Chapter 1: Slow Start

To introduce our story I'd like to begin with a bit of preliminary context. This concerns a small isolated community somewhere in the Northwestern corner of Sinnoh. This community is quite peculiar compared to anything else near it, the main ideology which is ever present is if you are stupid you will fail, if you are smart you will thrive. The more connected you are to the Pokemon that are an integral part of everyday life you are an inferior individual. Within this community, those with this connection will be ostracized and will have almost zero access to any resources which could help get you out of the massive learning setback which is imposed on you. To this community, it's up to the "burdened" child to prove that despite being robbed of opportunity they can show they can overcome such a massive handicap. And if the child was incapable of proving themselves by the age of 14 they would be killed, ya know just like any rational group of people would do. Of course, a place like this is doomed to failure, thankfully. Mysteriously, about 7 years before the present time of our actual story, all traces of the community went up in flames.

Our tale is centered on a young girl named Jessica Jordan Binderbitten. Feel free to laugh, the name is ridiculous. But because that name is so egregiously long, and for sake of simplicity, she'll just be referred to as J or Jess. Now J despite growing up in the exact scenario I just detailed for you was already not what one would consider a bright person. The only things she was naturally good at were reading and speech. The rest of her abilities which will be disclosed at later points in this series of mandated documents were all gained in a trial by fire, learn it or die type of scenario. And after years of this treatment, she decided, "You know what, I'd actually like to keep living life, so time to skedaddle on outta here." And so she left everything to live out in the vast wilderness to be bitter, mad, and alone. The latter trait she had already been for a long time.

Now our story resumes 9 years after the introductory context. J has made a living in stealing anything she could off of passersby who pass through and camp in her sector of the forest. To the extent that those who frequented the area or lived in its vicinity were convinced that a new species of Pokemon lived there. The nearby towns know her only as the random wanderer who comes into town every three or four months and buys up all the blankets, cloth, thread and needles she can carry in her grubby hands and on her miniature frame. She never buys food or supplies of any other variety, because as mentioned before J is not the pointiest needle in the haberdashery, nor does she learn from her past experiences of running low on local flora to consume. Because learning from your mistakes is for scrubs, as she would put it. She has lived in this forest for the last 6 years and before she had settled here she struggled to acclimate to the constant cold, the inconsistent or unfilling meals and the threat of predatory Pokemon able to pick her off at any moment. However, more often than not she didn't encounter any Pokemon aside from the flocks of Starly that flew by or the stray grass types which came into the clearing she stayed near to soak up the sunlight.

The forest she inhabited was densely packed with conifers of all shapes and sizes. Some grew to over 150 feet tall and others could easily be mistaken for ferns or shrubs. Because of this moving through the forest quietly was either laughably easy or teeth-shatteringly difficult. Very few areas fell in between. The forest was divided into quadrants by a wide dirt path which forked halfway into the forest becoming what is commonly referred to as an intersection, but of course, made of dirt and not of the cooled combination of formerly boiling tar and stone. The path runs North to South and continues South but branches into paths heading west and east respectively. The southern path heads directly to the southern part of Sinnoh's West sea and a tiny trading hub of a port town, the western path head into the thickest part of the forest but thins quickly as it nears some sort of building similar to the Safari in Pastoria. The Eastern path heads directly to the southern foot of the Coronet Mountain range. These divide the forest into what shall be henceforth referred to as NeW, NeE, SeW, and SeE.

Now NeW is as mentioned the thickest part of the forest. There are enough nooks and crannies to hide the corpses of all of Hearthome in it and not a soul would know. But of course, this kind of action would be the totally illogical, an action of a madman. It also houses the largest biodiversity of all sections in the forest, as it seems like retired trainers leave some of their old partners there to complete the rest of their lives should they choose of course. NeE is the section with the highest elevation and most varied terrain. Large rocks and hills dot the quadrant, near its bottom left corner is an elliptical clearing and close by a series of massive hills and a series of largely abandoned caves. This is where our subject resides. Except for in the Winter when the Ursaring goes to hibernate. This will be the only mistake J shall never again repeat. NeE also receives the longest and harshest winters of all the quadrants. SeW can be aptly described with the sole adjective marshy. Saltwater tributaries flow into it from the Southern Sea and coat the ground in brine and dried salt. This section sports the highest quantity of water type Pokemon as well as the largest quantity of poison types. SeE is like a combination of SeW and NeE. At its Eastern border are the Coronet Mountains and its southern is the sea. However, saltwater is limited to its coast and not inland. It boasts the tallest trees with its branches leaving a clearance of nearly 10 ft. The section is easily the lowest elevation and as such freshwater collects in the lakes scattered about it. SeE's largest lake lies only a mile from the border between NeE and itself, it's called Lake Gate. Rumor has it that at the bottom of it is a portal to Lake Acuity near Snowpoint, this is because for one reason or another the lake cannot freeze over and the number of Pokemon in it near doubles in the Winter and reduces drastically in the Summer.

