Chapter One has been rewritten. The others will soon follow, and then the previous stories will be subjected to the same.

Chapter One: A New Beginning

I could smell the salty sea air as the boat sailed into the docks just outside of Littleroot Town. I admit that I felt a little guilty for abandoning my friends, David, Luna, Dawn, and Skyler right in the middle of Cipher's Shadow Pokemon invasion, but I need a fresh start. After all my memory was fragmented, with only a few memories in place. I woke up in Orre with amnesia. Not fun.

It had been a rough couple of days on the ocean, and I was rather glad when hit land. "All passengers may depart!" the captain of the boat called over the intercom. "We've arrived at Littleroot Town!"

"Finally," I muttered, throwing my gray denim jacket on over my black T-shirt. Hoenn was a tropic region, with warm weather most of the time, but I still decided to wear my jacket for the time being.

Most of the other passengers on the ship were other starting trainers, hoping to get to Birch's lab before all the Pokemon were gone. Personally, I too was hoping for the same thing, although if all were taken, I brought some money so I could afford some Pokeballs to try to capture my own.

"Excuse me," a girl said, stopping me. She had average length brown hair and green eyes. I estimated her to be roughly fifteen, my age. She wore a pink jacket, and dark blue skinny jeans. There was a large white traveling bag over her shoulder. "Do you know where Birch's lab is?"

I shook my head. "Not really. But Littleroot is a small town, it can't be that hard to find, can it?" Walking down the ramp that connected the small boat to the old wooden docks, I glanced around, and sighed. A fresh start. That's what I needed.

"Can you help me find it?" the girl asked, following me down the plank. "I don't want to get lost."

"I guess," I replied, shrugging. "That's where I'm going."

She suddenly smiled. "Hey! I'm a new trainer too!" She held her hand out, smiling widening even more. "I'm Isabella Hines. Most of my friends call me Bella."

"I'm Trevor," I said, shaking her hand. "Trevor White. And I'm not just starting out, I've had experience with training before." We began walking toward the town, looking around for anyplace that would have a map.

"Well, I'm just starting out. Do you think you could give me some tips?" Bella asked, smiled still plastered to her pale face.

I thought for a minute. "Do you know the type advantages?" She nodded. "Do you know how to catch a Pokemon?" She nodded again. "Do you know how to battle?" She nodded for a third time. "You've pretty much got all you need to know."

"Yeah, I guess so," Bella agreed. We went through out the town, still trying to find that lab. No surprise, we had gotten lost. "So, what was your first time like?" She questioned.

"What?"

"You're first time getting a Pokemon."

"Oh..." I thought about that. I honestly couldn't remember, since I had lost almost all of my memories. I could've loved the moment, or could've hated. So I went with the best option. "It was a great feeling," I replied. "You gain a friend when you get a Pokemon. Sometimes you need to let it get used to you first, though."

Bella nodded. "I can understand that. Most people don't realize that when someone catches a Pokemon, that we steal it from their home."

I nodded, and we saw a building with a line of teenagers and ten-year olds ready to get their first Pokemon. Most had their hearts set on becoming a powerful Pokemon Master, but I guess that only one or two of them would succeed.

"Looks like we got here a little bit too late," I muttered, folding my arms. I knew deep down inside of me that the chances were low of getting a Pokemon now, since the lab probably couldn't supply even a fourth of the line with one. And the line wasn't even that long.

"Oh," Bella said, and I could hear the dissappointment in her voice. She had had her heart set on this.

Sighing, I reached into my pocket, and pulled out my wad of cash. I mentally cursed my good samaritan side, and offered her about a third of what I had. "Here, this isn't alot," I said, offering it to her, "but it should be enough to get seven or eight Pokeballs. You can try to catch your own."

Her smile instantly returned, but then faded slightly. "I can't take your money. I didn't even meet you until today. It wouldn't be right." But, I could still see the glimmer of hope in her eyes, staring down at the bills.

