Chapter 1 - Water

"Hey, kid. We're about 5 minutes out from arriving in Petalburg. Don't forget anything when you leave."

"Thank you," Logan said. He grabbed his bag and put his shoes on before opening the ship door to get a good look at the Hoenn region for the first time.

"Water." He said. "Water everywhere." He wiped sweat off his brow and looked up towards the sun. "And it's hot. Why is it so hot?"

"That's the Hoenn region for you. Hot year long round. It also rarely snows. Maybe twice a year. Won't collect though." The captain said. He reached into his bag and pulled a small towel with Wailmer print on it. "Take this. You're gonna need a towel to wipe your sweat. Take it. I haven't used this one. Brand new. Promise."

"Thanks." Logan said. I'll have to wash it first just in case.

The captain worked his way up a ladder and to the steering wheel. "So, what are you doing in Hoenn anyways? You look like a trainer, but I noticed that you don't have Pokémon on you. And you're not bringing enough luggage to be moving, so what's going on?"

Logan smiled. "You sure are curious."

"That's something you'll have to get used to. Being an outsider, you'll get a lot of questions. Figured I'd break the ice though."

"I see."

"Also, people from Hoenn are naturally curious about that kind of stuff, I think. Not everyday someone comes here. People generally go to Kanto or Johto, ya know?"

"I guess I'll just get used to a lot of questions in that case."

"So, what is it?"

"What?"

"Why are you coming to Hoenn?"

"Oh yeah." Logan paused. "I have a lot of reasons. But, for now, I'll just say that I need a fresh start."

"Pokémon Trainer?"

"...I was."

The captain didn't respond. He kept his gaze forward towards the dock. "Arriving soon."

"Hoenn."

"Hello! Welcome to the Petalburg Pokémon Center! How can I help you?" Asked Nurse Joy. She looked different than what Logan was used to, but she had a familiar smile.

"My name is Logan. Logan Stephenson. It might actually be under-"

"Found you! You're scheduled for one night, but you can always extend that if necessary."

"Neat."

"And real quick. It says right here that you need to contact Professor Juniper once you arrive."

Logan sighed. "Already? I just arrived and she's already having me do things."

"You can use the phone over there." Joy pointed in the direction of some arcade cabinet looking machine. "I'm sure she'll be glad to hear from you."

Logan grabbed his keys for the room. "Thank you." He walked over to the telephone machine and typed in Juniper's number.

Juniper's face flashed on screen. "Hello, Logan! Good to see that you made it safe!"

"Howdy."

"How was the trip?"

"Long."

"How is Hoenn so far?"

"Hot."

"That's to be expected."

"Yeah. What's up?"

"Just wanted to make sure that you made it okay. Aunts will worry like that."

"I traveled around Unova and Alola for two years and we only talked three times, maybe." Logan replied, slightly bothered. "So, what's up?"

"But Hoenn is so far, so I worry!" She said before taking a small pause. "I do have a favor to ask of you."

"Of course."

"Feel free to say no."

"You know I want to, but I won't."

"Great!" Juniper replied with a smile. "Two towns away is a place called Littleroot Town. My colleague Professor Birch lives there. I was wondering if you could go and visit him for me."

Logan glared. "A visit? Is he lonely?"

"He said he wanted to meet you! And since you've got no plans, I figured it couldn't hurt!"

"I guess I'll go..."

"Great! Call me when you get there!"

"No."

"And, Logan."

"What?"

"Look who it is!" Juniper said before moving the camera back a bit to reveal various Pokémon. "They wanted to say hi!"

Logan paused. "Emboar, Zorua, Fraxure... I miss you guys."

"I can send them to you any time, ya know?"

"Emboar!" The fire-type said with a smile.

Logan closed his eyes. "I'm sorry. But for now, I think this is best. Juniper, when I get to Littleroot, I'll contact you." With that, he ended the call.

Logan spent the night in the Pokémon Center, and woke up early the next day. The morning was considerably cooler than the day. It felt familiar to Logan. The afternoon was a different story.

"Why is it so hot?!" Logan cried out. He had made it roughly three hours into Route 102. The Hoenn heat was starting to get to him though. "What did I do to deserve this?!"

Logan pulled out the blue towel that he received from the captain. He washed it the night previous, but he was still nervous about using a towel received from a stranger. He wiped the sweat off his face and placed the towel on his head.

"This is ridiculous-" He suddenly stopped complaining when he saw a group of small, black Pokémon all huddled together, making quite a bit of noise.

