There's a few things I forgot to mention up until this point. I started replaying all Pokémon games in 2021- because of memory issues- and I started with Pokémon Platinum. I did multiple play throughs of all of the games, so I could capture all the ones I wanted to capture, and train them. This is why you will at times when I write, see me using Pokémon that I didn't write about capturing, or evolving. That is more or less why, but to be able to tell which Pokémon I would say would be my main team in each region, look for the ones that are nicknamed. There will be several instances in most, if not all, arcs of the story where I change up rival's teams from what they were in the actual games. It just makes it more interesting, original, and less unpredictable to read in my opinion. As Dawn, Lucas, and Barry are all their own characters in this first arc, there will also be additional rival battles from all three of them. All chapters are loosely based on different points of my life, with the exception of two particular arcs I have planned in the future. (I have never smoked anything at any point in my life. That statement will make sense in a long time.) Yes, I am an orphan; parents passed away within a year of each other before I turned nine, rather than at the same time like in my character's story. No, I didn't run out and leave on the streets, or in the woods. Yes I was treated like shit in the foster care system. I spent nearly two decades never seeing my childhood best friend. Both of our names have been changed for privacy purposes. Now that that's all said and done, lets get to it.

A Heartfelt Reunion

Before Chris continued on to Route 202, he stopped at the department store. While it was true that at this point he didn't have much money to speak of, he had enough to buy a journal, and a pen. Once he had it, he took a brief moment by the start of the path leading through Route 202, and opened up the journal. "Mudkip?" His partner Hawke on his shoulder speaks up in confusion.

"I'm writing down my goals, buddy." The young man responds, as he opens up his journal. On the inside of the cover, he writes down two goals in particular. At that moment in time, they are written down in order of importance to Chris:

Find Danielle

Learn more about that green dragon Pokémon from the arctic, and capture it.

"Chimchar?" Chris's newest partner Caesar questions about his trainer's goals.

"Only two for now Caesar." Chris starts, as he writes "Find Danielle" again at the top of the first page. "I may have a different mindset later on down the road, but for right now these are the only two goals I've had for the past twelve years." Chris then turns about halfway through the journal, writing "Learn more about that green dragon Pokémon from the arctic, and capture it." Chris taps the tip of his pen on the paper idly a few times, drawing a bullet point on the first line of the page. "I'll take notes on my progress along the way." Those words escaping Chris's mouth makes him pause to think, then he goes back to the very first page. Under the title on the page, he draws another bullet point on the first line, then writes the words "Ask around Sinnoh" for the first bullet point. "Who knows, maybe she doesn't even live in Kanto anymore." He muses to himself.

"I just hope she hasn't grown up to be someone I wouldn't like." Chris thinks to himself, not speaking the words aloud.

As Chris closes his journal, and puts it and his pen into his backpack that Rowan gifted him, Lucas then joins him. "Hello Chris." He extends his hand out to the orphan, and the two young trainers shake hands. "Feels like this is our first actual introduction."

"I guess it is, Lucas." Chris looks the boy in the eyes, and he can tell that this will be his first rival as a trainer. "You've been at this for a while now?"

"I have. I started learning from Professor Rowan a year and a half ago, and he gave me my starter eight months ago. But... we haven't had the chance to do much real training so far."

"What is that you're gonna teach me then?" Chris asks, doing his best not sound disrespectful with his words.

"I do know a thing or two about capturing Pokémon." Lucas pauses, then gazes at Chris's Chimchar on his left shoulder. "I'm pretty sure you didn't capture the little guy on your shoulder there."

Chris rubs underneath Caesar's chin. "I didn't. He was a gift from the Professor."

"You're in for a bit of a surprise. Follow me." Lucas heads off into Route 202, with Chris following up closely behind him. "So tell me, what region exactly did you come from?"

"Is it that obvious?" Chris asks, realizing that he never really noticed a difference in Kantonian and Sinnoh accents in all the years he's lived in this region.

"Obvious enough. I've never really been outside Sinnoh before either."

