CHAPTER 4

The following night was a far cry from Danny's first in this strange new place. She had been walking for what felt like an eternity yesterday, and while the day had been eventful, it had been nowhere near as harrowing on her legs (even if they still felt a little bit numb).

Camp was set up under cover this time. The two of them had found a run-down cottage just north of Accumula and while the door had long since collapsed, the roof was still mostly in one piece. 'This is good,' Talbot told Danny as they unpacked their belongings. 'If it rains then we won't have to worry about staying dry.'

It made sense and Danny didn't want to question it. She had been caught out in the rain once about a year ago and she'd ended up being soaked to the bone. It didn't help that it had been the middle of winter that day, and so every layer of clothing her mother had helped her with to keep warm felt like cold, soggy blankets. This sensation wasn't something she particularly wanted to experience again.

Most of the late afternoon was spent watching life go by through the permanently open doorway. It was almost like watching TV to Danny, only here, instead of watching a cartoon or the news, she was watching real life right before her eyes. There were other pokemon outside – a whole bunch of them came soaring across the sky in huge groups – grey birds with white chests – producing a cacophony of birdsong. And then there were these smaller pokemon shuffling about in the grass – one kind being a small beige coloured rat with striking red and yellow eyes, while the other was an incredibly fluffy dog.

The dog pokemon was usually on its own, or in small groups of twos and threes, while the rat pokemon were always usually seen in high numbers. Danny pointed to one of these rodents as they came by, watching them running through the knee-high grass. 'What are those, Talbot?'

'Those?' Talbot asked back, gesturing to the rodents. 'Those are Patrat – you'll find them all over the place down here.'

Then Danny pointed to the small group of dogs, who were rooting about at the base of a tree with their noses sniffing at the grass. 'And those?'

'Lillipup,' Talbot said. 'They're just as common.'

Danny blinked. 'Should we catch a few of them?' she asked. 'We'll be safer if we have more monsters, right?'

'That's a smart idea in theory,' Talbot said, bringing out an open bag of jerky. 'But in practice it's a little bit more complicated. It'll mean more mouths to feed in the long run.' He took out a couple of pieces and handed her one. 'Plus more time scavenging for more supplies,' he added between bites. 'And less time to find cover before nightfall.'

Danny was in the middle of chewing another piece of jerky when she felt the spherical pokeball press against her arm. Her jaw stopped working and she swallowed, licking her lower lip to clean away any scraps that had managed to escape. Of course, how could she have forgotten so soon? She owned a monster now – just like Talbot did – a much smaller one, but the fact still stood. She plucked the pokeball from the pockets of her dress and grasped it tightly, rubbing the warm surface with her thumb.

Talbot leant forward from his perch – a fallen beam whose jagged edges were frayed and teeth-like. The floor whined quietly underneath his weight. 'That reminds me – do you wanna wake your Purrloin up now?'

If Danny's fingers weren't already tightly clasping Purrloin's pokeball, then they would've been trembling. She nodded quickly, eyes bright and ready. 'Yes.'

'Okay then.' Talbot whistled to Wigglytuff, who turned from her post on guard duty, and pointed his thumb towards his backpack, which was closer to her than him. 'Wigglytuff, would you find my Berry Pouch for me?'

She did so, eventually pulling out a much larger and lumpier-looking leather bag from one of the side pockets. Wigglytuff bounced over and handed it to her owner with an eager 'Yoom-tah.'

'Thank you,' Talbot said, waving to her thankfully as she returned to keeping watch, glancing at Purrloin's pokeball as he undid the strings and rummaged through the bag. 'Now, do you remember what I told you about pokeballs this morning?'

Danny furrowed her brow and bit her lip. The memories of the past few hours ran through her mind one after the other. Witnessing Wigglytuff singing Purrloin to sleep, tossing the ball at Purrloin's curled-up form.

And then it hit her – the lesson about sending a pokemon out.

She tossed the ball softly, listening as it whistled and broke open, releasing Purrloin in an explosion of light. She was still curled up, even as her fur made contact with the cold, wooden floorboards that if Danny had suddenly found herself sleeping against, would've jolted awake in seconds. By then Talbot had set the bag aside. He gestured to the berry he'd picked out – a blue and brown one that looked like it had very thick skin. 'One bite of this and your Purrloin will be wide awake.'

