"And there shall be one to lead them, humans and Pokémon alike. A transcendent one that embodies honesty, compassion, valor, justice, sacrifice, honor, spirituality and humility. For there exists a force beyond humankind and Poké-kind alike, an all-consuming, omnipresent entity that can only be repelled by true oneness."
Kris woke up with a flinch and turned her eyes towards the PokéGear on her nightstand. It was pitch dark, but the numbers glowing in the dark showed that it was 5:52. Kris was not tired in the slightest.
Pokémon. Professor Elm. Out of the basement. Today.
Chapter Two: The Best Is Yet To Come
Day 1: New Bark Town, Johto
As Kris went through her morning routine as quietly as possible, she thought about all the hubbub made when a group of trainers left New Bark Town with their Pokémon, ready to overcome adversity, face tough challenges, make friends and all that crap. There was Lyra, Ethan and this girl who was the daughter of a man who owned half the farmland surrounding New Bark. Or something like that. Never mind that the girl got the Pokémon Elm had promised Kris - but the girl's father was one of those men you didn't say no to.
I think Elm called them the "one percent". I had another name in mind.
Oh yeah, and there was this kid from Kris' class. Joey... something. Joey Jo-Jo Junior Shabadoo or whatever. But not a big deal was made of him. Ethan stole most of the spotlight when he announced he would make New Bark Town proud. Not exactly the most daunting task, seeing as the sign outside town proudly boasted that they had a windmill. And two fire hydrants!
Almost the whole town had taken the trouble to walk the fifty yards to the town square to send them off, even Kris' mom. Kris herself had important business to attend to. They were livetsreaming a battle at Ecruteak Gym, after all, and Kris had to be there to hit Print Screen whenever Morty was in frame – which was disappointingly rarely, but it beat having to see Ethan's smug face – and the less said about Lyra, the better.
6:28 AM. After showering and sneaking to the kitchen to grab a quick breakfast, Kris packed her belongings. Clothes, Pokémon textbooks, whatever dry food and water bottles she could steal and of course, 'Sue the Master Trainer: Volume I', one of Kris' favorite books. It told the story of a girl who overslept on the first day of her Pokémon journey – there was large emphasis on describing her clothes and eyes, or as the book described them, "azure and magenta orbs that glistened in the pale moonlight". Sue wouldn't actually get the Pokémon until page twenty, which Kris was currently reading for practical advice. The book's Nobel-winning author always advised going for the fire-type, so Kris had her mind set on the Cyndaquil.
6:55 AM. After packing, unpacking and repacking for the fifth time, Kris had finally decided what she wanted to take, and now stood on the doorstep, about to step outside. Kris spared a glance at the stairs – she wouldn't be coming back for a while, if at all. Her mother wouldn't wake up before noon, and now was her last chance. Kris tried to think of a good way to sum up her feelings towards her in the form of a perfect goodbye.
"May your soul fry in the Distortion World?" Nah, too nice.
Then again, she wouldn't take kindly for an early awakening. Her hand on the doorknob, Kris looked at the small mirror next to it. The dark circles around her eyes were even bigger than before, and Kris knew she'd regret sleeping for only four hours... but there was plenty of time for that later. Steeling herself for a sudden case of sunshine, fresh air and other disgusting things, Kris opened the door and stepped outside.
~o~O~o~
Meanwhile, in Lavender Town...
The moment Leaf opened the door, she noticed that the Lavender Volunteer Pokémon House was even more cramped than usual, especially strange considering it was 7 AM on a Sunday. The sounds of various Pokémon and the orders and advice shouted by the volunteers caused a headache-inducing cacophony. An abandoned Purugly had just given birth to a fresh litter of Glameow, forcing the volunteers to frantically find places and food for them while still tending to the other Pokémon running around the house, occasionally fighting each other and complaining about their hunger.
In the middle of all the chaos, Mr. Fuji, an old man who owned the house and ran it, gave advice to a panicked-looking teenaged boy on feeding a baby Kangaskhan. Leaf navigated her way around the hurried volunteers.
