Outcast by Appearance Author’s Note Hello! Thanks for being interested in reading my fanfiction. : ) My name is Valikinz (Val for short), I am, as you guessed, the author of this fanfiction. Let me start by saying: I don’t write fanfics often. I struggle with them because I’m not good at keeping characters in character, and being a perfectionist, I have to rewrite a chapter an average 3 to 5 times before being satisfied with it. Needless to say, I tend to not... finish what I start writing (for the record, I rewrote this chapter a total of 3 times before I was satisfied – actually, I’m not even totally satisfied to be completely honest). However, the Pokemon franchise has caught my heart (it did back in 1998, and has done so again recently), and I’m once again willing to give it a try. I struggled for myself these past few weeks whether to write this fanfiction or not, and in the end, I decided to give it a go (thanks to some... encouraging people). I already have everything planned out & structured, so hopefully this one story can go on longer than my other unfinished fanfics (like I said, I rarely write fanfictions – unless I’m really motivated). I did a lot of background research, especially in the storyline & NPCs, because I just can not stand characters being out of character. I will write a short author’s note for each chapter to introduce mostly my inspiration for the chapter itself, give a quick run-through, etc etc... but for the most part, they’ll be short. This first A/N will be pretty longer than most, though (actually, it’ll be hella long). Mostly because there’s so much to talk about! So please keep up with me before we proceed to the important part: the fanfiction itself. HOWEVER, there are many things you have to understand before moving on, so please, just hold on for a while and read this A/N! Thanks much! First of all, let me start off by saying that this fanfiction is based on the game, Pokemon Emerald. While I’m a huge fan of all Pokemon games (and the manga! tho’ the anime sucks, it can die), Emerald is by far my favourite one of all (If it weren’t for the fact that Platinum has Wifi & whatnot, I’d play Emerald more). Yes, IMO, it IS better than Ruby & Sapphire (reason being... more Steven Stone! <3) I played the Pokemon games a bit later than most people (this game came out in 2005, and it’s 2009...) frankly because I lost interest in Pokemon back in 2003/2004 (the last time I played Pokemon Crystal). However, one bored rainy day I picked up Emerald... and well, my former Pokemon addiction came rushing back like mad. ^_^ I went on to play a total of 185 hours between Platinum & Emerald the next 4 weeks, that’s how addicted I was, haha. Now, about the plot itself... This fanfic follows my favourite shipping of HoennChampionShipping (Steven Stone x Female Playable Character). Understanding the Female Playable Character part of that shipping is CRUCIAL (but I’ll talk about it later). Now... I don’t plan to make this fanfic into some mushy fluffy romance that’s just 99% romance + 1% everything else. No, I wanna make an actual fanfic that’s more than just that. Here’s what’s gonna go on... The story of this fanfic, Outcast by Appearance, will follow the Pokemon Emerald plotline. It’ll start off in Littleroot Town in Hoenn, just like the game. If anyone’s played any of the Gen III GBA games, you’ll know the storyline. However, unlike Ruby & Sapphire, where the nemesis is either Team Aqua or Team Magma depending on the game, Emerald deals with both. Which is fun, cause I’m a huge fan of both Maxie & Archie (go Archie!<3). The story will follow the ENTIRE Emerald plotline – from gym leader to gym leader, trying to collect 8 badges to compete in the Pokemon League at Evergrande City and become the true Pokemon Master & Champion of Hoenn. However, things don’t go so smoothly because at the same time, you have to deal with icky Team Magma’s & Team Aqua’s stupid plans. I’m actually going to be playing the game (for the 500th time) simultaneously to writing this, so that way, I can keep VERY close to the plot and not miss any important details. Now, who are the characters? As I said, the romance behind this fanfic is for the shipping, HoennChampionShipping. This shipping is made up of Steven Stone and the Female Playable Character. Let me talk about the Female Playable Character, as I mentioned earlier. This girl is NOT May from the anime, or the games when you select Brendan (male playable character), and she’s Birch’s daughter. Do not think of this as a StevenxMay shipping, because it’s not! The Female Playable Character, although identical to May from the anime, is not her! It would be wrong to assume so! May from the anime is simply based on this girl (not the other way around), just like Ash from the anime is based on Red from the first Gen games (Pokemon Red/Blue/Green/Yellow). Thinking Ash is Red, or Red is Ash, is wrong, because the characters are not the same. It is the same case with this Female Playable Character. She is the female playable character of the Hoenn Region Gen III games, and that only. She is not Sapphire from the Pokemon Special manga, nor May from the anime. They are all totally different people. Now, let’s talk about the girl herself... she has the personality I picked for her, the background I decided (except I stick to the game’s canon background, like her being Norman’s daughter, from Littleroot, etc), and I basically let my imagination flow, mostly because I can have as much fun imagining her up, unlike the other NPCs. She is not based on me, no. I don’t write about myself or let my fictional characters mirror my personality, as it does not help me improve as a writer. The only thing that she shares with me is her first name. You’ll find out more about her name as you read the fanfiction itself. Her name is not May. I did not name her after the anime character, or the game character (well, in the games, she’s called May when you pick the Male Playable Character). I named her like I named my character when I played the game, as like I said, I’m following the Emerald storyline VERY closely (or well, MY game’s storyline). Oh, and in case you’re wondering, yes, my character’s appearance will mirror off May’s / Female Playable Character’s, so I’m not gonna switch it around and make her... say, a blonde. No, she’s May in appearance, just like in the game, and yes, with Emerald’s clothing (which is altered a bit from Ruby & Sapphire). The only thing to her appearance I’m changing around is the hair, which I refuse to have hideous like May’s – I’m just going to say those are pigtails, and naturally don’t stick out hideously like that. But otherwise, yes, her official artwork is how she looks like in this game. The Pokemon that appear in this fanfiction (specifically the main character’s party) mirror the ones I have in the game. Any changes to the party you see here will reflect identically to the changes I have made while playing the game – as I said, I will be playing the game simultaneously to writing this (to be more exact, I’ll be sitting at my computer with my DS in front of me). So yes, I will be basing it off how I played the game. That being said... Let’s talk about Steven! If any of you have ever played Pokemon Emerald, you will know Steven is no longer the Pokemon League Champion as he was in Ruby & Sapphire, but now a powerful wandering Trainer that seems to have some horrible stone fetish and prefers going around collecting stones than fighting other trainers. He is the fictional love of my life, and my favourite Pokemon character ever (and the motivation for writing this fanfic, rofl). In Emerald, as many of you know, he appears various times throughout the game, helping the player mostly against Team Magma & Team Aqua. The same case will be here, his appearances in this fanfiction will mirror his appearances in the game (except, of course, I’ll extend them out to be longer than in the game’s ;D). I might toss in some random appearances of his that do not happen in the game just for the sake of including him in this fanfiction more, but I haven’t decided on that yet, so don’t count too much on it. Steven will not be making an appearance in this chapter, due to the fact that in the games he doesn’t appear till a bit later. I’ll try to see to him making an appearance in the second chapter, maybe get to his part in the game by then, but we’ll see, can’t guarantee it. : P Depends on how profound & detailed I am while writing, but bleh. >_>; You might be wondering right now like “STEVEN’S NOT IN IT RIGHT AWAY?! WHAT KIND OF HOENNCHAMPIONSHIPPING FANFIC IS THIS?!” As I mentioned earlier, this is actually a NON-FLUFF fanfiction (I know, shocking), and actually has a plot and whatnot that doesn’t 100% focus on romance. So yes, there will be chapters that he doesn’t even make a lone appearance in (though like I said, I’ll try to include him as much as possible because I love him so much). Just like in Pokemon Emerald, the story focuses on the player, NOT on Steven. In Emerald, does Steven tag along with