Disclaimer: I do not own the Pokemon franchise or any of its assets. All rights go to Gamefreak and Nintendo. If I did then Ash would've won the Kalos League.

They had been walking for hours. They would've arrived at Mr. Pokemon's house sooner if Gold didn't screw up the directions the old man gave them. Twice. He had little to no sense of direction whatsoever.

"Okay, so we need to take a left here at this tree- or wait, was it a right? I swear I've seen this tree before." Cyndaquil and Pidgey both sweatdropped. Tired of walking around in circles, Pidgey had an idea. She motioned and chirped at Gold in her attempt to explain to him what she just thought of. It took a minute, but something clicked in his mind and he got it.

"Oh! You want to fly up ahead and scout out to see if you can find Mr. Pokemon's house, right?" Pidgey nodded her head and took to the skies. After 10 minutes or so, she returned having sighted the house. Turns out, they had been walking in the opposite direction for the last half an hour.

-xX-Xx

After another hour of walking, they finally arrived at Mr. Pokemon's house. Cyndaquil and Pidgey fell asleep on his shoulders during the walk, so he recalled them to their pokeballs to rest. The house was in a secluded area, almost completely surrounded by forests. In the front of his house, he had a few apricorn trees growing, though they weren't quite ripe yet. To his surprise, there was a strange blonde woman outside of the front door. She was dressed in a long black coat, with a black top underneath and a teardrop shaped ornament at the center of it. She also was wearing long black trousers and black heels. There was something off about this woman. Just the way she carried herself signified that she was powerful.

"Mr. Pokemon was expecting a young trainer to arrive- is your name Gold by any chance?" He nodded. "My name is Cynthia. I'm a Pokemon trainer that hails from the Sinnoh region. By any chance, have you heard the story of the Legendary Trainer?"

"Is it Red or Lance?"

"No, this trainer was even stronger than even them. The tale goes that there was once a trainer- long before either of them were alive, who traveled the regions of the world and caught every single Pokemon known to mankind. He caught the most basic of Pokemon to even the most powerful of Pokemon. Eventually, he came face-to-face with Arceus himself, and legend has it that he managed to capture him too." Gold's eyes widened in shock. "Of course, it is a legend after all, but there is many instances of archaeological evidence pointing towards this story being true. In fact, I'm here in Johto for that very reason, to uncover evidence about this story to see if it holds any truth in it."

"If it is true- that means I will just have to surpass the Legendary Trainer as well. I dream to become the greatest Pokemon master this world has ever known." A look of determination filled his eyes as a fire was ignited deep within his soul. Something that didn't go unnoticed by Cynthia.

'That fire in his eyes… I've only seen someone with such passion towards their dreams once before- no, his flame is burning even brighter!' Her eyes widened inwardly 'Gold… I'll keep track of that name.'

"I can't quite put my finger on it, but I have a feeling that you will make that dream a reality someday. Before I leave, I have just one request,"

"Okay what is it?"

"Battle me." Gold looked at her in shock. A smirk spread across Cynthia's face after she saw his expression. 'She's strong, I can tell that much from just looking at her. I probably won't be able to beat her, but knowing that just makes me want to battle her even more.'

"Alright, I accept!" A determined look was etched in his face. He took a pokeball off his belt and threw it. "Cyndaquil, let's go!"

'Cyndaquil...interesting choice' She thought as she tossed her own pokeball. "Eevee, center stage!"

"Vee Eevee!"

Gold took out his Pokedex and scanned it. "Eevee, the Evolution Pokemon. Eevee's genetic code is irregular and may mutate depending on its environment."

"An Eevee huh… Cyndaquil use Ember!" Cyndaquil nodded and shot small fireballs towards the fluffy brown creature in front of it.

"Eevee, dig!" Eevee quickly burrowed its way underground, dodging the embers in the process. Gold looked around the field nervously, trying to spot where Eevee would pop out. Suddenly, the ground started cracking under Cyndaquil.

"Cyndaquil, jump up and use Tackle when Eevee surfaces!" Cyndaquil complied and dodged Eevee's attack by an inch. It then used its momentum to shoot downwards towards Eevee.

"Eevee don't let up, Quick Attack!" Cyndaquil hit the ground where Eevee was standing with a thud. Before he was able to pick himself back up, he was headbutted in the stomach by Eevee and was knocked back down. Gold gritted his teeth at the situation, thinking of what his next possible moves were.

