"Julia! Come quick, one of your dad's matches is on TV, it looks like it's about to end!"
"Coming Ma!" a young woman replied, only to sit up on her bed and sigh. Standing up from the comfort of her bed, she stretched her arms above her head and arched her back, letting out her breath as she stretched and walked out of her room, toward the stairs that would take her to the living room.
Julia came down the stairs just as the battle was ending, her dark, chestnut brown hair just falling to her shoulders. Her shoulders were otherwise covered by a dark green t-shirt, going down to her hips where her black athletic shorts took over. Her younger brother, Brendan, was watching the battle with enthusiasm, cheering along with the crowd in Petelburg, his white hair-like hat having been shaken just enough to see the black hair underneath, his sky-blue long-sleeved t-shirt covered in the crumbs from his sandwich, his black shorts covering the top part of his legs.
The crowd noise was loud, even coming through the television. On the screen, Julia caught a glimpse of her father's Vigoroth wildly dancing over the unconscious form of a Pelipper before cutting to the announcer for the match.
"And once again, Gym Leader Norman defends the balance badge from a tier six challenger! Everybody, give it up for the normal type extraordinaire, the ever reliable Norman!" What the announcer wanted, he got in full force. It takes a pretty fantastic trainer to make it to a tier six challenge, and the crowd was pumped from the spectacle they got to witness.
Not that she really knew. Despite her father being one of the most televised leaders in the region, Julia rarely ever watched his matches over air. If she wasn't allowed to see them in person, what made the screen any better?
That was changing soon though. She would finally be allowed to start her journey with Brendan and their friend May. Two years late, but it was finally happening. There had always been a reason. Her father's application to become a gym leader was in the works ever since they lived in Johto two years ago, then the incident in Unova a year ago made her parents paranoid about her setting off on her own.
Instead, she had been forced to wait for her brother and her friend to turn sixteen and become eligible for trainer's licenses. She didn't mind the thought at first, especially since it meant that she wouldn't have to journey by herself, but over the last year she felt more and more trapped in her house. Julia made her way to the door, deciding to check on what May was doing next door.
Brendan managed to tear his gaze away from the TV long enough to see his sister heading for the door. "Where you headed sis?" he asked, craning his neck over the back of the couch, his short black hair brushing against the top of the furniture.
"I'm too bored and nervous to sit in the house any longer, I'm going to check on May. You want to come?" she responded, opening the door and beginning to step out, but turning back to look at her brother. He pushed off the couch and grabbed his hat before replying.
"Of course, the match is over, I've got nothing else to do."
Julia shrugged as they made their way to May Birch's house, both standing at 5'7", and could not resist throwing a barb at her sibling "Sure, that's the reason, definitely wouldn't have to do with actually wanting to see her."
Brendan just huffed as they walked the short distance.
Luke had no intention of doing anything today other than meeting with Professor Birch to get a trainer's license for Hoenn. Sure, he had his passport and old ID, but those would hardly be enough here.
And that is what led to him standing outside the lab, leaning against the building. A couple of teens about his age walked by, but they paid him no mind. He would have done the same, but he couldn't shake the vague feeling of recognition the two gave him.
After about an hour of waiting, he got bored and decided to take a hike around the small town so reminiscent of his own hometown. He heard the scream when he was at the northern side of town.
"Always has to be something going on around me, doesn't there?" he muttered as he pushed off the wall, running in the direction of the scream, his light brown hair becoming obscured as he put on his blue and black ball-cap. The navy-blue jacket he was wearing seemed to get just a bit tighter in the heat.
Luke ran past a neighborhood and saw quite the scene when he exited the town. In the middle of a field, a fairly large man with dark brown hair was cowering in a tree with a litter of Zigzagoons running around the base, barking up at him.
"You there!" the treed man shouted to Luke, "Help me! My bag is right over there, you can use one of the pokemon!" The man gestured from his perch to a leather bag. On the other side of the tree. Luke sighed before running across the field.
Once the rodents saw Luke, they immediately began chasing him. Luke expected the rodents to be zippy, but they were gaining on him faster than he expected. If they knew how to run in a straight line, Luke thought, they would have caught me before I got his bag.
When he got to the bag, instead of reaching inside like the man had asked, Luke grabbed it by its strap and flung it back towards the man, landing just a couple feet short.
"Go!" Luke shouted as the miniature racoon army backed him up away from the forest, "I'll take care of myself!"
Instead of running the man began frantically digging around his knapsack as three teens came up behind him.
Julia, Brendan, and a girl wearing a collared red shirt and dark blue spandex shorts with a red bandana covering her brown hair arrived just in time to see a boy about their age book it across the field and sling Professor Birch's bag back to him. The teen on the other side of the field was backing away from a horde of Zigzagoon, slowly reaching toward his hip pack. Something about him seemed just barely familiar.
