"Station master here. Boarding passes in this area." I walked up to the man calling for passengers and held up my hand.
"Um…Reborn City,"
"Eh? Another one? They sure have been pushing that new league." he muttered.
"Let's see…Which one of these was it?"
Shuffling through the passes, he glanced at me momentarily. I ducked my head.
"This is you, huh?" he said, holding up a pass with the picture of a blonde girl with quite the elegant black dress.
"Y-Yes, sir." he gave off 'hmph'.
"Certainly looks like it."
The officer was about to type when he looked at me again.
"Uh, what's your name again?" he scratched his head awkwardly.
"Alicia."
"Got it." the man began using the…typewriter? Who uses typewriters anymore?
"Just to be sure, for gender, I should put..?"
"Female, sir." Frankly, I am quite offended that the guy has to ask about my gender. Do I not look like the graceful lady type?
"One sec. I'll handle the rest of this."
I looked over and saw that my seat was '5D', whatever that meant.
'Grandview Station…'
It's just hitting me that I'm about to start my adventure. It's the whole reason why I'm about to enter this train after all.
"There, all set," he ripped the pass off and gave it to me. Just before I decided to go and enter the train, he leaned in conspiratorially. Suffice to say, it creeped me out.
"Just between you, me, and the ol' battered fence post, I hear Reborn City's kind of a dump." That doesn't sound right. The poster I looked up and that 'Ame' person said that Reborn was a wonderful place.
"You sure?" I can't help but ask after that tip. He nodded.
"Why anyone would wanna go there is beyond me. And yet," he gestured to the others behind me, colorful people with traveler's bags, "buncha' you ambitious Trainer-type folk have been headin' out in droves." He sighed.
"But off you go now. Train's leaving any minute." O…kay?
I waited at the sidelines, watching the train signal its arrival by blaring a loud horn.
I stepped into the train along with the other trainers whose destinations are the same as mine. The Reborn League.
Little did I know of the horrors that will soon happen.
I am Alicia Arc, 18 years old and daughter of Nicholas and Juniper Arc. We live in Kalos, in a decently sized house along with my seven siblings. Yes, seven, because Mom and Dad were always in a celebratory mood. Right now, I'm packing up my bag with travel stuff I'm going to bring with me to Reborn City.
"Alicia, you'll need these too." A man walked inside my room, carrying some pokeballs. Ah, my brother, Jaune.
"Thanks bro." I smiled sweetly as I take his balls, and doesn't that sound wrong taken out of context, out of his hands. He just has that goofy grin on his face like he has done some great achievement. I want to wipe it off his face.
Jaune Arc, current defending champion of the Kalos League for 3 years now, cunning strategist on the pokemon battlefield, and also an overprotective brother to all his sisters. Being the first born and the only male out of us 8 siblings had made him quite the papa bear. Of course, his affection has endeared us towards him but his affection tends to go overboard if you know what I mean.
He looked towards my bag that is about to burst from the amount of stuff filling it.
"Uh...Alicia, don't you have any Storage Balls?"
"Storage what?"
"Judging by that reaction, you don't have one. Right, wait here for a bit." He left in a hurry. What was that about?
While waiting for him to get back, I spared a glance to my desk, where some papers were strewn about, and a poster that has a beautiful city in it that says, "Reborn League. Want to apply? Call this number: 956-7887"
I've always wanted to become a trainer ever since my brother became the Kalos League Champion when I was 15. Jaune kept telling me of all the places he has visited, and all the pokemon and trainers that he met. He told me of all the adventures he had, and with it, my excitement grew larger. I, of course, asked if I could be a trainer at the time, but he said no. He's very adamant that I start my journey at 18, like now. I still don't know what his reason was, but that was in the past.
I've been looking for Pokemon Leagues other than the Kalos one, because like I said, he's the champion, and I know I couldn't win against him. He is too powerful, and very much invincible.
I would like to be a Champion too you know!
It was also around that time that I found the poster when I was walking around town. I was excited at the beautiful place the poster showed. I immediately dialed the number, and talked with the League Manager there.
Apparently, her name was Amethyst, but she prefers to be called Ame. We talked about my registration to the League. Apparently, I had to sign some papers that she will send over to my email. I had to print it out, which was no issue as we had one inside the house. She said that she will brief me on the details later on when I'm in the Reborn Region.
"Alicia, these are Storage Balls I was talking about." Jaune walked into my room, interrupting my thoughts, setting a bunch of weirdly colored Pokeballs on my bed.
"Storage balls are used for, as the name implies, storage of items you have for your journey." He began pointing at each ball one by one.
"I've taken care to label them so that you would know where to put each item you've want to store. I know how obsessed you are with organizing." One, its not an obsession, but a desire to remain neat and organized at all times, and two, I don't think you should be saying that Sir Puts-Everything-Everywhere.
"This here," he pointed to a blue and green storage ball, unwise about my thoughts, "is what I'd like to call a Transfer Ball. You know how trainers weren't allowed to bring more than 6 Pokemon with them?" I nodded. "Well, trainers who just want to capture Pokemon got into a lot of trouble due to this rule, so Professor Oak made this so that any Pokeball that already has the 'Capture Signature' on it can be put in here. Then, the next time you see a Pokemon Center with a PC, you can just put that ball on the small pod in front of the screen, and then it will directly transfer the contents to wherever the Transfer Ball is registered to."
