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I looked around the area I was in. It appeared to be the outskirts of a town surrounded by trees. The town itself was laid out in a simple way, houses to one side of a large clearing with what looked like shops of some sort on the other side.
I squinted my eyes, trying to make out the writing on a sign at what appeared to be the entrance into town. However, it was futile as my vision was rather blurred. I sighed and slowly walked into the town, trying not to trip over the to large pants I wore. My clothing was far to big and quite uncomfortable to wear.
My bare feet slapped the ground as I walked along cobble paths, looking around with wide, curious eyes. The buildings looked different to what I'd grown up knowing, all with lovely green roofs, bright white siding, red front doors, and at least two windows on every wall. Front what I saw, only the shops and important buildings looked different.
Stores were mostly glass and metal, with small counters and many shelves filled with items for selling. The two most unusual buildings were rather close to each other. The first was made with white walls, bright red roof, and large windows showing what appeared to be a very luxurious waiting room.
The second building looked, for all intent and purpose, like a lab with a large chorale attached to it. There appeared to be some very interesting horses racing through the chorale and in a moment of sheer stupidity, I entered the lab-like building.
I was met with many large and complicated machines, all whirring as they worked vigorously. My bare feet slapped the cool, white tile floor as I walked around. After a moment of just busy whirring, I heard voices, the first sounding gruff and old while the second was more soft and feminine.
I followed the voices to a small door and walked through it, coming face to face with two much taller people. The gruff voice had belonged to an older man with white hair and beard while the softer voice belonged to a younger woman. Both wore long lab coats, plain brown pants, and white shirts.
The older man seemed surprised before he smiled down at me, making me feel a bit nervous, "Ah, you must be another new trainer. My apologies but the last starter has yet to hatch." I blinked slowly, tilting my head in question, "If you are willing to wait while it hatches and grows old enough to battle, you may come here and learn from me if you would like."
The way he spoke sounded like a question but it was instead a simple suggestion. I thought for a moment, 'From the horses outside, I definitely didn't end up in Kansas. I'm much further from home than I thought. The offer seems interesting and he seems to be assuming I have a home to travel from. I guess I could take him up on it but where would I stay?'
I thought a moment more before nodding, "I'd love to sir." My voice squeaked and embarassment welled in my chest. I didn't just look young, I sounded it too.
"Wonderful. Now our normal batch of starters were not ready so I had to import eggs for a different weakness circle of flying, ice, and fighting types." My blank face must've been amusing to the man as he chuckled, "It seems as though you will need to learn about type matchups as well."
I blinked and felt a strange surge of annoyance in my chest, "I know the matchups sir. I was just surprised by the types chosen."
"Well. The last egg to hatch is an ice type. It will take a couple months as the egg was much younger than I had been expecting upon arrival. Come back tomorrow at six and I will help you learn."
I nodded and turned to leave, feeling very unsure as to where to go. Back outside, I was confused. Should I go to the woods where I had woken up or try to stay in an ally for the night? I sighed and decided to wander around before deciding. Everything had happened so fast and I almost felt winded after being offered a pokémon and a new chance at the game of life without even really doing anything.
My heart felt almost warm at the thought and I smiled to myself. Maybe now, I'd get the chance to be myself, something I'd never been able to do before.
~Three Months Later~
It had taken a week of gathering my courage to ask, but I had eventually gone to the pokémon center and asked for a room for some months before explaining why. It had been a great relief to realize just how kind Nurse Joy really was, as she had stated that, as a trainer to be, I would be allowed to room for as long as needed and that the Pokemon League happily paid for the center's expenses.
Had I not been waiting for my starter to hatch and therefore been without a trainer ID card at all, I'd have had to pay for a room, though my ID card was only temporary. As it was, it had been three months and I had learned a lot. The man, whom I had later become comfortable with calling him by his name though I still referred to him as 'the professor', had taught me how to battle, or the very basics at least.
