Year 8521, Topaz: Age 7

It is the dawn of a new era for the Sinnoh region for they finally have a champion of their own, Cynthia. A mysterious young lady with long blonde hair, dressed in all black has taken her seat at the throne as the strongest trainer in the Sinnoh region and champion.

She has crafted a team wielding power, ingenuity and intelligence beyond any would expect their ages and defeated all who stood in her way to the top. Few knew of her true goal, to rescue her lost sister, who along with hundreds of others had gone missing for nearly half a year with nary a trace.

After she had claimed all 8 gym badges of Sinnoh and defeated all in a grand tourney for the right to become champion, she rallied the pokemon league to march onwards to save those who were lost. The enigmatic perpetrators known as Team Galactic escaped, but they will return one day. Nonetheless, she's more than ready to face off against them again.

Of her many allies is the young man of Sunyshore, Volkner. He has risen to the occasion to support his new champion as the successor to the electric Sunyshore Gym. There is much to be done in the Sinnoh region, as it is vast, but old fashioned. Too many grievances have been permitted in this country for far too long. This is the first year of the Champion's reign.

~~Spring~~

PoV: Topaz Heart

Location: Sunyshore City; Beacon Household.

It must've rained last night.

From the window of my room I could see there were still raindrops lingering on my window, slowly sliding down. Luckily the sun was shining bright, gleaming across the city representing the sunny in its name.

The house was quiet right now. Volkner was off doing League work in some other city so he wouldn't be home for a few days and my grandparents never make too much noise in the morning.

I looked in the mirror of my small room. Now that my stay here is permanent, my grandparents have tried to make it more comfortable looking with lots of posters, plushies and toys in my room. Of course, all electric pokemon.

I wish they had asked what I wanted.

Before I left my room, I took a look in the mirror and fixed my hair before putting on my yellow school hat.

Looks different today.

I'm Volkner's nephew, but I don't actually look too much like him. My dad is… was Alolan, so I'm half Alolan and half Sinnohan, but I look way more Alolan, so I have darker skin and curlier dark brown hair. I really like it. Makes me feel like I'm a shiny pokemon.

Except…

I curled a blonde, lightning shape strand on top of my head. My Granddad says that it must be the mark of a future electric type trainer, but I've seen the people on TV and if my hair is special then theirs must be legendary.

How do you get your eyebrows to connect with your beard?

My skin was a more caramel brown, but my eyes were a bright amber color. Grandma likes to say my eyes glow like a Luxray, but if that's true why can't I see in the dark?

I buttoned up my blue school jacket. Over the heart is the city's symbol, a lantern.

"Lux," I heard from the other side of the door.

"I'm coming!" I called out before opening to reveal the much taller Froberge, Volkner's Luxray. He's in charge of walking me to school. He didn't feel like going along with Volkner this time, so he stayed home and took the responsibility of walking me to school and back.

Staying in your Pokeball or lazing about in some random place would get pretty boring, so I can understand why he's here.

In his mouth was my school bag which I quickly put on. "Thanks Froberge."

"Lux," Was all he said before leading me to the door. He's not as stoic as Roland, but he's pretty straight laced. His job is rallying all the Shinx kits at the gym so they listen to training, since they'll eventually get trainers of their own. Ever since Gym Leaders were given permission to give out starter Pokemon they've all been a lot more excited and competitive to be chosen, so Froberge is around to straighten them out and guide them.

I slid on my backpack and made my way out the door with Froberge in tow. It was still early in the morning, but I felt well rested and the walk to school isn't too long. It's relaxing actually.

We made our way casually down the street, passing by the beach and out of the residential area. I'm still pretty small so Froberge takes slower steps, but if he minded he didn't show it.

Sunyshore City is pretty hilly, so the houses are all over and depending on where you are you can see a lot of the town. In the distance you could see Sunyshore Gym, Volkner's gym.

Construction finished months ago flawlessly. The gym was a lot bigger now and everything about it looked way more modern. There were glass ceilings above the battlefields that could be opened when needed and solar panels adorned the roof of the building. Volkner looked pretty pleased when it was finished and all the gym Pokemon appreciated the new amount of space, as well as the staff.

Way better than how Granddad had it.

