This story is dedicated to five people.

Fang, my amazing beta,

Puff, for never failing to be the most incredible friend,

Flip, for her awesome characters and uplifting reviews,

MineralRabbit, for giving me my first review and sticking to my story, and

Sage of Emeralds, for giving me the confidence in my writing.

Thank you all so much; you've all helped more with this story than you'll ever know.

"We need to talk."

Jim Jones looked up at his wife and raised an eyebrow carefully. Those four words–usually the precursor to either a new diet or something equally horrifying–never meant anything good for him. Heaving a sigh, he reached for the remote to turn the television off before shifting his body to give Jackie his full attention. "About?" he asked slowly.

The weathered, forty-something woman sat on the other side of the aging sofa, looking slightly upset. "Joanna," she replied simply.

After relaxing for a brief moment–it was not a diet!–Jim shifted uncomfortably; he should have known this would be the topic of conversation. "What do you want to do?"

"Joanna!"

A tiny figure paused, her head turning to the direction of her door. She had been in the middle of dancing and singing along to the radio, which was blaring loud enough to wake up her little brothers in the room next door.

"Okay, okay, I'll turn it down!" she yelled back before sharply reducing the volume.

"Come down!" her mother called, and the ten-year-old huffed, debating her options. She was truthfully not that interested in going down to meet her parents …but they had used her full name, which was certainly not a good sign.

Going with the safer route, she opened her door and walked quickly downstairs into their living room. Noting the serious looks on her parents faces, she dropped quietly into one of the armchairs. "Yeah?" she asked, her brown eyes wide with apprehension.

"Jojo," Jackie started carefully, treating the situation with dire apprehension. "Listen carefully."

"Yeah?" she repeated with a hint of impatience. "Is this about my journey? Because I thought we already had the big discussion, like, two weeks ago. I know what to do, Mom. Don't spend your money on pointless things. Don't stay up too late. Don't over train your Pokémon. Don't talk to strangers until you have at least three badges. I got it already."

Silence hung after she finished talking, and instantly Jojo's demeanor changed. She looked down at the floor and murmured, "Sorry." Still, her parents said nothing.

"Joanna, you know your father is out of his job, correct?" Jackie asked calmly, ignoring the girl's outburst.

Jojo raised an eyebrow. Knew? Of course she knew. How could she not? A few weeks ago, Jojo's father had lost his job working for the Pokémon PC Company, who was downsizing due to the lack of need for human workers any longer. Both Pokémon and machines were doing the job quite nicely, and they were much less expensive than people. Since then, both of Jojo's parents had taken menial, low-paying jobs to help support the family while her older sister, Jillian, was working as a Kimono Girl in Ecruteak and sending home the bulk of her pay. "Well, technically, he does have a job," she said in a condescending tone. "He's a Poké Mart cashier."

"And can the salary of a Poké Mart cashier support a family of six?" Jackie shot back in a challenging manner.

"…no," Jojo muttered quietly.

"You know your brothers also can't take care of themselves, yes?" she continued.

"Yeah." She was getting visibly impatient with this conversation, wanting to get to the point. She'd been babysitting the two boys ever since both of her parents began working again; she'd had absolutely no free time to herself. Much as she loved Jack and Jake, they were only five and three respectively–at ten, taking care of them all day was much more responsibility than she could reasonably handle.

"So you understand why you can't go on your journey for a few more weeks, right?"

The effect was instantaneous. Tiny as she was, Jojo leapt up from the armchair with such force that the furniture in the room shook when she landed. Her face turned into a dark scowl, her hands clenched into fists, and she leaned forward, looking prepared to physically fight her parents. "What?" she screeched.

"Joanna, sit down," her mother said as calmly as possible. "Sit and we'll talk about this."

"No," she said fiercely. "I'm starting my journey tomorrow and you can't stop me."

"No, Joanna, you're not! Jack and Jake are too young to be at home by themselves, and your father, Jillian, and I are all working! Unless you're going to get a job now, you're staying here."

"My job is to be a trainer! That's what it's always been! I've always said that, and you're not taking it away from me!" Jojo stamped one foot angrily.

"We're not taking it away, Jojo, we're just postponing it for a few weeks! Please sit back down," Jackie said in a softer tone.

"No! I've been waiting ten years, and I'm not waiting any longer. This isn't fair to me! Why do I have to suffer because he lost his job?" She pointed angrily to her father, who had been silent up to that point.

"We're all suffering, Jojo!" Jackie said in an exasperated voice.

"Then why I do have to suffer the most?"

Jackie paused, unable to think of a response quickly enough. Finally she settled with, "Jojo, I'm sorry, but we all have to make sacrifices."