you? No, I didn’t think so. The story focuses on you, the player, trying to become a Pokemon Master. Not on Steven. So likewise, same here in as in the game. You can consider the romance a side element, I suppose. I’m not a fan of love at first sight, because I don’t believe in it, so this fanfic will not be a love-at-first-sight type of romance. I plan to have it develop over time, because that’s my favourite type of romance, and the most realistic type there is. Whoo, I think that’s all I’ve got to say for today. : D Let’s get on, shall we? Oh no, wait, one more thing... I dedicate this fanfiction to anyone who thinks Steven Stone is the hottest & most gorgeous Pokemon character EVER!!!!!! --- Chapter 1: Fire Her whole life, Eddie’s life had been dominated by her controlling mother. Her mother ached for her only daughter to be as ladylike as possible, a passion that Eddie did not share with her. She had other things she wished she could have. She wished to experience the world like it was meant to be experienced, the wide world she had been cut off from as a child. There was so much to see and to explore, and though many would consider Eddie the epitome of good fortune, she certainly didn’t. She wasn’t allowed to live her life the way she wanted. Her family was composed of four members: her father, Norman, her mother, Caroline, her older brother (she had not seen much of this member in awhile), and her, Eddie. Her mother always craved for Eddie to follow after her own footsteps, similar to how her son followed after his father’s. From birth, it had been decided how Eddie would live her life. Well, okay, maybe it wasn’t typical for someone who was brought up to be as ladylike as possible to have such a contrasting un-ladylike name. “Eddie” wasn’t actually her real name. It was her self-imposed nickname. Her legal name was Edna. Edna. She flinched at the name. Her mother had named her so (what a surprise) because she considered the name to be fancy and very intelligent. When she was young, she hadn’t minded it much, just like little kids don’t seem to mind anything much at that age. However, at age 5, upon being enrolled at school, one of her classmates had called her up on it, stating that his grandmother was named Edna and that it was a horrid name to have. The thought stuck with her, and the same day, she burst into her house, screaming that she would bite anyone who dared continue to call her Edna. She decided herself that she would much rather be called “Eddie”. As much as a boy’s name it might be, it was better than being called Edna. At least this name would not be one her classmate’s grandmother shared. Her father, Norman, had roared with laughter at his young daughter’s outburst. He agreed almost immediately to his daughter’s request, and has called her Eddie since. Her mother, naturally, had been against calling her baby girl Eddie. It was so manly, and definitely did not suit her. She pursed her lips together and refused to. However, over the years, the fact that everyone else called her Eddie seemed to rub off on her (and that Eddie didn’t miss a chance to correct her whenever she called her by her awful given name), and eventually she also started referring to her daughter as Eddie. It had taken years, but the achievement still stood out as the sole thing Eddie had managed to convince her mother to do. However, all those memories lay in the past, behind and forgotten in her old town. Norman, one of the many Pokemon Trainers in the nation, had been offered the position as Gym Leader of Petalburg City’s Gym. The catch? Petalburg was located in the Hoenn Region. Naturally, he had accepted the offer – it was his lifelong dream. They packed their bags and left Johto, and moved to Littleroot Town in Hoenn. Eddie wasn’t much pleased with the move. As always, it was another decision being made for her that she had no say over whatsoever. Currently, Eddie was in her new room, getting dressed. Most people seem to take mere minutes changing, but to Eddie, getting dressed was a daily feat that took hours. Like everything else in her life, she wasn’t one to make the decision of what she wore. She was asked for her input, but she was vaguely aware that they only asked her to be polite; they never seemed to take her real opinion in consideration. Today, as always, she wasn’t alone: she was being assisted by two other women. It was shocking, they had only been in town for a few hours and her mother had already made friends. The feat of clothes-picking today was taking longer than usual. The reason behind that was that they were preparing for Dad’s inauguration party as Gym Leader, something that was to be held later that day. Of course, being Norman’s daughter, her mother expected Eddie to be well-dressed and pretty, and she fussed over her much more than usual. “How would you like your hair to be done, Edna?” one of the women asked cheerfully, reaching over and grabbing a part of Eddie’s long hair, letting the strands slip through her fingers. “Your hair’s so pretty, we could style it any way you want.” “It’s Eddie,” she corrected sharply. Of course, it was typical of her mother to introduce her daughter to people by her given name – it was the only type of occasion that she did do that recently. “What first impression would it give people to think I was foolish enough to have named you Eddie?” her mother had explained once when Eddie had inquired about it. Of course, just as much as it was about preserving Eddie’s “lady” image, it was also about making herself look better. Her mother was the type of lady who seemed to not do things unless it benefited her personally in some way. “Right, sorry, Eddie,” the woman answered promptly. Eddie could have sworn she felt part of hair tugged harder than usual. “Well, do you have any preferences to how you’d liked your hair to be done?” “I don’t care, just do it whichever.” She answered automatically. She was used to being asked these sort of the questions, and didn’t bother to give her opinion anymore because they never seemed to go by it. Before, she used to think people were serious in asking for her opinion. She used to reply “A T-shirt and shorts”, but after it became obvious she wouldn’t be allowed to wear that, she stopped bothering. “I think if we let it down lose and added a barrette or two in it would look nice.” The other woman suggested. The other one nodded her approval, and they set to work to styling Eddie’s hair. She was used to people tugging and pulling at her hair while they styled it, something she didn’t seem to mind much anymore. Instead, she sat there, staring straight ahead at the wall while the women behind her attempted to make conversation out of her. Most of her “personal stylists”, as she called them, tried to do this when they were in their early stages. Later on, when it became apparent that Eddie was not interested in conversation, they stopped trying. “So Eddie, what would you like your dress colour to be?” “I don’t care whichever is fine.” “What about this dress? Or do you like this one better?” “Either works.” “Your eyes are such a pretty colour! I think these shoes would bring out the colour of them, don’t you?” “Yea, sure, whatever you want.” After a few attempts, the women seem to give up trying to get small talk out of her, and instead just followed her advice and did everything the way they wanted to. They sat in silence the rest of the time as they continued to pull and style her hair. After an hour or two, the women seemed to be done, and Eddie was ready to go. She went downstairs dressed in a yellow cocktail dress, and her mom nodded in approval of Eddie’s attire. She herself was dressed in a way-too- formal outfit. Her mother didn’t seem to care that it just a simple 30-minute inauguration in Petalburg, and nothing more, as it didn’t stop her from making a huge deal out of it. Once their ride arrived, it didn’t take long for them to arrive in Petalburg – it wasn’t that far away from Littleroot. They parked in front of the Gym, where a huge crowd was gathered. Her mother tightly grasped onto her daughter’s shoulder, and led her through the crowd, puffing out her chest in importance. Eddie wasn’t really trying to stand out as much as her mother, and instead kept her eyes on her feet as she half-ran to keep up with her mother’s long strides. Upon coming closer to the front of the crowd, Eddie noticed her father standing at a podium, beaming down at his approaching wife and daughter. Eddie couldn’t help but give a tiny smile in return. “Hi, Dad,” Eddie greeted him cheerfully. She knew it wasn’t fair to her mother, but Eddie felt she had a stronger connection with her father. Though they scarcely spent time together, as her father’s time was mostly taken up by training his Pokemon, she still felt closer to her father. Today, she was proud and happy for him, as her dad had finally achieved her life-long dream. After awhile, the ceremony started. Norman did a small speech, which included an introduction of his family. “My daughter, Edna,” Eddie flinched at the name, which