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Pokemon: New Beginning

Chapter 2 – Right or Wrong? The Injured Pokémon!

"Hellooo, Earth to Molly."

Molly jumped in her seat when she felt a hand touch her shoulder. Turning around she was met with a familiar head of curly brown locks and ribbons.

She sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck at the sight of her friend's irritated expression. "Sorry, Rae, I was spacing out for a minute. What were you saying?"

She had been doing a lot of spacing out lately. For example, this morning when she had been getting ready for school she had been so deep in thought that she didn't see the stairs and ended up falling face-first all the way down to the bottom. Molly just couldn't get what her uncle had said out of her head! And it wasn't just that either. Recently she's had this weird nagging at the back of her mind, making her feel restless, as if she was expecting something bad to happen . . .

"Goodnight my little Dratini, have sweet dreams."

The other girl, Rae, huffed at her friend's lack of focus, seemingly irritated, but she failed to hide the smile that had slipped onto her lips.

"I was asking you if you've seen the new foreign exchange student," Rae said, her smile growing, "I hear that he's from Hoenn."

Blinking in surprise, Molly swiftly conjured up what she knew about the far away region. It was south of Sinnoh, had a tropical-like environment, and had a large abundance of water. Also, despite it being claimed a 'tropical paradise'; it had a variety of different types of ecosystems ranging from dense forests to a blistering desert. She also heard that Hoenn was known for its ever changing weather, since it could be storming one minute and then sunny the next.

Molly hummed thoughtfully, "The Hoenn region, huh?"

"Yep, I hear he's a genius too."

From above the school bell rang, cutting off the girls' conversation, and starting the beginning of the school day. Molly frowned in annoyance at the hidden object, not liking the fact that she had to go through another day of torture. She became even more ticked off when Rae had to leave and return to her assigned seat on the other side of the room. The girl honestly didn't understand why Mrs. Reagan made her sit by herself, though she had the sneaky suspicion that it was because she had the attention span of a Spearow and didn't need any more distractions.

Molly's frown morphed into a scowl at the thought.

"Alright class, may I have your attention please," Mrs. Reagan's haughty voice carried throughout the room as she entered, her heels clicking on the polished floor as she walked, "we have a new student joining us today from Hoenn, so you all give him a warm welcome"

It was then that Molly noticed the smaller form trailing behind the woman, since she hadn't been listening to a word that the teacher had said, at first, and instantly became interested. Sitting up from her slouched position, she placed her chin in her right hand of her propped up arm, and raptly paid attention to the front of the classroom.

"Children, this is Aiden." Mrs. Reagan said, placing a hand on the new boy's shoulder.

Molly's eyebrows rose when she caught sight of him. He was definitely not what she had expected. When Rae had told her that he was a genius she had assumed that he would be one of those kids with his nose in a book, wearing huge glasses, and fancy clothes.

Man, she had been way off.

Aiden had thick, somewhat spikey, dark brown hair, with piercing golden eyes, and seemed to be about her height. His hands were nonchalantly in the pockets of his black jacket, and around his neck was a small pendant of some sorts. Besides that he wore a simple grey shirt, with light brown cargo pants.

"Since all the other seats are taken, Aiden, you'll have to sit next to Molly," Mrs. Reagan gestured towards the girl, slightly grimacing. Aiden nodded, and then silently made his way to his seat.

Molly watched him as he sat next to her, placing his backpack on the floor by his chair, and couldn't help the smile that formed on her childish face. Finally she had someone to talk to during class!

She extended a hand in greeting. "Hi my name's Molly; it's nice to meet you."

The girl was taken aback when the boy ignored her hand and gave her a glare instead, his golden eyes narrowing in contempt. Aiden's gaze then returned to the front of the room when Mrs. Reagan began to speak again, disregarding the fuming girl next to him.

Well, goodbye to you too jerk! Molly mentally growled, her eyes burning holes into the boy's head.

