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Lance's Charges: Kanto


A/N: Welcome to my first ever pokemon fanfic! This story doesn't take place in the happy-go-lucky world of Ash and Pikachu. It's my take on what the world of pokemon should be. Team Rocket (though they won't be called "Team" anything in this story) steals pokemon. What they can't steal, they kill. In this world, there aren't magically identical Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys.

There are plenty of idealistic ten-year-olds (Is that how old Ash was?) in this world, but few, if any, are respectable trainers. I've abolished a few other random things in the pokeverse that have always bothered me as well. For example, there is no limit for how many pokemon you carry with you. Trainers in a Pokemon League sanctioned match may use a maximum of six, but may carry as many as they have. That being said, trainers can still choose to store excess pokemon elsewhere. I hope I haven't scared too many potential readers away, but I'm writing this more for myself than anyone else anyway.

This fic was originally going to be something very different. However, I've decided to rework it into a "New Trainers" story. I may eventually write a sequel to it that encompasses my original idea, but I may not.

Finally, I have no intention of incorporating Diamond, Pearl, or any other future regions/pokemon into this story or its possible sequel(s). The only pokemon from that group that I will be using is leafeon, since I think it should have been a part of the original 150, and its evolution will be from using a leaf stone rather than that stupid moss rock shit. Tempted though I may be, glaceon will not be in the story. Another change involving eevee and its evolutions will be espeon and umbreon. They will evolve through either sun stone or moon stone. Why they weren't made like that in the first place is beyond me.

This final note is for those of you who are here because you've read my Harry Potter fanfiction. I have this to say regarding those stories: They aren't abandoned and they aren't low-priority. Right now I'm stuck on all of them, though, so I'm using this piece to give myself a bit of a jump-start.

Disclaimer: I am making no profit whatsoever from this story. I acknowledge the fact that I own no part of the pokemon world, I'm just having some fun with it. Additionally, this disclaimer applies to every single chapter of this story. Why? Because I don't feel like putting it in every chapter.


Chapter 1: The Six


The hitmonchan dove forward in a roll, barely escaping the torrential hydro pump attack directly above him. Without slowing, he sprang up and swung forward with one gloved fist, slamming it into the startled poliwrath and releasing a painful jolt of electricity. The water-type was lifted up into the air as yellow bolts darted across her suddenly stiff body.

"Polga, can you get up?" Langston Dowling asked.

"P-p-pol," the paralyzed pokemon said weakly.

"Poliwrath is unable to battle," Langston's son, David, said in the most formal manner he knew how. "Mom wins!" Like most boys his age, David didn't care too much about his appearance. As long as his messy dark brown hair remained messy, and he didn't stain his t-shirt, anything else was fine with him. His shorts were what remained of an old pair of cargo pants after the holes in the knees became too wide, and one could no longer tell what kind of shoes he wore by looking.

Langston sighed. "That's three times in a row I've lost to you, dear." He opened a small pouch attached to his belt and pulled out a cheri berry before carefully inserting it into his pokemon's ever-hidden mouth. Once certain that his poliwrath's paralysis had been lifted, he recalled her into her pokeball.

"Well, you wouldn't lose if you didn't insist on matching me type-for-type," David's mother, Gloria, said dryly. "Now wait just one more minute, David," she said without looking at her son, who was attempting to sneak away.

"Come on!" David said petulantly. "You promised that I could go after the battle!" It never ceased to amaze his parents how differently he acted around them than around anyone else. Around them he seemed to take pleasure in acting several years younger than his actual age of thirteen, whereas the assistants at the local pokemon lab often compared him favorably with colleagues over the age of thirty. His best friend, a girl named Lily, seemed to get some bizarre mix between the two.

"We did, but it was under the condition that you'd tell us something you learned from our battle," Gloria admonished.

"But I didn't learn anything new!" David protested. "Just the same rule that fair play can't be applied to a pokemon battle and that you should use every advantage you've got."

"What do you think?" Gloria asked her husband, raising an eyebrow.

Langston made quite a show of thinking it over, and only answered when it seemed like David was about to interrupt. "He's as ready as he'll ever be. We can't really teach him anything else until he gets some real life experience."

David whooped and ran to his father, hugging him tightly. Deciding to be fair, he pulled away and hugged his mother as well before saying anything. "Good thing you finally caved, I wanna beat everyone else there. Maybe the labcoats will let me spend more time with the pokemon if I get there early!"

"Bye dear," was all Gloria had time to say as he raced out of their backyard and into the street, sprinting towards the local pokemon lab.

"Don't forget to come home before you leave town!" Langston shouted after him. "Think he heard me?"

"It doesn't matter," Gloria said confidently. "He'll want to show us his first pokemon."


~-~-~-~


"Took you long enough!"

