Author note: Thanks for reading my first fanfiction ever. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 1

Meeting

Stuck.

That's what I was.

Well and truly, utterly stuck.

"This. Sucks." I mutter to myself, glaring up at the blue sky looking down at me mockingly.

I couldn't believe this. For once in my life I clamped down on my sarcastic and (slightly) vindictive nature and tried to help some poor, innocent creature trapped in a hole.

(And why was there a hole in the middle of the road anyway? What was this? Some poorly written, convenient "meeting of fate" in some story or anime? Yeah right. Probably just my awful luck.)

"No good deed goes unpunished I suppose. Fate seems to despise the good Samaritan." I cried out dramatically as I flopped on my back.

My companion in the hole stared at me in amusement.

"This is all your fault you know." I stated, still keeping my eyes fixed on the sky.

No sound came from my fellow trapped being.

"Don't try and deny it. You got stuck in this stupid muddy hole and I got stuck trying to help you. Damn my conscience. I thought I squashed it years ago." I complained, dropping my eyes to glare at said mud.

I was just about covered in it. When I fell into a hole, I fell spectacularly into a hole. Well, then again my companion was in no better condition. He was brown from head to toe. Unfortunately that just added to the whole "help me I'm a poor, innocent creature trapped in a muddy hole" thing he had going on.

Well, technically he was a poor, innocent creature trapped in a hole but that didn't change the fact that I was now a rather annoyed and muddy girl trapped in a hole.

I sighed and risked a glance at my companion.

Sad, baleful golden eyes met mine. Oh no. Not the kicked puppy look. Anything but that. I groaned and backpedalled mentally in my ranting.

"Okay, maybe not all your fault. I mean you didn't mean to fall in this stupid hole. Plus I'm the one who chose to try to help you." I babbled trying to get rid of that look.

There was a slight movement in his tail that I assume I can call wagging and I gave a slight smile. "We'll get out of this and then I'll get you cleaned up. How's that sound?" I asked.

More pronounced wagging at that. Then a growling noise echoed through the small space. I blinked and then looked a little more closely at the little guy.

"How… long have you been down here?" I wondered.

He was kind of thin.

Great, now the motherly instincts that I thought I had crushed long ago were peeking out.

I took a deep breath and pushed, shoved and man-handled my annoyed feelings out of the way before taking a good, long look at the Pokémon before me.

The male Vulpix was no doubt supposed to be a rich crimson colour but his fur was currently a tangled, muddy brown mess. His paws were bleeding from previous escape attempts and he did look a bit thin.

And tired.

He stared back at me with his ears and head down and oh the guilt I felt for blaming him. Did I now feel bad. Who knew how long he had been down here? This infernal hole was on a rarely used road away from town in the forest. I only came across it because I wanted some peace and quiet and that isn't something you can get during "new trainer" week. With all those kids getting their first Pokémon it was a madhouse with battles and whatnot.

I frowned and reached over to where I'd dropped my bag when I'd begun the complaining session and dug around in it. It took a while (I'm not exactly the most organised person in the world) but I eventually found a bottle of water.

"Hey little guy," I cooed (cooed? Cooed! I can't believe I cooed. Maybe the sun is getting to me. Or it's those damn puppy eyes.)

Muddy ears perked a bit and his eyes rose slightly.

"I bet you haven't had anything to drink in a while. You must be thirsty what with this summer heat. Come over here." I opened the bottle and offered it to him.

Man was that Vulpix fast. He leapt over to me and was immediately guzzling water from the bottle like there was no tomorrow. I couldn't help the slight smile that crept onto my face. It was cute. With my free hand I started digging in my bag for anything to eat. I went through notebooks and all kinds of odds and ends (why was there a candlestick in there?) until I finally found something edible.

An apple and…something else.

I stared at the peculiar thing in confusion.

"Why's there a pepper in my bag?" I asked as the Vulpix finished the water.

I turned the thing over wondering where it came from until a small sound came from the little Pokémon. I looked down and found him staring at the pepper with rapt attention. I blinked in surprise and double checked. Yep, it was the pepper he was staring at and was now salivating over.

"You can't be that hungry." I asked in disbelief.

The Vulpix let out a soft whine.

"Don't you want the apple instead?" I coaxed but his gaze didn't leave the pepper for even a second.

After a moment I gave in. Those puppy eyes were just too much. I gave the pepper to the Pokémon and watched as he munched on it happily. Weird.

"You're…really enjoying that, aren't you?" I asked as he ate. "Heh. Not exactly normal are you?"

I smirked as I reached out to pat the muddy creature. "Well that's fine. I'm far from normal and I'll tell you its way more fun to be weird."

The little guy purred a bit as I stroked him and gazed up at me. He had finished the pepper and now seemed content to sit there and listen to me.

