Welcome to another fan fiction, Holly Rising. Holly Rising is a bit different than what I usually post, and more details will be explained in the next chapter. For now, I do not own Pokémon, and enjoy!
Prologue: Traveler
The traveler dragged herself into the Pokémon Center.
She was no stranger to being on the road, but it had been a long journey.
Now all she could think of was a long rest.
Of course, she wasn't going to get that so easily.
Not when almost all the people in the busy Center stared at her.
Yet, she didn't even have the urge to glare back.
After all, she couldn't blame them.
Who wouldn't stare at a Trainer with a noticeable limp, and whose legs now made an almost deafening noise as they dragged across the floor?
Who wouldn't stare at a Trainer whose left arm sunk to the ground while defiantly refusing to stay straight, and whose right arm almost followed suit?
Who wouldn't stare at a trainer followed by gods, yet they apparently did not help her at all?
Who wouldn't stare when given a chance to meet a celebrity?
After all, it wasn't every day that one just decided to limp into a public building.
But the traveler knew this was just how she was, and what her life had become.
Perhaps this was normalcy, even if other people didn't realize that.
The traveler sighed, remembering that she still had to get to the front desk.
The room wasn't going to offer itself.
Yet, she was reminded of her invisible enemy.
Pain shot through her entire body, a constant, unwelcome, visitor.
It burned like fire, scorching her from the inside out. At the same time, it was freezing like ice, and the traveler swore she couldn't feel her limbs. The pain shocked her like lightning, and made the traveler's body also feel like it was being eaten by a thousand tiny bugs. She registered her own shaking, but no one rushed to help.
She had expected any aid. After all, it was difficult to explain the phantom pain that constantly coursed through her body. At least, it was to someone that had never experienced it.
At best, the traveler was ignored, or given confused looks.
At worst, she was accused of lying.
So she learned not to bring up the subject over time. It wasn't like most people could really offer relief for the pain, anyway.
It wasn't even worth talking about, then.
Years ago, she would have been drowning in her agony.
But as time went by, she had grown used to it.
Now, she didn't even wince at the sensations that would normally make someone scream.
They were just a sign that she needed a place to rest.
And fast.
So the traveler strode up to the front desk of the Pokémon Center, fixing her gaze on the nurse there.
She did not miss the flash of concern present in the nurse's eyes.
Yet the traveler still did not react.
Concern was better than being ignored, she figured.
But the concern she'd seen over the journey was so misguided that oftentimes it was only an annoyance.
Still, this was one of the many things she'd gotten used to over the years.
She doubted it would change now.
The traveler assured the nurse that she was used what was happening, and politeness filled her voice as she asked if she could have a room.
The nurse rapidly obliged, coming out from behind the desk.
The traveler wondered if she could keep up with the able-bodied woman, but thankfully the nurse slowed her pace.
The traveler resisted the urge to heave another sigh.
At least she could count on others trying to go at her pace when they were concerned.
Although most still didn't understand her.
She didn't expect them to.
Trainers like her were a rarity, and perhaps, she was the only one.
But the traveler was jerked away from her thoughts as the nurse rapidly halted.
She gestured to an area in front of her, and the traveler nodded.
It was a bed, pristine and white, sheets tenderly pulled back. It was almost as if it was waiting for a weary Trainer like her.
Yet the traveler resisted the urge to frown.
The sterilized, brightly colored, beds in Pokémon Centers weren't her favorite. They reminded her of the days, weeks, even months, she'd spent in hospitals, her life in the hands of countless faceless nurses and doctors…
But she supposed this bed was better than sleeping on hard ground.
Even if she did always carry blankets.
So the traveler thanked the nurse, briefly watching her leave.
As soon as the nurse was out of sight, the traveler dragged herself over to the bed.
She didn't even bother changing her clothes as she lay down in it.
The traveler pulled the covers over her head, so that there was nothing but blackness.
The blackness grew even stronger as she shut her eyes.
Within minutes, she drifted off into sleep.
