*Chapter One: Invitation*

Fourteen Years Later…

Cerulean City Pokémon Center, Kanto

9:00 a.m.

Odette curiously flipped open the newspaper and her crimson eyes scanned over the latest story about Oak's famous Pokedexholders. She sat in one of the plush, blue chairs that scattered around the lobby of Cerulean City's Pokémon Center, legs crossed and nose buried in the article.

The Center was busy as always as Pokémon trainers entered and exited the building. The automatic doors flew open and closed continuously, allowing trainers to dash in with their injured Pokémon.

As chaotic and crowded as it may seem, the Pokémon Center always had a relaxed atmosphere that can calm just about any raging Pokémon.

That is one of the things Odette loves about her home. She looked up from the newspaper and watched a young, ambitious trainer scramble into the Center carrying a fainted Bellosum.

Lost to Misty again… Odette thought sadly. She put her reading material down and got up from her sitting position. She stretched her stiff arms, having reclined on the couch all morning. Looking at the Bellosum with worry, Odette approached the trainer who was anxiously looking for Nurse Joy.

The nurse had gone to the emergency room to work on a Pidgey with a broken wing, and no one was behind the counter except a lone Chansey desperately trying to take all of the fainted Pokémon that trainers were shoving in its face. "Chan! See!" the pink Pokémon cried to Odette.

Odette decided that it was time to help the poor egg Pokémon and took her place behind the counter. She got a bullhorn from underneath the desk, held it to her mouth, and stood on a chair. "Attention all trainers," she said, her voice echoing through the lobby. "Nurse Joy has something to take care of at this time. If you will all get in an orderly line, I will be happy to heal your Pokémon in her place."

"Chansey!" Chansey added cheerfully.

The trainers slowly shuffled into a line and waited impatiently.

Odette smiled with satisfaction. "Much better." She took the pokeballs from the first kid in line and set them on the healing platform.

Seconds later, the large screen above the platform lit up, signaling that the Pokémon are healthy again.

"Thanks for coming!" she called to the trainer like Nurse Joy always did.

This process continued for a few minutes until all the young trainers were happy again with their wonderful Pokémon friends.

Odette always felt joyful seeing a Pokémon with a kind and caring master. It makes her heart warm, and there are times she just can't stop smiling because of it.

Nurse Joy came out of the back room, having finished treating Pidgey's broken wing. She looked around and noticed that the Pokémon Center was emptier now. The nurse let out a sigh of relief knowing that she would have a break. "What would I do without you, Odette?" she looked at the teenager with gratitude.

Odette smiled at the woman who took care of her for fourteen years. "I'm always glad to help, Nurse Joy."

"Why don't you go feed your Pokémon their breakfast, dear," Joy suggested. "It's already past nine. I'm sure they're waiting."

Odette nodded and headed to her room which was on the second floor of the Pokémon Center. She climbed the stairs quietly and peeked into her chamber.

Her room was an irregular shape, kind of like a 'T', but with the horizontal stroke longer than the vertical one and the door located at the bottom of the letter. A full sized bed with a red comforter was at the intersection of the two strokes. On the right wing was a neat and organized mahogany desk and a matching bookshelf stuffed with books about Pokemon history and science. On the left wing was another shelf containing plaques and medals Odette won from battle tournaments, not to mention her gym badges too. Below that was a professionally made platform for Odette's pokeballs. A large window also occupied the left wing and faced the east. The walls were a light pink color and a fluffy, cream carpet covered the floor.

Along the wall of the vertical stroke of the 'T' was a little closet for storing Pokémon food, bowls, and grooming tools.

A small, pink, cat-like Pokémon with a forked tail was sleeping soundly on her bed. The Espeon's ears twitched when it heard the door open. It looked up with sleepy purple eyes at its trainer. "Esp!"

Odette shut the door behind her and approached her psychic type. "Time for breakfast, Espeon!" She pulled out a bag of Pokémon food from the closet and tore the top off. "Zoroark, Raichu, Altaria, Lapras, Serperior!" she called to the five pokeballs that sat on the platform.

The pokeballs glowed, and the rest on Odette's Pokémon team materialized from a flash on light.

Odette grabbed their bowls from the storage quarters and began to pour the Pokémon food into the different colored dishes.

The Pokémon gathered around their trainer, waiting patiently for their breakfast.

Espeon's bowl was purple and had little, pink swirls on it. Zoroark's bowl was polished and jet black while Lapras's bowl was bluish-white and sparkled like ice. Raichu had a gold bowl with cute lightning bolts on them. Altaria had a pearl bowl and Serperior had a lime green bowl with leaf patterns that glowed in the dark.

Odette smiled as she watched her friends eat. They are the ones who allowed her to obtain all of the gym badges in each region and take on the Elite Four.

It took almost five years for Odette to travel through all five known regions. Odette remembered when she first started her journey through Kanto and conquered all of the gym leaders as well as the Elite Four but lost to the Champion. It was her first real crushing defeat against Red.

After losing, Odette went to Johto to try again. As before, she collected all the badges and challenged Johto's Elite Four. Again, it was the Champion Lance who stopped her winning streak. Realizing the true thrill of battle, Odette traveled to the other regions to keep trying. For each region, it was the same. The Champion had always been able to block her path to victory.

