Hi, everyone. So, this is the first chapter of this little fanfiction, thank you for reading this. As you can see, one of the crucial changes I've made is adding the "OC" character slot, though that's only half-true. I'll explain more in the oncoming chapters. I'm a little sorry for the delay, I had to work on a thesis paper followed by a proposal and defend it against a panel of five, of all things, consisting of my dean, the university president, my professor, and two other adults whose positions I can't remember except that they were really high up.


Episode One: Her Promise

"Dad, what day is it?" Brushing her pink locks once, Julia pressed another button on the TV remote while eating an oatmeal cookie with one hand and reaching for a glass of milk on the coffee table after. The channel switched to a simulcast of a live performance. 'Hm, Cristoph's new single is out.' Noting a lack of response to her first question, she hollered louder.

Her dad's voice answered back from somewhere upstairs. "January 18, honey, Kouden 37."

"I meant the day of the week, dad." She pressed another button and the channel changed into a cooking show. 'There's nothing good on TV today, how boring.'

"Wednesday. Honey, please stop slouching in front of the TV and help me with the chores. Have you cleaned your room yet?"

"How would you know I'm in front of the TV and not doing chores if you can't see me?"

"Sweetie, it doesn't take a genius to figure out how ten year old minds work. Now while I'm putting away the fresh laundry, will you please water the carrots and rhubarbs in the garden? I still have to prepare lunch after this. The steak isn't going to marinade itself and the charcoal won't spontaneously combust, you know. And clean your room." From the sound of his voice, the pinkette guessed that her dad's probably either tidying up his own room, or scrubbing the toilet. She sincerely hoped it wasn't the latter if he was preparing lunch.

She turned off the TV and got up since she had nothing better to do and stretched her arms before shouting, "sorry, dad, I'll water the garden now, and I already cleaned my room."

She heard him reply, "indoor voice, Julia" before she was out the door. With a slight roll of her eyes and a chuckle, she walked towards the vegetable garden and picked up an unconnected hose along the way. Before the sprawling patch of tendrils and root crops, she removed the glove covering her right hand and touched the earth. 'It's cold, but no frost. Gotta admit, dad, using saran wrap to shield the crops from snow is one of your weirdest ideas yet, but if it's not broken, don't fix it.' Julia dropped the dirt clumps back on the ground before scooping up some snow with her bare hand and crushing it, letting her body heat melt the slush and fall to the ground before putting her glove back on.

Slightly yawning, she stretched her back a little more before taking a Poké ball attached to her skirt strap. She peered into its translucent layer and spoke with an affectionate tone, "okay, girl, we're going to water the vegetables today, but not too much pressure, y'hear? We don't want frost enveloping the crops and leaves since winter isn't over yet. Do you think you can help me with that? Azurill, come out, come out! Come out and help me!"

Azurill came out of the Poké Ball in a flash of light and squealed. "Here, girl, you know the drill. Remember to control your water pressure. We don't want to end up with soggy vegetables like last fall." Julia handed one end of the hose and Azurill popped it into her mouth like a poffin. "Okay, Azurill, use Water Gun!" The Water-type Pokémon used the attack and water spouted from the other end of the hose. Julia quickly grabbed it, covered half of the end with her thumb, and watered the plants evenly, all the while humming some song or other she heard from the TV a while ago.

"Girl, you really need to come up with a better catchphrase when calling on your Pokémon. It's so unattractive. If I were a contest judge, I'd have failed you a long time ago if it wasn't for that face of yours." A voice spoke up from over the fence.

A flash of recognition swept across her face, and Julia closed her eyes and scowled, a little grateful that her back was turned from the fence. Azurill sensed her discomfort but continued to spout water anyway. 'Oh, great, it's that jerkface, Oak. If he wasn't the mayor's grandson and Mister Blue's nephew, I'd have creamed him a long time ago.' She looked up at the sky and inhaled a long breathe. 'Why, oh gods why, did you send a megalomaniac like him my way?'

With no other way out without sending her recent visitor crying to his mommy and being evicted, she stuck out her tongue playfully at him and smirked. "Sorry, dude, but catchphrases are, like, totes not my thang, comprenez vous? How long have you been there anyway, jerk?"

"Gross, please don't speak 'valley girl'. It doesn't really suit you. And this 'jerk' is the man of your dreams, babe, been here since you came out of your door."