earned her a death glare from her mother, “and my wife, Caroline, have just moved here to Hoenn with me. My oldest son, a Pokemon Trainer himself, stayed back in Johto, unfortunately, and could not be here today.” That was all that was mentioned of the rest of the family. The rest of Norman’s speech was drowned out by Eddie’s thoughts. My oldest son, a Pokemon Trainer... Why is it that her brother was a trainer, but she wasn’t? She knew what her mother expected of her kids. Her son was to follow after his father, and her daughter was to follow after her. Which meant: No Pokemon. The unfairness of it all. She didn’t even get to make her own decisions. She knew her brother had no complaints with their mother’s decision, because he had been quite happy to oblige. He had left the family years earlier to go off on his own Pokemon journey. Eddie had rarely seen him since, as he only sent letters occasionally to inform his family of his well- being. She couldn’t even remember the last time they heard from him. Eddie had always been jealous of her brother. From a young age, he was allowed to interact with Pokemon. How could she be treated like that, and discriminated in such a way? She had a right to make her own decisions, right? Back in Johto, her life was dominated by her mother. Everyone knew her as the Knell’s pretty daughter, who seemed to enjoy taking after her mother more than her father. How foolish they were to assume such things from looking at her... she was more than that, and she certainly didn’t enjoy “taking after her mother.” How could people even begin think that? “... I heard about you from Norman. Pretty little thing, aren’t you Eddie?” Eddie looked up at the sound of her name. A woman had called her name, sporting two boys beside her, most likely her sons. Eddie raised her eyebrows at her. The woman had referred her as “Eddie”, not “Edna”, which must’ve meant she must have some familiarity with her personally, or her family. “I’m sorry, I don’t...?” she asked, in a confused tone. The woman noticed, and smiled at her. “Sorry, forgot to introduce myself. I’m Mrs. Birch, my husband, Professor Birch, is a friend of your father’s. We’ve heard so much about you! It’s nice to finally meet you.” The woman was beaming at Eddie. “I’ve heard so much about your family too, from my father.” Eddie replied, smiling back at her, “It’s nice to finally meet you too.” How strange. Even if her thoughts weren’t as cheery as her voice, she still managed to pull off a patronizing first impression. She had to grudgingly admit her mother had trained her well. The woman gestured to the two boys beside her. “These are my sons. The oldest is Brendan, I’d say you both are around the same age. Unfortunately, my husband couldn’t arrive today, he was busy in his lab...” she sighed and shook her head in disapproval. “Anyway, no matter. I’ll leave you and Brendan to talk. He was looking forward to meeting you.” She smiled once more, spun around and left with her youngest son, leaving Brendan and Eddie behind. “Hello.” Eddie greeted nervously. Brendan was dressed in casual attire, unlike her. He was wearing a silly-looking hat with an orange and black collared shirt, and a pair of black shorts over a pair of black pants. She felt foolish next to him in her semi-formal clothing. To her surprise, he didn’t seem to take notice of this as much as she did. He smiled at her, which shocked Eddie, as he didn’t seem to be one to be intimidated or shy around others. “So you’re Norman’s kid? I didn’t know you were a girl. Dad said Norman had a kid, so I assumed you’d be a guy.” “I have a brother, but he stayed in Johto.” She explained, scowling. Why did people seem to always be surprised to find someone like her be Norman’s kid? She wasn’t sure she liked this guy much. “Oh, well, whatever.” He said, shrugging, apparently not finding the matter interesting enough to delve in. “My name’s Brendan, nice to meet you.” He stuck out his gloved hand in greeting. Eddie carefully reached out and took it, more out of habit than anything else, still glaring at him. Brendan must’ve noticed her evil glare, because he briefly let go of her hand. “Hey, Eddie, don’t you have a Pokemon?” he asked, cocking his head to one side and looking around, as if expecting to see her Pokemon surrounding her. Eddie scowled once more, and Brendan took her angry scowl as a reply. “Do you want me to go catch you one?” he offered, smiling kindly. “I’m not allowed, Mom says Pokemon are for boys,” she blurted out. She gasped, and covered her mouth. She’d let out the most revolting thing, especially in front of this stranger. Brendan raised his eyebrows, and stayed quiet for a moment, inspecting her face carefully, as if trying to see if she was joking. Finally, he burst out laughing. Eddie had been expecting that. “Pokemon, for boys? Wow, what era does your Mom live in?” he asked, laughing. Eddie’s face turned red, but she grinned anyway. Maybe this guy wasn’t so bad. “My mom is pretty old fashioned,” she agreed, nodding. Brendan continued to laugh for awhile, and Eddie just waited until his laughs died out. Eddie heard him mutter “for boys... ha!” before he looked up at her once more, his face sporting a huge grin. “I assume your mother is the reason behind the look too?” he said, gesturing towards her clothes. Eddie smiled, finding that she liked this guy much more now. She nodded briefly, sighing dramatically as she looked down at her own clothing. This guy seemed to be one of the few who understood her and didn’t judge her straight away. “I’m supposed to go help my Dad catch some wild Pokemon later today, but I think you can go with me. He might be able to give you a Pokemon,” he offered. Obviously he thought he was being kind in his offer, yet Eddie grinned despite herself, knowing well her mother would disapprove. “Yea, maybe...” she replied, trying to keep her voice neutral. She was actually very willing to take the offer. Getting a Pokemon... her mother would hate her, but she didn’t mind being a rebel for once in her life. Brendan was starting to be a bad influence on her. “I’m gonna go now, I guess I’ll talk to you later. Let me know if you wanna come.” He smiled once more at her, and spun around, ready to walk away in a different direction. However... “Wait!” Eddie yelled out, taking a reluctant step forward. Brendan spun back around, his face breaking into the biggest grin yet. He laughed, and reached over to pat Eddie’s shoulder. “Didn’t take long to make your decision, did you?” he commented in a teasing tone. Eddie shrugged and grinned back. Brendan had gotten her motivated, and adrenaline was suddenly running through her system. Not thinking twice, she took hold of Brendan’s hand and ran for it. She wanted to get out of her mother’s sight as soon as possible. Brendan had to hold onto his hat to stop the wind rushing in his face from knocking it off. He didn’t complain to being pulled along by Eddie, obediently running along with her. However, she soon came to a stop, and though Brendan was nowhere near being tired from that short run, Eddie was on her knees and panting. Brendan was amused, and laughed at the sight. Eddie glanced up at him, and glared, but he continued to laugh. “Shut up, I’m not used to running,” she snapped. Brendan smirked. “Yea, I could tell. But those shoes you’re wearing...” he glanced down at her feet, where she was wearing a pair of golden low- heels. “They’re not very comfortable to run in, are they?” Eddie followed his gaze, and looked down at her own shoes. She tsked in disapproval, and bent down low to remove them from her feet. She held the pair in her left hand, glancing at them in disgust. Without a second thought, she tossed them into the nearest bush. Brendan stared at her in shock. “After today, I highly doubt it’ll matter where those shoes go,” she said in reply to his expression, simply shrugging it off. Brendan stared at where the shoes had landed for a few seconds, and then turned to stare at Eddie’s feet. “But your feet, will you be okay like that?” Eddie shrugged. “I don’t really care much, to be honest.” “Will your mom get mad at you for running off like this?” “Most likely, but I’ll be too far away from her to care.” Brendan frowned. “Too far away?” he repeated, confused, “What do you mean, too far away? Do you have any other plans you’re not telling m-” Brendan cut off midspeech, as a horrible, drawn out scream went over them. Eddie and Brendan spun around at the source of the sound. Brendan ran ahead, jumping over a ledge (it took Eddie twice as long to get over the same ledge), running to the source of the sound. “Dad!” he groaned upon turning the corner. He picked up his speed and ran out of sight. Eddie tried to run ahead to catch up with him, but it wasn’t really easy to do – her dress got caught on a branch. The branch cut through her dress, and she was left with a huge gash across her leg. She groaned in pain, and tugged her dress free from the branch. She heard a loud ripping noise, but didn’t stop to look back, still trying to keep up with