Chapter Five: Dawning of a New Age
AN/: Okay to start everything out this is basically a rewritten version of the chapter First Start from my old version. I gave it a new name and there will be a lot of new stuff probably in it. Of course I'm working hard to get this story to be a little longer and more detailed so bear with me through this. And now without further ado, I bring to you chapter five: Dawning of a New Age.
It is a bright day in Setting Sun City in the Yoroshii region. The sun is shining, the air is crisp, and there is a surprising alarm of panic.
A ten year old auburn haired girl with green eyes groans and buries her head in her pillow as the sun comes streaming in it. A sudden beeping sound fills the air and she picks up her alarm clock, staring at the numbers trying to focus her eyes. When her eyes focus she lets out a startled cry.
"AH! I'm going to miss the ship!" The girl groans jumping out of bed.
She flicks open her knapsack and packs it with some spare clothes and nightwear. She then proceeds to stick in it a journal and various other items that will prove useful to her journey.
She hurriedly gets dressed in a light blue shirt with dark blue cuffs at the sleeves, light blue jeans with dark denim cuffs and light blue runners with dark blue spots. She yanks her knapsack onto her shoulders and heads down the hall to the dining room, a dark denim jean jacket hanging limply over her shoulder. Her younger sister, age seven, sits at the table, chuckling lightly at her elder sister.
The auburn haired girl glares down at her sister shifting the jacket over her shoulder.
"You do realize how much this journey means to me and you decide to let me sleep on." The older girl snaps.
"Sorry Heather. I just couldn't wake you. You're not exactly the lightest sleeper there is. Oh and Heather, happy birthday." The younger sister mumbles.
Rose Flower, youngest daughter of the old professor of Yoroshii, is dressed in a pink shirt saying "attitude is a part of me", a jean skirt, and pink and white runners. Her pink hair is pulled back in a braid touching just slightly below her shoulders. Her baby blue eyes gleam in the sunlight that shines through the windows.
Heather rolls her eyes and packs some trail mix into her knapsack. She casually stores a pot and some other food that's sure to keep in the knapsack as well.
"What's that for? You can't cook worth crap," Rose says staring at the contents of Heather's bag.
"Will you bite me? I've got a lot to worry about right now." Heather mumbles as she places six empty Pokéballs her brother Lance gave her for her journey into a flap of her knapsack and zips it shut.
"Oh yeah. I called Molly and her dad. You're going with them until I'm through with my journey. Lance couldn't come babysit you since he's still training to be the top Dragon Master." Heather continues as she eats a quick breakfast, a ham sandwich.
"I wonder what Pokémon you'll catch to be your starter." Rose says, curiosity in her eyes.
"We'll see." Heather mumbles as she gulps down a glass of milk and starts the dishwasher.
The door opens and a six year old Molly Hale -Heather and Rose's step-sister- walks in.
"Dad's waiting for us Rose," Molly says as she glances up at Heather.
Molly Hale, daughter of Professor Spencer Hale, has brown hair and blue eyes. Her hair's pulled up into two squiggled bunches tied with blue ribbons. A white dress with ruffles at the ends and a blue ribbon in the center as well as white socks and pink shoes make up her attire.
Heather smiles down at her step-sister. "It sure has been a while Molly. You're growing up quite a bit." Heather announces.
"That I am. Only four more years before I can get my first Pokémon." Molly clasps her hands together eagerly, daydreaming of the day she'll get her first Pokémon.
"We'll see." Heather smiles ruffling the young girl's hair, careful not to mess it up.
Eevee ambles into the room and crouches in a sitting position beside Heather. Molly bends down and scratches its chin and behind its ears. Eevee makes a cooing noise in happiness. Molly giggles and stands beside Rose.
"What do you want?" Heather asks coyly, glancing down at Eevee.
[I want to come with you on your journey. I'll be able to help you through it.] Eevee shrugs her narrow shoulders.
"I suppose you can join me in that case." Heather pats the young Eevee's head as it climbs onto her shoulder enthusiastically.
Heather walks over to a cabinet and pulls out a couple jars of Eevee brand Pokéfood. She tucks the jars in her side pockets and leans on the counter.