The professor was a surprisingly nice man, despite his gruff voice and put off appearance. He had allowed me to use his own pokémon to get used to battling basics. In the beggining, he had been, at least I like to think he was, pleasantly surprised by the knowledge I already held that most knew trainers thought useless or to good to remember upon becoming a trainer.
The professor had taken to allowing me to carry the egg containing the pokémon with whom I was to travel with and, over the months, I noticed that it had gradually started to grow more chill to the touch. When I asked the professor, he had said that it was getting closer to hatching. A fire type's egg would become very hot, almost to much to touch, while a water type's egg felt almost slimy as it approached hatch day.
While I had known many things about this world, it was interesting to learn of the smaller details that seemed to exist only because I was now actually living there. As of now, I had been here three months and, seeing the date, had realized my birthday had come and passed surprisingly soon, meaning, from my appearance, I was about eleven years old now.
Snow was falling outside now, quite heavily might I add, and it was now Christmas morning. The professor had gone home to be with family and upon asking, had allowed me to stay at the lab as long as I fed the pokémon.
The morning was very cold and the two pokémon the professor had allowed to stay behind and keep the lap safe were currently eating in the kitchen. One was a tall pokémon, a bit over five feet tall, taller than I had ever been, and a good deal of its body was white.
It had long legs, rounded hips, and thin torso with a pointed red horn poking from the center of its chest and back. Its arms were green in color with sharp points at the elbow, of which were able to extend out and be used like swords, something that was far more odd to see than I had originally thought.
It had large red eyes on a round, white face with odd, pointed sides, almost like a mask. Its hair, while surprisingly soft, was short and green with a light blue 'fin' sticking straight up. In short, this pokémon was a Gallade.
The second pokémon was quite short and grass typed. This pokémon sat at the Gallade's feet and didn't even reach a foot in height. It had a small, yellow face, thin eyes, and a mouth that always seemed to smile. It had dark green, rufffled leaves below its face and tiny soft green feet.
Atop its head were two vines curled around each other, one having a blue spot inside and the other a red spot. This was a Budew, a baby pokémon though it was still quite strong. For reasons unknown, it refused to become a Roselia.
On this cold, winter morning, I sat on a soft couch in the living area of the lab with my egg sitting in my lap, after having eaten breakfast of course. My legs were tucked under me as I read a book, a dainty, young hand stroking the pale shell of my egg. It was oddly floral patterned, the flowers all a soft grey against its white shell.
Why an ice type had a floral patterned egg, I would never understand. In some part of my mind, where I kept every memory from watching the pokémon anime, I knew what this egg would hatch into however, as the pattern of the egg had been largly unimportant to the episode, I wasn't quite sure.
I hummed as I ate up sentence after sentence in my book, shifting the chill egg slightly closer to my body. The book was about care for young pokémon, everything from bathing different types when they hatched to what newborns usually ate. For ice types, the babies tended to eat the crushed ice of frozen milk, though how they got it in the wild, I had no idea.
I jumped when suddenly, the lights went out. In the sudden darkness, reading was impossible so I sighed and set my book onto the small table next to my seat. Cradling the egg to my chest, I felt a flutter and a sudden flash of warmth briefly before it vanished. I raised a brow in question before deciding it was my imagination.
Something I looked back on later in life, only to realize how incredibly stupid that was, "Gallade? Budew!" I called, my voice echoing through the lab.
"!"
I jumped when I heard thunder and stared at a window through the darkness. The room had lit up briefly as lightning flashed outside. Odd considering the snowstorm. I shivered, having never liked the sound of thunder. It had always scared me and it didn't help that, as a child, I had never really received any form of comfort to calm me down during storms.
I continued through the darkened lab, before finding the professor's pokémon in the main computer area of the lab, "Gallade? Budew? What are you doing in here?" I asked them. Gallade paused in whatever he was doing and looked down at me, blue eyes glowing in the darkness.
I stared for a moment before I froze, 'Wait? Blue eyes? Gallade has red eyes!' I started backing off slowly as the strange figure came closer. Whoever this was, it wasn't Gallade, and I was sure the smaller figure wasn't Budew either. I turned to bolt only to be snatched up.
