Chapter One
Winds rattle against the sleepy town
Dear Diary,
Everyone's got the same dream. 'I want to be a Pokemon Master, I want to be a Contest Star, I want to be a Top Ranger, a Gym Leader, Elite Four, Champion'. Everyone wants to be the best! At the very least, they've got dreams. That's a lot more than me right now, or Shelly I guess. But that's why she's my best friend. We're both the same. We're waiting on our dreams to get to us. I'm only in my fourth year in elementary school, so mom says I shouldn't worry about having a dream right now. Still, how much longer is it gunna be?! I gotta go make dinner now. Until next time Diary~
Maya saved the journal entry onto a new folder on her laptop and closed it. It was her teacher, Ms. Earnstein, who encouraged the class to document their thoughts and feelings. "Diary's are artifacts for the future! One day, when you're all famous and old, you'll look back on your nine year old selves and revisit the moments that led to your fate!" Maya didn't really understand what her teacher always chirped about with this "fate" nonsense, but she knew it was probably some mumbo jumbo that all the old people say in this town.
Maya was nine years old and had lived every day of those nine years in the northern most tip of the Sinnoh region. In the vicinity of Snowpoint City lied a cluster of very small villages, one of them being Wisdom Peak Village, where she lived. To her the world was very small. Though her mom worked in Snowpoint, she never really knew what exactly it was that her mom did. It seemed to change every time she told her, and she only ever returned home about three nights a week. Most of the time it was Granny, her dad's mom, who looked after the apartment. Her dad, she didn't know much about besides the fact that he worked in the mines at Oreburgh. But that, that was like a totally different world to Maya. Granny was proud of him anyway for some reason, but she would always say some snide remark about Maya's mom.
"And you'd think she'd be here right now," Granny was saying as Maya, a little over four feet, pulled open the freezer door to scan for tonight's dinner. "If it weren't for you Maya, my precious son's little girl, I wouldn't be here right now."
Maya wasn't really listening, she heard it all before, besides, right now she was trying to decide whether to make frozen pizza tonight or save it for tomorrow when mom comes back. The T.V in the living room, which was practically the same room as the kitchen, droned on in the background. Granny's muttering could barely be heard just above the voices of the T.V.
"I thought you were here for the ruins and history and stuff." Maya said, while deciding to save pizza for tomorrow and heat up rice and microwavable gyoza for tonight. Before Granny could respond, mom's purugly padded towards Maya, meowing expectantly at her.
"Hey Granny I think we're all out of pokemon food. Did you get some today from the store?" Suddenly Granny's incantation like muttering seemed to of been swallowed by the sounds of the T.V. All this really meant was that indeed, Granny had forgotten.
Maya ran back to her room and fetched a pair of gloves, a scarf, and her favorite thick pink sweater. Briefly she looked at herself in the mirror; short violet hair (uneven ends cause mom always insisted on cutting it herself "it's cheaper this way kiddo!"), big round glasses, and stalky legs. She sighed, and bounded into the living room for her boots.
"Take that purugly with you. She could benefit from some exercise." Though she said it was exercise, really Granny just wanted to make sure Maya had some protection when she ventured into the snowy night.
It was nights' like these that were Maya's favorite. Once she locked the apartment door she heaved in the smell of the crisp cool air. There were dark clouds floating menacingly across the murky sapphire sky, and the moon had a tight slim grin as it watched overhead. The atmosphere was always pregnant with some kind of foreboding weather, but tonight was what some might call the calm before the storm.
Maya just loved it. It was like the atmosphere held in it some powerful energy of something to come, something exciting to finally rain down upon this village, and it was this that put an extra bound in her step.
"C'mon purgurly! You want your dinner or what?" Maya ran down the apartment steps with purugly close at her heels, and jumped the last three before running through the small parking lot and out to the sidewalk. She twirled around a light post and fell into a light skip. Purugly's gasps of breath and pounding paws were the only sound to counter the silent night. It was a sleepy Sunday, as per usual, in the village of Wisdom Peak, and only the murkrow's and sneaky sneasel's were out at this time.
