Disclaimer: Yeah yeah, I don't own Pokemon. Tell me something I don't know! And this goes with a dedication to all the folks at www.randomdirectory.co.nr who work tirelessly to bring you state of the art craziness!! ============================================================================= ============================= CHAPTER ONE - A STAR IS BORN ** It's night. Everybody's asleep. The rain is pouring down. It's a storm. A lone shaft of lightning brightens the sky for a flash. A small orb of pulsing light follows it down and comes to rest on a patch of grass in a small clearing. The light slowly forms into the shape of a small baby. It wakes up and cries, not knowing where it has come from or why it is there, just knowing that it is alone. ** "No, YOU'RE the buck-toothed Ponyta!" A little girl laughed and slaped a small boy playfully on the shoulder. He growled and ran after her. They sprinted happily through meadow after meadow, finally collpasing, exhausted, in a patch of tall grass. "It's like a ju - a, jun - um, what's the word again Ana?" the little boy asked the girl, who is two months his elder and never lets him forget it. "The word's jungle, Ash. When you're old like me you'll know these kind of things and stuff," she replied proudly, holding her head high. "We'd better get back, Ana. Mummy said that these big grassies are full of Pokemonses, and until I get my own I must must MUST stay away or else they will come to me and I will be helpful." "Helpless, Ashie." "I will be helpless," Ash replied obediently. Ana sighed and got to her feet. She knew very well the dangers of the big grass, but she made a show of not caring. "So what? One day I will get lots of birdies and I will Fly around and make sure you never get hurt. Then my feet won't get sore like they do sometimes when I walk a lot." Ash nodded. That made lots of sense. Ana loved birdies and they loved her. "I will get a Pigeoto and a Wingull and a - a lots of other birdies and they will all be my best friends." "What about me?" Ash cried, hurt. "I meant they will be my best POKEMON friends. You're my best people friend. Now come on. We must be getting back." The trudged through the meadows until they came to the outskirts of Pallet Town. "Here we are, Ashie. We mustn't let them see us together or -" Ana was cut off by a furious Delia running up to them. "ASHIE! Where were you?" She turned and saw Ana in her simple orphanage uniform. "Ash! What did I tell you about playing with the orphanage children?" "That they're not good and will get me into trouble and stuffs," Ash sniffed. Ana burst into tears. "Ashie, you're my bestest friend!!" "What?" Delia's voice was soft and deadly. "Is she?" Ash looked between Ana and his mother. "N - no, Mummy. I've never seen her before, I SWEAR it." Ana looked at him furiously. "I hate you! How can you say that? I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU!!" she screamed, and, crying, she ran off to the orphanage. ** ~10 years later~ The announcer looked over the fickle crowd. "OK PokeFanatics, we have Round One in the Pokemon Johto Championships!" A girl with short, short brown hair that shone in the sun waved to the crowd. "Anastasia Black is from Pallet Town Orphanage but moved to Johto when she was just 4 years old. She's been an official citizen here for 10 years and loved every moment of it!" "Yeah! What can I say? I love birds, they love me and Johto's the place where they come best! I've travelled all over the world finding birds and training them, and we're ready to clean up back home in Johto!" The crowd clapped her on, proud of their own citizen. "Great! Now, lets take a look at your competitor, Ash Ketchum, who's also from Pallet and about your age, too. Hey, maybe you two kids know each other, eh?" Ash stared at the girl at the opposite end of the field. She seemed vaugely familiar... Ana looked at this boy with dark, dark hair, and felt a memory she'd repressed for so long bubble up to fill her brain. Two children, playing in the tall grasses... leaving, regretting... an angry woman... a boy telling his mother he didn't know... A tear trickled out of Ana's eye. She'd make Ash pay for this, any way she could. "Okkkaaaay, today you'll be playing in a...." the automatic field chooser spun crazily and slowly clicked to a halt. "WOODLAND SETTING!!" The crowd went wild. "Oookay, this is a standard 3 Pokemon match. READY?" "Ready," Ana said, cold and furious. "Ready." Ash was bewidered. Why was this girl suddenly furious at him? "Wingull, go!" "Wha? Oh, right, Pikachu, get this over with quickly!" "Wingull, come on, use Fly!" The Wingull hovered high above the stadium. Pikachu, confused, looked around wondering where its opponend had fled to. Wingull took the oppourtunity and flew straight down on top of Pikachu. Dazed and confused, the Pikachu got to its feet. "Wiiiiiing gullgull!" "Pika pika chuchu, CHUPI?!" "Wingull wing, ingull." "Pi?" "Wing ingull!" "Pika chupi?" "Wing." "Pikachup pi! Pi pi!" "Gull wing." "Wingull, can you please use Peck?" "Gull, gull." Wingull viciously pecked at Pikachu. He fainted clean away. Panicked, Ash sent out his Totodile. Never had Pikachu been beaten so easily. It was almost as if he had wanted to faint... Ana laughed silently. Ash was getting what he deserved, after all these years... "OK Wingull, lets give, uhm, Noctowl a go! Come on, Nocty!" Wingull dissapeared into its Pokeball... And a disgruntled Noctowl busrt out of its. The crowd "oohed" and "aahed". It turned and looked at them all, rotating