"Lily! How'd you manage to beat me here?" David asked, skidding to a halt in front of his friend. She was short and quite pretty, but she didn't flaunt it like some girls did. Lily Adams was a firm believer in practicality, insisting that real pokemon trainers couldn't rough it if they were busy trying to make themselves look better, hence her slightly unkempt appearance. She wore her brown hair in a ponytail, preferring to keep it out of her eyes. Her clothes, as usual, were simple, a pair of shorts with a t-shirt to be precise. Since it was a hot day, the overalls that she sometimes wore were absent.

"Knew you'd get here early," she bragged, smiling mischievously. "Besides, it's not like I had any long goodbyes at home."

David was silent, as uncomfortable as he always was when Lily brought up her less than perfect home life.

"Relax, David. It's over, I never even have to see 'em again," Lily said, laying a comforting hand on his shoulder.

David managed a smile at that. It always bothered him that Lily usually ended up comforting him whenever the worst parts of her life came up in conversation. "Well, you knew I'd get here early...did you know why?"

"Hey! Who d'you think you're talking to here? You wanted to see all the pokemon!"

"Yeah, ok, guilty as charged," David admitted, raising his arms in mock-surrender.

"David? Lily? Is that you two out there?" Both immediately turned to see Professor Atwood emerging from the lab. Michael Atwood was a giant of a man, standing at nearly six and a half feet. His hair, or what little David could see of it, was a very pale blonde color. Despite his size, he was probably the least intimidating person David knew. "Good, it is you! The other children are already inside, they've been trying to get me to show them the pokemon for over an hour. I promised that we'd get started as soon as you two arrived."

"An hour?" David asked, mouth agape. "I thought I'd get here early and I end up the last one here..."

"Come on! Don't you want to see the pokemon?" Lily asked.

David nodded in acquiescence as they fell into step with the professor, who brought them into the fairly small laboratory. David and Lily knew exactly where they were headed, since it was the only place in the entire lab that they were banned from entering without Professor Atwood's presence. Soon, they came to the door leading into the small greenhouse that housed the six pokemon they would be choosing from. Their four classmates were already waiting, apparently impatiently.

"It's about time you got here, we've been waiting forever!" Ian McKinley, a tall, fairly strong redhead snapped as they arrived. He'd always had a slight dislike for David, who only returned the sentiment when he was in an especially bad mood. David didn't like the idea of making an enemy of one of the only five kids his age in town, so he tended to frustrate Ian with his indifferent attitude instead.

None of the other three said anything more than a quiet "Hello", all quite eager to receive their first pokemon. Probably the most eager was the cold and ambitious Catherine Morosov, a tall platinum blonde with distinguished good looks. While they all looked forward to becoming trainers, she seemed to thirst for it, and was generally unable to talk about anything else. Her best friend, Madison Carr, a shorter dirty blonde, was practically bouncing off the walls in her excitement as well.

One only needed to observe Catherine and Madison together for a short period of time to realize how true the phrase "Opposites attract" was. Madison was upbeat and quite friendly, but she somehow got along with the standoffish Catherine better than she did with anyone else.

The last person present was Marcus White, a fairly small boy with close-cropped black hair. Marcus wasn't friendly, but he wasn't unfriendly either. He was, in a word, unobtrusive, or in a pair of words, unobtrusive and nondescript.

Together, the six children of Orpiment Town were very different from most in Kanto beginning their journeys as trainers in that they had no intentions of catching a huge number of pokemon. While not all friends, they all had a similar ideal for their futures as pokemon trainers. They had studied pokemon encyclopedias and watched battle tournaments together for years, learning all they could about the pokemon that would someday be available to them, and they all had their own ideas of which would be acceptable in a team. They were different because none of them were becoming trainers to fill up a pokedex or catch every single variety of pokemon. They all wanted to catch a few with potential, and then they wanted to train them to the highest level possible. They wanted to be known as the best of the best.

"As you all know, three of the pokemon in the lab are Kanto's standard starting choices: charmander, bulbasaur and squirtle," Professor Atwood said. "What we've kept you in the dark about is what the other three pokemon are. It took a great deal of negotiating, but we were able to obtain the Johto region's three starters as well, cyndaquil, chikorita and totodile."

As expected, there was a great deal of eager muttering at this. None of them had even brought up the Johto pokemon as a possibility, since Johto had much less friendly relations with Kanto than Hoenn did. The kids had discussed the likelihood of the Hoenn starters being available, but they all agreed that the strongest possibility was that one of the breeding farms around Celadon would donate three eevee to the group. David could see Lily mentally reassessing her preferences with the new information. His own preferred pokemon, charmander, remained unchanged.

"Now," Professor Atwood began, waving his keys in front of their faces, "I know that you all probably have a good idea which pokemon you'll choose, but remember, things don't always go as you expect. Last year we tried a new experiment where we had the pokemon out when the kids entered, and it was a disaster. The bulbasaur rejected all three of the young trainers-to-be, so we decided to go back to the tried and true method of picking without meeting the pokemon first."

"What happened to the bulbasaur?" Madison asked. Everyone present knew that it would be her choice no matter what.

