A/N: finally got around to getting this re-done :D school's been dragging me down as usual. So, on with the story!
June's feet thudded madly on the concrete path leading towards Sandgem town, she was never a good runner, and before long she was wheezing in the middle of the path. Wiping a sweaty piece of hair from her eyes, she took a sip from her water bottle and kept on running.
I must get there.She thought to herself. I must keep running, I must get there."I MUST GET THERE!" she roared the last phrase to herself, ignoring curious stares from other trainers. She slowed down when she spotted the 'Welcome to Sandgem Town!' banner, but picked up her pace when she saw a white and black she got nearer to it she drank in its details. It was pristine white and cube shaped, with a half-sphere shaped roof that was filled with solar panels, making the roof look like half a black disco ball. Wind turbines littered the back of the building and scaffolding criss-crossed one side of the building, since one of the walls was still under repair. June dashed to its steel and glass door and burst in.
Professor Willow studied an electronic chart by a high tech machine, which beeped. Satisfied by this, she turned towards her chart and wrote her results in it. Since the accident professor Willow had momentarily taken professor Rowan's place until his burns healed and the doctors made sure that every single bit of chemical waste was out of his system. She studied what had been written down on the chart and was about to write a few more words when the door slammed open, the glass nearly cracking from the impact.
Professor willow studied the scruffy girl that was catching her breath in the doorway. A pink ribbon that was half undone hung loosely by her right cheek, which was red from running. Her clothes were dusty and her boots were caked with mud, leaving ugly stains on the once clean white tiled floor. Professor willow cleared a strand of wispy white hair from her view and frowned at the girl, whose amber eyes met her own grey pair.
"Uh… hi, sorry about your floor" she said, studying the stain. She cleared her throat. "I… I've come to get my starter please… Um…turtwig please?" she wrung her hands together and looked around, expecting a scientist to bring her a tray with Poké balls.
Professor Willow sniffed and stared at the girl. The girl must be out of her mind if she expected to get a starter at this time of the day. "I'm sorry" she said delicately. "We haven't got any s-"
"It's ok!" she said quickly. "Piplup's fine, really!"
Professor Willow scratched her head and glared at the small girl, she was going to be difficult to get rid off. "Listen girl, we are out o-"
"Chimchar! I'll take chimchar, anything!" she was getting desperate; she wrung her hands together and gave a last hopeful stare at professor Willow, her eyes quickly filling with tears.
"NO!" yelled professor Willow, ignoring the shocked expression on the girl's face. "Listen girl, there are no starters here, no turtwig, no piplup, no chimchar, nothing!" professor Willow took a deep breath to calm herself down and turned her back on the girl, convinced she had gotten the message.
"B-but" began the girl, she cleared her throat and started again. "But you're supposed to… to have a turtwig-er, starter for me, I'm ten already!" a few of the scientists near her snickered, but quickly went back to their work.
"I'm afraid" said professor Willow, her delicate tone on it's fullest. "You are too late" she motioned daintily to the huge steel clock on the wall. "All the regional starters have been taken-"
"Couldn't you give me a starter that isn't a regional one?" she whined. "I'd be happy with a bidoof…"
"I'm sorry" said professor Willow in a tone than suggested she preffered to strangle her. "I cannot give you any Pokémon from this lab, now" she motioned to the door. "You will have to leave this lab now, or I shall have to call security"
The girl's hand flew up to her mouth; she gulped and tried to stop the tears from spilling out. "Please, professor Willow, this was the day I get my starter and" she stopped to wipe tears hastily from her eyes. "And… please don't kick me out, professor Willow, please give me a Pokémon, or anything!" she took in a big lungful of air as tears began cascading out of her eyes.
Professor Willow sighed and scratched her head; this kid was making her lose valuable time. Making security kick her out seemed like a pleasant idea, but the girl would probably, no, most certainly come back. And what if she sneaked in through the back door and stole one of the Poké balls in the vault? Professor Rowan would never forgive her, the Pokémon there had had their genetical structure shaped to aid their experiments and a single stolen Pokémon could catastrophically ruin their experiments. She had to think…
"Little girl" said professor Willow loudly, making her jump. "I can't give you a Pokémon, but I can give you this" she pushed past a few of the scientists and rummaged through a steel box in the far end of the room, taking out a flattish purple box, she quickly walked over to the girl and thrust the box towards her.