"Poochyena, I think." He inched closer to see what was causing such a commotion.

The group had formed a circle and in the middle, two Poochyena were battling one another. One looked already incredibly tired, while the other one was clearly dominating the fight. The tired one attempted a tackle of sorts, but it was easily dodged and the faster of the two answered with his own tackle, knocking his opponent to the ground. The stronger of the two Poochyena slowly walked to the weaker one and placed his paw on his opponent's neck, preparing to deal a final blow.

"That's enough," Logan said calmly. "You've won. You've proven your point."

This startled the group of Pokémon. They all turned towards Logan.

"I probably shouldn't poke the bear. I read that you're all great pack hunters," Logan said. He took a deep breath. "But I'm going to ask you to step away from that weak one."

The group of Poochyena looked at the stronger Poochyena from before. His gaze towards Logan was unwavering.

"You won. Walk away."

It lifted its paw from the defeated Poochyena's neck, barked at the group, and they all retreated into the forest.

Logan let out a sigh of relief and ran to the fallen Poochyena. He knelt over to pick him up, but suddenly the Pokémon attempted to bite. Logan retreated his arm.

"I'm gonna ask you to not."

The Pokémon let out a howl before passing out. Logan removed the towel from his head and wrapped it around Poochyena.

"It's about an hour left of walking to Oldale." Logan looked at the sun. "I'll try to get you there sooner though." With that, Logan started to run as fast as he could.

Logan arrived in Oldale roughly 20 minutes later. He frantically looked for the Pokémon Center, seeing the building's red roof from afar.

"So, close." He took a deep breath. "But so far. And so hot!" He began his stride again, blowing past people on the street who shot him confused looks. Within a few moments, he arrived at the Pokémon Center and rushed through the automatic doors. He was met with a baffled Nurse Joy at the counter.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Pooch-fight-please-" he choked out.

Nurse Joy nodded. "Okay! I'll take care of 'em!"

Logan handed over the Poochyena. "Thank you-" Logan said before blacking out.

"Professor Birch, have you prepared the Pokémon for today?"

The professor looked up from his stack of papers. "That's today?!"

His assistant sighed. "I figured that was the case. I'll get them ready for presentation."

"Thank you, Tania. You've always got my best interests in mind." He then returned his focus back to his papers.

"What are you researching?"

Birch laughed. "It's something that's relatively new. But there's a chance that our little Pokémon here might have a hidden evolution of sorts. I'm hearing about it from the Kalos region. They're calling it Mega Evolution."

"Sounds interesting."

"It definitely is. I've invited a strong trainer to our lab to see if they can help us with some of the research." Birch smiled. "Who are the candidates for today?"

"I wanted to bring that up. One of our candidates, Tokimura Yudai, had to pull out. His mom isn't yet comfortable with him traveling on his own."

"That means that one of the Pokémon will go unpicked." Birch sighed. "And the other two?"

"Kato Yuta, the top-ranked student we've had in years. Scored 100% on most of our tests. He excels at battle and strategy. He also knows a fair share about Pokémon in general: a walking Pokédex."

"Anything he doesn't excel at?"

Tania laughed. "He's not good at making friends. I think he's shy and doesn't handle it well."

"I see. And the last candidate?"

"Yurie! Wake up! It's already noon!" Yurie's mom screamed from downstairs.

Yurie pulled her blanket over her head. "I don't want to wake up…"

Her mom opened the door. "Don't you want your first Pokémon?"

Yurie sighed. "If I'm honest, I'm not sure how interested I am in battling."

"It's not all about battling, ya know?" She grabbed the blanket and pulled it from Yurie. "Now get up!"

"No!"

"Kawahara Yurie. She's a bit lazy, and if I'm to be blunt, sir."

"Please."

"A moron."

Birch laughed. "Even morons need at least one Pokémon."

Three hours had passed since Logan fainted in the Pokémon Center. He woke up in a bed with one of the worst headaches he had ever had. A Chansey sat next to him. When she saw that he had woke, she handed over a bottle of water.

"Thanks." He grabbed the bottle and took a big gulp of it.

"Chansey!" the Pokémon cried out before leaving the room.

Logan tried to stand, but he stumbled. He took another drink of the water, and tried to balance himself.

Nurse Joy entered the room. "Don't push yourself too much. And drink water! You will die of heatstroke."

"How's the Poochyena?" Logan asked.

"Nothing I haven't seen before. You should take better care of your Pokémon though."

Logan took another drink. "Not my Pokémon."

