Sorry this Chapter took so long to produce. I don't think I'll ever ask an author to update their story again. Besides, a story with an 800 word Prologue is hardly a story.
Anyway, please enjoy this 4.8k word first chapter!
A young girl held a phone up to her ear once more, the ringing sound dulled to their ears. They've lost track of how many times they called him by now, but it's not like they cared, this was such an amazing day! The familiar click followed by the answering machine responded to her call, as I hung up and stared at the contact page once more.
"You've gotta pick up some day, Kent..." She mulled, frowning as she looked at her phone. Suddenly, she was the one to receive a call-and by none other than who she was calling. Before it could even ring twice, she had smashed the answer button and picked it up.
"Kent?! Omigoshomigoshomigosh! You finally did it! You beat Leon! Oh by Arceus you no idea how-" she blabbered, suddenly cut short by her mother.
"Golly! If you're any louder then you might wake the Wooloo outside, that is if you haven't already!" Her Mum interrupted her rant.
"Oops! Sorry Mum!" she quickly apologized. A chuckle from the other side of the phone answered her.
"I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who's full of adrenaline, Miss Premier." Kent teased with her nickname.
"Hey! You know I get annoyed when you call me that!" She retorted. Truthfully though, she liked the name. The nickname comes from her strange coloring of hair and eyes, being albino does that to a person. With her white hair and scarlet eyes, her brother quickly took to naming her off of those little bonuses you get for buying a surplus of Pokéballs. "Still, though! How can I not be excited! You're THE Champion! You beat the Unbeatable Leon!"
"Now that I can't disagree with," Kent replied, "I'm still coping with that fact myself. I'm surprised Hop hasn't come knocking down your door quite yet." Truth be told, she was surprised as well. "Say, since he hasn't come over to you, why don't you go to him? Can't have him missing out on the excitement, now can we? I need to go to the Pokémon Center anyway, so I was gonna hang up. I'll come see you down in Postwick after I'm done here in Wyndon."
"Well, if you say so," she reluctantly agreed. "Have a safe trip back home!"
"Will do, stay safe Alexa."
Hop was straight gobsmacked. He really did it, he thought, Lee really got beaten- by Alexa's brother no less!
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard his front door slam open, followed by a resounding shout of his name. Instantly recognizing the voice as Alexa's he rushed towards the door to greet her.
"HOP?! You awake?!" Alexa shouted, throwing open his front door. She could hear footfall from upstairs, steadily heading towards the staircase. Looking around, she waved at Hop's mother who came out of the kitchen, as well as reaching down and petting their pet Purrloin, who both came to see what all of the commotion was about. Looking back up towards the stairs, she saw her long-time friend and self-proclaimed rival looking down towards her, as he descended the stairs. He wore his usual grin on his face with a tinge of some negative emotion that was quickly washed away as he ran down to greet her.
"I have a feeling I know why you're here!" He announced, walking towards her with his hand held up. Alexa walked towards him, raising her own hand to finish the high-five.
"He finally did it!" She half-yelled, full of energy.
"My, what's going on?" Hop's mother wondered, walking a couple steps closer to the group.
"Kent finally beat Leon!" Alexa declared, pumping her fists into the air with excitement.
"Did he now?" She responded in surprise, glancing at Hop, "Now that's an amazing feat if I do say so myself. Did it happen just now?"
"Yes'm! Just about half an hour ago by now." Alexa answered, "Oh that's right! He said he's coming into town sometime today to hold not only a return party but also a new-champion one! It's going to be great!" At this Hop suddenly lit up.
"That means that Lee's comin' to town too, right? I hope he brings a present for us-he always does!" Hop exclaimed, doing his iconic double-fist-pump, grin widening.
"Well then I think you two should go along now and get ready for that," Hop's mum suggested, "Wouldn't want to look bad on your brothers' return, now would you?" At this she put her hand on her hip, giving the two of them more than enough inspiration to carry on their merry way.
