AN- Hello all! It's been a while, but I am BACK! School sucked me in, but I've temporarily escaped it's grasp and decided to celebrate by writing a new Pokemon fic. It won't be that long, but I still think it'll be good. Gracefulshippers should like it, even though it'll end sadly. (yeah, I've already planned that far ahead; I just need to figure out what goes in the middle of the fic… ;)

Disclaimer: I own nothing, unfortunately. BUT! I DO own a straight A report card! (is shamelessly happy of said fact)Heh heh.

Chapter One: Enter Winona

Something not many knew about the lovely yet distant Winona is that she was afraid of, of all things, commitment. This irrational fear spawned from the fact that, at a young age, she witnessed many scenes between her parents that a girl of her tender age should not have had to have seen. Memories of the scars and bruises her mother wore were burned permanently into the girl's mind, causing her fear of commitment and the possibility of something similar happening to her to form.

Needless to say, she wasn't all that upset when, at age ten, her father finally just up and left Fortree City, leaving she and her mother to recover.

Now, ten was the age upon most to-be trainers would receive their starter pokemon, but for Winona, that was too soon. She couldn't bear to leave her mother alone, not yet. She could put her dream of becoming her town's next gym leader on hold for a few years, she decided. Helping her mother back into health after everything her father had put her through was the most important thing.

Yes, Winona's dream was to become a gym leader. She considered it an honor beyond all belief, as gym leaders were entrusted with protecting their town. Even young, she knew that it would take someone responsible, and she trained herself to be so. Her dream would come true some day. She knew it.

It was at age thirteen that Winona received her first pokemon. It was not one of the starters a normal trainer would get, but a gift from her mother. Knowing of her daughter's dream to one day take over the flying-based gym, the woman had gone out and captured a Swablu as a birthday gift. The girl had been ecstatic.

Even as a trainer, Winona was reluctant to leave, though. Her mother had developed a serious illness, and she did not want to leave her like so. Still, she needed some way to become a better trainer, as well. And so, she enlisted as an assistant for the gym leader of Fortree City at that time- a nice guy with serious eyes and a warm heart. He would coach her directly for the next three years, it was decided.

Unfortunately, her peace and happiness during this period was not meant to last.

At fifteen, Winona's mother's illness became worse- much worse. The woman spent a few weeks in the hospital with no change before the inevitable finally happened: Her mother died. The young girl was broken, and stricken with grief beyond all belief.

It was… the first time she'd cried since before her father had left.

Nonetheless, she did recover, and continued to train under the gym leader's guidance. Finally, the three years of her internship had passed, and she then finally left Fortree city with the Feather Badge in hand.

It was at sixteen that she became a real trainer.

She immediately set out for the closest city with a gym: Mauville City. At this time, she had two pokemon, a near-evolving, specially colored Taillow and a recently-evolved Altaria. Now, she could have flown constantly on Altaria, but decided to do so only when necessary, so as to strengthen her pokemon. By the time she reached Mauville, her Taillow had evolved into a specially colored Swellow.

With her power-packed team, she was a fair match against the gym leader, a guy named Wattson. He was a pretty weird guy who constantly laughed and used electric-type pokemon. He had a type-advantage, so needless to say, it had been a tough match. Winona just barely won him, earning the Dynamo Badge.

She then traveled north, heading towards Lavaridge Town, where another gym would await her. As she had nothing she couldn't cross by just walking, she went at a leisurely pace, enjoying the sights. Soon enough, she added a Wingull to her collection, and next, a Murkrow.

A few months passed during her slow but peaceful trek, and she finally reached a small town a little over halfway to her actual destination goal.

She was sixteen and a half when she reached the little town known as Fallarbor.

She was sixteen and a half… when she met him.

AN- …And that's the first chapter (technically, the prologue, but whatever…)! So, I know it's kinda short, but tell me what you think anyway! I promise that all the chapters won't be this short. They'll usually be just over a thousand words… I think. Anyways, I'll try and update soon! Stay tuned!