Hello one and all!
Aye I know that those who know me from my other story from RWBY that I haven't updated that in a long time and I have to be honest, I don't know if I am going to go back to that any time soon. My love for RWBY has vanished and while I am sitting an a new chapter for that story that just needs a bit of editing and touching up, I can't bring myself to go back to it. I love the story and I love the characters but I just don't want to give the people who follow that story something that I can't put 110% of my passion into.
Regardless, I was talked into writing something different by my sister (who also talked me into writing the Schnee Black Sheep) and since we have been showing our niece a lot of Pokemon games... Why not do a Pokemon story. Pokemon has been a huge part of our lives as kids and this story was wrote taking inspiration from playing the games with my sisters as kids.
So with that being said, I hope that we can all have a bit of fun with this story as I am intending to have a good laugh writing this.
Chapter One - First Step Out the Door
Waking up in pain is a sign of a bad day ahead of you. At least from what young ten year old Florence Saunders knew from experience since this morning, she had been awoken by the painful pecking of her partner Pokemon Torchic. This was not the first, nor would it be the last time that the Pokemon she called her best friend would peck her awake. Usually this action would lead to a long and terrible day. But Florence would not let that superstition get in her way today.
She was finally going to be starting her journey today as an officially licenced Pokemon trainer.
She would finally be able to travel around the world, going on one adventure after another, meeting new and wonderful Pokemon and people just like her two older siblings. Being the youngest sibling by a good number of years was hard. By the time she was born, her oldest sister had already started her own journey and Florence didn't have a lot of memories of her other than a voice over a phone call. Something that very rarely happened since they hardly every got the opportunity to speak since Victoria was always travelling somewhere to compete in a contest of some kind. While Florence was only ten years old, her eldest sister Victoria was turning twenty one in a couple of months.
Her other sibling, her brother Matthew, had always been the one to protect and support her until he had also left on his own journey seven years ago. He had been there for her first steps, had helped teach her some basic words, told her bedtime stories to lull her to sleep at night. Matthew also came home often, showing up every few months if he could but never went a year without seeing his family in Hoenn. She held a lot of close memories of her brother dear to her heart as he had been the most prominent male role model in her life after her parents divorced and was left in her mothers custody in Littleroot Town.
Florence knew what her father looked like but that was about it. When she thought about what a Father looked like she pictured her older brother, even though he was travelling around the world most of the time. He would tell stories of his travels around the world with his friends and Pokemon, leaving out the many troubles and perilous dangerous they overcame, only to go into great detail later when their mother wasn't listening.
It was these stories that convinced Florence that she wanted to follow in the footsteps of her older siblings and go on her own adventures one day. Even making her brother promise to one day show her the world of Pokemon and all of its wonders.
Today was that day.
"Torchic enough!" Florence begged as she fanned away the small Pokemon from her face. The small Pokemon stopped once he realised that Florence was awake and started chirping excitedly knowing full well that they were finally starting out on their journey together today. "I know we are leaving today, but did you seriously have to peck me half to death to remind me that?"
"Tor-torchic!"
"Yeah, yeah I know just please stop doing it."
"Torchic-tor-tor!" The chick annoyingly protested.
"What do you mean it's already ten thirty?" Florence asked confused. She reached over to her bedside table and found her clock, ripping the note her mother had left stuck to the front of it away to check the time. "Oh no! I'm going to be late!"
The yawn that escaped the boy's mouth could have been mistaken for a Snorlax after eating a full meal. Once again, Matthew Saunders did not get a minute of sleep last night. He had spent a long time travelling on foot, ferry, foot again, only to realise he had gotten on the wrong ferry and ended up in a totally different region than he had intended and then ran back to port to get on another ferry in the space of the last twenty four hours. But now that he was on the right boat he could finally rest up for a few hours until he arrived in Hoenn. Unlike his youngest sibling, he had originally grown up in Unova until the divorce and his mothered moved back to her home region of Hoenn. He only spent a couple of years in that region until he returned back to the Unova region to begin his own adventure with the friends he had made growing up there with his partner Pokemon Litwick.