I screamed loudly, the sound echoing in the lab as thunder crashed outside. My mouth was quickly covered and my panicked breathing was loud as I struggled, trying not to drop the egg I held tightly.
"Oi! Agent S! We need to go! Some kid found us and whatever she was looking for probably heard her scream!" The shorter figure stood up from their knees, standing even taller than the blue eyed man.
"Yeah, well what should we do about the brat then?" They hissed as they made their way to a broken window.
"We take the kid with us. Maybe dump her in a river somewhere. We need to go before anything happens!" The men crawled outside the window with me and the sudden cold had me shivering.
My eyes looked desperately through the shattered window just as a tall figure with familiar, comforting red eyes appeared. I tried to scream the pokémon's name but it was muffled behind the large hand squeezing my face painfully.
"!"
Though muffled, the sound seemed to reach him as I felt tears in my eyes. My heart pounded in my chest as my mind grew foggy in fear.
"Shit! Agent S! To the ship!" I started struggling, despite my shivers and fear. The two men carried me onto a large, black plane. The one holding me removed his hand only to slap tape over my mouth as my wimpers and sobs started becoming louder.
I threw a glance at the lab, barely visible through the blizzard, just in time to see the tall, red eyed figure of Gallade running through the snow. However the plane was already taking off, the man that had been holding me sitting next to me, a very real, very dangerous gun held in his hand and pointed at my temple.
"Try anything brat and you're as good as dead." I shuddered, my sobs and whimpers muffled through the tape. I felt pathetic, crying like I was, seeing as I was really a twenty year old woman that simply appeared eleven, but I felt I had every right to be.
I had just been kidnapped and I now had a gun at my head! Hell, even a grown, muscle bound man could be forgiven for crying in my situation! Anyone would be terrfied beyond belief. Christmas morning, in a blizzard while it was dark as pitch outside despite it being around ten in the morning. I'm in some sort of plane after being kidnapped, tape over my mouth and a gun to my head.
~o0o~
After what felt like hours, the plane suddenly stopped, having landed. I felt a sharp pain from my face before I was forced outside into what seemed like a forest. I easily felt the cold metal of the gun at my back as I was forced to walk on bare feet through snow that came to my waist. While I was barely three feet tall, even I knew this was very deep snow for anyone, even if I was shorter than most people.
Eventually, we reached a tall tree and stopped. I turned and stared up at the blue eyed man's face in the darkness as he sneered down at me, leveling the gun with my face.
"You should've never gone wondering around the lab kid. You would still be alive had you been smart." The man gave a low, blood curdling laugh and everything seem to stop.
Suddenly, there was a bang and a high pitched scream. I fell onto the large root of the tree, still clutching the pale egg in my arms as my left shoulder burned. The egg was glowing brightly, the light probably having startled the man.
The smell of copper filled my nose as I got up, shivering in cold and pain as I turned and ran. Unfortunately, trying the run through waist deep snow while holding a brightly lit object was not the brightest idea.
So, with a quick, stupid thought, I jumped behind a thick tree as I heard the man rapidly approaching. I dove into the snow, easily burying myself and the glowing egg.
The man ran right passed me and everything went dark for a moment. There was suddenly a loud sound in the distance as I heard the plane take off. The part of my brain not swamped in pain, cold, and fear realized that they must have left.
I carefully sat up and held up my egg, my body numb with cold. The glow slowly started dying down and I no longer held an egg in my arms. Instead it was a small, vulpine pokémon with a single, long tail.
"Kon?" It squeaked and burrowed into my chest. Despite everything, I smiled and held the tiny, newborn pokémon closer. I stood up painfully, clutching the tiny form to mine.
My vision blurred as I started to wonder. My only thoughts were telling me to find the lab but I had no idea where I was. My shoulder hurt like the dickens, the pain something I had never felt before, and I had been hit by a car and killed!
