Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or associated characters, only characters of my own invention.
Chapter 1 – A Lack of Concern
'Clarity!' cried a girl in anguish as her little electric sheep slumped to the ground defeated. Eighteen years old with deep brown eyes and stomach length blue hair, wearing a purple mini-skirt and matching body hugging tank top along with fashionable black boots and crescent shaped earrings, the girl was extremely pretty. A little too pretty, in fact.
'I just love such naive young girls that think they can go out on their own little fun adventure with suck weak Pokémon and expect nothing to go wrong,' laughed a man of about thirty who stood looking down on the girl with a sadistic kind of hunger alight within his eyes. About twice the size of her in every way conceivable, the man was also about as ugly as he was big.
'What the hell do you want?' the girl demanded angrily, hiding her fear behind defiance.
'What else would I want with such a pretty little lady?' he smirked, advancing on her. His Granbull, a purple bulldog Pokémon which stood on its hind legs, ran around behind the girl to prevent her from escaping.
'Stay away from me,' the girl warned him as she raised her fists, her voice shaking slightly with a mixture of rage and terror.
'You're are feisty one aren't you? That just makes it all the more fun...' he laughed manically.
'GET AWAY FROM ME!' she yelled, punching him as hard as she could in the side of his face. The man made no effort to dodge, just laughed.
'That hurt you little bitch... Well, I'll make sure to pay you back for it...'
He reached forwards and grabbed her by the wrists, pulling her towards him, laughing all the more as he did so. This was the most fun he could ever remember having, and it was only going to get better.
'Let go of me! LET GO!' she screamed, kicking and fighting desperately with every inch of her strength, even biting down hard on his arm to try and get him to let go. The man was just too big though, and he pushed her still struggling to the ground, letting go of her wrists and holding her down with his knee. The use of her arms restored, she punched him in the face again, but the man grinned wider, pushing her arm away with one hand and reaching towards her chest.
She screamed, this time in genuine terror, but before his hand could reach her a large shape came flying in from the side and slammed into the shoulder of the man with enough force to throw him several metres through the air.
The man landed with a dull thud on the ground, knocked out by the force of impact despite his size. The Granbull snarled angrily and leapt forward to seek revenge for its trainer, but the beast that had appeared sent it flying over to land unconscious next to its trainer with a simple swipe of its wing.
The girl gasped in shock and stared up with awe at the Pokémon which now stood before her. Tan in color, and in the shape of a dragon, she recognised it as a prime specimen from the rare and mythical species of Dragonite.
'Dragooo?' the Pokémon inquired, looking down upon the girl anxiously.
'I'm okay... I think,' she replied shakily, guessing at what the Pokémon was asking. Of course it was impossible for her to completely understand the Dragonite after just meeting it, the only Pokémon with whom she could fully communicate was her Mareep, Clarity.
'Clarity!' she cried, suddenly remembering her Pokémon. The girl scrambled to her feet and rushed over to the poor beaten up little thunder sheep.
'Clarity, please say something,' she whimpered, stroking the dirty and muddy fur that had only a few minutes ago been so beautiful. Hearing her voice and Mareep opened its eyes and gave a soft baa.
'I'm so sorry Clarity,' the girl sobbed. 'Please be okay!'
'She'll be fine,' came a bored and irritated male voice from not far away. 'Not like attacks from weaklings like that are going to do any serious damage...'
The girl looked up, searching for the source of the voice, and locked eyes with a pair of blue belonging to a boy of roughly the same age as her. The girl looked him over, taking in his whole appearance. His hair was dark brown, medium length and messy, while his clothes were plain, a simple light green t-shirt and knee length black shorts with a blue backpack. Although his appearance was relatively ordinary, however, the way the boy held himself and his posture exuded an aura of confidence and power.
'Who are you?' she asked, still in shock from the incident. 'Is that your Dragonite?'
A look of annoyance crossed the face of the boy. 'Who I am does not concern you. But yes, that is my Dragonite,' he said, recalling his Pokémon as he spoke.
'Clarity, thank you, take a good rest now,' whispered the girl, before drawing out a Pokeball adorned with many little heart stickers and pushing it gently against the Mareep, drawing her inside. She then looked up again, only to find that the boy had turned and was already leaving without so much as a goodbye.
'Hey!' she called after him, quickly getting to her feet again. 'You haven't told me your name yet!'
'Like I said, it doesn't concern you,' said the boy in his bored and complacent tone, without even bothering to turn around. 'Go home where you belong. It's not safe to leave the cities and towns by yourself these days.'
'Oi, wait!' called the girl in annoyance, dusting herself down and quickly re-adjusting her skirt before going after him, picking up her pink backpack as she went.
'What do you want?' the boy asked in irritation, still refusing to look back at her.
'You can't just save me and then leave me all alone,' she said, a fiery and determined look in her eyes.
'I told you, go home if you don't want trouble,' the boy said. 'Either that or put some clothes on that make you look less like a girl working the street corners.'
'What did you say?' the girl challenged him, her anger flaring quickly.
'I said go home,' the boy replied, finally stopping and turning around to look her in the face. 'The world isn't like it used to be, surely even your smart enough to know that? Those lovely little stories about ten year olds going on happy adventures, you just can't do that these days. Sure, everything in the major towns and cities is safe and secure, but it's a whole different story out here. So that's it, the games over, go home.'
With that the boy turned around and continued on walking. The girl stood still on the spot for a moment, taking in his words. Then her face hardened as resolve and determination rose once again within her, and she hurried to catch up with the boy, falling into step beside him.
'I'm coming with you,' she said, when he ignored her. 'I can watch and learn from you, and become strong, so that I won't need protecting.'
The boy glanced sideways at her, and saw in her face that nothing he said would be capable of changing her mind. 'Suit yourself then,' he snorted in mock amusement. 'You won't last a day before you run off home crying.'
The girl ignored this last comment and smiled triumphantly to herself. I'll show this boy, she thought determinedly to herself. I'll show him just how strong I can be!
Author Note: Well, that's the first chapter, more coming soon, please review! =]