"Ah, Ms. Greene," Fuji said warmly upon seeing her approach. "Just do what I said and it'll go fine," he assured the young volunteer. "I know you can take good care of her."
"Nice to see you again," Leaf said, observing with worry as Fuji made his way to Leaf surprisingly quickly considering he used a cane and was most likely in his early eighties. "I hope I'm not, um... interrupting?"
Leaf watched as two Cubone made their way past her, ignoring everything around them and focusing on having sword fights with their bone clubs. Fuji dismissed it with a wave of his hand.
"Let them work out their excess energy," he chuckled. "And don't worry, it's just a little busier here than usual. Ever since the Pokémon Tower was demolished, I've been busy with the Soul House and a pack of Cubone were left without a place to stay. Some were adopted by trainers, but... good ones are hard to come by."
"I'll be happy to take one off your back!" Leaf said quickly.
Fuji smiled. "If you insist, but that's not why I called you here. You remember that Sandshrew you found and brought here? Or 'Shrew', as we call him for short?"
"Um... you want me to take him too? That goes way beyond my capacity... and Pokémon food is getting costlier these days."
"We find out where he came from," Fuji said. "If you recall, there were news about an explosion at the Sevii Islands, a place called Navel Rock. I trust that name came across your investigations?"
"My..." Leaf paused. "How do you know about my-"
"Blaine is an old friend of mine," Fuji explained. "I'm only relaying a message here. Yes, it's related to Team Rocket. Their sudden sightings around here and the incident in Sinnoh are also related."
"Route 224..." Leaf mumbled, staring at Fuji, though her wind was somewhere else entirely.
Fuji nodded. "I hadn't seen him in years... my fault for, well... Blaine will probably tell you that story. But ever since this young woman from Unova talked to him, he's been anxious about something. Somehow, he tracked me down and started to rant at me about Team Rocket and this, um... project we worked on years ago. A little after that, he left for Johto."
"Did he tell you what I was looking for?" Leaf asked.
"Yes," Fuji said, "and believe me, I know how you feel right now. Blaine said he had something to tell you about that, too, but I wouldn't get your hopes up. Blaine likes to... jump to conclusions, to say it nicely. He's waiting for you in a town called Violet City. You should get there quickly if you take the Magnet Train."
"And, um, Shrew is related to this, how?"
"Blaine will explain the full story, I presume... I only know that some of Blaine's devices registered something in Shrew when he came by, and he took the Pokémon with him, but it wasn't too happy an it seems to have gotten loose. Physically, it should be healed by now, but the things this poor thing went through - you should find him fast."
"Yeah, okay, thanks," Leaf said quickly and turned to leave.
"Just one last thing," Fuji said and Leaf stopped, though still anxious to leave. "This quest of yours... I know it's important to you, but there's something big happening in Johto now. Blaine is a brilliant, driven man, but associating with him is dangerous. You could get hurt."
"I already am," Leaf said. "Thank you. Good luck with all these Pokémon."
Fuji nodded again and watched as the brown-haired girl stormed out in a huff, disappearing into the morning fog.
~o~O~o~
Kris walked her way through the morning fog briskly. She knew New Bark Town far too well to get lost, even if she spent most of her days in the basement. It didn't help that you only had to walk around thirty minutes to leave town. Nonetheless, Kris had deliberately chosen Sunday morning as the starting moment of her journey – less mouth-breathing, slack-jawed townspeople to gawk and mock her.
Needless to say, Kris preferred New Bark either early in the morning or late at night, whenever it was sleeping. They said that New Bark Town was a "town where the wind blew and told of impending change", though Kris only agreed that the town "blew".
Good thing I know this town like the palm of my-
"Crap!" Kris exclaimed as someone in the supposedly still sleeping town emerged from the mist and bumped into her.
She pulled herself together and managed not to fall. Looking behind her, she saw a man with blonde hair wearing a blue duster of some kind disappear into the fog without even as much as an apology.
New Barkians, Kris thought. The sooner I'm gone, the better. I'm sure they'll think that too.
