Chapter 0: The beggining


It was a great day for a morning walk around Fortree City. I had already told my aunt about what I was going to do today and she had given me the nod as long as I was back home before nine PM.

"Kip! Mudkip!"

Something my partner was not too happy about. "I know, bud, but the rules are the rules. You don't want to get stuck at home for the rest of the week because you broke them, do you?"

"Mud..."

"That's what I thought. No need to worry though, that's more than enough time to battle some trainers! Maybe even find a new teammate!"

"Mudkip!"

Fortree City was full of activity from people and Pokémon alike. It was a marvelous sight, really, seeing everyone living their day together without any problems.

The beautiful natural environment with the houses on the trees was really something spectacular to see. Hoenn really had some beautiful sights.

"Excuse me, young man" Turning around, I was met face to face with officer Jenny and her Growlithe. She carried a noteblock and a pen and looked worried about something. "Do you have a moment?"

"Of course! What's the matter?" I asked her, letting Mudkip down from my shoulders and onto the ground, where he approached Growlithe and the two began playing together

"There's been some cases of stolen food and drink from the local Poké-Mart, and the few witnesses there exist report that the fruit seemed to float in the air before disappearing completely. Have you seen anything unusual around here?"

"Sorry, but I'm not from here. I've just arrived a few minutes ago and I haven't even been to the Poké-Mart yet. Though, what you describe seems like an invisible Pokémon deciding to steal food..."

"We know that, but the locals keep insisting that they have the Kecleon problem sorted, so they can't be the ones behind it. They think it has to be another, perhaps rare, Pokémon"

My eyes widened. "A rare Pokémon?!"

"That's what everyone thinks, so that's why we are asking trainers to give all the help they can give"

"I will help, officer! I've got nothing else to do anyway"

She smiled. "Thanks you, trainer! It happened at the mart at the west entrance to the city, so maybe you could check it out. The only clue we have is that it mostly has light gray fur!"

"Alright, thanks! Come on, Mudkip, follow me!"

My aunt lived in Mauville City, which was something that made it easier arriving at the Poké-Mart, since it was where I was coming from.

Gathered around, there was a whole bunch of different trainers and their Pokémon, some looking around and others asking the cashier about the events that happened.

I walked to three trainers that were talking to each other about possible places to look for the Pokémon. There were two boys and a girl. The most enthusiathic looking boy wore a red and black leather jacket and boots with black pants. He was also wearing gloves and a black and red headband on top of a weird looking white hat that didn't allow to see his hair. A Treecko was on his shoulders. "What do you guys think that Pokémon could be?"

"I don't know, Brendan, but you should calm down a bit" The girl said, carrying a Torchick on her arms. She was wearing an orange and black leather shirt, the design looking really like "Brendan's" with black shorts and a green handkerchief tied to her head. Much like the boy, she was also wearing gloves, only hers were white.

"I don't want to admit it, but May is right. Being like that will only scare it away!" The remaining boy added. He had tea green hair and he wore an ice blue jacket with dark green pants and white sneakers. He also carried a brown satchel with him and a Ralts stood by his side.

"You siding with May again, Wally? You two wouldn't even understand how cool it'd be to have a rare Pokémon with you! We could become famous!" The first boy yelled.

"Treecko! Ko!"

"I know, but don't you think that you should be a bit more relaxed? Look at how many trainers there are around here! There are not a lot of chances that we will be the ones to find it, if anyone finds it at all" The girl countered.

"Umm, excuse me, but are you also looking for that Pokémon?" I asked, walking closer to them. The trio turned to look at me.

"We are, yeah" The green haired boy answered.

"Are you too?" The other one quickly asked.

"Yep! And by what I managed to overhear from you, we have some common interests about what we want to do with the Pokémon" I told him, grinning.

"Mud!"

"No way! You want to get famous by catching that Pokémon too?!"

"Well, not famous, but something along those lines"

"Oh no. We've found another Brendan..." The girl deadpanned.

"And I thought that one was enough..." The other trainer added.