Brendan. She turned around at the same corner had Brendan had, and saw him on his knees, rummaging quickly through his bag. “Brendan, quickly!” squealed a man on the ground a few feet away, cowering against a tree with a horrified look on his face. Eddie thought it looked funny, since he seemed to be cowering for no reason whatsoever. However, after a closer inspection, she found that a weird-looking brown thing in front of him was growling at him through its bare teeth. Eddie was totally fascinated at the sight. Was this a Pokemon? It was the first, apart from a few others, she had seen! Yet this was a wild Pokemon, and all the others she had met had been trained. She knew the man was in danger of being attacked, but she didn’t really care, she was more interested in the Pokemon. Should she get nearer? Was it dangerous? “Aw, Dad, I can’t find my Pokemon! I think I left it at home!” Brendan groaned, snapping his bag shut. He stood up and slung his back over his shoulder. He turned to face Eddie, who was still staring intently at the brown creature. “Stay here,” he told her, “I’ll be back in a few minutes, Littleroot should only be 5 minutes away if I run fast.” Eddie didn’t really pay him any attention, cocking her head to the side to examine the Pokemon more carefully. It looked angry, but at the same time, it still looked cute. Would it be okay, maybe, if she petted it? “Brendan, no, wait, you don’t have to go!” the man bawled, reaching a helpless arm towards Brendan. It was already too late, as Brendan had already taken off full-speed, his bag swinging behind him. The man let out a low groan, followed by a shriek as the brown Pokemon crawled onto his leg, growling louder than ever. “You there!” he snapped, turning to face Eddie for the first time. She was taken aback, and her gaze snapped off the brown Pokemon, falling onto the man’s face for the first time. He seemed oddly familiar to her. He was wearing a white lab coat over a blue shirt and some short, and sported a silly brown hairstyle and short beard. “Girl, in my bag, there should be 3 pokeballs! Pick any of them, and take care of this Zigzagoon for me!” Eddie scanned the area around her, her eyes landing on a brown bag a few feet away from her. She walked over to it, and kneeled down beside it. “This one?” she asked, staring intently at it. The man nodded his head quickly, and Eddie reached inside the bag, feeling around it. She didn’t know what a Pokeball felt like, but she had seen one before, so she figured they must be round and spherical, like a bottle of perfume she had at home. “Aha, found one,” she muttered, wrapping her hand around the first round thing she felt. She took it out, and immediately she wanted to examine it. It was red and round and her hand cupped perfectly around it. She rolled it around her hand, fascinated by it. “Throw it and summon the Pokemon out!” screamed the man. He sounded exasperated at having to tell this girl everything to do. Eddie snapped her eyes back up, and noticed the Pokemon, a Zigzagoon as he called it, crawling further up his leg. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and flung the ball in front of her, praying for it to work. At first, she heard no sound except a small “thump!” as the ball made contact with the ground. She waited with bated breath, but heard no sound. Had the Pokeball not worked? Maybe she hadn’t thrown it right... She slowly opened her eyes, her heart beating fast against her chest. “Torchic!” squeaked a small red baby bird. It was enthusiastic, because it was running around in circles, chasing its own stubby tail. It soon tripped over a small branch, collapsing on the ground, but picked itself up a second later, and continued running around in circles, chirping non-stop. Eddie watched it, totally engrossed into it. It was fascinating, she had never seen a Pokemon so small before - her father’s had always been big and bulky, twice her own size. “Order it to do something!” the man yelled. Eddie snapped his eyes back onto him, and back to Torchic, still chasing itself. “Oh, right...” she muttered. She racked her brains for an attack, one she had heard her father use before, but her memory wasn’t in a cooperating move, as she couldn’t remember any. She smiled sheepishly at the man. “I er - what does this Pokemon know?” “Tell it to use Scratch!” he snapped impatiently. Eddie nodded, and turned back to Torchic. The Torchic saw her staring at her, stopped dead in its track, and observed Eddie for a second. Apparently pleased enough with her, it ran forward, chirping happily, and started to hop on the spot in front of her. Eddie was flabbergasted. “Er - can you use scratch on that Pokemon?” she asked it, pointing to the Zigzagoon. Torchic flipped around, eyed the Zigzagoon, and chirped in reply. Eddie took that as a yes. “So then, can you go, like, attack it or something? Scratch it?” she suggested, feeling pretty lame. Torchic didn’t need to hear another word, because it ran forward, almost tripping, and scratched the Zigzagoon’s back. The Zigzagoon spun around at once, and noticing Torchic, howled in protest. It ran forwards and tackled Torchic to the ground (Eddie emitted a loud gasp), but it quickly stood back up just as earlier, and emitted an angry chirp. It ran forwards and once again scratched Zigzagoon. This continued on for awhile, until eventually, the Zigzagoon seemed to weaken down. With a last scratch, the Zigzagoon collapsed. Once Torchic realized what it had done, its eyes gleamed up and it started to chirp happily, running around the Zigzagoon. The man, realizing the danger was over, stood up and brushed himself off. He grinned at Eddie, seemingly no longer annoyed at her. “Thanks so much!” he said, “That was really close; I thought I was a goner.” He glanced around at their surrounding area, and shuddered. “Come back to my lab in Littleroot, we can talk more then, this isn’t the safest place to be.” He walked towards Eddie, and bent down to pick up his bag. He picked up Torchic’s discarded Pokeball, and stuffed it in the front pocket of his bag. He turned to face Eddie. “Pick up that Torchic, and let’s go to my lab. It’s not too far from here.” Eddie did as she was told, rushing over to Torchic’s side, who was still happily chirping, gloating over its earlier victory. Eddie bent over, hesitating over how to pick it up. She didn’t need to ponder on that much longer, because after realizing what she was trying to do, Torchic jumped straight into her arms. The man looked pleased, and started walking back to the main road, gesturing for Eddie to follow him. Eddie so, carrying the small Torchic in her arms. “What’s your name, girlie?” the man asked, walking beside her. “I’m Eddie Knell,” she replied nervously. The man frowned at the name, and turned to face her. “Eddie Knell? As in Norman’s daughter?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. Eddie nodded. Did this man perhaps know her father? “Ah, so you’re Norman’s daughter, I’ve heard so much about you from your father,” he said, smiling kindly at her. Eddie stared puzzled at him, still confused as to who this man exactly was. The man must’ve realized this, because he proceeded to introduce himself. “Oh, how rude of me, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Professor Birch.” Eddie gasped. No wonder he looked familiar! Professor Birch was one of her father’s good friends, and the one that helped Norman land the job as Petalburg City’s Gym Leader. Norman had a picture of the two of them in their living room, it was very hard to miss. “It’s nice to meet you Professor Birch, my father has told me loads about you,” Eddie said, nodding apprehensively, “I hope I can learn loads about Pokemon from you, I heard you’re quite the professor.” Professor Birch stared intently at her. “Yes, Norman mentioned you still didn’t have your own Pokemon. How old are you, to be precise?” Eddie’s face turned red. “I’m sixteen,” she muttered, embarrassed. At sixteen, almost everyone already had Pokemon. To her surprise, Professor Birch didn’t seem to find that funny, and instead looked down at the Torchic in her arms. It looked very cozy, snoozing quietly. “That Torchic seems to have taken a liking to you. Why don’t you keep him? As a reward for saving me earlier.” Eddie stared open mouthed at him. “Are you serious? Keep him? Really? Me?” She glanced down at the small feathery bird. It started chirping happily, obviously with no objections to Birch’s suggestion. Professor Birch noticed this, and chuckled. “I won’t lie, you weren’t the best out there earlier. But your father and brother are both superb Trainers, so I don’t have any doubts that you can grow into an equally powerful Trainer. It seems to run in your blood.” Eddie’s face lightened up. “Me? A Trainer? You really think I could manage it?” She could picture it: ordering the Pokemon in battle, wearing Trainer clothing, fighting alongside stronger trainers and coming out victorious... in her mind, it looked amazing. And best of all, she would be able to show her Mom just how much she was