New Bark was the very definition of a "one-Ponyta town", as it didn't even have a school, forcing Kris to spend nine years in a school in Cherrygrove City, the next town over. During those years she had firmly decided that she'd spend the rest of her life avoiding Ethan Gold and Lyra Soul, two names that almost topped her parents on her shit list. Professor Elm would say Kris was being childish and melodramatic.
I'm not paranoid, I don't think the whole world is out to get me, Kris told herself. Just Johto. And maybe Kanto too.
After ten minutes, Kris had arrived to Professor Elm's laboratory and the mist was about to clear. The lab was a spacious, wooden, two-story building next to the windmills, and already Kris was feeling a lot calmer. The lab was the only place in New Bark Town which Kris could call home, and the professor was the only one in town Kris could rely on. Whenever the absent-minded dork didn't lose the paperwork required to get Kris her Pokémon or bend backwards to the threats of some upper-class skidmark, that was.
But still... the professor had given her a part-time job when Kris had dropped out of Earl's Pokémon Academy due to... circumstances. And he had been a supportive figure in her life for years now, though less and less and time went by and he spent more and more of his time working. Elm had been a workaholic before, but after his divorce a year ago, he had worked 13-hour days, seven days a week. The man literally lived in his laboratory, in the upstairs living area.
Noticing the lights were on inside the lab, Kris took a deep breath and opened the door.
"Morning, Professor Elm!" Kris said cheerfully as she stepped into the lab.
Elm, a tall, thin and perennially nervous man with thinning brown hair and glasses, dropped all of his notes in shock when Kris stepped in. Kris noticed that this was one of the days Elm had worn his lab coat inside out. A man in his early thirties, he was always stressed, as besides his regular assistant and occasionally Kris, he had no aides or underlings.
"Oh, uh, morning, Kris," Elm said apologetically as he picked up his notes and adjusted his glasses. "Sorry about this, haven't had my coffee yet... uh, yes, today's the day isn't it? Have you, um, chosen the Pokémon you want yet?"
"Yes, I have," Kris said, "but first... did you do the thing I asked you to do?"
"The-" Elm cleared his throat. "-thing?"
Kris rolled her eyes. "The Silver Conference! That big event that only happens once every five years? We talked on the phone a few days ago, you said there was a way for me to get in!"
Elm removed his glasses and started cleaning them with a napkin, curiously avoiding eye contact with Kris. "Um, yes, about that," he muttered. "First of all, you must be aware that the deadline for signing up as a contestant passed already, and the conference itself starts in a month and no matter how hard you train, getting eight badges..."
Kris folded her arms and raised an eyebrow at the professor.
"But," Elm continued quickly, "yes, there is another, uh, way, I believe. One that doesn't require any badges at all. Um, do take a seat."
Kris followed Elm to another room towards the back of the lab.
The room contained lots of computers and desks, as well as Elm's enormous healing machine that took almost a quarter of the space of the room. In another corner there was a small table with two Poké Balls on it.
The third one's just being polished, I'm sure, Kris thought.
Elm casually swiped some old pizza boxes off a random chair and sat down, while Kris sat on the cleanest thing in the room: the floor. She crossed her legs and stared at the professor expectantly.
Elm cleared his throat again and started talking:
"I asked around for weeks but found just one lead: the Blackthorn City Dragon Clan. Seeing as this is a special tournament, they also have special rules. Members of the Dragon Clan can enter as they please, even though many of them rarely or never venture outside the city."
"Well," Kris sighed, "I don't have any Blackthornians or any other successful people, trainers or otherwise, in my family tree. And it's not like I even want to be a part of a bunch of über-exclusive upper-class inbred dragonfu-"
"Yes, you're right," Elm cut in, trying to suppress a smile. "You don't have to become a member of their clan, but you still have to go through a series of tests designed for them. It's faster than going to every city with a gym... in theory."
"I'll take what I can get," Kris shrugged. "Now, give me that Pokémon I wanted so I can get the hell out. One Cyndaquil, s'il vous plait!"