Finally, much to the relief of purugly, they had made it down the slope to the end of the block. Lit up in fiercely luminous lights was the Everything Mart. From pokemon necessities to common kitchen cleaners, it was about the newest thing to hit Wisdom Peak in probably, Maya guessed, forever.
"You fat cat that was barely a five minute walk." Despite this, purguly flopped onto her stomach. If we ever got in trouble, I'd be the one who'd have to do all the protecting! Maya thought to herself, when suddenly, she looked up and saw a slightly pudgy girl with dusty blond locks waving to her from inside at the magazine rack. It was Shelly! Maya ran inside to greet her.
Just like the pokemon dustox, people were attracted to this bright and lively store. It was relatively small, but it was always crowded with no less than six people. Or at least, Maya and Shelly have never been in it with anything less than six people in it as well. Some come in to chat, others to browse or read magazines, some probably came in just to bask under the artificial neon lights- a rarity in its own sense for this town.
"What are you even doing here?" Maya exclaimed after giving Shelly a hug, which knocked her glasses a lit bit crooked. Shelly held up the magazine she had been reading. It was her favorite, Gym Scoop!
"Duh!" she said. The two of them chuckled. Shelly always had a bit of a sleepy look to her, and she always kept her light dirty blonde hair in a sideways ponytail like the gym leader in Kanto by the name of Misty. It's not that Shelly was particularly interested in Gym Leaders, more so she liked to see what new hairstyles were popular in the world beyond the snow.
"What about you why are you here tonight? I- I thought your mom… she's home, no?" Shelly asked, putting the magazine back in the rack with the others.
"No she'll be back tomorrow. I'm just picking up some food for purugly- Ah!"
"W-What's wrong Maya?"
"Dang it. I completely forgot to bring some money. Should I go back?" Maya looked out the glass to see purugly crouched and waiting patiently for her. It might be too much for purugly to make a second trip, but she couldn't leave purugly at the store to wait for her either…
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure my dad can buy you guys some dry food. We came just to pick up some snacks anyway."
"Are you sure?" Maya asked hesitantly, as she remembered her mom scolding her to never borrow money.
"It's alright. Pay me back first thing tomorrow at school, 'k?" Shelly threw her a warm smile. This was another reason why Maya loved being friends with Shelly; Maya felt that her smile alone could melt all the snow in the world.
"K!"
The two girls continued to chat for a bit before Shelly's dad found them. In his hands were two big bags of pokemon food. Shelly grabbed the Gym Scoop! magazine from the shelf and they proceeded to check out.
"Let me give you a lift back home Maya. It's just up the road so it won't be any problem at all." Before she could object Shelly's dad's offer, she found herself sitting next to Shelly in the backseat of their van, with purugly meowing away in the seat next to the window. Maya figured for once in her life, purugly might of actually preferred to walk.
"See you at school tomorrow!" Shelly chirped and waved to Maya as she jumped out of the van with purugly. Parked right in front, Shelly's dad had gotten out to unload a bag of dry pokemon food from the trunk.
"Sure you got it there?" He asked, handing the bag to Maya. She grunted and pretended to collapse under the weight, before suddenly propping herself back up again.
"Course I do! Thanks again Mr. Peters! See 'ya tomorrow Shelly!" Maya waved back to the confused face that Mr. Peter still wore, as he was a bit slow to react to things- a trait Shelly had inherited. As Maya walked through the small quiet parking lot towards the complex, she could hear the sounds of the van rumble on and trundle away up the hill.
Everyone was a neighbor in Wisdom Peak to the eyes of outsides, but for those living here, one corner of the town could be like a faraway city to the other corner. Shelly's house was only a thirty minute walk on foot from Maya's, but anyone could see the vast distinction of the two neighborhoods. Maya lived on a street with run down apartments and shabby wood houses. Structures that seem more like pathetic wooden shields protecting against snowstorms for the nicer and better built homes way at the end of the village. And if this street was the army, then Maya's home was on the front lines. That was because across the road from her street there was just woods. Dense, dark woods that only held blinking eyes and distant howls riding along the wind current.