Despite returning to his family residing in Hoenn, the region had always been mostly a mystery to him and he wanted it that way. He always knew that his youngest sibling would become a Pokemon trainer and the moment Florence begged him to go on an adventure together as a small child, he knew that he would never travel around that region until his sister could tag along with him, battling the gyms and challenging the league.
As a seventeen year old now, he had changed a lot over the years of travelling and battling and had lost the will to challenge another league after suffering another defeat two years ago. Since his retirement from challenging the leagues, he had taken a hobby in art, specifically in landscape photography and sketching. His passion now belonged to travelling around the world, capturing the beauty of the land, sky, seas and oceans in pictures and drawings. His work had gained some traction recently and after some persuasion from his mother, he would use this region he had yet to lay his eyes upon thoroughly to pursue a career as an artist.
Pulling out his Pokenav after a quick nap, he quickly pressed speedial one. Two rings later, Matthew got an answer.
"Hello darling." The soft sound of his mother's voice filled his ears.
"Hey Mom, how's things going?"
"I only have a few minutes, your sister is bouncing off the walls getting ready for your arrival and making a mess of the place."
"MOM! Where's my backpack?" Matthew could hear the voice of his sister shouting from another room frantically.
"It's where you left it five minutes ago sweetie, in the kitchen." His mother replied without breaking stride.
"Thanks!"
"Ever forgetful." Matthew chucked to himself before breaking out in a long yawn.
"When did you last sleep?" His Mother asked sternly.
"I err... I've been sleeping..."
"Matthew!"
"I've had about five hours in the last four days." Answered quickly expecting the wrath of his mother to rain down upon him for the umpteenth time about his lack of self care.
"For the last time Matt... You know what, forget it. I'm sick to death of telling you." His mother trialled off.
"Everything okay Mom?"
"Every one of you kids drive me up the damn wall. Victoria can never settle down in one place, you can't ever take a moment to rest and recuperate, and Florence is so forgetful that I worry she will forget I'm even here when she leaves." His Mother croaked out. "How can I expect you to look after your sister when you can't even take care of yourself?"
"Because she's more than capable of taking care of the both of us?" Matthew answered sarcastically.
"Don't be smart with me Matthew."
"Look Mom, the biggest upside to this whole thing is that we will be travelling at Florence's pace." Matthew started explaining calmly to his mother. "She would never be able to keep up at my pace, not even my friends could do that and they kept me from going weeks without taking a break now and then. This trip isn't for me to lead, it's hers. I'm just there to, you know... Keep her from killing herself."
"Inspiring words son." Matthew's mother sarcastically retorted.
"And you wonder where I get it from..."
"What was that?"
"Nothing, I was just saying that the ferry will be arriving in a about an hour. So if I continue on from there then I should meet up with Florence by the end of the day in... Where was it again..."
"Oldale Town. Honestly you are just as bad as your sister sometimes."
"You usually pick me up from port when I come home, how am I supposed to learn the lay of the land when I don't walk it?"
"Do you think she will be okay by herself?"
"She will be fine. I may be a bit on the late side since I missed my first ferry but she should make it to Oldnail town before dark if she sets off in the next hour."
"Oldale Town."
"Same thing." Matthew yawned out feeling the strong rope of sleep pulling him under once again. "Just remind her to stick to the path and she won't get into any trouble."
"Matthew... If your sister is anything like the rest of you kids, she will have made trouble for herself before she even steps foot out of Littleroot."
Saying goodbye to her mother and home had been a lot easier than Florence had expected. While she knew her mother was fighting back the urge to shed a tear at her departure, Florence was consumed by the thrill of world outside of her home town of Littleroot. After going over her check list one last time for her mother's sake, Florence had eventually set off and waved one last good bye heading out for route 101.
It had taken longer to get ready to leave than Florence had planned but after throwing on a pair of loose fitting cargo shorts and an orange hoodie she had wrapped her bring ginger hair, a gene she had gotten from her father, and threw a black cap on her head to keep the sun out of her emerald eyes. Looking in the mirror one last time reminded her that she had never been the most girly of girls but that was something she never really cared about.