"Hey!" Both of us exclaimed in unison, before smiling at each other.

"Would you guys mind if I joined you? I have no idea where to even start..." I sheepishly said.

"I guess the more the merrier, right?" He shrugged.

"Thanks! I'm Jake, and this is Mudkip! Nice to meet you!"

"I'm Brendan, and this is Treecko!" The boy with the weird hat stated.

"Tree!

"I'm May, and this is Torchick" The girl said.

"Chick!"

"I'm Wally, and this is Ralts" The remaining one say.

"Ra..." The small Pokémon replied, hiding behind his legs.

"He's a bit timid, don't mind him" He explained.

"A pleasure to meet you guys!"

"Same!" May answered.

"So, back to our topic, where should we begin looking?" Brendan pondered, putting a finger to his chin. His Treecko made the same gesture.

"Shouldn't we look around the shop to see if we can find something like footprints or something like that?" Wally suggested.

"Why didn't we think of that before?! Come on, Treecko! We are gonna catch a rare Pokémon!"

"Treecko! Ko!"

The two dashed to the front of the small blue building and began carefully searching to see if there were any marks or clues around. Both May and Wally sighed.

"I'm sorry that you have to see Brendan like this. He just gets too excited whenever he hears about Pokémon..." May said.

"Well, he's not the only one. I think he just doesn't have a lot of self control" I replied.

The small Torchick nodded, seemingly agreeing with me, to which I laughed. "Looks like your friend knows him very well too!"

"Yeah. Brendan and me started our journey at the same time, we got our starters at the same time too, and we've been traveling around together since"

Wally smiled and turned around, headed for the southern part of the city's forest. "I'm going to search inside that forest over there, and Ralts is going to help with Pokémon we can't see. Hopefully it won't be a dark type!" He told us, before walking away.

"I'm going inside the mart to see if there's something that could give us a clue. But before we go, do you have a Rotom phone?" May asked me.

"Yeah, why?"

"I'll give you our numbers so that we can share anything we find. Sounds good?"

"Sure"

After a quick phone number exchange, I waved May and her Torchick goodbye and looked around.

What should we do now? I asked those three and I still don't have an answer!

While I was thinking about our next move, my partner started sniffing the air before the fin on his head suddenly tensed up. "Mudkip!"

"Hmm? What's wrong, bud?"

"Mudkip! Mud! Mud!" He yelled, jumping from my shoulder and onto the ground. My partner looked at me and pointed behind the store, followed by him dashing somewhere.

"Hey, wait up! Where are you going?"

I ran behind the water type, dodging the huge amount of people, until he arrived to the Pokémon center and went behind the bushes surrounding it. After I did the same, I found him sniffing something on the ground, which was covered by grass.

"Buddy, why did you do that? What's gotten into you?"

"Mudkip!" He yelped, trying to remove the vegetation.

"What? Is there something under this?"

"Mud!"

"Alright, alright, I'll help you!"

When we finished, it turned out that Mudkip was right after all. Something was underneath the grass. It looked like some sort of hole in the ground. No, not a hole, a footprint. A Pokémon footprint.

Without missing a beat, I pulled out my Rotom phone and scanned it.

"Unable to access the Pokémon database due to it being down for an update. Please, try again later" The device said in a robotic voice.

"Now out of all times?!"

I left my phone back in my bag and looked to where the footprint pointed at. There were more of them, enough to form a trail. I followed it, not taking my eyes out from the barely visible footprints until...

"Hey! Watch were you are going!" I bumped into someone and fell to the ground. The person I had bumped into was a girl, who couldn't be much more older than me. She had blonde hair hair with a few scarlet streaks, and also blue eyes. She wore some old looking white dress that covered her whole body.

"Sorry! I wasn't looking forward"

"No problem, but just be more careful next time" Despite her teenager appearence, her voice sounded like if she were a lot older.

"Yeah, sorry again. What are you doing here anyway?"

