroom or outside. Since I didn't know the school's policy towards food in their library, and the fact that the very idea of eating in a place where people urinate and defecate makes me physically ill, the only other choice was outside.

"Where are you going, Rylie?" I heard a voice call from behind me as I headed for the nearest exit.

I turned and saw Sara holding her own tray and grinning at me.

"Um, nothing," I said quickly, not wanting her to know that I was about to eat outside, by myself, like a loser.

"Well, my table's over here," she gestured in the opposite direction from where I was going.

She led me to a table with two boys already there. They were arguing amongst themselves and as we neared them and could hear what they were talking about, I noticed that I couldn't understand anything they said.

"Knock it off you two," Sara said as we sat down, "Rylie's new here and I don't want you guys to scare her off with your nerd speak," she teased.

"Hmph, just tell Connor that it's a stupid idea to put Hoenn pokémon in our simulation," one of the boys said. He had a wiry build with blond hair and green eyes.

The other boy, Connor, laughed, "Calm down, Andrew, it's not like it'll be too difficult. Just add some more information, enter some more stats, it'll be easy."

Connor didn't look like he'd be the type to be talking about pokémon training simulators. He looked like he should be playing sports and beating the snot out of kids like Andrew with his larger build and good looks. He had jet black hair and the bluest eyes I had ever seen.

"It won't be realistic! That's the whole point of having a simulation, to simulate what it would be like for a pokémon trainer in Johto!" Andrew seethed.

"Realistic? Hey, if we wanted real, then we could go on an actual challenge. But, we don't want real, do we? We don't want any of the hunger, the camping outside, or dealing with disobedient pokémon. We just want to sit back at the computer and pretend that we could all be the greatest pokémon trainers in history. All without any of the hard work," Connor laughed again.

Andrew was about to snap back, but Sara jumped in before this could turn into a nerd feud by using me as a distraction.

"So, Rylie's from Hoenn and her dad got a job at the Radio Tower," she said.

"You're from Hoenn?"

"You're dad works at the Radio Tower?" Connor and Andrew said in unison.

"Um, yeah."

"So, is your dad a techie?" Andrew asked.

"A…what?"

"You know, somebody that works the tech. The brains behind all the broadcasts. The unsung heroes!" he answered with zeal.

"He's a producer…," I said, taken aback by Andrew's excitement.

"Forget about all that," Connor said dismissively, "What's the training scene like back in Hoenn?"

"Tough?" I offered.

"Oh, you aren't a trainer," he stated, obviously disappointed.

"Is that a problem?" I asked defensively.

"Nah, Sara, Drew and lots of other kids here haven't ever been trainers," he answered cheerily; "I just thought I'd finally get somebody in this little group of ours that knew things about being a real trainer."

"I know some things!" Andrew protested.

"Fine, Drew, fine, however these things may or may not be related to pokémon training," Connor said patronizingly, "it's up for debate."

"Boys," Sara interrupted Andrew mid-retort, "Are we trying to scare off Rylie?"

"Eh, why bother acting any different? She'll soon figure out that this is all we ever do," Connor snorted, "Argue," he pointed at himself, "and whine," he indicated Andrew.

"Whine? I don't whine!"

"See what I mean Rylie? Argue and whine," he repeated.

"Yeah, you're a regular old, married couple," I rolled my eyes.

I heard Andrew protest to my left, while Connor's lips twitched into a smirk.

"Ugh, I don't now why I put up with the two of you," Sara said to no one in particular.

"Now that's an easy one," Connor answered, "It's my witty charm. You just can't help yourself," he chuckled under his breath.

The bell rang, ending lunch. The guys wandered off to their classes, leaving Sara and me at the table.

"Witty charm!" she mocked under her breath.

"So, they're always like that?" I asked.

"Unfortunately. Do you know where your next class is?"

"Nope. I have science class next."

She pointed me in the right direction then went off to her English class. I was pleasantly surprised that it was so easy for me to talk to Sara and her friends. I guess Sara just made it easy for people to talk to her.

Last period eventually came around and I once again went back to that annual question of how exactly does physical education teach anyone anything? Never has P.E. ever taught me how to play any sort of official sport. The "coach" simply hands out equipment and pits us against each other. Most of us are really crappy at baseball, but the few that aren't will always be praised and we're all expected to eventually be able to stand a chance against the kid that's been pitching for about six years.