The girl with the bandana walked up to the professor and tapped his shoulder quietly. When he turned around, he was quite surprised to see his daughter and her friends standing there. That is when Professor Birch got the idea.
"May! With Julia and Brendan! I was going to wait until you all were about to set off, but now's an even better time!" he said loud enough for the wild pokemon to notice, a couple of them turning around to face the professor. Birch paid them no mind as he opened his bag to the trio, saying, "Go on, each of you pick one, then go help him. May, you get your pokemon ready too."
Three of the five Zigzagoons started to move toward the group, as Luke's hand finally made it to his pouch, fishing out a nest ball. Julia, May, and Brendan all took a pokeball from Birch's bag, and pulled back to throw.
Luke was the first to act, tossing his pokeball and calling out "Rebecca, I could use some help!"
May moved second, throwing her pokeball, saying "Torchic, let's go."
Julia and Brendan moved simultaneously, throwing their balls forward wordlessly. A little blue mudfish appearing in front of Julia and a bipedal gecko standing in front of Brendan. A small orange chick materialized beside May, and Luke had summoned his own gecko. After the crack and flash of the teens bringing out their pokemon, there was a small silence where the pokemon sized up their competition.
"Rebecca, pound the left one," Luke called out, breaking the pause, "I'll keep the other one occupied."
"Torchic, use scratch!" May ordered, pointing her finger at the closest Zigzagoon.
"Uh, use pound?" Brendan said, looking at Professor Birch, "How am I supposed to know what it can do?"
Julia was having similar issues, just telling her little blue pokemon to keep dodging as she searched the internet for pokemon moves. It would help if she actually knew what pokemon she had.
"Hey!" Luke shouted over to the obvious rookies as he outmaneuvered one Zigzagoon so his pokemon wouldn't be in a 2v1, "those two are a Treeko and a Mudkip, they should only know normal type moves right now, like pound, tackle, and scratch, try using those!"
"Oh, um, thanks" Julia mumbled, before regaining her composure to shout "Mudkip, use tackle!"
"Treeko, do your thing and…pound?" Brendan almost questioned his pokemon. Actually dictating what to do to his pokemon felt so different than when he saw it on TV. Most of the trainers that were deemed worthy of having their matches aired on the television were skilled enough that they only had to command their pokemon once or twice in a battle, sometimes more to be dramatic than for actual practicality.
He felt silly telling his pokemon to do something so simple as use pound or absorb. Or having to shout at it to dodge. But he couldn't deny the giddy feeling welling up in his gut. Simply being there with a pokemon- his pokemon- gave him a rush like nothing else. He could hear his blood pumping as he became engrossed in his first battle. This, he thought, this is what it means to be a trainer, a battler.
Luke cast a glance at Rebecca as he dodged the raccoon again. To his surprise, his Treecko was struggling without constant commands. Right, she isn't actually trained yet. That'll be the first thing we work on, he thought. Until a ball of brown and cream fur slammed into his midsection, knocking him to the ground, forcing the air out of his lungs.
The Zigzagoon had him on the ground and was ready to tear into his squishy bits, but Luke didn't feel like being some raccoon horde's lunch. Instead, he shot a glance to see if any of the people were paying attention to him. The teens were all absorbed in their own battles, and the professor as the kids called him was entranced by the first battles the kids were having. Actually, he was more than entranced, he was filming instead of helping.
Knowing now that he wasn't being watched, he grabbed the raccoon by the tail and slammed his forehead into its nose before slinging it into the woods. He heard it land, and then heard its retreating paws. Then he heard a yelp, as Rebecca slammed her tail into her foe and knocked it unconscious.
Putting a hand on his forehead as the pain from the headbutt set in, Luke glanced around the field. One by one, the rest of the Zigzagoon were driven away. The boy was the first to finish off his opponent, followed by the girl in the red bandana, then the vaguely familiar one. Luke pulled Rebecca's nest ball out, then decided against returning her. She deserved some free time from her ball, she'd been cooped up for the entire trip here.
Julia looked up just in time to see him slip the ball back into his pocket as she returned Mudkip to its ball. She watched as he kneeled next to his green pokemon and pet its head. He looked like he might be an inch or two taller than her, and seemed to be fairly fit, especially if his run across the field a minute ago was anything to go by. It was hard to tell from the distance, but he seemed like he could be a couple years older than her, and fairly attractive to boot. Although the last bit was probably just because the only males she hung out with were her brother, Professor Birch, and May's kid brother Max. Then she noticed May's eyes flicking between her and the stranger. Then she noticed the growing smile on May's face.
