OH MY GOD! I WON'T BE ONE OF THE PEOPLE ALLOWED TO SUBMIT AN OC TO KETCHUM KID'S STORY!..........Right, well anyway: sweety, I've been on this site for a year, and though I only have eight stories, I have about a dozen more stored in my computer that I chip away at for practice. You're submitting a story in August, but you better get a lot of practice before hand, and find the right area to submit to, because you're not going to be a success over night. This goes for everyone who wants to make a story: Practice makes perfect, many of the stories in my computer are there for practice only, and I do whatever I want with them. Sometimes I submit them to Fanfic, like my one story All That Matters. I suggest you make a few oneshots, and then try the big chapter stories. Anyway, don't just rush into things, take it slow and steady.
The rating of T is going to be deserved from now on, cuz it's too much work holding myself back from making at least Alex curse! Oh yeah, you're going to hate me for what I do at the end of this chapter, the next one is going to be a time skip a few months ahead.
Flashback
"Speaking"
Thoughts
Various
Disclaimer: You already know it.
Humming to herself, Alex walked along the path of the central park in Celadon city. The festival had ended yesterday, and the park was being cleaned of all the debris. Workmen walked about, picking up trash and taking down a large stage that had been set up. It was rather early, around 8 in the morning, and Alex decided she wanted to take a the workers boredly, Alex sighed when she quickly lost interest in their work. Gary had mysteriously disappeared after their 'date' two days ago, and frankly it bugged her. He can't just ask her to spend the day with him, say they were friendly rivals, and then disappear on her, it didn't work that way. Alex closed her eyes and walked along slowly, enjoying the gentle breeze on her face.
"If you walk around like that, you'll run into someone." The voice was quiet, and Alex didn't recognize it. Opening her eyes, she came face to face with a stranger. His eyes were an icy blue, and he had unruly dark red hair that hung around and in his face. He seemed to be a little older than Alex, around 12, and he was watching her carefully. Arms crossed in front oh his chest, he gave off an aura of solitude, and Alex felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle.
"Sorry...who are you?" The boy didn't answer, and instead continued to stare. He wore a black shirt with dark jeans, and his pokeballs were clipped to a thick belt around his waist. Alex sweat dropped, and felt a shiver run up her spine at his stare. To be honest, she was getting a little creeped out...
"Hiro..." Alex blinked, and stared at the boy in question.
"Wha...?" Rolling his eyes, the boy scowled in irritation.
"My name is Hiro." Closing her half open mouth, Alex stared stonily at the trainer across from her. He had given her the same snobby tone Gary gave her when she first met him...it was really pissing her off. Scowling lightly, Alex glared at Hiro, and growled low in her throat.
"Alright, now listen here you walking ice cube, I've had the displeasure of meeting a bunch of jerks already, so don't go adding yourself to the list!" Hiro raised a single eyebrow, but stayed silent as Alex ranted. The small trainer glared and tossed her arms about, yelling about all the 'jerks' she had met on her journey. It was amusing...but also starting to get on his nerves.
"You're so annoying." Alex froze in shock after Hiro spoke. Never had anyone called her annoying, and she would sooner die than let this guy get away with it. Twisting on her heel, she faced the strange anti-social boy and summoned her best death glare.
"What did you call me?" Hiro's eyebrow rose once more, and a slightly interested look appeared on his face.
"You heard me." Alex growled, and narrowed her eyes in on Hiro. Smirking to himself, Hiro could imagine the steam pouring out of the girl's ears. Hiro held back a laugh as various expressions crossed Alex's face, ranging from irritated, to confused, and then to the same stony look she first gave him.
"You...are...an...ASSHOLE!" Hiro's eyebrow lowered and he stared at Alex blankly. Alex glared evilly, and then whipped around and stomped off. She wasn't going to be dealing with that jerk, she'd already had enough of attitudes like that. Her calm feeling gone, Alex gave up on her trip through the park and walked off in the direction of the pokemon center. Charlotte and Raye would probably have gotten up while she was out, and were probably wondering where she was.
"Why do I always meet the jerks?" Alex crossed her arms and pouted lightly. Her luck sucked; so far, she had met three guys, and they were all jerks. The only people she'd met that weren't snobby were her friends Charlotte and Raye. Turning the corner, Alex came up to the sliding doors of the pokemon center, and paused briefly to allow them to open. Charlotte was sitting in the lobby polishing her pokeballs and keeping her eye on the door. She perked up when she saw Alex walk in, but slumped when she saw the brooding expression.
"What, did you and Gary fight again?" Alex glared at her slightly, but shook her head.