"A... Cyndaquil. Yes, um..."
"Here he goes with the 'um'," Kris sighed. "What is it?"
Elm wrung his hands and avoided eye contact with Kris. "Well, you see, you may have noticed that I only have two Pokémon here instead of three. That's because, um, the breeding center made a slight mistake… well, all right, I made a slight mistake and accidentally ordered four Pokémon last time, with two Cyndaquil, so they only sent me two for this run. The two Cyndaquil went to-"
"Lyra and Ethan?" Kris guessed, and Elm nodded awkwardly. "Well, that's just great. I can imagine them now, traveling together, laughing, mostly at me, having practice battles with their Cyndaquil, comparing which of them as the bigger... snout."
"L-let's not despair, I have two other Pokémon here, feel free to-"
"Give me a Chikorita, then," Kris said. "It's kinda cute, so maybe some groomer type or Pokémaniac will trade it for something stronger, like Heracross or whatever."
Elm looked embarrassed again. "Well, thing is, um," he stuttered. "The Chikorita… well, you see, the Morimoto family came around yesterday… wanted to make sure their daughter got the Chikorita. Highly influential - their daughter is starting out next week. Probably should have mentioned that…"
Elm's voice faded and he suddenly started organizing his papers. Kris sighed again; she had to admit that the guy was an annoying scatterbrain sometimes.
"Well gimme the Totodile then," Kris said coldly. "I have to get moving."
"Right you are!" Elm said, relieved that Kris would accept it. "Just a second, I need to check things with my assistant. Computer! Has my assistant left any new messages?"
For a moment, Kris thought Elm had lost his mind, but almost jumped when she heard a voice answer Elm through some loudspeakers attached to the wall – and it wasn't Microsoft Sam doing the talking, but a sarcastic-sounding, slightly tinny male voice:
"Messages: 0. Reminder: current time is 07:21:37 AM and I am currently running through driver updates. Addendum: given the professor's social life, the probability of having any messages in the professor's inbox is point nine percent. "
"Yes, thank you," Elm muttered.
Kris stared at Elm in confusion and forgot to be disappointed about her Pokémon choice for a moment.
"What was...?"
"Oh, it's a speech-recognizing semi-intelligent-"
"Hey!"
"Fully intelligent data processing system I installed to the lab's computers," Elm explained wearily. "I needed some help, it can't be just two people running the place all the time. Ever since you stopped working at the lab, I realized how many things I had to do myself."
Kris rolled her eyes – guilt-tripping wasn't something she needed now.
"Uh, but anyway," Elm continued, "you may remember that I was gone a few weeks a while ago. I was giving guest lectures at my old school, Saffron University, and the local computer science students gave me a prototype of something they've been working on - an AI of sorts to manage all the data they have to shift through..."
"Really now?" Kris asked. "And why is it so..."
"Database query complete. Did you mean: intelligent, brilliant, efficient, radiant, amazing or handsome? Addendum: meatbags aren't known for expansive vocabularies."
"Um, yes, about that," Elm said. "I noticed its unique way of giving output when I was installing it. Based on that, I don't know if those students liked me or hated me... nonetheless, the Pokémon. Just a moment!"
Elm grabbed the Poké Ball marked with a blue 'T' from his desk and gave it to Kris.
"Congratulations for your first Pokémon!" Elm said awkwardly. "I hope it's of help on your way to the Silver Conference."
"Thanks, but it's not just that tournament I'm interested in," Kris said as she attached the Poké Ball to her belt. "You heard about that Suicune thing in Sinnoh, right?"
"Oh, yes," Elm said solemnly. "Terrible tragedy…"
"Yeah, well, I don't think Suicune did it at all!" Kris said firmly. "Maybe it's in someone's best interests to create discord between humans and Pokémon. Like, it could be a government conspiracy… thing! I can't explain it properly, but I know Suicune is innocent and I'm going to prove it!"
"Well, good luck," Elm said, clearly just humoring Kris. "Um, why don't you let your new Totodile out for a stroll?"