"Well, we're going to leave now," Molly says gripping Rose's hand and pulling her towards a car where her father, Spencer Hale is waiting.
"Keep in touch Heather." Rose grins. "Show us what you chose for your starter when you get a Pokémon."
"I will. We're lucky Lance is going to come home and drop off the rent occasionally, that way we can keep our house while we're on our journey. He said he's going to take a break sometime and build a giant pen so our Pokémon can roam freely around the house." Heather explains smiling.
"Yay. I can't wait!" Rose grins.
Heather waves them off as she walks to the port to the west of her house. She's just now starting her first Pokémon journey in the Kanto region.
Eevee grips Heather's shoulders as they enter the ship, which speeds the short distance to Kanto, just south of Yoroshii. (Okay I'll admit it. I'm lazy. I don't feel like typing a ride there. It'd be boring anyway as I've never been on a ship and don't know what it'd feel like. I guess I could imagine but you guys have imagination to so I'll let you use that. Lol)
Heather opens her knapsack and pulls out a thick, leather bound journal with an Eevee etched on the front and turns to the first page. She writes October 7th, 2003 into her notebook. It was a gift from Lance and Rose on her 8th birthday. They told her it'd be great if she wrote about her experiences in it to show her younger siblings when she returned from Kanto. Heather flips the book shut and packs it away in her knapsack.
Turning to a small mirror hanging on the ship she stares at the necklace around her neck. A leather strap that's black with gold lettering reading Wilt. Heather smiles as she touches the Pokéball on the end of it mumbling a soft "father".
"Viridian City, Kanto." The ferry captain calls as Heather grabs her things; Eevee settling on her knapsack.
Heather cautiously makes her way to the front of the ship bidding the captain farewell. She jumps down the steps and takes a deep breath of air. This is it. Here she is in Kanto. She is ready and waiting for her first Pokémon and the road ahead of her.
Eagerly Heather scans her surroundings. There is a Pokémon Center in the middle of the town. A mart sits somewhat behind that. To the north is a gym. She shrugs and makes her way to a clearing to the west of the town. There are trees surrounding the area making it almost secluded.
"Hello? Anybody out there?" Heather calls as she makes her way between two towering trees. She walks along under the canopy of trees tossing her head back and forth in search of a Pokémon of some sort. She relentlessly turns back, about ready to give up hope, when a cry rings through her ears.
[Help me! Somebody. Anybody. Help me!] Heather turns back around towards the source of the cry to find three men with ropes glaring down at a bruised Growlithe. The pup cries out again, an almost desperate cry as the ropes are flung at him, locking around his body.
"Hey leave that Growlithe alone! What's he to you?" Heather snarls as she steps into the clearing, her arms crossed tightly in front of her waist.
The men smirk and make their way towards her.
"This here Growlithe? It's too big to be normal. This Growlithe is abnormally large. Look at it girlie. See how big it is? It comes up to hour hips when it stands on two legs." One man mutters sending a sharp kick to the Growlithe's side.
"Besides," Another man starts, clearing his throat. "It escaped us before when we fought to try and clone it."
"There's no way I'm letting you take that Growlithe." Heather growls.
"Such small talk for such a pathetic looking girl. I bet you don't even have a Pokémon." The third man mumbles.
"I do so. I've go this here Eevee," Heather says. She was going to mention the purple and white Pokéball on her belt but she decided against it. These men seemed to be after rare Pokémon after all, and for all she knew what Lance had given her was rare.
"What good is that runt? It's just a tiny speck in this world." The first man laughs. He picks up the Growlithe by the rope around its neck and dangles it, the rope tightening instantly.
"She's a good battler." Heather shouts angrily.
"Well we'll just have to see about that." The second man laughs as he holds up a Pokéball. "Let's have a battle to see who keeps that Growlithe."
"Gladly." Heather hisses. She picks Eevee up from her backpack and sets her on the ground. The Pokémon stands erect on her side of the field.
"Go." The man shouts coldheartedly. A pitch black Pokéball snaps open on his side of the field and a Marowak with a dark aura surrounding it appears. "Rip it to shreds."