She started to go red as she approached May, grabbing her by the shoulder to walk a few yards off. "I know what you're thinking. The answer is no." Julia said to May with a quiet intensity. The eighteen-year-old did not need this coming from the younger woman so soon before the start of their journey. She would never hear the end of it.
May just kept smiling, poking Julia in the side. "Julia's got a crush, Julia's got a crush" she sing-songed quietly.
Julia raised an eyebrow before walking back towards the rest of the group, shaking her head. Even if I did, it wouldn't matter, she thought, May, Brendan and I are about to leave anyway, if he's here to stay, then we would only see him when we visit. If he's about to journey, then we probably won't cross paths much. Either way, I'll just endure the teasing for now.
Luke, having taken care of Rebecca, approached the Professor. "Hey, I overheard them call you professor, would you by any chance be Professor Birch?" Luke inquired, sliding his hands out of his pockets.
The portly professor smiled, straightened his back, and reached out a hand for Luke to shake. "I am, and I assume you aren't from around here at all, since pretty much all of the Hoenn trainers would recognize me."
Luke reached out and clasped the professor's hand, giving it a firm shake before replying, "Fantastic, and you're right, I'm from quite a ways off. My name is Luke by the way, Luke Williams."
Letting go of the younger man's hand, the professor turned to the side and spoke to the group, "Well Luke, after all the excitement we went through today, how would you like to head back to my lab with the rest of us? I need to do some paperwork for these three to be able to legally own their new pokemon."
"Speaking of," Luke said, "I could use some help with that too. Professor Juniper said that you could help with getting me a Hoenn license?"
After giving the professor the information he would need for getting him the permit to train, Luke sat with the other teens and waited. It was a bit awkward, almost like he was intruding on the three of them. Cripes, Luke thought, this is uncomfortable.
"So," Luke began, and immediately the other three sets of eyes were on him, "You guys are all first-time trainers now?"
The three shot glances at one another, before the boy answered, "I mean, we're about to be, as soon as we get our trainer cards. What about you?"
Luke shrugged and leaned back into the couch. "I started my training a couple years ago in another region. Made a pretty good run at the league circuit. Took a little time off, didn't know what to do next, friend recommended I try a new region, new team, new adventure. Got an egg that turned out to be Rebecca," he said with a distant look in his eyes, patting the pocket with his nest balled Treecko before continuing, "and now I'm here before my window to get certified to train and journey throughout the region closes."
Brendan and May began asking questions fast as a bullet seed, all relating to the newcomer's experiences and pokemon. Julia narrowed her eyes and realized they forgot to ask one of the simpler questions.
"Not to interrupt your questions or anything" Julia said to the two sixteen-year-olds, "but we forgot to do the whole introduction thing."
May's flushed face and flapping mouth made it seem as though she was doing her best Magikarp impersonation, while Brendan just seemed to shrink back into his seat. Julia turned from the pair to Luke, who wore a sheepish grin. "So," she said, turning to the young man, "Any chance we could get a name?"
His grin turned into a shallow laugh as he scratched the back of his head. "My bad, I'm still used to other trainers not really caring about my name, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Luke Williams, Unovan trainer but native to Kanto." On saying this he stood up and took a slender black case out of the top flap of his backpack, opening it to show the rookies eight gym badges, offering them to the three to look at. Brendan snatched the badges out of his hand as Luke continued, "Like I said, I had a pretty successful run in the league circuit. Couldn't have made it without my friends."
"Wait, if you were strong enough to get to the elite four, where are all of your pokemon?" Julia asked as she glanced at the badges. It was quite impressive that the man in front of her managed to collect all eight badges within two years. But the badges weren't shiny or glossy like she had seen her father hand out on television. All but one of them seemed matte, absorbing the light instead of reflecting it, as though the gloss had been rubbed off and he hadn't bothered to polish them since.
Luke shrugged, taking the question in stride. "My old team is split with a couple professors. They aren't entirely retired, but they deserve the rest that they're getting. I pushed pretty hard the last four, five months I was out."
"What was your team when you were going to challenge the four?" Brendan asked as Julia handed him back the badges. Brendan's eyes never left the badges, the hallowed symbols of a powerful trainer. To become strong enough to challenge the gym leaders, to challenge his father. Brendan saw what he wanted. He just didn't know how to get there yet.
Luke visibly flinched. "Let's call that a touchy subject and change topics. Why do you guys want to be trainers?"
"I'm going to be the strongest trainer and conquer the league, becoming the champion!" Brendan replies before adding "I also want to beat my dad for a gym badge, to prove to him how strong I've gotten."
May shrugged, "I'm really just going on an adventure to help my dad with his research, and to have fun with Brendan and Julia while I'm at it."