For the rest of the day Molly made it her sole purpose to ignore the boy as much as he was ignoring her, which, she could gladly declare, was a success. Whenever they happened to make eye contact the girl would give him her hardest glare, which he returned in full, and they would sit as far away as possible from each other without leaving their desk. Their classmates seemed to catch on to their behavior towards each other and made sure to steer very clear from them, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire. Mrs. Reagan merely sat at her desk grading papers, her computer blocking her students from sight, not wanting to deal with quarreling brats.

When the last bell rang, and school was officially done for the day, Molly let out a huge sigh of relief. She wanted nothing more than to leave the atrocious building far behind her, so she said a quick farewell to Rae, and all but ran to the entrance of the school. Once she had passed through the school doors all her thoughts about the long day faded, and she smiled when she saw the beautiful, sunny weather; a perfect day for walking. Her mood now brightened, Molly happily headed home.

But about half way home though the girl spotted something very peculiar out of her peripheral vision. There seemed to some kind of commotion going on in the nearby woods that was not too far from her neighborhood. From what she could see past the rooftops of homes it appeared that some birds were gathering just above the tree line, as if they were hunting something. Molly glanced around her, wondering if anyone else had noticed the birds too, but none of the people in the area seemed to indicate that they had, or they just didn't care. Her eyes drifted back up to the bird Pokémon, puzzled. She knew that wild Pokémon lived in the forest, but she had never seen any, so it was very strange to see so many flocking together at the same time in plain sight. Extremely curious now, Molly changed directions, and started walking towards the woods.

The forest was thick, and its trees seemed to stretch all the way to the heavens with their large branches. It was also considerably darker, due to the tree branches blocking out most of the sunlight, so Molly made sure to tread carefully in case she accidently stepped on something living. As she walked she searched for any sign of why the bird Pokémon might be acting strangely, but she was drawing a blank. In fact, the girl had noticed that the forest seemed ominously quiet . . . and empty. Suddenly the trees and shadows appeared more menacing.

Molly shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts by telling herself that she was being silly, but she still couldn't help the chill that went down her spine when a slight breeze blew by. Warily she continued walking; starting to wonder if this had been a good idea. Pokémon were considered dangerous for a reason. Perhaps it would be wise to quit while she was ahead? Molly's stubborn side instantly fought against the proposition, not liking the thought of being a quitter, her pride wouldn't allow her to give up so easily, and especially if it was because she had been slightly scared of a couple shadows. Her courage and determination renewed, Molly began to walk at a faster pace, confidence growing with each step.

After a few minutes of aimlessly wandering around Molly paused when she heard something; the cawing of birds. Grinning in excitement, she quickly ran towards the noise, anticipation building up inside of her. The ten year old had no idea how long she ran, but eventually she stumbled upon a clearing, and in the center of it was a flock of Spearow. Even though she had never seen the flying-type before, Molly recognized the Pokémon from her text books at school that she had been forced to read. If she remembered correctly, Spearow were easily angered, very protective of their territory, and not to be taken lightly.

The girl bit her lip. She wanted to know what had gotten them worked up into such frenzy, but . . . she was rather hesitant to get closer, in fear that she would get pecked to death. Looking around the clearing Molly sought for a way to get closer to the furious Spearow, without getting detected. Her eyes landed on a large boulder about twenty feet away from where the Pokémon were gathered, and an idea started forming in her head.

Cautiously she left the cover of the trees, and, as silently as she could, slowly crept up to the boulder, her eyes never leaving the Spearow. When she was safely hidden once again behind the large stone, Molly let out a breath she hadn't realized that she'd been holding, and warily poked her head out from behind her hiding spot.

What she saw shocked her.

It was another Pokémon that the Spearow were mercilessly attacking, one that Molly did not recognize. It was small, and was covered in brown fur, but that was all the girl could see of the creature since it was curled up into a tight ball, no doubt trying to protect itself from its assailants. The poor thing, it must've accidently stumbled upon the Spearow's territory, and now the furious flying-type Pokémon were punishing it.