June blinked in surprise as the old professor shoved the purple box towards her. She was surprised that instead of calling a pair of hulking, big muscled thugs to haul her out of the lab and slam the door on her face, she was actually giving her something. It was too flat to contain a Poké ball, but still, with trembling hands, peeled off the lid to reveal something that vaguely resembled a Vs recorder; it was a little flat, bright purple as the box with a big black screen on one side and no visible button anywhere.
"Um… how do you turn it on?" said June, as if responding to her question a small green dot appeared in the middle of the screen, and expanded into a huge green smiley face.
"HELLO, NEW TRAINER!" said the electronic device with surprising cheeriness. "I AM THE SINNOH DEX, A NEW AND RENOVATED POKÉDEX CO-CREATED BY PROFESSOR WILLOW AND ROWAN" the smiley face winked at June and dissolved into a black circle, which flashed once and showed a picture of a very gormless-looking June then turned into a handful of white rectangles. "PLEASE ENTER IN THE FIELDS YOUR PERSONAL DATA, THE SINNOH DEX WILL SERVE AS YOUR IDENTIFICATION, NECESSARY FOR INGRESSION AND REGISTRATION IN POKÉMON CENTRES, POKÉATHLONS AND OTHER TRAINER EVENTS"
June's eyes widened, she stared at the screen, and then towards professor Willow, who pinched the bridge of her nose. "This is, as you might have guessed, the Sinnoh dex, we have brought together, professor Rowan and I, the technologies of previous dexes, and made them better, it is even programmable so more features can be installed, similar to a Pokétch"
"A…a…amazing!" June said, her eyes still wide with wonder.
"Not so much" said professor Willow. "The Sinnoh dex still has errors in its program; it was scheduled to come out in two years when I had corrected all these errors, but you can have one of the unfinished prototypes"
June opened her mouth and closed it numerous times, looking like a magikarp, she finally closed her mouth, which turned into a trembly smile. "Wow… I… thank you!" then, not knowing what to do with all her gratitude, leapt forward, gave professor Willow a hug round her middle, and ran out of the lab, making a huge whoop of joy as she slammed the door closed.
Professor Willow stood frozen to the spot, her eyebrows arching over her eyes and her mouth slightly open. One of the scientists behind her chuckled. "Heh, finally a kid shows you a bit of love, eh?"
"Silence, Jones" said professor Willow icily "I am still expecting that overdue work on energy storage on minuscule cells, that you in particular have been putting off all this time, I suggest you get back to work, now" professor Willow shook her head and went back to her chart.
Meanwhile, June was very excitedly exploring her Sinnoh dex, keeping her eyes glued to the screen and not looking where she was going.
"Okay aaaaand, enter!" she said, after tapping out the last of her details on the screen. The white rectangles disappeared and a handful of little pictures lined the screen, June tapped on the first one, a blue circle with a green splodge in the middle, it then widened to show a miniature globe, June quickly looked for Sinnoh, and then Floraroma, which was relatively easy to find. "Awesome!" she said, as she stared at the roof of her house, then she began searching for other places she knew well, she was so immersed in staring at the screen that she wasn't looking where she was going and bumped into a man that had been carrying a large crate of oranges.
"Oi! Watch where you going, lil' ladee!" yelled the man as he piled oranges back on the crate.
"You watch where you're going, I'm a trainer you know!" yelled June back, sticking her tongue out at him. He swore and muttered about rude brats that shouldn't be allowed to be trainers. She ignored him and decided to try out the other features on the Sinnoh dex. "Cool, it even has Tetris!" she squealed, as she decided to dedicate the rest of the day playing Tetris on her Sinnoh dex.
She didn't notice the bright yellow sing that announced in huge black letters: DANGER: TALL GRASS AHEAD. ONLY ENTER WITH TAME POKÉMON OR A CERTIFIED RANGER. WILD POKÉMON REPEL IS ALSO REQUIRED. She also didn't notice tall grass brushing against her legs, or the hum of Sandgem town fading away into the distance. She even seemed to ignore the noise of wild Pokémon calls that soon filled the air. She only really realized where she had ended up when she bumped against the big trunk of an oak tree.