I shook my head. "It's fine. Go ahead, I insist." It would leave me without enough to get the few supplies I could afford if I bought food. If I didn't and went hungry for the night, then I might be able to get a few things.

Bella's face lit up. "Thanks!" She took the bills from my hand, and shoved them into her jacket pocket. "Someday, we'll meet up again, and I'll return the favor!" She took off running toward the Pokemart in Littleroot, which had been a new addition.

"Why did I do that?" I mumbled to myself, getting in line at the very back. Right now, the line ended a few feet from the lab door, so I figured that it wouldn't have been a long wait.

Most of the people here at the back of the line had their phones out, texting their friends or updating their social media pages or something else to pass the time. I inwardnly groaned, realizing that if it were to be a long wait, I was going to get very bored.

Time slowed to a crawl. Every passing second felt like a mellinum in itself. The line slowly shortened and shortened. This might throw my plans off, since I was planning to be in Oldale, like, today.

Forty-five minutes later, the last person in the line, me, reached the desk where Professor Birch stood. He looked older than he did on TV and where ever else I had seen him.

"Well, young man, you're in luck," Birch told me as he set a Pokeball down on the desk. "We just happen to have one Pokemon left." He pointed to some papers, "You'll need to fill those out for you Trainer Card."

I plopped down in the chair sitting in front of the desk. It squeaked as I sat, probably tired from the weight of all the other newbie trainers that had sat in it before me. "What Pokemon is it?" I asked, as I begin filling out the forms, most of which were for a medical record.

"A female Torchic," Birch replied. "Our Mudkips and Treekos were wiped out in record time," he contined, sitting in his chair behind the desk, and typing something into his computer. He sighed. "Most think that with them, it'll be easier for them to beat Roxanne in Rustburo."

"Yeah," I mumbled, turning to the form that required my signature to say that the Hoenn Pokemon League was not responsible for my actions if I went apeshit and started killing people with my Pokemon. With a slightly amused smile, I signed. The next form was to confirm that the signature on the previous page was actually mine.

I slid over to Birch when I was done, and he began keying the nessesary information into the computer. "This'll take a few minutes, until then get yourself aquainted with you Torchic. Give it a name if you like." He sounded tired and worn out.

"You seem stressed," I told him, picking up the red and white sphere. "Is there something wrong?"

He nodded. "You wouldn't believe it. It's like this every year. Tons of kids storm my lab, there's the usual fight over who wants what Pokemon. It's insane."

I shrugged. "The back of the line is worse. The people in front of you constantly complain that they won't get a Pokemon. They nag to their friends that they'll be better than them, and I had a headache. It was hot outside, everyone was starting to smell like BO."

Birch chuckled. "It's all part of becoming a Trainer. You've gotta learn to overcome small things like that, so you can face bigger challenges."

"Um...does that even apply to the situation that I described?"

"Doubt it. Well, then," he walked over to a machine and a second later, it spat out a rectangular lamenated card. "Mr. Trevor White, you're offically a Pokemon trainer," he said, handing ther card to me. "You'll need to get registered for the Pokemon League in Oldale, and you're all set."

I nodded. "Thanks Professor." I took the card from him and put it away in my top left jacket pocket. "I'm guessing that there's no more Pokedexes?" The devices were quite rare, but it would definitely be useful.

Birch shook his head. "Sorry, I only had two. One I promised to the daughter of Petalburg's Gym Leader, and my son took the other." He paused. "If you're to ever meet up with Brendan, can you tell him that I want to talk to him? It's important to me," he asked, staring at his shoes as if he were ashamed to ask.

"Sure," I answered, deciding not to press the subject. From his reaction, I assumed that it wasn't something he wanted to go into detail with a stranger . "Oldale Town is to the north of here, right? I don't want to get lost."

"Straight north," he replied, his head snapping back up. "And there's quite a bit of signs that should guide you on your way."

I thanked the Professor again, and left. It took a few minutes to find the entrance to route 101.

"Okay then," I said, tossing up my new Torchic's Pokeball. "Come on out."