"No," she replied plainly. "I'm not waiting any longer. I'm going to Professor Elm's lab, I'm going to get my Pokémon, I'm going to start my journey, and I'm going to do it tomorrow."

"Jojo-"

"And you can't stop me!" she screamed.

"Joanna, sit down!" her father yelled, finally speaking up for the first time.

"No!"

"Keep this up, and you will never get a Pokémon!"

"Shut up!" she screeched. "Shut up shut up shut up shut up! This is your fault! Your fault! I hate you for this!"

"You can hate me all you want; I don't care," he said with a nonchalant shrug. "But that doesn't change the fact that you have to take care of your brothers."

"I'm going on my journey!" she yelled.

"We can talk about this in the morning," he replied.

"No, don't say that," Jackie snapped at him. "That makes it sound like she still has a chance at going."

"I am still going!"

"Jojo, go to your room now."

"What time should I wake up to leave?"

"Goodnight, Jojo."

"Alright, whatever. I just won't say goodbye, then."

"Joanna!"

With one last burning look at her parents, Jojo turned on her heel and stomped her way up the stairs and into her room, slamming the door as loudly as she could, trying to wake up her brothers. As soon as the door closed, she kicked the wall with the most power she could muster.

She cringed as the pain shot up her leg, and hot tears began to prickle at her eyes. She threw herself loudly onto her large pink bed and did the only thing she could think to do–burying her face in her pillow, she screamed as loud as possible before bursting into tears. She slammed herself against the bed, punching and hitting the mattress and pillows with more force than she knew she had. Jojo managed to keep this up for a good fifteen minutes before finally crying herself into a fitful sleep.

"She's taking it better than expected," Jim remarked dryly.

When she awoke, it was still dark, and she could feel the ache of sadness resting heavily over her. She lay silently for a few minutes before she realized that she wasn't about to fall back asleep anytime soon. With a little huff, she sat up, her comforter falling down to her lap. If she was being honest, she didn't want to go to sleep unless it meant she was going to wake up and leave to become a Pokémon trainer in just a few hours.

The more she thought about it, the more the rage filled her again. She could not stay here–it simply wasn't an option. She felt a burning hatred for the entire house, for every inch of it that was confining her instead of allowing her to go out and start her life of adventure. Angrily, she leapt quickly out of bed and landed a little too loudly on the carpet.

She froze, waiting to see if the noise had caused anyone to wake up. When she heard nothing, she crossed her room to flick on the light switch. She had way too much energy to even attempt going back to sleep, so she paced around the room anxiously. More than ever in her life, she had the deepest longing to have her own Pokémon now, so she could just leave and not care about the consequences.

So why don't you?

The thought struck Jojo suddenly, and it made her pause. She looked over at her desk, where she had meticulously laid out her supplies earlier in the day. Silently, she walked up and picked up one of the five Poké Balls in her hand. She rolled it around in her palm a few times, looking blankly down at it, before setting it back down. Run away? That was ridiculous. She was young, unprepared, and Pokémon-less.

"I'm not waiting any longer. I'm going to Professor Elm's lab, I'm going to get my Pokémon, I'm going to start my journey, and I'm going to do it tomorrow."

As her own words hung in her memory, her eyes travelled slowly to the digital clock sitting on her bedside table. 1:12. Tomorrow.

"Keep this up, and you will never get a Pokémon!"

Her eyes narrowed suddenly when her father's voice reached her this time, and the fury raged through her again. Her head snapped back to her desk, where her travelling clothes were sitting. It was a fairly plain outfit: a red and white striped shirt, jean shorts, tennis shoes, and a red headband with a large bow on it. Nothing that would make anyone suspicious, especially not that she was a runaway trainer.

Her heart pounding, she quickly changed into the comfortable clothing and threw the rest of her items haphazardly into her bag. She had the Poké Balls, her Pokégear, enough money to last her until she would earn some more, and an assortment of other items that she had bought with her mother a few weeks ago. She could do this. She would do this.

Then, before she had a chance to change she opened her bedroom door and flicked the light off. Expertly, she walked down the stairs without making any noise and went into the kitchen. Her new shoes squeaked against the linoleum floor, and she cringed, pausing and listening carefully. When nothing happened, she began to move towards the window again.

"Jojo?"

Jojo closed her eyes and took a deep breath, praying that the voice was only in her imagination. When she turned around and looked into the living room, she saw a very tiny child curled up into a ball on the worn sofa.

"Jakey," she whispered softly, walking over and sitting down next to him. "What are you doing awake?"

"Couldn't sleep," Jake said, much louder than he should have. Jojo winced again. "Where are you goin'?"

She took one deep, steadying breath before steeling herself. "I'm going to get a Pokémon, Jakey, and then I'm going on my journey."