Poochyena walked into the room, holding the Wailmer towel in his mouth. He let out a happy bark.

"Gonna try to bite me again?" He took note of the towel. "Looks like I have more laundry to do."

"Why didn't you catch him and then bring him in? Would have been easier on both of you probably."

Logan smiled. "I don't have any Poké Balls." He took one more drink of the water, finishing the bottle. "Where can I get a pack?"

Two hours later, Logan found himself on Route 101. The wild Poochyena had followed him this far out.

"You didn't have to come with me, ya know? I'm a tough guy. I can handle myself."

The Poochyena barked and wagged his tail.

Logan smiled. "Oh yeah? You think I need a bodyguard?"

Poochyena barked again and ran ahead of Logan.

"Eye for an eye. I get it. Regardless, thanks for the company." Logan took a swig of water.

Suddenly, Logan and Poochyena could hear a voice from afar.

"Pound!" the voice commanded.

The duo looked over to find a green Pokémon swinging its tail into a scruffy-looking brown Pokémon. The brown Pokémon fell over, and not soon after, a Poké Ball connected with the Pokémon and absorbed it. The Poké Ball rocked for a few moments before letting out a soft ding. The boy who had thrown the ball retrieved it, and pulled out his Pokédex.

"Not too strong. Probably not worth keeping around," he said calmly. He noticed Logan staring at him. "Hello."

"New trainer, I take it? It looks like you've made off with a strong Treecko." Logan said with a smile.

"Thank you. I believe that I chose correctly," he replied. He noticed the Poochyena. "I have yet to have an official battle though. My classmates either dropped out or weren't worth the challenge."

Logan sighed. "This isn't really my Pokémon."

"I see," the boy replied. He appeared disappointed.

Poochyena ran out in front of Logan and barked. Logan groaned. "But it appears that it appears that Poochyena wants to have at it. If you're okay, I'd like to have a battle."

The boy smiled. "Let's do this!"

"Yurie, he's so cute!" Yurie's mom screamed out while picking up Torchic. "You definitely picked the best Pokémon you could!"

Yurie glanced at Torchic. "Okay, but what now? I leave? I go on some great adventure, and beat the Elite Four?"

Yurie's mother smiled. "You can do whatever you'd like, Yurie. You're given one year of travel to go see the entire Hoenn region! Do with it whatever you'd like."

"Couldn't I have done that without a Pokémon?"

"Your Pokémon is there to keep you company, Yurie! It can get lonely on the road," she replied. "Also, worse-case scenario, Torchic is there to protect you." She put Torchic down in front of Yurie.

Yurie sighed. "Seems a bit selfish, don't you think?"

"Torchic!" the Pokémon cried out happily.

"I don't need sass from you," Yurie replied.

Yurie's mother handed over her bag. "Everyone does this. I did it. Your father did it. Everyone does it. Go out, make friends, memories, and take a lot of pictures!"

Yurie hesitantly took her bag. She hated taking pictures.

"And if one year passes and you're not happy, you can always come back and help me run the flower shop, alright?"

"Alright."

Yurie's mother gave her a hug. "Now go find what makes you happy!"

Yurie turned and started walking towards the door.

"Wait! I forgot!" Yurie's mother ran to the back. She reemerged holding two white flowers. "Daffodils! They symbolize a new beginning!"

Yurie took them. "You want me to carry around flowers?"

"Plant them somewhere along your journey, sweetheart."

"Got it," Yurie replied. She took a small whiff of the flower and smiled. "Thank you, mom. Let's go, Torchic."

With that, the duo were out the door.

"Alright, Poochyena. This will be our first battle together. Are you ready to listen to me?" Logan asked.

Poochyena smiled and let out a bark.

"That's good to hear," Logan responded.

"We must not lose!" the boy said. Treecko responded by leaning forward, preparing to attack.

"We'll start." Logan said. He didn't know Poochyena's attacks, but he had to make due with what he could figure out. "Poochyena, use Tackle!"

Poochyena let out a howl and then dashed forward.

"Dodge, and then use Pound!" the boy responded.

Treecko dashed quickly to the left and then rammed his tail into Poochyena's side. Poochyena yelped and fell over but quickly recovered and prepared to attack again.

"Treecko, use Quick Attack!"

Treecko bolted forward quickly, but Logan had a quick response.

"Sand Attack!" he commanded.

Poochyena dug his paws into the ground and flung sand into the air. It collided with Treecko, making the Pokémon stop in its tracks.