"I just found some weird footprint trail and I followed it until you bumped into me"

"The trail? I was following it too! My partner found it just a minute ago"

"Your partner?"

"Yeah, that Mudkip over there" I said, pointing to the water type, who was eyeing the girl suspiciously.

"Aw, he's so cute!" She exclaimed, crouching down with the intention of petting him. Mudkip widened his eyes and scratched the girl's hand before jumping back.

"Mudkip!" I yelled, picking him up. "I'm sorry, he doesn't usually attack anyone... Guess he doesn't like you for some reason, huh?"

Mudkip growled a bit but didn't try to do anything else. He still didn't take his eyes from the girl. "I'm so sorry about it. I swear it's the first time I've seen him like this..."

"Don't worry about it..." She said, almost forcibly.

"Anyway, I suppose you are helping the people here to search for the rare Pokémon that's been stealing food?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, yeah. I was looking for it too"

"Why else would you be around here, huh? You are not one of those bug catchers that annoy every trainer with their bugs, are you?"

"What? Of course not. I hate bugs"

"Hey, they are not so bad! Anyway, with all this I forgot to introduce myself! I'm Jake, nice to meet you!" I said, offering my hand.

She looked at it as I was the carrier if a hundred different diseases. "Excuse me? You are who?"

"Jake? J-A-K-E? Is something wrong?"

The girl didn't answer. Instead, she muttered something I couldn't hear and her phone suddenly beeped.

"It must be my mom. Sorry Jake, but I gotta go!" She stated, before running away without adding anything else. She hadn't even looked at the phone.

Is today the 'weird things' day? I swear to god...

Noticing that the trail ended not too far from where we were, I decided I was done here for now, and began walking back to the Poké-Mart.

"Mudkip, what's wrong with you? Why did you try to attack someone with no reason?" I scolded the Pokémon in my arms.

"Mud! Mudkip, mud! Kip..."

"No excuses! You are lucky I don't send you to your ball now!"

The water type fell in silence. He wouldn't have been able to say anything else anyway, because we suddenly heard rustling coming from behind the bushes.

"Hello?"

No answer, except for more rustling. I walked closer to the moving bush and looked around to see if there was some funny guy deciding to prank me. Instead, what I saw was a wall of light gray fur waiting for me.

Before I could process what I was seeing, whatever was behind the bushes pushed me back and started running away.

Wait, light gray fur?

My eyes widened with realization as I quickly left Mudkip on the ground and I took my phone, dialing Brendan's number.

"Brendan to the device, 'sup? "

"Brendan? It's me, Jake!"

"Jake? How did you get my number? Did May give it to you? "

"No time for that! Listen, you guys gotta get to the northern part of the forest! Just behind the Pokémon center!"

"Why? What's wrong? "

"I think I found the Pokémon!"

"You did?! I'll call the rest now! You chase it down and don't lose it! "

"Got it!" I finished, dropping my phone in my bag.

"Mudkip!"

"Yes, pal. Let's go after it!"

Following the direction to where it had ran off to, me and Mudkip dashed between the trees with only one goal in mind. We kept running and running for what felt like hours.

"You are not getting away!"

"Kip!" Yelled my partner.

The Pokémon was not going to run away. At least not without a proper battle.

We both ran and ran, full of hopes of finding who was behind the robbery of food, but the more time we kept chasing it, the more I felt like I was going to lose track of it.

At last, I arrived at a small clearing, free of bushes and trees. No sign of that Pokémon, and no clue of where it had gone to.

Seeing that I lost the chase, I sat down on the ground, and the small Pokémon following me sat in front of me, his head hanging low.

"Mud..."

I smiled at the little display of sadness from my partner and petted his head.

"Don't worry, bud. I'm sure we will find it again soon. At least we know it's here!"

I picked my phone again and sent a message to Brendan.

'Lost the Pokémon. It's just as if it disappeared completely...'

Not too long after, he texted back. 'Dammit! Just when we entered the forest! Don't worry though. We know it's around it so we'll meet at Hoenn's border cliffs and we'll discuss something. See you there!'