"EEV!" The poor creature cried out in pain as it was continually jabbed by sharp beaks, curling up even tighter.

Molly felt her heart break as she watched the terrible scene. She shouldn't have come here. She didn't want to see this. And that confused her. All her life she had been told that Pokémon were evil, dangerous, and to stay as far away as possible from them, that Pokémon were the reason why so much suffering had happened in the past. This is what it deserved . . . right? Molly didn't know for certain, but she did know that she had seen enough. She was just about to stand up and walk away, but her movements came to an abrupt halt when she heard the Pokémon cry out in pain once again.

The girl squeezed her eyes shut, conflicted. No one, not even a Pokémon, deserved to die like this, but . . . What can I do? Absolutely nothing, so she should leave while she had the chance. Her body was frozen though, and guilt gnawed at her insides. How could she just ignore this? There was no way that she would be able to pretend that this never happened if she walked away. She had to help, but how? Those Spearow, though small, were very powerful, and she was just some little kid.

Molly desperately looked at her surroundings, hoping to find some kind of weapon that she could use to help, but all she could see was grass, dirt, and rocks.

Wait, rocks . . . ?

Leaning forward the girl thoughtfully picked up a nearby rock, and stared at it, pondering over her options, which weren't very many. Molly groaned in frustration when no creative inspirations came to her, and banged her head on the boulder.

What am I supposed to do with these? Throw them? Only a complete idiot would do that!

Little did she realize the irony of her situation.

The girl flinched when she heard another pained cry coming from behind the boulder, and her grip on the rock tightened. She didn't have much time left to try and come up with a plan. It wouldn't be too long before the Spearow ended up killing the poor thing.

Her mind was made up.

Taking a deep breath, Molly then stood up from her crouched position, and stepped away from her safe hiding spot, announcing her presence to the wild Pokémon.

"Hey, bird brains!" She shouted at the Spearow, who had momentarily ceased their attacking once they had noticed her. They gave the human girl curious, yet annoyed looks.

"Take this!" Raising her arm above her head, Molly then threw the rock at the closest Spearow as hard as she could.

The rock sailed through the air, creating a slight whistle as it flew by, and brutally slammed dead center into the head of the unsuspecting Spearow. The flying-type gave out a startled cry as it was hit, and stumbled backwards, flailing its wings as it did so.

Molly smirked as she watched the scene, inwardly dancing in victory, but her smirk dropped from her face when she caught sight of the look she was receiving from the rest of the flock. They were glaring at her, and their feathers were dangerously ruffled, as if they were barely restraining untold fury. Needless to say they did not look happy. Not happy at all.

Fear crawling up her spine, the girl took a nervous step back, sweat forming on her forehead from the intense gaze. She bit back a startled scream when the Spearow suddenly started to unleash cries of outrage after her slight movement. Apparently one small action was all it took to set them off, because they abandoned their previous target, and focused their energy on Molly. The ten year old barely had enough time to jump aside and avoid an oncoming Quick Attack, and, without looking back, Molly sprinted for the trees, wanting to put as much distance between her and the angry Pokémon.

The Spearow eagerly took this as an open invitation of pursuit, and were quick to follow. As she ran, Molly could easily hear the cries of the bird Pokémon from above over her own breathing, which was now coming out in short, terrified pants. Trying not to panic, her eyes desperately scanned the forest around her, searching for an escape. To her dismay she found none, and continued to run for her life, willing her legs to move faster.

Stupid! Stupid! STUPID! The girl mentally yelled at herself as she ran. What had she been thinking? Correction; she hadn't been thinking.