"Cyndaquil, smokescreen!" Smoke surrounded both of the Pokemon. "Now, run around Eevee and use Tackle when you see an opening." The smoke was suddenly blown away to reveal Cyndaquil running in circles around Eevee. Cyndaquil's speed steadily increased until he was almost a blur. A small white glow surrounded him, something that didn't go unnoticed to Cynthia.

'It's nowhere near perfected, but that is definitely Quick Attack.' She observed. She waited for the moment that Cyndaquil would slow down slightly to change direction and attack. "Dig!"

Cyndaquil shot forward in a blur, only to hit air as Eevee quickly burrowed itself underground once again.

"Use Ember in the hole Cyndaquil!" Cyndaquil rapidly shot flames underground until Eevee burst out in a pillar of fire, its fur slightly singed and covered in a thin layer of ash.

"Eevee, let's finish this, Quick Attack at full power," Eevee shot off in a blur surrounded by a white glow, faster than before.

"Dodge it!" Gold shouted futilely as Eevee slammed into Cyndaquil, knocking him down.

"Now, bite!" Eevee's opened its mouth and bit down hard on Cyndaquil's shoulder, causing it to cry out in pain.

"Cyndaquil!" Gold cried out. "Use Ember!" Cyndaquil shot more flames out of its mouth, however Eevee dodged all of them except for one, causing it to wince in pain.

"Eevee, tackle!" Cynthia commanded. Eevee scored a direct hit to Cyndaquil's jaw, faster than it could dodge. Cyndaquil fell backwards and hit the ground with a thud, swirls appearing in its eyes.

"Cyndaquil!" Gold shouted as he ran over to him and picked him up. "You did great buddy, take a good rest." He said and recalled Cyndaquil into its ball. It was his first loss. Even though he knew that he most likely wouldn't have won, he was still disappointed. Not in his Pokemon- in himself. 'I'm sorry I wasn't good enough buddy, I promise that we'll get stronger together.' He thought solemnly.

'That was a good attempt considering he just started out today. He's shown that he can think of strategies under pressure and be creative and unpredictable with them. The amount of potential he has is unreal. If he keeps working at it, he actually could become the strongest trainer in the world.' Cynthia saw Gold's expression, sadness on his facial features at his first loss. "Gold, don't be disappointed. You did surprisingly well considering you just began your journey today. If you landed one more attack, I would've been done for."

Gold's lips curved upwards and a proud smile appeared on his face. Cynthia walked up to him and held out a pokeball.

"What's this?"

"Just take it, consider it a small gift for battling me."

"But I lost…"

"That doesn't matter. I believe you are capable of great things. Use this gift and accomplish those things. Once you do that, come find me for a rematch, I'll be looking forward to it." Gold reached out and took the pokeball from her hand after hearing those words.

"Thank you Cynthia, and I'm looking forward to our rematch too." With that, she walked away into the woods.

Suddenly, the door opened. "Ah, I thought I heard something out here, I'm guessing that you're the trainer that Elm sent?" Gold nodded. "Very well, come inside and sit down for a bit to rest up your Pokemon. You all must be tired from the walk here,"

'You have no idea.' he inwardly sweatdropped.

"So I assume that ruckus outside was you meeting Cynthia?"

Gold nodded "Yeah, she challenged me to a battle. I almost managed to beat her but lost at the end."

Mr. Pokemon's eyes widen comically at this statement. "Gold, that's no easy feat. I'm impressed."

"That's what she said too, but I don't really know what the big deal about me almost beating her is," he said while laughing awkwardly.

"Gold, Cynthia is the champion of Sinnoh."

"That's a good joke Mr. Pokemon"

"I'm serious. You just fought a champion." Mr. Pokemon's face was dead serious. Gold's mind stopped working for a moment.

"So I actually almost defeated a champion?"

"Not really- she would've decimated you if she used any of her actual pokemon. Anyways, let me go get the egg I wanted to show Professor Elm. I'll be right back. "

Mr. Pokemon returned a few minutes later, holding an egg in an Incubator. It had red, blue, and yellow triangles all over it, unlike any kind of egg Gold had seen before. "Now this egg, I've never seen another egg or Pokemon that resembles this egg in any way. A very powerful and rare Pokemon could be inside. I want to give this to Elm so that he could research this egg and its uniqueness." Mr. Pokemon concluded as Gold put the incubator into his backpack.