Danny fiddled with the fronds of her dress. One bite? Seriously? Purrloin looked fast asleep and it looked like it was going to take a lot to get the cat pokemon to even stir. Somehow, as she watched Talbot tear the berry in half, she couldn't help but think that it wasn't going to work.

Talbot tossed the half and it landed just shy of Purrloin's nose. At first nothing happened. Danny rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to state the obvious, but then the sound of huffing breaths drew her attention away. Purrloin's nose was twitching rapidly, and after several moments of this, the eyelids began to flicker, drawing back to see wide pupils focussing on the scent of the berry.

The cat pokemon then slowly uncurled, reaching towards the berry with one of its paws and snatched it, shovelling the fruit into its mouth and chewing quickly.

'There you go,' Talbot said, grinning. 'There should be a little rectangle on the back of the ball somewhere – press it.'

Danny turned the pokeball around and scanned the surface, eventually making out the shape Talbot had described on the top half. She pushed her thumb against it and heard a sharp click before the rectangle flipped up like a hatch. It had been hiding a tiny screen that flashed for a minute, then lit up with another blue rectangle in the centre. White text began to appear in fairly smart letters and Danny mouthed them as they spelled out several words:

NAME: PURRLOIN

GENDER: F

LEVEL: 5

Danny looked back at Talbot. 'What does "Level" mean?'

Talbot shrugged. 'It was something people used to grade pokemon a long time ago.'

This wasn't really a very helpful explanation to Danny. 'Why's that?'

'It made things easier for people to gauge how strong their pokemon were,' Talbot replied while Purrloin got to its – no, her, if the little "F" meant that she was a girl – paws. 'It was just useful for trainers to know how strong their pokemon had to be before going into battle, that's all.'

Danny ran a hand through her hair and sighed. 'That sounds really, really weird.'

Talbot pressed on his knees as he stood up. 'Sure is,' he said and folded his arms. 'Now, why don't you introduce yourself to your new pokemon properly?'

Danny didn't think twice. She outstretched her hand to Purrloin in an attempt to touch her head. 'Hi there.'

'No!' Talbot jerked forward but he wasn't quick enough to stop her. Her fingers came into contact with Purrloin's ears and the little cat pokemon suddenly jumped up on two legs, hissing and swiping while her fur bristled. Danny screamed as stinging pain shot through her arm and she shrank back, clutching herself. Purrloin staggered back and bolted to the corner furthest away from the two of them, emitting a low growl and giving Danny a stare that practically embodied the term "loathing".

The child brought her arm away from her chest and the first thought that came to her head was the colour red. Lots and lots of red, smeared in thin rosettes across her arm and running down her skin in thick droplets. 'I got blood!' she wailed as upset tears burst from her eyes.

Talbot sighed and calmly turned to Wigglytuff as she bounced over to see what was wrong. 'Wigglytuff, could you fetch me some more bandages?'

More pain, more of that horrible clear liquid that made Danny scream even more and of course, more wounds that needed to be kept clean and safe. By the time Talbot finally tied the knot on the bandages wrapped around her arm, Danny resembled someone who was in hospital. 'You can't just do that,' Talbot told her firmly as he put the remaining bandages away. 'Purrloin is still feral – she's nothing like Wigglytuff right now.'

To Danny, he sounded more like her father after he'd caught her doing something wrong. She pouted and kept her gaze focussed on the floor, too humiliated to say anything back.

'I think it would be better if we all got some rest,' Talbot continued, watching Purrloin still hunched over at the edge of the wall. 'This will set her back a little bit – now she thinks she has a reason not to trust you at all.'

Danny folded her arms without thinking and winced as a jolt of pain ran up her arm again. 'I don't think she'll ever like me.'

'Give it time,' Talbot said as he unfurled the blankets. 'You just need to be patient – your Purrloin will forgive you eventually, you just have to play by her rules for a little while, that's all.'

Danny rolled her eyes as she settled down for the night. She kept her gaze on Purrloin's huddled form until she drifted off, absolutely certain that there was no way in hell she was ever going to make friends with the little fur ball.