In a flash of red light, the little orange chick Pokemon appeared, taking in her surroundings. "Where am I?" she asked, looking up at me. "Who are you?"

Oh, right. Maybe now would be a good time to point out that for some screwed up reason, I can understand Pokemon. My amnesia prevented me from remembering exactly how this happened, but I had my money on the fact that it connected in some way to the reason that any trace of who I was never turned up anything helpful.

"I'm Trevor, your new Trainer," I greeted. "You and I will probably be traveling around for quite some time, so we should at least get along. Do you have a name?"

"Nope."

"Then I shall call you...Flamo."

She stared at me. "What? No creativity?"

"I suck at naming. Deal with it."

And with that, we took our first steps into route 101. I"ll admit it, once you get to looking around at it, route 101 is much less than I expected. A couple of small ledges about my height, overgrown grass that concealed wild Pokemon inside of it, and a few new trainers trying to catch one.

"We'll need to get into some battles so you can get stronger," I told Flamo, looking down at the little fire chicken. "You'll have to be strong to face the Gym Leaders."

"I honestly don't care about battling," she said, fluffing some of her tail feathers with her beak. "But, I'll do it, as long as you feed me. Got any food?"

Groaning, I shook my head. "Not really. And if I by food, then we won't have any money for supplies. So it looks like we'll need to win a few battles." Looking around Route 101, I saw that various trainers were engaged in battles, and usually were surrounded by a bunch of other people cheering them on. Behind them, a few trainers were looking for someone to challenge, in an attempt to get this fame for themselves.

"Well, I'm kinda hungry," Flamo informed me, staring up at me, "So if you do put into battle, don't pit me against a brutal monster. I'd prefer something like a Igglybuff. Those things suck."

I shrugged. "No problem. Although, when was the last time you ate? If you're hungry there's some berries nearby."

Flamo shook her head."I don't want any of that crap. I want real food. Beef!" she shouted, jumping into the air. "That is the food of gods!"

Releasing a breath, I cursed Arceus. I swear that guy kept sticking me with the most insane Pokemon on the planet. In my time, I've been the trainer of a perverted Darumaka and...okay maybe that was it. But still, this meat craving Torchic can't be normal.

"You!" a trainer shouted, pointing at me. "I challenge you to a battle!" He was roughly sixteen, with dark blonde hair and hazel eyes. He had on a leather jacket, with khaki shorts. "You have to accept my challenge!"

Folding my arms, I walked over, standing about three yards in front of him. "Allright, I accept. What are the rules?"

The teen smiled. "One on one, first to be knocked out loses. You know, standard rules." He folded his arms, and smirked. "If you don't know that, then you must be a noob."

Rolling my eyes I shrugged. "Well, I thought I'd ask, so we could predetermine some rules," I replied, trying to think of a witty comeback. Nothing good came to mind. "But let's just get it on, shall we?"

"We shall," he said, taking a Pokeball out of his jacket pocket. "Go! Aby!" A yellow pokemon appeared, floating in the air. An Abra. Great.

"Go for it, Flamo!" I ordered, and she ran onto the field, muttering something about beef.

The teen appeared to be stifling a laugh, glancing around at the crowd that had gathered to observe the battle, and to make their bets. That was one of the best parts of journeying. No parents or adults. You could, almost, do what you wanted. "You take the first move," he said, folding his hands behind his back.

I nodded, planning out a strategy. Abras were Psychic-Types, meaning that they mostly used special attacks. Flamo knew Growl and Scratch, so Growl would almost be useless, since it lowered attack. Or was it defense? I couldn't remember. Scratch would have to do. "Flamo use Scratch!"

Screaming savage profanites, which I can't repeat, my Torchic ran at the Abra. She lept up into the air, lashing out with her beak and slicing the Abra. It barely even flinced at the attack. Maybe it was stronger than I had anticipated...

My opponet chuckled, shaking his head sadly. "That was pathetic. You're going to have to do far better to win. But, I won't let you! Aby, use Shadow Ball!"