It was one of those sounds that could of come from any direction that made Maya turn around. Checking over her shoulder she stared at the contrast of the night sky against the coal colored shade of trees. Though a little nervous, she didn't feel too scared. She was safe on the grounds of her small apartment complex. And she figured the pokemon that called those woods home were feeling bristled by the energy that filled the air, just as she was. She readjusted the bag of pokemon food in her arms and turned back to face towards the complex when suddenly there was something dark standing before her.
She let out a small yelp and fell to the floor, the pokemon food dropping with a plop between her legs. She stared up at the long dark figure, and as a cloud moved to let the moon's light shower down, Maya began to make out the features of a face.
"I'm sorry, did I scare you?" A tall lanky man had asked her, holding out his hand to pick her up. She grabbed it without hesitation, but as soon as she got close to his face fear began to set in. She had never seen this man. Never in this village, and definitely not as one of her neighbors. She tried to let her hand go from his grasp, but she could feel him tightening it slightly…
He let go quickly, and bent down to pick up her bag of dropped food.
"I do beg your pardon," he said, "I must of given you a bit of run for your money there. My name is Bill." He gave her a warm smile and handed her the pokemon food. He looks like he could maybe be someone's dad. Maya thought to herself.
"Do you live here?"
"Y-yes." Maya stuttered. She couldn't remember if she had ever met anyone for the first time. She realized at that moment that she always either just knew or recognized the people of this village.
"Well I suppose we'll be somewhat like neighbors then. My daughter and I just moved in here today. Still have a lot of unpacking to do, just came out here for a breather."
"There are no vacant apartments though."
"Hm? Oh, ah yes. Apartment 13. I know, I know, bad luck. To my surprise though it was the only vacant apartment in this little village for such a reasonable price. Guess no one really moves out, or in… Excuse me for trailing off. I imagine you have somewhere to be. You should stop by some time to meet my daughter. She's the same age as you look to be. Sure she'd be glad to have a friend."
"Okay, I will. Bye mister." And with that Maya ran off into the small complex, up the flight of stairs, and to her own apartment. Sitting there at the door was purugly.
"And what if that guy was dangerous. Some help you are."
Purugly just purred and nuzzled its face to the bag of food Maya was holding.
The next morning the starly's were singing, chirping, and gossiping away enough for the whole region to hear. This was one reason why Maya liked them so much. If starly's were living out in the cold boonies like this place, then they could survive anywhere. And they did! In second grade Maya learned that Starly were some of Sinnoh's most common pokemon. You could see them in the crowded cities like Hearthome, along the shore of Sandgem town and flying through the summit of Mount. Coronet. They were a hardy and pestering pokemon, and when they evolved into Staraptor they were super strong- unlike the other common pokemon, Bibarel. Compared to other kids, Maya wasn't as interested in pokemon or pokemon related activities. There were a few she did like, like starly, but to her they were just wild creatures or pets. That's all they were good for. Worst of all people battled with them, and Maya knew pretty well that pokemon battles were nothing more than ego boosters.
When she got to school that morning, she walked up to her friend Shelly who always waited for her by the entrance to the school building. Today though, Shelly's attention wasn't focused on waiting for Maya to walk around the corner of the school gates and into the courtyard. Much to Maya's annoyance, Shelly's eyes, as well as everyone else's eyes, were fixed on the pokemon battle happening on the school's soccer field. The two "best" trainers of their elementary school, Rodrick and Amos.
"Let's go get a better view." Shelly said as Maya strolled to her side. She didn't even glance at Maya or give her the usual morning hug. Nope, it was Shelly's greatest weakness. Amos.
Above all of Shelly's scattered interests- hair styles, collectible dolls, marbles, even crackers- was her crush on Amos. The two of them lived on the same street, always had, and ever since Shelly first laid eyes on him in kindergarten (or so she proclaims) she had loved him since. He was in all her dreams, daydreams, ("Nightmares too?" Maya once teased), he was her knight in shining armor. One she could never get close to, because she always clammed up like a cloyster whenever he was near.