During the night Danny could've sworn that she'd heard someone calling her name, and when she woke she was fairly sure that she'd been shivering in her sleep. But then again, it had probably been nothing more than a strange dream or a nightmare, either one was completely logical.

. . .

Things didn't improve for Danny in the couple of days that followed. In fact she eventually became certain that the Purrloin not only disliked her – but absolutely hated every bone in her body. The scratch that ran down Danny's knuckles was only the beginning. It soon grew to a small collection, and by the end of her fourth day in the world below New Castelia both arms were covered in scrapes that crisscrossed her skin with red, painful lines.

The only plus side was that it didn't take long for her feet to improve. What had started out as a staggering limp soon regressed, reducing to a slight hitch in her step. The walking stick helped out a lot and at least Danny didn't have to worry about keeping up the same pace as Talbot or Wigglytuff, even if they were going much slower for her sake.

But for every silver lining there was a humongous, overly-bloated dark cloud. While Danny's feet recovered, it felt like everything else was changing in response to them. Her once brilliantly pink dress soon became coated in spatters of dirt and her little shoes lost their lustrous glitter, becoming caked in layers of mud. Danny was certain that if she returned to her parents right then and there, in the sorry state she was in, they would be furious to see that she had become so dirty, and would probably be forced to have a bath and be sent to bed without supper (that's what they did to Matt if he tracked mud into the house, though he'd been told millions of times before that he wasn't supposed to do it in the first place).

To make matters worse, Danny was now starting to recognise another feeling, one that she was slightly more familiar with: the unrelenting pang of homesickness. It was slight at first – the new world still had much to offer her to keep her mind occupied – but it soon grew, billowing in her chest like steam.

It didn't take long for Talbot to pick up on this either. It was mostly thanks to Wigglytuff, who had gone from helping her owner set up and take down camp, to sitting down beside Danny, rubbing her back with her stubby paws.

They had moved back into the woods when Talbot asked the question that Danny both wanted and dreaded to hear. They were in the middle of setting everything up for another night under the stars at the time, and Talbot had been making use of what they could find to make the new camp as comfy as possible for themselves.

'Danny?' he began, dropping the branches he'd been gathering to start another campfire. 'Is everything okay?'

'Yeah,' Danny said, not even trying to lift her head to look him directly in the eye. It was a bald-faced lie and she knew it. She'd do anything to breathe in the scent of her mother's freshly-baked goods again, it was better than eating beef jerky nearly every day. 'I'm fine.'

Talbot folded his arms. 'Are you thinking about your family?'

This time Danny did look up at him. 'I miss them a lot.'

'Yoom,' Wigglytuff said, shuffling closer so that she could touch Danny's shoulder. 'Yoom-tah.'

Talbot rubbed the back of his neck. 'Do you want to talk about them?'

Danny sighed deeply. She expected to suddenly burst into tears and spray Talbot with a gush of snivelling words. But her throat felt as rigid as a pipe, and no tears glimmered in the corner of her tired eyes. 'I wanna go home,' she whispered. 'My mom and dad and my brother are going to be worried about me and I'm scared that I'll never see them again.'

Talbot nodded. 'It's okay to feel like this,' he said, kneeling down to her level. 'I… I still get homesick every now and then, too.'

Danny raised an eyebrow. She hadn't heard anything about Talbot's family before. She reached for Talbot's jacket, tugging at the sleeves. 'What's your family like?'

Talbot shuffled his feet against the grass and glanced at Wigglytuff. 'I had a family once,' he said hesitantly, rubbing his index fingers together. 'I was a father,' he offered Danny a shaky smile. 'My daughter would've liked you – she'd do a much better job of helping you tame Purrloin than I am right now.' He looked up towards the sinking sun. 'And speaking of which – why don't we try and see if we can get your pokemon to behave for once?'

Danny hissed through her teeth and glanced down at the scratches on her arms. Here we go again. She slowly took Purrloin's pokeball and dropped it, watching as the light took the form of what Danny now considered to be the devil incarnate. She didn't reach out a hand, or even say hello this time, instead her lips pressed together tightly, not even daring to twitch.

