A/N: The year 1920 refers to the year that women received the right to vote in the United States. It is not meant to suggest that the technology and fashion represented in the show will match the year 1920. I did not do extensive research into this as Kanto is a fictional place. :) But I would like to give a shout out to anyone who edits Bulbapedia, as it was an excellent resource when I was writing this story.
"Well behaved women seldom make history." - Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Most girls my age dream about having kids. I dreamt about having Pokemon.
"I'm going to name my first boy Ronald," said my oldest sister, Daisy.
"Ew, that's a gross name," said Violet, the second oldest. "I like David. My first boy will be named David."
"I'm leaning towards Sam," said Lily. "But maybe Nick. What about you, Misty?"
"Tentacruel," I said.
Three disgusted faces turned to me. "That's not a proper name!" said Lily.
"You don't give Pokemon names," I fired back.
They sighed in unison. "Here we go again," said Daisy.
"Misty, you can't be a Pokemon trainer. You're a girl," said Violet.
"Could you even imagine girls running around in the wild catching Pokemon?" said Lily. "Ew! You'd mess up your hair and your clothes, and nobody would ever want to marry you."
"If women all left home to raise Pokemon, who would clean the house? Who would cook the dinners? Who would take care of the kids?" asked Daisy.
"Society would collapse," said Violet as if that were all that could be said about the topic.
"MISTY!" shouted our nanny, Joy. Joy burst into the sun room, her big pink hair loops grazing the doorway. She was carrying a canvas. "Misty, Madam Lorelei came by with your oil painting."
I stared at the floor. I had been turned away by the piano instructor, the needlepoint instructor, the baker, the chef, and the seamstress, which was fine by me, because I hated all of those things, but I had actually kind of enjoyed painting.
Joy looked tentatively from the painting to me. "Misty...please explain...THIS." She turned the canvas, and my sisters gasped.
I looked from the painting to my sisters. "What's wrong with it?" I asked. "I followed all the right techniques! I have a balance of colors! I have positive and negative space!"
"It's disgusting," said Daisy.
"It's frightening," said Violet.
"What is it?" asked Lily.
"It's my Pokemon League team," I said. "There's Tentacruel, Dewgong, Lapras, Gyarados, Blastoise and Vaporeon."
"And who are those people?" asked Daisy.
"That's the Elite Four! Lance, Blaine, Bruno, and Lieutenant Surge!" I explained, shocked by their ignorance. "And there's me, triumphant!"
"Misty," said Joy, "are they...DEAD?"
"No!" I said. "They're passed out because my Pokemon beat them."
"But there's blood," said Joy.
"Daddy says Pokemon battles get rough sometimes," I said with a shrug. "It's realistic."
Joy said, "Young ladies do not paint such disturbing images of battle. You should paint flowers, or palm trees, or happy children."
"Ah, children!" Lily sighed.
"But I don't care about flowers, palm trees, or happy children!" I protested.
"If you're going to paint a Pokemon, at least paint a cute one," said Violet. "Like-"
"Don't say it," I muttered.
"-Jigglypuff!" she finished.
I couldn't take it anymore. I stormed up to my room.
I was ten. If I had been born a boy, I would have traveled to Professor Oak in Pallet Town to get my first Pokemon, a Squirtle, and begin my Pokemon journey. But I had been born a girl, and girls were forbidden from so much as holding a pokeball. When I was three, my dad let me play with his Seel, and my mom has constantly blamed my "peculiar fixation" on that fateful day.
Nanny Joy entered my room and set my painting gingerly on the floor against the wall. "Hey, Poliwag," she said, using her old nickname for me.
"I don't want to talk about the painting," I pouted. "I don't want to talk about how I'm not a proper little girl."
She sat down beside me. "You know I always think you're a perfect little girl," she said.
"Not true," I said. "You don't like my painting."
"It is not my cup of tea," she admitted, "but you are very good at painting those scary Pokemon." She put her arm around me. "Look, Poliwag. You're ten. You have plenty of time to find your place in the world."
"But it feels like everyone has already determined my place in the world," I said. "Be pretty. Get married. Have children. Joy, why don't women train Pokemon?"
"It's just the way it's always been, Poliwag," said Joy.
"Has a woman even ever tried to train a Pokemon?" I asked.
"Certainly," said Joy, "but they didn't get very far, and from what I've been told, they were all crazy."
"Does everyone think I'm crazy, Joy?" I asked.
Joy squeezed my shoulder. "You're different, and that's okay. This world needs a little bit of different. Now cheer up," she said. "It's time to get ready for the party."