"We kept it for an extra year. It's in one of the pokeballs inside," Professor Atwood said, turning to unlock the door as Madison smiled, confident that she would be able to win the difficult grass-type over.

"Are there any other...quirks we should know about that any of the rest of the pokemon have, Professor?" Catherine asked.

"Half the fun is discovering the quirks yourself," the professor replied with a smile, opening the door. Despite his size, he was almost crushed against the wall as the kids raced past him into the greenhouse. The six pokeballs were spread out in the different habitats, two by the water, and the other four spread out in the grass. David noticed Ian and Catherine heading to the water as he began his own search. The first ball he approached had a small tag attached that read "Cyndaquil", but the one next to it was the charmander he'd been waiting for.

Professor Atwood watched in amusement as the kids quickly sorted out the pokemon and divided them up. To have no arguments break out over the initial selection process was almost unheard of, but he had come to expect unusual things from that particular group. He knew that only David, Ian and Madison felt strongly about the three Kanto starters, and would have worried that the other three would fight over the Johto pokemon if it weren't for their temperaments. Neither Lily nor Marcus was likely to argue over it, and because of that, Catherine would get her first choice. If she and Ian had set their sights on the same pokemon, then he would have had a legitimate concern.

"Now that you all have your first pokemon, I should probably give you these." He took off the shoulder bag he had been wearing and set it on the ground, kneeling to unzip it. "There's a pokedex and two pokeballs for all of you in here, come on over and grab them."

David held the button on his pokeball down until it shrunk and then carefully placed it over one of the specialized magnets on his belt. The ball flew the last couple of inches from his hand and slid into place over the first magnet. He saw the others imitating the motion.

"The dex will be a lifeline for you in the wild," the professor said as they began their inspection of their devices. "In addition to having a truly impressive amount of information about the pokemon you'll encounter, it also has a map feature with a built-in locator, meaning you won't be getting lost any time soon, as well as a fully functional email system that gets updates from the pokemon league as well as any nearby cities regarding any important news. You'll get used to it in time, just don't lose it, since they're fairly expensive to replace." He let out a nervous chuckle.

Catherine looked up. "Is there anything else, Professor?" She had a way of speeding up potentially awkward situations that David admired.

"No, no," Professor Atwood said. "You're all free to go. Good luck out there! Actually, if you'll excuse me, I've got an appointment with Dr. Buford in fifteen minutes..." With that, he left, slowing only to duck under the relatively low doorway at the end of the hall.

"So where's everyone headed?" Madison blurted out, clearly having been holding herself back for quite some time. She had the curious habit of clamming up around adults, and never shutting up when surrounded by her peers.

It was actually a fairly good question. Orpiment was located a few miles northeast of Celadon, putting it close to three cities.

David and Lily exchanged glances as Ian watched, but it was Marcus who spoke first. "I plan on tackling Celadon first, since Ignigena will have a type advantage there."

"Already thought of a nickname?" Lily asked. "What's it mean?"

"It means 'born of fire', or something roughly equivalent," Marcus said.

"I like it," Catherine said decisively. "Are you going to name all of your pokemon in Latin?"

"Probably," he replied. "But we've gotten off topic, where are you planning to go?"

"I don't really have any easy routes to take from here, so I was thinking of going to Cerulean first and then heading west through Mt. Moon."

"Since I've got bulbasaur, that works out perfectly for me too," Madison said with a smug smile. She and Catherine had clearly planned their route beforehand. David was kicking himself for not thinking of doing the same thing with Lily. Sure enough, Ian saw his internal frustration and quickly moved to capitalize on it.

"What about you, David?" he asked, dislike seeping into his tone. He hated it when David and Lily acted so close.

"I dunno," David said, desperately thinking of a route that would work for both him and Lily. He knew she was doing the same thing. "I might head past Saffron into Vermillion and then come back to Celadon."

"That sounds good," Lily said, breathing a sigh of relief. "I think I'll take that route as well."

"Why?" Ian asked rudely. "I mean, you could just go with Madison and Catherine, and David could go straight to Celadon, which is the smartest thing to do anyway."

"I'd rather my charmander know a couple of fire moves before I try to take on Erika, Ian," David said, suppressing his annoyance. "Besides, Catherine is planning on fighting Misty first, when she could go after Brock almost as easily by going west from here."

"Where are you going, anyway?" Lily asked, not caring to hide her own annoyance.

Ian seemed to shrink before their very eyes under Lily's criticism. David could see that he was tempted to say Vermillion, but realized that his squirtle would be trounced in that gym. "Actually, I think I might tag along with you two, if you don't mind," he said, nodding at Madison and Catherine.

"'Course not!" Madison said brightly as Catherine nodded in agreement. "But I've got first dibs on Misty."

"Sure, sure," Ian said with a slight smile as the tension that was previously present vanished.

"Come to think of it," Marcus said, turning to David, "I think you might be right. Ignigena won't learn her first fire attack until even later than your charmander, so would it bother either of you to have a third?"

