The Third Challenger
Chapter 1
Hee~
She opened her eyes to see a tv screen showing a classic 'Mario' game. She was forced to watch the character fall off the platform instead of saving him with the remote she belatedly noticed in her hand. Whoops, sorry Mario, she apologised.
After switching the tv off, she looked outside the window. She saw cute little houses and lots and lots of green. Typical countryside scenery but what she was looking for was...
Ah! There it is! She rushed up to the window to take a closer look. "A genuine Pidgey!" she gasped.
The small bird was just sitting on the tree branch next to her window, minding its own business and preening his feathers, unaware of being ogled at like a zoo animal by the creepy girl pressing her face up against the glass.
When the beautiful creature started to take off, she snapped out of her fangirling. She mentally slapped herself for losing focus so easily. What are you going to be like for the other pokémon if you get this excited for common Pidgey? She berated herself and resolved to be cooler.
Nodding to herself ambitiously, she made for the wooden desk with the computer, hat and already-packed bag. She withdrew the potion from the computer, knowing that it would be handy later on, then logged off.
She took a small moment to marvel at the signature premier ball hat before donning it grabbing the yellow shoulder bag.
The bag was sadly lacking of much items inside besides the essential clothing and food. But her brand new shiny Trainer Card was in there. She grinned at it. Even though it was also sadly lacking in content, it was only the beginning.
She turned around to observe herself in the full body mirror across the room. White shoes matching the premier ball hat atop her head, loose blue socks, red pleated skirt, blue top and black wristbands. In a moment of giddy lunacy, she made a pirouette, vibrant green eyes winking at her in the mirror. Her long tangled hair flapped about like tree branches in the wind.
"I really am Leaf..." she whispered, mesmerised by the image in the mirror.
With a grin she made for the stairs and looked around the room one last time. A poster caught her eye with all three pokémon starters and a messy scribble at the side saying: 'Have Fun! No Regrets!'
"Sure will! Sure won't!" Leaf replied, bidding goodbye to the sunny bedroom of a hopeful young girl.
Downstairs, she locked eyes with her 'mother', who sighed and muttered, "...Right. All girls dream of travelling. It said so on tv."
Leaf laughed. "Oh, Mom! You and your tv!"
She smiled, although it was a woeful smile. "Oh, yes. Professor Oak, next door, was looking for you."
"Okay! I'm off! Bye-bye!"
She gave one last hug to her 'mother' as she went out the door.
It was sweltering outside, and she mentally thanked the hat for shielding the sun out of her eyes.
She followed the signposts to the Pokémon Professor's lab until she caught sight of the man himself along with a boy with a red cap. "Good morning, Professor Oak!" she called out. "You needed me?"
"Hm?" Oak turned around to face me. "Who were you again?"
She wasn't bothered in the least. "It's Leaf, you old nut! You haven't forgotten about me, have you?"
The Professor looked thoughtful, and then, for a brief second, his eyes flashed a watermelon colour. Leaf knew it wasn't her imagination. Heh, never thought of the day I would associate Arceus with watermelons, she mused.
Her identity clicked to him. "Oh! Of course it's Leaf! Come along now, we're going to the lab!"
Leaf fell into step with the boy with the cap who was trying hide himself underneath it. She stared at him openly, wondering if this boy was who she thought he was.
Deciding to be blunt, Leaf broke the silence. "Say, are you perhaps... Red?"
The boy went stiff and refused to meet Leaf's eyes. Nevertheless, Leaf didn't grow discouraged by his seemingly cold behaviour. Nothing could possibly break her excitement at this point.
A few moments later, he looked in her direction and nodded.
"Oooh! Yes! I knew it! Eheheh..." Some short and discomforting giggles, that would have been more fitting on a Mismagius rather than an 'innocent' young girl, tumbled out from Leaf's lips. Red looked at her oddly.
"Eheh... Ah, don't mind me... I've seen you around... You're... a pretty cool guy." Leaf lied smoothly. She wasn't going to tell the currently twelve year old boy that he would grow up to become an epic legend of the Pokémon fandom, that he was the only trainer who could give her the chills in a pokémon battle...
The walk across Pallet Town to Oak's lab took longer than Leaf had remembered, but that was to be expected since distance in this world and the game should be different. The long journey is what makes an adventure, after all, Leaf concluded.
Their small group made it to the lab, where the boy Leaf knew to be the rival, with his characteristic auburn 'Dragonball' hair, jumped at the sight of them. "Gramps! I'm fed up of waiting!"
The professor paused. "Blue? Let me think...Oh, that's right, I also told you to come! Just wait!" Leaf giggled at Blue. To be forgotten by his own grandfather!
The amusing thoughts dissolved from Leaf's head as Oak led the three of them to a green desk with three red pokéballs on it. Leaf had to control herself at this point, not to start panting heavily with excitement, lest she made the professor change his mind.
"Here, children." Oak made a grand gesture to the pokéballs. "There are three pokémon held inside these pokéballs." The other two kids were putting two and two together and were starting to grin in anticipation. "When I was young, I was a serious Pokémon Trainer. But, in my old age, I have only these three left. You can have one each. Go on, choose!"