"Will do Miss!" Alexa said, making a dash for the door, turning around to wave them all a quick goodbye.
Checking her phone once more, only to see nothing new but the next minute passing, Alexa was incredibly impatient while waiting for the text from her brother that they were almost to Postwick. Lying on the couch, she eventually decided on rewatching the match from earlier today.
"In the final match of this year's Championship, we have the returning Challenger Kent facing off against our very own Champion, Leon!" the announcer cried out, the two aforementioned opponents walking towards the center of the arena. Meeting at the middle, the two of them exchanged a few words, as per usual.
"It's great to see you here again, Kent." Leon said, giving him a smile.
"And it's wonderful to be in this position once more," Kent responded, "Too bad that it'll be the last time." As he finished his quip, parts of the audience roared in response.
"We'll just have to see if that's true, yeah?" Leon finished, turning around to walk to his placement. Kent began to take his own place too, placing a hand on his first pokéball-hope in his mind that this new team will be the one to beat his biggest challenge yet. Turning towards each other, Kent took the ball off of his belt, a rivalrous glare daggering at Leon, remaining at a side profile while looking at him.
"Pokémon Trainers! Please send out your first Pokémon!" The announcer declared. Leon was the first to the draw, deploying his familiar Aegislash. Kent followed up with his very own Pokémon, quickly deploying a Hatterene onto the field. Expectedly, this was a surprise to the crowd, but a sly grin crept onto Kent's face, before being quickly replaced with his typical poker face.
"Now what could you be planning?" Leon rhetorically inquired.
"Who knows?" Kent joked, shrugging at the Champion.
"Two familiar Pokémon faces are put out into the field! Kent's returning Hatterene is facing off against Leon's lead Aegislash! Now... let the battle begin!" The announcer cried, beginning the fight.
"Poppy! You know the plan!" Kent shouted, as his Hatterene, Poppy, grew a mischievous look on its face, a dark aura growing around it as it used Nasty Plot.
"Aegislash! Don't give it time! Go for a Shadow Ball!" Leon commanded, his Aegislash latching its shield onto its arm as it shot an incrementally growing ball out of its singular eye, approaching the Hatterene. The pink-wearing Pokémon made no attempt at dodging, taking the large-sized ball of ghost energy, with a surprisingly low amount of effect on it. Suddenly, the Hatterene's form shimmered, and in its place suddenly stood a dark figure-a Zoroark.
"What's this?!" the announcer shouted, "Kent's Hatterene was actually just a Zoroark! What a tricky play on his part!"
"La Luna! Time for a Daze!" Kent ordered. At his command, the Zoroark named La Luna dashed towards the Aegislash at alarming speeds, the dark aura from Nasty Plot still in effect, as they slammed their arms into the ground, blowing the sword and shield away from them. Unluckily for Kent, Leon's Aegislash managed to remain conscious from the hit, albeit disoriented.
"Aegislash, be ready to defend against the next attack!" Leon directed, most likely buying time to think.
"Go in for another-don't let up and be ready to counter attack them!" Kent ordered, his Zoroark dashing in while slamming against the King's Shield of Aegislash who had just changed form once more.
"Quick! Sacred Sword!" Leon commanded, wishing for the best as his Aegislash changed form once more.
"Counter it with Foul Play!" Kent declared, a twinge of worry creeping up onto his straight face. With the two Pokémon going in to trade blows, they both managed to hit at the same time, knocking each other on other sides of the arena with cries of pain. As the two trainers looked down at their Pokémon with worry, the announcer started counting up to three, which would declare them unfit for battle. At the third mark, both trainers recalled their Pokémon, ready to send out the next to battle. Leon threw out a Pokéball, releasing his Dragapult who proceeded to weave around in the air for a moment, as Kent threw out his own ball, releasing a daunting looking Obstagoon who crossed its arms over its large chest and snarled at the opposing Dragon-type.
"More familiar faces return! Kent's tough Obstagoon facing off against Leon's speedy Dragapult! Who will come out on top?!" the announcer shouted, barely audible over the audience's cheers.