She could swear that she just felt a vein tick, but kept smiling pleasantly while clenching her fist around the hose. "Hun, don't call me 'babe' or I'll sink you right in the kisser. I don't want nightmares in my sleep. And what would you know? I came from a family of valley girls; it's in my blood, and the last one wasn't valley girl lingo, it's French."

"We're not in Kalos, babe, and I always thought you came from a family of Joys."

"Lots of Joys are valley girls, you know. You'd be surprised how many fail their bar exams because they were too busy spending their study time at the beach."

He was persistent, she'll give him that. "Who cares? At least you get your best looks from them. Want me to tell you the French word for kiss? Or better yet, shall we French kiss, ma chérie?"

She really wanted to grab some cans of paint from the woodshed and throw it all over his "perfect" brown hair and his face. He'd look like a clown. It'd be hilarious. She tightened her fist around the hose until no water came out anymore. "Tch! Ta gueule, connard!" Julia scowled at the lame attempt to flirt and rolled her eyes again playfully, laughing it off. "So you know some French as well. Shall I tell you then that the French word for kiss is also slang for-"

"Julia! Are you done with the gardening yet? Lunch will be ready in five minutes, so wash your hands and sit down. I charbroiled the steak before adding a little pepper, just the way you like it." Another voice reached her ears, this time coming from inside the house.

She glared at empty air, miffed that her anger had been interrupted, yet also grateful. 'You got lucky, Oak. Your ass is grass if it weren't for dad.' "Oops, dad's calling. Gotta go, dude, I wanna have lunch. Oh, and by the way, don't you think you're ten years too early to actually try and flirt with a girl? I'm, like, ten and you're twelve and your pick-up lines suck. Au revoir, idiot. See you never." With that, she left the gaping boy alone leaning at the fence.

"Azu!"

"Oh my gods, Azurill!" Julia yanked the hose out of her Pokémon's mouth and squeezed the Water-Type's form a little tightly too late out all that accumulated water. "Sorry, buddy. Almost forgot about you, didn't I? That jerk Oak showed up. Honestly, pushing his weight around just because he's the crush of every local girl from eight-to-eighteen and the mayor's grandson. I don't know how Professor Oak and Mister Blue are related to a Pignite like that. Tch!" She continued to stroke Azurill's head in comfort and sighed in frustration. "Time to eat lunch, I guess. I just wish it was more pleasant, cut the 'Oak' down to size, if you know what I mean. Lunch isn't going to seem as appetizing now what with that jerk ruining mine."

"Julia! If you don't get in here I'll assume you don't want lunch and throw it in the trash!"

"Uh-oh. Hear that, buddy? Let's go." She smiled down at Azurill, who snuggled in her arms. "Coming, dad! Sorry!"


Julia chomped at the piece of steak in her mouth, too miffed at her earlier encounter to even savor the meat and spices. "Dad, please pass the gravy."

"Seem a little tense there, sweetie? You're holding your knife over your steak like you're about to stab it a thousand times. C'mon, tell dad what happened."

"Ugh. It's just that jerk Oak messing with my business again. I swear, if it wasn't for him, 'moving' to Pallet Town would've been funner."

Her dad gently reprieved her for her faux pas while filing up their glasses with water. "Now, luv, it's not nice to call anyone a jerk, and it's not 'funner', it's 'more fun.' I thought western languages were your forte." He took a sip and ruffled her hair, listening attentively to her rant. "Anyway, that Oak kid seems to be a nice boy, if a little cocky, but all boys are when they're at that age. As I recall it, Julia, you were the one who wanted to befriend him and get his attention; well, now you have it."

"Please don't remind me. I've been regretting it for five months. How come you're nice to him but any other boy my age isn't allowed to come near me? I couldn't even say goodbye to Nomiya-kun properly."

His mood soured at the mention of Julia's friend back from their previous hometown. He never liked that kid. He once caught the brat trying to sneak Julia out during her piano lesson so she could play with him. Nomiya was a bad influence on his sweet, precious, beloved daughter. "And good riddance too! I swear that kid is looking at you with his eyes!"

"Of course he's looking at me with his eyes! Dad, it's not like he can see with his ears or his skin. Nomiya may be a jerk, but he's my jerk. Oak can just be target fodder for the Fire-Types or something. I can't believe I tried to make someone like him my friend."