Purrloin didn't appear to be in a rush either. The first thing she did once the light faded from her fur was yawn and fall to all fours, scratching behind one of her ears with a hind leg. She was as indifferent as indifference could be.

'She's improving,' Talbot remarked, digging into his backpack. 'Look – she's much calmer than before, and grooming herself is a sign that she doesn't think there's any danger around.'

Danny didn't respond, she didn't even want to breathe in case the Purrloin decided that even that was enough to want to attack her.

There was a crinkly sound. It was Talbot bringing out another small pack of jerky. Purrloin's ears pricked up and her nose began to quiver. 'Mrow,' she turned to Talbot, returning to standing on two feet. 'Mr-ow.'

The corner of Talbot's mouth lifted into a smirk. He lifted the bag of jerky. 'You want some?'

Purrloin took a step forward, eyes bright. 'Meow.'

Talbot's smirk grew back into a sly grin and he chucked the bag, sending it flying in Danny's direction. She gasped and reached out instinctively, her fingers just grazing the bag before it landed at her feet. Purrloin whipped around to meet Danny directly in the eye, tail swaying back and forth. Danny tilted her head. She'd been in this situation before just a few days ago, when this little brat had managed to steal her croissant. She turned back to Talbot, frowning. 'What do I do with this?'

'Simple,' Talbot said calmly. 'You bribe her with it.'

Danny pursed her lips, her hands hovering over the packet of jerky. Purrloin was still focussing on her and her movements, staring expectantly and clearly waiting to be fed. Her ears twitched when Danny's grasp on the bag tightened and her pupils followed it as she brought it to her chest.

'You've got her attention,' Talbot continued. 'Now, open the bag.'

Danny did, and as she did so Purrloin took a step forward.

Talbot leaned forward. 'Take a piece and show it to her.'

Danny's frown grew bigger. 'She'll just snatch it from me when I'm not looking at her.'

Talbot shook his head. 'Trust me on this.'

Danny looked to the bag of jerky, then back to Purrloin, and reached with shaky fingers to pick a small piece of dried meat. Purrloin's irises grew slightly and she took another couple of steps forward. Danny's mouth was quicker than her nerves and before she could think properly she had taken the jerky in one hand and pointed to Purrloin with the other. 'No!'

Purrloin shifted, falling back to all fours and flattening her ears. She hissed, the fur on her back rising.

Danny's heart sank. This wasn't working at all.

But then Purrloin changed. Her ears were still flat and she refused to move, but the fur on her back fell and she stopped hissing, changing her position so that she was sitting in front of Danny. For just a brief moment the expectant expression in her eyes wavered, and Danny could've sworn that she'd seen Purrloin's mouth twist into a nervous frown.

'All right,' Talbot said after a few seconds had passed. 'You can give her the jerky now.'

Danny slowly placed the scrap of meat on the grass and it was gone almost as quickly as it had come into contact with the grass. Purrloin stuffed the entire piece into her mouth and chewed with the fervency of someone who'd been starved for weeks and for a while her defiance faded, her lids sinking over her eyes as she started to purr.

'You see?' Talbot chuckled. 'That's how you get a pokemon to do what you want it to.'

Danny tilted her head. 'But what happens when we run out of things to feed it?'

'Simple,' Talbot replied. 'By then you should've gained its trust enough for them to follow you of their own free will.'

Danny lowered her head. 'That'll probably never happen to Purrloin.'

Talbot reached out to touch her shoulder. 'Don't worry, it will happen someday,' he said calmly. 'Like I told you the other night: you just have to be patient with some pokemon – they've got minds of their own too.'

Danny didn't doubt that – Wigglytuff in her opinion was almost human with the way she acted. But as she watched Purrloin polish off the last of the beef jerky she'd been awarded, Danny was fairly sure that the little cat pokemon was only going to tolerate her if she got fed.

. . .

Something Danny did not expect happened on the fifth day. Up until then, the four of them had only encountered other wild pokemon, but up until then, they had not actually encountered any other humans. They were on the outskirts of Striation when it happened, wandering amongst a trail of rubble leading up to the neglected tarmac.

