Title: Summer Brave

Author: The DayDreaming

Warnings: Something I forgot to mention in the first chapter is that this story is in the same universe as my other story, "Words that We Couldn't Say." If you wanna spoil yourself with Touya's end-party, then that's the place to look. ;)

Summary: -game novelization- They had drunk time in listless summer days; but now that the world unfolds before them, it is a bitter drop that poisons the soul. "Why does it always feel like I'm chasing someone beyond my reach?" / Isshushipping, NxTouya

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arc one: Summer

Chapter 2: a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

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"It's…it's an…oshawott," he mumbles.

It's a sullen-looking creature, exuding none of the pep and vibrancy of the other starters. It stares at him, then quickly glances to Mom, and at her nod, looks back at him with the most resigned face a sea otter can possibly have.

"It is, isn't it!" she coos, patting his head. "Just like my starter when I was your age!"

"Yeah…just like it…," he watches the oshawott, trying not to let his disappointment come through his voice as the otter scrambles into the box on the table.

"I thought you'd be more excited, Touya! This is a gift from your dad, you know!"

"W-what! Really?" he gasps. The oshawott pops out of the box and waves an envelope around. It's yellowed with age, and a bit crinkled around the edges, but the slur of his father's familiar handwriting catches his eye and he knows it's from him.

He catches the envelope as the oshawott tosses it to him and then busies itself shimmying out of the box. He flips the thick bundle over and sighs in disappointment at the sight of the words "Don't Open Until You've Left Home!"

"Oooh, how just like your father," your mother sighs, leaning over your shoulder. It's a fond sigh that she often gives when staring wistfully at the photos framed over the kitchen sink. "Always a romantic, with a place and time for everything. He wouldn't take me to the movies until nighttime and never lit candles until after eight, you know."

Touya does know, but pretends that this is all information he's never heard before, because his mother likes the reminiscing and he likes to hear it, again and again. The man his father had been when he was at home.

"Yeah…," he grips the envelope a little tighter and reaches to pet the oshawott. It almost rears back to bite him, but at the last moment hesitates, flicking its eyes over to his mother and holding still. The white fur of its head is a little stiff, and as he roves his hand over to scritch behind the small blue ears, almost velvet-like in their consistency, it leans into his touch.

His mother glances at the clock on the wall and gasps. "The time! It's almost ten! I told the Professor you'd be at her lab by now! C'mon, let's go—" she pulls his arm. "Call him back, and then go get your sister and friends. Quickly, go!"

He stumbles at the force and scrambles for the old pokeball, pressing the button and releasing a spray of light. The first attempt misses the frowning oshawott by a mile, but when he tries again, the beam hits cleanly.

I just recalled my first pokemon, Touya thinks faintly in his mind as he rushes up the stairs. It's almost too surreal to believe. Something he had watched others do constantly on TV and read about in books, and he had just done it, too!

He resists the urge to pump his fist in the air.

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Professor Juniper gives her usual speech, with the same exact words and phrasing that she uses every year. Generally, the kids she graduates have traveled from all over Unova to meet her and obtain their starter pokemon, so the formal introduction makes sense, but the fact that she's reintroducing herself to children she's known since their births is a bit ridiculous.

Touya remembers watching how those new trainers would act, all serious and stunned, their eyes wandering in awe. He hadn't understood then, why the world seemed so new and wondrous to those boys and girls standing so shyly at the sides of their partners.

He still doesn't, not really. But something a bit like eagerness and excitement bubbles in his chest as the Professor examines their companions closely, making last minute checks and explaining some of the finer details in raising them.

His oshawott stands apart from the others, eyes wandering lazily over the lab instruments. From what he can gather, the pokemon is a loner by nature, but as he catches it glancing over to the other starters huddled closely together and chattering between themselves, it almost seems like it wants to join in, but can't bring itself to. As if sensing his gaze, its attention latches onto him. He gives a little waggle of his fingers and the otter looks put out, but waves back.

"Woooow, you kids! It looks like these guys have already seen a battle!" Professor Juniper whistles, writing something admiringly on her clipboard. "Not bad for a first day, huh? Your oshawott looks particularly robust, Touya. I remember when this little guy came in for registration years ago!"

If the little otter knows her, it doesn't show it, and rolls out of the way of her probing fingers when she tries to grip the scalchop secured to its chest. She laughs, writing something else on the board. "Still a bit anxious about touch. Understandable, since this one came from the wild; he only ever liked your dad."

