Pokemon the Journey: Book One: Sinnoh - Chapter 1: Piplup's A Jerk

"Sylvia, get up!" I heard from the other side of the door.

I refused to move or speak.

"Sylvia!"

No answer.

"Sylvia, it's 5:45 and your plane leaves at 8:00. You need to get moving! Be sure that you don't forget your Trainer's Permit so you can get on that plane yourself, alright?"

"Got it..." I mumbled, falling out of bed.

Bad move. I hit my head on the table and now it hurt like all heck. "Ow..." I got up and slowly got dressed. Man, I didn't like this. I wore my regular outfit, which consisted of a pair of jeans, a T-shirt that looked like it was sliced in half diagonally between two colors, the top being white and the bottom being pink, and I placed my cyan and white sneakers in my travel bag, putting on winter attire over my Trainer attire. My winter attire consisted of white snow pants, a light pink coat with fuzzy stuff on the inside of the hood and sleeves, pink gloves, and a white hat to contrast my light pink hair. I'm pretty sure my blue eyes stood out.

So my color scheme is similar to that of a Sylveon, does that matter? I mean, come on. It's just colors. Besides, those are my three favorite colors and Fairy just happens to be one of my favorite types. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.

I'm not obsessed with Sylveon. I just use it as my mascot as an excuse to dress up in these colors.

Finally ready, I walked out of my room. My mom clapped her hands together and smiled. "You look gorgeous, Sylvia!" she exclaimed.

"Mom, this is how I usually look," I told her.

Mom rolled her eyes, still smiling, and placed a hand on my shoulder. "I know, but this time is the last time I'll be able to see you like this!"

I shook my head. "I'll come visit! Besides, I gotta come back home anyway to battle the Gym, so while I'm here on my journey, I'll be sure to come see you!" I beamed at Mom and kissed her on the cheek.

"Oh, baby..." Mom cooed, pulling me in for a hug. "I love you. I'm gonna miss you, you know?"

I nodded. "I know. But I'll write letters. And if I don't send them to you, I'll give them to you when I visit. Then you can think of me all the time."

Mom nodded. "Alright, baby. You sure you got everything?"

I nodded. "I'll be alright. Besides, Dad lives in Twinleaf Town and he has some of the things I need."

Mom nodded. "Okay. You be a good girl, alright?"

I nodded. "I will. I promise."

I left the house and waved my mom goodbye, wading through the snow and making it to the airport.

Long story short, I got to Twinleaf Town, since I don't want to go through all that shenanigans again.

When I arrived at Twinleaf Town, I instantly found a bathroom to change out of my snowy gear and somehow I stuffed it inside my bag. I pulled out my sneakers, now wearing my full Trainer attire. I felt powerful like this! And strange. I've never walked through a public place without snowy stuff on.

I looked around at all the people, suddenly feeling small. When I left the airport, the sun was bright, but I hardly expected it to be so warm. I shivered, feeling my skin suddenly heat up. This was a fast change...

I walked through Twinleaf Town. It was bigger than I thought. The maps all said it was a pretty small place, but I should've known better than to trust a video game where only four buildings were inside of it. It was way larger! Many buildings lined up a fairly large road and no cars drove on it. Many people were walking along the road, chatting and conversing with their neighbors. Although it still was pretty small. About as small as a neighborhood or two, I'd say.

What a beautiful place... I wonder if I can--

Suddenly, I heard someone yelling something in the distance. "...way out of my way out of my way OUT OF MY WAY OUT OF MY WAY!!!"

Before I knew it, something crashed into me from behind, knocking me down. My head instantly hit the ground and my head began to hurt. I groaned, trying to gain a bearing of what just happened.

"Ugh... I told you to get out of my way!" Someone's loud noise pounded my head. "I'm gonna have to fine you for that!"

I turned around, still rubbing my aching head. "Ugh... Y-your voice hurts..." I mumbled to him.