"Velly! Start off strong with a Night Slash!" Kent ordered, his Obstagoon dashing off towards the ghostly dragon.
"Block its route off with a Flamethrower! Don't let it get close!" Leon cried out to his Dragapult. At his command, the dragon breathed flames towards the Obstagoon, slowing it down and lightly torching its fur coat. Then the Dreepy on its horns breathed flame towards the ground and curved it around itself, making a wall between itself and the overgrown racoon. This new wall halted the Obstagoon in its tracks, making Kent's command useless.
"Power through it! Obstruct!" Kent yelled, his arm raised up to shield his eyes from the bright light and heat. As he shouted the command out, the Obstagoon roared, the pressure of which swayed the flames on the ground, as it tightened its grip around itself and charged forth, breaking through the faltering flames and preparing itself to take a hit.
"The flames must've weakened him! Dragon Breath! Take advantage of this!" Leon commanded, his Dragapult swimming in the air towards the Obstagoon, it and its Dreepy all taking in a breath as they expelled three streams of bright purple flame at the Pokémon, swooping up and out of range as a strafing run method.
"You're durable! You can power through this! Night Slash!" Kent ordered his Obstagoon as it loosened its hold on itself, preparing to attack. The air seemed to cloud around the dark-type, as the darkness of Night Slash took effect once more, and his claws started to glow black. Dragapult remained hovering up about 30 feet into the air, preparing for the incoming attack. It wasn't prepared for the hulking racoon's alarming speed though, as in a single instant, Velly had jumped over 25 feet up, reaching up for the ethereal dragon's torso. Quickly regaining its caution, Dragapult attempted to make itself intangible, but failed to account for the dark energy radiating from the Obstagoon's claws, which cleaved through the veil of etherealness, leaving three gouge marks on the dragon's body.
"My what an alarming jump!" the announcer shouted as the Obstagoon braced itself for landing on the ground, making sure to not injure itself for its recklessness.
"Dragapult! Take advantage of its jump! Thunderbolt!" Leon called out to his dragon, watching as it weaved through the air, down about 10 feet, electricity crackling in its mouth and shooting out, weaving in the air towards the Obstagoon. Hearing the command, Velly twisted around in the air so that it could brace itself against the attack, vouching to take the harsh landing over a shocked pelt. Hitting the ground with a thud, the Obstagoon's defense faltered for just a moment, but not long enough for the electric attack to connect as it pulled its arms tighter, prepared for the hit. However, it didn't get off scot-free, as it took a harsh hit from the ground as well as the slightly defended thunderbolt. Getting back up and onto its feet, the Obstagoon glared at the Dragapult, who glided to the other side of the flame wall once more.
"Alright Velly! Let's try to trick them up! We've planned for this!" Kent directed, hoping that their plans would work out.
"Don't stick around to find out, take off!" Leon yelled, his Dragapult lifting away from the ground, still on its side of the wall. The Obstagoon repeated the similar process from before, Obstructing through the flames, but not slowing down as the Dragapult did a fly-by of more Flamethrower, renewing the decaying flame from where Velly had trampled. After it flew by, Velly released its guard, clouding itself once more in Night Slash's energy. There was one, almost unnoticeable difference this time through, as only one of the brutish Pokémon's claws glowed black, with the other remaining neutral. Velly leapt up once again, with Dragapult having shot off a missed Dragon Breath where Velly was preparing its attack. When the Obstagoon went to swipe at the dragon in the air, it prepared for this by twisting its body unnaturally, avoiding the swipe, but the energy didn't disperse, as Velly had used its unaffected claw to swipe at the ghost-type, which would've phased through anyway. Velly then swiped downwards with its dark-cloaked claw, crashing the frail ghost against the ground. The Obstagoon took this opportunity to crash land onto the Dragapult, giving it no time to recover as it snarled in its face and prepared another Night Slash, waiting for it to make a move first.