Now! Enough expository world building. Time to really focus in on our subject.

Now today J is going to attempt to befriend a Fire-type Pokemon. Now, I say befriend because of course, she didn't purchase any pokeballs the last time she went into town. This decision has been a vital one she's needed to make for a while but of course, doing it today was a bit impromptu. She leaves for the markets at the beginning of June, September, December, and March. September was just a week away, she could wait until then, and this time she'd make sure to remember. The first thing she needs to do is find one suitable for both her needs. The choice to first have a fire type is a bit of an elementary one, to be frank. There are very few native to Sinnoh despite the dominance they would have in the ecosystem but that point is neither hither nor thither. Jess has few choices: a Chimchar, a Ponyta, a Numel, a Slugma, a Houndour, or a Magby. Chimchars, Slugma, and Magby were native to areas closer to the center of the region or higher up the mountain where she dared not venture yet. It is quite easy to end up a frozen mummy up there if you don't know where you're going or even where you are. So that leaves just Houndour, Numel, and Ponyta. Houndour in the area are known for being aggressive and territorial. So approaching one would result in her likely being cremated. So that leaves Numel and Ponyta, the Pokemon she had truly been caught between. One on hand Numel would be far more effective at warming and carrying supplies. But on the other hand, she had been fascinated by Rapidash and Ponyta since youth. In the end, she felt compelled by her nostalgia to try the herds of Ponyta and Rapidash which gather near the borders of NeE and SeE throughout the summer months.

She walks to just out of NeE's treeline and sees the trademark fiery mane of numerous Ponyta and Rapidash broken up by the trees of SeE. She approaches slowly so as to not startle the herd and lose her last chance at Ponyta until next Summer. One of the young members spots her and begins walking forward away from the group. She grabs a couple of berries from out of her pocket and offers it to the small foal. It graciously trots over and consumes them. She calmly asks it if she can stroke its neck. At this point, any wrong action could send the entire diamond-hooved fleet at J to trample her to death. The Ponyta nods and J gently runs her hands across its length. Now unbeknownst to her, this Ponyta, in particular, had recently gotten into a scuff and because of this the rest of its family had become on edge. They were overly wary of anyone coming near them and as such the second they saw our tiny protagonist they gave a piercing cry and not a second later began their charge. Jess is only a bit of a fool didn't immediately sprint off at the sound of 5 Rapidash doing their best intimidation calls. But she wasn't foolish enough to stay still the second she heard the thunderous sound of their hooves hammering the ground as they pursued her back into NeE. She climbs up the nearest tree because of course if they can't reach you they can't kill you. And no matter how angry the Rapidash gets they're not going to attack a human with no abilities to harm them who's 7 ft up a tree. But they did give the tree one solid kick to show the startled girl they could destroy her if they really wanted to.

She waited up that tree for about 15 minutes before she knew for sure they had left. It seems about as appropriate as any time to use this time to give you, the reader, a true description instead of just lurking around it. Adrenaline and fear do bring out a character after all. Anywho let's begin with the physical. She is of course female, she's below average height for her species at about 5'2". Her hair is a pale purple, darker at its ends than at the base of her skull. Her hair runs down to the middle of her back and was cut unevenly at sharp angles, it was painfully obvious she had done it herself without the mystical aid of the common mirror. Her eyes are hazel like the moss which coats the outside of her cave. The years of wilderness homelessness turned her once pale, wet noodle of a body into a trained endurance machine colored a soft bronze by the long summer months and maintained by the seemingly never-ending overcast skies. Contrary to what she believed when she was but a tot, she did not grow nearly as much up or out as her little tot brain would have wanted. Perhaps it was the bouts of starvation, or the constant moving around and evading threats which kept her this pint-sized. Maybe it's genetic, only I know but that point, in particular, is a bit irrelevant at the moment so for the time being it'll just have to sit in the big bag of nonsense beside my desk which serves as the lifeblood of this little literary excursion.

