This is the first chapter, again. I just redid one thing and that was which pokemon I wanted Serenity to get. It took a lot of thought for me to decide. So, I'm glad I finally did. But, that's all I changed, really.
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Yuh yuh.
Enjoy!
"Eh…" Serenity slowly opened her eyes and looked at her clock, "Oh no! Mom was right, I am too much like my dad! I'm going to be late!"
Serenity, having just turned ten the day before, was ready to start out on her quest just like her father had. Unfortunately, when she said just like her father had, she meant she was really getting started just like he had. That includes the fact that she was going to be late.
She quickly threw on her clothes and ran down the stairs and out of the house, grabbing the small backpack that held her essentials on the way out. Her parents, grandmother, and sister had agreed to meet her at Professor Oak's Laboratory. And, right now, as she mentioned, she was late. Luckily, they were still in Pallet Town from her birthday the day before.
She no longer adorned her father's old hat like she had when she was little and she no longer wore her hair cut short, instead she wore it down to her mid back with a yellow head band holding a majority of it back, her shorter bangs in front of it. Her clothes, however, hadn't changed. She still wore clothes like she'd seen on her mother when she was small except with a small color mix up: shorts, a short red tank, yellow suspenders, and pair of red and white tennis shoes with a yellow lightening bolt.
She skidded to a stop in front of Professor Oak's lab and a (very unwanted) voice spoke up after a short laugh, "You're late, Little Serenie."
She growled lightly as she turned around to face the source of the voice. She and Cherry competed over everything for as long as Serenity could remember. Up until a few years ago, they were, for lack of anything better, merely friends to one up the other. But, when Serenity got tired of playing the 'Cherry-thinks-she-is-better-game' they became rivals. Cherry got her name simply from the fact that she had bright red, almost pink hair that fell even longer than her waist and usually had the top half tied up while the bottom half fell free. She had about two inches on Serenity and was definitely more into her looks and, thus, always prided herself in being prettier.
"So what? I'm here, aren't I? It's not like anyone asked you, Cherry," Serenity rolled her eyes at the girl.
"Well, you're just behind now. I guess I'll always be better," Cherry shrugged. "I'm ahead of you now. I've got my pokemon and everything. Later."
Serenity was fuming as she watched Cherry walk away before she turned on her heels and marched up to the lab. She walked in, still in a puff, and screeched out, "Professor Oak, I'm finally here."
Serenity's mother's gentle laughter came from behind her, "I told you that we'd be gone by the time you got up and to set your alarm. You forgot didn't you?"
Serenity sighed, "Yes, momma. I was just too excited."
"You are too much like Ash for your own good you know," Serenity's grandmother laughed.
"Hey!" her father let out an undignified huff. "Well, Professor Oak and Tracey are waiting for you in the lab. Better go get your pokemon."
"Kay!" she gave Ash a thumbs-up before rushing into the next room, nearly knocking Tracey to the floor.
"Whoa, Serenity, just relax," Tracey laughed at the girl he'd seen grow up. He was surprised to find that she was ten and ready to start out on her own journey.
"Today's the day, Tracey. Today's the day!" she was bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. "And, now, I'm ready to get my pokemon!"
Professor Oak walked through a side door, chuckling a little, "Unfortunately, your uncanny ability to act just like your father has come up to bite you. It seems you missed the starter pokemon."
Serenity's face fell, she'd expected this when she woke up late, "But… But… Isn't there something? My father got Pikachu… There has to be something."
Professor Oak smiled, "I had the feeling that something like this would happen and we seem to be in luck because my friend from the Sinnoh region, Professor Rowan, sent over a pokemon from there. Would you like to take it instead of waiting for a starter?"
Serenity shook her head, "Mm-mm. What is it?"
Professor Oak opened the pokeball and the small furry critter sat in front of them, "Now, it a Shinx, a spark pokemon like Pikachu. I decided you could probably handle her and that she has a very laid back personality."