Kris shrugged and opened the Poké Ball.
She regretted this act a second later when something blue and reptilian came out and immediately sank its teeth into her leg. The Totodile didn't mean to hurt, though, but this didn't stop Kris from yelling out in pain. She tried to kick the Totodile, but it dodged her leg and started dancing around the lab, as if it had been trapped in the ball for ages.
"It's, um, quite a wild one," Elm said and climbed on his desk to make sure the Totodile couldn't see his delicious ankles.
"Reminder: there is a rifle loaded with tranquilizer rounds in a nearby cabinet. Addendum: should the Big Jaw Pokémon bite my power cable, I will delete all username ElmTheSciencePimp's Bejeweled high scores."
"Elm the Science Pimp?" Kris asked in disgust.
"I was fourteen when I came up with the name," Elm sighed. "I use it as a username for everything because it's easy to remember."
"Okay, Totodile, stop for a minute!" Kris yelled. "You're getting back into the ball!"
But the Totodile just kept on dancing and hopping around. When it came across a pile of papers on the floor, it immediately shredded them with its teeth. Elm groaned.
"I was just going to organize them…" he said. "…yesterday."
"Totodile, stop!" Kris yelled, but again to no avail.
"Oh, um, its name is Croc," Elm said. "Forgot to mention that… the folks at the breeding center often nicknamed their Pokémon, and now they won't obey any other names…"
"Croc, stop!"
But the Totodile ignored Kris' cries. It finally stopped dancing to chew on a chair leg, allowing Kris to jump on the Pokémon, pin it to the floor and return it to the Poké Ball.
"…or, in some cases, at all," Elm said, still sitting on the table.
Attaching the Poké Ball to her belt again, Kris noticed a shadow and a flash of red by the window, but as she blinked, it was gone.
Must be the lack of sleep.
Getting back on her feet, Kris was about to give a nasty remark to Elm, but the computer interrupted him:
"Username ElmsAide69 messaged: '5 min. to New Bark. Had to pick up this girl from Blackthorn. Someone kill me now. Hashtag yolo hashtag swag."
"Ah, my assistant is almost here," Elm said and finally climbed down. "OK, Kris, now that you're, um, equipped with a Pokémon, I'll tell you where to go from here, but what I'm about to tell you is confidential, okay?"
"What?" Kris asked, not bothering to be nice.
"There's an organization called the Legendary Pokémon Society," Elm explained quickly. "They have operations in several regions and are very secretive about what they do, but they are the ones in charge of the tests you have to pass."
"So are they like a society who study legendary Pokémon or something?" Kris asked., to which Elm hesitated but eventually nodded hesitantly. "Cool! So can I join them then?"
Elm laughed. "Oh, dear Arceus, no. Few even know about their existence, and even the best of the best are routinely turned down. They're more exclusive than the snootiest Ribbon Syndicate in Sinnoh. There's maybe a few dozen members in the world, and a core group of maybe less than ten people in charge of things. But you may get the chance to meet their representative."
"Where?" Kris asked, this time forgetting to be rude to Elm and be mad about her crappy Pokémon.
"Like I said, secretive. First you have to head to a place called the Ruins of Alph, they're, well, ruins near Violet City. A friend of mine-"
"Searching for 'Elm's friends'. Search result: NO RESULTS."
"A friend who I haven't seen in a long time," Elm amended, "called Blaine is staying at the labs they set up there. He'll, um... he'll fill you in."
"OK, cool," Kris said. "Can I go now, or-"
"Um, just a moment! I have a feeling that your new Totodile alone may not... may not be enough to protect you, there are rumors about all sorts of, uh, suspicious people running about."
"Isn't there always?"
"The point is, I had my assistant wake up early and go pick up someone who's also on her way to the ruins. I'd feel safer if you went there with someone, and I'm sure your mother would agree-"
"No she wouldn't," Kris said.
"-that the world is a dangerous place for a young person traveling alone. Johto hasn't always been a serene place, you know."