"Alright, let's go take a look." Maya sighed as Shelly squealed in delight. Not just those two, but other clusters of kids from all the grades began to run up to watch the battle. It was a clear blue sky day, but loud shouting and snow dust was being scattered everywhere. Maya and Shelly pushed to the front of the gathering crowd for a better look.
The two best trainers: grade four Rodrick with his loyal shinx and grade five Amos with his burly machop. Rodrick had kind of a nice guy type aura to him, much like his dad (who worked at Everymart), but when he battled he had this very focused and strong look of determination. Amos on the other hand, much to Maya's displeasure, was a hot-headed kid who was always covered in bandages. He declared himself Rodrick's fateful rival, and swore to beat him one day at the Sinnoh League. He had won the last two battles against Rodrick, so for this reason, Maya was silently cheering for Rodrick.
"Shinx use Charge!" As though it were pulled from the sky, wisps and ribbons of electricity began to surge around Shinx's paws and bristled along its fur. It gave out a little roar, followed by the crowd of kids murmuring in astonishment.
"He's just showing off. Amos isn't flashy, he's a solid battler." Shelly was muttering commentary that Maya couldn't help but find a little funny. Shelly never cared about pokemon battles, unless Amos was the one doing it. And just on a cue Amos himself let out a little roar.
"AAAAHH! Machop focus energy! Then, low sweep!" Just like shinx, machop was surrounded in a mysterious red light as it absorbed strength into its puny muscles. Like a pokemon theatre show, Amos pointed out his finger to shinx and yelled, "Now Machop!"
The small muscular pokemon ran full speed to the little shinx and reached out its leg right for shinx's abdomen. Without a word from Rodrick the little shinx leaped high into the air. Without a target to slow it down, Machop had flung itself into a pile of snow.
The crowd laughed as Shelly clenched her fist tighter. "Cheap move." she muttered.
"Spark!"
Maya had to admit it was a beautiful sight. Shinx itself looked like the noon sun, its siluette had darkened against its own ball of white electricity forming around itself. It then let all of that electricity shower down onto the field.
Kids were screaming, whether in delight of battle or scared of the lightning, nonetheless everyone felt awakened after this move. A fierce electric javelin had pierced Machop who was crying out in pain. Maya felt herself wince before looking at Amos. It must be even more painful for him to watch…
But he was smiling! Maya had just realized why at the same moment Amos called out his next attack.
"Machop, Bide!" The blue pokemon got back to its feet and flexed its muscles while letting out a roar. Suddenly it began to run towards the direction of where shinx was going to land. Shinx wasn't a starly, it couldn't just fly up and dodge the attack. It had come up, and now it was coming down and didn't have enough time to move before-
"Shiiiiiiiiiii!" shinx cried out as it was slammed by twice the power from machop.
"You like Machop's new move?" Amos gloated with a strong smile, "We barely won that last battle after all that damage you gave us with your Charge then Spark combo. But finally we have a counter for that. And this will be yet another win!"
"Not so fast," said Roddrick, looking almost cool in Maya's perspective. "Shinx, flash!"
Suddenly the whole field was bright. It was Shinx's signature move. It would use flash to momentarily blind foes before it made its escape. Even so, Maya hadn't seen Rodrick ever use this in battle. Finally the light began to thin out and the battlefield was clear again. The breath that everyone seemed to of been holding had finally been let out in gasps. Machop was passed out, and an injured Shinx had managed a final blow and was standing triumphantly near its equally proud trainer. The crowd cheered wildly.
"Ah don't worry about it," Maya said as she put a reassuring hand on Shelly's slouched and clearly disappointed shoulder, "Knowing Amos he's probably thinking up counter attacks this instant." Shelly looked pretty pleased at this, and looked over to Maya smiling,
"He's pretty good at that isn't he?" she said, wiping away a tear.
Then suddenly the bell rang and the distant voice of Ms. Earnstein could be heard trying to herd the crowd of students into the building. Everyone was chatty and full of energy after that last battle, and pushing through the crowd was none other than Amos himself.
"Hey guys!" he grunted as he shoved his way in between Maya and Shelly. Shelly's face turned an instant scarlet red, and she tried to turn away so he wouldn't see. Not that he would see, Maya figured he was probably almost blind with all that ego clouding his vision.