I sighed. "I can't just keep calling you 'little guy' and it seems like we might be here for a while. Hmmm."

I kept stroking him as I thought about it. Suddenly the proverbial light bulb went on and I grinned. "Well then, what about 'Pepper'? That way we can celebrate your uniqueness at the same time."

He made a happy noise and climbed into my lap much to my surprise. As he settled down for what was obviously a nap I chuckled.

"Guess that's as positive a response as I can get, hey Pepper?" Pepper just purred again before drifting off to sleep.

I continued to pet him as I bit into the apple. This whole day had been all over the place. I sighed as I glanced up at the sky. Who would have thought I'd spend lunch with a Vulpix in my lap? My family would freak. The odd one out in the family of Pokémon fanatics had a Pokémon sleeping in her lap.

I sighed again. Really. Was it so odd that I didn't want to spend my childhood running around the region throwing my Pokémon into battles? No thank you. I happily spent the five years since I turned ten tormenting my hometown with pranks and improving my sarcasm. That was fun. That's why I went against my family and refused to become a trainer at ten. It…didn't go over well.

Both my parents are well known trainers and my older brother is an up and coming trainer as well. You'd think the world was ending the way they'd reacted to my refusal.

I snickered at the memory.

I glanced down as Pepper shifted slightly and smiled again. It's not like I didn't like Pokémon. Actually I really liked them and I would have loved to have one when I turned ten. Unfortunately I knew my parents would eagerly throw me out into the world to 'discover myself' and 'become a number one trainer' the moment I accepted a Pokémon.

You can't exactly get TV reception for your favourite anime when you're on the road.

TV…..

Shoot! I'm going to miss my evening anime showing!

My chin dropped to my chest. Could this day get any worse? And it started out relatively well too...

Earlier this morning…

I gave the blaring alarm clock my best death glare (and this glare has been known to wither roses) but the stupid thing kept going. Eventually I flopped over, grabbed the vile contraption and threw it into the hallway through my half open door getting the satisfying duel effects of bringing quiet to my room and sending the noise into my brother's room across the hall. His indignant yells told me that he was still asleep as well and I rolled over with a blissful smile.

Maybe there were a few advantages to that awful invention.

"A.V! Dammit! If you've got such issues with the damn thing then just get rid of it! Stop making me suffer too." Devon yelled furiously, sticking his head into my room to spear me with a glare.

I peeled one eye open to look at my eighteen year old brother. His brown hair was sticking up in a lovely display of an awful bedhead. His blue-eyed glare was bleary-eyed and unfocused. He supported his weight against my door frame as the sudden waking had him unsteady on his feet.

Serves him right for getting the tall genes.

"Can't hear you. Sleeping." I mumbled, closing my eyes again.

"A.V." he growled at me.

My lips twitched in a smirk. I loved irritating him. I had it down to an art now.

"Oh, Devy. What are you still doing sleeping anyway? Aren't you supposed to be going to the trainer's school to help with the brats?" I asked, eyes still closed.

There was silence for a moment before, "You changed my alarm clock settings again didn't you?"

"Maybe." I answered, snickering into my pillow.

"Dammit A.V! I'm going to be late!" I heard him spin around and charge back to his room. "Mom's going to kill me if I'm late."

"Yeah, she will. Good luck." I yawned and grinned again.

Our mom had slowed down in her trainer career to participate in the teaching at the trainer school. Today they were giving the wannabe trainers their first Pokémon so it was going to be chaos there. So she asked my oh-so-perfect trainer brother to come and help. My dad was off on another training trip with his Pokémon team so he couldn't help this year.

I really couldn't let such an opportunity to torment my dear brother pass now could I?

He'd be fine anyway. I just set all the clocks an hour ahead to freak him out after all.

As I listened to his frantic banging around the house and the rather indignant sounds of his Pokémon waking up to his profanity filling the house I stretched and got up. Might as well start getting ready too.

Devon threw one last swear over his shoulder as he slammed the door and I snickered again.

Too easy.

I grabbed jeans and a blue t-shirt and got dressed quickly before darting into the bathroom to brush my teeth. As I did I risked a glance into the mirror to check how bad my bedhead was this time.

Wow.

Talk about a rat's nest.

I made a face as I finished my teeth and grabbed my hairbrush. I eyed my long silver hair with a blue-eyed glare and squared my shoulders.

"Alright hair. Are we going to do this the hard way or the easy way?" I asked.

Turns out it was the hard way. Half an hour later I walked out of the bathroom grumbling and rubbing my sore head.

"Why did I grow my hair again?" I scowled.

I glanced out the window as I walked into the kitchen and cringed. It was busy today. Of course it was busy. It's new trainer week after all. I pulled another face as I grabbed a breakfast bar.