Before Elm could give a lecture on Johto history, a car pulled over next to the lab. Soon enough, the doors were opened and the sound of excited chatter filled the lab, causing Kris to cringe.
Elm's beleaguered assistant stepped into the room carrying a bag, followed by a short girl who was around Kris' age who had long, dark purple hair and an odd-looking dragon-type Pokémon sitting on her shoulders, blabbering about something:
"...and that's all I did at the Opelucid Academy, wow, I can't believe I managed to get so much out there, you are such a good listener, okay, so to tell you how I got into the university, well, it was a tough situation, I mean I got straight A's, but please don't think I'm bragging too much, well, anyway I didn't have too much money and-"
"Here we are," Elm's assistant groaned at the professor and dropped the girl's bag. "Are there any other ways you want me to waste my precious Sunday on?"
"No, um, that'll be all, take the rest of the day off," Elm said sympathetically.
"Bye, it was fun, and your car smelled nice!" the excitable girl said as the assistant shuffled off, then turned to face Elm and Kris. "It's an honor to finally meet you professor, your lab is awesome, and oh my Arceus, you're Kris, right?"
"Um... yes," Kris said, sorely wishing she was someone else right now.
"I've seen you before!" the girl said. "My name's Iris!"
Kris just stared.
"You were at Earl's Pokémon Academy!" Iris said, still smiling cheerfully while Kris frowned. "Okay, so, I'm a student at Opelucid University, but I'm currently traveling from school to school around Kanto and Johto to learn as much as I can about other regions and cultures and stuff and-"
She paused to take a breath, but before Kris or Elm could interrupt her, she kept going:
"-and I saw you talking to the professors one time, and I saw that presentation of yours-"
Kris buried her face in her hands, Elm turned to look at Kris in confusion while Iris just kept talking:
"-and it was actually really effective in my opinion, I'm not sure if that was really considered appropriate by some of the staff but I thought it really exposed how archaic and pretentious and patriarchal those academic circles can be."
"It did?" Kris wondered. "I mean... yes, it did, didn't it..."
"Yeah," Iris nodded frantically, almost causing her dragon Pokémon to fall off. "And I thought it was really unfair how they kicked you out because of it."
"What presentation?" Elm wondered, but was ignored.
"So I'm super-happy we'll be traveling together!" Iris gushed. "I have a lot of questions for you and I wanna hear all about what you've been doing since you got out of the academy."
Kris glared at Professor Elm.
"This is how you see me off to the world, is it?" she asked.
Still, she smiled as she said. No way she would abandon her mission at such a crucial moment. No matter what obstacles life would throw her way, she'd just dodge harder. Even if her chances were at the level of a Vanillite in a volcano, at least there were chances.
So, accepting the fact that she'd be stuck with a bloodthirsty, disobedient beast as a Pokémon and a chatty, overly peppy girl as a companion, she stepped outside with Iris and Professor Elm, who installed a map app to Kris' PokéGear, explaining the fastest (and only) way to Violet City.
Outside, Kris could have sworn she saw another flash of red near the lab. She could have sworn she heard footsteps, but had the no time to investigate now. Hopefully it wasn't that asshole with the blue duster.
"Well," Elm said and made a weird gesture with his hand, as if trying to decide whether or not it was appropriate to put it on Kris' shoulder in a fatherly manner or hug her.
"Yeah, so... thanks for the Pokémon," Kris said, and added without thinking: "I guess."
Elm smiled.
"I'll call you on the PokéGear if something comes up, and likewise, you have my number," he said and pushed up his glasses. "This may sound a tad clichéd, but take care of yourself. Not everyone in New Bark is indifferent to seeing you go. And remember that the thing about a Pokémon journey is not about the destination. Not to, uh, break your spirit or anything, but not everyone will succeed. But just the fact that you are on this journey means you'll learn something, experience things you haven't before and you don't even need to travel by yourself."
"Remind me of why that's a good thing," Kris muttered.
