Author's note: Hey everyone! Here it is-Season 3 of Through the Years! I'm very excited to start this particular season. Sapphire version was my first pokemon game, so there is a special place in my heart for the Hoenn region and the pokemon in it. I do hope you enjoy this first episode. If you have any comments or criticisms, feel free to shoot them my way. Now, here's the episode!
Episode 1: Little roots, big adventure!
"Niko! We're almost there!" A short brown-haired boy yelled out to his older brother, who was laying down on a red and white lounge chair. The older boy—or young adult, rather—lazily turned his head to look at his brother, who was excitedly pointing ahead of the ship.
"Oh, awesome! Thanks, Jake. I'll be back inside in a moment," Niko responded as he looked up and saw the Hoenn region come into view.
Niko—a pokémon trainer aiming to be a pokémon master—had just recently left his hometown of Pallet in Kanto to continue pursuing his newfound goal. He decided that it was best to leave behind all his captured pokémon and start fresh in a new, faraway land. Figuring that it would help him hone his training skills, Niko wanted to capture a whole new team of pokémon that would help him learn and grow as a trainer.
He also planned on challenging the Hoenn league, which was set to take place the following spring, as all pokémon leagues usually did. To qualify, he would need to obtain eight gym badges from pokémon gyms all over the region. He already knew of one—Norman from the Petalburg gym. He and his friends met Norman while journeying through Johto, in Olivine City to be exact. It was him that gave Niko and his friends the idea of travelling to Hoenn in the first place.
Niko sat up, looking at the region beyond. He was excited to begin anew. After finishing in the Top 8 in the Silver Conference in Johto, he had felt a new—and refreshing—wave of confidence in himself. Never really being the type of person with high self-esteem, it was an unfamiliar feeling, but it certainly felt good.
He got up and began walking towards the room he was sharing with his two friends and his brother. On the way, he kept thinking of what he left behind and the infinite possibilities of what lay before him.
"Niko! Hey!" JJ said, turning to his brown-haired friend. Niko nodded, took off his sunglasses, and began to pack up his things. "Excited to get to Hoenn?"
"Heh, you bet," Niko responded, turning to look at his curly-blonde friend.
JJ was one of Niko's oldest friends. Along with their mutual friend, Fay, the three had travelled through Kanto and Johto together. JJ originally wanted to challenge gyms with his two friends, but decided against it after losing to Brock badly. Since then, he has been aspiring to be a pokémon breeder, and that new goal is reflected in his choice of pokémon. JJ's first pokémon—umbreon—is his closest and most loyal friend. He has also had a knack for raising pokémon from birth, or baby pokémon more generally. In Kanto, he raised his growlithe from an egg; in Johto, he caught an azurill, which is typically classified as a baby pokémon, and has been raising it ever since. Like Niko, JJ also enjoys travelling, and had been after Niko about going to Hoenn all of the previous summer.
Also like Niko, JJ is leaving people behind, too. While he decided to take most of his pokémon, he left behind one—his beedrill—to help his family out. He is also leaving behind a love interest—Maizie, whom he met while travelling in Johto.
Niko pondered all of this as he was packing, wondering how JJ was coping with it. It would be months before he saw any of them again. He'll probably be alright, he's done it before, anyways he thought. He finished packing and turned around, nearly running into another one of his friends.
"Brittany! Hey!" Niko said as he was inches away from his brunette friend.
"Hey Niko! Sorry…" she said as she sidestepped her friend and continued over to her bed to finish her packing. Niko nodded nervously as he looked around for anything he may have left unpacked.
Niko and his friends met Brittany while journeying through Kanto. After joining them, the brunette with hazel eyes has been with them ever since. A native of Vermilion City, Brittany had no real goal or dream in mind for much of their journey. It wasn't until she met an old couple who ran a daycare center in Johto that she began to consider being a pokémon breeder, like JJ. Since then she has been raising a small pichu that she hatched from an egg, alongside her two other pokémon, wartortle and tangela.
Brittany has always been the most outwardly supportive person of Niko's—besides his family, of course. During both of his league challenges, she was constantly asking him how he felt and how he thought he did in a battle. This stems from the Indigo League, when after losing in the Top 32, Niko broke down and thought about giving up. Brittany was there to console him and get him back on track, which culminated in travelling to Johto, where she continued to give him support, either tacitly or vocally. At the end of Niko's journey in Johto, she confessed her feelings to him, which he did not respond nicely to. This created a rift in their friendship that had only recently patched up on the day they decided to travel to Hoenn. During the few days of their voyage to Hoenn, the two seemed to be getting along quite well, acting as if nothing had happened between them.