I sighed and slipped off the bed. Daisy had turned eighteen, and Daddy was throwing a debut party at the gym with all the best trainers in Kanto. I guess I was a little excited to see them, especially the Elite Four. Joy opened my wardrobe and pulled out my frilliest yellow dress. I put it on and sat like a good little girl while she pulled out my single ponytail and began the tedious process of curling my bright orange hair. My father stopped in.
"Ohhh, there's my beautiful little girl!" he said. My heart swelled. I was Daddy's favorite, and he was easily my hero. We had the same bright orange hair and stubborn attitude, and we both adored water Pokemon.
"Daddy!" I said. He bent down to plant a kiss on my cheek.
"You'll be fighting the boys off her soon enough, Arthur," said Joy.
"Oh, don't be so cruel, Joy!" he said with a hearty laugh. "You know this day is already hard enough for me."
"Are the rumors true?" she whispered.
"Hm?" he said, and then a mix of pride and anxiety spread across his face. "Oh, you mean Lance. Yes...he has mentioned in not-so-subtle terms that he has been thinking about settling down."
Joy squealed. "Can you imagine...?"
"Don't jinx it, Joy. That man can paper his walls with debut party invitations."
"But how many does he attend? And there's only one Bay family of Cerulean City."
"And there are four Bay daughters of Cerulean City, and one stubborn, picky father."
"But Lance though!"
"Don't jinx it, Joy," Daddy repeated, and then he looked at me. "Misty, I know how much you hate these affairs..."
"But it's very important that I'm on my best behavior for the sake of Daisy and the Bay family reputation," I finished.
He suppressed a chuckle. "What I was going to say, Misty, is there will be someone your age here tonight. Professor Oak is bringing his grandson, Gary."
I made a face. "Are you already setting me up like you're setting up Daisy and Lance?!"
"Don't jinx it!" he shouted. "And no, erm, I just thought you might be interested to know that it won't be only adults here tonight. Gary just got his Pokemon license, so you might find him interesting." He chortled. "The boy had the nerve to challenge me to a gym battle tonight."
"Oooh, I want to watch!" I said.
"But of course there will be no such battle, not tonight." He scoffed again. "As if a neophyte trainer could beat me."
"Nobody beats Daddy that easily!" I said.
"That's right!" he said. "Well, thank you again for all that you do, Joy. I'll see you both at the party."
Gary Oak was the worst boy in the history of boys.
"And then I found a Pidgey, and I caught it. And then I found a Weedle, and I caught it. And then I found a Rattata, and I caught it. And then I found a Caterpie, and I caught it. And then I found a..."
"Your grandpa is in charge of issuing Pokemon licenses in Kanto, right?" I interrupted.
"That's right! And all of my catches are helping him with his research."
"Oh, I'm sure," I said. "I'm sure Professor Oak knows nothing about Pidgeys and Weedles and Rattatas and Caterpies."
"Right?" said Gary, not catching my sarcasm. "So where was I? Oh yeah, then I found an Spearow, and I caught it."
"Fascinating," I said.
"Spearow are pretty hard to catch, but I caught it," he said.
"Has your grandpa ever given a license to a girl?"
Gary's eyes widened, and his jaw dropped, and then he started laughing uncontrollably. "Are you nuts? It's against the law!"
"But why though?"
And I don't know what I expected to come out of this Mankey-brain's mouth, but I wasn't fully prepared for this. "Because girls just aren't strong enough to catch Pokemon," he said, "and they're not smart enough to strategize in battle. Haven't you heard the stories about women trainers? They went crazy, and the Pokemon are damaged too from the poor handling. Poor things. Couldn't fight at all afterwards, had to go live on reserves. You honestly think my grandfather, the great Pokemon researcher, would allow such a travesty?"
I picked up my sparkling grape juice, hurled it at Gary's face, and stormed out of the gym. There was so much commotion, nobody noticed. There was also nobody at home in that mansion we lived in.
First, I went to my room and cried, pounding my Poliwag pillow until it ripped at the seams. My painting was still sitting in the corner. I picked it up and stared at it. I remembered the words of Nanny Joy from earlier. "You are ten. You have plenty of time to find your place in the world."
I found my paint set and modified the picture. I painted a derby hat over my pigtail and a big grey coat over my dress. The picture was acceptable now, I thought grimly.
I then knew what I had to do.
I left the painting on Mommy and Daddy's bed, and I took one of Daddy's hats and Daddy's coats. Just like in the painting, it completely covered my dress. You couldn't tell that I was of the fairer sex under those clothes.
"Misty?!" It was Nanny Joy from below.
I climbed out the window. I climbed down the side of the mansion, hopping from window ledge to window ledge. I grabbed my bike, and I left Cerulean City.