Great, the next few days were going to be filled with battles everywhere.

I groaned. I didn't feel like dealing with that today. Maybe a walk on some remote road was the answer.

I grinned. Perfect.

Or so I thought.

An hour later I stood at the edge of the most peculiar hole in confusion.

"Why's there a hole in the middle of the road?" I murmured to myself.

At the sound of my voice though, a plaintive noise came out of the hole. My eyes widened and I leaned over to see better.

A miserable Vulpix looked back at me.

"What are you doing down there?" I wondered as I lay down on my stomach to get a closer look. He gave a mournful mewl again.

Must be a young guy I realised. He still only had one tail.

I looked around. Maybe there was something I could use to pull him out nearby. As I propped myself up I felt the edge of the hole I was leaning on shift slightly. I barely had time to look down and squeak before I was falling face first.

At least the landing was soft.

There was mud after all.

A lot of mud.

Yuck.

I stared up at the sky in irritation.

"I'm stuck aren't I?" I muttered.

Stupid short genes. Damn you Devon for getting the tall genes.

I sighed. Being short sucked.

Pepper curled up tighter in my lap and I looked down.

"How am I getting us out of here?" I wondered. "My family's only getting home late tonight so they won't notice that I'm gone until it's dark. I'm not exactly in the mood for a camping trip either."

As I tried to come up with something I heard footsteps accompanied by a jovial voice singing some foreign song.

I knew that voice.

I sprang to my feet causing Pepper to start and leap up as well.

Ow.

Apparently he decided to jump up on me. Sharp claws. Sharp claws. Sharp claws in tender arms.

I ground my teeth together to keep from yelling as I carefully pulled his claws from my skin and held him up instead. Then I turned to the possible rescue.

"Oi! Old man!" I yelled to get his attention.

I'm not exactly polite, sue me.

The singing and footsteps stopped. "A.V?" a confused voice answered back.

"In the stupid hole." I explained.

After a moment his head came into view. "What one earth are you doing down there?" Graham asked incredulously.

Graham was a retired trainer who had settled down in my town when I was still a kid. He was also old, (since grey hair meant old to me at that age), so that inevitably led to his 'old man' nickname when he befriended my parents. He never seemed to mind that much and he always liked me more than my trainer-holic brother so he'd teach me about Pokémon without any of the pressure to become an actual trainer.

His green eyes were still staring at me incredulously so I decided to answer the rather silly question.

"I don't know, I guess I decided to swan dive into a mud bath." I scowled up at him as he chuckled.

"Am I right in assuming, A.V, that your soft heart led to you getting stuck in a hole while trying to help that Vulpix?" he smiled at me as I mumbled something under my breath.

Pepper looked up at Graham hopefully but seemed content to lie in my arms, his head under my chin.

"You going to help me Old man?" I asked.

"Hold on a moment while I get a sturdy branch." He smiled at me and disappeared again.

Ten minutes later after some exertion, Graham had Pepper and yours truly out of that accursed hole and out into the bright sunlight.

We were still covered in mud though.

"You can stop laughing you know." I muttered as we walked back to town, Pepper still in my arms.

The least I could do was give the guy a bath.

"I still can't figure out how you got that muddy though." He managed through his laughter. "Were you making mud angels?"

I snorted. "When I do anything, I do it spectacularly. Even if it's falling into a muddy hole."

"Well I can't deny that A.V. What are you going to do with the Vulpix?" he asked, his laughter finally tapering off to chuckling.

"Bath." I stated immediately. "For us both. Hey Pepper?"

Pepper looked up at his name and wagged his tail again.

"Hmmm, already named him have you?" Graham smiled, a twinkle in his eye.

"Well I couldn't keep calling him 'little guy'." I answered defensively.

"Have you bonded with little Pepper maybe?" Graham asked, his smile growing.

"Well we did survive a traumatic event together." I mumbled defensively, glancing down at the Pokémon.

"Thought you said you weren't ready to have your own Pokémon?" Graham asked as we reached the edge of town.

I stopped and looked down at Pepper again. Straight into those eyes . I groaned.

"Who said I was going to keep him?" I mumbled but it sounded weak, even to me.

Graham laughed again. "A.V. You love Pokémon too much. Face it, you're smitten."

I looked down and met those golden eyes again. I groaned as my heart melted into Vulpix loving goo.

"I'm a goner." I complained as Graham laughed again.

"I wonder how your family is going to react. They just gave up hope of you ever being normal." He chuckled.

I froze at that and looked up at him before smirking. "Who said I'm normal now? If anything I'm even weirder. I've got a Vulpix that likes peppers and I found him in a muddy hole. Who else can say that?"

