A/N: This started out in third person. Then I realized I was being an idiot so I fixed it.

Our story begins on the outskirts of Pallet Town with a young boy, Artemis, barely 10 years old. His hand massaged his head through his dark messy hair, intense purple eyes focused intently on the clouds, knowing it would rain soon. He didn't want to go home, but he was hungry and knew that his mother would worry if he didn't get back soon. He was excited, knowing that tomorrow he would receive his first Pokémon, and begin his journey to become a great Pokémon trainer. His thoughts drifted to the future but quickly snapped back to reality when he felt a drop of the cold rain hit his nose.

'A dark and stormy night', I smirked, 'How cliché', starting to head back to my home. I am not a normal boy. I consider myself quite mature, for a 10-year-old, and, according to my mother, there is an intelligence in my eyes that makes most people uncomfortable around me. I enjoy the rain, even though it's quite cold, but I know that I need to gather my strength for the coming adventure, so I suppose it would be best to get home early and try and get enough sleep.

The rain had started pouring, and I was thinking about how comfortable my nice bed was, when from the night, I heard a growl, then it was joined by a second one, then a third, and countless others until I was sure there was a whole pack of... whatever they were. I'm not someone who scares easily, but confronted with a pack of possibly aggressive wild Pokémon without any way to defend myself, I did the only logical thing to do. I began to run. Then suddenly, from the darkness came a cry. It wasn't a voice or word I recognized, but I could tell what it meant.

Help!

I felt it as much as I heard it, and though I never rushed recklessly into anything without a plan, I knew that if I didn't do something, something bad would happen to her (for the voice was definitely female), and as cold as I acted towards others, that was more because I didn't like most people than because I was actually compassionless. So I looked around, grabbed a large branch and my flashlight, and ran towards the voice, formulating a rather sketchy plan as I ran.

-POV Change-

She was running, running, not even in charge of her own legs anymore, just running, instinctively fleeing the howling and growling, left, right, jump, edge of the forest should be right... there! stumbling a little as she turned to locate her pursuers, then tripping as a root deposited her painfully at the foot of a massive beast, dark haired and with eyes the color of fresh blood. The large number of scars he had marked him as the leader, and as the rest of the pack circled around her she froze in fear. She barely had time to scream as he stepped up to her…

-POV Change-

I was running towards the sound when I saw them, highlighted against the darkness by lightning, then gone as fast. I was terrified. An entire pack of Mightyena, and they didn't look friendly. And I was running towards them. 'Artemis what the hell are you doing? This is ridiculous, just go back home and wait until tomorrow, then you can…'
Then I heard it again, fainter this time, a cry followed by shuddering sobs, and adrenalin coursed through my system as I increased my speed. I had never been seen as much of an athlete, being pale and fairly scrawny, but I was surprisingly strong, and I had been working out and exercising every day in preparation for my journey. So when I slammed into one of the Mightyena, it dropped. I kept going until I stumbled into a small clearing. I remembered the flashlight in my hand, and having lost the element of surprise, I figured I might as well give myself some light. As soon as it flicked on, the 4 Pokémon turned towards me, until yelping and looking away from the bright light that had ruined their night vision. Taking in the situation all at once, I decided to go after the 3 smaller ones so I wouldn't have to continually watch my back.

I ran up to the first one, brutally smashing it as near to the head as I could, and it stumbled away as fast as it's blind, dazed legs could carry it. I then went to working on the second's legs, smashing its paws with the flashlight and sweeping its legs with the branch. Even before it hit the ground I had turned towards the third one, not even bothering with my 'weapons', instead simply kicking it in the face as hard as I could.

As it stumbled away with the second one close behind it, both with tails between their legs, the alpha decided it had had enough of this meddler, and that its dinner could wait. It turned towards this small nuisance that had intruded on its meal and bared its teeth, in hopes of terrifying it making it easier prey. What it didn't expect was for the small fleshy thing to charge at it, and as it took a small step back in surprise, it snorted, realized that small thing couldn't possibly hurt it and stepped forwards again.

At this point I was beginning to tire, but with all the adrenalin in my system, I didn't even really notice, and sprinted at the alpha, swinging when I got close enough. My eyes widened in surprise as the alpha jumped out of the way without even grazing the stick, and suddenly I felt a claw-laden paw slice across my back. With my momentum I had managed to avoid getting completely gutted, but it was incredibly painful and definitely bleeding. As I stumbled from the blow I rolled over the thing that the Mightyena had been focusing on, but due to the manner in which I traveled over her, didn't see her. As I climbed to my unsteady feet, I saw the alpha charging at me, jaws wide open, claws bloody, teeth widened in what must have been a feral grin.

I looked at its' eyes and realized the alpha had decided that the fight was over, and that it had won, and I smiled. As it jumped to finish this annoying pest, I laughed, collapsed to the ground, and the Mightyena shrieked as it saw the tree I had slowly shifted in front of. It felt its skull collide with the trunk, saw stars, then felt two large heavy objects crash down on the back of its head. When it came to, it was morning, and its meal, along with most of the pack, had gone.

I rolled away as the alpha hit the tree, and when it hit the ground, I used both my flashlight and the branch and brought them both down on this evil creatures head. After making sure it was out the adrenalin rush slowly began to fade, and I realized I had cuts and scrapes all over my legs from running through the dense bushes, and from my fall. Then I remembered my back, and the pain rushed back, and I fell to my knees as the pain threatened to overwhelm me, as my vision blurred and my ears rung. Wait a second, I thought, utterly confused, that's not my ears ringing…? And then I remembered why I had done all this in the first place as the ringing coalesced into sobs. I looked around, then stood, and almost fell back down as another wave of nausea and dizziness hit me. For a second, I thought I was going to throw up, but instead straightened, took a deep breath, and decided to worry about it later.

I opened my eyes, and as they searched, they found it… they found… her. It was a Pokémon, I realized, because no human could possibly be that green, and my mind worked as I tried to remember everything I knew about them. My mind, still dizzy and a little slow from the adrenalin, struggled to remember what they were called, and it came to me, right as she opened her mouth.

She was a Ralts.

"Raallltss"

I knew she was in bad shape, knew that moving her could be dangerous, but realized there was no other way. I picked her up as gently as possible, and ran back towards the Pallet Town Pokémon Center.

Whew! Well that was fun! I knew my English class was good for something, gave me plenty of time to work on this. So, what did you guys think? I promise it'll get romantic eventually. R&R please.