It seemed that she hadn't been running fast enough, because the next moment Molly felt a powerful gust of wind lifting her off of her feet, blowing her across the forest floor. When she finally landed back down on solid ground though, her ride wasn't over yet, and before the girl could react she found herself tumbling down a steep hill, with the momentum of the air blast causing her to fall at a faster pace. Molly's vision was all just a big blur of green, blue and brown as she rolled down the hill, preventing her from being able to determine what was up or down, so when she came to an abrupt halt at the bottom of the hill it took her a few seconds to adjust to the now non-spinning world.

The fuming shrieks of the Spearow is what snapped Molly from her daze. Swiftly she got back on her feet, preparing herself for another mad dash, but paused when she saw a slight pink glow out of the corner of her eye. Hoping that it wasn't an enemy, the girl whipped her head around, and a soft gasp escaped her lips at what she saw.

It was a Pokémon. A pink Pokémon with a very long tail, and it was staring right at her while it hovered in the air. The creature's head tilted to the side as it studied the tiny human girl, and Molly felt as if it was looking right into her very soul. It's bright, baby blue eyes blinked curiously at her, and its tail lazily swung side to side, but the girl could easily tell that there was a deep kind of wisdom emitting from those wide eyes. The pink Pokémon's gaze was suddenly torn away from the human's when one of its ears twitched, and it was then that Molly realized in alarm that the cries of the Spearow were getting closer.

"Do you truly wish to help that injured Pokémon?"

Molly jumped when she heard the voice inside her head, distracting her from her pursuers. "Who said that?"

"I did."

It was then that the girl noticed that the pink Pokémon had floated up closer to her, and was gently, yet firmly tugging at her jacket. Molly eyes widened when she put two and two together, as crazy as it sounded.

She shakily pointed a trembling finger at the creature. "I-It was y-you?"

"Mew," the Pokémon said, and nodded, in confirmation. "I'm speaking with you through telepathy. So what is your answer?"

"Uh, y-yeah," Molly croaked out, recalling the question.

The Pokémon smiled. "Good. Then you should return to it."

"But the Sp-"

"-Don't worry about them. Now go."

For some unexplainable reason, Molly felt that she could trust this creature, so without further hesitation she turned on her heel and started running back in the direction that she had come from. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the pink Pokémon fly up into the sky before it vanished completely into thin air, but she didn't dwell on it for very long. Instead she focused more on returning to the injured Pokémon.

It took her a few minutes, but she finally made it back to the clearing, and, Molly noted thankfully, not a Spearow in sight. Now that she was sure that she wasn't in immediate danger, the girl quickly ran over to where she had last seen the fallen Pokémon. When she found it she wasn't sure to be relieved, or worried, when she saw that it hadn't moved one inch from where it laid, tightly curled up into a ball.

Hesitantly Molly kneeled next to the injured creature, wondering if it was even still alive. Now that she was closer the girl was able to get a better look at the Pokémon, who she happily realized was still among the living, and its injuries. The poor thing was covered in bruises, and had a couple nasty gashes here and there from where the beaks had broken the skin underneath its fur. It was also breathing rather harshly, no doubt exhausted from its beating.

Raising a wary hand the girl gently ran her fingers through the Pokémon's soft, brown fur, hoping to give it some kind of comfort. It seemed to work, since its breathing started to calm down, and she could feel it starting to relax under her hand. Once she was certain that the creature wouldn't bite her hand off, she slipped her hands under the small form, and gently picked it up off the ground, her arms wrapped securely around it.

Molly smiled softly when the Pokémon snuggled deeper into her arms, thinking it was cute, and then, without any further disturbances, she began the long walk home.

Warily Molly poked her head through the back door of her home, her eyes searching for any sign of her aunts. When she spotted no trace of three women the ten year old fully entered into the house, with the slumbering Pokémon still in her arms. Silently the girl made her way through the house, heading towards her room. She did not want to alert any of her aunts that she was home from school, albeit an hour and a half late she noted when she saw the clock, but especially did not want to caught holding a Pokémon either. It was against the law, after all, and she was sure that her aunts didn't want to find out that their niece had broken it; or her uncle for that matter, because he would eventually find out.