After a bit of thinking, I believe it's only fitting to let the nature of her character unfold as I take you along with me instead of just spelling it out in the manner originally intended. Perhaps I will just tell you the key tenets of her past and her experiences, the consequences thereof and let you, dear reader, roam silly with speculative freedom. Only time and my contractual obligations can tell. Regardless it's about time to catch up with our subject.

The current date for our small violette is August 31st. Routinely she heads out the day before the beginning of each quarter year, camps outside of the town that night so that she can hit the shops early and return home that same day with her mighty haul in tow. You can probably tell that we aren't quite where we left off, with J up a tree and all. That's mostly because nothing interesting occurred during the six days that were skipped. She mostly stuck to her routine of foraging in NeE and NeW. Because despite the vastness of the Sinnohan island the Sectored Forest where we've been is only about 50 miles in diameter. Surely isn't pleasant walking the whole distance but is doable with enough tenacity or lack of care for the wellbeing of es feet. For her, the journey is about a mile to the cross section and another 25 to her usual spot. She takes a hidden shortcut through SeE which keeps her off the main roads so she can avoid any and all unnecessary human contact. She found it while observing some of the migratory patterns of a pack of Luxios that live near the edge of Lake Gate, she saw them dip in and around the trees surrounding the path and became curious as to how she kept losing sight of them only to find the path she refers to as "The Beasts Hallway" .She leaves for the port at roughly 10 am, of course, this isn't perfect since shadows are really the only way to tell time, on top of that this is J we're talking about so being punctual isn't exactly a trait she possesses. Either way, she carries with her a giant pack about 6 ft cubed in volume. To put that in perspective that's just about 50% larger than your average mini fridge. The pack is stitched together and is just about as simple as a bag gets. Inside it is a single space with one pocket, the pocket is the height and width of the bag and made to hold onto loose objects, small objects, and other various things that needed to be easily accessible. Like the wallet, she actually bought instead of one of the numerous ones she stole and butchered. Routinely she carries around 10,000 P with her, and that's often enough to buy her enough supplies to last through the season. Of course, there are exceptions like the occasional hard winter or drought that limits the available food. Today she carried a whopping 25,000 P. Since her shopping excursion last December almost all of the shopkeepers and even the miscellaneous travelers would remark about how the Winter vortex was due this year. Sinnoh is very odd in this manner. For the last several hundred years every 20 years, a winter storm would strike the region and coat it in snow. The city of Snowpoint has to be routinely evacuated because the snowfall can reach up to 15 feet during the vortex. And because there is no wind in Snowpoint all of the homes are made of brick and steel. Nothing which isn't guaranteed to survive the Vortex. Now despite what I've somewhat hammered into you dear reader, this is one of the few things which she is actually knowledgeable about. And thank Arceus she isn't stubborn enough to try and weather this storm. Since March she's been researching and looking into surveys from storms which have happened within the last century to devise some sort of plan as to her relocation. Her current home has on average been one of the safer areas when it comes to the storms. In fact, she's basically only got Sunnyshore, Canalave, Pastoria, Sandgem, and the town which she is headed for right now which is known as Gulfsmouth. All the other cities are more than likely to be locked up for upwards of a month. Gulfsmouth is the least likely to be chosen since the city of merchants closes down at the beginning of November before the storm hits the mainland.

She reaches the little port in only 5 hours, which for her is a personal record, and as such, she has a few hours to look through the stalls and finalize her priorities list. Today she doesn't intend to buy, only to browse and see if there's anything she needs to prioritize that she overlooked. And after another 3 hours of browsing, there wasn't anything more aside from basic, hearty foodstuffs. But there was one good thing which came from her browsing was it allowed her to ask some of her usual sellers if they'd be able to open earlier than normal so that she'd be able to get back to her cave and finish her preparations. They agreed but only with a bit of a bribe. This cost her a total of about 1500 P. Wallet is currently at 23500 P. Our girl is early to set and early to rise. She heads back into Gulfsmouth and her first stop is the trainer supply stand. From here she purchases 10 Pokeballs at 250 P a pop, receiving one free Premier Ball as a bonus. She also bought 3 basic potions which cost another 900 P total. Her budget is down to 20,100 P. Next she heads over to the Pokemon Wellbeing stand. There she buys a total of 10 pounds of Pokemon food. This brings her wallet down to 18,100 P. The next stand is for berries and berry-related products. As it turns out Gulfsmouth merchants tend to purchase berries from Hoenn and Alola, the naturally colder climate helps preserve the berries for far longer than they would normally last in their native lands. They also acquire the naturally sturdier berries of Almia since they act as a nice stabilizer for the Poffin and Contest industry based in Hearthome. The box she purchases to hold the berries is easily the single most expensive thing she buys, at a hefty 6,000 P the case serves as a sturdy base to her pack and fits snugly inside. Along with the case she buys just enough fruit to evenly pack the plastic box. About 50 all told, which combined comes out to an even 1000. Bringing her total down to 11,100. Her next stop is the town's library, from which she buys books on the basics of battling as well as an encyclopedia on the Pokemon originating in Kanto all the way through Alola. The librarian was sweet and old, like almost every other librarian you've ever met, and was eager to help out this tiny little teenager who wanted to learn. Down to 10,100. Last but not least was J's favorite shop, the magical world of the haberdashery. This shopkeeper knew her and was the only one who knew about her situation. The shopkeep was a dark-skinned man of above average build named Robinson, who was known around southern Sinnoh as one of the regions best craftsmen. He had found her behind his stand trying to steal some kind of cloth. Instead of punishing her like she expected he mentored her and taught her how best to make rudimentary clothing and bags that despite their simplicity were durable enough to last through the tough seasons and wear. Over the years the two had grown to be quite good friends, she would supply him with assorted items from the Sectored Forest that he needed and in turn, he gives her a discount on the things she needs and helps her transport her purchases.