I sighed and stood up. "Alright partner, we have to go to the cliffs to meet up with the rest! They say the views are amazing, so maybe you'll cheer up!"

"Kip..."

Using the compass app on my phone, we navigated to our destination. We arrived at Hoenn's northern end: a beautiful cliff, with the sea and the horizon being displayed with beautiful colors.

I sat down within a prudential distance of the edge and enjoyed the beautiful scenary. A few Taillow flying over the sun was enough to make me forget the frustration of that lost chase. My partner sat next to me, seemingly also enjoying the beautiful scenary.

"Amazing, huh? I never knew Hoenn had such beautiful views..."

I laid down on my back and closed my eyes for a bit. A small lump with the form of a Mudkip jumped onto my stomach and sat down. He was happy, I could tell. A smile formed on my face.

"Really? Out of all places, you sit here?"

"Kip!"

He layed down on my stomach and closed his eyes.

"No time for naps, buddy! You have to be ready if that Pokémon comes back! Or if the other appear!"

I heard bushes rustling behind me, and I quickly stood on my feet, just to see someone coming out from behind the shrubbery.

"You again?" She was the girl from before. The moment Mudkip saw her, he stood in front of me and growled at her.

"Mudkip, cut it out! What are you doing here?"

"Just chasing after that rare Pokémon!"

"No way! You were chasing it too? I lost track of it, so I decided to come here to rest a bit"

She giggled. "Exactly what happened to me! Did it have light gray fur?"

"Yeah. Such a shame that I lost it. What are you doing here anyway?"

"I heard someone running in the forest, so I followed the sound until here and I saw you on the ground, so I decided to check if you were okay"

"Yeah. I was just watching this beautiful scenary while I wait for the rest of the group"

She looked at the sea and gasped. "Amazing! I never knew this view was here! Really cool! But aren't you even a bit scared of the height?"

"Why would I be? I am not getting closer than where I am right now, so no need to worry"

We stood a few moments in silence as we looked at the horizon. Then the girl broke the silence.

"Well, I gotta go now, but there's something I need to tell you"

"What is it?"

"It's just a small advice that my dad told me so you and your friends don't lose any Pokémon next time"

"Yeah? Tell me"

She put an evil grin on her face. "Next time you chase me, don't tell anyone about where to find your body"

"Wha-"

Without having enough time to react, I got punched in the face, knocking me backwards, and making me bleed from my nose. My vision was blurry, after that.

"What the fuck?!"

My partner didn't need anything else. He used a Water Gun on her, soaking her whole, but the "girl" fired a Dark Pulse at him, knocking him back.

"Mudkip!" I exclaimed, looking at him, and then back at the girl. "What even are you?"

"You could call me your worst nightmare"

Another Dark Pulse. And this time, it was headed towards my direction.

I narrowly dodged it, and tried to land a punch on her, but she just kicked me back, firing another Dark Pulse at me, and this time, I actually got hit.

I was launched to the edge of the cliff. The remaining momentum made me roll, and I clung to the edge of the cliff with the remaining energy I had.

No matter how hard I tried, I didn't have the strength to pull myself back up.

"How pathetic. And these are the famous humans from the legends? At least your little fish sensed something was wrong!"

She stepped on one of my hands, forcing me to stop using it as support. "Why?" Was the only thing I could say.

"You may not know it yet, but you are nothing more than a obstacle to our plans. So I decided to take you out while we still had the chance. Oh, and I am the one that's been stealing shit from that shop"

She raised one of her feet on top of my other hand. "Any last words?"

"You better not touch Mudkip"

"How sentimental. Now do me a favour, and die as painfully as possible"

She stepped on my hand, and I removed it, cringing from the pain. I felt as if time was slowed down. My life flashed in front of my eyes. Friends, family, and even Mudkip. I never expected this to be my last adventure.

The water was closing in more and more, and I knew there was no way I could survive it.

I hit the cold liquid and then, everything went black.

...

...


Rewrote and extended the chapter.