Disclaimer: Pokémon is owned by The Pokémon Company, which in turn is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, and probably others I forgot. The following fanfiction is me playing around in their sandbox, using characters they envisioned and created, except for the odd character that wasn't. I own nothing of this.
The last thing either of the boys, and Danny's father, who would take them to the laboratory via alakazam express, wanted to do, was to oversleep. Max had been forewarned by Ash's tale of throwing his alarm clock against the far wall, and the boys had set multiple alarms in places that could not be reached easily. Even so, the first, rather gentle, alarm was soundly ignored until the second alarm joined in at trying to wake the boys up.
Recordings of loudreds creating an uproar were startlingly effective at waking anyone but the utterly exhausted up, albeit at the cost of a very sudden awakening.
At nine fifteen, both boys were ready to go, packs strapped to their back, but Danny's parents wanting to say goodbye took up another fifteen emotional minutes. Max had had the same scene the night before, and quietly left them to it. His thoughts went elsewhere: to Izabe Island.
He knew exactly what to do. Take the ferry from Littleroot to Mossdeep, which took about a day, then take the ferry from Mossdeep to the south side of Izabe Island two days later. Once there, it was about a day's hike to the Pokémon Center that he had last seen ralts at. It wouldn't be hard from there, he hoped.
There'd been a time he thought about leaving without a starter just to get ralts as his starter, but Professor Birch's advice had won Max over, reluctantly. It was just safer to have at least one Pokémon when travelling, and though Max hadn't liked to admit it, there was a chance of ralts not being there any longer. In the end, he had agreed to take a starter Pokémon off Professor Birch's hands. He would pick treecko. He'd seen enough of torchics and while Danny had wanted a mudkip since he was nine, Max was not that enthused about any of the other starter Pokémon. The idea of an eventual sceptile was more attractive than a swampert for him, so he would pick treecko.
The door to the living room opened, indicating that the saying goodbye had stopped. Danny's mother had disappeared, leaving only Danny's father and his alakazam. The bipedal psychic-type never really smiled, as far as Max had been able to see, but when Max grabbed her arm, he felt a sense of amusement, happiness and pride flash through him. He had expected the flash of emotion, though not the exact mixture, and he felt his lips tugged upwards slightly as the emotions bled over. It wouldn't be long now.
"Ready boys?" Danny's father asked as he placed his own hand on alakazam's shoulder, to two affirmative replies. "Let's go. Your big day awaits."
Being teleported was always a seriously weird experience. It was nearly instant, but the sudden shifts in light, sound and surroundings made even the most seasoned psychic trainer take a moment to regain their bearings. Many people, Max included, also felt like they were moved around at breakneck speed for the duration of the teleportation, in roughly the direction they were moving.
The teleportation took them to a small clearing just inside the laboratory grounds. There were Pokémon present in the clearing: mostly bug and grass-types from trainers who had chosen to stall their Pokémon at the Professor, but most of them fled when the party had teleported in. A few stayed, and when Max's vision was working properly again, he was face to face with an aipom hanging from a low branch, which quickly fled into the tree when it saw Max looking back.
"This is as far as I'll go," Danny's father said, as if he hadn't told the boys just that a few times before. "The rest is all up to you. Have fun, don't forget to call and don't even think about trying to make us proud. We already are." He finished up with a firm handshake for Max and a short hug with his son before grasping his alakazam's shoulder once more. A moment later, only flattened grass was a sign that he had ever been there.
"Ready?" Max asked. He couldn't deny the slight flutters in his stomach, but they were the good kind of flutters.
"Born ready."
The path to the laboratory was straightforward. The clearing was only a small distance away from the main entrance to the grounds, and from there, it was a simple, and a bit uphill, walk to the laboratory that took about five minutes total under normal conditions. It was a bit more than that with the packs Danny and Max had with them, and the distraction posed by a flock of beautiful white-blue birds neither of them had ever seen didn't help them break any speed records either. At that moment in time, both boys really wished they already had their Pokédexes to find out what type of Pokémon it was. They knew all the Pokémon generally present in the four Home Regions, but these were obviously not from any of those regions.
There was also a curious impact crater about a minute's walk away from the laboratory, but such things were somewhat of a common sight in any place that harboured a lot of Pokémon.
It was ten to the hour when they reached the front door of the laboratory, which opened when they came within ten paces of it, revealing Professor Birch. "Welcome, new trainers, to the Littleroot Pokémon Lab," he said. Then, he shook his head slowly. "I love saying that."