"Not really," David said, looking at Lily for confirmation. She nodded, but looked slightly putout at the same time.

"Wait, you said 'her', how do you know your cyndaquil's gender already if you haven't let her out?" Madison asked.

"I scanned the ball with my pokedex a couple of minutes ago," Marcus replied.

"I didn't know they could scan for gender," David said while they all quickly pulled out their own dexes. "Let's see here...it says charmander is male, so I think I'll name him Apollo."

"Good one!" Lily exclaimed, though David had already confided his preferred nickname to her. "What do you think I should name my chikorita? He's a male too."

"Maybe you should try something in Latin," Ian said. "Any suggestions, Marc?"

"Let me think," he said. "There are quite a few things that could work, I guess. Frondosum, Frondiferum, Vitisatoris-"

"What's that one mean?" Lily asked.

"I think it's associated with gardening. It doesn't quite mean gardener, but it does involve planting vines."

"Good enough!" Lily announced.

"No need to name mine, Marcus," Catherine said. "I've decided to call her Karina."

"Going to use human names for all of them?" Marcus asked, imitating her earlier question.

"Probably, but I might end up doing the same thing as Madison."

"Which is...what?" Ian asked.

"I'm naming my bulbasaur Lopia," Madison said. "But that probably doesn't help you at all. Basically, I'm just going to make up the names as I go along, random syllable combinations that suit whatever pokemon I end up catching."

"That's pretty similar to what I was thinking," Lily said. "Then again, I blanked on a nickname for my first, so there's no telling what I'll end up doing."

"Don't worry too much about it, I can't come up with anything either," Ian said. "Hey Marc, think you could help me out naming squirtle? He's a he, and I want something that sounds pretty tough."

Marcus blushed, unused to getting such attention from all of his peers. "Sure, no problem. There are a lot of words for 'protector' or 'guardian', but most of them have associations in our language, like Curatoris or Custodire."

"You could call him Argus," David suggested. "He was a giant in Greek mythology that guarded a nymph named Io." He looked at Marcus to make sure the smaller boy wasn't mad at him for stealing his thunder, but he looked a more relieved than anything else.

"That sounds pretty good," Ian admitted. "Do you know any other kinds of myths, like ones that aren't Greek?" He knew that David was going to be using Greek mythology as a general theme for his nicknames and didn't want the association.

"I know a few Norse gods," David offered. "Njord is the god of the sea, but it's kinda hard to say fast-"

"No, I like it," Ian interrupted. "I think I'll use that one."

"It's pretty cool," Madison agreed, "and there's no way anyone else will be using that name."

"Now that we've all settled on names," Catherine began, authority seeping into her voice, "I'd like to show Karina off to my family. Madison, Ian, shall we meet at the northern end of town in an hour?"

"Better make that an hour and a half," Madison said with a sheepish smile. "You know how my mom gets about this kind of thing."

"What about you, Marcus, how much time do you think you'll need?" Lily asked, knowing that she would be going back to David's house with him rather than see her father again.

"I'll probably need an hour and a half as well. Jared is back from Indigo Plateau, and he said he wanted to give me something before I leave."

"That's fine, we'll meet you by the south gates then." David said, gesturing to include Lily and eliciting a small frown from Ian.

On that note, the group split up and went their separate ways. Marcus fell into step with Madison and Catherine, since they all lived on the same block on the western side of town. Ian, who actually lived very close to Lily, walked east while David and Lily headed south.

"Hang on a sec," Lily said after the others were out of sight.

"What for?" David asked, slowing down in spite of the question.

"Don't you want to meet Apollo before your parents do?" Lily asked, pulling out Vitisatoris' pokeball and enlarging it.

"Fair point," David agreed, pulling out his own pokeball and double tapping the button to enlarge it and release his charmander.

The lizard pokemon looked confused when it first materialized, but it quickly recognized the pokeball in David's hand and came to the obvious conclusion.

"I'm David," the boy said hesitantly, realizing belatedly that he didn't know what to say to his first pokemon. He had no idea how to go about treating him. Sure enough, Apollo was looking him up and down and didn't seem particularly impressed. David sighed and continued in a stronger tone. "I'll be your trainer from now on. I've decided to call you Apollo, what do you think?"

The charmander met his gaze and barked a low "Char" that was accompanied by a nod.

"Glad we've settled that, then," David said with a smile, inwardly jumping for joy that Apollo had apparently accepted him as his trainer. "We're going to meet my parents along with Lily and Vitisatoris." Apollo followed his gaze to where Lily was already hugging her chikorita, indicating a degree of acceptance on her pokemon's part.

"Ready to go, then?" Lily asked when she caught them looking. "Your parents probably won't keep us too long, but we should hurry over there anyway just in case."

"Agreed," David said before turning back to his pokemon. "I'll call you back out soon, Apollo, but since you'll probably be battling before the end of the day, you should rest for now." With that, he recalled the charmander.