The closer we got to school the more kids and their parents I saw walking there. Most had Pokemon with them, but they all had some sort of human guardian. Grandma offered to walk me to school loads of times, but I declined every time.

It's not the same… but I'll be okay.

After Volkner told me he couldn't find my parents the spark that Cynthia lit within me faded, just a bit, but I knew she wouldn't give in like that. I had to be strong like how she was when her sister went missing. I don't have pokemon to help me find my parents, but even without them I can live. It's hard, but... I've got Froberge, Roland and the others.

In the distance I could spy my teacher waiting at the school door with a patient smile as he greeted each one of us on our way in. Froberge walked me down to the entrance.

"Good morning Sensei," I said bowing slightly.

"Good morning Topaz. To you as well, Froberge," Sensei nodded.

"Ray."

Before I went to class I turned to Froberge, hugged his face as he gave me a little nuzzle before running inside.

"Now class, we have a new student joining our class today. Can you introduce yourself please?" Sensei asked the boy with curly black hair and emerald green eyes. He had a similar complexion to mine albeit a tad darker, but unlike me he had an innate mischievous look.

"Jade Forrest, my favorite color is green and I like outsmarting bullies. If ya wanna have a go during recess, come on and try it!" The boy, now known as Jade, exclaimed proudly. "Don't worry, I won't make you look too bad the first time! The second time there'll be no mercy though!"

That immediately got the whole class talking and Sensei looked a bit lost for words.

He seems fun.

"That was um… interesting. Well, Jade, would you like to sit with Topaz over there?"

And he places the new outcast with the old.

Ever since my parents vanished everyone has been walking on eggshells around me. I've had to make a few apologies for making blunt statements and making them uncomfortable, but what am I supposed to do when they ask me if I want to play. When we play with our Pokemon toys they always say I have to use electric types cuz of my uncle, then they choose the ground types. So I tell them if they keep thinking so close minded they'll never amount to anything as a trainer who can only follow the most basic tactics in battling. Then I come up with all the reasons why I'd be able to beat them with my theoretical Pokemon.

It wasn't always like this. Beforehand it was easy to get along with everyone, but now I just... can't. It's lonely.

Jade eagerly sat down next to me, near the back of the class. After about 10 minutes of listening to the teacher, Jade turned to me proper and whispered.

"They are all kind of mean right?"

I gave him a slow nod. They hadn't been the nicest to me lately...

"That's okay. Makes the pranks better, I'll teach you some tricks during recess," He whispered in a hushed voice.

I'm... not against that.

"I'll tell you who deserves it most," I whispered back.

"Deal," He snickered before returning to drawing on his classwork. I leaned over to see him drawing a bunch of pretty flowers of all sorts of colors. He was obviously a troublemaker, but a creative one.

"Do you wanna be best friends?"

I raised an eyebrow. "But we just met."

"So? Is anyone else here more friendly than me?"

Some are friendly, but I wouldn't say friendlier.

"Not really."

"Well neither of us have friends here and we just became friends. So that means we are best friends."

Can't argue with that logic.

"Now class it's time for history, but we aren't going to be learning about why everything in the old textbooks were glorified lies about the miracle of colonization, but instead cruel acts of forced oppression, manipulation and mass murder."

There were several 'awwws' from the classroom. Honestly I was a bit upset too. I love history.

I wanted to hear more stories about how an oppressed people manage to defeat and repel the strongest military on the planet with strategy and sheer spite.

"I know, I know, but this is actually a pretty similar situation. There's another tragedy we must discuss, a much more recent one. Can anyone tell me what it is?" He surveyed the class. I didn't bother raising my hand yet. "Yes?" He said pointing to the girl with pigtails in the front. For some reason ever since the incident names have been hard to remember.

"A recent tragedy? What's a tragedy? Are tragedies bad, Sensei? Is your hair a tragedy?"

It took all my willpower to not burst out laughing. Jade though let his mouth run free till Sensei gave him a dark look.

"Ahem, a tragedy is an event that causes extreme suffering, distress or destruction… so not my hair! Next!" Sensei pointed to a boy.

"I dropped my vanilluxe cone yesterday and it felt like I was suffering, Sensei!"

Sensei pinched the bridge of his nose. "N-not exactly what I was talking about. Jade?"

Jade stood up proud. "You're talking about all those kidnappings right?"