He was suddenly quiet, which I was grateful for, but I didn't know why. When the pain faded away enough to think, I realized that he'd been quiet a long time and glanced up at him. "Uh, are you okay?" I asked.

"W-what!? Oh, uh, yeah! But you're gonna be fined!" he yelled.

"Easy," I told him. "I don't have all that much money..."

The obnoxious blonde crossed his arms and frowned at me. "Then you'll be in debt."

I giggled, thinking he was joking. He probably was. "But I'm not 'In Debt,'" I told him, preparing a cool dad joke. "I'm Sylvia."

"Yeah, well I'm Barry," he finally revealed. "And I still wanna fine you!"

My eyes suddenly widened. "OH MY GOSH! Are your eyes ORANGE?! That's so cool!" I exclaimed. Yes, this is how I normally act. Don't judge.

Barry blushed and averted my gaze. "Er... t-thanks?"

"Anyway, I'm new in town. I was hoping you could help me, Barry," I explained. "See, I'm from Snowpoint City, and--"

"Snowpoint City?! Isn't that all the way across the region?!" Barry exclaimed.

"W-well yeah, but anyway, my dad lives here. You wouldn't happen to know anyone by the name of Sora Reviar, do you?" I asked him.

Barry thought for a moment. "Actually, yeah! I do! He's that old geezer with the cute kid and fat wife, isn't he?"

While I was okay with him calling my half-sister cute, my step mom wasn't fat and my dad wasn't old! Even if he looked it...

"Y-yeah, them. I don't know where they live. Would it bother you too much to take me there?" I asked him. "Please?"

Barry sighed. "C'mon."

As Barry led me to the house, I noticed he didn't seem too fond of Dad or my step mom, Olivia. I sighed. "What do you have against Dad and Olivia?" I asked him.

Barry turned around, as though not expecting me to speak. "Huh? Oh, well..." He sighed. "Their little girl, Sally, she's so cute and so nice that it's hard to believe that she's the daughter of two... Well, two jerks!"

I was worried. "Why... Why do you call them jerks?"

Barry suddenly looked infuriated. "Not only is Sora old, but he always says the worst things about Pokemon! 'Pokemon are demons that no one should care about'! 'Maybe people should listen to Team Rocket for once'! 'No one needs Pokemon'! Ugh! It's exhausting and infuriating to think about! I wish I could fine him!"

I sighed. "I know. Dad's always been tough about Pokemon. Knowing him, he wants Sally to grow up into anything BUT a Pokemon Trainer. But Dad means well. He doesn't know any better. I know I'm saying this about my own dad, but... He was raised in a kinda..." I tried to find the right words. "...well, for lack of another world, strict place. When he was a kid, his family had gone through a bad experience with Pokemon. I think it scarred him since then. When my mom divorced with my dad, she took my siblings and I, claiming that she'll make sure we became Pokemon Trainers. That's why I'm here today," I told him.

Barry stopped near a house and stared at me. "Y-you're starting your adventure today?" he asked, wide-eyed. He grinned. "Me too! Actually, I was heading over to Sandgem Town right now!"

I widened my eyes. "Really?" I asked him. "Is Sandgem Town where Professor Rowan lives? I thought it was here!"

Barry shook his head. "There's Route 201 between us, but it's not even that long. At least, so I've heard. Anyway, Sandgem Town's the place to go. Sometimes Rowan comes here to give us Pokemon, but I can't wait that long!"

I was surprised. "You can't? But you should wait! I mean, it could be dangerous! My mom always told me never to go into the tall grass!"

Barry leaned against Dad's mailbox. "Pssh! Nonsense! In fact, you can come with me! Anyway, here's your dad's house. I'll be waiting outside when you're done, 'kay?"

I sighed. "Fine..." I walked up to my dad's door and knocked. I heard a faint "I got it!" and little footsteps that weren't spaced out enough to be a grown person.