- August, Kouden 36 -

"Promise me you'll at least try to talk to somebody. I know you're still getting used to 'moving' to Pallet Town, but it wouldn't be bad to meet some other kids and make new friends. I know it's a little scary, but please, just please, say one word to a kid your age, not frighten off adults with that big brain or spending your allowance at the local diner and running around with no one but Azurill. I'm going to enroll you at the local school next year and I don't want you to be all awkward just because you're the new kid. It pays to have someone you already know in the same class, or at least the same year."

Julia took out her finger from the shoe as soon as it got fitted in her left foot. She sighed, hearing the same familiar request, but took it to heart on how her dad tried. "Dad, I know, okay? Don't worry, I promise I'll be good and make at least one friend who's in my age range today."

She didn't want to disappoint him, and she had nothing to lose aside from her pride. She might as well go along with it. As soon as she was out that door, though, she frowned. Her thoughts were snide and none all too impressed. 'Now, if I were a brat with brains the size of a peanut and the emotional capacity of a bowl of potato salad, where would I hang out?'

Her consciousness was deep in thought as steps started to take forward, the sprigs of grass brushing against the soles of her shoes as she threaded lightly. 'School campus? Probably, but most brats especially these rural types don't go to school and acquire special Trainer or Coordinator licenses instead.' Her musing led her to a thoughtful yet disdaining idea of what other kids were probably doing. 'Then again, there's been a decline because of the recent incidences these past few years. Most kids these days just go to Pokémon Tech to satisfy their wishes and placate their mommies' worries. Let's see where else?'

She kicked a pebble a fair distance away and whistled in amazement on how far it flew. 'Hmm, playground? As far as I know, Pallet Town doesn't have a playground…' Her mind continued to wander freely about the possible locations. 'The fields? Lots of them like to go to the fields where they can watch others show off their Pokémon, but these days nobody does it out in the open. They still love Pokémon, so where…'

Her walk took her to the boundaries of Pallet Town, beyond the hill that led somewhere else. A few minutes later, Julia's face lit up all of a sudden and she laughed. 'That's it! Any half-baked Pokémon lover would be at the Oak Corral! Why didn't I think of this before? It's perfect! They'd be at that corral because they love Pokémon and they'd still be under an adult's watchful eye.'

With her determination spiked, Julia's walking turned into a leisurely jog towards the famous Professor Oak's laboratory.

True to her prediction, there were a lot of kids there her age, some older, some younger. The two things they all have in common: they surely love Pokémon, and they are all girls. The first would be a given, because why else would they be there, but why are there only girls? Julia was puzzled by the group. 'What in the worlds?' They were all circling something, gathered together and bunched in a group like a tacky fruit basket. She decided to come closer to find out what was going on.

"Gyaah!"

"Okudo-kun, do it again!"

"Oh. My. Arceus! Isn't he the coolest ever?"

"Eh?" That last one was from her, expression genuine confusion by the inflection of her voice.

The girls sensed someone who clearly did not belong in their group when they heard that "eh." About half of them looked behind towards her and sized her up with their eyes. Some of them parted and opened a small corridor from which Julia could see in the middle what the fuss was all about.

In the middle of the gaggle of girls was a charismatic looking boy around her age, probably slightly older by two or three years, with fair brown hair and eyes as iridescent as the skies above them. On his right arm, a Pidgeot was perched still flapping its wings without even so much as a glove for protection. To say he was handsome was an understatement. Her mouth was agape with the fine specimen of boy before her, someone that just screamed "king of the mountain" or "lord of the seas." 'If I didn't have to stay away from boys because dad says they're evil, I'd probably join that group and worship the ground he walked on.'

"Hey!" Whose voice was that? "Be my friend!"

Before she knew it, she stood tall and proud to match the stature despite the distance between them, her arm outstretched towards him and her hand was open wide, like expecting something to take her hand. 'Oh my gods, what am I doing? Was that my voice? Did I just do that? I can't believe I just did that. This is so embarrassing. Come on, feet, move!' She didn't. Her face looked determined despite her inner panic and she held her ground.

Finally, one of the girls in the group walked towards her and stood taller. She looked mean and bossy, but Julia kept her arm outstretched until the older girl slapped her wrist down. She had her hand on her hip and the other pushing assertively against Julia's chest. "O.M.A! Who do you think you are? Okudo-kun belongs to all of us!" The bigger girl looked at Julia once again and did an once-over. "I've heard of you. You're the weird new kid who walks around the town alone and spends most of her afternoons just reading that weird thick book of yours under trees or eating sundaes at Pallet House."