"Oow" she groaned, rubbing the sore spot where a branch had smacked against her forehead. "Hmm… tree" she said, examining it. Then she noticed the scrubby grass, and then the forest plants and the huge canopy of evergreen trees stretching way over her head. "Oh… no" she said, her hand smacking against her forehead. "No, oh no no no no no!" her eyes scanned the vast green and brown smudge of vegetation and dirt. Her mind began to flood with panic and the Pokémon calls and rustles became extra loud. "H-help! I'm lost!" she squeaked, leaning against the trunk of the big oak tree, tears already stinging in her eyes, but taking a deep breath she decided to calm herself down. "Don't worry June" she said, massaging her scalp. "This is like that time you got lost in the shopping centre" she gulped as she looked around. "Although there aren't any not-so-friendly shopping centre people to lead you to-"
"Criiiiiick, crrrrrrrick" chirruped a nearby cricketot.
"AAH! A houndoom! A rabid houndoom!" screeched June, pinning her back against the big oak tree. "Don't eat me! Don't... okay June, you're really pathetic, houndoom don't live on this part of Sinnoh" said June, scratching her head. "only dumb bidoofs and weak Pokémon live here" she scanned the grassy plain to prove to herself there wasn't any evil rabid houndooms, but her eye caught sight of something black in the distance.
June froze, houndooms had black tails, long thin black tails with a sharp triangle at the end that could rip her in tiny little bits with a flick. June screamed and began to run blindly as fast as she could from that place, unfortunately running into a thick forest. She slammed into a good amount of trees and tripped over a rock, landing flat on her face.
"Hoooooh, hrrroooh" a hoothoot cried from a tree, announcing that the afternoon was quickly coming to an end.
"GO AWAY!" screamed June, waving her arms like a windmill. "Leave me alone, LEAVE ME ALONE!" she crossed her arms over her head to protect her face, but she didn't see a spiky bush at the end of the path, which she tore through, scratching her legs and finally bumping what was exposed of her head on a hard surface. "OOOW! Not again" she finally let her arms slump to the side and looked at what she had bumped against. "Wait, this... this is the same tree as before!" June stared at the tree, and began crying, tears cascading down her cheeks. "Th... The s-same tree, I'm lost forever!" she let her body drop to the ground and began to howl, her shoulders shaking with each sob. "I-I'm going to d-d-dieeeeeee! Oh, why didn't I stay hoooome? Why didn't I buy repels?" she lay there for a good five minutes, moaning pitifully to herself until it began to rain, almost as if the sky seemed to want to make it the worst day of her life. June sniffled and crawled under the oak tree, hugging her knees and holding her head in her hands.
Then she remembered. The rabid houndoom! She was in the same field she had seen it before. But she managed to convince herself that the houndoom had probably gone. But she caught a glimpse of something small and black, this time not too far away from her. Before she could convince herself that she had imagined it another one quickly hovered above the grass before disappearing. June screamed and tried to clamber up the oak tree, but as she took hold of the first branch it snapped off in her hand. She stared at the branch; at least she had some sort of weapon.
"Rrrrrarl!"
She heard a loud growling-like sound and turned around to see the sharp black thing flitter over and under the grass angrily, joined by a second black thing. June opened her mouth to scream but no noise came out. Like she was in a nightmare, maybe she was, maybe she would wake up...
But her head still hurt from banging it onto the tree, and it had felt very real. The two black things were making their way towards June and, rabid houndooms or not, she would have to confront them, but what chance did a skinny ten year old with a stick have against two murderous, possibly fire breathing psychotic Pokémon? Right now, June felt as confident and optimist as a wurmple inside a staraptor's beak. Holding onto her stick as if it was her very ticket to life, she watched as the two black things disappeared under the grass.
A bruised-looking shinx ran in June's clearing, followed by two very fat, angry starly. Although relieved that there were no rabid houndooms, June screamed and cowered away, but then she realised the starly weren't remotely interested in her, but in the shinx. She watched as the shinx tripped over a rock and before he could get up, the two starly gave a loud screech and fluttered on top of him, beating his little body with their wings and their beaks pecking him viciously. All watched by June.
She realised that she could sneak out while the starly were busy with the shinx, but as she turned her back on them, she felt a horrible pang of guilt. That poor shinx was getting beaten to death by those starly while she was creeping out of there, safe and sound. She had to do something, anything to at least help that shinx escape, and she quickly thought of something. It wasn't a very good plan, or even foolproof. But it was the only thing she could think of. It was irresponsible, dangerous and stupid, but she had to do it.