"Sorry, Vitis, but he makes a good point," Lily said, a red glow already surrounding her chikorita.

"So are you nervous?" Lily asked after a minute's silence.

"Terrified," David said, but he was smiling. "I'm really glad we're going on this thing together, though, that really helps. Marcus too, I guess."

"Better him than Ian," Lily muttered darkly. Her dislike for the often-abrasive redhead far outstripped David's.

"You know, we should have battled back at the lab," David said thoughtfully.

"What, you and Ian?" Lily asked.

"No! Well, maybe, but I meant all of us. Now that we've split into groups of three, we can't match up and have our first battles with each other."

"How would we do the match-ups?" Lily asked. "Johto against Kanto doesn't seem too smart, since the Johto starters aren't all that tough until they've evolved once."

"None of our pokemon will learn any of their special moves for a couple of days, at least," David pointed out. "We wouldn't have to fight by type."

"I know, but there is still a slight difference between the two sets of starters," Lily said.

David shrugged. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"When am I ever wrong?"

"I'm sure I could think of a time or two, like maybe when you thought it would be a great idea for me to jump on the back of Ricky Carlisle's lanturn."

"What are you talking about? That was a good idea!" Lily said.

"For you, maybe," David growled.

"Naturally," Lily said, tossing her hair and laughing her best friend's irritation off.

Luckily for David, the pair had finally arrived at his house. His parents, rather than go back inside, had opted to wait for them on the porch. David was a bit surprised to see that they had recalled their pokemon. They tended to leave them out, since most pokemon preferred being able to roam around to being in a pokeball, even though the process was actually quite pleasant for them.

"We didn't want to spook your pokemon with ours," Langston explained, seeing his son's confusion. "I remember Daruga being completely terrified by your grandfather's pidgeotto when I first brought him home."

Lily giggled a bit at that. Daruga was a blastoise, and it was hard to picture him being intimidated by anything.

"That's just 'cause Daruga's always been such a softie," David said with a grin. "Apollo wouldn't be scared at all."

"Apollo, is it?" Gloria asked. "So you got your charmander, then?"

"Sure did!" David said enthusiastically. "You can meet him now, hang on." It took an extra hard tug to remove Apollo's pokeball from his belt, but a moment later the charmander was looking around in confusion at his surroundings.

"Oh, he's wonderful!" Gloria gushed, bending down to give the pokemon a friendly pat on the head. Apollo seemed to like the treatment, if his purring was any indicator.

"And what did you choose?" Langston asked Lily, allowing his wife to have her moment with their son's first pokemon before his turn came.

"I got a chikorita named Vitisatoris," Lily said proudly, releasing her pokemon.

"Pretty tough to pronounce," Langston commented, looking at the grass pokemon closely. As soon as Vitisatoris was released, however, he zeroed in on Apollo, not having truly met him yet. Apollo seemed equally intrigued, and was now ignoring David's mother entirely, much to her chagrin.

"They seem to be getting along ok," Lily said, looking slightly worried. The two pokemon approached each other carefully, offering tentative sniffs, but neither one risking contact just yet. Finally, Apollo grinned contentedly and plopped down right in front of Vitisatoris, offering a friendly wave and seeming completely at ease. At his counterpart's action, Vitisatoris followed suit, tucking his four stubby legs under himself.

"Glad you two are getting along so well," David said, amused by the whole encounter. Apollo offered him a cheeky smile in response before lying back, careful to keep his tail away from Vitisatoris as he moved it out from under himself.

Gloria and Langston shared a look. While the pokemon looked perfectly content with sitting there all day, both children were clearly very eager to leave.

"All right, kids, as much as we appreciate you coming back here, there's no need to stay any longer just for us. We know you'll call every now and then, at least," Langston said, clapping David on the shoulder.

"You will call, won't you?" Gloria asked sharply.

"I'll make sure he does, Mrs. Dowling," Lily promised.

"We'd love to hear from both of you," Langston said, meeting Lily's gaze and smiling warmly at her. She had become like a daughter to the Dowlings over the years.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure we both call plenty," David said, reaching his arm around a red-faced Lily and pulling her into a brief one-armed embrace.

"Be safe, you two," Gloria said softly, tears in her eyes now. She hugged them both tightly to her, but released them before either one could complain about lack of breath. "Keep them safe," she said to Apollo and Vitisatoris. Both pokemon nodded solemnly.

"And remember, we're proud of you no matter what," Langston said, giving them an embrace of his own.

David and Lily recalled their pokemon and left minutes later, walking backwards and waving until the Dowlings were out of sight.

"When do you want to challenge the gym in Saffron?" Lily asked, catching David completely off guard.

"Um...I don't know, really. Sabrina is supposed to be one of the toughest challenges, no matter when you fight her on your journey. I mean you've heard the stories, haven't you?"