The two boys exchanged looks. Blue spoke first. "Heh, I don't need to be greedy like you. I'm mature! Go ahead and choose, Red!"
Leaf playfully threw her hands up in the air. "Oh, so I'll just be chopped liver on the side, then." she said sarcastically. "Ignore me, why don't you?"
At this, Red looked guilty, although that wasn't exactly Leaf's goal. She meant to annoy Blue, who finally took notice of her. "Hang on, who are you?" he asked, rudely pointing his index finger at her.
She crossed her arms and pouted. "I'm Leaf, dammit."
Blue flipped his hair and gave a cocky grin. "Then, you must be a dweeb like Red then, cause I've never heard of you before. Heh, you must have heard about me though, after all, I am the infamous Blue Oak!" He kept wiggling a brow at Leaf, fully expecting her to make a sudden realisation of horror and bow to her knees in worship.
Instead, Leaf blew a raspberry at Blue, whose grandiose act cracked in shock.
"Um," Red spoke up for the first time. "I wouldn't mind if Leaf chose first."
Leaf's head whipped round to face Red, her eyes glittering in happiness. "Really? Are you sure, Red?" He nodded.
"Yes! Thank you!" She squealed, surprising Red with a quick hug. She then approached the table.
The professor, who had been watching their antics with a good-natured smile on his face, guided Leaf through the pokémon. "Now, Leaf." He gestured to the left pokéball "This is Bulbasaur, the Grass pokémon," The middle pokéball. "Squirtle, the Water pokémon," And the right pokéball. "And, Charmander, the Fire pokémon. Which one will you choose for yourself?"
"Hm... Good question." She tapped, her chin in a thoughtful way. "I think I will choose..." Her hand lowered over the left ball excruciatingly slowly, making the boys sweat as they watched.
"Just kidding!" she chirped, quickly switching her hand to the right ball as it was one millimetre away from Bulbasaur's ball, making everyone in the room fall over in shock. "I've made my choice since the beginning. Charmander, come on out!" She pressed the button in the centre and tossed it up.
"Char!" An orange lizard hopped out of the ball and proceeded to give Leaf a gleeful hug. She hugged him just as happily as she softly stroked his scaly skin, taking care not to touch his flaming tail.
He's so warm! she fangirled inwardly, but she also felt the dirty looks being aimed at her, specifically from Blue.
She gave him a short explanation. "Hey, did you really expect me to choose Bulbasaur just because my name is Leaf? I love Charmander and that's that!"
No matter how many times she reset the game or played a different one and chose a different starter, her heart never warmed up faster than when choosing her first pokémon, Charmander. She believed that the main factor in choosing him all those years ago was because of the cool-looking dragon, Charizard, on the cover of her FireRed box. But she was very young and could only choose her main party based on looks. Not that she regretted it now.
Because Charmander was alive, moving and breathing and emitting heat just like any other living creature! Leaf gave him a light squeeze and Charmander reciprocated by burrowing his face into her neck, happy to have found his destined trainer at last.
The two of them had wandered off into their own world and by the time Leaf came to her senses, Red and Blue had already chosen their pokémon.
Red had an innocent faced Bulbasaur in his arms while Blue was seething with a none-the-wiser Squirtle in his.
Leaf weakly covered a giggle with her hand. "Hee~ Blue couldn't choose a type advantage over Red, like he hoped he could!" she teased.
Red tilted his head in confusion and Blue visibly reddened in mortification. "Oh yeah! Well my pokémon is stronger than yours, for sure! Come on, I'll take you on!"
Leaf was about to reject his challenge because she couldn't wait to start her journey, when Charmander started to growl at Blue. She then remembered that the Charmander race were naturally competitive.
"Heh, I see." She wasn't upset at all, in fact, she found this trait of his endearing. "You wanna go at him, Charmander?" she asked, and the lizard nodded eagerly.
"Fine then, Blue! Let's take this outside!"
In her peripheral sight, she saw Oak sighing in exasperation. "Oh, for Pete's sake... So pushy as always." Leaf idly wondered if he meant her or Blue.
They moved to the lab's back yard where they had enough space for Charmander and Squirtle to face each other several metres apart. Leaf and Blue stood behind their pokémon while Red observed the match from afar.
Professor Oak lingered on Leaf's side. "Leaf, you've never had a pokémon battle before, have you?"
Leaf waved him off, focusing her eyes on Charmander. "Nah, I'll be fine, Professor. You should go support your grandson over there or you'll fail as a grandfather!"
At her flippant words, Oak's eyes looked mournful as he went over to Blue. He too, chased off his grandfather, his pride not accepting any help especially when his enemy had already rejected it.
"I will be the referee for this battle. First trainer to faint the opponent's pokémon wins!" Oak raised an arm. "Start!"
"The first move always counts!" Leaf declared. "Scratch!"
Charmander leapt forward and unleashed his claws on Squirtle, causing the little guy to stagger back in pain.