'The Pokemon Centre here should have better supplies,' Talbot was telling Danny at that moment. 'Striaton's much bigger than Accumula so there should be richer pickings everywhere.'

Danny gnawed at her lip. 'And what if there isn't anything there?'

Talbot shrugged. 'If not, then we keep going, that's all there is to it.'

It was Wigglytuff who noticed him first. Her ears perked up, as straight as toy soldiers, and her eyes grew as she sucked in a large breath. 'Yoom,' she barked and drew another breath. By now she was at least twice the size she truly was. Danny backed away from her, hoping that she wasn't going to explode.

Talbot's eyebrows knotted together. 'Wigglytuff, what's the matter?' and then he turned to see the newcomer for himself. He froze, his irises shrinking as his arm reached out to stop Danny from walking forward.

Danny halted, mere inches away from Talbot's large palms and looked up at him. 'What's happening?'

But Talbot raised a finger to his mouth. 'Stay calm,' he said. 'Let me do the talking, all right?'

Danny gritted her teeth, then looked to the approaching wanderer and then darted her eyes back to Talbot, her abdomen tightening. She nodded wordlessly and stepped back, while Wigglytuff jumped forward, back arched and growling.

The man in the distance drew closer and after a while Danny began to see exactly why Talbot was acting so defensive. The first thing Danny noticed about this man was the makeshift face mask tied around his head – it was a red handkerchief that covered most of the lower half of his face. Danny's skin broke out into gooseflesh – anybody who did that in New Castelia was bad news – she remembered the teachers telling kids in her class about people like him. According to them, it was to do with hiding their looks (the word the teachers had used was "identity" or something like that), and this was usually so that they could do bad things without getting caught.

This guy certainly looked the part – scruffy and dirty, wearing clothes that appeared in desperate need of some repairs, having been torn at the ends. One of the lenses in the sunglasses shielding his eyes had shattered, but still managed to hold its shape, and Danny's chest tightened when he stopped walking. He offered a short wave with the other hand and spoke in a gravelly voice. 'Hey there.'

Talbot didn't respond verbally, but instead offered a curt nod to the newcomer.

'Nice day today, isn't it?' the newcomer continued. 'Going somewhere important?'

This time Talbot did respond. 'Keep moving,' he said with the firmness of one of the guards in New Castelia. 'We have no business with you.'

The hairs on Danny's neck rose. She didn't like this one bit.

The newcomer stepped back, but maintained eye contact with Talbot. 'Hey, no need to be so defensive,' he said, the folds of his mask creasing so that Danny could just make out the faint outline of a grin. The newcomer leaned over and she suddenly found herself staring him directly in the face. 'And you've got a little lady with you, too.'

Danny shrank back and Wigglytuff's growls swelled in volume. Talbot's fingers tensed.

'She's my daughter,' he said firmly. 'Now, if you don't mind, we'll be on our way.' He beckoned to Danny. 'Come on, take my hand.'

Danny didn't have to be told twice. She gave him her hand and his fingers closed around her palms. The chills didn't go away though – she could feel the newcomer's eyes burning into the back of her neck.

Then Talbot glanced at Wigglytuff. 'Let's go, Wigglytuff.'

Still growling, Wigglytuff obliged. She clearly had no intention of deflating either, and ended up bouncing at a steady pace rather than her usual stroll.

And then, five seconds later, in the calmest tone Danny had heard him use yet, Talbot ordered: 'Wigglytuff, use Rollout.'

Quick as a whip, Wigglytuff flipped around and charged, barrelling with the speed and fervency of a bullet. Danny had about five seconds to look over her shoulder to watch as the balloon pokemon ploughed into the newcomer, who had changed direction and had been trailing behind them, frozen mid-sprint when the balloon pokemon came into contact with him. Talbot stopped when he heard Wigglytuff hit the newcomer's abdomen, signalled with a sickening crack, followed by an ear-splitting howl from the newcomer as he was pushed to the floor. Something fell from his right hand – long and silver – though Danny couldn't tell what it was before it too fell to the grass.

'Stay here,' Talbot said to Danny, pointing to her feet, then he slid a hand into one of his pockets and strode over to the newcomer. Wigglytuff, who had been keeping guard over the newcomer, turned and bounded over to Talbot, who gave her a firm pat on the head. 'Good girl,' he said. 'Now go and keep Danny company while I sort this all out, all right?'