"Jake, are you all packed up?" Niko asked as he sat down on his bed. His younger brother—staying in the bed opposite Niko—looked up and nodded.
Jake was Niko's brother, eight years his junior. Like Niko, Jake was very interested in becoming a pokémon trainer, but was far more eager to begin his journey than Niko had been. Whenever Niko came home with new pokémon, the two would train together with Niko showing him the moves he taught his teams and some of the strategies he had used in the past. Jake was enamored by all of it, which propelled him to persuade his parents to let him travel with his older brother in Hoenn. Their parents agreed on the condition that Niko would as well. Knowing how much it would mean to Jake, Niko accepted, albeit hesitantly. Secretly, though, Niko was excited to have his brother along, even if it meant more responsibility for him.
The ship finally landed in Littleroot Town, and the four trainers eagerly got off the ship and looked around. From what they could see, the Hoenn region was already beautiful.
"So, where did Oak say Professor Birch lived?" Brittany asked as they looked around.
"He said the lab is on the outskirts of town, so I guess we have to head in that direction?" Niko replied, pointing north. Brittany nodded, and the four continued walking.
Throughout the city, the group noticed dozens of unfamiliar pokémon. There was a large green gecko-like pokémon battling a black dog. Niko stopped for a moment to watch the two battle. The gecko's arms began to glow and shift into the form of a blade as it slashed at the dog, who responded by biting onto the blade itself and attempting to toss the gecko aside. The latter wouldn't let up, and completed the attack before releasing its arms from the dog's mouth.
"That green pokémon is pretty strong, what is it?" Jake asked.
"No idea," Niko said, grinning. They continued on when the battle ended, with the gecko ultimately winning.
The group finally reached the edge of town, where the lab sat at the edge of a moderately large hill. Walking up to the door, they noticed it was locked.
"Out for business—be back soon! -Professor Birch," it read.
"Should we just wait then?" JJ asked.
"Guess so…" Niko replied as he sat down on a nearby bench with Jake. As soon as he touched the bench, they all heard a man cry out. "Did you hear that?"
"Yeah, it came from down that hill. Let's go check it out!" JJ said, clutching to azurill as he ran down the hill with Niko, Brittany, and Jake.
They got to the bottom of the hill and continued running down the road beyond Littleroot Town, eventually finding a tall, brown-haired and bearded man up against a tree surrounded by black dogs of varying sizes.
"Sir! Are you alright?" Niko yelled out. The man turned to the group with a rather terrified look on his face. And nodded weakly, turning back to the dogs. "Guys, we have to help him…I don't have any pokémon though…"
"Niko, we got this," JJ said, pulling out a pokéball while still holding azurill. "Growlithe, let's go! Use flame wheel!"
"Tangela, use vine whip!" Brittany shouted, summoning her grass type. The two rushed at the dogs, the flame wheel initially scaring them and the vine whip shooing them away.
The tall man turned to them with a look of relief on his face. "Wow…thanks kids! I don't know why, but I always end up getting myself into these situations. You'd think, since I give pokémon to trainers that I would have some of my own."
"Oh!" Brittany exclaimed. "Are you Professor Birch?"
"Yes, I am! And who might my saviors be?"
"My name is Brittany, and these are my friends Niko, JJ, and Jake. We're travelling here from the Kanto region."
"Oh! Yes yes, Oak told me you would be stopping by today. What a great coincidence this is! Follow me up to my lab, then."
Birch led the group back up the hill to his lab. Inside it looked similar to Oak's and Elm's, with shelves upon shelves of books and a healing machine in the back, near what looked like the Professor's desk. Birch walked them over to another desk, where three pokéballs sat.
"Professor Oak told me a bit about yourselves. Brittany and JJ, you both wish to be pokémon breeders, correct?"
"Yes, sir," the two answered almost simultaneously.
"Awesome. We have a daycare center up near Mauville City, I think you both would enjoy checking it out. Jake, you're a completely new trainer, correct?" Jake nodded happily. "Excellent. I think you'll love the region and the pokémon in it. Now, Niko…" Birch said as he turned to the brown-haired trainer. "Oak tells me you're challenging pokémon gyms, correct?"