worth. “Sure you can, if you give it your best and work hard at it, you’ll be able to manage it!” he said, laughing at her reaction. He glanced back down at Torchic. “Would you like to give your Torchic a nickname?” “Huh?” she asked, confused. She had been busy thinking about other things, such as the thought of being a Trainer herself, something her mother had never allowed her to even consider. “A nickname. For your Torchic.” Professor Birch repeated patiently. Eddie racked her brains for ideas. A nickname? What could possibly be a suitable name for her Torchic? Nothing immediately came to mind. “Torchic sounds like ‘torch’, and torches use fire...” she muttered to herself, trying to find some possible name out of that. Professor Birch, however, seems to not have picked up on the entire thought. “Fire, did you say? You want to name him Fire?” he chuckled at the originality of the name. “No!” she protested, “I was just thinking aloud, I never said I wanted to – “ But it was useless. Torchic had already heard the name, and it started to chirp cheerfully. It didn’t seem to understand that “Fire” was not what one would consider a suitable name for a Pokemon, because it seemed to be overjoyed at the name. “So Fire it is then!” Professor Birch declared, laughing. Torchic continued to chirp happily, still pleased at the name picked for it. Eddie scowled, not pleased with the name choice. She sighed and shook her head, knowing she could do nothing to change the situation. Professor Birch snapped his fingers, suddenly remembering something. He reached into his bag and pulled out Fire’s discarded Pokeball from earlier, and a pair of shoes. “Here,” he said, handing both over to her, “I noticed you weren’t wearing any shoes, so wear these running shoes. They’re a new brand Devon released; I got a free pair a few days ago. The Pokeball is Torchic’s, you can summon him in and out of it whenever you feel like it.” Eddie thankfully accepted the shoes, stooping down to tie them up. She had no idea what Devon was, but hey, free shoes. She wasn’t about to complain. When she finished tying up her shoes, the effect was almost immediately. Her feet felt totally comfortable, much more than they had in years. She found herself liking these shoes, a lot, and seriously could not understand why her mom had previously forbidden her from wearing running shoes. Sure, she had labeled them as a “manly accessory”, but they were hella comfortable. She focused her attention on the Pokeball after awhile, turning it around in her hands. She pursed her lips in deep thought, trying to imagine how a Pokemon could possibly fit inside a ball so far. “Try it out, summon Fire back inside,” Professor Birch encouraged her, as if reading her thoughts. She glanced up at him, and it took a second for her to comprehend what he was suggesting. Eddie was nervous, but otherwise she had confidence in herself. Her brother and everyone else could do it, surely it wasn’t that hard? It didn’t look hard, anyway. She held up the Pokeball to Fire, who looked up at it in interest. She took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. “Fire, return!” she stated clearly, imitating what she had heard her father say often on his Pokemon. The effect was immediate: Fire was summoned back into the ball as a flash of red light came out and made contact with him, taking it back into the ball. Eddie swore she heard a small chirp from inside the capsule. Birch was pleased. “Good job! See, it’s not too shabby. I think you and your Pokemon can learn from each other, and do well in the long-run.” Eddie stayed quiet, still staring at the Pokeball in her hand. So far, her only battle hadn’t gone as well as she expected, but still, she had managed. She would get better as she learned more. She had only thought about it earlier with Brendan, but now, she was serious about putting to action her plan of going off on her own. “Brendan also occasionally helps me with my Pokemon research,” Professor Birch blurted out, as if reading Eddie’s thoughts once more. She stared curiously up at him, wondering if he possibly could, “You were with him earlier, right? Eddie, I think you should go meet up with him. He can teach you the basics of being a Trainer.” “Yea, that’s not too bad of an idea,” she muttered to herself, liking the idea. The guy did seem like he knew what he was doing. “He ran off earlier, though, and I’ve no idea where he went,” Professor Birch said, with a tone that strongly suggested that Eddie did know, and she was hiding him somewhere. In truth, Eddie had even less of an idea to where Brendan could possibly be. She had only met him a short while ago, how was she supposed to know where he was? They walked in silence for a few minutes, until they reached a small town at the far end of the route they were on. Eddie looked around, and saw a signpost which read “Welcome to Oldale Town!” She knew this town; it was halfway point between Petalburg and Littleroot. “Professor Birch, you can continue the rest of the way back to Littleroot, I’m gonna stop here for a bit,” she said, turning to face Professor Birch. He seemed taken aback by her request, but shrugged. “Yea, I suppose it’s typical for you to want to check out the surrounding area. Well, drop by my lab later, okay? If you run into Brendan, bring him along with you.” He waved goodbye to her, and walked away by himself, heading south back towards Littleroot. As he went out of sight, Eddie’s heart started to speed up in excitement. He had given her a Pokemon! That was pretty awesome in itself, and she couldn’t wait to test it out and start her own Pokemon journey. Her mom would be furious, but she knew by the time her mother realized what she had done, Eddie would be too far away to care. She walked around Oldale for a bit, trying to think of how to find Brendan. She wanted to show him her new Pokemon, maybe have a small battle with him, but she had no idea where to start her search. She didn’t have to ponder much longer, because almost at once, she heard a cry that she immediately recognized as his. She didn’t waste any time, running to the source of the sound – her feet felt like never before in her new running shoes – and soon found Brendan bent over a tall patch of grass at the edge of town, examining it carefully. “...okay, so, this Pokemon lives here in Route 103...” he was muttering to himself. He soon seemed to have sensed Eddie’s presence over him, as he spun around in surprise. “Oh, Eddie, hey!” he said, grinning. “Sorry about running off earlier, I was on my way to go help Dad, but I got distracted along the way.” He smiled apologetically. He soon noticed the Pokeball in her hand, and his face beamed up. “Wow, Dad gave you a Pokemon! That’s great!” He faced her, his expression suddenly more serious. “How about we have a little battle?” he suggested, standing up and dusting himself off. Eddie pondered over the request for a bit. “Sure, I guess. I mean, I could learn from you, I suppose, about being a Trainer.” She grinned back at him, to show just how happy she was with her new Pokemon. Brendan laughed. “Yea, I figured you’d want to be a Trainer after this. Well, let’s not waste any more time, and let’s get started!” He pulled out a Pokeball from a belt around his waist. “Go, Mudkip!” he yelled out, tossing it into the air. A blue creature emerged out of his ball, and landed flat on the ground. Eddie mimicked him, yelling out “Go, Fire!” as her Torchic popped out of his Pokeball. He glanced around at his surroundings, and upon realizing it was about to get involved in battle, started chirping happily. “Mudkip, use Tackle!” Brendan yelled out, pointing at Fire. His Mudkip happily obeyed, tackling Fire to the ground. Fire cried out in protest. “Fire, I – ” Eddie hesitated, not being able to remember that move she had used earlier. Screech? Scream? No, that didn’t sound right... Scratch! That was it! “Fire, scratch him!” Fire happily obliged, running forward to scratch Mudkip with its claws. Mudkip retaliated by growling in his face, and Fire cowered back, a scared look on his face. However, he still seemed determined all the same to come out victorious. “Scratch him, Fire!” Eddie ordered loudly. Fire happily obliged, and Mudkip collapsed to the ground, and it struggled for a few seconds, rying to get back up. However, after a moment or two, it gave up, and stayed still the ground. Brendan let out a booming laugh, extracting his Pokeball and summoning Mudkip back into it. He grinned at Eddie. “Wow, congrats Eddie, your first battle, and you’ve beaten me! I can see why Dad gave you a Pokemon so fast, you have real potential!” He glanced down at the Pokeball in his hand one last time, before shaking his head chuckling and setting it back on his belt. “You just got your Pokemon, and it already obviously likes you!” Eddie was too busy, laughing and spinning around in circles with Fire in her arms, and had not been listening to Brendan. She had won her first Pokemon battle! It had been exhilarating, everything she could have ever imagined... it had been