However, the energy of Night Slash dissipated as the announcer finished the second 3-count of the match. Raising its head to the sky, Velly roared a victorious cry to the sky, proceeding to walk back towards its trainer.
"Think you can fight one more round out there?" Kent inquired to his long-time partner. The only response that the Obstagoon used to answer was a toothy grin before walking back into the field.
"Champion Leon! Please send out your next Pokémon!"
Almost a third of the way through the recording, Alexa felt her phone vibrate and looked at the top of her screen, seeing a notification from her brother.
'Be there in 15.'
Even though she was already full of excitement from watching the battle, the text was like a jolt of electricity running through her spine. She's never been more excited for a text in her life. Quite literally jumping off the couch, she quickly grabbed her yellow hoodie off of the wall. Looking in the mirror, she briefly glanced at her outfit, fixing a wrinkle in her knitted, maroon sweater. She then dusted off the nothing that was on her white track pants that had a yellow stripe down the side. She slipped on her yellow casual sneakers over her black pair of socks. Taking one last look at herself, she fixed a part in her long white hair and gave herself a smile before turning away. She had a sneaking suspicion that she was forgetting something, but she ran for the front door anyway.
"Kent's almost here! I'm gonna go get Hop and meet him at the station." She shouted to her mother.
"Don't forget your bag!" Her mother reminded her. Silently cursing herself, she ran back to her room to grab the large brown bag, before running back to the door and dashing outside. She quickly made her way onto the path, getting sidetracked by guiding a wooloo away from tackling a fence gate down, and made her way to Hop's house. She knocked repeatedly until his mother answered the door, and requested that Hop followed her to her brother's-and hopefully Leon's-arrival. Eventually, Hop arrived at the door, dressed for going into town. Finally on their way to Wedgehurst, Alexa could barely contain her excitement.
"Oh this is just going to go smashing! I haven't seen him in three years, Hop-three years!" She exclaimed to him, energy barely concealed.
"Oh and don't you go forgettin' about Lee too!" Hop declared, "He's been so busy with bein' the Champion and all that, he hasn't been home in ages!" The two of them prattled on about which of their siblings they miss the most, steadily making their way closer to the town. By the time they got into town there was already a crowd surrounding the train station. Alexa's excitement swelled as she heard cheers from the large group. Running towards the group she tried to find a position to look over them, but being younger than most of the adults in the crowd, she wasn't tall enough to. Looking around, she found a pile of boxes, and, and so she took one of them to stand up on. Just on the other side she could see her brother's familiar golden blonde hair and blue suit, much more clean than it was after the Champion's fight. Right next to him, standing, was his partner ever since he started his journey, his Inteleon Womble. The two of them looked almost identical, what with Kent intentionally copying its looks. Both he and his Inteleon pointed their fingers to the sky and, with one of them pretending, shot to the sky. Inteleon's low-powered Snipe Shot still moved at an incredible speed as it shot just slow enough to where it didn't break the sound barrier. It detonated mid air, making a small moment of misty shower upon the crowd.
"Hello Wedgehurst! Your new Champion is here!" Kent announced to the crowd, eliciting another cheer from them. From behind Kent, Leon walked out, with a chuckle, speaking up as the crowd gave another cheer for their former Champion.
"And here I thought that I made dramatic entrances." Leon quipped, nudging Kent in the side a little. Kent dramatically winced before laughing and giving Leon a pat on the back.
"Hello Wedgehurst! Your new Citizen is here!" Leon cried out, imitating Kent's message, bringing the crowd and two Champions into a fit of laughter. After the laughter died down, Alexa cupped her hands to her mouth and called out to Kent.
"KENT~!" Suddenly, the crowd went silent as all eyes turned towards her. Like a Deerling in headlights, Alexa quickly froze up and looked away in shyness.
"There's my number-one fan! I was wondering when you'd show up!" Kent joked as the crowd made way for him to walk by. Leon followed suit, looking at her too, mostly in surprise, seeing Hop next to her and giving him a grin, which Hop returned. As her brother came closer, Alexa hopped off the box and dashed forward a bit as he exited the crowd, giving him a big hug.