"He? My dad?" Touya asks. He hadn't realized how perfectly fine he was with calling the thing an 'it.' Bianca is the best out of the lot of them at determining genders, while he and Touko bottom out at the worst.

"Yup. It's hard to tell when they're young, though. But I remember from when your father brought him in. By the way, have you maybe considered giving him a nickname?" Professor Juniper turns to him, pen hovering over her thoroughly inked papers like a sentinel.

"Ah, not…really," Touya mumbles, eyeing the oshawott, trying to place key characteristics into a name. But that feels incredibly stupid and unoriginal. Who names their pokemon 'Oshi' or 'Wo-wo?' Or 'Rain' and 'Storm?'

Professor Juniper smiles at the panicked look slowly creeping across his face. "It's okay, Touya. You don't have to do it right now. It might actually be better to consult with your pokemon carefully before making such decisions. It's a partnership, after all."

"O-oh…right. Okay," he blushes and attempts to pull his cap down further.

"Alright. If you come up with a name, phone me and I'll record it. Now, to get onto the real business," Juniper smiles and places her clipboard aside. She gestures for the four to stand in a line. "Do you kids know why you're here today?"

"It's so that we can officially become registered pokemon trainers. A qualified Pokemon League official is the only person allowed to assign trainers their starters, as well as hand out trainer cards," Cheren says matter-of-factly, adjusting his glasses as though it's no big deal to have memorized the entire League rulebook.

"Good, Cheren! But that's not the only thing," the Professor turns to the desk behind her, pulling out a box. From within the confines of the cardboard she pulls out a small rectangular device, the pokeball emblem emblazoned on the cover. "Do you guys know what this is?"

Cheren sucks in air through his teeth, twitching his fingers as the professor begins handing the devices out. "A Pokedex…you mean, Professor…?"

"That's right!" Juniper winks playfully at them, handing the last Pokedex to Bianca. "I'm entrusting you all with a very important task! You don't have to accept, but it would do me the greatest favor if you four could go out and explore the world, collecting as much information as possible.

"It's been many years since I've given anyone one of these guys. But I trust you all to take care of it and fill in the pages to the best of your ability. You're all promising trainers, and even though it may be hard, I believe that you will succeed in your individual journeys. So how about it?"

They remain silent for a moment, looking among themselves searchingly. Many trainers get by on training only a few pokemon, but maintaining a Pokedex requires a more vigorous regimen. Touko smirks, gripping the device fiercely.

"Of course we'll accept! We've been waiting our entire lives for this!" she proclaims, pulling the arms of Cheren and Touya on either side of her together. "We're so ready!"

The Professor chuckles and gathers them all into her arms. "I'm gonna miss you guys. Nuvema is going to be a lot less exciting without you here."

"Aw, don't feel sad, Professor! We'll stay in touch!" Bianca coos. It's just like her to be setting herself free from the anchor of Nuvema, only to make sure to tie herself down with strings of promises. Already she's told Touya's mother the same exact thing, and no doubt her own mother as well. Maybe she's promised to bring something back for the little girl down the street, always carrying around her teddiursa doll.

Professor Juniper holds them a little longer, squeezing tightly and then sighing when she lets go. "I feel old. Just look what you kids have done to me," she gestures to the slight crow's-feet around her eyes. "I guess it hasn't been so bad, but alas, now I feel like I don't need kids with the way I take care of you guys.

"Alright, well," she walks past and opens the doors leading out of the lab. "Meet me at the tall grass on Route 1. I'll demonstrate the proper way to capture a pokemon. Don't be too long, but don't be in a hurry, either. Make sure you finish your goodbyes!" She smiles and exits, letting the metal doors clang behind her.

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As it turns out, Touya and Touko's goodbyes to their mother take a bit longer than expected. The moment they arrive through the door, their individual starters clinging to their hair or hoods, she takes out a birthday cake. It obviously isn't store bought with the way the icing smears across the layers unevenly, and how the large, shaky blue lettering on top, Happy 14th and good luck on your journeys!, runs into the edge of the confection with progressively tinier letters to make everything fit.