"Where is this registered then?" I asked, pointing at the Transfer Ball.
"It's registered to your space in the Ranch!" What.
"What do you mean 'my space'?"
"When you turned 18, our parents, along with myself, paid for an extra large extension to our Ranch, right next to mine, since I knew that you will have your journey soon." He spoke quite excitedly.
"W-Why..!"
Jaune went up to me and looked me in the eye. Then, he turned away and spoke quite loudly.
"Alicia, I want you to catch any Pokemon that seems new or different. You're going to a new region that I never heard of, who knows what kind of Pokemon exists there!" He began drooling. Aaaaand my embarrassment is gone. He just wanted to see new Pokemon I catch. What a manipulative brother.
I looked at the Storage Balls and poked them, trying to see if I could open them.
I heard a smacking sound and looked up to see Jaune with a hand on his face. What's that about?
"I forgot! You don't know how to use these, right? Ahh, I'm a stupid brother!" Yes, yes you are. "Wait, you know how to use these?"
"No, I was just agreeing that you were stupid." I had to stifle my laughter with at the sight of his downtrodden expression. What a silly brother.
"A-Anyways," he coughed a bit, then picked up a ball with a tiny sticker with a t-shirt on it. "This is how you use it. If you want to put something inside the ball, just click the left side button on the ball while pointing at the item you want to store." He demonstrated by pointing at the pink dress that was spilling out of the bag, a beam of light shooting from the center of the ball and into the dress, causing it to disappear. "It will then be inside the ball in digitized form."
"Now, if you want to get something from inside the ball, you need to press the right side button." He pressed the button, and the ball opened. A hologram streamed from inside the ball, showing a tile grid of empty boxes, with the top-left most box showing the dress that was absorbed earlier.
"After that, you select the items you want to get," he pointed the finger close to the box with the dress, then a green outline surround the box. "Then just press the 'Extract' button on the bottom." He did just that and the dress materialized on his other hand. "Simple as that. If you want to organize or set items to quick use, press both buttons at the same time, and it will show you its storage."
"Quick use?"
"Yes, its usually used on potions and the like for fast healing in the wilderness. To register items for quick use, you just drag the desired items to these boxes here. Be warned, you can only register 3 items only, so choose wisely." He said, pointing to 3 boxes just on the side of the tile grid. "To use these functions, just press the 3 buttons on top of the ball." I looked at the Storage Ball, and, sure enough, there were 3 buttons there that were labeled 1 to 3.
He sighed, and patted my head. Ahh~, his headpats were the best~.
"These were ones that I didn't use on my adventure, so take care of them." ...Wait a minute.
"You didn't use? How many do you have?" He scratched the back of his head rather sheepishly.
"Around 10 of each…"
"WHY would you need that many!?" That's ridiculous!
"When you're traveling, you usually find a lot of objects left on the ground, and usually, they're helpful things that you could use or sell on the local Pokemart. I found a lot one time, and made big money by selling them on the local market." That's…no. I've wondered all this time how he managed to provide for himself, his Pokemon, and the amount of Full Restores he has. Turn's out that he has been working as a garbage man all this time.
"So, let me get this straight, you, my respectable brother and Champion of the Kalos League, who's supposed to be the noblest of heroes that defeated Team Flare, went around the region collecting trash to sell on the market," his frame keeps getting smaller and smaller as I continued to speak, "or otherwise stealing items belonging to other people for your own use."
"…Yes?"
"Jaune, you're a petty thief." Jaune flinched like he was just struck. He looked ridiculous.
"Hrk..!" Okay, his whimpers along with his stature looked really funny, and I just let loose my laughter after seeing that.
"Ahh, what a cruel little sister I have." He bemoaned. While I was laughing myself silly, he went close and hugged me. I was still trying to get my giggles on control when he patted me on the head.
"…I'm going to miss you, Alicia." He said with a forlorn look on his face. I hugged him back, my face pressing into his chest and breathing in his scent.
"I'm going to miss you too, brother. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I'm strong." I giggled, and hugged him more tightly. He was really warm, and I enjoyed it in the cool nights of Kalos.
"I worry anyways. Be careful Alicia. I love you."
"I love you too bro."
Later on the train...
This train is surprisingly comfy. I had a whole couch to sit on!
"Might as well organize my inventory. Everything was rushed earlier." I began taking the Storage Balls out of my bag and ordering them one by one. As I was organizing them, I kept thinking about what should I do after I get my starter Pokemon. Ame said that I would get them after leaving the station, but that's it. I could train, but it would get tiring really fast. Hmm...
Before putting the balls back where they belong, I noticed a luxury pokeball inside my bag. I frowned as I remembered what this was supposed to be.
"Alicia," Jaune called and handed me a pokeball that looked worn out and well used.
"I want you to have this. Inside this pokeball is something I liked to call insurance."
"Why would you give this to me?"