Blue gritted his teeth. "Well, I know how to prepare! Tail Whip!"
Leaf grinned like a maniac. "Pull back and clash tails!"
Her voice rang with confidence across the field and successfully reached the fire lizard, who promptly jumped backwards to avoid the blue, curled tail and hit it with his own. It wasn't a status lowering move and the Tail Whip did lower Charmander's defence, but the result was a nasty burn on Squirtle's tail from the fire on the end of Charmander's.
Blue was incredulous. "WHAT?! How is that even possible?!"
Leaf shrugged. "Charmander can't learn Tail Whip, but there's nothing to prevent him from using his tail fire, anyway. Also, Blue," She tilted her hat downwards in a crude imitation of Red and smirked. "The battle's not over yet!" She exchanged nods with Charmander. "Scratch!"
With a mini battle cry, Charmander struck at Squirtle with his claws, shocking Blue out of his stupor. He growled under his breath. "Tackle!"
Squirtle head butted Charmander in the chest, dealing major damage. It was a critical hit. For a moment, Leaf was worried, but continued having faith in her pokémon. "Scratch!" she commanded.
The battle went on, Scratch after Tackle, until finally, Squirtle collapsed from his injuries. Leaf's heart went on thudding against her ribcage as she crouched down to her Charmander's level. "We did it." she whispered in wonder. Then it struck her. "We did it! We won our first battle!"
"Char!" Charmander lifted a claw tiredly, but he was just as happy as she was.
"Hm, Interesting battle..." Oak mused. "Okay, Red, did you take enough notes?"
Red nodded. Leaf half-expected to see pen and paper in his hands but they were empty. Must be in his head then.
"That Tail Whip clash was rather... brash of Leaf, but it worked out in the end because it inflicted a burn on Squirtle, halving the power of Squirtle's attacks and allowing Charmander to last longer." Oak analysed.
"Hey, it wasn't brash! It was genius!" Leaf retorted, striking a triumphant pose.
"Oi!" Blue glared at Leaf as he marched towards her. "My pokémon just needs more training to toughen them up! Then I will win!" He turned to Red. "And wait for it, Red! We will battle soon and I will win."
Blue pasted his trademark smug grin on his face as he strode out. "Smell you later!"
Everyone watched him go out and Leaf waved his back goodbye.
"Ah~ And there goes the prime example of idiotic male pride..." Leaf mumbled quietly. "Eh, but what do I know about boys? Ha!"
"What was that, Leaf?"
"Nothing~"
xxxxxxxxxx
Once she got outside the lab, Leaf took a deep breath of Pallet Town's fresh air. "Hoo, yeah! Route 1, here we come!"
She was feeling restless but she took the time to watch her newly nicknamed Charmander who stood beside her, eyes shining as he took in the surroundings. "Oh yeah, Ragnarok, you haven't been outside the lab." she commented.
He nodded.
Leaf smiled and patted his small head. "You're still a baby now, but soon you'll be learning and seeing so many new things, becoming wiser and stronger, so much so that people and pokémon alike will begin to fear your very name!" she announced, ending with a dramatic tone.
It had the desired effect as Ragnarok began to look inspired. "Charmander, char!" he cried out.
"Yes! That's the spirit!" Leaf purposely swung her arm up to point in the far distance. "Today we conquer Route 1 of the Kanto Region, but sometime in the near future, we will conquer the world! Ohohoho!" she laughed, making a perfect imitation of Green from 'Pokémon Adventures'.
Red came out of the lab just in time to hear the end of Leaf's speech and he had to wonder if the girl was right in the head.
A/N: Our heroine makes it to the Pokémon World safely, blending in with her new body. Probably sounds creepy on hindsight but please try not to let that bother you.
I've reset my FireRed game for the purpose of this fic, trying to keep some of the dialogue the same and to have actual (as actual as you can get) pokémon to base these on on. Although, I've kept things the same, this fic is supposed to emphasise how this is a new reality for Leaf so I'll have to rely on the anime or the manga for the little details and battle scenes.
I know there's the whole debate about what the rival's name is, whether it be Blue, Green or Gary. I've called him all three, and I don't mind whatever he's called, but for the sake of this fic, he's called Blue. Mostly because I initially wanted to mess up the proper order and let the three children have pokémon that do not correspond to their names but later realised that it wouldn't work in-game cuz he chooses a Squirtle when I choose Charmander. Stupid mistake, I know, but I stuck with 'Blue' anyway.
As an extra bit for you guys to read, I'll be noting all the interesting things that happen in-game at the end of every chapter. At least, I think they're interesting. So...
-Blue's Squirtle did not score a critical, in fact, he missed a Tackle once and Ragnarok was the one who got a critical at the end to finish him off. Lucky! But I changed that battle, like I will with others, because in-game you can't inflict a burn with Charmander's tail. I figured, why not? It should make sense in real life anyway. Squirtle did successfully use Tail Whip first though, and it did worry me a bit as I spammed Scratch. That old tactic never let me down.