Authors Notes: I've re-written this again 'cause well...some parts were crap and you don't realize until after you've submitted. Gah. So, yeah, whoo, re-writing. I'd really appreciate reviews. even if you just want to point out faults, y'know that's fine. Just no: "It sucks." If you could tell me why it sucks I'd really really like that.

Yes, also, I'm a hideous self-inserter. I'm trying not to have a Mary-Sue here, I really am. Sorry if she is.

Anyway, yeah, that's about it. Read my fic. Hope you like it.

Part one.

‘Good morning, Anna!’ My Dad said loudly, bursting into my room.

‘Nfffrurgh-ge-gurgh.’ I mumbled. This was coming out of my mouth and even I had no idea what it meant. I curled up, drawing my warm blankets tighter around me which was a pretty crappy shield against my Dad. He grabbed me by the shoulder and shook me.

‘Come on, up you get.’ He called, patting my arm again. I love my Dad, he just forgets how strong he is sometimes.

I groaned and sat up, rubbing my arm as he pulled the blinds up. ‘It’s still dark’

‘You wanted me to wake you, didn’t you?’ He grinned.

‘Oh yeah.’ I grumbled, sitting up in bed. I vaguely remembered asking that. I needed to double check my things. Today, I was going to start Pokemon training, following the path hundreds had tried before. Only I was half asleep right now.

I looked to the end of my bed. Lying there was a Totodile, twitching and making small growls in his sleep. My trusty partner for the journey. His name was Maelgwn, and I had owned him since I was 3 after my brother had given him to me. He was over 11 years old, though he had the intellectual capacity of a four year old child. I nudged him with my foot.

‘Wake up.’ I mumbled, climbing out of bed and shuddering as my toes touched the cold cork floor. Maelgwn went right on twitching and growling.

I walked downstairs, decked out in my bright pink cow pyjamas. The entire time, I was just thinking about ‘lasts.’ Might be the last time I was going to walk down these stairs in the morning, might be the last time I was going to  have my mother cook for me, definitely the last time I wear these pyjamas. I swear, I’m never going to wear these again. I’m only wearing these now for nostalgia. Purely. They were getting quite tight around my legs and shoulders.

My mother was happily cooking breakfast. My mother loved cooking, she’d taught me how to cook, thought I wasn’t as good as her. As soon as I entered the kitchen, she moved her plate of pancakes and wrapped her arms around me in a bone crushing hug.

‘I am so proud of you!’ She squealed, kissing the top of my head. Truth was, this wasn’t that impressive. My older brother and sister had both left to train Pokemon, only my brother had come back after several weeks, deciding it really wasn’t for him. Kristinn had released the few Pokemon he had managed to, catch, and gave his problem Totodile to me. Maelgwn had grown up now though, he was a good Pokemon, and he liked me a lot more than he had liked Kristinn.

Mum finally released me and allowed me to breathe, only so I could eat. She had made pancakes, bacon, fresh bread, hash browns and omelettes all in honour of my leaving.

Might be the last time I had a breakfast like this.

I finished breakfast and went back up to my room to check my things and gets dressed. Maelgwn was still fast asleep on my bed.

I pulled the bacon out of my shirt pocket and waved it in front of his nose. He woke up and snatched it away, chewing nosily.

I pulled on jeans and my new t-shirt. I had had to buy new clothes for the trip, as most of my clothes were extremely loose and baggy, which was apparently a no-no for Pokemon training. We had optional Pokemon training classes, which involved teaching us about types, battling, catching Pokemon, caring for Pokemon etc, and we had often had Pokemon trainers as speakers, one of which spent a good ten minutes going on about the badness of wearing loose clothing because it can get caught on things, or things could crawl up them and stuff like that. He was odd, but I guess it had stuck. Either that or I was just paranoid.

I entered the bathroom and washed my face and neck, and tied back my hair into a ponytail. I hated my hair. It was a strange sort of puke yellow colour, was always frizzy and had split ends. I hadn’t really cared until my mother continually pointed it out. I suppose sometimes she wanted me to be a girly girl, who worried about our hair and make up like the other 14 year olds at my school did. But aside from the odd thought to my badly coloured hair, I didn’t really care about that sort of thing.

I returned to my room, where Maelgwn was chewing on another piece of bacon. I pulled on my backpack, grabbed around the waist and scooped him up, staring around at my room. I had spent almost my entire childhood in here.

I sighed and headed outside.

I’m not going to bore you with a descriptive account of saying goodbye to my family. My mother cried, only stopping every now and then to make sure I had packed enough food and clothing. My father didn’t show that much emotion, though said that he would miss me, to watch what company I kept and not to eat too much junk food. My brother, Kristinn wished me better luck than he had, reminding me that there was a big world outside Violet City and I’d have to face it sometime.