Molly let out a sigh of relief when she reached her door. Carefully she opened it with her hand, aware of the creature in her arms, and quickly stepped inside the sanctuary that was her room, locking the door behind her. Flipping on the light switch the girl then strode up to her bed, where she gently laid down the injured Pokémon on top of her covers. Once she was confident that the Pokémon wouldn't be falling off the mattress, and was, Molly hoped, comfortable the girl allowed herself to relax and collapse on to the unoccupied side of her bed, her mind reeling with the day's events.

In some conscious part of her brain, Molly knew that she wouldn't be able to relax for very long, and that she needed to treat her wounded guest as soon as possible. Pushing herself up into a sitting position the girl stared at the sleeping figure, wondering how to go about this. It was then that she remembered a 'tiny' important detail.

Molly had no idea how to treat this Pokémon . . .

She was only ten, and she was definitely no Nurse Joy or a doctor, so exactly how was she going to do this? No way was Molly going to her aunts, wherever they were. If she went up to them and asked how do you heal injuries they would either A) get the wrong impression and demand to take her to a hospital, or B) get suspicious and start inquiring why she wanted to know. Neither appeared pleasant to her so she would just avoid her aunts altogether. She couldn't go ask anyone for help either, they would most likely turn over the Pokémon to the Team Plasma members that were stationed here in the city, and who knows what would happen then.

Molly wished that she had paid more attention to Mrs. Reagan when the woman was going over medical procedures at the beginning of the year, in case something had happened and no teachers were present, and frantically searched her mind for anything useful.

Water, the girl remembered, I need water to clean it!

Quickly the girl left her room, leaping down the stairs, and sprinting to the kitchen. Without breaking her stride, Molly opened the cabinet on the bottom row next to the fridge, which contained their larger bowls for cooking, and grabbed the first one she saw. She then moved over to the sink, turned on the facet, and filled the basin with water. After she determined that it had enough water the girl lifted it out from the sink, turned off the water, and began making her way out of the kitchen.

While she walked by the refrigerator though, she noticed that there was a note hanging of it that hadn't been there this morning. Curious, Molly read it.

Molly,

Hope you had a great day at school today. Sorry we aren't home but your Aunt Violent, Aunt Lily, and I have gone grocery shopping so we probably won't be home for a couple hours. Please try to behave while we're gone, and do your homework.

Love, Aunt Daisy

So that's why she hadn't heard a peep out of her aunts since she got home. They weren't even here. Which was probably a good thing, and that way she wouldn't have to hide what she was doing. Knowing Aunt Daisy, Aunt Violet, and Aunt Lily they would most likely be at the store for hours. The three always took forever when they went shopping, generally because they could never agree on anything.

Feeling slightly easier, Molly headed back up to her room.

Lance hated paperwork.

No, correction; he despised it with a passion.

"You know, those papers aren't going to magically combust, no matter how hard you glare at them."

The former champion jumped with a start at the familiar voice. Swiveling around in his chair he frowned in annoyance when he noticed the amused smirk on the younger, brown haired man standing just a few feet behind him, casually leaning against the wall.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and propped his elbow on his desk.

"Dammit, Gary, what have I told you about sneaking up on people!" Lance growled out, not amused, "and how did you get inside my house? I thought I left the door locked?"

Gary's smirk grew. "You did."

Lance sighed, exasperated, rubbing his temples. Leave it to Gary to pick the lock instead of simply ringing the doorbell. "Why are you here?" He asked, though he had a feeling he already knew the answer.

The other man merely whipped out an envelope from within his white lab coat, and handed it to Lance. "To give you this," he simply stated.

Reaching out a hand, Lance took it from Gary, and, after he had opened it, briefly read its contents. He raised an eyebrow as he continued to read, but otherwise remained silent. Once he had finished he placed the papers back into the envelope and set it on his desk next to all his other work. He then glared at Gary.