"Whenever you are in an extremely dangerous situation, I want you to call out the Pokemon inside this. Please promise me." I hesitated at answering, wanting to demand what was inside the ball.
But...his eyes were full of concern and fear.
"All right, I promise bro." Jaune released a relieved sigh.
"Thanks. Take care, Alicia."
"I will."
I looked outside the window and saw lots and lots of sand along with...trains? Woah, many of them are in bad shape. Makes me think that this is some kind of a scrapyard for trains.
Something white flashed on the hill just by the side. I looked towards it and saw an Absol staring directly towards me. That's...creepy. Weren't Absols the Pokemon that warn people of incoming disaster?
...Okay that was a very scary thought. I hope that there is no disaster awaiting for me out here.
"-ank you very much! I'll see you when we get into the city." I turned to see 2 women talking. And one of them just sat across of me.
"All right, hello there!" Uhh...
"...Hello?"
"Your turn now; sorry for the wait." What?
"What do you mean 'my turn'?" She looked shocked.
"You don't recognize me? Ah, I suppose we didn't get a good look on each other's faces on the call. My name's Ame. I am the manager of the Reborn League" OH!
"I-I'm sorry I didn't recognize you!" I flailed my arms a bit after bowing. I did NOT expect this.
"It's fine. Now, I'm afraid I scattered my profiles a bit on the trainers visiting the region." I nodded. "Would you mind telling me your name?"
"Alicia Arc."
"Ah~right. Here's your profile..." ...She seems to a bit of an airhead.
"It's great that a lot of trainers come here now that we are getting things off the ground again." Ame said while digging around her bag. She finally found what she was looking for and began to read it.
"Let's see here, 18 yrs old...oh! You're the sibling of a champion?" Her tone was of curiosity, which were pointedly not the ones that I'd come to hate when I walk around Kalos.
"Yes, the Kalos one."
"Hmm~Well, it's good that you have a role model in life." Ehehe~.
"Well~I've always wanted to be a trainer, and one day become as strong as my brother and become Champion." I said with a silly grin on my face. Ame chuckled like she heard a joke only she was privy to.
"Don't tell me...You're part of the Gym Leaders aren't you!?" I feel mortified that there's one right in front of me!
"Sure, let's go with that." We both laughed a bit, but then I noticed that Ame seems a bit sad.
"Why do you look so down?" I had to ask. She sighed.
"Truth is, due to an incident a few years back, the whole region was completely abandoned...even the Pokemon went up and leave." Why? Was that incident so bad that they can't tolerate the place anymore? Ame seemed to notice my concern since she immediately spoke up.
"Uh...but don't let that worry you! We have been repopulating the region with loads of Pokemon." Oh, that's interesting. Jaune would probably go nuts in this region.
"It might not be an ideal place, but our gym leaders are nothing to scoff about, and I think you'll find Reborn to be a region like no other too!"
"So far this place looks to be very difficult to get any real progress on. Great." I sighed, thinking back to my decision about training. Seems like it'll be mandatory now.
"Oh, don't worry about that. In any case, Pokemon here tend to be a little bit aggressive towards their trainer, as such they will not listen to them should they not have earned their trust through battling. They also seem to know instinctively that you are a good trainer with how many badges you have on hand. So I suggest battling the Gym Leaders in order to have your Pokemon listen to you."
"Right, that does wonders for my confidence." I deadpanned, and she just chuckled at my words.
"Haha, well, as long you know how to take command and strategize on the field, you'll do fine." I made sure to smile a bit.
"Well, thanks, I guess."
"Right, after we arrive at the Grandview Station, disembark along with the other trainers and follow me towards the Grand Hall. There, I'll give you your starter Pokemon to really kick off your adventure in Reborn. Sounds good?"
"Yeah." I looked outside to see that we were nearing a station of some kind.
"Then, if you'll ex-!" Hmm? Ame's voice suddenly cut out into a gasp. Whats hap...pen...ning?
I looked back at her, only to see a black wisp blocking the way. I followed the wisps 'body' to its...face?
"..!" Okay, Alicia, don't panic and DON'T MOVE. It might decide to not kill you.
The 'thing' just gave me a creepy smile and vanished.
"Umm..." I wanted to ask Ame what the hell just happened and if I am going to die tonight. But the serious look in her face made me shut up.
"Something's wrong." Wha?
"...What do you mean?" I don't know how I am still calm about this. Am I going in shock?
"We're near the station, so shouldn't we be decelerating already?" She looked towards the window and her eyes widened.
"Oh no-MOVE!" Ame roughly grabbed me and threw ourselves out the window. I heard the noise of glass breaking and an explosion ringing out in the distance.
All I could think of just before everything went to black was, 'Damnit, Absol.'
Author's Note: So uhh... end of Chapter One I guess. I'm sorry that I'm not updating my other story, but personal life issues got in the way of that and I have lost all motivation to do that. To regain that motivation, I'll work on this for now until I get my spark back. Sorry guys. Don't worry though. I've got around 20,000 words saved up on the other story, so I'll get back on that soon enough.
Review and Follow everyone! Thanks!
(P90s ARE cute. What are you guys talking about?)