The two banter for a few minutes before getting onto the matter at hand.

"Robbie, I need your help. I can't live through the vortex and I need your help to get out of here." J said bluntly

"Alright what do you need?"

"I have enough resources in my cave stocked up to keep myself afloat. Enough to maintain a good life, but I haven't got the time or money to get to any of these points here in Sinnoh." She pulls out a map from her bag and points to the cities marked on it that are "safe" zones. These points are scattered along the coast, cities like Pastoria, Sunnyshore, Canalave, and Sandgem.

"I'll tell you what," Robinson said as he grabbed a map of the world out from under his stand. You'd be surprised just how handy having a map is when you get irritating customers demanding to know the exact origin of your products, and if it's organic and all-natural. "I have a couple of farms in Johto and Hoenn. I can offer you transportation to one of them but in return, you'd have to act as my farmhand. But you'd only need to do it until the storm ends back here. So what do you think?"

"I think I'll take you up on your offer. When do you leave?"

"November first at the latest. But if warnings happen faster than last time then we gotta go before then of course."

Robinson was referring to the last vortex which occurred 20 years ago. The warning signs are as follows; a rapid unusual decrease in temperature throughout the fall, a massive increase in the number of ice types in temperate and marshy areas, and of course sporadic snowstorms and hailstorms.

"Is there anything else you need or just the usual?" Robinson inquired.

"The usual but a bit less fabric. Oh! And a standard trainers belt" she replied cheerfully.

And so the two filled the rest of J's pack with assorted fabrics, threads and needles all colored muted greens and browns. Because despite her need to move location she still didn't wish to be within the public knowledge yet. Those accursed news reporters would snap at the chance to report on a child who went missing 9 years ago and came from a group of intelligence elitists that mysteriously disappeared off the face of the planet. Before they head back to J's cave they'd need to organize her pack lest it becomes unbalanced and spill. The berry box would sit on the bottom and provide stability. On top would be the books and atop the smaller one would sit the paper bag which held her Pokeballs and Potions. In the bags pouch were the spools of thread and a sturdy box of needles. The rest of her bag was full of fabric. Robbie was taking her Pokemon food since it couldn't fit in her bag. As well the bag would be upwards of 25 pounds if it did all fit. The two of them climbed into Robbie's car and in just half an hour they were back at the crossroads. The two parted ways and J finished the rest of the trek home. When she finally did she fell into her pile of fabric that served as her bed, having to carry 25 pounds of supplies uphill is terribly exhausting. But before she went into exercise coma she'd need to mark on her calendar. November 1st, last chance to have the following completed: catch three Pokemon, finish both of your books, finish your wardrobe, be off the theft train for at least 15 days, BE PREPARED WITH ALL YOUR THINGS AT THE CROSSROADS ANYTHING YOU DO NOT GRAB WILL BE LEFT BEHIND FOREVER.

Time Remaining:40-60 days

Never in my life did I think I'd actually write a thing that wasn't mandated for some class, but here I am. Apologies I guess for any tonal whiplash. But I do wanna give kudos to my friend Oly in Flight who planted this idea into me. I think doing this kind of thing is gonna be fun and I hope you'll stick around with me in case this zooms into the stratosphere. Also, I make no promises on consistent updating, I might end up doing multiple in a month or none, all depends on my schedule and if the old idea machine is willing to cooperate