Hey Howdy, all! This is something that's been stuck in my head for a while and I've just got to get it out of me. It's going to be the first story that I've ever written so please take it with a grain of salt! If you have any tips or suggestions feel free to leave a review! I have some plans in place for some connected stories after being inspired by BANIX and their stories! I definitely recommend you go and give them a read! Again this is just a side project I do in my free time and am using to improve my writing skills! And with that, I hope you enjoy it!

(I do not claim to own Pokemon. This is strictly fan-based writing using Pokemon as the general topic.)

There's something surreal about achieving your dreams. Climbing those mountains and straining to raise your body even just an inch higher. It's something that not many people are willing to do. They would rather choose the path already taken. The one where the destination is known.

That's not me. I strived my way to the top, reaching a hand out to my team along the way. We either get there together or we die fighting for it.

The funny thing about my story is that I'm not actually from the Pokémon world. I was a human on earth, just like you. I came to this world broken and shattered. Left to wonder if living is even worth it.

Now? Now I'm an Elite level trainer. With a team that will help me reach those heights that I so desperately yearn for.

This is MY story.

This is my ascension.

When I first arrived in this world I was shaken to my core. I had heard about reincarnation before but I had never known it was possible. There were plenty of stories and anime that I had read and watched in my past life that touched on the topic but nothing prepared me for the absolute confusion that came along with it.

You see, in this world, I'm known as Cindy Pracket. I was born in Saffron city and grew up with my family there. That's another thing that I could barely wrap my head around. I was reincarnated into the world of Pokémon. I played games and even watched the show whenever I was young. But nothing could have prepared me for living in a world that was inhabited by them. I still remember seeing my Uncle's Hitmontop and Hitmonlee in action at one of his exhibitions. The speed that was displayed was too fast for my young eyes to track. Only catching glimpses as they paused to exchange blows.

Pokemon in this world is dangerous. I mean step too far off the beaten path and you have a good chance of being eaten kind of dangerous. Everything revolves around them. The economy, government, and entertainment. Everything. And Pokémon in the wilds is a lot more fierce and worrying than it was in the games. Of course, you're going to have your usual Rattata and Pidgey that wander around many of the routes in Kanto. But everyone's heard a horror story of a trainer that started their journey only to wander too far and too quickly for their skill level. If they were lucky, some only came home with cuts, bruises, and a bit of fear. Many are not that lucky and come home with an empty Pokeball of a fallen member. Some don't even return.

Pokemon also don't have a four-move limit like there was in the games. It works a bit more like the anime in which they learn many of their attacks through hard work and intuition. Of course, there are TMs and egg moves to think about but that's a worry I can place further down the line of my journey.

Another different thing is the standard age for a journey. Under the laws of the Pokemon World Government, one cannot legally become a trainer until they reach the age of thirteen. Of course, like many rules there are exceptions. Gary Blue Oak for example began his journey at 10. He had the lucky privilege of becoming a sponsored trainer as well as having the familial power of his grandfather being the professor of the region.

There are a few ways that one can begin their journey with a league-provided starter. One of those is to become a sponsored trainer. This can be done in a variety of ways. The most common is by scoring highly on the end-of-year aptitude tests. Every year there is a test that all aspiring trainers will take. Afterward the top 10-15 scorers are selected and interviewed until they are whittled down to 9. Once 9 applicants have been selected they then receive a regional starter pokemon from the professor and are sponsored by the Pokemon league to begin their journeys early. Most of the time these trainers can obtain at least 5 badges in their beginning gym circuits. That's how much power a regional starter can bring to your team.

Of the more common ways is to become sponsored by a city's gym. This is slightly less common seeing as only major gyms can sponsor multiple trainers. It is, however, a very good way to start your journey as you receive many benefits that can be utilized throughout your journey. The winner of the 514th Indigo League was a trainer that was sponsored by the Cinnabar gym. He was a dual specialist of both fire and rock types who won with a brilliant display of the movie Stealth Rock.

And finally, there's the usual way. Many trainers start their careers with a gifted Pokémon. Either caught or bought by family members or friends and given up on their 13th birthday.

These are the more common ways that a trainer obtains their starter. There are outliers such as young trainers who took the risk and managed to return home with a Pokémon they caught. But it's a very risky option given that you would be facing off a Pokémon on your own without the slightest bit of protection. Trying to attempt that is as close as you can get to sign your own life away to mother nature.

In terms of my journey, I managed to get very lucky. My Uncle is Karate Master Koichi who runs the Fighting Dojo Gym in Saffron City. My family lives with him at the gym in Saffron. I've grown up watching my Uncle battle challengers and seen the life that a gym leader lives. You see a gym leader is more than just a person who hands out badges to aspiring trainers. They are leaders. Defenders. A symbol of safety and power. Gym leaders in all honesty are as important to a city as a mayor. And to the region as a whole? You could say the influence of a senator. As a gym leader, you are not only a wall to encourage growth and impart wisdom to trainers on their journeys. But a trainer capable of protecting a city from dangerous threats from both man and Pokémon alike.