"I'm from Kanto. My hometown was called Vermillion City."

"What happened to your parents?"

"They were researchers on an expedition in the Arctic. There was... an accident. They didn't make it."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Even more so that you got put in the foster care system here of all places. I've heard it can be pretty rough."

"You heard right. That's why I ran away."

Chris was expecting maybe two or three more questions from Lucas, when they all of a sudden find a patch of tall grass. "Hang on right here Chris. See the grass here?"

"I know about the tall grass, Lucas. I came all the way down to Lake Verity from Veilstone City."

"Then I guess the only thing to do is show you how to capture Pokémon." Chris makes his way into the tall grass, holding his Pokémon's Ball in his right hand. Suddenly, a wild Bidoof pops out to try to go for Lucas's legs. Lucas scurries back, then goes to throw his Poké Ball. "Go, Chimchar!" He calls out, which catches both Chris's and Caesar's attention.

Lucas's Chimchar is sent out, looking like it had seen the training Lucas had implied. Lucas catches the ball as his glove calls it back, then gives orders to his Pokémon. "Chimchar, use Ember!" Lucas's Chimchar's cheeks puff up, and it fires out a barrage of fiery embers at the wild Bidoof. The Bidoof keeps itself on its feet, and then dashes forward to try to Tackle Chimchar, but it misses the attack. "Now that it's weakened," Lucas starts, as he grabs an empty Poké Ball from his belt, and activates it. "I'll throw a Poké Ball at it!" The ball hits the Bidoof on its forehead, opening up to absorb it within. The ball touches the ground, shaking around three times before the center flashes brightly. Lucas steps forward and picks the Poké Ball up, before turning around to address Chris. "So, when you're trying to capture a wild Pokémon, your best bet is to do some damage before throwing a Poké Ball. The more you travel though, the stronger wild Pokémon you will encounter. The stronger they are, the more damage you'll need to do to them to capture them. Finding a way to put them to sleep, or paralyze them would also help you to capture a Pokémon."

Chris listens attentively, then nods at Lucas. "Thanks for the lesson, Lucas."

"Your welcome Chris. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to see if I can find Dawn and Barry in Jubilife, because they both left something back at the lab." Lucas turns to head on forward, but has something further to say to Chris as he walks. "Meet up with me in Jubilife before you head to Oreburgh by the way. I want to see what Pokémon you caught on this route." He then turns completely away from Chris, who's taking a look around the route to listen to the cries of wild Pokémon.

Chris carries on through the Route, with him and his two partners riding his shoulder as all three look around the wilds to spot some wild Pokémon. Because Chris had two Pokémon riding on his shoulder, it seemed as though wild Pokémon were thinking twice about trying to attack him. Still, Chris didn't have nothing to show for what Lucas taught him.

Halfway through the route, Chris experienced Deja vu, as he was beset by a wild Starly. Hawke the Mudkip on Chris's right shoulder immediately leapt to his defense. As the Starly swooped down, Hawke knocked it out of the air with a swift Tackle attack. The Starly rose back up, and flew forward to Peck the blue mud fish, but it was wasn't enough to take Hawke off his feet. "Hawke, use Water Gun!" Chris commands, and so Hawke fires off a bullet of water at the wild Starly to knock it down a peg. The Starly lies prone and in pain from the short battle, and Chris activates an empty Poké Ball before throwing it at the Starly. The ball shakes three times, then the center flashes brightly. Chris steps forward and picks up the Poké Ball.

The same instincts that Chris had when he first met Hawke kicked in after capturing Starly, and he let it out of its ball to treat its injuries. As he sprayed the potion on Starly and rubbed it through its feathers, and onto its body. Once the pain subsided, the Starly shook its entire body, and spread its wings. Chris cracks a smile, then looks the little bird in the eyes. "Senu." He says, placing a name on his newly captured Pokémon. His Pokédex indicates that Senu is a girl.

As he returns to this end of Route 202 for the first time in nearly a year, Chris stops dead in his tracks to take a heavy sigh. "Kip?" His very first partner speaks up in concern. Chris softly closes his eyes, as one of his more recent memories dances in his mind.

