Welcome to my Pokémon one-shot about one of the gym leaders of the Galar Region; the dark-type user, Piers. This one-shot is based on some fan-art I saw on the internet which reminded me of Ash and Pikachu from the anime series and I imagine that they probably had a similar start to their relationship.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, pokémon or the storyline in this one-shot. They all belong to Nintendo, Game Freak, The Pokémon Company, Oriental Light & Magic Inc, 4Kids Entertainment and TPCi. I would like to thank all of these companies for creating this amazing series as it made this one-shot possible. This one-shot is not a part of the canon storylines of the games and/or the series and should not be considered as such. I also do not own the artwork that inspired this one-shot nor do I own the artwork that inspired part of Piers' attire in this story. It belongs to the artists, Daheji and Waifuarts. I would also like to thank them for drawing this and inspiring this story. I am not making any money from any of this nor do I wish to. It is for entertainment purposes only.
Without further ado, please enjoy this little story of the humble beginnings of a gym leader and his starter Pokémon.
Zigzagoon: I choose you!
The Corviknight cab driver looked towards the skies as he took his passenger, a very worried ten-year-old boy from Spikemuth, to Wedgehurst. The boy's attire consisted of a white jumper over a magenta shirt, black trousers, grey socks and white trainers. Not the most unusual fashion choice but the cab driver had to admit the kid's spikey black and white hair was a bit strange. Must be some kind of new trend in Spikemuth, he thought as the clouds parted and Wedgehurst appeared in the distance. "Almost there, kid!" he called to the boy inside the cab. Unfortunately, this did nothing to calm the boy, who muttered something about a stupid Snorlax sleeping on the train tracks in Hammerlocke and that it was just his luck that the trains got cancelled because of it. Not that they were ever on time to begin with, the cab driver thought.
After half an hour, the steel/flying type pokémon-powered cab landed in Wedgehurst and the boy rushed out of the cab, stopping only to hand his fare to the cab driver. "Hey kid, do you even know where you're going?" the cab driver yelled. "Yeah, I'll be fine! Just keep the change, alright!" the boy said as he rushed off towards the Pokémon Research Lab. A little surprised by that last sentence, the cab driver shook his head in amused dismay. Kids these days, he thought to himself as he got back on his Corviknight and it took off back to Hammerlocke to wait for any more potential passengers.
Hurrying towards the research lab, the boy hoped beyond hope that he was not too late to get his first pokémon. Soon, the lab came into view and the boy ran to it as fast as his legs would carry him. Upon reaching the large building, he rushed through the door and crashed into another boy in a black t-shirt, a pink, blue and white jacket, dark-grey trousers, white socks and yellow and black trainers with long, purple hair who was also starting his journey. "Hey, watch where you're going! We could have gotten hurt!" the second boy complained as he got off the floor and picked up a red, white and black pokéball, dusting it off too before attaching it to his belt.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I was just in a hurry." the first boy explained timidly. Looking from the boy to an old woman in a yellow dress, pale grey tights, pink slippers and a lab coat, the second boy brightened up a little and said "It's okay, I'm just starting out too. So you're here to see Professor Magnolia, are ya?" Getting up, the first boy looked from his newfound acquaintance to the old Professor and back to the purple-haired boy again, nodding silently. "Well then, let me have the honour of introducing you." The purple-haired boy said, grabbing the first boy by the wrist and dragging him over as a red-haired girl in a yellow and green checkered dress with white tights and blue-green shoes walked down the steps of the lab's enormous library.
"Hey Professor, hey Sonia. There's someone here to see you." the boy said happily. "Well, it's very nice to meet you, young man." the Professor greeted warmly. "Sorry about Leon. He's always eager to help out new trainers." Sonia said to the boy sympathetically. "No harm in helping a future rival." Leon said with a huge smile before turning to the boy. "Go on, kid. No need to be shy. Say hello." he said to the boy encouragingly.
Looking nervously at the Professor, the boy gulped a little before speaking. "Hi, I'm Piers. I'm here for my first pokémon." he quickly blurted out. "Hmm, I see. Well, Piers, you're rather late." Professor Magnolia said, looking a little unimpressed with such tardiness. "I know and I'm sorry. You see, there was a Snorlax on the tracks so I had to get a cab here and..." he started to explain. "Wait, a cab? Where exactly are you from?" Sonia asked, confused by the hurried explanation. "Uh, Spikemuth." Piers replied nervously. "Oh, I see. That explains a lot." Sonia said, shrugging. "Even so, there have already been a lot of trainers coming here today from all over Galar. I don't know if I have any pokémon I can give you." the Professor told him. This sent Piers into a panic. "Please Professor! I gotta have a pokémon. I can't compete in the Galar League without one." he begged desperately.