Wigglytuff nodded. 'Yoom-tah,' she chirruped before doing as she was told, offering Danny a kindly smile as she approached.

The newcomer was coughing – and it wasn't the sort of cough that Danny would hear when her parents or brother had a cold. This one was a strained cough – the kind that someone would make after being strangled or drowning, and had barely escaped with their life. Danny faltered, reaching for Purrloin's pokeball while glancing at Wigglytuff. All of a sudden Purrloin's scratches didn't seem so painful anymore, not when compared to what Wigglytuff was clearly capable of.

Talbot knelt down and picked up the item the newcomer had dropped. He narrowed his eyes. 'You don't even have a pokemon?' he didn't wait for the newcomer to answer. 'Typical.' Then he pointed the object at the newcomer. 'Consider yourself very lucky. If we ever cross paths again, I will not hesitate to finish you before you've even set eyes upon the girl.'

The newcomer didn't respond at first, he was too busy curing up into foetal position and cringing, clutching his abdomen and gasping for air. But he eventually looked up into Talbot's face with watery eyes and whispered: 'Fuck you,' in a strained, hoarse voice.

Danny didn't get time to see what the object was, for Talbot had pocketed it before returning to her and his pokemon. 'Why did you do that?' she asked as Talbot took her by the hand.

'He's a looter,' Talbot said. 'Not a very good one, mind you, but he still would've taken everything we had if I hadn't set Wigglytuff on him.'

Danny glanced over her shoulder once again, the newcomer now quite tiny in the distance. He was still on the ground, though. 'Why did he take so much interest in me, though?'

Talbot's expression didn't change, but his grip on her hand tightened firmly. 'You don't need to worry about that.'

Danny opened her mouth to ask why again, but soon closed it. She had the nagging feeling that, from staring into Talbot's stern face, it was probably better that she didn't find out.

(AN: Hi there! Yes the chapter is over but I feel that I should give a little info on why I've included the April Fools version of this chapter. This was uploaded to serebiiforums and by the time I had realised that this wasn't on it was too late to amend that mistake. Therefore I've decided to include it with the real Chapter 4 so that you lot can cringe and laugh at it too!

- Sam)

CHAPTER 4 – April Fools Edition

The following night was a far cry from Danny's first in this strange new place. She had been walking for what felt like an eternity yesterday, and while the day had been eventful, it had been nowhere near as harrowing on her legs (even if they still felt a little bit numb).

Camp was set up under cover this time. The two of them had found a run-down cottage just north of Accumula and while the door had long since collapsed, the roof was still mostly in one piece. 'This is good,' Talbot told Danny as they unpacked their belongings. 'If it rains then we won't have to worry about staying dry.'

It made sense and Danny didn't want to question it. She had been caught out in the rain once about a year ago and she'd ended up being soaked to the bone. It didn't help that it had been the middle of winter that day, and so every layer of clothing her mother had helped her with to keep warm felt like cold, soggy blankets. It wasn't something she particularly wanted to experience again.

Danny was in the middle of chewing another piece of jerky when she felt the spherical pokeball press against her arm. She stopped chewing and swallowed. Of course, she owned a monster now – just like Talbot did. She plucked it from the pockets of her dress and grasped it tightly, rubbing the warm surface with her thumb. 'I wouldn't worry about Purrloin tonight,' Talbot said. 'You look exhausted, and I think things would go a bit smoother once you've gotten some shut-eye.'

Danny yawned. Talbot was right – maybe it was time to go to bed. She laid down on her back, facing the ceiling and staring at it absentmindedly while clutching the pokeball, cuddling it as if it were a soft toy. It was the first thing she remembered when she settled down – and it was the last thing she remembered touching when she finally drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

. . .

*RIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!*

Danny woke up, opening her sapphire blue eyes that were like pools of liquid. She had just had the weirdest dream ever where she was a little girl travelling with a man in a faraway region. She yawned and rubbed her eyes "What time is it?" she said and looked at her clock. "Oh no!" she said "I am late!" and then she got out of bed and got dressed.