"Thanks Mr. Pokemon for everything, I'll be sure to get this egg back to Professor Elm ASAP." Gold declared. He waved goodbye and walked out of his house and started walking back to New Bark Town.

-xX-Xx-

Gold's Pokegear started ringing when he was on the outskirts of Cherrygrove City. It was Professor Elm.

'This could be something important.' Gold thought as he answered his Pokegear. "Hello?"

"Gold, this is just terrible! Absolutely horrible! You need to get back here QUICK!" Elm frantically shouted into the Pokegear, the panic rising in his voice.

"Got it, I'm on my way," Gold said as he started sprinting as fast as he could through Cherrygrove, Cyndaquil running right behind him. Once he got to the exit of the city, he ran into a red-haired individual who appeared to be in a hurry.

'Oh, it's that trainer.' That red-haired individual thought inwardly. He glanced at Cyndaquil and back at Gold. "You got a Pokemon at the lab? What a waste on a wimp like you."

"Who are you calling wimp? What do you know about me?" Gold answered with irritation in his voice.

"Enough to know that you're a weakling. I'll prove it right now." The redhead smirked 'I can easily defeat his Cyndaquil with the Pokemon I stole from the lab.'

"Go Totodile!" The strange red-haired trainer called out as he threw his Pokeball in front of him. The blue jaw let out a battle cry, eager to fight for his new trainer.

Gold took a Pokeball off his belt. 'What is he doing?'

Gold threw the Pokeball in front of him. 'Isn't he going to use Cyndaquil?' The red-haired trainer began to sweat slightly, wondering what he'll use instead. 'Doesn't matter what he uses, I'll destroy him just the same."

"Go Eevee!" A brown furball materialized in front of Gold, yipping its name happily.

(Flashback, 30 minutes ago)

Gold reached the Pokemon Center in Cherrygrove and surprisingly didn't get lost on the way. He walked up to the front desk and put his two Pokeballs on the tray and gave it to Nurse Joy. After that, he sat down in the lobby and waited for his name to be called. He thought back to earlier today and his battle with Cynthia.

'That's right, she gave me a pokeball. I wonder what's inside...' Gold suddenly remembered, reaching for the pokeball in his backpack. He tossed the ball onto the vacant seat next to him and sure enough, a pokemon materialized next to him.

"Eevee vee vee Eevee!" The pokemon said happily to Gold, presumably a greeting.

'An Eevee huh. This isn't the same Eevee from earlier, this one seems like it was just caught. Remind me to thank Cynthia next time I see her,' Gold petted Eevee on the head.

"Hey there Eevee, do you want to come with me on my journey to become the best Pokemon trainer in the world?" He reached his hand out to him.

"Vee Eevee!" He licked Gold's hand happily and jumped on him.

(Present time)

Gold quickly took out his Pokedex and scanned Totodile. He forgot to at the lab. "Totodile, the Big Jaw Pokémon. Its highly developed jaw is so powerful, it can crush practically anything. Trainers beware: this Pokémon loves to use its teeth.

"I'll give you the first move, weakling."

'He's going to regret that' Gold thought with a smirk. "Alright Eevee, Quick Attack!" Eevee shot off in a blur surrounded in a white glow. It slammed into Totodile hard, sending it flying into a nearby tree. The red-haired trainer gritted his teeth.

"Totodile, get back up fast and use Rage." Totodile slowly stood back up, his eyes glowing red with Rage.

"DILE!" He yelled as he ran towards Eevee.

"Eevee, dodge it and use tackle!" Eevee nodded and weaved through his opponents continuous attacks. He couldn't find an opening to use tackle, in fact it seemed as though Totodile's movements were getting faster the longer he attacked. This didn't go unnoticed to Gold. 'I need to get Eevee out of there and fast,'

"Eevee, jump over Totodile and use Dig!" Eevee flipped over Totodile and used Dig faster than it could turn around and swipe at it. The red-haired trainer was on guard, seeing where Eevee would pop out. Suddenly, Eevee popped out and nailed Totodile right in the jaw faster than the redhead could react.

The redhead gritted his teeth in frustration. 'How is the gap between us already so big? Both of us just started today. This makes no sense!'

"Eevee, Tackle!" Gold commanded. Eevee launched itself towards Totodile. The red-haired boy waited until Eevee was close enough that it couldn't dodge.

"Water gun Totodile!" A forceful jet of water blasted Eevee away and onto the ground. 'He's getting too cocky and careless, that tackle was way too predictable.'