"You guys want me to infiltrate Team Plasma's base at Indigo Plateau?" Lance was seriously starting to question his friends' sanity.

Gary nervously held up his hands, trying to look innocent. "Whoa, take it easy, don't shoot the messenger!"

Groaning, Lance dragged a weary hand across his eyes, leaning back in his chair. "I don't see how this is going to work. Ghetsis won't ever let me near that place! It took three weeks of persuading just to let him allow me to go to Cerulean City!"

"That's because you didn't read the whole thing yet," Gary chided, crossing his arms. "It's all planed out for you, so don't worry."

Having no other choice but to believe him, Lance forced himself to calm down. Once he was sure that he wouldn't be biting Gary's head off again he spoke up, "sorry, for that."

The younger man shrugged, "Its fine, I've bitten people's heads off too, though Grandpa always gave me lectures afterwards."

"How is the professor?" Lance asked, curious on how the older man was doing.

"He's doing good, just still furious with the fact that his research is being restricted."

"I guess I would be too, if I were a professor," the former Champion said idly.

"On another topic," Gary then pointed towards the stack of papers on his friend's desk, "why is Ghetsis making you do all that paperwork? Isn't it for Team Plasma?"

Lance nodded, "yes it is, but Ghetsis makes me do it in order to 'keep me out of trouble'. Plus it gives me some information that we might be able to use in the future."

"I still don't see why you do it. If I were you I'd just ignore it. I get enough paperwork to do at the lab anyway."

Lance gave Gary a pointed look, "and I don't see why you volunteered to be the messenger boy for the rebellion. One would think that you'd be out there fighting and knocking heads with Team Plasma."

"Touché, but as much as I would like too, I'm needed more back in Pallet Town."

"With what?" The older man had no clue what Gary would be needed for back in his hometown.

"With Gramp's work back at Oak Labs," Gary explained, a small frown on his face, "he is getting old, you know?"

"Don't be silly, Gary. Your grandfather may be getting old, but he's still strong enough to stand on his own." Lance was slightly taken aback when he saw his friend flinch at the word 'stand'. Then he mentally kicked himself at his own slip of the tongue.

Gary nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah . . . well I guess I better get going it's a two hour walk from Viridian to Pallet, so I'll see you around Lance."

With a wave goodbye Gary then left Lance to his own devices, and the former Champion could only watch with a concerned frown on his face as his friend exited the house.

Eevee. That was the name of the Pokémon that she had rescued. Looking up from her school text book, Molly compared the sleeping form on her bed to the picture printed on the page she was on. It was an exact match. Her eyes returned back to the book, and began reading what information it had on the small Pokémon.

According whoever had written this huge thing, Molly didn't bother looking for the author, Eevee had an irregular shaped genetic structure, enabling it to evolve into multiple elements through various methods. It was also quite rare to find in the wild, and was a normal-type. The girl frowned in annoyance when she saw that the book didn't offer much more information than that. Sighing she snapped the book shut and placed it back on her shelf.

Molly then glanced over at the Eevee, and crouched down next to it beside her bed, checking up on it. She was pleased to see that it was looking loads better, and that her treatment seemed to be helping. Not too bad for a ten year old who doesn't know a whole lot about medical care.

Smiling to herself, Molly gently petted the Eevee's head, marveling at how soft its fur was, but stopped when she felt it move. Removing her hand, the girl's eyes widened and her heart started to beat at a faster pace when she realized that the Eevee was finally awake.

And that it was now growling at her.

Review Please!

I kind of feel like I rushed a few parts (I wrote this chapter in like three days cause I couldn't get it out of my head), hopefully it wasn't too bad, and Gary finally made an appearance! ^_^

Also, I was torn between having Molly's first partner either an Eevee, Pikachu, or Charmander, but I ended up going with Eevee, so sorry if you expected something different.