"No, honestly," Elm said. "I never went on a Pokémon journey myself... I don't really expect to have enjoyed sleeping outside and challenging random strangers, to be honest, but there are times when I kind of, well, regret it. I'll admit that you had a bit of a rough start, but don't dismiss the value of this experience right away. There's so many wonderful things in this world, but we may forget that as we stumble out of our hometowns with inexperienced Pokémon, battling the same common Pokémon over and over and have to find detours whenever our path is blocked by a tree, a big rock or a chest-high ledge. Enjoy your youth, you two! The best is yet to come! I'll be cheering you on, Kris."
"He gets a little speech-happy," Kris told Iris.
Kris and Iris walked away from the lab, Iris cheerfully waving at Elm all the way, but not saying anything, mercifully enough. It wasn't until the duo made it to the road leading to Route 29 in the west. Kris stopped right at the edge of New Bark Town and Iris looked at her curiously.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"You're aware of where I'm going and why, right?" Kris asked her. "'Cause I'll be saying upfront, I don't care what the professor says, if you're going to slow me down, I'm leaving you behind. I'm on a tight schedule here."
"Of course I know that, silly," Iris said almost painfully sweetly. "Leaving me behind, hah! You and your jokes, Kris, just like old times!"
"...we met like a few minutes ago!" Kris said. "And no," she interrupted as Iris was about to say something, "you seeing me at Earl's Academy doesn't count, and it would be cool if you wouldn't talk about that. Those were... dark days."
"Sure," Iris said cheerfully. "But, you know, there's no need to be so glum. You're starting your journey, right! Isn't this what you always dreamed of?"
"What I dreamed of is the end of this journey," Kris pointed out and turned around to look at New Bark Town one last time.
"I'm guessing you want a moment to say goodbye to this place," Iris said, her tone a bit more somber this time. "I understand. I was actually raised in this little village about twenty miles from Opelucid and leaving the place for the first time-"
"Moment over, let's go," Kris said quickly.
As the two headed west and left New Bark Town, the sun was already high and the mist was clearing. New Bark Town settled to it usual daily routine. Though a weight was off her shoulders now that she wouldn't have to spend another minute in that town, there was still a feeling of dread in her gut. Sure, she had been to Cherrygrove City, but anything beyond that was something Kris had only seen in TV and on the Internet.
What are those other towns like? Where should I go after meeting this Blaine guy? What will those 'trials' be like? What if I fail them?
"Hey," Iris said suddenly. "Wanna sing?"
And most importantly: why?
~o~O~o
About ten miles north of Kris and Iris, a panicked Sandshrew ran its way through the wilderness.
Even though nothing was chasing the little ground-type, it was in a frenzied state, ignoring everything else in its way. It occasionally bumped into other Pokémon, mainly terrified bug-types and Sentret, as it madly dashed its way through the tall grass, ignoring the occasional cuts it got from rocks and tree branches.
As the Sandhrew ran, it suddenly came across a slope and tripped on a rock. Bird Pokémon flew out of its way as the Sandshrew tumbled down the slope before ending face down in a puddle of mud.
But Shrew wasn't far enough. No matter where it went, it heard the same voice inside its head.
"Where will you go, Shrew. The humans will never accept you – to them, you'll always be a slave. And other Pokémon will see what you are, what you did to your kind. Where will you go?"
Shrew tried to bang its head at a nearby tree, but nothing silenced the voice.
"Just do what I ask of you and this will all be over. You know you can't go anywhere. The humans can't help you."
Shrew collapsed on the ground near a rock almost the size of the Pokémon's head.
"Just this one thing. The Griseous Orb. Get it for me, Shrew."
Still on its back on the wet ground, Shrew picked up the rock, holding it firmly between its claws, gritting its teeth together.
"Don't be a fool. Just tell me where it is. Tell me where it is and you can live – in peace. You can even have a place in my ranks. You don't have to end it here."
Shutting its eyes tight, the Sandshrew bashed the rock against its head.
A/N: Hope you like this new version, new and old readers, if there are any anymore. I know I update sporadically to say it nicely, but I think this rewrite is going to work this time.
