ch 1. The Journey Begins
Sitting in his room, at the edge if his bed, awaited a young man, anxious with excitement. Alex had spent his whole life in the small settlement of Celestic town, but today, that would all change. Today he would receive his first pokemon.
Alex's sister was meant to be arriving soon to take him to Sandgem town, where professor Rowan lived. Alex had always had a bit of a rivalry with his sister and he was excited to be able to start his journey so he could make a name for himself and show everyone that he could be an even greater trainer than his sister. This would be easier said than done however, seeing as his sister was the current champion of the sinnoh region, Cynthia.
Cynthia had set quite a high standard for Alex ever since they were little. She always did well in school, she was a natural athlete, and most importantly, she was an absolute genius when it came to pokemon battles. People were always telling Alex how great his sister was and how they hoped he would be like her. To Alex, this had made him feel as though he was growing up in the shadow of greatness. He never felt like people saw him for who he was, they never saw any of what he did. The only thing people saw when they looked at him, was Cynthia's little brother.
As Alex sat pondering this and how he was going to make a name for himself, he saw the silhouette of a woman, riding atop her garchomp, coming toward his home. Alex rushed downstairs and outside to greet his sister. Despite their rivalry, Alex had a good relationship with Cynthia and always looked forward to her visits.
Just as he made it out his front door, Cynthia's garchomp, Canyon, came swooping down in front of him. Alex went over to hug his sister as she hopped off of canyon's back.
"Are you ready to start your journey?" Cynthia asked after she and Alex had greeted each other.
"I've been ready!" Alex exclaimed "you had better keep up on your training. I'll be coming to take that title of yours before you know it!"
Cynthia chuckled. "We'll see about that. you have a long way to go before you can start thinking about being champion" Cynthia looked around, "where's grandma?" she asked. "I should at least say hi before we head off."
"She's down in the ruins" Alex answered. "She said she had a strange dream last night and that she goes there to think."
The two siblings made their way down to the ruins after Cynthia had returned Canyon. When they got the entrance of the ruins, they saw that their grandmother was just coming out.
"Cynthia!" the older woman exclaimed. "it's so good to see you! How are things up in the pokemon league?"
Cynthia embraced her grandmother. "They're good" she answered. "It's been a while since I've had much of a challenge though. I thought that I might as well help a few others start their journey so that down the line they might be able to put up a good fight."
"Careful what you wish for" Alex said as he laughed at her joke.
"Well, I suppose that you two will be on your way soon" their grandmother said. "You wouldn't want to keep Professor Rowan waiting." she turned to Alex. "You be careful now Alex. You won't become a great trainer without first facing your share of hardships."
"I know grandma" Alex replied. He then stepped in to hug her, "I'll miss you"
"I'll miss you too. Don't forget to visit now and again".
Alex stepped back and nodded his affirmation. "Time to set off then" Cynthia said with a smile. "Do you have everything you need?"
"Yep! I'm good to go" Alex said excitedly.
"Perfect!" Cynthia said. she then pulled out Canyon's pokeball "Come on out Canyon!" she yelled.
Canyon came out of his pokeball with a bright flash of light. "What are your commands my lady?" he asked Cynthia with his deep rumbling voice.
Cynthia sighed, "Always so formal. I guess that's just how it is with dragons" she said to Alex. She then turned to Canyon and said "My brother will be starting his journey today. Can you fly us to where we need to go?"
"Of course" he said, bowing. He then turned to Alex and asked "Are you prepared to become a trainer young one?"
"I am" Alex replied confidently
Canyon let out a low satisfied rumble "It is well" he then lowered himself so as to allow Alex and Cynthia onto his back.
"Goodbye children!" their grandmother called out as they were preparing to take off. "And good luck to you Alex!"
They both waved their goodbyes to their grandmother then Cynthia commanded Canyon to fly. Alex's stomach leaped as they took off with astonishing speed. When Alex regained himself, he looked down to see the Sinnoh region unfurl before him. They had quite a ways to go before they made it to Sandgem town, having to fly all the way over Mt. Coronet as well as a few other cities in between. All in all the journey would take about two hours.
Alex didn't mind the journey though, as he was able to take in the beauty of the Sinnoh region. Alex had often studied the maps of the region so he was a bit confused when he saw they had flown over Sandgem town without landing.
"Where are you going?" he asked loudly so his sister could hear him over the wind. "Sandgem town is back there behind us!"
"There's one other trainer who'll be starting out today!" she called out, leaning back slightly. "She lives in Twinleaf town and the professor asked me to help her get to his lab safely!"
Alex didn't reply. He thought about what the other trainer might be like and whether or not she might be a good rival for him.
They landed in front of on of the nicer looking homes in the small town. As they were getting down from Canyon's back, a beautiful girl with a bright smile came out of the house calling out a goodbye to her family inside.
As she approached Cynthia elbowed Alex in the side and quietly said "She's real pretty, don't you think?"
"Whatever" Alex mumbled, his face growing slightly red. Alex looked the girl over and saw that she was wearing a black skirt with leggings and tall brown traveling boots, as well as a red sweater and a dark grey scarf. Her hair was a silky, dark brown waterfall. Alex had to admit to himself that his sister was right, she was indeed pretty.
Alex looked down at what he was wearing and actually felt pretty good about it. He wore dark blue jeans and a bluish grey quilted jacket with a high collar over a green and blue plaid button up shirt. His light brown hair, normally combed up and to the side, was a bit disheveled from the flight over here.
"Hello!" Cynthia called out as she approached. "you must be Adora."
"That's right" the girl replied with a cheerful smile. "It's wonderful to meet you, who's this that you're with?" she asked looking at Alex.
"This is my younger brother, Alex. he'll be starting his journey today as well" Cynthia explained.
"Hey" Alex said quietly with a small smile.
Alex didn't consider himself shy by any means, but he was usually fairly quiet around new people. Adora, as he would soon find out, was not at all quiet around new people.
"Wow, you're starting on your journey today too? That's so exciting! I had no idea that the champion had a little brother. We should be rivals! What pokemon do you want to pick? I've always wanted a turtwig, I absolutely love turtwig!" Adora chirped, bubbling over with joy.
Cynthia smirked, knowing that her brother wouldn't quite know what to do with such a bubbly girl.
"uhh..." Alex started nervously. "I think I'll go with piplup, empoleon has been a favorite of mine for a while."
"Ooh I love piplup!" Adora replied "They're so fun!" She then turned to look at Canyon. "And who's this?" she asked.
"Greetings, young maiden. I am known as Canyon, servant of the great lady Cynthia" Canyon replied, all the while Cynthia rolled her eyes and shook her head.
Adora giggled, "well it's a pleasure to meet you!"
"The pleasure is mine" Canyon rumbled with a slight bow.
"Anyway" Cynthia interrupted. "If you have all of your things we should get going. if we start walking now, we should be able to make it before dinner."
"I'm all set!" Adora said with a smile.
"Great" said Cynthia. "Let's get going then, your journey begins now."
Authors note: Just to clarify a few things, in this story, as you can probably tell, the pokemon can talk. I just think it will be better so that I can develop their characters more. As far as the timeline and ages go, this is set a few years after the events of pokemon platinum. Alex and Adora are both 18 and Cynthia is 24. This world will be a bit more dangerous than the regular pokemon world so I thought it best to have the characters go on their journeys at a later age. Also this is my first story so feedback is greatly appreciated.