Gym leaders must be the cream of the crop from a region's trainer pool. To be considered in the major 8 of a region's circuit you and your Pokémon have to be the best of the best. Almost every gym leader is a specialist. And in all honesty, most trainers are as well. It's much easier to focus your energy and attention on a singular type of Pokémon due to the similarities in training and caring for them. Some choose to divide their efforts between two or even three types of Pokémon. These trainers are rare than specialists. I'd say maybe 25% of Pokémon trainers focus on more than a singular typing. The knowledge and resources needed to attend to multiple different types were also very discerning factors in the scheme of things. Being a Pokémon trainer is expensive in terms of just getting the needed materials to feed and properly care for a Pokémon. Thus many tend to train Pokémon of the same type to reduce the strain on their wallets. And then you have generalists. These are very rare. The skill and knowledge you have to possess to raise many pokemon of different typings are taxing. These types of trainers amount to about 5-10% of the entire trainer population. Many of these trainers are at least of the elite level in terms of ability. They have to be in all honesty. To afford to properly support and feed a team that has a large number of typings is very expensive. Thus to provide for it you must be very good at what you do.

Anyways back to gym leaders. So the major gyms of a region's circuit are the best of the best at what they do. A gym leader is not only a powerful trainer. But a symbol of their region too. They have duties to their cities and areas of the regions that they resided in. And thus they were representatives of those cities. In times of disaster, a gym leader would assume full command of a city's defense and would assist in a city's growth in times of peace. They as well as the Elite Four are the representative firepower that each region has. The best twelve trainers that a region's Champion could assemble.

My uncle used to be the only Gym Leader of Saffron City before I was born. He even used to be part of the main eight as well! It was when I was six that it happened. There was an accident that happened during a Pokemon battle that ended up starting a large forest fire in the forest surrounding the city. Unfortunately for us, there was a very old and powerful Snorlax that had laid its territory on the eastern side of the forest. Enraged by the destruction of its territory it rampaged towards Saffron where the fires had originated from. My Uncle rushed to defend the city from the Snorlax but wasn't able to acquire his entire team before leaving. The Snorlax was advancing towards the city too fast and he couldn't return to the gym quick enough to ensure that the Snorlax wouldn't reach the outer edge of the city. He only had four of his main team on him that day. His Starters are Machamp, Hitmontop, Hitmonchan, and his Toxicroak. After an hour of nonstop battle and continuous efforts to keep the Snorlax out of the city, Uncle Koichi succeeded in finally defeating the Snorlax with the reinforcements of two Kanto Elite teams. He lost so much though. His Starter was the only of his Pokémon to survive the encounter.

And then a year later a new trainer challenged Uncle for the position of the major eight. This trainer had won the Indigo League and had developed a gym of her own on the North Eastern side of the city. This trainer was Sabrina. My Uncle had never managed to properly replace the holes left in his team after the disaster. He was too overcome with grief at his loss to properly train any adequate replacements. Not only that but Sabrina was both a Psychic Specialist and a literal Psychic herself. She commanded her Pokémon without a word and trounced the rest of my Uncles team. She won 6-0 in a clean sweep and cemented her gym as the strongest gym within Saffron.

It was six months after losing to Sabrina that my Uncle received the news that he would be losing the classification of being a gym on the major circuit. That was when I found my dream in this world. Seeing the look of anguish and pain on my Uncle's face ignited something deep within my soul. I vowed that I would become a trainer that would have the strength to return our gym to prominence. Since then I have studied and researched everything to know about fighting Pokémon. I knew that my parents would find me a starter for my journey so that part was covered.

The problem was to start making a name for myself, I would have to try and complete my gym circuit in a year and then try and win the Indigo League Tournament held at the end of the year. That meant I had to train a team that could compete with elite-level trainers in under a year. This was going to require intensive planning, enough research to make my brain explode, and a fuck ton of luck.

And that is where my story begins. A small stroke of luck that my family got my birthday present three weeks early. My story starts with an embarrassed father handing me a regular Pokeball.

"Happy Birthday Cindy. I know it's early but I hope you and your starter become the greatest of friends!" My father passed me the Pokeball, kissed me on the top of my head, and gently pushed me toward the training grounds behind the house.

It was time…time for me to begin my climb to the heights of trainers like Bruno of the Elite Four.

With that thought, I threw the Pokeball out into the court in front of me. The Pokeball hit the ground and released an arc of red energy. This energy formed until finally, it solidified into the form of my starter Pokémon.

"Man-Mankey!!"

And there we go! I'm sorry if it's a lot of explaining but I wanted to get some baselines built prior to Cindy taking her journey. I feel like she's the type that doesn't just rush into things without scouting a bit. She has a lofty dream and would want to research and know what her dream means not only to her but to the world around her. Hopefully y'all enjoyed and if you have any comments feel free to leave a review! The next few chapters are going to be Cindy's Preparation Arc for her journey through the Kanto Region!