My body was numb with cold as my vision blurred. I could barely make out the trail of bloody red snow behind me. If I wasn't found soon, I would die along with the young pokémon I now held.
After what felt like hours, my breathing was labored and I could no longer see. My vision was far to blurry. Yet, I felt hope well up in my chest when I saw a bright flash of light. I screamed for help, my voice scratchy and raw.
I was surprised to hear my own voice before I realized the tape must've somehow gotten ripped from my face. Thinking back, I had felt a sharp pain before this all started.
Suddenly, everything went dark and then, I was warm.
~o0o~
When I came to, I realized, I was back in the lab. The lights were on and I felt warm though everything still hurt. Through blurred vision, I could just make out the short, white fur of the pokémon that had come from my egg.
I sat up, ignoring the dizzy feeling and reached a hand out to stroke along the back of the tiny pokémon. It cooed in its sleep, curling up tighter and snuggling into my lap more. I looked around, wincing in pain as my vision cleared. To my surprise, I saw Gallade sleeping upright in a chair, right next to me, with Budew on his lap.
I blinked in shock before reaching out a hand, flinching as pain flared in my shoulder, and tapped the pokémon on the knee. He jumped awake, startled before his red eyes widened as they landed on me.
"Gal?! Gal gal-ade!" His frantic voice woke Budew, whom stretched lazily and yawned. The pokémon hopped from his lap and wondered off as Gallade was at my side in an instant. He checked my shoulder, which had been neatly swathed in bandages, before checking my legs and feet, whcih were red and raw from the cold snow.
I hissed in pain as he gently touched them before grabbing a warm, damp cloth and carefully wipping off my legs of, what I now clearly saw as dried blood. My legs must've been bleeding and I just hadn't realized it.
"Dew!" I jumped and threw my head around to see Budew come back with the professor behind it.
"Ah, I see you are awake now miss Lyn. I had quite the scare when I came back to see you so injured. Not to worry, Gallade has already informed me of the happenings whilst I was gone. I am happy you are alive. The young vulpix must have had a terrifying experiance, going through such trauma with his handler and hatching while said handler is in a very dangerous situation. I have already informed officer Jenny about the occurence here. I had originally been planning on giving you my gift upon my return the day after christmas but you have been out a full week."
The old man sat down at my feet, an aged hand gently sat a small, wrapped box in my hands. I stared at him a moment before opening it. I found three items inside, one of which quickly hopped to life and began floating around my head. I quickly recognized it as a rotom in a pokédex.
It made no move to talk to I picked up the next item, that being a Cherish ball. It filled my hand easily, and despite the heavy feeling of having a metal ball in my hands, it was much lighter to what I was used to.
"Ah yes. I bought that while I was away. I had thought the egg would hatch after I got back, not before, so I thought you would like a pokéball to catch it in. You always seemed to enjoy these the most so a cherish ball only seemed fitting for your first pokemon."
I nodded, silent as my tongue felt like sand paper in my mouth. My throat burned and I doubted I'd be able to talk at all should I try. I quickly placed the ball back in the box and picked up the last item.
Reading it, my eyes widened.
Callerose Ashie Lyn
Assistant Professor: Sinnoh Rowan
Enabled to carry twelve Pokémon at any one time.
It was an ID card, "I see you understand." I stared at the old man, shock plain to see on my face, "With how well you have been doing around my lab the last few months, I decided I would like to have you as my assistant. This will mean going to many meetings with other professors and visiting many regions for research when I must go. It gives you permission to carry many pokémon at once and enables you to enter reserves to research whichever field you decide to go into, be it how pokémon attacks work or relationships in the wild."
I was silent as I continued to stare and the professor continued, "This is what allowed me to talk Professor Kukui in Alola to allow you a Rotomdex. The rotom has obviously already become comfortable in the body and will provide you with information of pokémon and items you have yet to reconize. Why not try it on your little friend?"