"I would'a been here sooner if someone didn't take so long to grab his Wooloo." She said quickly, subtly glaring at Hop.
"Welcome back, Citizen Lee!" Hop cheered, joking with his older brother.
"Yeah, yeah, rub it in number-one fan." Leon laughed, walking towards his younger brother. As the two brothers started to have fun together, Alexa let her brother go from her death-grip hug.
"Arceus! Can't have me dying on my first day of the job Alexa!" He joked with her, giving her a small pat on the back.
"Oh! Sorry! I haven't seen you in so long so I thought that I'd hug you for every day I missed." Alexa smiled, guilt barely there.
"Sis, if it was possible for you to have hugged me harder for every day I haven't seen you then you could rival a Machamp in strength." Kent quipped to her, chuckling.
"Hey! Don't call me a-" Alexa started, getting cut off by Hop.
"Come on you guys! Bet I can beat all of you back home!" Hop said, quickly turning around and running off.
"Wha- Hey! That's unfair! No head starts!" Alexa shouted, running after him quickly.
"Heh, they're both pretty alike." Kent said, glancing at Leon. "Say, wanna say goodbye to your fans?"
"Oh do I?" Leon rhetorically questioned, turning towards the crowd. "This isn't really my place to say this anymore, but I hope you all get as strong as Kent here, and get to reclaim my place! Let's get a third resident here to be a Champion!" The crowd cheered as the two of them ran off towards home. Kent's Inteleon and Leon's Charizard followed soon after.
Running up the hill to home was a bit of a task for someone not too fit to running like Alexa, so she wound up last- even when Leon and Kent started way after her! Finally reaching Hop's house, Alexa put her hand on the stone wall, taking a breather. Still recovering, Alexa noticed Kent walk up towards her, with his Inteleon looking around behind him.
"I'm gonna go check in with Mum back home, I'll be back real quick!" He told her, giving her a pat on the back.
"Alrighty! Don't trip on any rocks!" Alexa called after him, earning herself a chuckle from Kent.
"Say, you breathin' enough over there?" Hop called out to her, about 10 feet away. Glaring over at him, Alexa sighed before standing upright and walking over.
"Plenty 'nuff I'd say." She said, "Maybe a bit too much breathin' for one race." Hop chuckled at her, quickly shifting his attention to Leon.
"Say, you've got a present don't cha?" Hop questioned excitedly, "C'mon out with it! I've been plenty patient enough getting here!" Leon chuckled at him, reaching into his pocket.
"Very well, very well, you got me. Here." He said, pulling a small object out of his pocket and placing it into Hop's suddenly outstretched hands. Lifting his hand off of Hop's, Alexa could see that it was a Pokéball. Hop clenched the ball in victory, giving out a nigh-silent Yes.
"Oh now this is just unfair to me, y'know? Hop's gone and got two Pokémon and I've yet to get one!" Alexa pouted.
"Now I wouldn't be too sure about that." Leon mentioned, looking behind Alexa towards the wall. Alexa noticed this and turned around. Standing there was Kent's Inteleon, clenching something in his hand. She walked towards it and it lifted it's hand up, ready to drop the object it was holding. She put her hand under the tall lizard's, and it dropped another red and white object into it. She gasped in excitement lightly jumping up and down, before turning back towards Womble.
"Is this from Kent?" she questioned it, watching as it gave her a nod of affirmation. Her excitement swelled once more as she ran towards Hop and gave him a high-five.
"Say, how 'bout we open them at the same time?" Hop asked, almost as excited as the girl next to him.
"Sounds like a sound deal to me!" She said, way too excited. Counting down from 3, both Alexa and Hop pressed the release switch at almost the same time, with a light coalescing into a Scorbunny on Alexa's side and a Grookey on Hop's side. The four of them all looked at each other with excitement in their eyes, as Alexa quickly scooped up the small rabbit and gave it a hug, which at first took it by surprise, but it hugged her back very fast. Hop leaned down and gave it a high-five, telling it how he's going to become the new Champion with it by his side. Suddenly, from behind her she could hear the noise of running feet.