After sneaking his way through the streets as he saw some police officers passing by both ways of the hospital, Chris calmly walks through the front door of the hospital with a bouquet of roses in his hand. He approaches the front desk to check to see if the girl he's come to see is still in the same room. "Excuse me."

"Yes sir," The lady at the front desk starts. "How may I help you?"

"I'm looking for the room number for Brianna Medina."

She starts to type on her computer. "One moment, please." Her eyes flicker around as she searches up and down her list. "Here we are. Room 213, second floor."

"Thank you." Chris says calmly, before walking down to the elevator. He does his best not to look anyone in the eyes, as there's only a handful of people he'd actually want to recognize him. He's going to see one right now, and the other two should be along shortly.

As he gets up to the elevator, Chris notices some doctors and nurses seemingly rushing towards one particular area or other. He doesn't think about it too much, stopping at the end of the hallway to let them pass by. But then a nurse at the front desk of this floor makes a call that makes his breath get caught in his throat. "Emergency personnel to Room 213."

Chris shakes his head rapidly, then follows up behind the doctors and nurses going towards Brianna's room. The girl was three years younger than Chris himself, and all he could think was how much he wished he could take her place. As he got closer to the room, he could hear her heart rate monitor beeping at a rapid rate. "Please... please, no." He said to himself as he got closer.

But it was to no avail. Seconds after stopping at the doorway of room 213, Brianna flat lined. The innocent little girl who's family had been the only people in this city to show him any kindness, was gone. Chris dropped the bouquet, and ran out of the hospital. Out of Jubilife.

Chris breaks out of his cloud, and strokes underneath his Mudkip's chin. "I'm okay." He says. He didn't want to admit that he wasn't really ready to go back into the city. Fortunately for him, when he looked to his left, he realized he didn't have to. Chris spotted another segment of tall grass, and heard a few unfamiliar cries. "Let's go check it out." He says, as he walks over to the tall grass.

He looked around as he slowly walked around the grass. While Chris was looking in one direction, Caesar on his shoulder was looking at the other direction, when he noticed that a wild Shinx was hoping onto the scene. "Char! Chimchar!" The little one yells out to get his trainer's attention. As Chris turns his head, Caesar has leaped off his shoulder hit the Shinx with a Scratch before it can hit Chris.

The situation has now captured Chris's full attention. "Thanks for looking out for me, bud." Chris says to Caesar, before taking command. Shinx attempts to Tackle Caesar. "Roll out of the way, Caesar!" The fire monkey does as is commanded, and dodges with a roll at the perfect moment. "Ember!" On cue, Caesar's cheeks puff up, and it fires out a barrage of fiery embers at the wild Shinx. The embers hit the feline hard, and it tries and fails to shake it off. Chris knows it's his chance, and he activates an empty Poké Ball. He throws it right on the noggin of the Shinx, and captures it.

Chris takes the ball, and steps outside of the tall grass. He then sits down comfortably, his Mudkip and Chimchar hopping off his shoulder to gather around. He puts his hand in front of the new capture's face to let it sniff his hand, whilst checking its gender with his Pokédex. The Shinx was a boy. Chris started to treat his new companion's injuries with a potion, which makes it grimace from the stinging feeling. The feeling quickly fades however, and the male Shinx shakes its body to relax. "Shinx! Shinx!"

He lets Chris pet his head, as they look each other in the eyes. "Skarr." Chris says, as he rises up with the little one in his arms. Caesar climbs back up onto Chris's left shoulder before he rises back to his feet, to continue on to Jubilife City. Afterwards, he looks over to the entrance to Jubilife City, then a bit further back the way he came to notice a group of trainers battling. He smiles as he suddenly sees an opportunity to stray away from the city a bit longer.

After an hour of battling and defeating three other rookies, Chris is now forced to turn his attention back to the city. Once he realizes that three of his four Pokémon are conversing, he decides to let out his Starly Senu to join the conversation. His Starly sits upon his head as he walks over into Jubilife, with a deep breath as he enters the city.