And then she remembered that her name wasn't Danny. Of course, how could she forget her name? Her real name was Ashley Waterflower Ketchum and today she was going to get her first pokemon and go on an adventure to become a pokemon master, just like her father.

Ashley put on a jet black shirt with red sleeves and it had the word Slipknot on it. Slipknot was her favourite band and everybody else in Pallet Town thought she was weird because of it and everyone hated her because she was a goth (AN: this is to make Ashley a better character so she is not a mary sue because she has problems, ok?). She put on fishnets, black lipstick, white foundation, black eyeliner, combat boots and a black miniskirt that was all torn at the ends. She was finally ready to go and get a pokemon!

"Hi Ashley!" her mom said when she came downstairs. Ashley's mom used to be a gym leader until she met her dad. "Are you ready to get you're first pokemon?" "Yes," Ashley said, and then said goodbye to her mom and went outside. Everyone stared at her and gave her nasty looks as she went over to Professor Pine's lab (AN: Professor Oak is retired in this story and it takes place ten years after the end of the anime that is why he isn't here anymore). "Hello Ashley" Professor Pine said and he took her over to a table where a pokeball was. "Are you ready to be a pokemon trainer?" "yes" Ashley said. "I want Charmander." "Charmander is taken." Professor Pine said. "So is Bulbasaur and Squirtle if you hadn't been late you could've chosen one."

"But…" Ashely whimpered, tears gushing down her face. "But I want a pokemon!" "That is why I am giving you this pokemon" Professor Pine said and gave her the pokeball. Ashley opened it and a pokemon came out. It was an Eevee but it had white fur and green eyes instead of brown fur and black eyes. "It is a very special Eevee that's also shiny" professor Pine said. "It can do fire and water and grass attacks and it can use all the TMs and HMs take very good care of it".

"eevee" Eevee said and jumped into Ashely's arms. "Omg it is so kawaii" she said and thanked the professor and left his lab to start her journey.

She went to Route 1 when suddenly she saw someone. It was a boy kicking an Articuno! It was a red one with a gold head and it wasn't blue at all. Ashley knew this boy. His name was Kevin Johnson and he was a bully (AN: it's true he made fun of me and called me a baby for liking pokemon so screw you Kevin for showing everyone my fanfics at school and laughing at me you're a jerk!) "YOU'RE SO WEAK!" Kevin screamed meanly. "U COULDN'T EVEN BEAT A CATERPIE!"

"Hey you leave that Pokemon alone!" Ashley said. "OH YEAH?" Keven screamed. "WHAT R U GONNA DO ABOUT IT?!1?!" "I'll challenge you to a battle!" Ashley said and sent out Eevee. "HAH!" Kevin shouted and threw a pokeball. "CHARMANDER BEAT THIS KID UP!"

Kevin's Charmander came out and it looked sad and miserable and it had scars all over it's body. "Go Eevee use Hydro Pump!" Ashley said. "EEVEE!" Eevee said and did the move. Charmander cried and collapsed. It was dead. "YOU BICH!" Kevin screamed. "U KILLED MY POKEMON I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS!" and then he picked Charmander's body up and ran away.

"Are you ok?" Ashley said to the Articuno. The Articuno nodded. "Thank you for saving me from that awful and mean trainer" she said. "My pokeball is on the ground you can take it and I will join you on your quest to become the pokemon master." "yay" said Eevee and Ashely and so Articuno joined their team and they then went to the first gym and beat Brock's Onix. "Yay I got my first gym badge!" ashely said and when she got out of the gym she found that everyone in Viridian City was holding a surprise party for her. They had cake and presents and everything for her.

"omgwtf" Ashley said and she got into a red party dress with black high heels and a necklace with a real ruby on it. Everyone was cheesing her name and she was considered the best trainer ever by the people of Viridian City.

And so with her new pokemon and her new badge, Ashley went to the next town knowoing that she was destine to be a pokemon master.

Is it good? Please leave good reviews but no flaming please my teacher told me I was the best in my class so I must be really good because it took me two hours to write this and that's a really long time to take writing a chapter. I will upload more chapters for my fans soon because I'm super nice.