"Yeah. I just competed in the Silver Conference, actually."
"And he got Top 8!" JJ exclaimed. Niko beamed at his friend.
"Well done, Niko! Then I'm sure you'll enjoy challenging the gyms here in Hoenn. I must warn you, though, they're pretty tough."
"If they're anything like Johto's, then I'll believe it," Niko—who lost to two Johto gym leaders and tied a third one—quipped.
"I can assure you that they will offer quite the challenge. The nearest one is in Petalburg City, which is Norman's gym. But I'll warn you—he doesn't usually accept challenges from new trainers."
"Well, I'm not exactly 'new,'" Niko responded.
"This is true," Birch said with a warm smile. "Anyways, here I have three pokéballs. These are usually what I give out to new trainers, but since you've travelled from far away, and some of you left your pokémon back at home," Birch turned to Niko, "then I am allowing you each to take one."
"Wait…" Brittany said, "there's four of us, and three pokéballs."
The group turned to look at each other. One of them wouldn't get a new pokémon.
"Well, Niko definitely needs a pokémon," JJ finally said, "and I think Jake should get one, since he is a new trainer. That leaves you and me, then,"
"You take it!" Brittany and JJ both said at the same time. "No…you take it!" They continued.
Birch laughed at this exchange." Alright, let's let Niko and Jake choose first, and then we can deal with the issue of the third pokémon," he said as he took each of the pokéballs and released them.
Out of the three pokéballs came a small green gecko, an orange chicken, and a small, blue mud fish. "Here we have treecko, torchic, and mudkip. They are grass, fire, and water types, respectively," Birch said, pointing to each one in turn.
Niko crouched down as Jake got on his knees as they observed the three pokémon. Niko—remembering the battle between the gecko and the dog earlier—stared at treecko for a long while before ultimately choosing it.
"I choose treecko," he said, standing back up.
"Excellent choice. This particular treecko is a wonderful pokémon. It has shown an interest in battling, so I think it will suit you perfectly, Niko. Now, Jake, which one would you like?"
"Now, Jake, remember that there is no such thing as a bad choice here," Niko told his brother, "Your first pokémon is chosen out of instinct. That's how mine was, at least," he looked at treecko, "and clearly that's how this one was chosen, too."
"I want mudkip!" Jake said, standing back up, the mud fish pokémon in his arms.
Birch handed him mudkip's pokéball. "Great choice, Jake! This mudkip is a very friendly pokémon. Not as interested in battling as treecko is, but it looks like it is a very loyal little guy. I think you two will be fast friends," Birch then turned to Brittany and JJ, who were both eying the torchic. "Now, would either of you want to take the torchic?"
Almost without thought, JJ quickly replied. "Brittany should, if she wants to."
"What, JJ? Why me?"
JJ turned to Brittany, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I want you to. I think it would be a great addition to your team. Plus, it'll give you some more practice with raising young pokémon. I say you take it!" He ended with a fist pump in the air. Brittany smiled and side-hugged JJ before looking down at the torchic.
"Hello there, my name is Brittany, and I was wondering if you wanted to join me on my adventures."
The chick pokémon chirped happily, albeit still in a soft tone.
"This torchic is rather quiet, but it loves attention. Perfect choice for a pokémon breeder, I think," Birch said as he handed Brittany the pokéball. "Now," he turned around and grabbed four small cell phone-like objects. "Here are your pokédexes. As you might know, they give information on a pokémon, including their type and species, as well as some information about them. I'm not looking for anyone to tell me information on every pokémon out there, as I've already got research assistants helping me with that, but if you come across anything that looks out of the ordinary, feel free to drop me a line, alright?"
"You bet, professor!" Niko said. "And thanks. I can't wait to get going!"
Birch grinned. "Of course, Niko!" And best of luck to you in your gym challenge. I look forward to seeing how far you go with it! Brittany, JJ, best of luck in raising pokémon. Jake, good luck to you as well. I'm excited to see what kinds of pokémon you get to befriend here."
The group said farewell to Birch as they exited the lab and looked ahead of them.
"So…shall we?" Niko said, motioning down the hill.
"We shall," JJ replied as the four walked down the hill, their new adventure having just begun.