"Not like we haven't been here before," Danny whispered, causing Max to snort. "Hey uncle." Beside him, Max also uttered a greeting. "What happened this time?"
"A skarmory and a fearow ended up fighting last night. Nothing too unusual, really." The Professor stepped aside, inviting the trainers-to-be in. "You know where to go."
The room that was used to hand out new Pokémon was off in the west wing of the laboratory, close to the living quarters. It had a pokéball transportation machine and a desk at opposite sides of the room, with a table in between them. A small container, black with see-through glass, was the only thing on the table, though several items were laid out on the desk to the side. Professor Birch pressed a button on the side of the container, and the glass slid upwards, a hissing sound accompanying the movement. Three pokéballs were laid out inside the container, side by side, with a symbol indicating the type of the Pokémon inside. "Choose your starter."
Danny walked up first and put his hand on the rightmost ball, his thumb reaching out to touch the blue droplet on the container's exterior. "Mudkip for me." He lifted the ball out of the container, but did not yet allow it to open. "Come on Max, your turn."
Max stepped forward and took the left pokéball. "Treecko it is. Come on out!"
Out came the small grass-type, light green with a tail of darker green. Yellow, reptilian, intelligent eyes instantly locked on to Max, who crouched down to be at a more equal level. The treecko looked smaller and younger than Max was used to from Ash's treecko, but the serious stare that it gave was similar. Then, it walked up to Max, who picked it up and set it on his shoulder.
Beside him, Danny had also released his new Pokémon. The mudkip was being scratched near the fin on its head, prompting content sounds from the small Pokémon. The scratches actually produced a squishy sound, indicative of a liquid layer just under its skin. Eventually, it would harden, creating a layer just underneath the blue skin that would isolate its internal organs from electrical harm. Of course, by that time, it'd be called a marshtomp.
A short and obviously fake cough caught the boys' attention. "Now that the fun part is over, it's time to get you all set up." The Professor walked to the side table, and the boys followed. "Pokédexes," he said, handing one to each of the new trainers, "and ten pokéballs for catching Pokémon." Several empty pokéballs were duly clipped to the magnetic strips on the boys' belts. Badge cases were also handed out and immediately put aside, to be put into the packs later.
Several items were still on the side table, and the Professor was reaching for one of them. It was a gift-wrapped item. "This is for you, Danny. It's from your Dad and I."
Danny quickly tore the wrapping paper off, revealing a factory sealed box with a picture of the newest model Pokénav printed on it. "No way," he exclaimed, and the remaining seal was quickly broken and the box opened, revealing a dark blue Pokénav. "Thank you!" Danny threw his arms around his uncle. The hug was readily returned. "Thank you, thank you so much."
The hugging over, Professor Birch reached for the second box-shaped item on the table. "This is for you, Max." He handed over a flat wooden box with a simple latch mechanism to keep it closed. Opening it revealed a blue-green evolutionary stone inside. "It's a Dawn Stone. It can be used to—"
"To evolve male kirlia to gallade?" Max interrupted. He knew that, but he had never even seen a Dawn Stone before. They were only really found in Sinnoh. "How..."
"Did I get one? Ash sent it to me last night," the Professor explained. "He won it in a local tournament, but he wanted you to have it."
Silence reigned for a bit. "Wow. Just… Wow," Max eventually said. He closed the box and put it down carefully. "This is… Wow."
"Max struck silent. Where's my camera?" Danny quipped. Max lightly shoved Danny. "Hey!"
A fake cough snapped their attention back to the adult in the room. "The last thing is for both of you," he said, holding out a flat envelope. "Who wants to open it?"
Danny took the envelope, opening it carefully and taking the sheets of paper inside. They were tickets for that day's ferry from Littleroot to Mossdeep, due to depart at 2pm. "I'll even take you to the port, if you want to."
The reply was that of two boys hugging and mumbling their gratitude.
The rest of the time in the lab was taken up by packing the new things and Danny testing the various functions of his Pokénav. The map was a lot more detailed than the map on Max's old trustworthy Pokénav, and the newer version had a weather application pre-installed. Overall, Danny was very happy with his new gadget.
There was a slight delay on the way to the port when a reporter for a local newspaper hailed the car when it left the compound. It turned out that he was the main writer for a 'new trainers' column, and an old acquaintance of the Professor because of that. Max and Danny spent about five minutes each answering several questions, and with a promise of sending the paper to their parents, the reporter left.