"That she's crazy? I don't believe it. It makes for good fiction, sure, but the League is so strict these days, especially after the Viridian gym fiasco." She was referring to the discovery that one of the eight league sanctioned gyms in Kanto was being run by the Rocket organization, the group that was responsible for nearly all of the League's problems. The gym had been taken by force by a team of powerful trainers led by the Elite Four, and hundreds of stolen pokemon were discovered on the premises. The League had demolished the building, reconstructing it in record time and putting a new gym leader in charge only two years earlier.

"I don't know what to believe about her, really," David said. "But either way, I'm nervous about taking on the psychic gym this early."

"I am too, to be honest," Lily agreed. "Maybe we should think about going after her again after we take on Erika. We'll hopefully have two badges by then, and maybe a tough enough team to take her on."

"Yeah, maybe," David said, lost in thought. He had always been slightly intimidated by psychic pokemon ever since seeing one completely brutalize its opponent on television. He had seen similar things happen in other battles, but watching a pokemon's legs snap seemingly without provocation had affected him quite strongly.

They reached the south gates seconds later, both occupied by thoughts of what lay ahead.


~-~-~-~


"I'm back, Mother, Father," Catherine said, entering the sitting room of her family's enormous Victorian house.

"Did everything go well?" Catherine's father, Hugo Morosov asked. He was older than most of the other parents in Orpiment, nearly sixty, in fact. His carefully groomed hair and moustache were already stark white, seemingly at odds with his almost ageless face.

"Of course. I chose a totodile and named her Karina."

"That's a fine name," Monica, Catherine's mother, said, giving her daughter a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. Catherine got most of her looks from her mother, but their hair was in stark contrast, her own pale blonde to her mother's near-black shade. "Let's have a look, shall we?"

Catherine obediently released Karina, and was unable to suppress a smile when her new pokemon squealed with glee and squeezed her leg in a tight embrace.

"Hello there, I'm Catherine, and these are my parents," Catherine said, pointing out her parents in turn. "And if it's all right with you, I've chosen Karina as your name." The totodile seemed content enough with that, but was unwilling to look either of her parents in the eye.

"It's a bit of a runt, isn't it?" Mr. Morosov said, not troubling to keep his voice down.

"Karina is a /girl/, Father," Catherine said softly.

"It-oh all right, she isn't a runt, merely young. She hasn't grown all she will before her evolution," Mrs. Morosov said.

"She'll do just fine, then," Mr. Morosov said blandly.

"I'm glad you approve, Father," Catherine said, still outwardly calm. Inside she was reeling. How could she have expected them to behave differently about this? They had never given her any cause to think that they cared about her happiness. When they heard about her dream of becoming a pokemon trainer, her father had snorted and said, "I suppose it's best to get it out of your system early, dear. You'll still be able to find yourself a respectable niche later in life." Now her poor Totodile was nearly in tears at her feet, and she had absolutely no idea how to begin to tell them how betrayed she felt.

"I'm leaving now," Catherine said, picking up Karina by the armpits and holding her as closely as she could. "I'll call when I can." Without waiting for a reply from her parents, Catherine turned and walked out, comforting Karina as she walked.

"It's all right, they're both fools," she said gently. "You're the best there is, that's why I chose you." Her words were a lie, but Catherine was determined to change that.

She arrived at the north gates to find them empty of her classmates, so she sat down on the ground and waited. Karina drew lines in the nearby soil with her claw as a multitude of fantasies played through Catherine's head, each more exciting than the last.


~-~-~-~


"So you didn't like those other trainers, huh?"

Madison had released Lopia immediately after branching off from Marcus and Catherine. The bulbasaur had taken one look at her trainer, snorted, and turned away.

"Well I'm different than them. I've been waiting to get you for eight years. I've known I wanted a bulbasaur for eight years! If you really think you're going to scare me off by ignoring me, you're in for a shock. Now look at me."

"Saur." Lopia's tone was mocking, but it was still an improvement.

"I've decided to call you Lopia," Madison said, seeming unbothered by the bulbasaur's stubbornness. "What do you think of the name?"

"Bulba." A bit friendlier, though it remained far from friendly.

"Glad you don't mind it too much. It seems like you aren't going to change your mind about me yet, but I hope you can put on a good show for my family."

Lopia's return to the silent treatment indicated that she could, but wasn't likely to.

"Return," Madison muttered, recalling Lopia back into her pokeball. She looked at it in her hand, frowning momentarily, before letting it slide into place on her belt. Madison wasn't the type to let her bulbasaur's attitude bother her, not yet. It would probably take several weeks of failure before she would even show the first hint of fatigue. Head held up high, she marched across the street to her house only to be intercepted by a sixty-five pound missile in the middle of the road.

"Maddy!"

"Hey there," Madison said, ruffling her youngest sibling and only brother, Micah's hair. "Where's everyone else?"

"Just inside. Mom put a movie in because Fiona and Laura wouldn't shut up about next year." Fiona and Laura were identical twins, and were only eleven months younger than Madison. They were quite eager to become trainers themselves. Micah and Sara, the two youngest, were somewhat less eager, but that desire would increase as they got older.