With that I turned around and headed toward my house with a bounce in my step again.

Graham laughed behind me before he called out. "Take care of him, he's still young. And congratulations on receiving your first Pokémon."

I raised a hand in return before hefting Pepper up higher in my other arm. I looked at him and grinned.

"Looks like you're stuck with me Pepper."

He didn't look too upset with the idea and I swear he grinned back at me.

Once I reached my house (after avoiding any area that had "I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!" ringing though the air) I opened the door and carefully looked around for any sign of life before bolting for the bathroom.

I may or may not have left a trail of mud behind me.

"Bath time." I muttered and Pepper gave a yip in agreement.

I took a shower quickly, changing into clean clothes before I turned to the muddy Pokémon situation. I filled the bathtub halfway and checked the temperature before I picked Pepper up and set him in the water.

For a fire-type he didn't seem to mind the water too much. Then again it was either get wet or stay muddy.

Good choice.

After some thorough scrubbing and two refilled bathtubs Pepper was finally clean.

"Look at that, you do have red fur under all that mud." I grinned at him as I dried him.

Huh, cool. Fire-types dried really quickly. I watched the steam rise into the air as I brushed out his fur. And their fur poofed out after a bath and brushing. Cute.

"Next, food and water." I muttered as Pepper bounced around me, happy to be clean again.

I scooped him up and left the previously clean bathroom. We had just succeeded in transferring most of the mud from the hole to my family's bathroom.

Oh well.

"Let's go raid the kitchen's supply of Pokémon food." I grinned at Pepper as he licked my nose.

Okay, so there was a wide variety of Pokémon food it turned out. I started picking up random cans and tossing them over my shoulder if they didn't sound right. The kitchen soon looked like a warzone too.

"Sweet? No. Sour? Don't think so. Bitter? Yuck." I tossed that can with more force.

Pepper seemed to agree with my assessments if his expression was anything to go by.

"Hmmm. Spicy?" I looked at the can and then at Pepper.

He had eaten that pepper rather enthusiastically. The Vulpix sniffed at the can and began to wag his tail happily.

"Looks like we have a winner." I grinned.

Fifteen minutes and a near explosion later Pepper was tearing into the bowl of food while I filled a water bowl.

"Alright, that's food and water done." I flopped into a dining chair (we had to relocate to a different room after the almost explosion) and watched him finish off both bowls. "Now down to the serious stuff."

Pepper looked up at me curiously as he licked the last of the food off his lips.

"You've got two choices here Pepper." I leaned forward. "I can get my parents to find you a home if you want, you're too young to be in the wild on your own, or…"

I hesitated. This was a big decision to make after all. It would change everything about my life and probably make my parents push even more. I gazed at the Vulpix who was staring at me gravely. The serious expression showing the level of attention he was giving me.

My heart melted again. Yup, I was already wrapped around this Pokémon's paw.

"Or you can stay with me." I finished.

The reaction was instantaneous. He yipped in excitement and leapt into my lap licking at my face. I laughed. Well, I guess I had my answer.

I pushed him back a little to look him in the eye. "You sure about this? I'm short-tempered, sarcastic and drive the town up the walls and across the ceilings."

Pepper purred and rubbed his head against my hand. Guess that answers that.

"Well then let's make this official." I smirked. "Time to raid my brother's room. He's probably got a Pokéball in there somewhere."

He did. He was going to be angry about the tossed state of the room though.

Oh well.

"Here goes." I took a deep breath as I crouched in front of Pepper and held out the red and white ball.

Without hesitation he bopped the ball with his nose and disappeared inside in a red flash. I stared at the ball for a moment before a wide grin spread across my face.

I had a Pokémon.

My own Pokémon.

Who knew it would feel this cool!

I grinned and tossed the Pokéball into the air. It opened and Pepper leapt into my arms. I laughed at his enthusiasm. Bringing him up to my face I grinned at him and pressed a kiss to his nose.

"Well then partner, I'm beat. This day's been full of surprises huh?" I turned and headed for my bedroom.

Pepper let out a bark and pressed up against me. The action made me grin even more.

"How about a nap?" I flopped onto my bed with Pepper on my stomach.

He quickly slid off and curled up against my side. He was asleep in seconds. I smiled fondly. Little guy must have been exhausted. I rolled over and curled around him automatically.

"Things are going to get interesting now, aren't they?" I murmured softly as I stared at the little ball of red fluff.

I gradually dozed off as I hugged my first Pokémon to my chest. Who knew a fall in a hole could have such an awesome result?

However, if I ever found out who dug that damn hole I was going to have some non-child friendly words with them. I'd probably kick their ass too.

Far away a pink haired woman and blue haired man with a wise-cracking Meowth felt a chill run down their spines.