I was pretty lucky that my new friend was just as terrible as I was. It just isn't as fun to suck by yourself. We spent the majority of the class period making fun of each other and everyone else and it actually went pretty quickly.

Once school was over, Sara met me by my locker. She brought Connor with her and I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

"Hey, you got a cell phone so you can call your mom?" Sara asked.

"No," I felt my face heat up.

Connor handed me his.

"Thanks," I told him and turned away from them before they could see me get any redder.

I dialed my new home number and waited a bit for my mother to answer. She eventually did on the fourth ring.

"Hello?" she asked, sounding a bit breathless. I guessed that the eevee pups that she had bred were becoming a handful.

"Hey, Mom," I answered.

"Rylie? Did your brother leave you at school? I told him to bring you home-"

"No, Mom, I just wanted to know if I could go to the department store with some friends," I interrupted before she could hang up and call Rob to yell at him.

"Oh," she said and I tried not to get mad at her for sounding surprised, "Who are they?"

"Uh," I covered the phone with my hand, "What are your last names?"

"Parker."

"Grey."

"Sara Parker and Connor Grey. They're kids from school, Mom," I prayed that my mother wouldn't get too nosy.

"That's fine, but I want you home before six for dinner," she finally answered.

"Great, bye, Mom," I hung up before she could ask me anything about my day.

We all set off for the store and I handed Connor back his phone. No one spoke for a while, it wasn't awkward, really. I found that I was actually comfortable around them. However, Connor eventually broke the silence.

"So, what's your mom do?"

"We moved to that old pokémon daycare and renovated it. Now she uses it for breeding," I answered.

"She's a breeder? And you never went on your own League challenge," he asked, looking shocked.

"What does my mom being a breeder have to do with taking the Hoenn challenge?" I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Well, nothing, I guess. I just thought she'd be more open with letting you be a trainer. Do you have any siblings? Were they trainers?"

"My brother's seventeen. And no, he isn't a trainer, either. Rob really wasn't into pokémon and I guess my parents aren't comfortable with me going off on my own," I answered.

Connor scoffed at that, "Come on, it's not like anything ever happens to anyone that becomes a trainer. You have pokémon and if you're good, then no one will mess with you. Besides, most of the pokémon we use can breathe fire and crap. Who wants to mess with something that can breathe fire?"

"Well, they told me I could go this summer, so none of this really matters," I snapped.

"All right, didn't know you were so sensitive about this," he held his hands up in mock surrender.

I narrowed my eyes at him.

We're here," Sara said and pulled me inside before I could really get mad at Connor. In fact, I completely forgot what we had been talking about as Sara showed me all the relevant stores here. Connor made his great escape when we started looking at clothes. I'm not into shopping too much, actually, so I didn't blame him for leaving.

After we finally left that shop, we passed by a pet store. Sara was immediately drawn to a small growlithe pup, but I couldn't help but get critical towards it. The pokémon didn't look healthy; in fact, it started coughing and began to let out sparks from its mouth as it did. His breeder must have been terrible.

"Isn't he cute, Rylie?" Sara asked.

The growlithe went into a particularly bad coughing attack.

"Uh, kinda," I answered once it finished.

"What do you mean by 'kinda'"?

"Well, he's sort of coughing up sparks, which he shouldn't be doing."

"It's not his fault he's sick," she protested.

I agreed with her, it wasn't the pokémon's fault. It would be pretty simple to help him, too. After all, pokémon centers were free, but apparently, both the breeder of this scrawny growlithe and the store couldn't be bothered.

"No, but he could start a fire like that. If my mom saw him, she'd be livid."

"Oh, yeah, your mom's a breeder. What does she breed anyway?" Sara momentarily forgot the puppy.

"Anything anybody will pay her to do. Sometimes the professor from Hoenn would ask her to breed something for him. Mom's hoping that this one will too."

"Does she breed starters?" Sara asked.

"No, the Pokémon League is very protective over them. My mom does breed some of the rare ones, like endangered species and stuff. We actually have some eevees right now," I answered.

"I love eevees! Can we see them?"