Prologue


     The starchy white building was looming behind her. With every step,
it got smaller and smaller, until eventually it was no more. As Sydney
plunged into the ever-present green of the grass, her mind began to
focus more on where she was going. She still had no clue. As far as she
knew, she was heading in the direction of Saffron City, but even if she
managed to get there by herself, she would have no place to stay. All
she had was the 5000 yen that the sanitarium had given her. She had no
purpose.

     But at least it was better than the sterile enviroment that she had
been locked in for the last eight years. EIGHT YEARS. Wow. It had really
been eight years since she had gone outside, eight years since she had
smelled the simple scent of pine (not counting Pine-Sol, of course). It
was hard to believe, and hard to explain. But Sydney was not taking
advantage of the warmth of sunlight on her skin or the sound of leaves
crunching under her feet, that was for sure. She felt alive again.

     The gate into Saffron was now in front of her, big and yellow and
different from anything she was used to. The walkway into the city was
full of muddy footprints and dust and was as far from clean as you could
get. The guard was smoking a cigarette and there were at least five
empty cans of soda by him, maybe more. Sydney wrinkled her nose in
disgust. As she passed the guard, she took a look at his face and
noticed that it appeared that he hadn't shaved in over a week. He was
indifferent to her as she passed by and didn't give her a second glance.

     Her first stop, naturally, was the local Pokemon Center but the
Nurse Joy on duty told her that since she was not a trainer, she
couldn't rent a room. Sydney passed her a glare and with a toss of her
coppery hair, she was gone. The hotels and even the motels were too
expensive and would not let her stay for simply one night on only 5000
yen. 

     Sydney sat down on a bench with chipped paint, currently defeated
and hoping that she could find a place to sleep by nightfall. If she
didn't, she would probably have to find a bench or something to sleep
under. She began to doze off and was only brought to attention by a
female voice calling "If you don't hurry up, we won't make it to Pallet
Town by nightfall!" 

     Of course she knew that the woman was not talking to her, but
Sydney couldn't help looking up anyways. An overweight woman with bleach
blonde hair was ushering teenagers into a large bus. Without a second
thought, she ran over to the large group swarming outside the bus. And
she began to inch with them. As she got closer to the entrance and
passed the woman who had yelled earlier, she was not stopped. Even in
the baggy secondhand clothing the asylum had given her, they thought she
was part of the group.

      The bus was wide and as she walked in, she noticed an almost empty
seat in the back. There was a sleeping boy with shaggy blonde hair and
an Avenged Sevenfold t-shirt. What was this Avenged Sevenfold? A music
group? The popular music group had been the Backstreet Boys before she
went away. Would this boy know them? 

     The blonde woman was the last one in and she took a seat towards
the front. With a whooshing sound and a feeling of unfamiliarity and
discomfort, the bus began to move.