After a detour via an ice cream parlour, the Professor delivered the boys to the port with a fair amount of time to spare before boarding even started. "Well boys, this is where I leave you. You've got my number," he said with a glance aside at Danny's Pokénav, which hadn't left his hand in ages, "and I expect to hear from you often. Okay?" Two nods were given. "Well then, good luck on your journey."
Max and Danny went up to the desk to validate their tickets and settled in for waiting. They had a good view of the ship they would be taking, and they could see cars and a few lorries already driving into the ship's cargo space, and it wasn't too long before the first boarding call for passengers on foot was made. Max and Danny joined the queue, and soon struck up friendly conversation with a Sinnohan trainer a year or so older than the boys.
The queue slowly dwindled, and the boys found that their tickets were actually for a separate cabin, rather than a dormitory. The set-up was similar to the two-person rooms in Pokémon Centers, with a bunk bed, a small desk with two chairs and plenty of floor space for small Pokémon. There was a poster on the wall with the ship rules, and though the window couldn't be opened, it did give a nice view out of the ship's starboard side.
That night, Max and Danny sat at the desk while their Pokémon were eating some late dinner. Laid out before them was a map of the Hoenn region, with gym locations marked on the map. Nothing had changed since the time Max had gone around Hoenn with Ash, except that the ice-type gym was now open again. It was located two islands south-west from Izabe, but it had been closed because the old Gym Leader had quit when they were originally in the area. "We can go north or south from Izabe," Danny said, putting his finger on the map. "North means Mossdeep and the psychic-type gym, south means Fern Lagoon and the ice-type gym."
Max studied the map. "If we go south, we'd end up in... Sootopolis? Then back to Mossdeep or down to Giban for the poison gym?" He thought for a second. "That's a lot of boats."
"True," Danny said. "North we go to Lilycove and then to Fortree and Nightwind? Less boats, but a lot of walking to get to Fortree." Lilycove and Fortree were about 120 miles away from each other as the swellow flew, and the main routes twisted around the densely forested region that was found in that straight line.
Max wasn't opposed to a lot of walking, and he somehow persuaded Danny to take the northern route. From there, the later route was a lot easier to figure out as well, since they'd simply do a lap around the western part of Hoenn, hitting five other gyms on the way: fire, ground, rock, fighting and electric. Danny grumbled about having to hike, but the main alternative was walking around the dense forests in Hoenn's eastern half in high summer. That was something Max did not want to do again.
Mossdeep had barely changed since Max had last been there, though there was no shuttle to be launched this time. It also was the place of Max and Danny's first battle as a trainer. Both of them lost, Max's treecko losing out to a poochyena and Danny's mudkip losing a fight in the water against a totodile. The losses were to be expected, and both opponents were helpful at pointing out possible improvements once they learned it was the boys' first battle.
Starter Pokémon were bred to be raised easily, not to be superior to other Pokémon. Apart from tackling the opponent, which nearly every Pokémon could do, Max's treecko could only shoot a limited amount of seeds at its opponent, based on the amount of seedy fruits it had been fed. It could also absorb some energy through its fingers, but that required touch and the poochyena had been careful to not allow treecko to touch it long enough for that.
Danny's mudkip had the same problem, only with water instead of seeds. Danny had started working with his mudkip to let it use its hind legs to kick up mud, but that did not help when the battle was in the water. The totodile was more agile in the water and had a jaw it could, and did, use.
On top of that, teaching new moves required training and some experience with the actual moves before they could be used effectively in battle. Right now, Max and Danny barely knew their Pokémon from random wild ones, though they were rapidly correcting that.
By the time the duo left for Izabe, Thursday afternoon, Max had actually won his first battle with the help of treecko's Absorb move, and Danny's mudkip had been very close to beating a sluggish whismur until the pink Pokémon had lashed out with a defensive Uproar at close range.
Every journey began with small steps. They'd been told that many times, but now it actually meant something to them.
The first night sleeping in the wild felt good, even if Max's treecko was falling over with exhaustion after a guard shift that lasted all night.
They reached the Pokémon Center where Max and ralts had said goodbye around 4 o'clock, under a stormy sky crackling with static electricity and pent-up rain. Max wanted to go out to look for an hour or so, but Danny stopped him, afraid of bad weather. He ended up being proven right when the floodgates opened not long after, causing nigh-torrential rain to pour down for an hour amidst repeated, close, lightning strikes. At one point, the lightning hit a tree in view from the Center's lobby, a loud crack of thunder accompanying it, deafening some of the Pokémon with more sensitive hearing present in the lobby. When the torrential rain and thunderstorm were spent, the weather mellowed into a steady drizzle.