"No, but I met a jerk of the same degree." Charlotte blinked, looking slightly bemused.
"Wow, you're like...a jerk magnet." Alex groaned, and fell face down onto the couch beside Charlotte. Nurse Joy shot her a disapproving look, but didn't say anything. Charlotte only watched amused while her friend lay motionless.
"I hate guys like them." Charlotte laughed, and went back to polishing her pokeballs.
"So what's this jerk's name?" Alex flipped over, and pulled her pokeballs off her belt and put them on the table. Charlotte absent mindedly picked one up, and started rubbing the scuffs off it's surface.
"Hiro, but I doubt that's his full name; names like that are always longer." Shooting her companion a confused look, Charlotte paused in her work.
"What do you mean?" Alex shifted, and a thoughtful look came onto her face.
"Well, like my name: I like to be called Alex, but my full name is Alexandra. There's also others, like Officer Jenny, I bet her full name is Jennifer." Charlotte blinked, and turned back to the pokeballs. She twitched slightly when she realized Alex had taken advantage of her distraction to get her to polish her pokeballs. Turning to the brunette, Charlotte glared, and only got an innocent look back.
"Lazy brat, you couldn't do this yourself?" Alex shot her an innocent grin, and started to whine when she realized it wasn't working.
"But Charlotte, you do it so much better!" Charlotte grumbled, but continued to polish Alex's pokeballs, making the brunette hop up and down in her seat in happiness. Rolling her eyes, Charlotte couldn't hold back a smirk as Alex started to squeak with each bounce.
"You are so immature sometimes." Alex stopped her bouncing, and leaned back slightly.
"Only when hyper, and yelling at jerks always makes me hyper." Charlotte snorted, and pushed the five now polished balls over to her friend. Alex pounced on them and hooked them back onto her belt.
"Next time you polish them yourself, so I suggest not scuffing them up too quickly." Alex nodded absently, and then stood and looked around.
"I'm hungry, let's go find food." Charlotte sighed, but stood up as well and followed Alex obediently as the brunette literally followed her nose to the dining room. They found a small buffet table, and quickly filled their plates and sat down. Alex looked around as she was eating, and stopped to stare at a group across the room.
"Hey, isn't that Brock, the Pewter City gym leader?" Charlotte looked up, and in the direction Alex was pointing. Sure enough, the gym leader was sitting at a table, with a raven haired boy, a red headed girl, and a Pikachu.
"Yeah...I wonder what he's doing so far out here?" Alex shrugged, and turned back to her food in disinterest. Charlotte however, furrowed her brows and kept one eye on the group while she ate. Soon Alex finished, and she stood up and stretched with a yawn.
"Well, I'm off." Charlotte looked up in confusion as Alex cleared away her plate.
"Where are you going?" Alex looked at her, a slightly surprised look on her face.
"To train, and hopefully find Gary, I need a good fight to get my mind off that jerk." Charlotte's eye twitched, and she stared at Alex blankly.
"I thought you guys agreed to stop fighting?" Alex blinked, and then tilted her head.
"Yeah...but I need to start a fight." Shaking her head, Charlotte waved Alex off in dismissal. Alex walked out, and Charlotte went back to her breakfast peacefully. Yesterday she had managed to convince her friends she needed to stay at the pokemon center, and then snuck out to train. Some serious training had done her team some real good, as she had been preventing them from evolving for a while. After finally letting them evolve, her Charmander, Nidoran, Sandshrew, and Ratatta had all evolved. Now her team consisted of Charmeleon, Nidorina, Raticate, Psyduck, Growlie, and Sandslash.
"Not that bad, really." Charlotte nodded to herself, and stared down at her eggs curiously. She had two fire pokemon, so she stood a better chance against Erika than Alex. Then again, Alex had her Butterfree, which knew Psybeam, which was super effective against grass types. Shaking her head, Charlotte sighed in boredom.
"She'll do fine, she's somehow pulled a victory out of every one of her other battles." Grabbing her plate, Charlotte stood up quickly. She walked over to the garbage and dumped the remainder of her plate, and then turned and walked out of the room. The main lobby was empty, and Nurse Joy was standing behind the desk typing into the computer. Charlotte looked around, and then turned and walked out at a slow pace.
-_-_-_-With Alex-_-_-_-
"Now if I was egotistical, where would I be?" Alex put her finger to her chin in thought, and stuck her tongue out slightly. A moment later, she snapped her fingers, and ran off toward the center of town, where a large stage had been set up for public use.
"Hehe, get ready Oak, because I'm coming for you."
-_-_-_-Later-_-_-_-
Alex searched the crowd eagerly, looking for the obvious spiky hairstyle of her rival. Looking about, Alex frowned slightly as she searched everyone, not finding her rival anywhere.
