Disclaimer: It should be noted that I do not, nor will I ever own Pokémon. No profit is being made by the writing or reading of this story by anyone except perhaps that one girl. You know, the one who just went into that store there. The one with that hair… you know…

Notes: I know very little about the Pokémon cartoon, almost all my knowledge comes from the Red, Blue and Silver games. All ideas/concepts are original unless recognized from the cartoon (limited knowledge there remember) or the games. Any and all grammatical or spelling errors are intentional and meant for you enjoyment. I live on feedback. ;)

A note on punctuation, anything in :: instead of quotes, are telepathic 'conversation'.

Additionally, it shall be mentioned that as yet there is very little appearance of cannon characters. If you're dying to read about Ash and Co., you'll have to look elsewhere. Sorry. If you wish, you can e-mail me at [email protected].

Trainer's School

Exile isn't always bad…

"George. Tell me what a Pokémon Master is."

Some of the other kids in class snickered as the black haired, blue-eyed George stammered. "Well… um, it's a person… who trains Pokémon… and is real good at it…"

"That's a good start, can someone else elaborate on that?" Madam Thompson took pity on the floundering response.

"A Pokémon master," spoke up a blond, blue-eyed youth with surprisingly good looks, and golden curly hair "Is a man or woman who has extensively trained the creatures he or she works with. The best have developed a psychic link with their monster, and within the last couple years some have begun to develop elemental powers."

"Thank you Nathan," replied Madam Thompson. The young man beamed. At that point the bell rang and the class stood up, shoving folders and notebooks into backpacks as they began to file out of the room. "Be sure to read the rest of chapter four this evening, and good luck on your first Pokémon hunt," Miss Thompson shouted over the sudden din. At the mention of the anticipated event, the class became even more excited and pressed towards the exit.

Leena Adi brushed her long brown hair back as she stood up and moved with the rest of the crowd, her mind looking towards the time when she would attempt to catch her first Pokémon.

"I knew the answer," muttered George as he walked next to her.

"I know George," responded Leena, brown eyes glancing at her friend. He was quite smart, highest test grades in their year, followed closely only by Nathan.

"It's just that whenever I'm put on the spot, my mind blanks. At least Nathan covered for me."

"Covered for you? George, he made you look like an idiot," Leena looked disbelievingly at her friend.

"I don't see why you have such a problem with Nathan," replied George, "He's a real good guy."

"He's a stuck up snob. Thinks that just because he's got some psychic talent that'll he'll automatically become a Master. Just cause his daddy's rich, that he's better than the rest of us."

"If you say so Leena…"

The group of students had left the building and arrived at a hilly, forested area. The Pokémon League University, founded by Pokémon Master Ash Ketchum, had been built three years ago north of Mt Moon. It was a great place for upcoming trainers to learn and to catch their first couple of monsters.

"Alright now, everyone listen up," Professor Sargon, a large man who mostly trained rock types, waited for the class to quiet down. "This is where your survival training comes into play. The object is for each of you to go into the forest and come out with a captured Pokémon by evening. You may take nothing but your packs and pokeballs. There is no rule saying you cannot catch more than one monster, but don't count on it. In fact most of you will not likely come back with anything at all. The first trip is the most frustrating. Remember, no fighting amongst yourselves, the penalty for such is expulsion."

The professor glanced at a timepiece on his wrist, "Set off the flares if you get into trouble… Good luck." There was the sounding of a gong and the kids rushed forward into the forest.

~*~

This was turning out to be much more difficult than Leena had anticipated. She and George had started out together, but an ambush by some Glooms who threw a good deal of stun spores into the air separated them and she hadn't seen him since.

Since then she had thrown three pokeballs; the first was at a pikachu who busted out, destroying the device, then walked off without even looking at her.

The meowth she'd encountered next got her with a scratch attack. Wishing for her Tonfa she avoided the next few strikes of the feline monster and planted a snap kick in its stomach. The pokeball she threw at it was avoided and shattered on a rock. The meowth climbed a tree.

The last one was at a caterpie who caught the ball out of the air with a string shot, the bug than proceeded to tie Leena up in the sticky stuff. It had taken nearly an hour to get herself free.