"Oh, shut up! I don't have to listen to you." Julia drawled out that last word and prolonged it with a disdainful pop. She was miffed, so she did the only did the thing she could do with her self-respect.

"Agh!"

"That weird kid punched her! She punched her in the eye! She's…she's a total tomboy, no sense of delicacy whatsoever! Okudo-kun, save us!"

Julia looked at the collapsed form of the girl with disdain and walked passed. "Bravo! If this were drama class, you'd have gotten lead actress. What do you think you're doing? That wasn't even a punch. It was an open palm right across your forehead, and it wasn't even that hard. Stand up, you're making a fool of yourself and disgracing women everywhere by acting like a total drama queen."

The girls who still circled the boy shrieked as she glared at them. "Eek! Okudo-kun!"

'Okudo? So that's his name? If I'm right, that family's westernized name is 'Oak.' I've heard rumors about him after our 'move' here. So he's the 'scion of the Oaks', huh? If I can make him my friend, I won't have to put up with awkward introductions when school starts. Even if he doesn't attend the local school, I'll be known as 'the kid who's Oak's friend.' Brilliant!' Julia dusted imaginary dirt off her windbreaker and cleared her throat.

The other girls were still shaking by Julia's intrusive and intimidating presence.

"Move it or lose it, sissies!"

The girls obeyed and tried hard not to show how much their legs were shaking and just about ready to give out. The aisle created in between was wide, and the circle around the handsome boy was open. Julia extended her hand again with an open palm. "Be friends with me."

Before she could receive an answer, the Pidgeot perched on his arm flew towards hers and landed. The Flying-Type pecked at her palm once, but she didn't flinch.

"Hmm, you're an interesting one, aren't you? Most girls don't ask for just friendship from me."

"Trust me; I'm not like most girls. Like these losers said, I'm weird."

"Hah! All right, weird girl, I'll give you a shot. Let's be friends."

"Cool. My name is Juri, but please call me by my western name 'Julia.'"

- Present Day -

'Urgh, who could've known that being friends with him was the biggest mistake of my life? He's so cheeky and fresh. I mean, seriously, the guy was surrounded by girls on our first meeting. I must be such a putz to even think for one moment that he was handsome.' Julia resisted the urge to faceplant on her food, and just gripped her fork tightly. 'Now I can't even befriend any girl my age in this town because I stole their idol, and guys my age want to befriend me so they can brag about taking Oak's 'girlfriend' away, which is so darn stupid!'

Her problem with her "friend" was diverted when she heard her dad speaking over the table. "Hmm, my hair is showing roots again. I better buy some dye from the store. It's so bothersome though. The lines are so long." He took a lock of his hair and pulled his bangs down and took a mental note to buy some dye from the store.

"Aw, dad, I like your hair better when it was auburn-brown. Can you not dye it this month? It wouldn't be bad to skip one month, would it?"

"It's brown-auburn, luv, not auburn-brown; there's a difference. Besides, you know as well as I do that it's necessary. We're having a hard enough time with your pink hair as it is and you're too young to dye it. You'll end up bald by the time you're 30 if you do."

"But daaaaaaaad, it's been six months since we 'moved' to Pallet Town. Don't you think it's time to let our hair loose a little, uh, figuratively speaking?"

Her dad's eyebrows became terse but kept a calm, firm voice in chastising her. "No, Julia. I'm sorry, but I am going to get some hair dye and that's final. Now behave and eat your steak. I don't want any more questions about my hair."

She grumbled and chewed on another piece of her steak while slouching.


Notes:

The "Kouden" is a fictitious calendar era I made up to apply in the story, similar as to how real-life Japan has "Heisei" and "Taisho." It works in a similar system such that it is in effect during the incumbent emperor's reign. It literally means "Light Farmland".

The "Feudal States Era" mentioned in Episode 0 is the events of Pokémon Conquest and can also be called "Warring States Era" like in the real world, it is commonly known as "Sengoku."

"Ta gueule" is basically "shut up" in French and can be used as banter between friends, but when said in anger or to someone not familiar, it is the rudest way to tell someone to be quiet. "Connard" is "fool" or "bastard." The French word for "kiss" when pronounced in a certain way also means a different thing, so don't say it in front of someone French unless you've nailed the accent.