While most of the girls in her class were more concerned with their appearances, Florence had always been for more interested in reading her survival guides and exploring the edge of route 101. Because of her constantly exploring alone, she never really made friends with anyone from her class. She could get along with most of them when necessary but never spent more time with the other kids than she needed to, as they would normally slow her down or get in the way of her minor expeditions.
With Torchic perched on her backpack enjoying the light bounce with each of Florence's footsteps, the pair were nearing the edge of the town where route 101 began when Florence recited her Mother's advice/warning "Stick to the path and you wont get into any trouble... Pfft! Where's the fun in that?"
Florence broke out into a comfortable run, over hyped at starting her first adventure.
In the Pokemon centre residing in Oldale Town, as the sun shot an orange glow over the horizon as it began to set for the day, Nurse Joy was startled by the sight of a teenager walking into her reception area looking like he hadn't slept in days if the bags under his dark emerald eyes held any truth. His boots were old and well worn, dirt stained his black cargo pants and clung to a dark grey jacket covering a red shirt with a black trim. The only thing that was clean on the teen was the bright red beanie that covered the boy's messy black hair.
What surprised her more was the Lampent hanging around the boy's neck as the trainers she met usually didn't leave ghost type Pokemon out of their Pokeballs let along hang around their neck. The Pokemon seemed to be guiding the boy over to the front desk when nurse Joy was standing behind. "Can I help you?" Nurse Joy asked pleasantly. "Perhaps you need a room for the night?"
"Yeah... That will be a good thing..." The boy yawned. "I'm actually hoping you can do a few extra things for me?"
"Of course!"
"Can you look over my Pokemon and make sure they are okay? They worked hard getting me here on time so they could really do with a good rest up under the care of a professional." The boy was seemingly scolded by the Lampent hanging around his neck about something the nurse couldn't translate. "So I took a few hours to sketch, big deal, we got here didn't we?" Again the Lampent scolded the boy. "You're just mad that you had to spend the entire ferry ride inside your Pokeball. Hopefully that wont be too much of an issue now, right Nurse?"
"Oh of course. Pokemon can freely stay out of their Pokeballs here so long as they behave accordingly." The nurse clarified sweetly. "How many Pokemon will you be leaving with us tonight?"
"Just two, Lampent here who's still a bit butt hurt over being in his ball for more than five minutes." Lampent used one of its arms to slap the boy over the back of his head. "See what I mean? And Rapidash, she pretty much ran us all the way here since I wasted a good chunk of time earlier. She worked really hard and deserves a good rest."
"I'll be sure to give them both a good rest." Nurse Joy smiled as she took the two Pokeballs from the boy. The Lampent hanging around the boy's shoulder remained where it was comfortable, a sight that seemed to remind the Nurse of something. "Aren't you that boy who made it to the Kanto League semi finals two years ago? What was your name again... Matthew?"
"Yeah that was me." The boy nodded confirming the Nurse's suspicion. "That was a tough battle but the better team won in the end. This guy is still mad about it." Matthew continued, pointing at the ghost type still hanging around his neck. "By the way, have you seen a young girl come in here today, about this tall, ginger and a Torchic bumbling around with her?"
"Hmm... I've seen a lot of new trainers come in today, but none fitting that description." Nurse Joy stated after taking a second to think further. "Sorry but I haven't seen the person you are looking for."
Matthew turned on the spot looking out of the window to watch the final moments of sunlight disappear. "She should be here by now... Damn it Sis..." Matthew mumbled before turning back to Nurse Joy. With a new life in his eyes, his voice came across far more sternly than he had intended but right now he didn't care. "Look after Rapidash, I'll be back in a bit."
Dashing out of the Pokemon centre, Matthew race towards route 101 while speaking with his partner. "Find her."
Lampent did not need any further instruction. The lantern Pokemon unwrapped itself from around Matthew's neck and flew up above the tree line and began his own search for the missing young girl.