Finally, I managed to leave.

Now, I was walking away from Violet city toward Union Cave. Maelgwn had woken up properly and walked alongside me, going off occasionally to chase grass that was ruffled by the wind or a passing butterfly.

My house was on the outskirts of Violet, and I could still see it if I turned around, and I began to worry. Union Cave had always been just a blob in the distance. I had never actually gone all the way there. Horror stories from my childhood about Zubats and Onixes that ate people didn’t seem so silly now.

I stopped. There was a sign next to the road.

“Route 32.” It read. “Violet City – Union Cave.”

Maelgwn ran past the sign, giving it no regard. I took a deep breath, and took one more step.

I was officially out of the city. The town I had lived in since I was a little kid. I was out of there, and officially travelling.

A knot formed in my stomach. I was really leaving.

The paved road turned to gravel and the gravel to dirt. The path became rougher and narrower, eventually a simply foot wide path winding through the forest. I knew I was still quite far from Union cave, and I wouldn’t be able to reach it until tomorrow anyway.

I found a small patch of land without any trees next to path where I could set up my tent. I attempted to clear some of the sticks and leaf debris, enough to make sure nothing would be too lumpy underneath it. I set up my tent, and cleared another small space in front of it for a fire. Thought it was quite warm, not dark yet, and I wasn’t going to cook, but I liked having a fire. Felt right.

I was eating muesli bars and Maelgwn was eating a mixture of Pokemon food and raw bacon from that morning. His head suddenly snapped up, and he looked over at a bush nearby, watching intently.

‘What are you looking at?’ I asked, even though he couldn’t answer me. He crept over to the bush on all fours, before  jumping into it. There was a loud squawk and a Pidgey fluttered out of the bush with Maelgwn close behind, snapping and growling as he chased him. The Pidgey alighted a few feet, flapping his wings furiously at Maelgwn, manage to smack him in the nose with one wing. Maelgwn lunged again, only managing to hit the Pidgey with his head rather than getting it in his jaws. The Pidgey quickly recovered, flying up again and trying to scratch at Maelgwns head. It could have easily flown off, but it continued to try and attack Maelgwn.

‘Uh, Maelgwn, tackle!’ I ordered, suddenly remembering that I was meant to have input in this too. Maelgwn ran at the Pidgey, who had landed on the ground to kick sand at him. Maelgwn knocked into it again, throwing it back into a tree. I opened my bag and rummaged through the front pocket, finally finding a Pokeball. I threw it at the Pidgey which was only just starting to climb to its feet.

It bounced off, opened and sucked it in. The ball fell to the ground and wobbled a few times, before stopping with a ping.

I grinned and scrambled towards the ball. We had learnt the theory of catching Pokemon, but I had never actually caught one before.

I grabbed the ball and fiddled with it. Maelgwn approached to smell it. I pushed the button and the Pokeball opened with a snap. A jet of red light came out and the Pidgey materialized in front of us.

It looked around, utterly bewildered, and turned to see us. It squawked and jumped back, kicking sand at me and Maelgwn.

‘Hey! Stop that!’ I squealed. I took a chunk of my muesli bar and broke a little bit off, and threw it just in front of it. He stopped kicking sand to examine it. After a few minutes of studying it, he began to peck at it.

‘See? Is that good?’ I asked. He stopped picking to look at me with beady eyes. He turned back to the chunk of muesli bar and devoured it. I snapped off another bit and held it out to him.  He approached, hesitant, but finally snatched it from my hand and devoured that too.

A little later, the Pidgey was sitting in my lap, having finished eating and was currently allowing itself to be stroked. I pulled out my Pokedex which I had gotten from my sister.

“Pidgey, the Tiny Bird Pokemon: It lives in grassy areas, usually hiding in the long grass. As it is usually docile, it will chase away enemies by kicking up sand.” It said in its mechanical voice. The Pidgey clicked his beak and closed his eyes.

‘What can I call you?’ I asked, stroking his soft feathers. I glanced at Maelgwn, who was happily chewing on a stick. I should at least keep a theme going. What were some good names…?

‘Cadogan.’ I decided. Cadogan had been the name of a messenger way back when. Finally, when the fire was reduced to coals, I decided it was time for bed. I went into my tent, unfurled my sleeping bag and climbed in. Maelgwn climbed in as well, happily curling up in my arms. Cadogan perched on my bag and ruffled his feathers.

My first night on my own.

I guess its not so bad.