its head. The crowd hushed. "Well folks, look like Ana's sent out a Nnnnnnnnnnnooooooocccccccc..." The Noctowl gave the MC a withering look. "...towl." Even the MC shut up to watch this majectic Pokemon stare with contempt at its opponent. "Totodiiiiile?" "Noct?" "Dile ileto?" "Owwwwl noctnoct." “Toe.” “Noct noctowl. Owlnocto.” “OK, Noctowl, Hypnosis!” The air around the two Pokemon wavered and shimmered and next thing anybody knew the Totodile was peacefully sleeping. “Great Noctowl! Now, Psychic!” Still Totodile slept on. Ash was really beginning to crack. From the sidelines, Misty and Brock watched anxiously with their Pokemon. “Togi?” “Star, starmie mi.” “To - pi?” “Starmie star.” “To!” “ONIX!! Onix on!!” “Onix, shhh,” Brock said absentmindedly. “Gosh, he’s really being crushed, isn’t he?” “Topi!” “Yes, walloped,” Misty agreed. Ash scooped up some gravel from the sidelines and pelted Totodile with it. The Pokemon opened a sleepy eye and looked at him. “C’mon Totodile! Lets show these sissy birds who’s boss!” “To ... to...” Noctowl looked up. It had heard very well Ash calling Ana’s birds sissies. And it made him VERY angry. With a fierce cry it launched itself on the Totodile, Pecking for all he was worth. For a while all you could see was a cloud of dust. When it finally settled, both Pokemon were fainted. “Oooooooohhhh...” the MC announced. “Never have we seen such a Pokemon! A very, very, very fierce Pokemon... scary kinda... Now, Ana and Ash both have one Pokemon left each! Lets see what will happen!” Ana looked through her Pokeballs and selected one. Ash did the same. “Farfetch’d, go!” “Bulbasaur!” The famous Seed Pokemon burst forth gracefully. Ana’s Farfetch’d, however loyal, was not that graceful and fell flat on its beak. Ana sized up her opponent. OK, it was a Bulbasaur. But Farfetch’d could fly... but then again, Vine Whip would cause some serious problems... “Farfetch’d, hit him over the head again and again with your stalk!” Farfetch’d did as she was told and attacked with a will. “Stay out of range of Vine Whip, whatever you do!” Ash looked at Farfetch’d. He looked at Bulbasaur. The Farfetch’d was clumsy, and he could use that to his advantage... He opened his mouth to order Bulbasaur to use Vine Whip, but then closed it when he saw his Pokemon fainted on the ground. “Bulb...” it said weakly. Never, EVER had his Pokemon been thrashed like that. This really was concerning... Ash called Bulbasaur back into his Pokeball and turned to his friends. “Ash...” Misty said, looking concerned. “Ash, listen, that was a freakishly good trainer. One of those ones that does nothing else. Just trains, and trains...” “Hey, where’s she going?” Brock interrupted. Ana was walking out of the stadium without a backwards glance. “I dunno... maybe to heal her birds?” Misty muttered. “She looked very lonely. I think those birds were her only friends,” Brock said. “Maybe we should go say hi... not like that!!” he added quickly, seeing Misty’s mallet. “Actually, I agree.” “Ash?” “She seemed familiar, and really furious... I have to figure this one out.” “Well, OK, I’ll bet she’ll have gone to the Pokemon Centre to heal all her bird Pokemon. Brock, Ash, Come on!” The trio ran towards the Poke Centre, forgetting about Onix and Togepi. “TOGEPIIII!!!” “Onix onix on.” “Togi.” Ana allowed herself a small smile. She’d done it. She’d thrashed that lying, backstabbling, one time friend. Friend... Ash and co had been right. Ana’s only friends were her birds. It wasn’t that she was weird or a complete loner, she just couldn’t seem to find anybody that wanted to be friends except her birds. Often she’s cuddle up with her Pokemon at night and dream of a day when she could settle down somewhere where there was lots of excitement but people who loved her. “Hey, that was some battle out there.” Ana turned around. A boy with messy brown hair was smiling at her. He had nice eyes and a ying yang charm around his neck. “Gary Oak, and this is my Umbreon.” He offered his hand. “Always nice to see somebody thrash Ash Ketchum.” Ana shook it. “It’s great to see my birds really owning. I love ‘em more than anything. Anastasia Black, but call me Ana.” “Nice to meet you Ana.” “Likewise, Gary.” “So, where are you staying?” “Up in town. There’s a great hotel up there... ok, um, backpacker’s hostel.” They both laughed. “You wanna join me? It’s much cheaper there, and you get free breakfast.” While Gary and Ana talked, Umbreon and Farfetch’d did the same. “Ummmm.. breon.” “Far far faaaaar fetch’d.” It was a sign of respect to say the name of the Pokemon and then what Pokemon it was after. “Umbreon um.” “Far fetch’d??” “Umbreon bre.” “Fetch’d...” “C’mon Ash, I saw her just now go in!” Brock complained. “Are you SURE it was her?” Ash asked. “Oooooh, Ashie...” Misty teased. ~FLASHBACK~ "ASHIE! Where were you?" "Ash! What did I tell you about playing with the orphanage children?" ~END FLASHBACK~ “Ash?” “Brock, something is going on here. We have to let Ash figure out what it is. He’ll tell us, in time.” Ash walked into th Poke Centre and looked around. Brock and Misty quickly followed. “Hey Ash, is that... Gary?” Brock said, pointing. It was Gary. And Ana. Suddenly, Ash’s world went black and he remembered it all. ============================================================================= ============================== End of Chapter One!! Please forgive me, it’s my first fanfic. If you have any comments, take them to the guestbook at www.randomdirectory.co.nr !! Thanks for reading, HHIX