"You take that back Gary!" Alex jumped slightly at the loud yell, but turned and walked in it's direction as she processed what the person had said. Pushing people out of the way, Alex grinned evilly as she spotted Gary's hair. Continuing her shoving, she made her way through the crowd slowly, listening to the argument between the two quietly.
"Why would I do that Ashy-boy? You know it's true, I'll always be better than you." Ash? Who was Ash? Finally reaching the edge of the crowd, Alex stared at the two. Gary was standing across from the raven haired boy in the pokemon center, who had the Pikachu on his shoulder. The red headed girl and Brock were off to the side, watching the argument with blank looks.
"No way Gary, I'm way better than you!" Alex decided the fight was entertaining, and quickly stole around to the two on the other side. Walking up to Brock's side, she kept her eyes on Gary and Ash.
"So what the heck are they doing?" Both Brock and the girl jumped in surprise, and turned to face Alex. Brock seemed slightly surprised to see her, but it was hard to tell with his squinty eyes...
"Hey, weren't you in my gym not long ago? You had that disobidient Mankey?" Alex twitched slightly in irritation, and turned to face the teenager.
"It's a Primeape now for your information, and she's perfectly fine now. And yes, that was me, now tell me why the heck the loud one is yelling." The girl seemed irritated at Alex's name for her friend, and glared evilly at the smaller girl.
"His name is Ash, and Gary's just being a jerk." Alex turned to the girl, and could feel the waves of killer intent coming from her. So she liked the loud one did she?
"I didn't ask you carrot top!" The girl stilled, and she stared at Alex with wide eyes. Then, her face grew red and she exploded.
"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?! MY NAME IS MISTY YOU MIDGET BRAT!" Alex growled at the midget comment, and refused to back down as Misty loomed over her. Ash and Gary had stopped their fight, and were now staring wide eyed at the two girls, while Brock inched away slowly.
"You heard me, or are you too focused on the big mouthed idiot to pay attention?!" Misty glared, and Alex inwardly grinned to herself. Finally, a fight, and with a loud red headed girl too. Forget Gary, this girl was much more fun to prod.
"Oh really, and what's your excuse; your ears are too low to the ground to be able to hear someone with a normal height?" Alex's eyes widened, and she had to hold herself back from jumping the girl. She was short, she knew that, but really, that was a low blow.
"My ears work perfectly fine thanks, a lot better than yours apparently." Misty's eyes narrowed, and her lip curled slightly.
"You know, you shouldn't start a fight you won't finish." Misty reached for her pocket, obviously going for a pokeball. Alex let her inner grin out, and she pulled Ivysaur's pokeball from her belt.
"Oh, I'm all for finishing this fight, trust me." Misty pulled out a pokeball, and threw it up into the air.
"I choose you, Starmie!" Alex watched with rapt attention as the light faded, and in it's place said water pokemon stood. It looked like an eight pointed purple starfish, with a big red jewel in the center of it's body.
"Interesting, but it doesn't stand a chance against my Ivysaur." Tossing her ball into the air, Alex grinned as her small green dinosaur emerged. He looked around in fascination, but then realized there was another pokemon across from him, and turned his attention to it. Brock hung his head, sighing in irritation; they had been hoping Ash wouldn't start a battle, and now Misty was.
"We'll see what your Ivysaur can do, but for now, Starmie, use swift!" The purple starfish jumped into the air, and started to spin. Small golden stars shot out from the spinning pokemon, and toward Ivysaur on the ground.
"Ivysaur, use razor leaf and get rid of those stars!" Ivysaur shot his leaves out, and concentrated on the small stars heading his way. The projectiles collided, exploding with small green and gold sparkles which fluttered to the ground.
"Starmie, use bubble beam!" Starmie stopped spinning, and fell to the ground. For a moment it was still, and then it bent down and shot a stream of bubbles at Ivysaur.
"Vine whip Ivysaur!" Ivysaur's vines shot out, and smacked against the bubbles as they approached. Helpless to his vines, the bubble burst, and Misty's attack was repelled yet again.
"Starmie, use psybeam!"
"Dodge and use take down Ivysaur!" Ivysaur hopped to the left, narrowly avoiding the rainbow beam of light that came his way. Running forward, he growled in concentration, and then launched himself at the water pokemon.
"Starmie, rapid spin!" Ivysaur collided with Starmie, but then the water pokemon started to spin. Getting smacked in the face with it's many appendages, Ivysaur slowly retreated to his trainer. Starmie stopped spinning, and landed in front of it's trainer triumphantly. His pride injured, Ivysaur growled lowly at the starfish from the safety of his trainer's side.
