Chapter 1: Meetings and Mysteries
A loud buzzing voice shattered the dusty warmth of the modest bedroom. On a bedside table, an alarm clock registering 9:00 in red digital numbers drones at an inhuman volume for the early hour. The raspy voice through the worn speaker speaks of the usual: mid-to-high 90's, low humidity; but static noise turns the report in to a hissing, incomprehensible buzz. From beneath the thin sheets, a girl's head emerged, thinking that the Ninjask are swarming again.
With great effort, she attempted to rouse her still-sleeping arm, which lay cold and powerless next to her from being pinned beneath her body. Fighting the pins and needles that racked her skin, she mustered the strength to draw the lifeless limb upwards, and urged it toward the screeching alarm clock. Roughly depressing the button and shutting off the alarm at last, she sat up and stretched the stiffness from her arms and shoulders. At the foot of her bed, a small foxlike creature with soft, russet fur shifted her paws and opened her brown eyes sleepily. The expression on her face seemed to question why her master was rising so early on a Saturday. The girl smiled; in the Vulpix's eyes, she could sense an intelligence beyond that of a mere house pet, beyond that of even some humans. She knows that something's up today, she thought to herself, something unusual and fresh. The vulpine Pokemon cocked her head while holding her gaze, and a playful sparkle crossed her eyes, as if in encouragement.
Ashley swung her feet to the creaky wooden floorboards of her attic room. The boards were pleasantly warm from the square of striped sunlight that filtered through the blinds. The red-haired girl glanced out the window, outside, the green lawns and rooftops of Forge Hill following the slope down to join the downtown district of Lavaridge Town. Turning from the window, Ashley strode toward her closet. The sun entering the room's other window struck the near-dozen trophies, medals, and ribbons shelved on the far wall, glimmering with gold and silver. Most were for soccer and track, including the big trophy from last year's regional meet. On any other Saturday, she and Mystic would have been heading to the meadow by the High School to play soccer before their shift at the Gym. Leader Flannery was herself a relative newcomer to the position of Gym Leader in Lavaridge, and only a few years older than Ashley herself. She and Mystic had worked in the Gym as apprentices under Flannery for about two years, getting accepted for the position on Ashley's 15th birthday. She walked to her desk and checked her phone, an impulsive action, and found no new messages waiting for her. Sliding the door open, Ashley peered into the shady closet. On the unusually sparse bar hung her favorite outfit, as she and her mom had prepared the night before. Most of the rest of her clothes, and belongings, sat by the door downstairs, packed away into luggage and marked with green tags for identification. Lost in her routine, Ashley realized that time was running short.
Snagging the outfit from its lonely hanger, she changed out of her sleepwear and began getting dressed. A black semi-elastic t-shirt, nondescript, was first, clinging tightly to her form. Atop that, her red collared shirt, her favorite garment since receiving it a few months ago as a birthday present. Her shorts were gray, reaching to her mid-thigh, and chosen for their comfort in the summer heat. Finally, she donned her somewhat worn brown boots, her footwear of choice, and headed for the stairs. Hurriedly she ran a brush through her medium-length red hair, glanced in the mirror as she reached the door, and tossed the brush onto the desk. As she went through the door, she grabbed her bag, red with black drawstrings, as Mystic loped lightly from the bed and padded softly after her.
Unsurprisingly for the hour, both of Ashley's parents were already at work, unable to leave their respective positions to see their only daughter off. She was happy to see, however, that a plate of leftover pancakes sat on the kitchen table, pinning down a piece of paper in an unsealed envelope. Ashley placed the plate in the microwave and picked up the letter. Her name was on the envelope, written in her mom's recognizable flowing script. "No time to read it now," she said to herself, and tossed the letter in her bag. As she bent to pour Pokechow into Mystic's bowl, the microwave beeped, giving off the pleasant smell that Ashley always associated with her kitchen in the morning. With a drizzle of syrup and a splash of Leppa juice, human and Pokemon tucked into their breakfasts, albeit at a slightly faster tempo than usual. Two pancakes remained of the original stack of five, but Ashley put them in the fridge. "We have to travel light, we still have a bike ride to make the train in Mauville." She regretted that the rail line didn't reach this far north, or even into Lavaridge Town proper, but at least the weather seemed to be cooperating. Though her luggage sat piled by the door in the living room, the letter she had received less than a month ago had insisted that its transport would not be an issue. Instead, she had merely been instructed that it be left outside her door upon her departure. Ashley glanced up at the Meowth clock on the wall as it waved its raised paw, and realized that she had lingered too long. "Hurry it up, Mystic, we've got to get going!"
"Vul! Pix!" came the reply, as she finished the last bits of Pokechow in her bowl. "Alright, Mystic, return," came the command, as she held out the fox Pokemon's ball. The Vulpix dissolved into an intangible shape of red light as it smiled, drawn into the red-and-white sphere as the ball's crimson laser faded. Automatically the softball-sized object reverted to the smaller, more travel-appropriate size, about the size of a lime, and Ashley clipped it to her belt. She stood and put her plate in the sink, and, slinging her bag over her shoulder, took a last look at the dwelling that had been home all her life. With a sigh, she strode to the door, pulled it open, and with some effort began hefting her bags over the threshold. Leaning against the plaster wall of the house, the bags looked remarkably out of place, but that was the instruction she had been given, and she had nothing else to go on. That task done, Ashley shut the door behind her and turned around the side of the house, where her bike stood chained to a bolt in the wall. She walked the bike back to the path that lead to the road, facing her home for a final time as it stood under the bright blue sky and brilliant summer sun. With a slight smile, Ashley jumped onto the bike and pedaled downhill, towards the pass the connected the area to Lavaridge, and from there, to the plains housing the bustling Metropolis of Mauville City.
As if on cue, as Ashley vanished over the crest of the hill on her bike, a man arrived at her house. His arrival was preceded by a burst of light, and stepped from the flash accompanied by a Kadabra. The figure was cloaked in a long overcoat and large-brimmed hat despite the tropical heat and summer sun, and reached into an inner pocket, withdrawing two Pokeballs. Releasing their contents, they revealed themselves to be a pair of Abra. The sleepy psi Pokemon each took a seat atop one of Ashley's three luggage pieces. The man, the Kadabra by his side, laid his gloved hand atop the final bag as the Kadabra closed its eyes. In a silvery flash muted by the beaming sunlight, and without so much as a sound, all of them; Pokemon, man and luggage, were gone.
