Chapter 1: My Quest

"Rebel!" My startled voice echoed around the clearing.

One of the blue Pokeballs near my head snapped open and silver light danced around the clearing. The light faded quickly to reveal a huge bipedal Pokemon with fearsome claws and powerful jaws. It was almost entirely blue except for the tan patches on it stomach and chin and the red spikes on its head, back, and tail.

The Feraligatr let out a roar and looked around the clearing for signs of danger. I scrambled to my feet and stood beside him, peering around his large back in the direction of the bushes where I'd seen the eyes. Rebel followed my gaze and stomped over to the clump of bushes, sniffing suspiciously.

"See anything?" I asked nervously. I'm not a coward by any means, but that doesn't mean I'm not easily startled. Anyone who woke up with eyes staring at them in the middle of a forest would be jumpy.

'Nothin',' said Rebel, now digging through the bushes. 'Just smells like dirt and leaves. Sure you saw something?'

"Of course I did!" I said irritably, marching over and pushing the bushes aside myself. "There were big red eyes right here. Huge!"

'You weren't dreaming?' Rebel sounded amused.

"No, I wasn't," I said, enunciating each word in an annoyed tone. "I was dreaming about…well, about the day we met. Remember that?"

Rebel grinned. It's not always easy to tell when a Feraligatr is smiling because its large jaws and teeth usually give the impression of a snarl or leer. I can tell, though. After eight years of traveling and training together, there's not much Rebel and I can't tell about each other.

'Course I do,' his eyes turned skyward for a moment and I knew he was thinking back to that day in New Bark Town when I had chosen him as my very first Pokemon. 'You weren't so jumpy back then.'

I scowled at him. It was true that at ten years old I had been far less jumpy than I am now. It's really not that surprising given everything I've seen and done over the last eight years. Don't get me wrong, most of my experiences as a trainer have been good. I've traveled from region to region, competing against gym leaders, ordinary trainers, and league champions. I've won and lost my fair share of battles and joined forces with some amazing people and Pokemon, though perhaps not the people and Pokemon my parents always envisioned me with.

See, I was born into a family of electric-type Pokemon trainers. Both my mother and father love everything about electric Pokemon. Our family symbol is a lightning bolt and our family Pokemon has always been an Ampharos. Our family name is even Raikus, derived, at least according to my father, from the name of the legendary lightning tiger, Raikou, who is our protector. So he says. When I was little, my father would tell me how my distant ancestors rescued a young Raikou from a rockslide and how that very same Raikou and its decedents have been watching over the Raikus family ever since. I guess it's an okay story, but I'm pretty sure it's just a myth.

Nevertheless we are, or were, solely an electric type family. My mother was a gym leader who specialized in electric types before she married my dad and had me and my siblings. My sister has since become a gym leader herself, taking over the very same gym that my mother used to run. She battles with, that's right, electric types. She's very good, but not as good as my parents always thought I would be.

It wasn't that I showed a remarkable prowess with Pokemon when I was young or that I had some special connection with the Mareep and Ampharos that lived at our house. It was simply that I am the poster child for an electric type trainer. My eyes are a dark, stormy blue-gray with streaks of gold running zigzag through them, my skin is lightly tanned, and my hair is bright blonde. My mother says that when she first saw my eyes they reminded her of storm clouds streaked with lightning. That, coupled with everything else, inspired her to name me Elysia, which means lightning-struck. As I got older, my mother and father insisted that I would one day become a world renowned electric-type trainer. My dad thought I would dazzle people from the front of magazine covers. Who would be able to resist a girl with lightning in her eyes and in her name who also trained super powerful lightning Pokemon?

It turns out I would. Here's the thing: I don't like electric type Pokemon. Not even a little. It's not that one of our beloved pets shocked me when I was little or anything tragic like that. They've just never appealed to me. Sure, I played with the Mareep and Ampharos I lived with, and they're probably the only lightning Pokemon I will ever consider friends, but other than that, nothing. I could never tell my parents that when I was little, of course. Any time I would mention training a different type of Pokemon my parents would just say, "but it's not as good as an electric type!"

When I came home from Professor Elm's lab with a Totodile, my parents were shocked. They'd offered to give me a baby Pokemon from their collection so I wouldn't have to choose a non-electric type, but I'd insisted I wanted to start out the traditional way. They didn't argue as they, like many trainers-turned-parent, believe in the value of tradition. Still, they never thought I would choose a water type. To my family, water types are the biggest jokes of all Pokemon, except maybe flying types.