"Ivysaur, use poison powder!" Using his new dislike for Starmie as an encouragement to do his best, Ivysaur bent down and shot the stream of purple dust it's way.
"Dodge and use swift again Starmie!" Starmie started to spin again, and was lifted into the air. Poison powder missed, and Ivysaur's dislike for the water pokemon grew. It was making him look like a fool in front of his trainer and her rival, as well as a bunch of strangers.
"Ivysaur, use vine whip on the stars!" Shooting his vines out, Ivysaur viciously tore through the stars. Getting an idea, he lightly smacked one, not hard enough to break it, but hard enough to send it back at Starmie. The star flew back, and collided with another oncoming one. Ivysaur grinned evilly at his newly discovered ability, and started to send the stars back at Starmie with new vigor. Eventually, one collided with the water pokemon, and it was knocked out of the air.
"Starmie, no!"
"Ivysaur, use razor leaf!" Ivysaur nodded, and shook his bulb. The small leaves were launched at the water pokemon, who was trying to push itself off the ground as quickly as possible. The leaves collided with it's struggling form, and Starmie fell once again in a faint. A soft glow emmitted from the jewel in the center of it's body, and Misty stood gaping openly at her fainted pokemon.
"I...I don't believe it!" Alex grinned, and bent down to hug her Ivysaur eagerly. Misty was fussing over her Starmie, tutting to herself quite loudly...no wonder she liked Ash. Gary and the others still seemed confused over what had taken place, and weren't doing much of anything.
"That actually wasn't half bad." Alex froze, and the smile dropped off her face. She stood and returned Ivysaur, and then turned and stared stonily at Hiro, who had chosen that moment to make himself known.
"What are you doing here?" Hiro looked at Alex with a bored expression, his hand stuffed into his pockets. Gary, who had woken from his shocked stupor, shuffled over to listen in to their conversation. Honestly, the one guy leaves, and now she has a new one bugging her?! That was his job thank you very much!
"It's a free country, I can go wherever I want." Alex growled, and glared evilly at Hiro, who's eyes were staring blankly at her. Gary, who was standing slightly behind her, also glared at Hiro, who raised an eyebrow in interest.
"Well you can stop following me around." Hiro turned back to Alex, and stared once more.
"Who said I was following you, if anything, it's the other way around." Alex twitched, and renewed her glare.
"Why would I want to follow you around? You're just a stuck up jerk!" Hiro's face remained blank, and Alex had to suppress a shudder once more. It was sort of creepy, she could say whatever she wanted to him, and he never gave any indication of it having any effect.
"Are you finished?" Alex stared in shock at Hiro, who actually seemed to be expressing an emotion: irritation. Folding her arms across her chest, Alex huffed, and then turned and walked away, her hair swinging back and forth behind her as she went. Hiro watched for a moment, and then turned back to Gary, who was giving him a death glare. Raising a single eyebrow, Hiro watched as the glare worsened, and inwardly smirked. His suspicions were correct, this trainer had a crush on the midget, and was pissed off he stole her attention.
"Is there something you want to say to me?" Gary growled lowly, but turned and stomped off. Hiro shrugged, and then turned and walked in the opposite direction as Gary. Brock, Misty, and Ash all stood there silently, wondering just what they had witnessed among the three. Then, Ash's stomach growled, and Brock and Misty sighed as Ash grinned, and ran down the road in search of food. Left with no choice, they followed behind him quietly, resigning themselves to the next hour and a half in a restaurant.
-_-_-_-With Alex-_-_-_-
Alex stomped into the pokemon center angrily, much like she had that morning. Charlotte was still out, and there were few trainers in the lobby. Nurse Joy was standing behind her desk, and seemed glad when she spotted Alex come into the door. Raising her hand, she waved the small brunette over, and waited patiently for her to walk over.
"Yes Nurse Joy?" Nurse Joy gave her a large smile, and held out her hand, which had a small paper in it.
"Your father called asking for you. I told him you were out, and he asked me to tell you to call this number." Alex looked down at the paper, and reconized the number to the lab. Thanking Nurse Joy, she walked over to a video phone and punched in the digits, and turned her attention to the screen. The phone rang for a moment, and then the screen lit up, and her father's face came on.
"Hello?" Alex examined her father briefly. He seemed tired, and there were bags under his eyes. Something must be wrong, he father was always cheerful and energetic.
"Hey Dad, how are you?" Professor Birch seemed to perk at the sight of Alex, but did not smile like she expected him to.
