I forgot to add a disclaimer last time. But everyone should know that I don't own Pokémon and I don't earn money writing this story.
Chapter 1 - At Any Price
Littleroot Town was mind-numbingly boring. There was literally nothing to do but wait for time to tick by. Jenny kicked at a stone that had the guts to lie in her way, as she slowly walked at the edge of the village, around noon a few weeks after the move. Why did it have to be this place? Why did they have to move at all? She still had no idea. Well, her mother probably thought she would do her a favor. Letting her escape from the memories or some such nonsense. Like that would make everything better. That incident had happened four years ago. She had long since accepted it and gotten over it. So, why now?
Staying in Viridian City had been just fine. It was still the home she had fond memories of, even after everything that had happened there. And if it really had been necessary to move, they could have just chosen a different place in Kanto. Surely, Cerulean City would have been far enough away? Jenny still didn't see the need to move to a completely different region. She had no acquaintances here and didn't know what kind of Pokémon lived here. She had seen a weird pink cat Pokémon and one with zigzag-striped fur, both owned by people in Littleroot, and caught glimpses of a black, vaguely dog-like looking one, when she had been looking through the trees of the forest from behind her window. That one had startled her a little. It hadn't looked very friendly.
However, more important than all this was the fact that she knew nothing about the gyms and Elite Four in this region. At home, she had spent hours and days obsessing over battle strategies against the various gym leaders. She would have used an electric or grass type Pokémon against Misty and a ground type against Surge. Maybe a Sandshrew or a fast Diglett that could keep up with his Raichu. The only one she hadn't been quite sure about was Green, the newest gym leader in Viridian. He was the only one not sticking to one type, after all. But even this obstacle probably wouldn't have posed a problem once she had a couple of decent fighters. In Hoenn, she had no clue what type of Pokémon the gym leaders were using in the first place. Heck, she didn't even know where the gyms were located! She would have to find out about that first. It was annoying.
Well, the first step was still getting a Pokémon and convincing her mother to let her go, but it couldn't hurt to be prepared. The earlier she got out of this little excuse of a town, the better. There was nothing special here that would get her anywhere. Oh, sure, they had a Pokémon laboratory, that stood apparently abandoned half the time. She had seen the professor exactly once, while he was rushing past her into the forest with a bag clutched under his arm. Weird guy. She guessed this was what you called a workaholic.
Brendan had more or less confirmed this, when she had asked him about it the second time he met her outside and insisted on talking to her. She usually avoided him, but she couldn't have her eyes everywhere, so he managed to catch her off guard that one time. Apparently, he also helped his father with his studies and was allowed to leave Littleroot Town on his own sometimes. She had tried not to look too envious, but he didn't notice anything anyway.
Just as she decided that her mother would probably be satisfied if she came back now, since she had just thrown her out to get some fresh air and not spend all freaking day outside, a loud noise caught her attention. She looked up to see if she could find the source. She couldn't see anything unusual around, but the sounds seemed to come from the forest. She ran over to where a small girl was standing next to a tree, peering into the woods right by the path.
"What's going on?" Jenny asked as she arrived next to her.
The girl turned to her, looking terrified. "I don't know! I think I heard someone cry for help!"
Jenny tried to look through the trees, but couldn't make out anything from where she was. "Well, go back into town and find someone to help!" she instructed the girl, who bolted the second she heard it. Jenny looked after her for a moment, and then turned back to the forest. She knew this was probably a stupid thing to do, but curiosity got the best of her. As quietly as she could, she went ahead, looking for the source of the noise.
She found it not far in. As she stepped around a large hedge, she saw a familiar brown haired man with a beard, wearing a lab coat. It was the professor, trying to hold one of the black-grey dog Pokémon off with a long stick. His right sleeve was torn and a little bloody. Apparently, the Pokémon had already managed to bite him. The second he saw her, he waved his free hand that had been gripping at the tree behind him, before pointing to his bag lying quite a distance away from him, behind the Pokémon.
"Thank God, you found me. You've got to help me! Quick, look through my bag, there are a few Pokémon in there. Use them to chase this Poochyena off!" he cried out to her.
She could feel herself shaking. This growling Pokémon–a Poochyena apparently–hardly looked harmless with its bared teeth and bristled fur. But this was not the time to think about something like that. She forced herself to move stiffly and go over to the bag to open it, trying to ignore the pounding of her heart and the paranoia that the feral thing would attack her as well and rip her to shreds. Sure enough, there were three Poké Balls, each one containing a Pokémon. Not only that; lying on top of a stack of papers and a clipboard, there was also a Pokédex. She had seen one of those before. Her father had owned an old model and let her browse through all the entries he had collected himself, back when he was a trainer. It was one of the most useful devices, when you wanted to travel through the countryside; because it could provide you with information on every kind of Pokémon you saw and caught. It would be especially helpful, if you had no clue about the region and the Pokémon inhabiting it...
