Chapter One: Speak!
"Go, Marshtomp!"
"Get'm, Ninetales!"
Small red and white spheres flew into the air, exploding with translucent red light which twisted through the air before landing. The named Pokémon appeared from the light, landing on the ground, Ninetales coming down to earth gracefully and softly, Marshtomp landing with a thud and a battle pose. Instantly, their respective trainers shouted commands.
"Marshtomp, use Take Down!"
Marshtomp let out a battle cry and charged at the Ninetales. Ninetales stood her ground, staring at the dual-type Pokémon fiercely.
"Confuse Ray!" Will, Ninetale's trainer, called. Ninetale's eyes gleamed and the Marshtomp faltered, his eyes glazing over. Marshtomp suddenly veered to the left and rammed into a tree headfirst. The Pokémon wobbled away from the tree, obviously disoriented.
Marshtomp shook his head rapidly and glared at Ninetales, inhaling deeply. Suddenly, the air felt parched, as if something had ripped the moisture from the air. Marshtomp stamped his webbed feet into the ground and released the water taken from the air into a powerful stream.
"Ninetales! Protect!"
Before another order could be shouted or the move could be taken back, Marshtomp's water gun splashed uselessly over the shielded fire-type.
"Great job, Ninetales! Now use Quick Attack!"
Ninetales sang her battle cry and charged, spinning at the end of her dash to whip Marshtomp with all nine tails. Marshtomp fell to the left and landed with a thud.
Marshtomp's trainer ran over to his Pokémon and helped it stand. Will walked over to the team, followed by Ninetales, and held out a hand to his opponent.
"That was a good battle, Joey!" Will said with a smile. Joey blinked in confusion, then took the offered hand with a laugh.
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"Nice day, huh, Ninetales," Will said softly. Ninetales replied in a sleepy voice.
Both trainer and Pokémon lay on their backs, staring up at the evening sky through the trees, Will's golden hair smashed against the grass and Ninetale's many tails sprawled all over the place. A camp fire burned at their feet, breaking the twilight silence with occasional crackles.
Will yawned and Ninetales stood up and walked over to a tree stump on which her Pokeball lay open. She nudged it with her black nose and looked over to Will, who had by then sat up. The trainer stood and reached for the Pokeball.
"Ok then. Return, Ninetales." The Pokeball sent out a beam red light and Ninetales disappeared. Will set the Pokeball back on the stump and crawled into his blue sleeping bag.
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Night settled over Hoenn, but somewhere on Route 121, a lone trainer had trouble sleeping. Will stared up at the stars, fiddling with a small green slip of paper hanging around his neck on a thin chain. Frustrated at his lack of sleep, his unzipped the sleeping bag and crawled out, and occupied himself with poking at the few remaining embers in the dead fire with a stick. Finding the embers rather uninteresting, he drew a piece of cloth out of his pocket and reached for Ninetale's Pokeball.
As his finger's closed over the sphere, Will realized something. The Pokeball was open!
Will stood up with a yell and looked around the campsite frantically for any sign of Ninetales, then noticed some pawprints on the ground. He sighed in relief, recognizing them as Ninetale's, and followed then to a rocky cliff. Sure enough, a shadowed figure sat on the cliff, and, by the light of the moon, Will could recognize the pale yellow mane of a Ninetales.
"Ninetales! There you are!" Will exclaimed. The figure turned around in surprise and Will straightened up immediately in equal surprise. The figure on the cliff wasn't a Pokémon, but a human girl.
"Oh! Sorry!" Will apologized. "I thought you were, uh…well…A Pokémon…You see, my friend Ninetales has run off and uh…Have you seen a Ninetales run past here?" Will was mentally kicking himself for sounding so stupid…as usual…
"Sorry, I haven't," the girl replied, her brown eyes wide and blinking. "I'd imagine it would be hiding in the woods somewhere…"
Will looked down, worried about his friend. "Right…"
The girl noticed this and decided to chip in a bit of encouragement. "Don't worry, she'll turn up! Good luck finding her, Will!"
"Thanks…" Will smiled, then froze. "Wait…how do you know my name…?"
The girl sat up straight. "Oh! Is that really your name? Huh, I thought you looked like a Will! I'm good at guessing names, you see! And while we're on names…I'm Echo, ok?"
"Ok, Echo, thanks," Will replied with a wave. "See you around, and be careful out here." He turned around and walked back into the forest with both a sigh of disappointment and relief. "That was weird…I look like a Will!"
As Will moved out of sight, Echo smiled softly and looked back to the moon. The wind kicked up slightly.