Micah grabbed Madison's hand and pulled her inside, where she immediately heard Laura's favorite movie playing in the next room. Fiona could be heard grumbling along with every bit of dialog, she hated "Land of the Dusclops".

"She's back! She's back!" Micah exclaimed, drawing everyone's attention. Within seconds, Madison was besieged by questions about her bulbasaur (her family was well aware of her obsession) as well as what the others chose.

"What did Catherine get?" Sara, who very nearly worshipped the older girl, asked.

"She picked a totodile," Madison said.

"Who cares about that, let's meet your bulbasaur!" Fiona exclaimed. Madison met her mother's gaze and rolled her eyes, somehow failing to give the impression that she was more mature than her siblings.

"I don't think so, Lopia's pretty tired right now," Madison said.

"Come on!"

"Please?"

"Pretty please?" Sara, of course.

"Ok, but don't blame me if she's cranky," Madison warned, enlarging Lopia's pokeball and releasing her. The bulbasaur was immediately surrounded on all sides by giggling children, which she couldn't stand. One pleading look at her trainer told her that any help would have a high price. She was fully prepared to stoically accept the treatment rather than admit defeat until Micah stuck a wet finger in her ear.

"Bulba!" Lopia demanded.

Madison grinned, happy that her family had unknowingly helped her control her bulbasaur, and recalled the grass-type.

"Aww, she was only out for a second!" Sara protested.

"She has to battle later," Madison said. "You guys were tiring her out." She looked up at her parents, who weren't fooled in the slightest.

"We have a gift for you, honey, before you leave," her father, Noah, said. His wife, Rita, was rummaging through her purse even as he spoke.

"Here it is!" Rita exclaimed, pulling out a dull green pokeball with two concentric brown circles around it and handing it to Madison.

"Oh wow, a nest ball!" Madison exclaimed, leaning forward to hug her parents. "This'll be perfect for catching something on the road!"

"You might want to consider using it fairly soon," Noah said. "Those things are for weaker pokemon, so I don't want to hear any sob stories about how you tried to use it on a rhydon."

"I'm the one that wants a rhydon, Dad, not Maddy," Laura said impatiently.

"How could you forget something so important, Noah?" Rita asked, her eyes dancing with mirth.

"I'm very sorry, Laura," Noah said, trying to keep a straight face while she lectured him on her favorite pokemon for the umpteenth time.

"I'm Fiona, Dad!" Laura shouted, elbowing her twin to keep her from laughing.

"Nice try, Laura, but that hasn't worked yet, and it won't start now," Rita said sternly.

Madison sighed and rolled her eyes. At this rate, she'd never be able to leave!


~-~-~-~


"Mom? I'm back!" Ian called, Njord at his side.

Nadine McKinley stepped out of the kitchen, looking as motherly as anyone possibly could. She was tall, like her son, but two pregnancies-one of which had resulted in a miscarriage-had taken their toll on her body. While she was still fairly pretty, she was close to, if not the most overweight person in town. While that wasn't saying much, it was still something. Ian immediately noticed the bag lunch in her hand, as well as the fact that she hadn't bothered to take her apron off after making breakfast.

"Oh Ian, he's adorable. What's his name?" Nadine, like so many other adults, had developed the useful skill of figuring out a pokemon's gender at a glance, which was actually very difficult with most species.

"Njord," Ian said, puffing his chest out at the mere mention of his squirtle's tough name, despite where it came from. "He's going to be the best, Mom, just wait and see. I'll make you proud."

"You've already done that," Nadine said, her eyes moist. "I'm going to miss you so much, Ian." She drew Ian into a hug, doing her level best to squeeze the life out of him.

He hugged her back, unsurprised to feel tears running down his own cheeks as well as hers. He'd get them out of the way now; crying in front of his peers would be awful! "Don't worry, Mom, you won't be all alone. Myles isn't going anywhere, is he?" Myles Buford had entered their lives shortly after Ian's father, Conrad, had left them both. While wedding bells weren't likely to be heard in the near future, Myles treated both Nadine and Ian quite well, and he was in the relationship for keeps.

"Yes, I don't know what I'd do without my two boys," Nadine said, pulling back and wiping the tears off of her son's face. "I packed your lunch with your favorite, and there's a surprise waiting for you in your pack. Don't get too excited, it's nothing exciting. Still, don't look in here, wait until you leave."

"Why's that?" Ian asked.

"It'll give you a reason to call from your first stop," Nadine said with a smile.

"Mom! You don't have to worry about that, I'll always call," Ian promised.

"I know you will, you're a good boy. Be safe out there, and don't trust too easily."

Ian rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, I won't. I love you, Mom."

"I love you too. Keep him safe, Njord." They embraced one last time before Ian and his squirtle walked out, glad that he had already spent his tears. Madison and Catherine would be nice about it, but he didn't want them to think he was weak.