"What are you doing? Hurry!" the professor urged her on, as the Poochyena managed to sink its teeth into the stick, shaking its head from side to side, so the professor had a hard time holding on to it.
Jenny's mind worked feverishly. She could use these Pokémon to fight the wild one off and feel like a real trainer for a minute. But if she took one and ran... That would be stealing. On the other hand, that guy was a professor. He probably had loads of Pokémon. Losing one would not hurt him. But that Poochyena might. If she did nothing, the professor would- No, there was the girl. She would probably be back with a real trainer in a second. Someone who could actually do something to help. It wasn't like Jenny had ever fought a single battle. There was nothing she could do anyway. She would just lose spectacularly and be torn apart as well, or make everything even worse by accidentally injuring the professor in the process.
The decision was made in a split second. She grabbed one of the Poké Balls as well as the Pokédex and bolted.
She heard a startled "Hey, where are you going? Come back!", but just kept on running. It was a stupid idea, something inside of her said. Another part of her screamed at her to go back and help the professor. Jenny ignored both. As fast as she could, she raced through the forest, dodging trees and jumping over roots sticking out of the ground, until she had to stop and catch her breath. Her lungs were burning, her legs shaking and her hands slick with sweat. It was a miracle she hadn't lost Poké Ball and Pokédex on the way.
Only then, leaning against the rough bark of a tree and trying to calm her heart that threatened to break right out of her chest, did she think about what she just did. She stole a Pokémon from a professor and left him behind, defenseless against a wild monster. Panic was trying to claw its way into her consciousness, but she battled it down with great effort. Calm down. She couldn't effort to freak out now. The girl had gotten someone to save him. She must have. What was done couldn't be changed anymore anyway. She had to make the best of the current situation.
Yes, her mother would be furious, but that would probably be her smallest problem. Technically, she was a criminal for not helping someone in danger and even robbing him. There would most likely be people looking for her, so she would have to leave immediately and not come back. If they caught her, she would never be able to leave this prison of a town ever again. Maybe they would even imprison her for real. Not a very pleasant thought. Well, the upside was, she finally had a Pokémon, even though she had no idea what kind, yet.
Jenny raised the red and white capsule to look at it. There was no indication about what it contained. Well, that didn't matter, did it? She had a Pokémon. She could finally go on a journey to fulfill her dream. Hers and Sarah's. She never expected this to happen, but who was she to complain about a once in a lifetime chance like that? If she had been one of the more simple minded, she would have called it fate. As it was, Jenny did not believe in fate and everyone who did was an idiot. Nothing happened for a specific reason and every lucky opportunity was just that. Luck. You either took it or you wasted it. Nothing in this world came for free, so you had to take it onto yourself to make the best of your life. And that was just what she had done. Nothing more, nothing less.
It was unfortunate that the professor had drawn the short straw, but this was just his own bad luck. If she hadn't been there, nobody would have stolen his stuff, but nobody would have sent the girl to get help, either. So, that probably evened things out a bit. With her guilty conscience calmed a little, she turned her attention to the Poké Ball in her hand. Well, before she could go on, she had to find out what kind of Pokémon she actually had. It was time to reveal its secret.
She gripped the round object tightly, preparing herself for what was to come, before throwing it to the ground. A bright light appeared that took the shape of a bipedal creature a moment later. She watched as the light dimmed, revealing a green reptilian creature with a red belly and a thick, leafy tail that was parted down the middle. It looked around at its surroundings for a second, before its huge yellow eyes with the slitted pupils settled on her, gazing at her calmly, maybe a little curiously.
Jenny had never seen a Pokémon like this before, but from its appearance and color, she estimated it to be a grass type. That was okay, she guessed. Most grass types were not very scary, but either cute, elegant or just plain beautiful. At the very least, it was smaller than she was, so that was a plus. How it did in battle would remain to be seen. Just as it tilted its head a bit, still holding eye contact with her, she remembered the other object still in her hand.
Quickly she opened up the Pokédex, which immediately sprang to action. A small light lit up on the upper half, while the screen provided her with information about the creature in front of her. "A Treecko, huh?" she asked, reading its name. She had been right with her guess. Treecko, the Wood Gecko Pokémon, was indeed a grass type. This one was male and it even knew the attack Absorb on top of the normal moves Pound and Leer. The Pokédex also showed a short description of the species: Treecko is cool, calm, and collected–it never panics under any situation. If a bigger foe were to glare at this Pokémon, it would glare right back without conceding an inch of ground.
"Perfect," she mumbled. It really was her lucky day. This Pokémon–this Treecko–would surely prove to be useful. Her quest could begin.