"Damn it! I knew I wouldn't make it in time!" She heard from behind her and looking back she could see Kent running up, with his Inteleon snickering at him. "So? What'd you name her?"
"Her?" Alexa questioned, a little surprised. "Isn't that rare?"
"I'm more surprised that you haven't named it yet." Kent joked, "But yes, I was a little shocked too when my friend told me that."
"Your friend?" Alexa questioned him.
"Ah, right." Kent started, "So my friend's Pokémon had a litter of Scorbunny out of nowhere, and they were just giving them away to anyone that wanted some, seeing as they didn't necessarily need them anymore. I volunteered and that's where the little one you're holding now came from."
"Isn't that a little... suspicious? Where are they from anyway? Hammerlocke? That place is rich." she interrogated, concerned for her newfound friend. "And you're sure that they won't want them back?"
"I'm positive they won't want them back. They're from Motostoke, although they travel a lot so I have no clue where they could be right now. Suspicion-wise, I have no clue, but they've fought some pretty fair battles with me, and their Cinderace was right strong, so I trust them quite well." Kent affirmed, "So? What'll you name them? I'm sure they're as curious as I could be."
"Uh..." she started, changing her gaze from Kent to her new Scorbunny. She started taking in all of the small rabbit's features, from the tips of her ears to their paws. That's it! She thought, taking in the orange-red of the tips of it's ears. "Ruby... Yeah, Ruby!" At the mention of its new name, Ruby jumped in delight, and started to run around in circles leaving little scorch marks on the ground. It finally stopped running and jumped up, hugging Alexa's torso. The little Tackle that it used slightly knocked the wind out of her, as she fell over into the fast little thing's hug, returning it while making sure not to death-grip it.
"Looks like you two are getting along quite well." Kent chuckled to himself, as Hop and Leon laughed at the encounter, Hop quickly turning to his two Pokémon friends and making sure that all three of them would get along well.
"Alright boys and girl, about time to get this stuff wrapped up, it's dinner time." Hop's mother announced, quickly noticing the new guests. "Oh you made some new Pokémon friends! They can come eat with us too. I'll go and bring it out!" She then went back indoors to fetch the food.
"I'll go grab Mum, I'm sure she'd like to join us for dinner tonight." Kent said, dashing off towards home.
"Don't be late this time!" Alexa shouted after him, getting no response as he dashed off. She then heard his Inteleon, who had been standing off to the side for a while now, start to snicker. Looking, over at him, she gave Womble a little smile.
"All right! Come and eat some before Hop gets it all!" Hop's Mum called out to them, eliciting a 'Hey!' from Hop. They all laughed it off and enjoyed the rest of the fading light in the day. Alexa slept without blankets that night, her new best friend providing plenty of warmth.
And that was the first Chapter. Lots of things happened and even more to talk about!
I'm sorry if that fight scene with the champion was a bit lackluster, it's my first time ever documenting a fight, so I hope it wasn't too bad. Let me know anything to have improved it. Through this fight scene I also hoped to give a bit of insight into Kent's team, and who it consists of.
Also, I hope to not make this story a cut-and-paste of the game. I can perform this through actions such as making certain things more realistic, or adding lore in places that are super interesting but never explained. If you have any ideas or complaints about a section being too much like the games, please let me know, I can fix it lickity-split and also improve upon it.
I'm going to try and have Pokémon behave like how their 'Dex entries describe them, such as how I described that Inteleon held back it's power by a lot, so that it didn't shoot it's water at Mach 3, as it's Dex entry describes.
Also quick question: should I change the tags to better fit the Pokémon right now? Or should I keep them as is? I feel like it's a bit like lying to the audience if I advertise this as Cinderace, when it's currently a Scorbunny.