Odette returned from Unova a few months ago and decided to stop traveling for a while and help Nurse Joy run the Pokémon Center. These days, she still hears news about Red, the first person who could beat her, and the other Pokedexholders. They took down Team Rocket when she was eight and battled the Neo Team Rocket while she was traveling in Kanto. One of them became a gym leader and replaced Giovanni. Another turned out to be Giovanni's kid. And another fill up the entire National Pokedex.

Odette doesn't exactly look up to them, but she does enjoy hearing about what they've accomplished.

The Pokémon finished their breakfast and licked their bowls clean. They began chatting and playing with each other.

Odette cleaned up their dishes and was about to go back down stairs when she heard a knock on her window. Her Pokémon continued to mingle as Odette approached the window and opened it.

A little Swablu was pecking at the glass. "Bluuuuuuu!" it cried happily when Odette let it into her room. It flew in and landed on the bed, cocking its head to one side. "Blu?"

"Hi, Mew!" Odette greeted the Swablu, casually.

The Swablu giggled and began to shimmer like it was going to evolve. But instead of an Altaria, the Swablu transformed into a cute cat-like Pokémon with large feet and a really long tail. "Mew-ew-ew-ew-ew!"

Odette was used to Mew randomly visiting after she befriended the New Species Pokémon at age ten.

The Mew giggled quietly and flew around Odette's head.

When Espeon saw Odette playing with Mew, its eyes flashed with annoyance. The Sun Pokémon swiftly leapt onto it trainer's shoulder and said angrily to Mew, "Espe, espe! Espeon!"

"Be nice, Espeon," Odette told her Pokémon, smiling. "Mew is our guest. And no, I am not picking favorites. Mew isn't even mine."

Espeon's face turned red with jealousy. It turned its tail to Mew and walked away with its nose in the air. "Esp!"

Odette laughed softly. Espeon has always been the jealous type, not wanting any other Pokémon, that's not a team member, interact with her trainer.

Mew didn't seem to notice any of this and continued to troll around. It picked up a pencil that sat on Odette's desk and tried to balance it on its nose. It looked disappointed when the pencil fell. Then Mew perked up like it had a great idea. The psychic type quickly flew out the window and disappeared.

Odette wondered what Mew was doing.

Moments later, the psychic cat came back through the window carrying a small stack of envelopes. "Mew! Mew!" it cried eagerly before dropping the mail on Odette's desk. It picked up a certain envelope and waved it at the female trainer. "Mew! Ew!"

Turned out, Mew decided to check Odette's mail for her.

Odette slowly took the mail and looked over it. It was addressed to her, and the handwriting on the envelope was in blue ink. The stamp had a Starly on it. What caught her attention was the return address written messily at the top left corner.

Prof. Oak.

Oak Lab

Pallet Town, Kanto

Odette frowned and looked at her name on the front again just to make sure it was for her. Her name was indeed inscribed clearly and boldly. She tore open the wrapping and pulled the letter out.

The Pokémon around the room fell silent when they noticed their trainer reading the message with a confused expression on her face.

The paper was cream colored, and the message was handwritten like the envelope.

Odette's lips moved as she read it, but no sound came out.

Dear Odette of Cerulean City,

I trust that this letter find you well. My name is Prof. Oak. I am one of the leading scientists in the Kanto region studying Pokémon. It has come to my attention that you have traveled through all of the regions out there and have collected every gym badge there is. The only thing left is to defeat all of the Champions. You have made quite a name for yourself, I see! I'm sure you would remember Red whom you battled a few years back in an attempt to become the Champion of Kanto, yes? He is one of my Pokedexholders if you don't already know. Yes, he still remembers you! He has told me about your challenge and I am quite surprised that Red would take the effort to remember a challenger from such a long time ago! Anyways… to the point, I hereby invite you to my lab in Pallet Town to meet the Pokedexholders and train with them. They are some of the best and I'm sure you'll find their training most helpful. Bring this letter with you to Pallet Town as proof that you are who you say you are. I hope to see you soon!

-Professor Oak

Odette read the letter five times before registering what it meant. She was being invited to Professor Oak's lab. She turned to Mew. "Mew, is this a prank?"

Mew shook its head sincerely.

Odette let out a sigh and stared at the letter. Deep inside, she really wanted to go, but she had just decided to stay and help around the Pokémon Center not long ago… She then glanced at her Pokémon friends. "You guys want to go?"

There was a moment of silence as the Pokémon considered this.

"Esp! Esp!" Espeon said eagerly and nodded its head. "Espeon!"

Odette looked at the hopeful eyes of her Pokémon and sighed. "Fine. We'll go. But it's only for training purposes. Don't expect to stay long, 'kay?"

The Pokémon jumped up with joy and began dancing with each other.

Odette took another look at the invitation and tucked it into her bag. I thought I was done with traveling… But seeing the pleading faces of her partners always breaks her. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her skin had turned a more normal color over the years, but she was still relatively pale compared to other people. Her hair was ebony black and in a low pony tail. The tip was dyed red which matched her eyes. A scar ran down her right arm from fourteen years ago, and she rubbed it nervously.

The female trainer looked away and took a deep breath. Then she left the room to go tell Nurse Joy about Professor Oak's offer.


A/N: Oh, Dear Reshiram… I typed all day! Finally got it done! Whew! *wipes sweat off forehead* Hope you all enjoyed it! I'll really appreciate it if you left a review! Bye! ^_^