"Eevee, use Dig!" Eevee burrowed underground before another blast of water hit it. Eevee's attack once again hit its mark, hitting Totodile directly.

"Totodile, use bite and grab Eevee's tail." Totodile clamped down on Eevee's tail and threw it up in the air. "Now, water gun!"

"Eevee, straighten yourself in the air and use tackle!" Eevee's Tackle cut straight through Totodile's Water Gun and made another direct hit.

The momentum from the fall increased the the power of Tackle. The resulting blow was powerful enough to toss up dirt on impact, obscuring both Pokemon from their trainers. Once the smoke cleared, it revealed Totodile was lying on the ground with swirls in its eyes.

"Vee Eevee Eevee!" Eevee yipped victoriously.

"Totodile return," Silver called out, a red light surrounded Totodile. "You're a disappointment" he muttered to Totodile's pokeball.

"You did great Eevee!" Gold said proudly, Cyndaquil congratulating Eevee as well. He then turned his attention to Silver. "Who are you? Professor Elm never mentioned anything about giving a Pokemon to a new trainer."

"My name? It's Silver. I'm going to become the world's greatest Pokemon trainer, don't forget it." He walked away angrily, not caring enough to ask for Gold's name.

"I've already wasted too much time here. Professor Elm needed me back at the lab." Gold took off, sprinting as fast as he could.

-xX-Xx-

Gold burst into the lab and saw the state the lab was left it. There were exploded machines and papers all over the floor. In the back of the room, there was Professor Elm talking to a police officer who was taking down notes on a notepad.

"Professor Elm! What happened here?"

Professor Elm turned his head to Gold. "Oh Gold thank Arceus you're here! It's terrible, just terrible!" He continued to ramble on incoherently.

"Professor, you need to calm down. I can't understand what you're saying,"

Professor Elm took a deep breathe. "Okay, so a few hours after you left, I was busy preparing my presentation, so I was a little distracted. In that time, a red-haired trainer came in and stole Totodile and used it to destroyed much of the lab before running off."

Gold's eyes widened in shock, remembering Silver. "Red-haired trainer with a Totodile? I just battled and defeated someone like that!"

The police officer spoke this time. "Interesting, can you describe him to me?" Gold nodded and gave the most accurate description he could. "And by any chance did you happen to learn his name?"

"I think it was Silver." The officer scribbled some notes down on his paper.

"Thank you, I will take my leave now. I have enough information to have an accurate sketch made. We will find this red-haired individual!"

"I almost forgot Professor," He took out the incubator out of his bag. Professor Elm's eyes suddenly sparkled and his mood did a 180. "This is what Mr. Pokemon wanted to show you."

"Gold, this is incredible! Never before have I gotten the chance to study such a rare specimen so up close!" Professor Elm went on with childlike enthusiasm. His mind drifted away to fantasy land, where he could already see himself accepting a Nobel PokePrize for his groundbreaking research on this.

"Uh...Professor?" Gold snapped his finger and sweatdropped as he tried to get the Professor's attention, who was practically drooling on the floor at this point.

"Huh- OH sorry Gold, didn't mean to zone out there."

'Riiiiight…' Gold's sweatdrop grew bigger. Elm then noticed how much he was drooling, his face turning red with embarrassment.

"Let's change the subject- I see you've caught two new Pokemon, can you show them to me?"

"Ok Professor, come on out guys!" Gold tossed two pokeballs from his belt onto the floor. The first Pokemon that appeared was a Pidgey. That wasn't a surprise, seeing how common Pidgey were and how easy they were to capture. The second one on the other hand, let's just say that if Professor Elm's jaw dropped anymore he would need medical attention. It was an Eevee. What was impressive wasn't the Pokemon itself, or how Gold managed to capture one. It was because they were impossible to find in this area. How on Earth had Gold managed to acquire one?!

"Gold, how did you find an Eevee? They don't live anywhere near this area! This part of the region is much too warm for them, and they seldom live in forests." Professor Elm was shocked. He theorized that perhaps Mr. Pokemon had given it to him, or maybe even Professor Oak, since he knew that the Professor would come to visit him soon, maybe he even came today. He was only partially correct.