Now she was wandering in the fading light with one pokeball left. A rustling sound to her right caught her attention and she stopped in her tracks, ready to throw the mechanical ball. Carefully she peered around a large tree to see a small brown furred quadruped with an almost blonde mane-like ruff of fur around it neck. The creature was jumping and rolling in the grass, quite thoroughly enjoying itself.

"An eevee," breathed Leena, raising her arm in preparation to throw. This one had to count, it was her last shot, the sweepers would be coming though to round up the stragglers soon. But as she watched the small brown creature's antics, she lowered her arm and sat on the ground to watch. It was so happy, she couldn't just pluck it out of the field, it wouldn't be right.

The light dimmed steadily, and Leena merely watched the eevee as it began to settle down for the night.

Blur.

Suddenly it stood up, alert, its ears cocked as though listening for something. Then it turned and looked right at her, those black liquid eyes caught hers and everything else in the world was gone. It was amazing, a oneness with the living things around her, she soared, tunneled, galloped… there was a connection, a connection between her and…

She started at a touch on her shoulder and looked up to see Professor Sargon looking down at her.

"Hello sir," she sighed and looked at her empty pokeball, "looks like I failed, huh?"

"On the contrary Miss Adi…"

Leena looked at him puzzled until she felt a small wet nose nudging her arm. Looking down she found the eevee staring up at her.

"Congratulations Leena."

~*~

At the banquet that evening, Nathan was showing off the abra and drowzee he had caught. He'd been out of the forest after no more than half an hour. Several first and second years crowded around him, and even some of the older kids. No one had done what he had on their first hunts.

"Self-centered peacock…" muttered Leena

"Eve," her new companion tried to comfort her.

Leena scratched the eevee's ears absently, while rubbing the back of her own neck. Ever since she'd got back to the school, Leena had had a strange feeling, a sort of itch. After a while she'd decided it wasn't physical, but she couldn't figure out what it was. And she was a bit worried about it. She was lost in those thoughts when George shook her gently.

"Leena, you okay?"

"Yeah, so what happened next?" George had been telling her of how he encountered his new oddish.

"So then this pidgey appears out of nowhere and dives bombs me…"

Leena nodded and made the appropriate interested sounds, but her thoughts returned to the strange sensation. There was something there, just out her reach… if she could just concentrate a bit more…

"You're attention please," It was Professor Oak, the headmaster of the school. "I would like to congratulate those who found their first companions this evening. There was a higher than normal number of captures today. Congratulations and good luck in all your future Pokémon activities. The next hunt will be in one week."

Everyone in the room applauded respectfully. And for Leena and George, the rest of dinner went by in stories, jokes and good humor

The following was a blur to Leena, she could concentrate on nothing but the next hunt, and that peculiar sensation would surface at the most inopportune moments; when she was taking a test, training with her eevee, or having a conversation with George, just to name a few. The only event of the week that stood out in her mind was when George got hurt.

He and Sten (George's Oddish) had been sparing with another student when George tripped, a stupid mistake, and sprained his wrist in the fall. The medics said it would be fine in a week, but that he couldn't join the hunt. Leena had said she would stay with him, but George insisted she go on the hunt, he knew how important it was to her.

And so, when the end of the week finally arrived, Leena found herself and Kenda waiting outside the monster populated woods.

"This is mainly a hunt for those who haven't yet caught a monster, so those individuals will be allowed a one hour head start. After that, anyone who wants to attempt to capture an additional monster may enter."

Leena sat down as the gong sounded and several kids ran into the forest. Several other students sat on the grass in the area, awaiting the gong to tell them they could enter the forest.

"What do you think eevee? We gonna' find a new friend in there today?"

"Evee, vee," responded the small furred creature.

"I hope so too. So… it's been a week, and I still haven't come up with a name for you."

The eevee hopped on Leena's lap and nipped at the sleeve of her shirt.

"Eve is too obvious, and I can't name you after an element cause I don't know what you'll evolve into, or even if you will… hmm… What do you think?"

The eevee just looked her, a small smile on its face, a slight blurring of vision, and a name entered Leena's mind.

