Author Notes:

Surprise! I'm (sorta) back.

Long story short, this is a rewritten version for my first ever story, Hoenn - Where the Journey Begins. For those who came from the Kanto arc, this is Lows' first ever journey, starting off in Hoenn. This rewritten version will (hopefully) be more polished than the original, with some minor storyline changes that could hopefully make the flow much better than before.

However, this is a one-man effort for me, as there will be no editor for this story. Still, I think my writing definitely improved compared to when I first started.

So what does this mean from here?

...To be honest, not much. I'll still keep updating the Kanto arc once I get a chapter out (there is one currently under editing as I type this!).

I planned for rewritten Hoenn chapters to be released once per fortnight, but it all depends on my motivation on how I could catch up. I also made plans for a potential Johto arc return, but that's a story for another day.

For now, enjoy Hoenn: Where the Journey Begins (Rewritten)!

"Where... is this place?" I looked around the area, uncertain of my surroundings.

"I gotta hurry and get out of here-!" My mind went blank as I saw many different Pokémon behind me. I tried running away from me, but they kept chasing after me. I tried to get them off me, but not knowing where I was going made everything worse.

Oh no, they are still behind me! I gotta... run faster...

"Ouch!" My thoughts broke as I tripped over a rock. My legs were injured from the fall and I could no longer run. I saw those Pokémon slowly approaching me. I tried screaming as loud as I could despite already knowing my fate, hoping for some miracle to occur.

Just when I was going to give up and accept fate, a tall looking guy suddenly showed up with 6 Pokéballs on his belt.

"Warrior, take those guys out!" The man sent out a Pokémon, and as the Pokémon landed on the ground, the terrified Pokémon ran away from it, not wanting to go near the strong looking newcomer. The man quickly came to me, worried about my condition, "Little boy, are you okay?!"

I tried to speak, but I was slowly losing consciousness due to my fear. Everything eventually turned pitch black.

I gasped as I woke up from my nightmare. Well, it was actually a memory that actually occurred a few years ago. Sweat was all over me, as I looked at my watch, which showed the current time: ten to ten in the morning.

Crap, I am almost late for the big day! I gotta hurry!

Thinking that, I hurriedly finished my usual morning routine. After everything was prepared, I quickly went downstairs.

"Hey Lows, you're almost late for your big day! Come here and have your breakfast!" Ah yeah, just as my mother said, my name is Lows, Lows Landerson.

"Thanks, Mom." I quickly sat down and had two slices of bread at once. My mother noticed that I wasn't just worried for my big day, but something else was also bothering me.

"Lows, did you have another nightmare again?"

"Ah.. yeah. You know, just the same stuff." I kept it short, not wanting to explain as much due to me almost being late.

"Well, you can talk to me about it if it's still bothering you, alright?"

"I will, Mom." I finished my breakfast, and immediately ran out of my home without forgetting to thank my mother for the breakfast.

I headed towards my friend's house. It was his 10th birthday, and as we promised, the three of us will start our journeys together by picking our starter Pokémon. We wanted to start our first step in pursuing dreams together despite having different birthdays.

We planned to have our first journey as trainers in Hoenn despite living in Kanto. There are many rare Pokémon in Hoenn that we don't normally see in Kanto. Also, Hoenn was where I had the incident, thus I wanted to find out who was the trainer that saved me, and possibly thank him for his help.

By the time I'd reached my friend's house, I was already a few minutes late. As I entered his house, a voice immediately appeared.

"Lows! You're late again. Why are you always late for these kinds of important occasions?" One of the trio, Cassie said. She had long, blonde hair, and was always wearing a red skirt. The boy beside me is Daniel, the birthday boy of that day. However, we were already used to calling him Disc due to his love of playing discs at a young age.

"Cassie, I was just a few minutes late... I'm sorry though." I looked around and asked in confusion, "Where are the starter Pokemon that we're going to pick?"

"They're in that duffel bag over there." Upon finishing that sentence, Disc pointed towards a direction where the duffel bag was. I assumed the Pokemon were inside it.

"Why don't we check out the Pokémon right now?" My two friends agreed as we walked towards the duffel bag and opened it.

Inside the bag were three Pokéballs, three Pokégears and a note. We looked at the note and it said,

"Unfortunately, I have some important work to do in the Sinnoh Region, so I couldn't accompany you three when you're picking your Pokémon! But don't worry, everything that is required should be in the duffle bag. The Pokégears have my number and your families' numbers! Lows, Cassie and Disc, good luck in your journeys! I know you all will do well."

- Prof. Oak"

"Well, we should check the Pokégears first in case they're broken." We agreed to Cassie and took a Pokégear for each of us. After making sure they were in good condition, we finally checked what were in the Pokéballs.

Inside them were Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charmander, the three Kanto starters. We took some time to think of who we should pick as our partners. However, after what felt like forever, we still struggled to make up our minds on which Pokémon.

"Alright, fear no more, I have an idea!" Cassie suddenly said joyfully, but we did not seem as joyful hearing that, as her ideas were always weird, to say the least.

She looked at us and said, "Hey, let's pick our starters... blindfolded!"

That... is possibly one of the weirdest ways to pick a starter Pokémon...

"Well, this sounds weird... but it might just work, I guess." Disc seemed willing to oblige Cassie's idea.

"Are you sure? Won't that go horribly wrong-"

"I'm going first, Slowpokes!" Cassie cut off my sentence as she closed her eyes and started searching through the duffel bag for a Pokéball with her right hand. We hurriedly followed suit, wanting to get a pick too.

After a lot of bumping into each other's hands, we finally got all of us a Pokéball.

I was very nervous to reveal what my Pokémon was. It was going to be my first partner, after all.

I guess it's now or never.

"Here we go..." I held the Pokéball and sent out my Pokémon. As a red light beamed towards the ground, the Pokémon appeared in front of me.

It was...