Before Flamo could react, the ball composed of shadows slammed into her. Crying out in pain, she was sent flying back several feet, and hit the ground with a thud. There was silence as Flamo stood up, and staggered back over. "That really hurt."

"Please, hang in there. Just a little longer, We might win," I said, trying to spark some confidence into myself. That didn't go over so well.

"I'm impressed," the teen commented, sticking his hands into his pockets. "No other Pokemon, aside from some Poochyena, have survived a single one of Aby's attacks. Maybe it's beginner's luck."

I shrugged. "Maybe it was, and maybe it wasn't. Flamo, use Scratch again!" I ordered, and Flamo weakly slashed at the Abra, hitting it right in the arm. She then promptly fell to the ground, knocked out, using the last of her energy to use Scratch.

The teen smirked as he saw that he had won. "It looks like it was just luck," he said smugly, returning his Pokemon to its ball. "Since you're such a stickler for rules, I want my winnings. In cash, please."

Ah, crap. I walked dead into that one. With a heavy sigh of defeat, I grabbed all the money I had and threw it at his feet. Rules normally dicated that winners could only claim up to 15% of a trainer's money, but 15% of what I had would come out to less that three dollars. Nobody wants three measly bucks for winning.

With that arrogant smirk, he stooped down and gathered up the money. "Perhaps, someday, we'll meet again," he said, standing up and turning away, "and I'll crush you again."

The onlookers patted him on the back and congradulated him for his win, and a few shot a glance back at me, and snickered.

I sighed, returning Flamo to her ball and shoving it into my pocket. All I wanted was a nice, peaceful journey to think about life, and to try to get rid of this damn amnesia.

Anyway, I began walking toward Oldale, just brushing by the other trainers, most of whom had already caught another Pokemon, either a Zigzagoon, Poochyena, or Wurmple, since those were all that nested on route 101.

"I'll need to catch another Pokemon," I mused to myself, ignoring some giggles from a group of girls. None on the route were anything that I would plan to use in the future, so I kept on walking. Some guy whispered something to his friend about me, undoubtably, and they both burst into laughter.

Anger welled up inside of me, not because I lost, but because of the way people were acting about it. That teen was an arrogant jerk and-

"Hey kid!"

"Speak of the devil," I muttered, turning to face the teen. "What?"

"Don't feel to hard on yourself," he said smirking. "It's not becuase I'm stronger, it's because you're weak."

Some younger kid tapped him on the shoulder. "I think you mixed those up."

"Nah," the teen replied snobbishly. "I had them they way they're supposed to be." There was an eruption of laughter.

I sighed and folded my arms across my chest, displaying an annoyed and unamused face. Turning on heel, I went back to walking, trying to drown out the laughter that I could still hear.

Note to self: Get Flamo trained so I can kick that guy's ass.

Reaching the top of a hill, I looked out as far as I could see to get a lay of the land. Oldale Town was just at the bottom, and route 102 went west, eventually leading to another small town, which I assumed was Petalburg. I couldn't see much beyond that, so I began the trek into town.

Oldale Town was relatively a small town, larger than Littleroot, but smaller than Petalburg. There was a Pokemon Center, and a Pokemart, along side various scattered houses. Route 103 extended northward, but from what I could see, it appeared to be a dead end. It'd be a place I'd have to explore, and I could use it for training Flamo.

Naturally, the first place I went was the Pokemon Center, to get Flamo rested up and ready for training. Hopefully, we could beat some other trainers so we could get some money to buy Pokeballs and some food.

The automatic glass door slid open, and I stepped inside. The building was packed full of trainers, most of the new, and the occasional expert coming to prey upon the weak. And, not surprisingly, there was a line for the counter.

Rubbing my temples, I got into the back of the line, and waited. And waited. And waited. The lobby was roaring with chatting, laughing, squealing, and just about every other sound that trainers make. I could feel the headache coming on.