[Gladly.] The Pokémon says. A cold, shuddering laugh echoes from its throat as it swings its bone around in the palm of its hands.
[Heather. I'm really scared. I'm weak to fighting and ground types.] Eevee cries shaking.
"I believe in you Eevee." Heather looks up at the sky and her eyes sparkle maliciously. The sun is beating down harsh in the field.
[Maybe you believe in me but I don't believe in myself.] Eevee whimpers burying her head in her paws.
"Eevee stop being a coward. I have faith in you." Heather shouts.
[Y. . . you do?]
"Yes. I know you can do it. Show them what you're made of. Remember the promise you made to father when he was alive." Heather beams.
[The promise? Oh right. I promised him I'd protect you no matter what. That's right. I'll protect you.] Eevee shouts letting out a menacing growl as the sun shines on her velvety coat. A white light surrounds Eevee and its form begins to change.
She changes shape. Instead of looking like a fox she looks more like a lean cat with lavender fur. She grows long ears with long whisker-like tufts of fur below them. A red gem decorates her forehead. Her eyes are dark purple, pupil-less with white irises and purple scleras. Her tail comes into a fork.
"Espy. That will be your name." Heather calls.
Espy nods her regal head and springs up in the air.
[I'm ready when you are Heather.]
"Espy use Psychic." Heather calls.
Espy's gem glows and a powerful beam of rainbow energy shoots out, enveloping the confused Marowak who cringes in dazed horror.
"Get up and use Bone Rush." Its owner shouts.
[Here I come.] Marowak launches the bone in its hands into the air. Catching it he runs back and strikes Espy in a blind fury.
"Espy hold tough. Teleport." Heather calls.
The purple cat vanishes as soon as the bone leaves a mark on its thigh.
[Come out come out wherever you are.] Marowak calls menacingly.
Espy appears and surrounds Marowak in a blue aura. The cat flings the skull Pokémon far away. Marowak flies into a tree. When it can finally clear its mind it clutches its head as sharp pains run through it.
[I'll make you pay for what you've done.] Espy shouts.
Marowak is once again plucked from the ground, this time slamming into its owner's chest throwing them both back a ways.
[That's all she wrote.] Espy smirks.
Heather laughs in response to Espy's thoughts. Espy yawns and crouches on the ground licking at the wound Marowak made on her thigh.
"Darn." The first man groans looking pitifully at his comrades.
The guy who was just loading the Growlithe back into the van snarls and pulls it out spitefully.
"We'll get you girlie. . . if it's the last thing we do." He yells as the men get into the van after pulling their fallen partner in with them, the fallen one confining his dark Pokémon to its ball.
The men flee the scene as Heather walks over to the large Growlithe.
[You. . . did you come to save me?] The Growlithe asks, weakly picking up its head as Heather slides the ropes off it.
"Yes. I heard your cries of help. My name's Heather. I'm a new trainer that was genetically challenged, which led to my becoming a "Pokémorph"." Heather remarks.
[Thank you so much. I owe you greatly. How can I ever repay you?] The Growlithe asks with a lopsided grin, licking Heather's hand.
Heather studies him over. The Growlithe is definitely larger than an average Growlithe. His cream colored tufts of fur are covered in dirt and instead of black markings he has reddish brown ones from the attempt at being cloned.
"You can repay me. . . by joining my team. I need a starter Pokémon. Espy," Heather points with her thumb and index finger "doesn't really count. She's more a member of the family Pokémon."
[I will do my best to prove worthy unto you.] Growlithe clambers to his feet and sits patiently beside her.
Heather's fingers work soothingly over the Growlithe's thick, matted fur.
"We'll start with giving you a nice therapeutic bath." Heather says as she looks around and points to a lake.
[As much as I don't like that idea I suppose it can't hurt. I'm slightly used to water. You'll just have to hold me up cause it looks deep.] The Growlithe announces as they stroll to the water.
"Deal." Heather announces. Heather opens her knapsack and pulls out a wooden brush, a strawberry (requested by my friend) scented shampoo, and something that the Pokémon don't recognize.
