I do not own pokemon, any of its characters, etc. but I do own Dominic and most

of the people he meets on his journey! yup- ENJOY

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The sun was rising slowly over the eastern ocean as Dominic Jenkins awoke in

a tree.

Suddenly becoming aware of his surroundings, Dominic sat up with a start,

losing his balance and falling into a patch of undergrowth behind his house.

"Dom, are you out there?" came a voice from inside the house. A black haired

14 year old appeared, crawling out of a bush. Dominic was, again, in an

uncomfortable situation.

"Um, hey mom! Morning! Isn't it great out here? It's going to be a lovely

day, eh?"

"Dom? What are you doing? It's 6:45!" His mother stuck her head out the back

door. She had one of her stern looks on. "Dominic Jenkins! Were you sleeping out

here again?"

"Mom! How could you think that? I would never, ever do something like that!"

Dominic said. He stood up and started walking towards the door.

"Argh! Dominic! I thought I told you! There are swellow and, and Mrs. Sandros

said she spotted a muk in those woods! You could get hurt! You could get hurt,

Dominic!"

Dominic hated when his mother got like this. Ever since his father left, she

couldn't bear to think about what would happen if Dominic were hurt.

"Mom, I was sleeping in a tree. Swellow don't attack humans - that often -

and you know Mrs. Sandros makes up stories!"

"Okay, Dom, okay. As long as you're not hurt," said his mother. Dominic

breathed out a sigh of relief. He thought he would at least have gotten a week

of grounding. "But if I EVER catch you out here again, I swear!"

* * * * * * * * *

Fortree City was awake. Women were walking the streets with shopping bags,

men were going off to work, and the sun was shining intensely off the roof of

Fortree City Gym.

Set in the center of Hoenn's largest forest, all of the homes in Fortree

appeared to be treehouses, but were actually well furnished and spacious inside.

The Jenkins household was within walking distance of the pokecenter and the gym,

and Dominic loved sitting outside and watching trainers enter the gym in hopes

of winning. They never did.

Dominic opened his front door and stood on the porch. It was well into summer

already, and he couldn't bear to think about going back to school. Shielding his

eyes from the intense sun, he gazed across the city. Where was Cara? She said

she would be here ten minutes ago -

WHAM!

Dominic was down on his back, a girl with brown hair pulled into a ponytail

on top of him.

"Hey Dom! How's it goin? Good times, eh? I LOVE summer! Wanna go climb? Shop?

Jump? Wahoo!"

"Hey Cara. Calm down. It's too early. And get off me." They both got up and

looked at each other. Cara had huge brown eyes that matched her walnut colored

hair. It wasn't a surprise that she was this hyper - she was always like this,

ever since Dom could remember. Cara and Dom had been friends as long as he could

remember. She squinted at him, hard, and for a few seconds Dom was wondering if

she had gone blind, but then she spoke.

"Dom, can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"Do you ever wonder what it would be like to head out of Fortree and travel?

You know, becoming a trainer and all?" She stared at him, and for once Dom

realized she was serious.

"I've thought about it. I just, well, a little iffy about it.

"Is it because of, well, your dad?" she asked, shuffling her feet, and Dom

winced.

"Maybe. I just can't come to think of what it would be like if I met up with

Team Aqua, and he was there - it would be so, so weird, you know?"

She looked very apologetic. Cara knew the subject was off limits with Dom,

but for some reason her big mouth had just kept talking. Dom smiled at her, and

then tried to change the subject.

"Wanna look into those kecleon?

She nodded, smiling.

* * * * * * * * *

When Dominic was 12 his mom had sat down with him to tell him something she

said was very important. He found out that after his dad had left he joined Team

Aqua, and was now traveling Hoenn with them in their plan to expand the ocean.

Dominic and Cara sat in one of the few clearings in Fortree's surrounding

forest. They had decided to eat lunch here while trying to spot a wild kecleon,

or at least the muk Mrs. Sandros had claimed to have seen. As Dom took a bite of

his turkey sandwich, he was surprised by a break in the tranquillity.

"Dom?" He turned to look at her, unable to talk because of the large lump of

turkey in his throat. Cara understood, and continued.

"I think we should go. Together." He looked at her, suddenly very surprised.

A sudden breeze blew his dark hair around. He felt a chill run down his arms.

Was it getting cold or what?

"Go? Together?"

"You know what I'm talking about, Dom, I wanna leave this city and explore

the world! Don't you? Come on!

He felt small goose bumps pop up on his arms. At 13 the two had decided to

enroll at Pokemon Tech three years later, which would be very soon. Dom wanted

to be a journalist and Cara a Pokemon Professor. It seemed as if his vision of

their lives was suddenly shattered. Obviously Cara could tell.

"Dominic! Think! We're already 15, it's not that late! I have Surskit and you

have Electrike. They're not that advanced but we can train them! That's the fun

of it! We'll make friends, do great things, battle evil, you know?" Cara said.

She continued to ramble about doing great things for a couple minutes when

Dominic spoke up.

"Cara, my mom would never let me go. After dad left, she's been insane! You

know that."

"We'll leave today. You can leave your mom a note, saying you love her and

you only want the best for her. Mallory is already at Mossdeep Institute. She

knows how it feels to have a child leave!"

Dominic's sister Mallory had left two years ago and was now a junior at

Mossdeep Institute. When she had left mom had been depressed for at least three

days - what would she do if Dom left without even telling her?

"Well?"

"Cara! I can't! I just, I just can't." Dom lay back on the picnic blanket.

His bare arms, fairly muscular from swinging around from trees all his life,

were now covered in goose bumps. Cara looked over at him with a desperate look

on her face. She knew he was attractive, she always had, but she denied any

rumors of a crush she had on him.

"Dominic Jenkins, I'm leaving Fortree City at seven o'clock tonight, with or

without you. If you want to join me, meet me at the western road. If not, then

I'll miss you." She leaned over and gave him a hug, pecked him on the cheek, and

stood up, walking away and leaving Dominic alone to think about what to do with

his life.