It tastes overly sweet, like much of his mother's baking does, but he doesn't mind. He loves sweet things while his sister, unfortunately, can barely stand anything with more than a teaspoon of sugar. (He's seen his mother bake before, and he's pretty sure dumping half the bag into the bowl isn't a defined measurement.) They finish the cake and hug their mother after she gives them new Xtransceivers, telling them to call at least once a week, at least.

Touko has her pink bag slung across her shoulder in record time. She's out the door before Touya is even up the stairs, calling that she's going over to Bianca's, and that she'll see him at the beginning of Route 1. He sighs and sets about cleaning his room a bit, wondering idly if Touko has told Mom about the destruction of her room. The oshawott is walking about the room in quiet wonder, leaping into the clothes hamper or shuffling under the bed.

It takes several calls before the oshawott trots over to him again. He goes to lift him up, but the otter hops out of reach, shaking its head. If being difficult is his partner's main objective, he's succeeding, in Touya's opinion. Maybe he'd mind if people tried manhandling him and carrying him around, but he highly doubts that his partner will fare well on the stairs. But he doesn't want to put the other back into his pokeball either. It's weird to think about, but he's pretty sure the oshawott had been suspended in that pokeball for years now. His dad had left over five years ago, and from what he can tell, this oshawott was obtained (or however it came about that his father got him), even before that.

It makes him slightly sick to think about how long his partner must have been waiting in that dark, dusty box. Are pokemon conscious while inside the pokeball? Can they see what's happening around them, or are they just in some sort of suspended animation until they're released?

What happens if a pokeball breaks?

On that morbid train of thought, Touya watches as the oshawott fumbles his way down the stairs, rolling more than anything. He hugs his mother one last time before heading out the door ("Call me or so help me, I will find you!") and walks slowly so that the oshawott can patter quietly beside him.

Nuvema isn't a large town, and it just so happens that his house is only a ten minute walk to the entrance of Route 1. When he arrives, Cheren is tapping his foot impatiently and staring at the Xtransceiver on his bony wrist. Touko and Bianca are off to the side. From what Touya can see, Bianca is hunched over and trying to hide her eyes under her green beret while Touko rubs her back and tries to peek beneath the other's hidden face.

He coughs to catch their attention, and steps back involuntarily when Touko whips around to shove Bianca behind her.

"Finally!" she shouts, a bit too nervously to really fool him. "We've been waiting forever!"

"Sorry…," he mutters. "By the way…Mom…says…you have maps?"

Touko's face goes blank for a second before brightening. "Oh yeah! I totally was gonna give them…soon. Ish. Yes." She digs around in her bag for a bit, shoving things aside. Behind her, he can see Cheren twitching at the disorganization. "Here we go!"

She hands one to Touya, then tosses another Town Map behind her. Cheren catches it, though his glare darkens further. The last map she quietly hands to Bianca, who takes it and nods her head quietly when Touko whispers something in her ear. She rubs her face roughly with an arm before turning to face Touya with a smile. He ignores the red rims of her eyes.

"Are we ready now?" Cheren scoffs, checking his watch once more. "I'd like to try and be in Accumula by tonight."

"Yeah, yeah…sourpuss," Touko grumbles. They line up right before the official start of Route 1, toeing the line between old paved road and dusty dirt tracks. Touya's oshawott watches curiously as they link arms, forming a human chain. He sidles up beside Touya, grasping his pant leg and lifting his foot to mimic his trainer.

"Oh, that's so cute!" Bianca squeals before unhooking her arms from Cheren's and Touko's to release her Ivy. It shakes its head in confusion as it glances around. "If we're going to take the first step of our journey together, it should be with our pokemon, too!"

Touko gives a small 'oh!' before also releasing Pepper, and Cheren follows her example with a long-suffering sigh.

"Is this necessary?" he almost-whines (because Cheren never whines; he complains in a completely manly and powerful way). Touko stomping on his foot is the only answer he receives.

With all of their pokemon out and poised to take their first step, Bianca gives the call, "One, two—" and on the third count they all step forward. It's not as coordinated as they thought it would be, with Touko leaping forward and Bianca's foot getting caught in her skirt, causing the entire chain to be dragged to the ground, but it's something.

His oshawott gives him an unimpressed stare at ground-level while Touya stands to brush himself off. "It's…always like this," he mutters. The oshawott pats his head to knock out a stray pebble.