Finally, after twenty minutes of standing in line, it was my turn. The nurse on duty looked exhausted, and had pulled a chair over so she could sit instead of standing. Her eyes had bugs under them, indicating lack of sleep, or something like that.

"Welcome to the Pokemon Center," she mumbled without much enthusiasm. "How can I help you today?"

I placed Flamo's Pokeball on the counter. "I need her healed, and I would like a room for the night."

Sighing, the nurse took the Pokeball and put in on a tray, and slid it into the machine. "I'm afraid that we're out of rooms," she informed me, resting her head on her hand. "You'll have to find somewhere else to stay."

I groaned. "Is there a hotel in town?"

Shaking her head, the nurse returned Flamo's Pokeball to me. "Nope. It was torn down a few years back because Petalburg opened one up. A more better one."

"Thanks anyway," I said, ignoring her bad gammar use. As I exited the door, I immediantly let Flamo out. "How are you feeling?"

Flamo looked herself over. "Well, I don't hurt anymore, but I'm still hungry. When are we eating?"

"Not sure," I answered. "Since we have no money, and no where to stay, we're camping in the middle of the night."

"Please tell me that things will get better," Flamo pleaded. "I don't want to have to sleep in the cold tonight. I wish we could build a fire."

"You're a Fire-Type," I noted. "Perhaps we can. We'd need some kindling, and some larger logs..."

"Heeey Trevor!" a cheery voice called out. It was none other than Bella, the girl I gave all my money to. Trust me, I might be regretting that decision.

I waved as she ran up. "So, did you catch a Pokemon?" I asked, and then I noticed the Pokeball clipped to her bag strap. "I see you did."

Her smile widened, just as it had before. "Yeah, it's a Poochyena. I named it Sora."

"Kingdom Hearts?"

"Yep."

I guestured down at my Torchic. "This is Flamo," I introduced. "Fortunately the last Pokemon at Professor Birch's lab."

"Aw, she's so cute!" Bella exclaimed, reaching down and picking her up cradling her in her arms. Flamo yawned a content yawn.

"Yeah, tell me something I don't know," Flamo said, as Bella put her back down. The Torchic prompty jumped up onto a rock, and tried to get Bella's attention by what appeared to be some strange form of...dancing? I can't describe it. "She might buy me beef!"

I rolled my eyes. "So, Bella, We were about to set up camp," I said. "The Pokemon Center is full, so we have nowhere to go. You can stay with us if you like."

She smiled, but shook her head. "Thanks for the offer, but my friend May got a room, and she's sharing it with me. I'll introduce her to you tomorrow." She waved and took off toward the Pokemon Center.

I sighed and plopped to the ground.

"You like her," Flamo commented, curling up on the rock. "That's why you wanted her to stay with us, right?"

"No," I said, elicting one laugh, removing my jacket and wadding it up.. "But she might've had food."

"Oh right. I'm hungry."

The sun was setting, and I wanted to get an early start to Petalburg. The route would be less crowded, and there would be more uncaught Pokemon there. "Night, Flamo," I said, leaning back, using my balled up jacket as a pillow.

"Night," she muttered back, flopping down on the rock.

It took a few minutes, but soon I was asleep...

"Why did you do it?" asked a teenaged girl, staring directly into the green eyes of a glowing white orb. She seemed to remain unflinching in the intense light.

"Do what?" asked the overpowering voice. It boomed like that of a god, and yet it seemed to have a caring side to it.

"I think you know exactly what I'm taking about."

"Ah, yeah. Sorry. It's hard to know who you're talking about when they don't exsists."

"But why did you do it?"

"He knew too much. More than any human should. And the opportunity was there. I wasn't going to let it pass by."

"Why not? It was all over anyway."

"This happened over a year ago. Just let it go."

"But...What if he survived?"

"...What?"

"It's possible. After all, that Charizard you want me to hunt down-if your suspisions are right, then there might have been a slight chance that he survived."

"...Listen, there's no possible chance that he's alive. Trust me, I would know."

"Do you? Do you really?"