But before long, she opened her eyes, realizing that she was somewhere else.
Or rather, that she was watching something occur somewhere else.
Trees now swayed in the wind, and the traveler breathed in their strong scent.
Even though the traveler knew she'd not gone outside, she could hear the sound of water flowing from a pond.
Several huge buildings lined her vision, such as a Pokémon Mart, a Center, a Gym, and even a Pokémon Lab.
To the north, she could faintly see an imposing forest, and to the west, the route that led to the towering Indigo Plateau.
This was Viridian, the city of evergreen.
And a place that was just like home to her.
The traveler longed to trapeze around the place, inhaling the scents and savoring her memories.
But it seemed that was not what her dream wanted to show her.
Instead, her vision focused on a girl, wandering around the city.
A traveler, just like her, it seemed.
But the girl wasn't alone.
She rode on a massive blue dinosaur with a huge pinkish-red flower on its back.
A Venusaur, the traveler knew.
Somehow no one noticed the huge Pokémon as it headed the Pokémon Center unhindered.
When it walked in front of the place, the rider said something the traveler couldn't hear.
The message was clear enough, though, as the giant beast halted immediately.
The girl slid off of its back, landing firmly on the ground.
Despite not even coming close to reaching the beast's head, the girl attempted to give her Pokémon a pat.
The giant Venusaur seemed to understand anyway, and only nodded reassuringly.
Its rider smiled back, before grabbing a Poké Ball.
Within minutes, the girl's Pokémon disappeared in a beam of red light.
Still smiling, the girl put the Poké Ball away somewhere.
Rapidly, she headed towards the Pokémon Center.
The Center's doors opened by themselves, and the girl disappeared inside the building.
The traveler disappeared too, the dream running its course.
She opened her eyes again, only this time, she was once again surrounded by the blackness of the Pokémon Center.
And there was yet another sensation.
One that made her stifle a groan.
She threw off the covers as the sensation revealed itself.
The traveler's nose stung and burned like fire, bleeding like a fountain.
Red filled the traveler's vision, a sticky substance staining the white bed.
The traveler resisted the urge to cringe.
Those poor nurses wouldn't be too happy with her now.
Or perhaps they would be used to it.
A Pokémon Center was a hospital, after all.
And what was happening wasn't exactly uncommon…
But the traveler had no time dwell on her thoughts.
She rapidly rummaged through her supplies.
Her rummaging stopped when she came out with a handkerchief that she carried with her for such occasions.
Even in the darkness, the traveler was able to wrap the handkerchief around her nose, squeezing it tight.
Hopefully, the item would stop the wrathful flow of blood.
Yet, the effort was nothing but futile, as the blood ran right through.
Within minutes, the handkerchief was as stained red as the bedsheets.
The traveler let out a frustrated sigh, tossing the item aside.
She should have known that the handkerchief wouldn't help.
It never did, when she was like this.
Yet she still carried it around.
Force of habit, she supposed.
From the times when she didn't know what was going on.
When she knew hardly anything about herself.
The traveler would have to contact the nurses again.
And they would have to come and fix her up.
And then she would have to offer another confusing explanation for why she was now turning the Center's beds into a raging bloody mess.
The scenario was always the same, to the point where she could replay it in her head over and over.
If this was a play with lines, she would've had hers memorized.
It'd be a good idea to head towards the nurses now.
Yet despite everything, the traveler didn't move.
Instead, she paused, as her mind whisked her back to the dream.
It was just a young girl in Viridian, a traveler, like herself.
The young girl was just heading to the Center with her Pokémon. She would ask for a room, collapse into a bed, and probably continue to wherever else her journey took her the next day.
It was something the traveler had seen time and time again.
Yet this time, the encounter seemed different.
Something important.
Something ominous.
Her nose always released an ocean of blood when that was the case.
Of course, her fatigue could have muddled her thoughts.
But her nose would not bleed like it was now if such was true.
So, why did she have that dream?
What exactly had she seen?