amazing! Being a Trainer was better than she had ever imagined! No wonder her father and brother loved it so much! “That was amazing!” she thrilled, an ecstatic look on her face, “I can see why Pokemon are really popular! I’m going to have so much fun being a Trainer!” She hugged Fire tightly one last time, giving it a small peck on the forehead, before summoning it back into his Pokeball. Brendan smiled at her enthusiasm. “Yea, being a Trainer is loads of fun, but...” his eyes fell down unto Eddie’s dress. It had a huge blood stain on the end of it, the result of the gash she had gotten earlier. Her dress was ripped at one part, a torn piece of fabric hanging loose. “I don’t think that dress will last much longer in the wild.” Eddie followed his gaze, and let out an airy laugh. She’d been bleeding this whole time, and for some reason, she hadn’t even felt it. “No, I should think not,” she agreed. “I don’t think I have anything else, though.” “Hmm...” Brendan tapped the tip of his nose with his finger, deep in thought. Finally, in a similar fashion to his father, he snapped his fingers. “I know, I’ll give you something much more comfortable to wear.” He stooped down, dropping his bag in front of him. He got on his knees and started rummaging through it, pulling out articles of what looked familiarly like clothing. After pulling out four of them, he zipped his bag open, and tossed them at Eddie. “Here,” he said, “Those should fit you, and you should be much more comfortable in them.” Eddie looked down at the clothing, unfolding them and holding them at arm’s length to examine them more carefully. It was a short pair of shorts with a red collared short-sleeved shirt, along with a green bandana and a black pair of gloves similar to ones he was wearing. “Wow, thanks a lot,” she muttered, blushing. She was really grateful towards him, and he was right, these would fit her perfectly. She hung them over her arm, nothing to put them on later. She was about to suggest maybe her going into a nearby building to change, but... “Oh my god,” she groaned, putting her hand over her mouth. Without waiting another second, she grabbed Brendan’s hand, and dragged him behind the nearest building. “What’s wrong?” he asked, confusion clearly etched on his face. “That’s my Mom right there,” she moaned, pointing at a towering figure walking on the main road a few feet away. It was indeed Caroline Knell, flanked on either side by the two women who had helped Eddie get dressed up earlier in the day. She didn’t look all too pleased. “She doesn’t look too happy, does she?” Brendan murmured, examining Caroline with a curious look on his face. Eddie growled, and kicked his leg. Brendan grimaced in pain, and scowled at Eddie. “Don’t kick me; it’s not my fault you’re planning to run away.” Eddie tossed her hair behind her shoulder, and puffed out her chest in perfect imitation of her mother. She glowered at Brendan the same way her mother often glowered at her. “Tell me, Brendan, would you stay behind if you had her as a mother?” Brendan’s eye jumped back to Caroline, and he snorted. “Probably not,” he admitted, “In fact, I would probably have run off earlier.” “Well, then, maybe you can help me. Your dad said we needed to go back to his lab, and I can’t do that with my mom prowling around, she’d recognize me in an instant!” Eddie gestured to her appearance, and it was true, she did stand out. Not because of the newly battered stage of her clothing, but because the aura she gave was that of a pampered child who enjoyed attention. Brendan was scanning the area, deep in concentration. He snapped his fingers after a moment, and pointed to a building in the far left. “See that building?” he said, “That’s a Pokemon Centre, and you can go there whenever your Pokemon are tired or need a rest. I need to take my Mudkip there, seeing as you knocked it out earlier - ” he glanced down at his Mudkip’s. pokeball “- maybe you could change clothes in there while I get my Mudkip taken care of.” Eddie liked this idea, and immediately agreed to it. They didn’t waste any time, and once Caroline was out of sight, they sprinted to the near Pokemon Centre, taking refuge inside. Inside, it was like Pokemon paradise. It was filled with Trainers and their various Pokemon. The ones nearest to the door shot Eddie and Brendan a glance to see the new arrivals, but turned away soon after, going back to their business. Brendan pointed Eddie towards the restrooms, and she thanked him as she walked over to them. He headed for the front counter, where there was a nurse chattering away and talking to one of the many Trainers in the centre. Once inside the restroom, Eddie got into the nearest stall, locking it. She slipped off her dress, hanging it over the door, and slipped into her new shorts. She felt loads much more comfortable in them, and they went well with the running shoes Professor Birch had given her. Slipping on the red top and black gloves, she felt much more like a Trainer and felt she fit in with the other Trainers outside much more than before. After exiting the stall, she looked at herself in the mirror. She did look a lot like a Trainer, a thought which pleased her. However, her hair looked way too preppy, and contrasted against the rest of her look neck-down. She reached behind it, and pulled out the two barrettes that were holding her hair half-up. Her hair fell down and over her shoulders, and she stuffed the barrettes into her pockets. Though she knew her hair was still way too pampered and such, it looked better fully down than half-up and half-down. Grabbing her old dress, and dumping it into the nearest trash can on the way out (she knew she would not miss it), she exited the restroom, spotting Brendan waiting for her. He was leaning against the wall, his Mudkip’s Pokeball in his hand, presumably now good and healthy. She smiled and ran up to him, and he returned the smile. “That look suits you well, Eddie,” he said, nodding in approval. “However, can’t you tie your hair up or something? It stands out too much.” Eddie sighed. “I know, and I’d cut it now if I could. But I don’t know – ” Suddenly, an idea came to mind. She snapped her fingers, in perfect imitation of Brendan and Professor Birch, and reached into her pocket to pull out the two barrettes she had stuffed there earlier. Putting them into her mouth to hold onto for the moment, she grabbed hold of her hair with both her hands. She split it into two parts, and tied them up with the barrettes into two loose pigtails. Her pigtails were long, as her hair was, and they fell off a number of inches off her shoulders. Brendan grinned. “Yea, that’s loads better. You still look like Eddie, but now more like a Trainer. A new Trainer, mind you, but no more preppy princess.” Eddie grimaced. “Thanks, I guess,” she murmured. Somehow, him calling her a “princess” didn’t bother her as much as when other people did it. “And don’t worry, I’ll cut this hair first chance I get.” For now, though, she was pleased with her appearance: Brendan had acknowledged her to look like a Trainer. The two of them silently walked back outside, and made way to Littleroot Town, to Professor Birch’s lab. Though they knew Caroline might still be lurking around the area, Eddie felt assured that her mother would not recognize her. So she proudly walked beside Brendan, feeling the best she had ever felt in ages. To others, they looked like perfectly normal Trainers traveling with each other. Upon reaching Littleroot, they walked a bit farther south to reach Professor Birch’s lab. Eddie hesitated in front of the door, wondering whether to knock or not, but Brendan was faster than her. He simply reached forward and turned the doorknob and walked straight in, gesturing for Eddie to follow. “Eddie! Brendan! I was waiting for both of you!” boomed a loud voice behind them. They both spun around, to find Professor Birch wearing a huge grin as he carried some weird red devices in his arms. “Hi, Dad,” Brendan greeted sheepishly. “Sorry about earlier, I got distracted; I seriously was on my way to help you.” Professor Birch waved his apology off. “It’s fine, son. Eddie here managed to save me! Did you already meet her new Pokemon? Or Fire, as she called it?” He chuckled at the name, emphasizing Torchic’s name. “I did, and we had a small battle. She totally beat me!” Brendan mused. Eddie had expected Professor Birch to look surprised, but instead, he chuckled. “Yea, it seems it’s in her blood, I have no doubt she’ll make a good Trainer. New clothes too, Eddie?” Eddie smiled nervously. “Ah – yea, Brendan gave them to me. They’re much more comfortable than my old ones.” “I can only imagine. So are you excited about beginning your journey?” Eddie grinned enthusiastically. “You bet! I can’t wait to catch as many Pokemon as possible!” “Will you be leaving soon, then?” “As soon as I can.” “What about your parents? Did you introduce them to Fire?” Eddie froze, and looked over at Brendan for assistance. He looked back at her, merely gaping at her, obviously of no help. Eddie licked her lips. So