The place hasn't changed. Chris knew that just by taking one look in it. The lights and the glamour was masking how people like Chris are treated by the high class of the city. In the first few minutes of him walking through the city, Chris was ignored completely by some people he recognized, which was a huge step up to the mistreatment he was given when he was obviously a poor street urchin. It seems they just think he's middle class now.

Once Chris makes it to the Trainer's School, he hears Lucas calling out to him. "Hello Griffin!" The slightly older boy calls out to him. He approaches Chris, noticing the four Pokémon riding his body. "Well, looks like my lessons are being put to good use." Chris doesn't say anything, but smiles at Lucas before scratching behind the ears of his Shinx. "Hey, just so you know, you're allowed to sit in at the Trainer's School up ahead, and read about the basics for free if you want a refresher course."

"That's nice of them." Chris starts. "It's just a shame that when they hired new faculty, they didn't want me to sleep there anymore."

"They didn't try to send you back to the foster system?"

"They did. That's what I meant by chase me away."

"I'm sorry Chris. Still, it'll be a place you may want to visit just to make sure you have the fundamentals down." As the two young trainers walk towards the school, Lucas stops dead in his tracks as he notices a strange man standing behind a street light. "What the hell is this guy doing?" He asks out loud, capturing Chris's attention. The strange man looks toward the opposite direction, before dashing over to the street light on the other side. Lucas and Chris go to step forward, and Lucas clears his throat.

Suddenly, the strange man speaks. "WHAAAT?!" He nearly screams. There is then a short pause before he speaks again. "How did you know? How did you unmask me as a member of the International Police?!"

This man has completely confused both Chris and Lucas. "Huh?" Lucas says in complete bewilderment. "What are you talking about?"

"All that Lucas here did was clear his throat." Chris chimes in.

The strange man looks both the young men up and down. "You claim he was only clearing his throat, was he? But, I know better than to believe that. No, no, no. You both recognized right away that I was someone extraordinary. That is why you spoke to me, is it not? Your power of observation is fearsome!" The man puts his hands behind his back, and smiles at the two trainers. "Quite admirable, you both are!"

His expression changes again, as he puts his hand underneath his chin, contemplating. "Now that my cover has been blown, let me introduce myself. I am a globe-trotting elite of the International Police. My name... Ah, no, I shall inform you only of my code name. My code name, it is Looker. It is what they all call me. I have been sent here to Sinnoh to investigate... criminals stealing the Pokémon of others. I have therefore been on the lookout for characters arousing my suspicion."

Looker takes a look behind him, before returning his attention to the two still completely baffled young men. "Before I take my leave, I have a request. I must request that you speak to me should you see me again in the future. I believe that you may very well learn information useful to my mission in your travels. So please, inform me of any happenings!" Without another word, Looker takes off in a metaphorical cloud of dust.

After a few more seconds of stunned silence, Lucas speaks up. "Working for the International Police must be hard." Lucas then draws Chris's attention to their left. "Here it is. The Trainer's School. I think I saw that girl Dawn go into the school. Maybe you go in and say hi, if you can't think of any other reason. She's definitely a cutie." He then looks towards where Chris entered the city. "Anyways, I've gotta get back to Professor Rowan." He extends his hand, and he and Chris shake hands. "I'll see you around, Chris." Lucas then starts to make the walk back to Sandgem town, and Chris decides to head into the Trainer's School after calling his Starly and Shinx back into their Poké Balls.

Chris enters the Trainer's School just in time to find Dawn about to leave. She stops dead in her tracks as the six-footer towers above her. "Oh, h-hi." She mutters, a bit intimidated now that she's standing much closer to him than she was at Lake Verity. "Chris, right?"

Chris nods his head, then puts his hand up to calm her. Chris's Mudkip and Chimchar smile at her to help her relax. It does the job, as she smiles at the two first-stage Pokémon. "That's right." Chris says. "You don't have anything to worry about. I know I look scary, but... yeah."