[What's that?] Espy asks sniffing it.
"A floaty inner-tube thing." Heather shrugs and blows the ring like object up. Then she tosses it into the water.
Heather lifts the large puppy into the inner-tube.
[Why did you have one of those?] Espy asks.
"I don't know. When I was little I had ideas of teaching you to swim so I had dad buy it." Heather laughs as Espy rolls her eyes.
Heather dips her hands in the cool water and lathers some of the strawberry shampoo into the Growlithe's fur rubbing it soothingly over it. Growlithe wags his tail happily. Heather instructs him to close his eyes and rubs it around his face. She continues until he's covered in shampoo and Espy's popping the bubbles with her Tail Whip.
"On the count of three I'm going to dunk you down and then bring you back up." Heather says and then counts. As she hits three she pushes the dog under the water and brings him back up placing him on the dry land.
[Growlithe?] Espy asks staring at the soggy creature in front of her.
With an mph sound the Growlithe swishes his head sending water everywhere. His fluffy tuft of fur on the top of his head covering his eyes from wetness. Laughing, Heather takes a towel out and begins drying the dog taking a comb and the wooden brush and grooming him. Heather bows her head and sniffs his clean fur.
"You smell really nice now. Much better than when those men had you." Heather smiles.
[Thanks. That makes me feel good.] Growlithe says with smile.
"No problem. Now you wanna be caught?" Heather asks.
Growlithe nods. Heather detaches a Pokéball from her waist in a matter of minutes. A gold and black Pokéball, that, on further inspection, is in fact a Luxury Ball. With a flick of her wrist and a shout of the words "Go Pokéball." Heather's sphere sails through the air, locking on its target and confirming capture.
"I caught me a Growlithe." Heather cries. She cuddles the ball close to her chest before, rather curiously, throwing all her Pokéballs in the air.
Growlithe comes out in a flurry of wiggling, wagging fur.
The mystery Pokémon from the purple and white ball majestically sails out and Heather's eyes increase to the size of obnoxiously large saucers. For what has come from the ball is a purple dragon with a white body and white wing-like horns; a black dot in the center of its forehead and a white heart around the black jewel. It's a Dratini of a special kind.
Heather grins as she wraps her arms around the dragon as it coos in affection. Petting its head she whips out her Pokédex to get some info on it even though she's seen her brother's Dratini plenty of times.
Dratini the dragon Pokémon. This Pokémon is full of life energy. At birth it is fairly large and continues to grow larger at a steady pace. It sheds its skin overtime.
Heather picks up its Pokéball about ready to close it when a piece of paper flutters to the ground. Picking it up curiously, Heather begins reading the writing scrawled on it.
Heather,
If you are reading this you must finally have come of age to have a Pokémon. It appears that you are growing up little sister. I caught that Dratini on a remote island in Kanto, one that nobody's ever heard of nobody will ever know of unless I decide to one day tell you about it. There every Dratini was of a different color than blue. They weren't shiny of course, I've encountered quite a few shiny Dratini in my lifetime. These Dratini were different. Some were black and some were golden like their evolved form Dragonite. It was pretty cool. That Dratini that I gave you? He was special. He was the only one of his kind there. If I told you the whereabouts of those Dratini it's possible that somehow a team of bandits could find out and harm them. Well, take care and I'll be expecting to see your journal when you're through with Kanto.
P.S. That Dratini will obey you cause I'm not exactly its owner considering I caught him especially for you.
Your loving brother,
Lance
Heather smiles after reading the paper. She sticks it inside her pocket and begins stroking her Dratini's chin. It coos again and rubs against her leg.
"I'll call you Drago." Heather says as she rubs his head.
Purring slightly in content, the dragon nods its head as Heather returns him to her Pokéball.
Heather slides her Pokédex into her jean jacket pocket putting it on. Her and her Pokémon collect firewood for the dreary night. None noticing the pair of eyes that had been watching them all through the day and night.
As Heather sits by the fire that her Growlithe started, she brings out her journal flipping it to continue her diary entry.