Professor Birch had no idea about Caroline’s lifestyle? No wonder he hadn’t been reluctant to give her a Pokemon. She wondered why Norman had not told him. “My mom...” she hesitated, biting her lower lip, racking her brains for something to say. “My mom can meet Fire later, she’s rather busy at the moment.” Professor Birch didn’t seem to catch on to how nervous Eddie looked, merely shrugging. “Yes, the life of women can be pretty busy indeed... you should see my wife, she’s busy most of the time. Sometimes much more than me!” He laughed loudly. Eddie grinned back weakly, happy that Professor Birch hadn’t caught on to her true feelings. “Right, well, I’ll guess I’ll pass by Petalburg later and drop by to say hi to Dad or something.” Professor Birch beamed at the mention of Norman. “Don’t forget to give my greetings!” Suddenly, his expression became serious and business-like. “Now, that you’re here, Eddie, let me give you what I meant to give you earlier.” Eddie raised her eyebrows in interest, wondering whatever Professor Birch would want to give her. Another Pokemon, maybe? Nah, she highly doubted it. Instead, Professor Birch walked over to a nearby table, dumping all the red devices on the surface. Eddie watched them curiously, trying to imagine what they could possibly do. Professor Birch picked one of them up, and handed it out to Eddie. “This is a Pokedex,” he explained, as Eddie took it and flipped it over, examining it with curious eyes. “Brendan has one too, he carries it everywhere. A Pokedex records information on everyone Pokemon you see and catch. Since you’re going off on your own, I’d like you to have one. If you could fill it up with as Pokemon as possible, I’d be grateful. It would really help my research.” Eddie was speechless. A Pokedex? For her? Okay, so she had no idea what one was before five seconds ago, but she could still tell it was a big honour to be entrusted with one. Immediately, she was filled with pride. “I won’t disappoint you, Professor! I’ll definitely use it wisely!” she said, grinning excitedly. Her mom had been wrong all along: she had true potential as a Trainer and explorer, and others could see that too. Over time, she would prove her mother wrong, and show her just how wrong she had been all along. Professor Birch beamed. “Great! Well then, I figure I’ve taken enough of your time. You go and have a safe trip.” He waved them off, and Eddie thanked him about twenty more times before she and Brendan left the lab. “Wow, a Pokedex, congrats,” Brendan said once they were outside, whistling impressively. “Dad doesn’t give them out often, so it’s a real honour to have one.” Eddie grinned at him. “You’re right, I’m really happy! In fact, I think I’ll make way to Petalburg right now!” She turned to face Brendan full on the face. “Want to come with me?” Brendan looked down at his feet, and shifted to the side nervously. “Er- the thing about that. Eddie, I don’t like to travel with other people.” He risked a look up at Eddie, and saw her hurt and confused expression. “I mean, it’s nothing personal!” he rushed on, “I just mean, from personal experience, experiencing the world on your own is much better.” Eddie pursed her lips together, trying to take what he said in. She had been counting on traveling with Brendan, seeing as he knew much more about the outside world than she did. However, after a moment, she smiled sadly at him and shrugged. She could sort of understand where he was coming from. Her brother and father had both been the same way, so she couldn’t feel resentful to Brendan for being the same. “I guess I understand. So we’ll see each other then?” “Definitely,” he said, sighing in relief at her reaction. “We’ll definitely meet around Hoenn, and we will battle again. And next time, I’ll be the winner.” Eddie grinned maliciously. “Right, sure. I think I can whoop your butt again if I want. Watch me; I shall be the next Pokemon Master!” Brendan shook his head in disbelief. “Sure, Eddie, dream on.” He smiled sadly, and extended his hand. “I guess then, this is where we part.” Eddie looked down at his outstretched arm, and frowned. Even if they’d only known each other for a few hours, they should be way past the stage of hand shaking. In a weird sense, she felt closer to Brendan than she had to anyone else in her life. So she knocked his arm aside and wrapped her arms around him. “Thanks so much for everything Brendan, I really appreciate it,” she said softly, hugging him. Brendan seemed to stay frozen for a moment, finding her sudden hug a huge surprise, but he patted her on the back awkwardly. Eddie let go of him, and smiled at him. Brendan’s face was red, and he was looking down at his feet. Without a word, he reached into his bag and took out a small bag and a belt that seemed to hold up to six Pokeballs at once. He held them out to Eddie, and she took them. She examined the bag, and promptly wrapped it around her waist, where it fit in nicely with the rest of her clothes. Just like the gloves he had given her earlier, the bag held a strong resemblance to his own bag. “You’ll need a bag for your journey, and this belt will hold your Pokemon for you,” he informed her. “You can only carry six Pokemon on you at a time. In the bag, there’s five Pokeballs, you can catch Pokemon with those. Consider it a reward for beating me earlier.” Eddie laughed, and sure enough, there were five Pokeballs in there. “You pamper me too much, Brendan,” she scolded him. Brendan rolled his eyes, and shook his head in disbelief. Eddie knew they were both thinking about her overprotective mother. She chuckled at the thought, and gave him another swift hug as thanks. “Till later then!” She did a military salute, and took off before another word could be exchanged. She was amazed at how good the wind felt on her face. She had never been allowed to run before. Not like this, anyway. Instead, she was an overly protected child who never had a chance to experience the world the way it was meant to be experienced. But now, thanks to Brendan and his father, she would be able to. She felt guilty for betraying and abandoning her mother, but there would come the day when she would make her mother realize just how happy she was with Pokemon. Just as long ago, she had convinced her to calling her Eddie instead of Edna, she would do the same with Pokemon. It was a goal she wasn’t going to give up on, no matter how long it took. She knew it would be hard, but getting her to switch to Eddie had also been hard, and in the end, she accomplished it. Before she knew it, Eddie had reached Oldale Town. She took a quick rest at the Pokemon Centre, where she let out Fire to play for a bit with the other Pokemon there. She chatted a bit with the other Trainers, fascinated to find most of them were from different towns. After awhile, she summoned Fire back to his Pokeball, securing the ball around her new belt, and left back outside. The sky was darkening. Of course, it had been a long day. It was bound to get dark sooner or lighter. She continued on her way to Petalburg, finding it quite easily to follow the way she had traveled by earlier with both Brendan and Professor Birch. It took no more than 15 minutes to reach Petalburg from Oldale, and Eddie felt quite proud of herself for achieving this. She walked around Petalburg for awhile, and noticed a few posters around town announcing Norman as the new Gym Leader. She couldn’t help but smile everytime she came upon one, and soon made her way to the Gym. It wasn’t that hard to find, as it easily stood out amongst the rest of the shabby buildings. She walked up to the front door, took a deep breath, and knocked. She was quite nervous about meeting her father, especially in her current attire. “Come in,” a soft voice said from the inside. Eddie grimaced, recognizing it as her father’s. She turned the doorknob and pushed the door open enough for her to be able to slip in. Her heart was pounding fast against her chest, a million thoughts going through her head. Would her father disapprove of her? Would he, perhaps, disapprove of the options she had made? She dared herself to look up, and found her father standing in the middle of Gym. He immediately recognized the new arrival as his own daughter despite the drastic change of appearance, something that surprised Eddie. Even more so was the fact that he didn’t seem surprised to see her there at all. “Welcome, Eddie,” he said, smiling, and gesturing her to come closer. “I’ve been expecting you.” --- After Thoughts(I swear this won’t be as long as the A/N before) Whooo, I’m done this chapter!!! I don’t even know where to begin! This chap came out WAY TOO LONG. I stretched out what took in the game 5 minutes into... over 20 Word pages! Oh godddddd. The worst part? I had to rewrite it about 3 times. FML!!! I’m about to cry. I’m pleased with the first bit of it, but the second half... not so much. >__>; I just want to scroll up, delete the second half, and rewrite it all over again. But I can’t bring myself to, so instead what I’m gonna do is run over it and add