The sun had set, and Danny was reading and commenting rather unfavourably on an officialbrochure when his Pokénav suddenly started ringing. Max was close to it and saw that it wasn't Professor Birch calling. "Yes, who is this?" Danny asked when he had pressed the right button to accept the call.
"My name's Ash Ketchum. Is this Danny Birch?" came a voice Max knew well.
"Yeah. Looking for Max?"
"Kinda, yes. Is he around?"
"Yep!" Max said exuberantly. "Thank you for the Dawn Stone. It's great!"
"I wasn't using it, you could use it, so why should I keep it?" Ash said, and Max knew he'd be shrugging if it were face to face. "Did you find ralts yet?"
"We're at the Pokémon Center I last saw him, but the weather's shit." And wasn't that an understatement. The rain had just picked up again, clattering against the windows. "I'm not getting pneumonia to get him. He'll understand that."
Ash chuckled, recognising the callback in that statement. "Yeah, good point. Anyway, what I'm really calling you and everyone else for: I've got eight Sinnoh badges now."
"Really? So you're going to the Sinnoh League?" Max said. "Wait, when is that?"
"Officially, it starts June first," Ash replied. "But the screening rounds start a week before that. The final is on the 8th."
"Cool! Can't wait to watch you on TV again."
"If I make it to those rounds. Who knows. Perhaps I run into some guy with only Legendaries in the preliminaries."
Max and Danny laughed, and Ash joined them a moment after. "I'm sure you'll do your best anyway. Not like you haven't defeated them before, right?"
Danny shot Max a weird look at that. "Legendaries? You fought them?"
"Yeah, in the Kanto Battle Frontier. Articuno and the regis. Only won against articuno and regice, though." A burst of static shot through the room. "Sorry. Someone with a magnemite passing by. So Max, how have your first days as a real trainer been?"
Max and Danny told Ash about their uneventful trip and battles. In return, Ash shared some stories of his first few days as a trainer. Danny was amazed at Ash's problems with pikachu, and the way that Ash won the Boulder Badge had him in stitches. Max, who'd heard the story before, also couldn't resist laughing. It was just as funny the second time around.
Eventually, the talk wound down. "Right. One last thing before I hang up. Max, what's your Pokénav number? I never wrote it down." Max recited the number for Ash. "Thanks. Hope you find ralts."
"Thanks Ash," Max said. "Good luck reaching everyone else and give pikachu a hug for me."
"Pi-ka!" said Ash's starter, revealing that he'd been listening in. A hug was delivered, resulting in a content-sounding "Piiiiii..."
"Hug given," Ash reported. "Talk to you later!"
"So that's Ash," Danny said, putting the Pokénav on the night stand beside the bunk bed. "I like him. He's cool."
"Didn't you see him in the Ever Grande Conference? I know his match was on TV."
Danny gave a shrug as he searched his pack. "I was down with some nasty bug. Spent most of the day sleeping around that time." He straightened. "Come on, let's sleep. Big day tomorrow."
"Now you're really sounding like your father," Max muttered, but ten minutes later, the lights in the room were out.
Max woke early, and Danny was woken up by Max soon after, and the search for the missing ralts was on even before the sun had managed to peek over the hill directly to the east of the Center. For five hours, they trudged over muddy paths, through wet undergrowth, and under trees with a habit of dripping cold water at the base of one's neck. Eventually, they set up lunch on a hillside path, close to where Max and ralts had been first accosted by Team Rocket.
As Max bit down on his second sandwich, a kirlia teleported in, and the flutters in Max's stomach reared their head like never before. Then, it – he – spoke. "Hello, Max Maple. I was looking for you."
~~§~~§~~§~~§~~
"For the last time, starter Pokémon have no discernible advantage or disadvantage compared to giving a starting trainer another Pokémon. We offer them because the starting types of Grass, Water and Fire each have immediate benefits for starting trainers. Grass-types are excellent food gatherers, and I'm sure you understand why fire and water are useful for trainers."
Professor Oak, debating the merits of starter Pokémon in a radio talk show.
Author's Note: The journey begins properly. In this imagining, Hoenn and Sinnoh (and Unova, Kalos, and probably the as yet unnamed seventh region) all have a full set of Gyms including all types. (Kanto and Johto have the eight standard ones we know from their respective seasons/generations, and Dark and Fairy are in shared jurisdiction.) As such, they're skipping some Gyms that Ash did, notably the Petalburg Gym due to general awkwardness, and the Sootopolis Gym.
Updates from here on out should be weekly for the foreseeable future: the current buffer extends several chapters.