.

.

Prologue

.

.

"Finally! Now that I'm ten, it's finally my time to be one of the trainers! Time to get out there!"

"That's what I said a week ago…"

The young child lied there in the otherwise empty bedroom, occupying the top of the two bunk beds. In earshot he heard the sounds of children outside, shouting commands to the Pokémon that caused the sounds of thuds and explosions moments after. He let out a sigh into the room that was swallowed up quickly by silence.

For the last seven days, this is how the evenings would go. Him lying there; the children battling outside; the boy's mind wandering and thinking about when that will get to be him.

He didn't mind it really. He understood why his mother wanted him to stay 'just a bit longer'. A journey meant going just about anywhere but home, and for a long time. Because he understood that so well, he'd agreed to stay until next week.

But now- after having spent the whole week with his family- all there was to do was waiting it out until tomorrow.

"…Darn it, Dad," the boy though aloud. "Why couldn't you have stayed for more than just one day?"

"I have to get back to Goldenrod you all." He had said back on Wednesday. "They're supposedly getting rowdy…sorry about this. I'd like to stay longer, but I don't get that option."

"Don't overwork yourself," Was the only real comment his mother had to offer as they all joined in a hug. He couldn't read the expression on her face.

His dad had kneeled down to his level and ruffled his hair like he always did; he'd grown to dread this with his father's visits, as it always meant goodbyes.

Before he stepped on the aircraft that waited for him on the shoreline, he wished him the best of luck on his journey.

The fact that his father had left so early had put him in the lesser sort of a good mood. On top of that, he's been having these vague, rather distant dreams.

"Hey! What did you do to my Pokémon? Are you insane!?"

A figure dressed mostly in red stood in his line of vision; his vision showed with blotchy spots of white, like it was snowing or something...

Even though it was also dark, he could make out the silhouette of a winged Pokémon looming behind the person. It seemed to be on fire.

Then his sight changed direction to the ground, where he saw a yellow figure. He couldn't tell what it was as the attention was quickly set back on the person in the distance, who had yet to utter a word.

"Don't be silent now! If you think I'm gonna let you get away with hurting him like that, you've got another thing coming!"

The voice of the person out of his vision shouted something. But as he drifted out of the dream, he caught a glimpse of lightning clashing with fire…

It was the reason he wasn't just sleeping the day away. The visions would leave him in a cold sweat. When he took the issue to his mother she couldn't make heads or tails of it, assuming the excitement of becoming a trainer was overwhelming him.

After fighting against the growing weight of his eyelids for as long as he could, the trainer of tomorrow finally, unwillingly fell asleep.

…

.

Chapter 1

"A Journey before the beginning?"

.

.

"…Told you I'd do it." The young boy murmured half asleep, pumping a fist into the air. He rolled in bed, eventually falling from the top bunk. He flailed around in the tangled sheet and sat up on the floor with a start.

"Ouch…what a way to ruin it." He moaned rubbing the back of his head. "That was probably the best version of what could possibly be close to the real thing…"

"…Are you really gonna just sit there and say nothing?"

His little sister sat upright in the bottom bunk looking at him, her mid-length black hair a mess in aftermath of the great rest.

"…That's the third time this week you've fallen out of that bed. Maybe I should take the top one..." She yawned, rubbing her eyes wearily.

"Knock yourself out Kryst," He shrugged. "I leave today anyway, remember? I'm finally ten."

"Oh right…" She said in acknowledgement, but rather plainly. "…well, I'm going back to sleep, so I'll see you later."

Before he even had the chance to correct her on that statement, she was deep into sleep, breathing with what was a slight snore.

Her and mom…I'll never understand how they doze off so quickly. He thought inwardly.

Shaking his head, he went to grab his bag. He'd pre-packed in late night anxiety the day before, so everything was already set. Next he grabbed his jacket: a one-of-a-kind blended green-to-black jacket with lightning bolt stripes. He'd been fortunate to not grow out of it, as it was still pretty big on him.

Then was his hair. Story goes he'd been so awestruck with the color of his jacket that he'd had his hair colored to match. He had a neighbor with a Smeargle who skillfully traced the edges of his hair with green. Needless to say, his mom and dad had blown a fuse. Back then, he had been only eight years old. However, after lots of fussing, begging and everything in-between from the boy, the style stayed.

He smiled at his reflection in the mirror as he reminisced nostalgias on everything before deciding it was time to head out. He made a run for the door.

As he turned the corner though, his mother stood there with arms crossed, directly in his path, looking him directly in the eyes. "Edward, honey, I'm still skeptical about this journey of yours. Are you sure you want to go?"

"Yes, mom!" He droned. "And you said I could go! We agreed that if I stayed for my birthday, I could go the week after!"

His mother's look weakened. "To be honest, that was your father's idea…"

"Mmmm."

"If you're going to go, can you please start using more words?"

"Okay, sorry, I will."

With that, his mother stepped from the doorway to open it for him. "Get going then, before I change my mind." She joked

His green eyes brightened along with a smile before he embraced her in a hug. "Thanks mom! You won't regret it, I swear!"

With that, he bolted out the door with a 'see you later!', sprinting faster than he ever did out of his hometown of Vermillion city, the cool feeling and smell of the sea air getting stronger as he ran toward the direction of the piers.

"Ok. I'm off for Pallet town I guess."

His mother suddenly remembered something of importance watching his figure grow further away.

"Don't forget to call your father when you get there!" She shouted after him.

He seemed to be running away at that, all the more quickly.

Edward always tended to run with his eyes fixated to the ground ahead of him, so it was only by the time that he stopped to catch his breath that he looked up, spotting the cruise ship that was slowly getting into motion.

"Wait!"

He broke full speed as he realized that the S.S. Anne was departing, slowly putting distance between itself and the dock. He hurriedly blurted out apologies as he bumped and shoved people to keep chase. He jumped a couple of boxes and crates to get higher up, making an attempt to jump across and onto the deck.

It would have gone flawlessly, had the railing of the ship not been wet from the ocean air.

He fell back as his foot slipped from the railing, making a grab for something that wasn't there. Just as he expected to fall into the ocean, he was caught and hoisted over by the collar of his Jacket.

Once he recovered from the shock, he got a better look at his savior- an older crewman of the ship, giving him a stern look.

"Are you out of your mind, kid? You better not be trying to hitch a ride on this ship!"

In response, Edward simply flashed the ticket his parent gave to him with a weak smile. "Just running late, sir."

The man seemed somewhat surprised, dropping him the short distance from which he'd been holding him to the wooden deck, leaving the poor boy to stagger for a moment. He simply left off, telling him not to pull any more stunts like that while aboard.

Edward let out a sigh in exasperation as he fixed his collar. What a way to start the journey. I was supposed to say out of trouble.

He'd have to be more careful, he told himself. His parents had warned him that kids without Pokémon while traveling weren't exactly left alone, so he'd have to be discrete until he got to pallet. That was the true difficulty of living in vermillion- basically the only one.

He proceeded to an empty cabin where he planned to wait out the cruise to pallet town. If he didn't, most conversations he could have would end at 'Sorry, but I don't have any Pokémon'. It was a ship crowded with trainers for crying out loud! He felt boredom just thinking about it.

Then again, he could have easily taken the bus to pallet and saved half the time. Only thing was…he despised it.

But no, he think about that. Not today.

He closed the door to his cabin on a trainer who was about to question him on battling, feeling somewhat bad for it. He lied there in the furnished room, taking the twin-size bed that was situated in the corner. With the soothing sound of the ocean close by and the rocking caused by the waves, Edward didn't find it hard to drift off in slumber. It was just like home.