Serenity took what he offered and then bent down and picked up the Eevee, holding it to her, and beamed, "She's perfect. You're going to be my best friend. Just like Pikachu is with my dad!"
"Shi!" the Shinx agreed.
"Thank you so much, Professor Oak, Tracey. I'm going to go show them," she bowed to each before turning and running from the room. She stopped in front of her family, a huge smile on her face, "Look! A Shinx!"
"Oh, an electric pokemon, like Pikachu. I bet you wished you could get a water pokemon like Squirtle though," Serenity's just now four-years-old sister, Rayne, asked. Rayne stayed loyal to the love of water pokemon, just like their mom and had already decided she wanted to run the Cerulean City Gym one day. Unlike Serenity, Rayne got all her looks from her dad with her dad's face and sleek back hair, which was already longer than the length of Serenity's, and all their Aunts' girlyness. Her favorite outfit was a short blue skirt and a matching tank top and her hair was worn in two braids that fell down her back.
Serenity rolled her eyes at her sister, "I'm just as happy with Shinx. How could I not love this pokemon? She's great!"
"Momma," the little girl whined, "When do I get to become a great water pokemon trainer?"
"When you're ten, just like your sister," Misty responded smoothing down her youngest child's hair lovingly.
"Aw, man," Rayne pouted, sticking out her bottom lip.
"Well, congratulations, honey, now you get to start your adventure," Misty turned to Serenity and hugged her tightly.
Ash walked up next and hugged her, "Yeah, I'm sure you'll do great. I'm sure it won't be too long before we see you at home for your Cascade badge."
"And, I won't take it easy on you. Daughter or not, you get the same treatment," Misty reminded her.
"Mm-mm," Serenity nodded her head and gave her parents a thumbs-up. "I'm going to get these badges the tough way. Well, see you guys later. Bye Mom, bye Dad, bye Rayne, Bye Grandma D." She raised her voice and shouted, "See ya, Tracey. See ya, Professor."
The two walked out of the room and watched as Serenity ran off with Shinx by her side, throwing a wave over her shoulder.
--
"Hmm, we've been walking for a while now. You sure you don't wanna go inside your pokeball?" Serenity asked the Shinx that was walking faithfully by her leg.
"Shinx," she shook her head in reply.
"Alright, so no pokeball for you. I got it," she winked. "We really are following in my father's footsteps, aren't we? –Oof." She stopped when she suddenly found herself on the ground. "Alright, maybe we shouldn't follow them quite so closely."
"Shi," Shinx nodded, agreeing.
"Girl!" a voice suddenly shouted. "That was my skateboard. You washed it down the river now. Way to go."
"Well, you shouldn't have left it laying out!" she turned and yelled at the boy standing behind her. He was a good three or four inches taller than her. He had straight dark brown hair than fell just to the top of his neck in the back and swooped over his left eye, making it seemingly not there, in the front. His hair was held in place with a red bandana that had, what she assumed was, an outline of a pokeball on the front. It was just a black circle with a black dot inside, and a line running from one side of the circle, through the dot, and to the other side. His shirt was plain red and he wore loose jeans and black tennis shoes. A black drawstring backpack was thrown over his shoulders and looked like it probably didn't hold anything more than a few essentials.
"I was training. It was only there for a second. I didn't expect some blind woman to trip over it and send it down the hill and into the river," he replied sarcastically.
"Well," she narrowed her eyes, "It's your own fault."
"Hm, whatever," he walked off with a wave of his hand, leaving a very confused Serenity in his wake.
"What. The. Heck?!" she screamed stopping off, Shinx right beside her. "Who exactly did he think he was? Come up and insult me and leave without even telling me a name. What a jerk! Oh, what's that?" she cut off from her rant noticing something moving around in the grass.
She pulled out her pokedex and flicked it open, "Pidgey. It's a docile pokemon that prefers to avoid conflict. Though, it can strike back aggressively if threatened."
Serenity nodded, "Well, that's good to know. You ready for our first fight, shinx?"