"What did you think of the battle? Wasn't machop so cool out there? I think it will evolve soon."
Maya laughed, "Yeah right. I thought shinx was way cooler."
"Aw c'mon. This was the first time we lost in a while."
"I thought machop was really cool…" Shelly muttered.
"Oh, thanks Shell. Anyway Maya, I'd like to see you try and battle. It's a lot harder than it looks."
"No thanks. Not interested." She said as the three of them walked into the building. She lifted her chin above her scarf, letting the warmth of the school building surround her. It was always a lot warmer than her own apartment. She then remembered that at the end of the day her mom would be there waiting for her…
"Why 'cause you think you'd lose? I'll go easy on you I swear." Amos said as he blocked Maya from entering the classroom. She scowled at this. He was always too persistent for his own good. Really, she couldn't see at all what Shelly found so interesting in him.
"I don't even need a strong pokemon to beat the likes of you! I could beat you with a wurmple!"
"Great! Tomorrow before school starts, you and me will battle! See 'ya, I'm off to the nurse to heal up machop!" and with that he had run off down the hall before Maya could object.
She just stood there with her mouth hanging open. She didn't actually want to battle him. She had just said anything because she was so annoyed. Feeling a little queasy, she walked over to her desk and begin untangling the scarf around her.
"I can put that in your cubby for you." Standing next to her was a boy. His name was Elliot, though everyone called him Eli. A tall but quiet kid, he stood with his hand outstretched to Maya ready to take her scarf.
"Oh, yeah, thanks Eli." Maya handed him her scarf and sat down. The worry for tomorrow's battle began to sink in. What was she going to do? She said she could beat Amos's machop with a wurmple, so it's not like she could just show up with purugly. Though she doubted purugly was much of a fighter anyway. And it wasn't like mom or grandma had any other pokemon between the two of them. Maybe if she emailed dad he could send her one of his pokemon to the pokemon center….
"Hey did you hear?" Shelly squeaked as she leaned onto Maya's desk, interrupting her silent worries.
"Hear what?"
"We're changing seats today! Someone said Ms. Earnstein told them, but to keep it a secret. Maybe you'll get to sit next to Rodrick! It's too bad Amos is older than us, I would just die if we sat…" As Shelly trailed off Maya looked over to the front of the room where Rodrick was sitting. There was a small group of other boys talking to him, no doubt about the battle that ensued this morning. Maya didn't really fancy the idea of sitting next to him, there were always too many people swarming around him anyway.
"Alright everyone, settle down back to your seats!" Ms. Earnstein came waltzing into the classroom with a small girl following her. Maya had never seen this girl before.
"I'll talk to you at recess!" Shelly smiled and ran off back to her seat two desks behind Maya's. Many other students followed suit as they scrambled to their seats as Ms. Earnstein watched them with her nose held high and her little eyes scanning around the room. Finally, when all had settled down, she began with a few announcements.
"It is the start of a new week, and also about time for you all to change seats! However, before we begin I'd like to introduce you all to a new student. Her family just moved into the area for work related reasons. Why don't you tell them your name and where you're from sweetheart."
The girl didn't raise her head. She was on the skinny side, and had fairly long deep blue hair. Her eyes were narrow and rather fierce by the gaze she was burning into the ground. Maya felt a little bad for her, but like everyone else, intrigued nonetheless by a rare an unfamiliar face. Then she suddenly remembered. Two unfamiliar faces in two days! No doubt this girl must be the daughter of the man who moved into their complex. Which means, she must be her neighbor.
"My name is Samantha. I'm from Seafolk Village." Her voice was very quiet, and Maya found herself leaning forward just to make out what she said. Sea…folk? I've never heard of that before. Maya thought to herself. And she wasn't alone, as other students began murmuring similar questions amongst themselves.
"Where the heck is that?"
"I think it's near Sunnyshore City."
"She's kinda cute."
"Do you think her village is smaller than ours?"