The four teens collect themselves and begin moving again, their partners running off in front of them. Touya's oshawott keeps an even pace with his trainer, looking around vigilantly (though for what, Touya isn't sure). Cheren's own oshawott, a naïve girl with an odd white spot on her right ear, named Lily, trails after his oshawott in an awed stupor, tentatively trying to catch his attention with feeble coos and an insistent tapping on his arm.

It's cute until Touya's oshawott begins to grow annoyed, barking at the other, though she doesn't take the hint. When she just grabs onto his arm entirely, he shoves her to the ground and scrambles up Touya's leg and side until he's fully perched on the other's shoulder.

"He's delightful," Cheren sneers, picking up Lily by her scruff.

"Sorry…," Touya murmurs. Oshawott doesn't even have the decency to look cowed.

The afternoon sun warms their backs as they wander along the old dirt path, sweat gathering on their brows. Touya almost wishes he could strip his shirt and jump into the nearby river, but contents himself with petting the cool fur of the otter pokemon on his shoulder. The first few strokes cause the little otter to tense, but as he grows used to Touya's fingers weaving their clumsy way through his fur, he lapses into a bout of languid ease.

The minutes while away and he recalls his dreams, but every time he looks over his shoulder, Nuvema is still there, small and quaint and ordinary and boring. It's almost surreal how very boring everything is, suddenly. Perhaps he was under the impression that the moment he set out on his journey, there would be no room to breathe in-between bouts of battling and exploring and training.

So far, it's just a lot of walking.

Professor Juniper comes into sight about an hour into the trek, basking in the sun on a fold-out chair. Where she got the chair from is a mystery, because she certainly didn't set out from the lab with one. She waves to them and stands, stretching her back.

"I said take a bit of time, not a decade," she sighs, but smiles afterwards. "Ah well. I've been meaning to work on my tan. I spend too many hours cooped up in the lab as it is!"

Touya has heard his mother sometimes talk about how Professor Aurea Juniper was a Backpacker; just a girl and her father running around and living off the land. Sometimes he can see it in the way she stands, gung ho and ready; in the way she walks, like she's not quite used to standing without something heavy to weigh her back down; and in the way she maps the land with her eyes, always seeming to know the best places to find pokemon.

"Let's begin Pokemon Catching 101, then," she smiles. She pulls a retracted pokeball from her pocket and begins to tread through the tall grass on the side of the road. The group follows her. The normal hesitation has vanished now that wild pokemon lurking in the foliage can be fought off with their own starters.

Catching pokemon is an easy affair. The Professor's minccino makes quick work of an aggressive patrat that had jumped out of a patch of dark weeds. With a flick of her wrist, she casts the ball and hits her mark, and watches calmly as the ball shakes, then settles, into the dirt.

"It's as easy as riding a bike, except without the falling," she explains.

"Yeah! And if you fail, you only have a rage-blinded creature going at your throat!" Touko adds chirpily, scanning the grass for anymore stray pokemon.

Now that Juniper is finished with her demonstration, the group has been challenged to capture a pokemon before the Professor heads back to Nuvema. While Touko caught a lillipup swiftly and precisely, Bianca's Ivy keeps fainting, Cheren's angry kicking at the grass is scaring away any potential attackers, and Touya's oshawott defeats the pokemon and makes them run before he has a chance to try and capture them.

"Can you…try to…tone it down? Even…a little?" he asks the otter. Oshawott merely pats him on the end before trotting off.

"It's nice that he likes you so much," Juniper says conversationally, coming up behind him.

"Yeah…but," Touya fiddles with his cap. "Um…he doesn't listen to me. At all. He…kinda…"

He gestures hopelessly at his starter, whom has taken to shooting a barrage of Water Guns at a chittering patrat. The assault does not cease until the poor creature is scampering away. Oshawott releases a pleased snort.

The Professor regards him and his partner with a considering gaze, shifting between Touya's nervous fidgeting and the oshawott's charged demeanor. She shrugs, "Guess you'll just have to learn, my little greenhorn trainer."

A rustling patch of grass catches Touya's eye, the pink shape within giving away the audino about to emerge. Juniper grips his shoulder and gives it a reassuring squeeze and a cheerful "Go get 'em!" before wandering off.

Audino's are incredibly cute, in Touya's opinion. They're pink and squishy, and generally don't cause trouble. One time, as a child, when he had scraped his knee falling down a tree, one had come up to him and relinquished its oran berry. It had even allowed him to hug it for comfort until his tears dried up and he could bear to walk home. That being said, the creatures are about as nonviolent as pokemon can get, aside from those trapped in a chrysalis state.