"Precisely! You get a gold star, Jade!"

Jade sat back down smugly as Sensei added a gold star to his name on the board.

"Today we are going to be talking about Helheim. That's what the victims of the event have dubbed the event."

Helheim… the underworld in Norse mythology.

"Last spring there were a string of kidnappings over the course of 2 weeks throughout the region. The League has determined them to be a new evil organization known as Team Galactic. They set up within Iron Island and made them undergo cruel experiments, robbing many of their lives."

The tone in the room shifted immediately after that. Everyone paid close attention.

"The full details are unknown to the public and all the surviving victims have chosen to avoid coming out, preferring to spend their time with family. We do know they managed to plan an escape by sending out a signal the League was able to catch. Champion Cynthia and the League were able to fend off Team Galactic and save the victims, but unfortunately we still don't know where they are so remember to never go anywhere unattended especially without a Pokemon friend and do not follow scary strangers."

Sensei smiled.

"On a brighter note, Champion Cynthia and her new and improved League is working hard to improve the situation all over the region. Our gym leader Volkner has contributed immensely in this effort by attempting to resolve the power problem in Sinnoh with generators all over."

He's been non-stop busy ever since Cynthia became champion with having to manage the gym, organize generators and make solar panels. I wonder if he's sleeping like he should?

"The Champion is rather young, but in Kanto and Hoenn there seems to be many new young champions as well. Anyway, the laws are changing due to the new state of the League, so make sure everyone pays attention to what's going on in the world. You're living through history."

Huh. I suppose we are…

The rest of class went about normally, but I couldn't stop thinking about what Sensei said.

All those people disappeared, but now Cynthia is making the region a safer place… If I get stronger I can too maybe I can make a difference. One day.

~~Summer~~

Location: Sunyshore Gym.

"Shinx don't spark as much Pichu and Pikachu, but if agitated they tend to bite so don't do anything dumb like pull on her tail or something," I instructed Jade as I gently passed him one of the Shinx who was taking a break from starter training.

"Got it!" He cautiously took her into his hands and after a few tentative sniffs she began licking his face. "Haha! I think they like me! How can you tell if a Shinx is a boy or girl?"

I pointed to her hair curl on the top of her head. "Girl Shinx have shorter head curls than boy ones, it's the same for Luxio and Luxray too."

"What about Pikachu and Pichu?"

"Girl Pikachu tails look like hearts while boys have flat tails. Pichu ummm intuition? I don't see that much of a difference, so sometimes I just ask, but Volkner says once you've been around pokemon long enough you start to see the little details," I explained.

It was summer vacation and Jade was bored, so he decided to stop by the gym for a playdate. Right now we were outside in the backyard where I was teaching him how to care for Shinx before she had to get back to training. Volkner was in his workshop trying to figure out how to improve his solar panels and how he wanted to lay out his new and improved solar panel walkways around the city. There's some, but he wants to replace them with newer and better ones.

I handed Jade a brush. "Try brushing her."

Jade hesitantly took the brush before he began slowly stroking Shinx's fur. She gradually got more comfortable in his lap before she started purring.

"Topaz, this is amazing!" Jade's eyes lit up. "And you get to do this everyday?"

"A little. I help out with the little things," I shrugged. "It's the gym trainers that do most of the work."

"Are you gonna be a gym trainer when you grow up?"

Good question.

"Maybe. Depends on how things go."

There was a moment of silence before he spoke again.

"So I heard from some of the others that Volkner is best friends with the new elite. Is that true?"

New elite- oh yeah, Flint.

"They said he's the total opposite of Volkner, a real firecracker, but he became an elite while your uncle is still a gym leader. How come?"

An envious Pichu ran into my lap, so I began brushing him with the spare comb I had. "The League offered the position to him, but he declined. Volkner prefers Sunyshore and he wants to renovate the gym more. Being an elite is stressful too. Also he kinda likes the constant stream of challengers." I paused and tried to recall how Flint became an elite member of the league. "Flint… well he's really great with fire type pokemon and their moves, but he's apparently a lot smarter than most people give him credit for and is pretty good at getting the job done. Also he left a good first impression on Cynthia."

"Isn't it Champion Cynthia?"

"I met her before she was Champion though…"

"Really? What was she like!?" Jade nearly got up, but he remembered the Shinx on his lap and calmed down. The Shinx sent him a quick dirty look before returning to her rest.