"OKAY... SO MAYBE..." Florence Panted as she ran at full force carrying her partner in her arms through the trees of route 101 unable to find the path from which she had abandoned shortly after starting her journey. "INTERRUPTING A PACK OF POOCHYENA WHEN THEY WERE EATING WAS A BAD IDEA!"
After breaking away from the path, Florence had been walking through route 101 with very little issue to begin with until she had stumbled across a small pack of Poochyena snacking on some berries. Spotting an opportunity that she could not miss, she tossed an empty Pokeball at one of them in a effort to catch her very first Pokemon.
Turns out she needed a lot of practice.
She missed her intended target and the Pokeball smacked dead in the middle of the berry pile, ruining a good chunk of the Pokemon's food which did not sit well with them at all. Ever since then, Florence had been playing a very rough game of hide and seek with the pack, and during the many hours this had been going on for, she had ended up a little bit lost.
It was only when she realised that the sun was setting that she began to realise her mistake. She was thankful that she and her partner had a lot of stamina.
While they were running, Torchic would pop his head up over the shoulder of the girl carrying him in her arms to fire a barrage of ember attack at their pursuers, hoping to threaten them away. This tactic still had yet to show any effect on the pack in pursuit but Torchic would refuse to back down and continue to fire away desperately trying to protect his friend.
Darting around trees left and right, Florence was beginning to feel the strain from running for so long. Her legs were starting to ache and her eyes began to cloud over. Not only was she starting to become physically exhausted but her mental stamina was reaching the bottom of the barrel. She was never one to run away from much but under the circumstances she had no alternative strategy. Running would have to make do for now.
At least that was the plan.
When she lost her footing and stumbled, throwing out her hands to catch herself was instinctual. Only through sheer will did she manage to keep one arm wrapped tightly around her partner. So long as Torchic was safe, Florence would take whatever pain the tumble would bring.
What made matters worse was that as she fell forwards, the ground gave way under her feet sending her falling into a deep ditch. The first fall didn't hurt as much as she thought it would, the second cause her to yelp in pain but she kept a safe hold on Torchic who was startled but unhurt by the fall.
It was the third fall after bounding deeper into the ditch that caused her to scream in sharp pain.
Forgetting about the pursuit and taking a moment to collect herself, Florence loosened her arm to check on her partner. Torchic looked more shaken than hurt from that last decent but uninjured regardless. More so than could be said for Florence herself.
The second she tried to move she yelped once more as her right ankle sent a shocking surge of pain through her system. She managed to bring herself up to a sitting position before looking up to where she fell from. The fall couldn't have been more than twenty feet in total but the three stage bounce had left her body more battered than she realised. As well as being unable to move her right foot, she also felt a shallow pain in her left arm and a good portion of her back. The only good thing to come from the fall was that the Poochyena had remained at the lip of the ditch refusing to come down and finish the job the fall had started. After padding back and forth around the edge of what was basically a small cliff in Florence's eyes, they departed to find more food.
A small relief in a larger problem. How would she get out of this ditch when she was unable to move from the pain in her right ankle? Who would be this far from the path of route 101 to help her? Would her brother realise that she was hurt and come and find her once he arrived at Oldale?
"HELP!" Florence yelled out before the thoughts could consume her any more. "HELP!"
...
...
"HELP! PLEASE!"
...
...
Nothing. Only the sounds of the wind racing through the surrounding leaves answered her pleas. "Great start am I right?" She joked looking down at her partner who was slowly returning back to his chipper self. "Could be worse I guess... I mean, this is hardly any different than that time Matthew told me about the time he fell out of a tree and broke his leg. Although he did have his friends to help him out back then..."
Thinking back to the stories her brother had told her over the years, Florence began to realise that her brother had relied a lot on his friends during his adventures. No matter what trouble the three friends would end up in they would somehow make it through the day.
In a brief moment of self doubt, Florence wondered if she should have left with a group.
"Hello!"
A voice echoed through the ditch, it wasn't a voice Florence recognised but she didn't care. She had hoped that it would be her brother that would find her since he would be the only one to know she was missing after not arriving at the Pokemon centre in Oldale. But beggars cant be choosers. Someone had heard her calling out for help.