Dear Journal October 7th, 2003
I am writing this in regards to today, my birthday. I've officially turned 10 years old and have started my journey. I guess you could say my starter Pokémon more or less just came to me. He's quite an odd little fellow. I started my journey with a Growlithe, but not just any Growlithe. No. He was taken hostage by a group of thieves dressed all in black. He's larger than your average Growlithe. An average Growlithe is 2'4" as my Pokédex described. He is closer to 3'6". When standing on his rear legs he comes clean up to my thigh. How weird is that? He is incredibly fast and brave as well as strong. I'm thinking of naming all my Pokémon.
Well what do you think of that? Pretty cool huh? I still need to think of a name for the little guy. Oh yeah and instead of black markings he has reddish-brown ones due to the fact the men who captured him tried to clone him. When I found him he was badly wounded and I had to fight one of the men when to get him. Espy, our once was family Eevee now is my loyal Espeon, says the aura of the Pokémon the "trainer" had was pitch black with tiny specks of purple. She says he was dark and would've killed us had she not defeated him.
I finally go to find out the mystery Pokémon that Lancelot gave me. Turns out it was a really rare Dratini. He's dark purple with a white belly and a black gem on his forehead. Around the black gem is a pure white heart. Of course his wing-like horns are white also. He's pretty cool. I named him Drago. I know my brother's name's Lance and he prefers to go by that, vaguely detesting the name our parents gave him, but deep down I think he really doesn't care. Especially considering us siblings are the only family we got besides our step-father whom we get along with fairly okay but would rather not live with. He's a professor also and it reminds us greatly of our father and all he did. Besides, I mean who doesn't expect these things from flesh and blood?
Anyway Espy's the first Pokémon I've ever used in battle, even back when me and Lance challenged each other in a rivalry like battle. Judging by how reluctant she is to leave my side, I think she'd rather be my Pokémon than our family pet. She gets to see the world now and she gets to show herself in battle. Besides the promise she made to our father keeps her pinned to me like blades on a fan. I'm curious to think what my next Pokémon will be. I've always thought about all the Pokémon out there and can't come to a decision on what I like best. They will all make a difference in my world. Every last one of them.
So I'm writing this on a heavy, high spirited note. My entry's going to be long seeing as I clearly have no life. I hardly regret my eighth birthday when my parents passed away and left me and Lance in charge of Rose. I mean don't get me wrong I miss them everyday. It's just since their death we've become closer as a family. Rose faintly remembers mom and dad but I remember them clearly. The way they walked, talked, their scent, their appearance. I'm sure it has something, probably everything, to do with me being a Pokémorph. Well. . . regrettably this is all I can write for tonight for my brain is not clear enough to think. I cannot wait to see what my next Pokémon shall be. Until tomorrow.
Heather
Heather leans back after flipping her notebook shut and placing it back into her backpack. Sleepily she shuts her eyes and falls asleep, her Pokémon cuddling around her to lend her every bit of warmth they can.
Me: Yup. That's how Heather got her first Pokémon. Probably wasn't a lot of angst in that chapter... I hope. I wanted a little Heather/Pokémon bonding. I definitely changed some stuff. She no longer has a Pokémon I made up as a gift from Lance. She now has a Dratini cause I felt like changing it.
Ash: When are you getting a human traveling partner?
Me: What is this guess-and-tell? I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I'll add in traveling partners soon.
Ash: Got it.
Me: I'm thinking about adding in OCs. I might add a couple mostly being mine since I'm only using one other person's if she still wants to. I'm going to change some things though... so we'll see.
Ash and Yukio: You know what to do.
Me: That's right. Review. Okay someone requested to see more Heather and Ash traveling. I will do this. Since Misty's been one of the characters I've barely liked in Pokémon Ash and Heather will be traveling through Johto together. How's that sound?
Also I've got some of the finishing touches on my new website for this story http:/ bhpd . Proboards . Com (without the spaces and capital letters obviously). So go and register there if you'd like. :3
I'm going to try to post the first two-three chapters on the website by next Wednesday (which is when I start school.) So hopefully I can accomplish that.
Now you know what to do. Go find a purple button, click it, and leave some feedback for me and my story please and thanks.