Suddenly, the figure on the rock was gone.
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"Nine?" Ninetales stared at Will as he walked back into the campsite, leaves stuck in his hair and a twig sticking out of the white knapsack hanging by his side.
"Ninetales! Where have you been?"
Ninetales answered by picking up a cup-shaped leaf full of clear water.
"Hmph, get me worried over nothing…" Will muttered under his breath and walked over to his sleeping bag. He glanced back at his innocent-looking Pokémon and to her Pokeball. He shrugged. Might as well give Ninetales some freedom for the night. She seemed to take it on her own anyways.
Will crawled into his sleeping bag and slow, soft breaths were heard shortly afterwards.
Ninetales sighed and dumped the water into the firepit before settling down on a patch of cushiony grass.
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Will woke up the next morning to a paw on his nose and brown eyes staring down at him.
"Yeah, good morning to you too, Ninetales!" Will said, swatting the paw off his face. He sat up and stretched in a cat-like fashion before rolling up his sleeping bag. Ninetales gathered up Will's knapsack and set it by his feet while he pulled on his shoes. Having completed their morning ritual of getting ready to leave, the duo stood up, checked the atlas, and began walking east.
Ninetales walked along casually, biting at some of the berry bushes they passed while Will had his nose buried in the world map. He ran a finger along route 121, mapping the direction to their destination.
"Ok, I think if we keep on going east like this, we'll get to Lilycove City by 9:00!"
"Tales!"
"Hmm?" Will looked up only a moment before crashing into another person. A very angry looking person.
"Hey, watch where you're going, twerp!" the person yelled.
Will backed up and bowed his head in apology. "Sorry! I didn't, uh…see you there…Sorry!"
Ninetales rolled her eyes and gave Will a light shove.. Will blinked, and looked at the person he had run into. Black, loose pants, a black and blue striped shirt, and a bandana with the insignia of a skull…
"What are you staring at?"
"T-team Aqua!"
The Team Aqua grunt grinned evilly. "Oh, you've heard of us then?"
Will stepped forward, defiantly. Indeed he had heard of them, and all their villainous deeds. "What are you doing here?"
"Like I'd tell you! Send'em away, Mightyena!"
The dark wolf landed on the ground and growled at Ninetales fiercely. Ninetales backed away a step, but then brought back the courage to face her opponent.
The grunt seemed to have an idea and called out his first order to the Mightyena.
"Mightyena, use Odor Sleuth!" The Mightyena's nose twitched, sniffing the air for Ninetale's aroma. It turned back to its owner with a growling grin.
Will frowned, confused. Odor Sleuth was generally only used against ghost-types or Pokémon that had used double team. Sure, it would be harder to evade attacks, but…
The trainer looked at his Ninetales, only to become more confused. Ninetales looked shocked, carrying on a heated conversation in the language only Pokémon could understand with the Mightyena.
"Ninetales! Flamethrower!" Will commanded, shaking off the confusion and throwing his thoughts into the battle. Ninetales let loose a stream of fire, turning the Mightyena's already dark fur charcoal black. The Mightyena glared at Ninetales who had just breathed a puff of fire in a mocking way.
"Why you little…Bite, Mightyena!"
"Flamethrower again, Ninetales!"
Mightyena charged and Ninetales got in position for another Flamethrower. The dog bared its teeth and the fox exhaled the fire.
Will shielded his eyes from the brilliant fire with an arm, and when the fire and smoke had cleared away, the result of the battle was clear.
Mightyena was on the ground a few feet from Ninetales, charred and unconscious. A red light surrounded the Mightyena and the Team Aqua member scowled.
"You have no idea how much trouble you're in, kid! I'll be back and you won't get away!"
Will and Ninetales both shot the grunt a confident 'you-wanna-bet?' look.
The villain disappeared into the woods without another threat.
"I wonder what that was all about…" Will asked himself, looking down at Ninetales.
Ninetales turned her head towards Will and opened her mouth.
"We shouldn't stay here much longer, Will," she said sadly.
A startled scream rang through the forest, scaring multiple birds from the trees.
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Hey, and welcome to Emerald Star, yet another Pokemon fanfiction ready to rock the universe...I hope! Some readers may know me already from my first story, "Sneaky Wobbuffet," but for those who don't, I hope you stick around to read the next chapter! Ah, and if you notice any spelling errors/grammar errors/awkward wording/etc. and stuff like that, could you pretty please inform me ASAP? Other forms of Constructive Critism is more than welcome! )