"Journey?" Jake asked curiously, mispronouncing the word.

"You know how you like watching the battles on T.V. with me?" she prompted, motioning to the television a few feet away. Jake nodded eagerly, though he still looked confused. "That's gonna be me…soon. I'm going to become a Pokémon trainer." He nodded again, and Jojo instinctively wrapped him in a tight hug. "I'm going to miss you so much, Jakey. You know that, right?" She blinked, and a few tears ran unexpectedly down her cheeks, but she brushed them away impatiently. Now was not the time for crying.

"I'm gonna miss you, too," Jake said, hugging her back. Instead of crying, however, he patted her head gently, getting a small giggle from his sister.

"Jakey." She sniffled. "You can't tell Mom and Dad about this, okay? It's gonna be our secret, alright?" The young boy nodded. "Pinky promise?" she asked, holding out her littlest finger and giving him a serious look.

He nodded again, taking the finger with his. "Pinky promise."

"I love you, Jakey," she said, swallowing hard to keep the lump in her throat from getting any bigger.

"Love you too, Jojo," her brother replied. She began to move, but he cried out, "Wait!"

"What?" she hissed impatiently, her eyes flickering up the stairs to her parent's bedroom door.

"Kiss," he stated plainly. With a grin at his innocence, she leaned over and pressed her lips to the top of his curly brown hair.

Jojo stood up and walked towards the window, her face unreadable as she prepared herself. "Bye," she whispered, sparing Jake one last look before she jumped through.

The warm summer air blew lightly around her as she fastened the window shut again, and she realized with a jolt that she hadn't figured out what she would do once she made it outside of her house. She couldn't just leave New Bark Town without a Pokémon; weak as the wild ones on Route 29 were, she was not interested in capturing any of them, and starting a Pokémon journey without Pokémon was both dangerous and dumb.

Jim had worked as an aide for Professor Elm, helping with the intense usage of Bill's PC required for his research. They had worked out a deal together; Elm would give Jojo one of the three traditional Johto starters and a Pokédex. They referred to it as a "win-win situation"–Jojo got a rare and soon-to-be powerful Pokémon along with a very useful device while Elm received data for every Pokémon she came across.

Cyndaquil, Chikorita, and Totodile were known as Johto's "starter" Pokémon due to the fact that they were the first three listed in the Johto Pokédex, as well as them being completely unavailable outside of Johto. Breeders found them nearly impossible to breed as the vast majority of the species were male. They were not in high demand outside of Johto, though that was more of a pride thing; most trainers would rather have a starter from their home region, if only to represent where they were from. The only thing they could be profitably bred for was research, so Jojo was considerably excited to find out she would be getting one.

And you still can, she thought suddenly. Instinctively, she began walking towards Professor Elm's lab. It's not stealing if it would have belonged to you anyway, right?

It was a short walk, barely ten minutes, and Jojo found herself outside of a low window that led to the lab her father used to work at. She realized with mild amusement that her heart was pounding unnaturally fast and her palms were exceedingly sweaty. She stifled a little giggle as she pushed the unlocked window open and slipped through.

The lab was dark, but she had been there enough times to find her way around with little struggle. Jojo walked into the Pokémon storage room slightly apprehensively, before taking a steadying breath and squaring her shoulders confidently.

She marched down the aisle, looking for the row marked "C". She had decided weeks ago that Cyndaquil, being the cutest and most powerful of the starters, would be the perfect Pokémon for her. But as she got to the row, she paused. She was in the lab of an esteemed Pokémon professor, who probably had every Pokémon ever discovered. She had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity–any Pokémon she wanted, no strings attached. In typical Jojo fashion, she kept walking.

Jojo found the "S" row and turned, walking slowly down the aisle. She wanted what was perhaps her favorite Pokémon, Skitty. They were adorable, cuddly, and pink–if that wasn't the perfect Pokémon, she didn't know what was. She bent low to read the labels on the shelves, squinting as she struggled in the low lighting. She leaned forward slightly, trying to make out the writing, when she lost her balance and stumbled onto the shelf.

Poké Balls tumbled off the shelf as she tried to catch herself. Jojo gasped as the bright fluorescent lights came on–along with a blaring alarm. Panicking, she grabbed the nearest ball and bolted to the open window. But as she ran, only one thought crossed her mind.

No turning back.

Author's Note

Hellooooo, FFN! You may or may not remember me, and you may or may not remember this story. If you didn't recognize it, it is a reboot of Ever After, an old story of mine. If you did recognize it…it's back and (hopefully!) better than ever. Hopefully you weren't overwhelmed by the amount of "J" names, and hopefully you're willing to stick around for the next chapter!

Thank you all for simply reading this! I'll be back with chapter two soon; hope to see you then!

~Irene