As she looked at the new trainer, Sonia couldn't help but feel sorry for him. The boy sounded like he was willing to take a Magikarp if it meant he could start his journey. She had to do something. "Come on, Gran. There has to be something you can do. He can't have come all this way for nothing." she pleaded with her grandmother. "Yeah, Professor. Don't you have any pokémon left?" Leon asked, not wanting to be the last trainer starting his journey today.
Looking from Piers to her granddaughter and back again, Professor Magnolia sighed in defeat. Normally, she would have stood her ground and told a new trainer to go home and try again tomorrow but she had a feeling in her gut that this boy had a great future in pokémon training and she could never deny a request from her granddaughter. "Very well, follow me." she said, leading the three further into the lab, where the pokémon were kept.
Rushing past her to three pokéballs on a table, Piers immediately picked up a pokéball with a flame on it and said "Scorbunny's always a good choice. I'll choose this one." Throwing to release the fire-type rabbit inside, he was shocked when nothing emerged. "That pokémon was given to a trainer who came here this morning." the Professor explained. "Alright, then I choose Sobble." Piers said, grabbing a pokéball with a water drop on it and throwing it, looking disappointed when nothing appeared. "That was also given to a trainer who managed to arrive on time." she said bluntly as Piers grabbed a third pokéball with a leaf on it. "Alright, then it'll have to be Grookey." Piers said, throwing the ball and sighing sadly when the grass-type primate failed to come out. "I'm sorry but that pokémon's trainer left two hours ago." Professor Magnolia said as Piers looked at the ground sadly.
"Is that all, Gran?" Sonia asked, feeling more sorry for her new friend. "As a matter of fact, there is one more pokémon. I must warn you now though, this one can be a bit of a handful. I wouldn't normally give it to a new trainer but I have a feeling that young Piers here might be the right choice." the Professor replied optimistically, leading the three trainers over to a table, opening a cabinet and taking out a black, green and red pokéball with a dark type symbol on it.
"A dusk ball?" Sonia asked, confused as her grandmother opened the pokéball to reveal a raccoon/badger-like creature with black and white zigzagged fur and three white claws on each foot. The pokémon blinked it's red eyes, looking around it's surroundings. "Zigza!" it said happily, sitting down on the table and showing off it's long, pink tongue and sharp white teeth. "This pokémon is called a Zigzagoon." Professor Magnolia explained.
Piers looked at Zigzagoon with facination in his green eyes. He knew right at that moment that this was his pokémon. "Oh, it's so cute!" Sonia said excitedly. "Really? Looks kinda scary to me." Leon said, cautiously backing away. "It's perfect. Hi, Zigzagoon." Piers said happily as Zigzagoon jumped off the table and ran towards him, jumping into his arms. "Seems Zigzagoon loves you already." Sonia said, pleased that three trainers would be leaving her grandmother's lab instead of two.
Professor Magnolia looked nervously at the pokémon in Piers' arms. Clearly, none of these trainers knew what it meant when a Zigzagoon ran towards you. Noticing Zigzagoon's growing frustration, she was about to warn them when the inevitable happened and the dark-type pokémon bit it's new trainer's hand as he tried to pet it. "Ow! Hey, get off! What's the matter with you?!" Piers yelled, pulling his hand away from Zigzagoon. Eventually, after a short struggle, he managed to get the pokémon to let go, revealing four small, bleeding, pin-like bite marks just between his thumb and his index finger. "I'm sorry, Piers. I should have warned you sooner. When a Zigzagoon rushes towards a trainer or pokémon, it usually means it wants to fight. I recommend you keep it in it's pokéball if you don't want to end up battling every trainer or wild pokémon you run into." she said apologetically.
After Zigzagoon had been returned to it's pokéball and Piers' wounds were treated, the three trainers said goodbye to the Professor after being given their pokédexes and some pokéballs and left to begin their journey. Looking as they walked away, Professor Magnolia felt confident in her mind that all three of them would be destined to do great things in the future.
So that is how I think Piers and his Obstagoon met. It is kind of a rocky start to a relationship when the first thing a Pokémon does upon meeting it's trainer for first time is attack them.
I tried to be accurate with Galarian Zigzagoon's pokédex entry and to make the story different to how Ash and Pikachu met.
As mentioned above, the characters, pokémon and the storyline do not belong to me.
I hope you have enjoyed this one-shot.