Julia was caught off guard by both Luke's response and question, wondering what happened to make such an incredible moment for most trainers tainted for him. When she noticed everybody else looking at her, she offered a little shrug, saying "I don't really have a dream or goal. I just want to get out of town and live my life in my own way."
"I mean, that honestly seems like the best reason. You're journeying for you." Luke said to Julia before laughing and addressing the group. "They're all better than why I started though."
"Oh really?" Julia asked, "No grand aspirations of conquering your league back home? No desire to become the strongest?"
"Nope."
"Then why did you go on your adventure?"
"My friends back home made me."
Julia, Brendan, and May were all stunned silent by such a simple answer. "If you only journeyed because your friends made you, why did you bother with the gym circuit?" Brendan asked, completely confused. "Especially if you made it all the way to the Elite Four?"
Julia narrowed her eyes at Luke. She didn't ask the question, but it was stirring in her head. Why would someone go that far in the challenge if it wasn't his dream? Nothing about this guy made sense, and she wanted to find out what he was all about.
In response, Luke shrugged. "At first all of my friends did it, so I did it too. Then-"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand they're finished!" Professor Birch exclaimed as he returned to the lobby of his lab, holding out four green plastic cards, handing one to each of the teens without looking.
Luke looked down at his card and raised an eyebrow when he saw the name Julia Carols on the card, age 18. "Um, professor? As much as I would like to be a Hoenn native, I kind of need my own card to legally train and challenge the circuit here."
He offered the card to Julia, who quickly gave him his own card, "Also, I didn't realize you're eighteen too. Why are you starting so late?"
The look she shot him would have stopped a pack of Mightyena. "Not all of us have friends to drag us off with them."
The room got quiet as Luke raised his hands in a placating gesture. "Alright, no need to get upset about it. Tell you what" he said as he placed his new trainer card in his wallet. "Why don't we all head back to that field just outside of town so you guys can have your first real pokemon battles?"
"What do you mean 'first pokemon battles?'" Brendan asked with a frown, "You were there when we fought off those Zigzagoons."
Shrugging Luke responded, "That was battling against a low powered wild pokemon. The feeling of battling against another trainer, especially the first one, is a completely different feeling, one that you won't be able to forget if you tried."
Before Brendan could respond again, Professor Birch cut in, "That sounds like a fantastic idea! But May, I need your help for a moment, someone just called from Oldale Town, I need you to go to Route 103, some flash of a blue pokemon passed through and I'd like you to investigate…"
/AN/ So, that was chapter 1. Drop a review, let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is welcomed (although I can't promise how well I'll be able to implement it), flames will be ignored, and compliments are as welcome as they are unexpected. Apologies for the errors I've undoubtedly left in and the inconsistency I'm prone to, the first few chapters are based on notes that I made a couple years ago, with some random paragraphs and ideas written out. Not an excuse for my sloppy writing though. This fic is what I've started doing when I just need to destress and step away from work and school, and because of those two important things, there will be no real schedule here.
Onto the Pokemon notes then. First of all, I absolutely stink at writing battle scenes. Apologies in advance for the sloppiness that will happen when I try to write them. Secondly, what even is a Pokemon level? They're in the games for obvious reasons, in the manga to help us gauge power, and not present at all in the anime. Red's Snor is a higher level than Dia's Regigigas. Is Snor more powerful than the legendary? Maybe, it is Red after all. Regardless, levels will not be present in the fic itself. Dex's will be able to gauge approximate strength but they'll be fooled just as easily as a human would be. In the story I'll be playing fast and loose with some of the rules. In the game The Rules are locked in.
Because this is a Nuzlocke. Actually, it's two of them on top of each other in a trench coat. My friend Kate ran the Locke for Julia and I did Luke's. She doesn't have any part in the writing of the story, just the data for Julia's character and Pokemon.
LOCKERULES:
Catch the first pokemon you encounter on each route once pokeballs are obtained. Allowed to mulligan until you encounter a species that you have not logged into the pokedex yet.
Nickname all pokemon. Each region for me tends to have a different theme. Sometimes it's alliteration, sometimes it's Nintendo characters, sometimes I make sounds with my mouth until I've mashed enough syllables together to make a 'name.' This rule has no real purpose except to make me get attached to my pokemon before the next rule.
If a pokemon faints, it is dead. It must be boxed or released immediately upon reaching the next pokemon center.
Battle Style turned to Set, because why the other trainer wouldn't tell you what they're about to send out to give you a chance to switch.
I can only use as many items as the opponent trainer does in battle, and I can not use the first item. Hold items are exempt from this clause.
No running from wild pokemon unless they are at least five levels weaker than the pokemon at the head of my party, and no repels. Was originally no running from wilds at all, changed after the third gym. Because I respect and rely on being over-leveled in a Locke, but it's just the law of diminishing returns.