I blinked and nodded. I rubbed at my throat and trying to speak, only for a harsh cough to sound instead. Wincing, I pointed from the rotom to the small vulpix in my lab. It seemed to understand quite quickly and scanned the tiny creature.
It spoke, its voice masculine and sounding much like a japanese Professor Rowan, something I found odd yet comforting.
Vulpix, the Fox Pokémon, Alolan Form. Vulpix are born bearing only a single tail. This tail will split and form into six with care and age. Alolan Vulpix create flurries of ice when hot to keep cool, often leading to frozen bushes and uncalled for snow flurries. These pokémon are friendly and even tempered, making great pets for families with young children, unlike the Kanto native Vulpix.
This Vulpix is one week old, male, and around level five, bearing the ability Snow Cloak, which makes this pokémon harder to detect in snow.
It knows the moves Powder Snow, Tail Whip, Safeguard, Double Team, Hail, Aurora Veil, Moon Blast, and Freeze-Dry.
I blinked for a moment. Only three of those moves were attack moves and most of those were usually TM moves while Freeze-Dry and Moon Blast were moves only learnt through breeding. Made me wonder what the father was.
"That's impressive for such a young pokémon. I'm afraid he won't be doing much fighting until he has at least three tails, though that shouldn't take more than two or three weeks. By the way, if you want to name the little one, now would be the best time. Just gently tap the pokéball on his head and upon capture, rotom should enable you to enter and register a name."
I nodded and tapped the Cherish ball on the young pokémon's head. It only took a second before there was a ping and rotom was suddenly hovering in my face, a holographic keyboard at my fingers. After a brief thought, I quickly typed out the name 'Fuyu' which roughly translated into Winter.
I quickly pressed the ball's large button and released the still sleeping pokémon back onto my lap before pressing another, smaller button on the bottom of the ball to shrink it. I threw the professor a questioning look.
"I will take you out when you are well to purchase a belt to clip any pokeballs onto. Now, whenever we head to another region or elsewhere for meetings, while I know you have your vulpix, he is still very young and weak. Until he is stronger, I insist you take Gallade with you wherever you go. Normally I would not consider this but after the recent events, I refuse to allow you to get injured in such a way if I can possibly prevent it. As such, Gallade will be transfered to your custody until such a time that your vulpix can fully protect you. But until such a time comes, Gallade is yours."
My panicked look must have been amusing as he laughed, "Do not worry. Gallade will listen to you. I have done this before with assistants. Gallade knows the drill and will be more than willing to protect you when the need arrises. He will likely even help train Vulpix to become stronger."
I nodded and smiled before yawning, "Go to sleep Miss Lyn. I will be here when you wake." I rubbed at my eyes as I slowly drifted off to sleep, my thoughts echoing as the world grew dark.
'I wonder what will happen now...'
~oooO0Oooo~
Name: Fuyu (Vulpix)
Gender: Male
Trainer: Callerose Ashie Lyn
Level: 5
Moves: Powder Snow, Tail Whip, Safeguard, Double Team, Hail, Aurora Veil, Moon Blast, Freeze-Dry
Ability: Snow Cloak - Allows the pokémon to evade detection in hail and blizzards.
Type: Ice
Date Obtained: 12/24/1998
Etc: Calm and quiet
Name: Gallade
Gender: Male
Trainer: Callerose Ashie Lyn (Temp)
Level: 84
Moves: Close Combat, Leaf Blade, Night Slash, Psychic, Fury Cutter, Aerial Ace, Heal Pulse, Wide Guard, Swords Dance, Psycho Cut, Feint, False Swipe, Protect, Calm Mind, Light Screen, Reflect, Shadow Ball, Brick Break, X-Scissor, Calm Mind, Hypnosis, Fire Punch, Thunder Punch, Ice Punch, Focus Punch
Ability: Justified - Attack boosts after being hit with a dark typed attack.
Type: Psychic/Fighting
Date Obtained: 12/31/1998
Etc: Temporarily swapped ownership from Professor Rowan to Callerose with strict orders to protect her from harm.