Dawn nods at him, then relaxes a bit more. "Okay. I'm sure you've got a lot that you don't trust me with knowing. Regardless, my name's Dawn and... I need to apologize."

"What for?"

"I was... I was rather rude to you when I first met you, and I know literally nothing about you to make me think you deserved that."

Chris nods his head again. "It's okay. I..." Chris says, but has to look away as he realizes just how pretty this girl really is, and he nearly blushes. "I'm not really here to take a lesson, so you wanna take a look around town with me?"

Dawn smiles, but then has to hide a blush herself as she notices that this boy has really cleaned up from when she first met him. She can't help but think how handsome he is. "Yeah, lets do that." She says nervously, and the two rookie trainers walk outside the school, and head into the city.

Once they're clear of the city, and once Chris pushes down his nerves at being back in the city completely, he wonders about Dawn's friend. "So... where's your friend?"

"Barry? He's not really what you'd call 'patient'. I don't know if you noticed that he was at Rowan's lab an hour before I was."

"And then gone just as quickly as he arrived." Chris says, as he remembers the boy coming in, and leaving all in the span of five minutes.

"Yeah. He's never bothered to wait for me."

"It guess not." As the two rookies walk their way through the city, Dawn taking in the sights, they are suddenly flagged down by a woman calling out to Chris. "Chris Harper?" Chris begins to look for the voice's owner. "Chris, is that you?" Finally, Chris has pinpointed the woman, and he stops dead in his tracks at the sight of her. It was Mrs. Medina. Brianna's mother. She was approaching Chris as fast as she could, her eyes slowly welling up with tears. "It is you!" Once they were in arm's reach of each other, Chris and Mrs. Medina shared a warm embrace.

"Hi, Mrs. Medina." Chris says, his voice cracking as he remembers the final dinner he shared with this woman and her family.

"Oh dear, its been so long." She says, as she squeezes the friend of her late daughter.

A man then joins the scene, and holds the woman and young man for a group hug. "Are you okay, my boy?" The man says, and Chris immediately recognizes his voice as Mr. Medina.

"Yeah, yeah I'm doing a lot better." Chris's Mudkip and Chimchar had hoped off his shoulder to give him some space for this reunion, and they jumped back on once he left the Medina's embrace. "Professor Rowan gave me a chance to become a Pokémon Trainer."

"That's great!" Mr. Medina says, before looking over to Dawn. "I'm sorry Chris, we weren't interrupting anything, were we?"

Chris looks back to Dawn, who's shaking her head. "It's fine Chris, we can talk more later."

Chris nods at her. "Thank you Dawn. We'll definitely talk some more." She smiles at him, waving as she heads in the opposite direction. Chris turns his attention back to the Medinas, and has a sad expression as he looks to the floor. "I'm sorry. Both for your loss, and that I just ran out of town like I did."

Mrs. Medina puts her hand on his shoulder to comfort him. "Thank you Chris. And we aren't upset with you. You had us worried, sure. But we weren't upset then, and we aren't now."

"We're just glad that your safe and healthy, my boy." Mr. Medina adds.

Chris suppresses his tears, and sniffles before he continues. "Thank you. Both of you."

Mr. Medina takes a look to the steadily darkening sky. "Its starting to get rather late Chris. I'd like to invite you to spend the night with us again."

"No, I... I don't want to be a burden."

"Chris, please." Mrs. Medina responds. "You've never been a burden on us. You aren't going to be one now."

Chris takes a short moment to look into both of their eyes, before letting out a shaky breath. "Okay." With that, the two adults lead Chris back to their car. They stop along the way home to get some food for Chris's Pokémon, then start cooking for the night once they are home. Once they're in the kitchen, Mrs. Medina shows Chris the basics of cooking, and Mr. Medina gifts him with two cook books for both himself, and his Pokémon.

After eating Mrs. Medina's fantastic lasagna for dinner, she heads up to the guest bedroom Chris spent several nights sleeping in to prepare the bed for him. While she does, Mr. Medina has a talk with the young man. "A Pokémon Trainer? Is that what you want for your life?"