That of course means his oshawott sees the approaching audino as a threat and immediately goes into action, tackling the unsuspecting pokemon and spitting a Water Gun into its face at pointblank range.

"Oh…no! Stop! Uh, please," Touya scrambles over and attempts to pry the manic otter away. The audino is giving out a heart-wrenching series of shrieks. The moment he manages to pull his oshawott away, it begins to fumble blindly until it reaches Touya's chest, arms full and struggling against his starter. Without preamble, it starts pounding Touya's face with strength belying its squishy pink frame. He drops his oshawott as quickly as he can to curl in on himself and shield his front.

At one particularly hard hit, he lets out a little scream, prompting his dazed oshawott to action. He remorselessly tackles the audino, hopping back once he's landed to charge away and tackle again. The wild audino is knocked to the ground, growling in response to the pain, though the oshawott ignores this and shoots another Water Gun.

Touya uncurls from his fetal position in time to see the audino get knocked out, his oshawott kicking its limp body before trotting over to his side. The oshawott gestures to the prone pokemon, almost as though he's presenting it to Touya as some sort of prize. He waits patiently until Touya mumbles a faint 'thank you,' then clambers up the other's clothes to reach his shoulder to pat the red marks littering his trainer's face from the audino's Pound attack.

"Should we be concerned?" Cheren asks, eyeing the pair from a distance.

"About what?" Bianca asks in return.

"Well…it just seems like Touya's partner could be a mass murderer, is all."

"Oh. Hm. Maybe he's just hungry?"

For the taste of flesh, Cheren replies mentally, but goes back to stomping in the grass without another word.

Meanwhile, Touya fervently prays for some sort of a miracle. The oshawott has jumped down from his shoulder and begun kicking the audino's head. He thinks he's been partnered to a mass murderer.

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1) Juniper as a Backpacker: read it on Bulbapedia, too awesome to not be true.

2) Audino: I never stayed on Route 1 long enough to get any shaking grass, but when I looked it up, I couldn't believe I could get Audino. Stupid, because they pop up everywhere there's grass.

3) Oshawott: Touya's oshawott is troubling me. I decided that everyone would get nicknames, because it's annoying to have to keep calling them by their real names. But I could just capitalize their names and not have to define them by the person possessing them. Except no. My story. Whatever. But the oshawott doesn't get a name for now, so I have to keep calling him 'the oshawott.' This will change. At some point. Yeah. I hate myself, because it is so very annoying to write.

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So, we inch along on our journey towards Accumula. I swear, for this story, it's not the Pokemon League I'm shooting for, it's getting to the next friggin' town!

Some things were out of order in this chapter. Why? This is not a carbon copy of the games. Hell, you may even notice that some things happen without Touya being there, because Touko is in existence. Like the scene at Bianca's house, or getting the town maps. Will it always be this slow-paced? I certainly hope not. Unfortunately, I just can't get a feel for this story and its tone. I am really regretting choosing present-tense. You guys may just find that I've revamped the story into past-tense the next time I update.

Eh, actually, I'll give a vote. Who wants this story in past-tense?

That being said, it looks like Touya's oshawott is more of a handful then we thought it would be! Sorry to disappoint anyone. I have really forgotten to mention: THIS STORY IS SET IN THE SAME UNIVERSE AS "WORDS THAT WE COULDN'T SAY." You can actually get the spoilers for Touya's final line-up by reading that story. That's not to say that Touya will immediately start out with those guys. Because uh. Bad things happen to early pokemon. ;-; That's all I'm going to say regarding the matter.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I know this story isn't much. It's really boring and stuff, but it's the way I write. How thrilling were the beginnings of the games? Pretend this is an exercise in putting yourselves in the character's shoes. Nuvema is as boring as this story, no doubt.

(Regarding the party pokemon, oh geez I feel saaaaad. I'm getting towards the end of Pokemon Black, and my new party is guh lovely. I still love my party from White, but now my interests are split! Geeeeez! Why'd I have to go and decide the pokemon already?)

Thanks for reading, and have a Happy Valentine's Day! And please review to show me how much you love me and my terrible writing, kaaaay? I won't be able to update until at least March, since my schoolwork has built up, but I hope people enjoy the three offerings of fic I made today! I feel dead, so NEVER AGAIN!