"Shinx!" Shinx jumped out in front of her ready to fight.
"Alright, Shinx, let's start with a tackle," Serenity yelled and Shinx leapt forward at it's enemy. The Pidgey easily dodge and went to tackle Shinx. "Shinx, dodge!" Serenity yelled and her Shinx jumped out of the way. "Now use tackle, again!" Serenity continued to demand. Shinx landed a clean tackle to the Pidgey's side causing it to fall easily, "Woo, easy catch! Pokeball, go!" She threw the pokeball and watch as the red light took in the pokemon before the button on front blinked a few time and went off. "We caught it!"
"Not something to be too proud about. That Pidgey went down way to easily," Serenity sighed as Cherry voice broke into the happiness of her first catch.
"Shouldn't you already be almost to Viridian?" she said in exasperation.
"Just taking my time," came Cherry's snood reply.
"Then 'take your time' else where," Serenity told her before turning with her Shinx on her heels. But, Cherry, once again, stopped her.
"How about a battle. Since you got your pokemon and all now."
Serenity wheeled around, "Alright. Call the rules."
"One on One," Cherry replied easily and threw out a pokeball. "Go, Bulbasaur."
"Bulb!"
"Go, Pidgey!" Serenity called out her pokemon.
"Gee!"
"Bulbasaur, razor leaf!" Cherry called immediately. And the razor sharp leaves started to make their way towards Pidgey.
"Pidgey, dodge and tackle!" Serenity yelled and Pidgey jumped out of the way before flying towards the Bulbasaur.
"Bulbasaur, vine whip," Cherry said calmly and her Bulbasaur produced two vines and immediately lashed out at Pidgey, throwing off his intended flight path and smacking him three times before he hit the ground. Cherry smirked when Pidgey struggled to get up, and ultimately failed, "I told you. Weak. Plus, it wasn't even back to its pitiful weak health yet. Don't you know that you've got to let them rest?"
Serenity ran over to her Pidgey, "It's alright. You did just fine. And, I'm sorry if you were too tired. We'll train up and get her next time, hm?"
"Gee," Pidgey responded before being pulling back into his ball.
Serenity stood up, "Good fight, but don't expect it to be so easy next time." With those words, Serenity turned and walked off, Shinx jumping up to her shoulder.
--
"Can you heal my pokemon?" Serenity asked, handing her pokeball to the woman behind the counter at the pokemon center, Joy, the sister of the Joy that works in Cerulean City… Gosh, where was Brock? He's the only on who can these women apart.
"Of course," she replied with a smile. She was just as happy as the Joy back in Cerulean, that's for sure. "Just this one, or does your Shinx need rest two?"
"Hmm, what about ya, Shinx? How do you feel?" Serenity asked.
"Shinx!" Shinx responded with what she guessed what suppose to be a thumbs-up, considering the Shinx didn't have thumbs, like she had given her parents.
Serenity shrugged, "She says she fine."
"Okay then, you can come back in an hour and your pokemon should be ready for you," Joy smiled.
"Thank you, Nurse Joy. Oh, and can you sign me up for the league championship?" she asked and Joy nodded before taking her pokedex, putting it in the computer, and handing it back a second later. "Thanks again," she bowed before turning to the phones that lined the wall. "I bet Mom and Dad have made it back to the gym."
She walked over and dialed the number. Within a second, her mom's voice came over the line, "Hello?"
"Hey, Momma. I made it to Viridian," she said and watched as the image of her mom popped up on the screen in front of her.
"That's great, Serenity," it was her dad's voice that come over the phone and his face popped up on screen a second later.
"Hiya, Daddy!" she said happily. "I caught my first pokemon. A Pidgey! But, Cherry had to come and ruin it and beat me in my first battle."
"Everyone loses battles, honey. Take it from your mother, she loses battles all the time," he joked, only to 'Oof' a second later and hold his stomach.