"It's a long story. I made to to Mr. Pokemon's house and I met this blonde woman from Sinnoh named Cynthia." Professor Elm's eyes widened even further. He, like every other Pokemon expert in the world, definitely knew who Cynthia was. She was quite possibly the strongest champion, maybe even trainer, in the world. He thought back to when he had last seen a battle video of hers. It was a 6v6 against a challenger who had won the Lily of the Valley Conference a few years back. He had defeated the Elite 4 and now his final trial was to defeat the current champion, Cynthia. Everyone thought it was going to be a close battle, that it could possibly go either way. Cynthia proved them wrong. She demolished his team, only using 2 Pokemon of her own. He remembered the elegant and skillful way she battled, almost like watching a dance. It would be hard pressed to say who would win in a battle between Red or Cynthia, especially considering that Red hasn't been seen in over 2 years. Rumor has it that he's been training on Mount Silver. Professor Elm wasn't prepared for the next sentence of Gold's explanation.

"She challenged me to a battle using an Eevee and beat Cyndaquil. After, she told me that she would be looking forward to a rematch in the future, and gave me this Eevee to help me out on my journey." Professor Elm couldn't take it anymore and promptly fainted. Gold grabbed his arm before he hit the ground, and asked one of the lab assistants to get water. The lab assistant returned a few seconds later with some water in a cup and handed it to Gold to give to the Professor. However, Gold just threw it on the Professor's face instead, much to the lab assistant's surprise. It somehow worked though, and Professor Elm slowly woke up and stood back up.

"Sorry about that Gold, It's just that receiving that kind of praise from one the strongest trainers in the world is extraordinary. They are great at recognizing the potential in trainers, and can often tell it from just a glance. Gold, have you considered entering the Johto League?"

"I've been giving it a lot of thought today, and after my battle with Cynthia, I decided that I would. What better way is there to become stronger than to take on the strongest trainers in the region?" Gold responded rhetorically.

"That's good to hear. Just a fair warning, it won't be easy at all. Not only do you have to traverse the region and take on the 8 gym leaders, who aren't pushovers by any means, you have to take part in the Silver Conference. It's a tournament held by the Pokemon League annually that only trainers who have obtained all 8 gym badges can enter. It's normal to expect hundreds of trainers to enter every year, so you'll be facing many other trainers who have also defeated all the gyms. If you manage to win, you will be declared conference champion, but your trials aren't over yet. The winner of each year's conference has to take the Elite 4 challenge, in which they go up against Johto's Elite 4. If they manage to defeat all of the Elite 4, then they will be able to face Regional Champion. Upon defeating the Champion, they will be crowned the new Champion and be inducted into the Johto Hall of Fame. From there, they will be responsible for defending the Champion post from any future challengers. There are exceptions however, such as if the person does not want to accept the Champion Post."

"Who wouldn't want to accept the role of being a Champion Professor?" Gold's curiosity was piqued.

"Ah, now you know a very famous example of this. Red defeated Lance 2 years ago, but he turned down the title to continue training his Pokemon. Rumor has it now that he's been training on Mt. Silver for the past couple years."

'That's a good point. How would I continue to get stronger and travel to other regions if I took the role of Champion? I'm getting too far ahead of myself right now. I need to focus on defeating the gyms and getting stronger before I even think about taking on the Champion. Now I need to find out where the nearest gym would be."

As if reading his mind, Professor Elm answered. "The nearest gym would be Violet City, I would recommend that you head there first. His name is Falkner, and even though he is the first gym, he is definitely no pushover."

"Thanks Professor! I'll be off now, remember if you need anything to call." Gold recalled his two Pokemon and walked out of the lab, ignoring the huge mess that was still there.

'Now…to get to the real exciting stuff.' Elm thought with stars in his eyes while looking at the incubator on his desk.

"Professor- you still need to clean up the mess that boy made." The Professor turned around and saw the chaos and destruction. 'This is going to take forever to fix. Damn it all!' Elm fell onto his knees and streams of tears rushing down his face, while his lab assistant just rolled his eyes and went back to work.

Gold's Team:

Cyndaquil(M) - Lvl 8 Moves: Tackle, Ember, Smokescreen, Quick Attack

Pidgey(F) - Lvl 6 Moves : Tackle, Gust, Sand-Attack

Eevee(M) - Lvl 8 Moves: Tackle, Dig, Quick Attack, Bite

(A/N: The story will begin to diverge from the plot of Gold and Silver starting from Chapter 3. There's already been a few differences between the two (No meeting Professor Oak, Meeting Cynthia, etc.) but nothing too substantial. Those will follow in the next few chapters.