more to make it... less bland. (Okay, I just did that, and I’m still not pleased. -_-; But it’s 2am, so **** it.) I’m going to skip a lot of the trivial parts of the plot, and not make every 5 minutes into 24 pages. Considering my first run-through of Emerald took me 42 hours, if every 5 minutes in-game = 24 pages, this fanfic would end up at 12,096 Word pages, making it about 5x as long as all Harry Potter books put together, haha. Erm... I think I’ll cut back on the babbling. Anyway, I guess this important starting part of the games is always important, so that’s why I didn’t cut out any important details (though I did switch things around, such as Birch giving your Pokemon in Route 102, stopping by Oldale, etc...). BUT WHATEVER!!! I had a hard time naming this Chapter. : P I’m gonna name each chap after a character or something. Possible names for these chapters were Professor Birch, Brendan, Eddie, or Caroline. The latter I ruled out pretty quickly, but Eddie and Brendan stuck around with me for awhile. I decided Brendan’ll get his time to shine later on, along with Caroline. Anyway, I felt Fire, the starter Pokemon, is pretty important to the beginning of Eddie’s journey, so that’s why he got the chapter title. : ) Next chapter will come soon. ; ) I’m going away in 2 days to Europe for summer vacation, and I’m hoping to have it done by then (I already started by the time of writing this). So you really won’t have to wait long. LOL. Now, that’s it... Steven will make his appearance soon, and trust me, I reallyyyy wanna write about him. XD Now enough talking, and here’s a snippet from chapter 2! --- Next Chapter Preview Note: Anything in this preview is not set & stone and may change if I decide to make any changes Chapter 2: Team Aqua Eddie was walking down Route 104, feeling pretty pleased with herself. She was being flaunted on either side by both Lily and Fire, both outside their Pokeballs. Lily and Fire were getting along quite well with each other, as they were both hopping around, trying to bump each other off the main road and into the tall grass surrounding the main walking path. Eddie giggled in amusement at the two of them. She was still pissed at that random guy she had met in Petalburg for immediately disregarding her as a potential Trainer, but she knew she couldn’t dwell on something trivial like that for too long. He was just another person, like her mother, that she had to prove wrong. She smirked at the thought, and continued walking peacefully down Route 104. “Lily, you look so cheery! We should train later on!” she said, spinning around to face Lily. Lily cried out happily, and hopped around on the spot. She stopped trying to push Fire over, and instead rushed over to jump into Eddie’s outstretched arms. “Whoa!” Eddie cried out, almost losing her balance. Lily seemed to not have noticed this, because she happily glanced up at Eddie. Eddie assumed that she was smiling, even if a smile wasn’t as clear on a Pokemon as it was on a human. They walked on a while longer, coming to the edge of a forest. Eddie froze at the entrance. She glanced around helplessly, as if expecting someone to come rush by and help her. She hated dark areas. Even since she was a kid, she hated being in the dark. She supposed one could call her nyctohylophobic, and it was true, she didn’t even dare put a toe inside dark areas – she freaked out. Her mother was also very well aware of this phobia of Eddie’s. She used to always make sure as much light went into her room at night, and bought her around three different nightlights so Eddie’s room would always have light in it. It was one of the few things Eddie was grateful to her mother for, and felt a sting of betrayal as she remembered that she had ditched her mother. She bit her lower lip, trying to keep the thought and pain out of her. She tried to think through her current situation – maybe she could find some way around the forest, instead of going inside. Yet on the west, there was only water, and she knew she had no go with that, seeing as she had never learned to swim. Her father had made it very clear that one had to go through the forest in Route 104 to reach Rustboro. She stood rooted to the spot she was in, staring intently at the dark path ahead of her, as if expecting it to suddenly light up, or a path of light to appear to guide her happily through. Yet, of course, no such thing would occur. She gulped, knowing she had no other choice. I can do this, she told herself, I’ve been through worst before, I can do this! Even if she told herself this, she knew it was hopeless; even if she managed to get a toe inside that forest, she could run out screaming the next second. “Torchic!” Eddie, distracted, spun around. Fire was running around in circles around her, chirping happily. Eddie followed him with her eyes, and something about the way he was running caught her eye. “Fire, stop!” she blurted out. Fire stopped in front of her, cocking his head curiously to one side, wondering what on Earth Eddie had stopped him for. Eddie beamed as her suspicions were confirmed. Fire was standing next to the opening of the forest, and he himself was sort of like torch, illuminating where he stood. “Fire, you’re amazing!” Eddie squealed, suddenly excited. If Fire came with her, leading the way in the forest, he would light up their path. She wouldn’t need to be in the dark. In fact, Fire worked much better than a regular flashlight. He illuminated much more than one. Lily, still in Eddie’s arms, let out a loud snore. Eddie was taken aback, and looked down at her arms to find Lily happily snoozing. Eddie realized that to go into the forest, she could not deal with both her Pokemon going around by themselves. She reached down to her belt, and extracted Lily’s Pokeball. “Lily, return,” she whispered, as to make sure not to wake her. The flash of red light followed, and Lily was summoned back into her Pokeball, still fast asleep. Now free of Lily’s burden, she glanced down at Fire, and beamed at him. “Fire, can you lead the way through the forest? Keep close to me, though..” Fire chirped happily in reply. Eddie sighed in relief, and gestured him to lead the way into the forest. Fire happily obliged, and soon Eddie found herself walking closely behind Fire. She stepped on leaves and branches, and a crunching sound at her feet made her jump up, only to realize she had merely stepped on a dry leaf. Fire illuminating the path worked much better than Eddie had imagined. In fact, Fire took it upon himself to use ember occasionally to light up the path even more. Even better, he seemed to know the way around the forest pretty well. Must’ve been his Pokemon instinct. After walking for around ten minutes, Eddie could sense the exit of the forest near. Fire turned at a corner, and Eddie followed, until... “Hey, you!” someone cried out in front of her. Eddie squinted, and soon saw a man wearing a formal suit running up to her. He seemed out of breath, and kept looking over his shoulder for some strange reason. “Girly, do you happen to have seen a Shroomish around? I’ve been looking everywhere for one,” he said, looking back over his shoulder once more while saying this. “Er – no, sorry, I’m only passing by on my way to Rus-” “There you are! Don’t think you can run away from us, you idiot!” Eddie could have sworn she saw the hair on the guy’s arms rise. He spun around, and came face to face with a tall and bulky man, sporting blue clothes and a blue headband with a weird symbol of it. “AHHH!” screamed the Shroomish guy, running to hide behind Eddie. Eddie was astonished at the situation she found herself in, looking between both men, blinking various times to try to comprehend what was going on. “Give us the Devon goods, you!” the guy dressed in blue demanded, taking a step forward. “Girl, you’re a Trainer, right? Fight him, please!” squealed the Shroomish guy in her ear, squeezing her shoulders tightly. Eddie flinched at the pain as his nails dug into her shoulders. The guy dressed in blue stepped forward, and smirked at Eddie. “So you plan to fight me, girly? And you think you stand a chance against winning?” he mocked her. Eddie had just opened her mouth to reply “I was on my way to Rustboro”, but his mocking tone flared up something inside her. She fumed, and glared straight at the guy. “You bet I’ll battle you!” she said, glaring intently at him, “And I’ll definitely come out victorious!” The man’s smirk got more pronounced. “I’m sooo scared,” he said in a mock scare voice. He laughed at Eddie’s determined expression, and reached towards the belt, extracting a Pokeball. “You’ll regret this decision,” he said, still smirking. “I’m sure I will,” Eddie said sarcastically, adrenaline flaring inside her. She turned to face Fire in front of her, glaring angrily at the guy. “Go ahead, Fire,” she said, gesturing him forward. Fire chirped happily, and took a step forward. “Your Pokemon are going down, girly, you don’t stand a chance!” the man cried out, and in a swift motion, he tossed his Pokeball into the air. The battle was on.