"Well, he was right about everybody losing battles, you just have to keep trying. You'll reach Pewter City next for your first badge. Bye and say hi to Brock for us when you see him," Misty waved over the screen.
"Bye Mom, bye Dad," she waved back and Shinx moved her paw up and down as well before the screen went dark. "Might as well go explore."
"Shi."
After exploring for a while, Serenity stopped in front of a large building, "Huh, that's weird. Dad said that the first gym would be in Pewter City."
"That's because you don't have a chance at winning in this gym yet," an almost familiar, light voice told her.
She turned around to spot the boy from the forest. She was already ready to square off, "And, just who do you think you are?"
He regarded her for a minute, "My names Blaze. And, my mom runs this gym. She only uses normal, flying, and ground-type, you know, basic pokemon. But, I promise you their quite strong. Most trainers only fight off in this gym once they've got the other badges."
"Oh," her stance became less defensive. "Well, I'm Serenity Ketchum of Pallet Town, and I'm going to be the greatest pokemon master, ever."
He stared at her silently for a couple more seconds, "Ash Ketchum's daughter?"
"Yeah, so?" she was now confused, she had no idea where he was getting at.
"Hm, that's strange," he thought to himself for a minute. When she was about to question him, he continued, "Ash went off the maps only about five years ago. And, you're ten, at least."
A dark look crossed Serenity's face, "You have no right to judge."
"Relax, I'm not judging. My dad skipped out on us four months after I was born. He wanted to continue his training. Only cared enough to keep Flame, my older brother, with him. He was about eight at the time. Never kept in contact with me or my sister," he told her nonchalantly.
She stared at him for a couple minutes, at least her father hadn't skipped out, "My father didn't know until I was just a little over the age of four. My mom wanted him to continue his journeys." Blaze nodded, understandingly before she continued, "So, your name's really Blaze and you have a brother named Flame?"
"Mm," he responded and moved over to a bench along the fence outside the gym. "My dad's a fire pokemon trainer. My name and the love of fire type pokemon are all he's ever given to me."
"So, I'm guessing you started out with Charmander?" she asked him, sitting down beside him.
"Yeah, but that was two years ago," he answered. A small smirk crossed his face, "So, I guess it's my turn to ask you if Serenity's your real name."
She giggled, "Suppose it's only fair I tell you a bit about me. Yeah, it is. My mom's the gym leader over in Cerulean City, which I'm guessing you may know since you know all about my father. She's a water trainer and she told me that the water always brought her a sense of calmness, tranquility, serenity."
"So, you're following in you dad's footsteps instead of your mom's?" he questioned.
"Yeah," Serenity nodded. "My mom said that even before I met my dad or knew who he was, that's what I wanted to do. Plus, my little sister, Rayne, dreams of running the gym one day. She's all about water pokemon. But, I could ask you the same thing, why did you decide fire instead of working in the gym?"
"It was a passion I was born with, I guess. Kind of like you," he shrugged. "My older sister, Star, and don't even ask why her name is so random, is going to take over when my mom can't run it. She's sixteen and will probably taking over soon."
"Have you finished your traveling?" Serenity asked him.
"Nah, I've barely left Viridian. My mom and sister needed me around here. But, they finally said I'm free to go 'as far as the wind takes me.' I've just got Charzard and Flareon. Still a long ways to go," he responded.
Serenity shrugged, "Well, right now I'm traveling alone. You can along if you want."
He gauged her for the third time and then shrugged, "Sure. You owe me skateboard anyways."
Serenity smiled, "Alright! Hear that, Shinx, we've made our first friend!"
"Shinx!" Shinx cheered from her side.
Ehh, soo? Like? And, I need some advice. Should I have one more or two more people join. I've already got the girl I want all figured up… But, then there would be no 'momma Brock' of the group. And, I think it'd be pure torture to leave poor Blaze with two girl (Especially when you meet this next one) She's coming up next!
P.S. I can't say all the chapters will be this long. Some may be. Some may be shorter and some have the chance of being longer.