"I'm fine Alex, how's your journey going?" His voice was even slightly strained, and Alex grew slightly worried.
"Great, I'm gonna go for my fourth badge soon, and I have five pokemon." Professor Birch nodded.
"That's wonderful honey." Trailing off, Professor Birch seemed uncomfortable for some reason.
"Dad, what's wrong, you're never like this unless there's something up." Professor Birch sighed, and turned away from the screen.
"Alex...I need you to come home for a while." Alex's eyes widened, and she almost dropped the phone in shock.
"What, why?!" Professor Birch flinched slightly at his daughter's outraged tone.
"I need you to keep an eye on the lab for me, my assistants and I have to go to a dig." Alex scowled in frustration as her father mumbled his excuse.
"That's not fair dad; you can't just ask me to put my journey on hold to watch over the lab for you!" Professor Birch sighed, and nodded his head as Alex ranted.
"I know Alex, but there isn't anyone else I can ask." Alex groaned, and leaned her forehead against the screen as she thought it over. On one hand, if she refused, her father wouldn't be able to go to this dig, and by the tone of his voice, she could tell it was important. On the other, if she accepted, she would have to stop her journey to watch over the lab. Though it would prove to be a good chance to train, and it would let her father go on the dig, it was still unfair.
"Please Alex, I really need to go on this dig, they've discovered one of the largest collections of fossilized pokemon every found." Alex sighed, and raised her eyes to her father's in resignation.
"How long will you be gone?"
-_-_-_-Later-_-_-_-
Raye and Charlotte walked into the pokemon center in a cheerful mood. They had spent the day training and shopping, and were both tired and ready for bed. By now, Alex was most likely having dinner, or had already eaten and was in the room already. Deciding they wanted to drop off their bags, they quickly walked down the hall toward their room, smiles on their faces.
When they reached the door, they found it unlocked, and they looked at each other in confusion. Opening the door, they were met with a dark room, the light turned off and no noise coming from inside. They stepped into the room, and Raye flicked on the lights as Charlotte looked about for Alex.
"Alex, you in here?" No response came to her questioning call, and the two shot each other worried glances. Raye walked over to the bunk Alex slept on, and checked the top one, but found nothing. Charlotte's eyes scanned the room, and landed on a small piece of folded paper on her bed, with her and Raye's names on the front. Walking over to it, she unfolded it and scanned the note on the inside.
Dear Charlotte and Raye,
I know you're probably wondering where I've gotten off to by now. The truth is, I had to leave, because my dad needed me back at the lab. He has a dig that's really important to him, and I have to watch the lab for the next four months. I probably won't be able to make it to the league in time for the tournament, so don't wait up for me. You guys have been really helpful, and I'm really grateful to you, you're both really great friends. I'll try to make it to the league, but if I don't please don't go looking for me, I'm most likely in the next region by then. If I don't make it, I guess I'll see you guys in Jhoto, so good luck to the both of you.
Best of luck and wishes,
Alex
"Did you know her dad was a professor?" Charlotte stared blankly at the note, but nodded to Raye's question.
"She told me a few days after we met." Raye stayed quiet for a moment, and then shuffled over to her bed. Sitting down on it, she lowered her head and let her eyes tear up. It wasn't fair that Alex had to leave half way through her journey. Raising her head, she stared at Charlotte, who was reading the note over once more.
"Hey, guess who gets to tell Gary about this?" Charlotte looked up, and stared silently at Raye. Then, she sighed and nodded her head.
"He isn't going to like it at all." Raye shrugged, and then layed down on her bed.
"I don't like this Charlotte, it's going to be so boring without Alex here." Charlotte nodded, and layed down on her bed and stared out the window. She had to wonder how long ago Alex left, and how far the young brunette had made it so far. Above all, she wondered if Alex was safe and all right. Closing her eyes, Charlotte rolled over and settled into a comfortable position on her bed. Her thoughts didn't leave her short friend, and she smiled as she remembered the Flower Festival a few days ago.
Bye Alex, and good luck with watching the lab...we'll keep our eyes out for you.
I would have had this up sooner, but the site decided to be a bitch and not load the login in area. Two days this has been sitting on my computer, so go complain to them, not me plz. And yes, I'm just plain mean sending Alex away. Next chap jumps forward to her return, worry not my friends, she still has Jhoto to go through, then Gary disappears from the series to be a pokemon researcher, so I'll then jump to his return. It's no fun without having Gary and Alex interact, and I'll explain as best I can when I do the jumps, what happened in the passed time, kk? Anway, please review cuz I've been frustrated to hell and back last few days, and reviews make me happy. I'm working on chapter 10 now, so please be patient guys.