"Hey! Leave that shinx alone!" she screamed, sounding way braver than she felt. But even then, the starly completely ignored her. In a rush of adrenaline, June's fear quickly turned to anger. How dare those stupid birds bully that shinx around? He wasn't doing anything to them, was he? And how dare they ignore her rescue attempt? So, before she could think it better, she raised her stick and smacked one of the starly's head with a strength she never knew she had, sending him flying with a long shriek until he landed on his back. June did the same with the other one and soon the shinx was safe.
With the starly out of the way, June could finally see the miserable state of the shinx. His body was full of bruises and cuts, some looking deep. He was lying on his side, his eyes shut and his sides heaving painfully with each breath. He looked too bruised to even stand so, arming herself with courage, she quickly picked him up and carried him in her arms, like a mother carries a baby, and ran away.
The shinx instinctively tried to wriggle out of June's grasp, but June held him firmly. "Wait, don't do that!" she fished around her bag and withdrew a potion, which she sprayed over the shinx. Immediately, most of the bruises faded away and some of the worst cuts seemed to begin to heal. June's brain seemed to realize it was an important situation, and her senses went on overdrive. She could hear wings flapping in the distance, and could see obstacles even better. She even jumped over a rock she hadn't even registered was there.
She placed the shinx on her back, where he immediately clung to, and took out her Sinnoh dex, quickly tapping the map feature and the 'show actual location' button, which showed the thin path they were on. Wondering why she hadn't thought of that before when she was crying under the tree, she zoomed out and found Sandgem town not to be too far away from where they were. But as she ran on, there was a small hill at the end of the path.
June frowned, the path on the map didn't show any hill, but she quickly shoved the Sinnoh dex in her bag and began climbing, but the rain had rendered the slopes muddy and useless, she was about to try and find another way out she heard angry flapping coming their way, she knew they were pretty much trapped and the two angry starly, looking twice as murderous as before, sprang out.
June's mind began to think, they couldn't flee since the path was blocked by the hill, which she couldn't climb, and the other side of the path was blocked by the starly. Realising that they would have to fight their way out, June quickly plucked the shinx from her back and placed him in front of her. "Okay shinx, you need to battle, if we want to get out of this"
The shinx's eyes widened as he looked at his foes, who were still slightly stunned. He looked back at June. "Please!" said June quickly, seeing the starly recover. "Please battle, I know you're scared, but you have to do this" the shinx sighed and nodded, then faced the starly with a determined frown on his face. June whipped out her Sinnoh dex and pointed it at the shinx. "Okay Sinnoh dex, show me this shinx's moves!"
"SHINX'S MOVES ARE... EARTH POWER, TACKLE, LEER, TACKLE..." June frowned; she was pretty sure that electric types couldn't use earth power, so she had to rely on tackle and leer. The starly flapped towards them, and the shinx was ready.
"Right, tackle and leer!" she cried, as if though she had been a trainer all her life. Immediately the shinx leapt forward and hit the biggest starly, sending it crashing to a tree, he turned around and gave the other starly a sharp leer, making the starly stop in its tracks. "Tackle! Tackle until it's down!" said June, thrusting her fist in the air. The shinx took a deep breath and charged forward, hitting the starly squarely in the chest. The starly smashed into a rock and fainted, but the shinx seemed intent in revenge, and tackled the starly angrily.
June's eyebrows wobbled. "um, shinx... you doknow that the starly is down, right?" the shinx paid no attention and tackled the starly harder. "Stop it!" screamed June. "You might hurt him really seriously!" the shinx roared and smashed his head in the starly's side. June leapt forward and wrapped her arms around the shinx "Stop, please!"
It worked like a calming drug, the shinx froze and a few seconds later slumped forward in her arms. June panicked and cradled him in her arms, but he snored quietly and burrowed into June's arm. June smiled and whipped out her Sinnoh dex, which thankfully showed their real position. June quickly searched the nearest Pokémon centre and began making her way towards it.
"I'm actually glad" she said to herself. "I didn't think of opening the map when I was under the tree"
A/N: please tell me what you thought of this version, kay? :3