"Honestly sir, I... I just want to have a life." As Chris says those words, he can't stop a tear from sliding down his cheek. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the young man's life over the last few years may very well have been the hardest point of his young life. His little Mudkip comes up, and licks the tear from his cheek.

Mr. Medina smiles, able to see the potential in the young man. But still, he wants him to know that he has more than one path to a fulfilling life. "Then I want you to give it your very best. But I also want you to know that if you feel like you can't make it, I'm willing to give you a place to stay here. I'm willing to let you get your GED, all while working for my company. If you choose to do so, I'll will teach you everything you need to know to run my company once my time to retire comes."

Chris smiles at Mr. Medina, and can't help but feel grateful for all that this family has done for him in the time he has known them. "Thank you, sir."

Mr. Medina then looks over towards a picture of his deceased daughter in the living room. Right in front of the picture, is an urn containing her ashes. "Chris, would you like to say goodbye?"

Chris looks past Mr. Medina, and sees the urn. He quickly calms the emotions that come with the realization that Brianna is in that urn, and then nods his head. "Please." He says. He stands up, and follows Mr. Medina over to the shrine to his daughter. He takes a shaky breath, and alternates between looking at the urn, and the picture. "Hi Brianna. I... I'm sorry that just ran out on your parents like that. Its just... you were the only real friend that I had in a long time. When you..." Chris pauses, then feels the tears sliding freely down his face.

"When you passed... m-my heart just broke." He sniffles loudly, then wipes the tears from his eyes. "And in an instant, I just felt all alone in the world again." He lets out a shaky sigh, then continues. "I miss you. I'm gonna spend the rest of my life missing you. Goodbye kid. I... I love you." He wipes more tears from his eyes, and feels Mr. Medina's hand on his shoulder. He turns around, and shares a warm hug with the father of his only friend.

Chris then heads into the bathroom to prepare for bed, and to clean his face up. Whilst outside, he can hear Mr. and Mrs. Medina talking, but can't tell exactly what they're saying. He comes out of the bathroom, his Chimchar and Mudkip taking a spot on the bed. "Chris." Mrs. Medina says, with Mr. Medina right beside her. "Before you leave tomorrow, my husband is going to have a gift for you. You're going to want to make sure you get it."

Chris nods. "Okay." He gives Mrs. Medina a hug. "Goodnight."

Mrs. Medina hugs him back. "Goodnight sweetie. I'll have a nice breakfast for you in the morning." Chris nods.

"Goodnight, my boy." Mr. Medina says.

"Goodnight, sir." Chris closes the bedroom door, then lies down in bed between his two partners. They both snuggle up to him, and all three slowly drift to sleep.

The next morning...

Chris took the time waiting for bathe his Pokémon, carefully in his Chimchar and Shinx's case. Afterwards, he and his Pokémon all have breakfast, and relax for a bit as he waits for Mr. Medina to return.

As it would turn out, Mr. Medina was out getting Chris his very first smart phone. "In the last decade or so, these have become essential for all Pokémon trainers. Also, my wife and I would very much like to stay up to date on your progress, Chris."

Chris nods his head, and smiles at Mr. Medina. "Thank you, so much."

He puts his hand on Chris's shoulder. "Your welcome Chris. We'll cover the bill until the time comes where you can afford to pay it on your own."

As the two adults walk with Chris to their front door, Mrs. Medina speaks. "I've arranged for your travel expenses to be covered when your ready to head to Floraoma Town. Just tell the bus station to look it up under our last name." Once at the front door, she gives Chris a hug. "Good luck, sweetie."

Chris hugs her back. "Thank you. Both of you."

Mr. Medina then gives Chris a hug. "Regardless of your success as a trainer, you are always welcome at our house."

Chris smiles. "Thank you." He turns to walk down their driveway, and waves at them both as he heads back into the city, ready to make the short walk through Route 203 to Oreburgh City.