"I'm sure you had your reasons," my mother had said, trying to hide her true feelings.

"Yes, and you know, it'll be good for you to train a water type for a while. It'll give you perspective and make you a better trainer. Actually, I think that was very wise." My father always liked to make the best of bad situations.

Unfortunately for them, I didn't choose Totodile because I wanted to "gain a different perspective." I choose him before I absolutely adore water Pokemon. Maybe it did have something to do with wanting to go a different way than my parents. A streak of adolescent rebellion, perhaps, hence why Rebel received the name he did. But as I got older, my love for water Pokemon grew stronger and stronger.

As if that wasn't bad enough, I started introducing myself to people I met not as Elysia, but as Ren, which means water lily. I even tried dying my hair blue and wearing matching lipstick and eyeliner at one point, but that was a disaster. Instead of the glamorous water trainer look I'd been going for, I looked like a cheap…well, I decided to stick with my natural looks after that.

My parents were so ashamed of my "lifestyle choice" that they refused to come cheer me on the first time I entered the Silver Conference. My older sisters and brother did, though. They have been far more understanding than my parents who didn't even congratulate me when I ranked in the top twenty.

Two years into my journey, I was starting to make a name for myself as a water Pokemon trainer. I won the Whirl Cup when I was twelve and the Cherrygrove Gazette put me on the front page. I think the headline was "Cherrygrove's Water Lily Destined for Water Pokemon Fame." I'm sure they thought it was a very clever title, but it was the last straw for my parents. In a desperate attempt to "convert me" they sent me a celebratory package containing their congratulations, some supplies, two Pokeballs, and a Thunderstone. One Pokeball contained my favorite childhood Mareep and the other an Eevee. They hoped that the Mareep would remind me how wonderful electric types were and that the Eevee and Thunderstone would ease me into the idea of training one.

Here's why: evolutionary stones are incredibly rare these days. Fifty years ago they weren't exactly a dime a dozen, but it wasn't too hard to get one if you needed it. Unfortunately, a company called Evolution Express began a large scale mining project for stones. They wanted to possess the majority of Johto and Kanto's stones so that they could make big profits, and they did for a while. Despite the prices, the stones flew off the shelves. Things went well until EE decided to expand. They loaded two cargo ships with about 75% of their stock (demand was down in Johto and Kanto because stones are a one-time use kind of commodity) and sent them across the ocean to open new businesses in Hoenn and Sinnoh. The first ship sunk in a hurricane before getting halfway to Hoenn and the second vanished without a trace. Since then Johto, Kanto, and many of smaller surrounding regions have been hurting for stones.

All of that means that if a person is lucky enough to get their hands on an evolutionary stone that can evolve one of their Pokemon, the smart thing to do is use it. Whatever the Pokemon, it will be one that few others have and thus give its owner an advantage.

Long story short, my parents hoped I'd overlook Jolteon's type for the chance to have a unique Pokemon. I did not. Instead I sent Marcy the Mareep to live at Elm's lab where she still enjoys a very pleasant life. The stone I put into a safety deposit box in case I ever need to sell it. The Eevee I trained. Vaporeon was one of my dream Pokemon and I spent a long, long time searching for a water stone. I finally found one in the Orange Islands when I was fifteen and Laila has been one of my top water Pokemon ever since.

This was the straw that broke the Raichu's back for my parents. I haven't spoken to them in three years. I guess it's not that surprising since I spent the last five avoiding Johto. I have spent the last year of my life in Orre, exploring ruins and researching legends with some of my closest friends. Last month I left them behind and returned to Johto in order to embark on a quest I've been planning since I was a child. I want to be the ultimate water Pokemon trainer, and in order to do that I need to find one of the ultimate water Pokemon.

Legend says this Pokemon runs with the north wind and can purify the most polluted waters. One of the most popular stories in Johto says that this Pokemon was born of the rains that quenched the fires at the Brass Tower. It is one of the most mysterious, elegant, and powerful Pokemon in the world and I have loved it since my father first told me the story of the Brass Tower when I was a small child. He was most impressed with Raikou, the lightning that started the fire, but I couldn't stop thinking about Suicune.

Now I am on my way to Ecruteak City, the original home of the Brass Tower, to find out as much as I can about Suicune and start the next stage of my journey in becoming the top water Pokemon trainer. I don't care how long it takes, I'm going to find and capture Suicune.