"Now, Tackle!"

Poochyena drove his body into Treecko, knocking the Grass-type over. Treecko quickly recovered and promptly waited for its trainer's command.

"Quick Attack again!" the boy said.

"Then we'll use Sand Attack!"

The Pokémon repeated what they had done before, and it appeared like the results would have been similar.

"Dodge, and then use Absorb!" the boy said.

Treecko jumped into the air and spun as to avoid the sand. He latched onto Poochyena and began to absorb energy from the Dark-type. Poochyena let out a screech.

"Not good," Logan muttered. "Try Howl!"

Poochyena began to howl, and Treecko released his attack. He backed away a bit.

"No matter. Let's go for Pound!"

Treecko dove forward and twisted his body.

"Bite!" Logan commanded.

Poochyena opened his mouth and bit down onto Treecko's tail.

"Got 'em!" Logan said.

"Fight through the pain!" the boy said.

The Treecko stopped screeching and glared at Poochyena.

"Use Pound!"

Treecko jumped into the air, Poochyena still attached. He twisted his body and flung Poochyena towards the ground, smashed the Pokémon hard. When the dust had settled, both Pokémon were barely standing.

"Poochyena, you okay?" Logan asked.

Poochyena let out a battle cry and smiled.

"Fantastic!" Logan responded, but his smile soon faded once Poochyena collapsed from exhaustion. Treecko soon followed.

The trainers both ran to their Pokémon.

"You did great, Treecko. Next time, we'll win," the boy said. He absorbed his Pokémon into its ball.

Logan held Poochyena in his arms. "You did great, buddy." He turned his attention to the boy. "And you won this one. Poochyena fell first, so you and Treecko are the victors."

The boy glared. "I only want to accept victory if it's a total victory. Treecko fell at the end, so I'm considering this a draw. I look forward to any of our future battles."

Logan smiled. "So, strict."

"I assume you're in the Hoenn region to take on the league?" the boy said.

Logan shook his head. "Nope. I'm here to rest a bit."

The kid looked surprised. "That's disappointing. I was hoping I'd get to battle you again. I've watched your battles on TV, and it'd be an honor for us to go at it at full power someday."

Logan was taken aback. "So, you've seen my battles?"

"Yep. Eliminated in the semi-finals of both the Unovan and Alolan leagues."

"Okay, well. You don't have to remind me."

"But you were always really fun to watch. My name is Kato Yuta. You can call me Yuta. I'm going to become the Champion of Hoenn."

Logan smiled. "That's a lofty goal, Yuta. I hope that you'll make it."

"I'd like another chance to battle you when I've created a team and mastered my skills," Yuta said with a blank expression on his face. "I want to prove myself against one of Unovan's best."

Logan nodded. "I can't promise you anything, but if we ever see each other again, and the circumstances are right, I'll battle you, Yuta."

"Thank you." Yuta turned away. "Jah. See you later."

With that, the two were off on separate paths, Yuta towards Oldale Town and Logan towards Littleroot.

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Hello. Thank you for taking the time to read this. For a little bit of background, I used to write a lot of Pokémon fanfiction for this site about 10 years ago with a partner. We eventually stopped writing because of college and such, but I currently have a lot of free time, so I figured I'd try writing Pokémon fanfiction again. I find it very relaxing.

This story is sort of based on true events. I don't want to spoil anything, but essentially, I moved to Kyushu, Japan (Hoenn is based off of Kyushu), and I'm basing a lot of what happens to Logan (and Yurie) off of my real world experiences here. For example, Kyushu is incredibly hot (and so I'd imagine that Hoenn would be too). Also, Logan's reasonings for coming to Hoenn will mirror why I originally moved to Japan. Small things, but yeah. I hope you enjoy what I do with this.

One thing that I am curious about doing is making some of the characters from Hoenn speak Japanese. Just small phrases. I wouldn't write out whole conversations in Japanese, because that'd be unfair. For example, Yuta said "Jah. See you later." which is a play on Japanese "Jya. Matane." (Okay. See you later.) Is this okay, or would it annoy people?

Jah. See you later.

A QUICK NOTE ON POKEMON CAPITALIZATION

I understand that there's this little war going on within the community, and I just want to say that I don't want to be apart of any of it. I've decided to capitalize the way that I want to. I own countless official Pokemon storybooks that I read to kids, and they capitalize Pokemon names and such. I don't care if you do or don't. Don't waste your time reviewing that aspect of my story. It will fall on deaf ears.

Be kind. Rewind.