"Kenda, you're name is Kenda."

Kenda smiled.

Leena absently rubbed Kenda's ears as she looked at those others who were going to try for a second Pokémon, or in Nathan's case, his third. Speaking of which, he was approaching her now, his monsters in pokeballs at his belt.

"Hello Leena," he greeted politely.

"Nathan," she nodded in return, "What can I do for you?"

"Just wanted to talk," he remained standing and looked down at her, "How's you're eevee coming along?"

"Kenda's coming along fine, and your monsters?"

"Oh you named it, how cute." He held a hand out to the eevee who sniffed it warily, then allowed him to pet her. "Abra and Drowzee are developing their psychic abilities quite rapidly, I've been able to teach them a few things on my own."

"That's nice."

"Last time I was in the forest, I saw a cave that I suspect a Jynx lives in… that's where I'm going today. You planning on getting lucky again?"

"Lucky?"

Nathan smiled, more like a superior sneer to Leena's eyes, "The word around the school is that your eevee hasn't even been on the inside of a pokeball. In fact it seems more like it caught you."

"She doesn't like it in there. And quite frankly I don't blame her."

"A master should have a bit more control over their monsters, don't you think?"

"We're friends that's more important than control."

Nathan was bout to respond when Sargon called their attention.

"The second gong will sound in thirty seconds, get ready."

Leena shook her head… "Thirty Seconds? Where did the rest of the hour go? I wasn't talking to Nathan that long… was I?"

The thirty seconds went by in a rush of preparation and when it sounded, there was a stampede to the woods. Leena loped through the undergrowth, avoiding the roots and entangling vines, Kenda trotting at her side.

"Keep an eye out Kenda," Leena told the eevee.

"Eve," was the affirmative response.

The rules for the second run were a bit different than the last ones. More monsters than normal would be roaming around and more powerful. Because of this, the students were allowed to take a few items with them, including any melee weapons they may have trained in. Therefore, Leena had a pair of Tonfa holstered on her belt at her hips, additionally she had a medical kit in her backpack, some food, water and three new pokeballs. After no more than half an hour, Leena spotted a flock of pidgey landing in a meadow.

"Pidgey should be an easy catch, what do you think Kenda?"

Kenda shook her head.

"No? Why not?"

"Vve."

"Well… if you sure," and the two passed the bird monsters quickly. "You've lived in these woods, where's a good place for me to get a new monster?"

Kenda cocked her head and seemed to smile, she emitted a enthusiastic "Vee," and headed off deeper in to the woods. They moved for more than an hour before Leena called a halt. Sitting on a fallen tree, she opened her backpack and removed a canteen of water and a bowl. Filling the bowl, she put it on the ground for Kenda and then took a long drink for herself.

"Where are we going Kenda?"

"Vee…"

"I hope it's not much further, It's getting dark and I'm getting tired." She reached into her backpack again and retrieved two apples, tossing one to Kenda who snagged it out of the air and began eating it quickly. Leena took the other for herself while giggling at Kenda's enthusiastic nibbling.

When she'd finished her apple she stood and stretched, and looked to Kenda.

"Alright girl, where to?"

A faint voice to her right answered her, "Aye toh, Aye toh, Chop! Sie-Kuyh!"

"What the…" Leena cautiously moved through the trees, the odd sound becoming clearer as she moved. When she reached a small clearing she found that someone had arranged several rocks into a circle taking up most of the clear space. That someone was a machop practicing in the ring of stones with various odd sounding ki-yis.

"Is this where you were leading me Kenda?" The eevee nodded. "Alright," she reached into her pack and grabbed a pokeball and cleared her throat.

"Ma?" the machop turned around in mid kata to take her in. "Cho…" he looked disdainfully at her pokeball.

"Eev, eevee."

"Don't use the ball? But how…" Leena looked at the martial artist monster. He looked at her and bowed, fists coming up in a defensive stance.

Leena glanced at Kenda who nodded. Taking a deep breath, she took her backpack off and put it on the ground, then carefully she stepped into the ring and bowed in return.