"Basically how you see on TV."

Jade huffed and pouted. "Boring!"

I had to chuckle when Jade's noisy exclamation caused Shinx to poke him in the arm to continue brushing which he quickly resumed. Though it didn't last long until we heard the training whistle.

"Alright, break time is over kids, time to hustle," Said Zachary, one of the gym trainers who worked here before Volkner was leader. He's an older teen, but he's always super nice. Zachary has been taking charge of the usual starter training and he's been really enjoying it.

I've noticed that they train future starter pokemon differently than other pokemon. They tend to start young with obedience lessons and leadership skills, so they are reliable to their trainer and can lead any new pokemon in the party.

At the same time, we have to teach them to not have blind loyalty. To know the signs of abuse to themselves or others by their trainer. It's hard work and you need a specific license to teach pokemon all of this. Also, rather than trainers choosing pokemon, the pokemon choose the trainer. It seemed more fair that way, a trainer can have multiple pokemon, but a pokemon only one trainer. Gotta make them count.

Zachary was quick to take the test and passed it with flying colors. He told me with this new training regimen for starters, it'll help everyone involved. According to a few reports, it's already improving traveling conditions.

Sunyshore trained Pichu, Magnemite, Elekid and Shinx, primarily the last three though. Pichu and Pikachu tend to be a bit more rebellious and rambunctious, but the recent Kanto champion's Pikachu has made them mega popular all over the world, so we train a few as well.

I won't lie, Garchomp is cool, but Pikachu is too cute.

"Mrow," Shinx protested cuddling into Jade's shirt.

Jade gently brushed her fur with his hand. "Come on Shinx, back to training. Ya can't go on an adventure till you're all trained."

She let out a brief sigh before she gave him a lick and jumped over to Zachary, Pichu followed suit, waving at me before running off to the training area.

"Sorry Lil T, Jade, today I'm teaching them about berries. They'll be free later," Zachary apologized.

"It's alright."

"We'll be here!"

He nodded and ran off to go attend to them.

"His job sounds fun. He gets to teach young pokemon from scratch how to be good partners."

"Zachary makes it look easy. I tried to teach an Elekid the difference between an oran and cheri berry and he just ate them both before falling asleep."

Jade suddenly got up. "Then we should watch Zachary work and try to copy what he does so we can help!"

"...do you wanna be a pokemon caretaker, Jade?"

"It looks more fun than I thought, so maybe!" Jade said looking into the distance. From so high up we can see the rest of the city and ocean. Wingull flapping across the horizon on this hot midsummer day. Down by the beach pokemon and people of all shapes and sizes enjoying their vacation time. Meanwhile the hustle and the bustle of the city was still very much alive.

The gym can get crowded when we have lots of challengers, but I love its location. An isolated outcove where we can just relax and watch the town from afar and raise pokemon in peace.

"Oh yeah, Zachary, he called you Lil T right? That's your nickname or something?"

Judging by that look of disdain, I'm guessing he's not a fan.

"The gym trainers keep trying to nickname me, but I don't want any of their weird names. They should just call me Topaz," I said hugging my legs.

"Nope, no can do, we need to give you a real nickname from another kid! Not some grownups!" Jade leaned close to my face, staring into my eyes, searching for an answer. A nickname.

Will he be this dramatic when he nicknames his pokemon? This is a lot and he's… really close.

"Zio."

"Huh?"

"That's your new nickname. Zio. Shorten it to Z. I'll call you Z!"

"...but why?"

Where did that even come from? A video game?

He put a hand on his chin like he forgot to think of an origin for the name. "Well, you've got the letter z in Topaz and names with z are rare. So why not just go all the way and rename you Zio!"

His logic is a little lost, but his attitude is infectious.

"Okay! Zio! Do you want a nickname too Jade?"

"Nah, I'm good, thanks for asking though."

Wait wh-

"Do you wanna go inside and play video games? I got the new copy of the Plusle bros!"

Darn, my weakness.

"I call player 1 since it's my house!"

"But it's my game!"

"And it's my gaming console!"

"First one there is player 1" And with that he took off. "Catch me if you can, Zio!"

"Cheater!" I said running right after him.

~~Chapter 3 Fin~~