"Alright, quiet down." Ms. Earnstein said, silencing the room at once. She then looked at Samantha and spoke in a more endearing voice, "Now, I believe that is somewhere in the Alola region, correct?" The girl nodded. Chatter once again filled the room as people were astonished that this girl had come from such a far away place.
"Now that you've all met your new classmate, everyone grab your bags and stand by the walls. Girls on the left, boys to the right." Ms. Earnstein didn't even try quieting the increasing voices of excited students. Instead she began speaking inaudibly to the new girl, whose eyes still wouldn't raise above the ground.
"What are you waiting for Maya?" Maya was greeted by Shelly's excited grin. She couldn't tell if it was from the prospect of the new student or is she was still excited over talking (though very briefly) with Amos before class. Regardless, Maya grabbed her bag and the two of them stood against the wall.
"What do you think of her?" Maya asked curiously to Shelly. She felt herself truthfully unsure about her new neighbor and classmate.
"Hm?"
"You know, her. Samantha."
"I dunno. Her hair is really pretty don't you think. I think I might… I might ask her how she gets it like that."
"Yeah…" Maya looked over at Samantha who stood by the wall at the very end. Very clearly she was moving away from the girl who was trying to talk to her. Then suddenly, Ms. Earnstein was once again at the front of the classroom trying to hush the students.
"You know the drill everyone. The table fit two people, boys sit next to girls and vice versa, and when I call the table number and your name, you go straight there and fold your hands and sit quietly until I finish. Now then, table one is Marleyna and Chistopher. Table two is Corrin and Luis. Table three is Samantha and Rodrick. And table four is Shelly and Tobin. Chop chop to your seats before I start calling the second row."
"Bye!" Shelly whispered to Maya. She watched as Shelly hung her bag behind her chair and sat directly behind Samantha. There were three rows, each with four tables. Maya was chanting a silent prayer that she would get the fourth table in the second row so she could be close enough to still talk with Shelly.
To her dismay, she didn't get table four in row two. Instead, she got table two in row three sitting next to the quiet Elliot. Maya felt very disheartened as she realized this was probably the last time they were changing seats this year. And her best friend Shelly, her other friends Corrin and Leila, and even the new girl Samantha were all in the back of the class far away from herself. While Ms. Earnstein urged the students to open their history books to chapter six, Maya felt at least somewhat pleased to lose herself in her favorite subject instead of dwelling on the frustrating morning.
"You know I almost forgot!" Maya said as she began digging into the pocket of her schoolbag afterschool. Maya, Shelly, and their friends Corrin and Leila were sitting at the front steps of the school. They had just gotten out, and decided to wait for Samantha who was still in the class. While other students were chattering away and departing the school grounds, Maya pulled out a hundred poke note with a triumphant 'Aha!' That attracted a few glances.
"You're so embarrassing!" Shelly squealed as she grabbed the note form Maya's clutches. Corrin and Leila began laughing.
"Yeah, who knows, Amos might even find out you hang out with a weirdo Shelly." The group began laughing again. Corrin had short black hair she kept tied in a ponytail and Leila wore rectangular glasses and had hair similar to Corrin's, though she didn't tie hers back. They were twin sisters who looked pretty alike, and they both had a shellos each that their dad gave to them to them on their fourth birthday. Leila's was pink, and Corrin's was blue.
"C'mon guys, let's play some softball today!" Leila said.
"Yeah the weathers perfect! I'll go get Coach to lend us the bats and a ball." Corrin agreed.
"Wait. Uh- I can't today. My uh, my mom's coming home tonight so I have to go prepare dinner." Maya said, shifting the snow at her feet.
"I thought we were going to wait for Samantha." Shelly said, looking around the group.
"Oh yeah, I kinda forgot." Leila muttered.
"You guys wait for her and invite her to softball. I'll hear the scoop from Shell tomorrow morning. Gotta go, bye!" And before anyone could object, Maya ran off towards the street. She decided to keep running all the way home. Though she really just wanted more time to go look for a pokemon, she came up with the idea that maybe she can spend quality time with her mom and they can go find one together. Her very first pokemon, a new pet, and caught with the help of mom! The idea thrilled her. And she kept running until she finally got home and opened the door as quickly as she could.