The machop wasted no time and jumped at her, snapping his foot forward. She dodged easily and reacted with a punch followed by a palm strike, and found herself lying on the ground, the machop having used her own momentum against her.

Leena struggled to her feet, and faced off against her opponent again, raising her fists. But the machop shook it's head and pointed to her tonfa. She looked at him dubiously.

"That hardly seems fair… are you sure?"

He nodded, and Leena shrugged, drawing the nightstick like weapons and whirling them about.

They bowed and the monster again launched himself at her, but the first kick was a feint, and its right foot came around, aimed for her head. Quickly she changed her defense and dodged the blow. A sweep with the right weapon forced him to retreat a bit and she followed up with a vertical spin.

Crack. The tonfa stopped dead as the machop blocked it. A back fist spin that Leena ducked and a round house had her again on the defensive. She spun her weapons with all the skill she had learned at the school, but the machop was faster and stronger.

She yelled in pain as a kick connected with her shoulder and her right arm went numb, dropping the tonfa. Another kick came at her abdomen and she twisted, barely avoiding it.

::He's open, strike…::

Thwak, the machop went down hard.

Leena tested her right arm, it wasn't broken, but it would be badly bruised. Carefully she picked up her other weapon and put them both away. Then she approached her opponent.

"Pokeball, Go!"

Leena looked up to see Nathan, golden curls aglow in the fading light, throw a red and white ball at the machop.

"Ee-vee!" Kenda flew through the air in a Quick Attack and struck the device, shattering it.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" shouted Nathan.

"You leave her alone, you were trying to steal my machop!" Leena started towards Nathan

"He's not yours, you haven't caught him yet!"

"I defeated him in fair combat, you've no right to try and capture him. Now I suggest you leave," Leena drew a tonfa in her left hand and twirled it lightly.

"Are you threatening me?" Nathan narrowed his eyes, his hand moving to the pommel of his rapier. "In fact, you're eevee's actions could be considered an attack, that's an expulsion you know."

"So is stealing monsters," returned Leena.

"Chop," the machop had raised to a kneeling position and was glaring at Nathan.

"Fine, but I'm reporting this to the head master," he spun on his heal and disappeared into the forest.

Leena held her arms out to Kenda who jumped into them and licked her face affectionately. "Thanks Kenda," Leena said softly, trying not to wince at the pain in her right shoulder.

"Eve,"

"So," Leena turned to face the machop, "You gonna' hang with me now?"

The machop quirked an eye ridge at her, and nodded. Leena grinned from ear to ear.

"I'm Leena," she held out her hand, and the machop shook it, "and this is Kenda. Now what should I call you?"

That strange feeling returned quite suddenly and slid from the base of her head down her back, across her shoulders and nearly made her loose balance.

"Nax?" she looked at him through blurry vision and he nodded. She shook her head slightly to clear it of the dizzy feeling. "Nax it is then. Come on, let's back to the school, I don't want to be out here at night."

And the three set off.

~*~

"Sir this isn't fair. He was gonna' steal Nax!"

"Nathan says he was about to capture the machop when your eevee attacked him from behind…"

"He's lying, please Professor, you have to believe me," Leena looked up through teary eyes at the iron haired Professor Oak.

"I wish I could Leena, but there is no way to verify your story."

"And you can verify his side?"

"No," hope swelled in Leena's chest, "But unfortunately this where the politics comes into play." The professor sighed and sat down. "Nathan's father is on the school board. If not for his funding, this place would not exist."

"But I thought Master Ketchum…"

"Ash Ketchum is a good man, and if he were here, we might be able to straighten all this out… But he isn't here, and Mr. Kloon holds too much political and financial sway. He's insisting you're expelled."

Leena sat there in shock, unable to reply, unable to move, unable to even put her head down and cry like she wanted to. All her life she'd aspired to be a Pokémon trainer. Finally she had reached eleven years and been admitted to the school at the beginning of the semester.

And now, now they were kicking her out. And it was all Nathan's fault.

"A bus will come by tomorrow morning to take you back to the orphanage…"

All she was able to manage was a shudder, she'd told herself she'd never go back there, never. And in the back of her mind a plan began to formulate. The headmaster continued on a bit with his apologies, but she wasn't listening. Not until the last bit caught her attention.