~-~-~-~


"Fred, come quick! Look at the pokemon your son picked!" Most mothers would only ever refer to their children like that when angry, but Gertrude White was the exception, only doing so when she was proud. She was Marcus' height, only a couple inches over five feet, but had such a forceful presence that many others in Orpiment actually thought she was much taller.

"Wow! I had no idea they'd make the Johto starters available to you! What's her name?" Fred White was just a hair under five-ten, and was the spitting image of his son, with a thin face and short, black hair.

"Ignigena," Marcus said, unable to keep from smiling. "These are my parents," he added, kneeling down and patting his cyndaquil on the head.

"Quil," she chirped enthusiastically, rubbing her head against his parents' legs.

"She's really friendly," Fred said, grinning.

"Much friendlier than Tarquinn was when you first started," Gertrude teased, referring to Fred's venusaur. He and Gertrude had been two of the starting trainers in Orpiment nearly twenty years earlier, but neither one had the ambition necessary to succeed. Instead, they caught a small number of pokemon each and sought to learn all they could about them, becoming self-employed pokemon researchers. That was one year that Orpiment could collectively stand to forget. Every year at the League Tournament, Orpiment's new trainers sought out Pallet's, and they would battle for the pride of their respective towns. Since those two towns housed the only two pokemon labs worthy of getting the Kanto starters from the League, the rivalry had grown quite strong over the years.

"Yes, because Ardanna was the epitome of charm and grace," Fred said sarcastically. Gertrude's charizard was famous in Orpiment for being one of the most volatile pokemon around. She only showed her soft side to her trainer's family and their pokemon, but even then it always took her a while to accept any new additions.

"Where's Jared?" Marcus asked, eager to receive his gift. Jared had just turned twenty the week before. He had previously worked as a technician for the Indigo Plateau, but now that he and his wife, Sandy, had received their Breeder's Licenses, they were opening up a ranch in Viridian.

"Upstairs, sleeping in," Gertrude said, scowling slightly. "That boy sleeps far too much, if you ask me."

"I'll wake him up," Marcus volunteered, scooping Ignigena up and dashing upstairs. He checked Jared's room, looking forward to scaring his brother awake, but was disappointed to find Jared already up and typing away at his computer.

"A cyndaquil!" Jared exclaimed. "Fantastic! I've only ever seen its evolved forms before."

"Her name is Ignigena," Marcus said as the pokemon in question sniffed speculatively at Jared's offered hand before bumping against it with her head.

"Awfully affectionate, isn't she?" Jared asked.

"Yeah, probably more than any of the others' starters," Marcus said without embarrassment.

"Will you have the heart to send her into battle?" Jared asked. It was a legitimate question. Most of the trainers that didn't make it quit because they couldn't bear to see their pokemon hurt.

"She's tougher than she looks," Marcus said, secretly hoping his words were true.

"She is, but you don't sound like you believe it," Jared said. "Have faith in your pokemon. They're all tough, and they're almost always looking to battle, even in the wild. Try and remember that."

"I will," Marcus said, looking down at Ignigena, who seemed to have tuned out the conversation. He wondered if it was an act.

"But hey, enough introspective bullshit," Jared said, smiling in an effort to cheer his younger brother up. "I got you something, what say we go and get it."

Marcus brightened immediately. "What is it?"

"A surprise within a surprise," Jared said cryptically, leading Marcus downstairs. Their parents had adjourned to the den, but Fred wasn't sitting in his favorite chair, and he had his hands behind his back.

"What've you got, Dad?" Marcus asked slowly, looking to Jared for confirmation.

"The first of many, but it's the only one you should expect for free," his brother explained, motioning for their father to pull out the mystery gift from behind his back. Marcus' eyes bugged out when he recognized it as an egg.

"It's enormous!" he breathed, running forward to take it. It had a yellowish tint to it when his father had held it, but upon closer inspection, it was pure white. He turned to Jared. "What kind of pokemon is inside?"

"That's the second surprise," Jared said. "It won't hatch for a while, so don't get too impatient. Just keep it warm and don't start throwing it off of cliffs. The egg is tough enough to handle a lot, but not just anything." His expression turned serious. "Pop quiz time, how long after hatching can a pokemon safely battle?"

"A month," Marcus said confidently.

"It's actually a little less than that, but rounding it up to a full month is never a bad idea. Your pokedex will tell you everything else you'll need to know once that thing hatches. Good luck out there, Marc."

"Thanks, Jared," Marcus said, carefully putting his egg down next to Ignigena-who immediately placed a steadying paw on it-and pulled his brother into a hug. His parents joined in a moment later, and Gertrude's eyes were moist when they pulled apart.

"I should go, David and Lily are waiting for me," Marcus said, kneeling down to pick the egg back up.

Another round of goodbye hugs followed, and it only took ten more minutes for Marcus and Ignigena to make it out of the house, the egg tucked safely into Marcus' enormous pack.