"I've got something, in case you continue your studies outside of school," there was something about the way he'd said that…

Leena shook her head a bit to clear it, and watched as he produced a small black device. It had a small screen and several buttons on it, it looked much like a calculator, or a portable game device.

"My latest design, there are only a few others like it in the world," he smiled a bit as he held it out to her.

"A pokedex sir?" she'd never actually held one before.

"Not just a pokedex, it picks up radiowaves, and… well… it's a bit more specialized than a regular monster index. And if you ever need me, you can use it to call me."

Leena stood up, determined to keep a brave face, and accepted the gift. "Thank you sir."

They exchanged goodbyes and Leena went to her room to pack. Kenda and Nax waited for her in her room, her expression told them what had happened. Quietly she laid out on the floor her few belongings, two changes of clothes, her backpack, belt, medi-kit, boots, black leather jacket, a notebook and a couple of pencils, three pokeballs, gloves and tonfa. And her new pokedex.

"Should I whish to continue my studies… but the orphanage doesn't have any way for me to study, surely he knows that. Perhaps he was suggesting… nah, would he? But I had already determined I would leave before the bus got here anyway. Perhaps he was giving me his blessing." She got everything ready to leave and sat down on the bed, staring at the floor.

Caught up in her own thoughts she nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt a tugging on her foot. Looking down, she found that Kenda had jerked her shoe untied with her mouth and was now shaking the shoelace in her mouth.

"Why you little trickster!" Leena grinned.

Kenda growled playfully.

"Oh you think so eh?" she grabbed for the small creature, but a light shove from behind sent her tumbling to the floor. "You wanna piece of me too you over muscled oaf?"

Nax was laughing until Leena pounced on him and all three of them got caught up in a very seriously laughing wrestling match/pillow fight. A knock at the door stopped their play, and Leena opened it to reveal George.

"Hi Leena, am I interrupting?"

"Not really, Nax and Kenda were just cheering me up."

"So they're really gonna' expel you?

"Yeah, but it'll be alright."

George sighed. "If you say so. Man I can't believe what that jerk, Nathan, is saying about you. What really happened?"

The two talked late into the night with Kenda, Nax and Sten, until George fell asleep in the chair. Leena covered him with the blanket and set Sten in his lap. Flipping off the light, she lifted the window open a bit and she and her companions slipped off into the night.

~*~

It had been two weeks since Leena had disappeared, a quick search had been made for her, but young trainers were always wandering around and they had given up after only three days. Nathan had stopped spreading the rumors about Leena when George had confronted him in a crowded hallway. Nathan was still the most popular guy around, but at least Leena was not considered lower than dirt.

George took a deep breath and concentrated. He was in the practice yards, training with Sten under the hot sun. He missed Leena, more than he'd thought he would.

"Ready… Stun Spore!"

Sten exerted himself as George reached out mentally, searching, pulsing… and fed power…

"Odd-Ish!" A cloud of yellow 'dust' spewed into the air.

"Yes! Way to go Sten! Did you feel that? I was actually siphoning you power. Oh wow this is great!"

"Oddish, Oddish!" Sten was jumping up and down with the achievement.

After about a minute of celebration, the two calmed down a bit, but were still sporting Cheshire grins, "Alright, let's take a break eh?"

George grabbed a towel by the door and mopped some of the sweat from his body as the two walked through the halls to the dorms. On the way, George picked up his mail. "Two letters from mom," he rolled his eyes and Sten giggled, "Alright, my PoJo issue, and… what's this?"

The young dark haired kid pulled an envelope out of the small box. It was addressed to him, with no return address, jut the initials L.A. He and Sten rushed to his room where he ripped open the envelope and began reading aloud for Sten's benefit.

Dear George,

I'm writing this letter from Cerulean City. I've been training at the gym here and have been able to make a bit of money in a few bouts, so I'm doing okay, eating enough and sleeping in bed whenever I'm in town. Don't try to contact me, I'll be moving on soon anyway. Don't worry, I'll keep you updated.

Your Friend,

Leena Adi

George smiled. "Good Luck Leena."