Sally! She opened the door. "Hiya Sylvia!" she exclaimed. "Are you gonna stay with us?"

I giggled and hugged my adorable half-sister. "Sorry Sal, but I'm leaving as soon as I leave everything I need to keep here."

"Aww!" Sally pouted. "Well, come back when you get your Pokemon, okay? I wanna see it!"

That got the attention of my dad and step mom. My dad scowled at me. "Pokemon? Again? I've told you, those things are little demons!"

I glanced at my dad, suddenly feeling heavy. "I-I'm sorry..."

"Don't apologize, Sylvia. You're still getting a Pokemon, aren't you?"

I nodded.

"Then you don't deserve to be here. Leave."

My eyes widened. "You're kicking me out?"

Olivia hugged Sally close to her. "You're a bad influence on Sally! Now unless you have something meaningful to say or do, leave!"

I couldn't believe my eyes and ears. I was gone for five years, my dad doesn't care that I've come to visit him before I leave on my journey, AND they're taking my own half-sister away from me?!

It wasn't fair!

"Now."

I ran out, crying. Barry noticed instantly and hugged me. I didn't care that we'd just met, I needed someone to hug.

I heard the door close loudly. Barry's grip on me tightened. I didn't want to face anyone now.

No. I needed a Pokemon. I was going to prove my dad wrong.

I pulled away, sniffing. "S-sorry. I guess that was a bit awkward, wasn't it?"

Barry shook his head. "I don't know what your dad did, but I'm pretty sure you don't want to go back, is that right?"

I nodded. "He kicked me out."

"What?!"

"Yeah. He said that since I was getting a Pokemon, I didn't deserve to be in his house. He said that unless I had something useful to say or do, I should leave."

Barry frowned. "Wow. What a ray of sunshine." He sighed. "What'd you want to do at his house, anyway?"

"Just drop off some stuff, but now I can't go there. I'm pretty sure my older sibling can't either." I paused, wondering if Barry heard of them. "Uh, my sibling's Kaede Reviar. Ever heard of them?"

Barry gasped instantly.

Well, that answered that question.

"THE CHAMPION OF SINNOH IS YOUR OLDER SIBLING!?" he screamed at the top of his lungs.

At least, it sounded that way. If he didn't, I think he could even scream louder than me, and that was saying a lot.

"Y-yeah," I muttered, still covering my poor ears. Oh boy, this was gonna be a tough ride. "I guess you do know 'em. And if Dad knows of their triumph in the Pokemon League, which more likely than not, he does, then this poses trouble for our family..."

Barry calmed down. "Uh... I-I'm sorry."

I sighed. "It's fine. Welp, I was kicked out of Dad's house, I've got no money to go back to Snowpoint City, and I really have nowhere to go except forward. Looks like we are getting Pokemon early."

Barry instantly lit up. "Really?! Alright, c'mon!" He grabbed my wrist and dashed incredibly fast to the edge of town. I could hardly keep up! Before I knew it, we were out of town and heading straight for some tall grass.

I skidded my feet, planting them into the ground. "No! Nuh-uh! We're not going in the tall grass!" I exclaimed, pulling my hands out of his grip.

Barry stopped. "Oh, c'mon!" he exclaimed. "This is the only way we're getting there! Unless you got someplace else to wait around for Rowan to get you a Pokemon!"

I gulped. This was it. Some wild Shinx was gonna jump out at me and zap my face off!

"F-fine. But we're going together!" I exclaimed.

He grinned. "Fine by me!" He grabbed my hand again, holding it firmly. "Ready?"

I nodded. "Ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

We looked ahead. "Ready..." he began.

"Set..."

"GO!" we yelled, but none of us moved, as something caught our eye. Or rather, someone. It was a boy in a red cap, carrying a briefcase. He ran through the tall grass and right past us. "Pardon!" he exclaimed. He sounded out of breath.

We turned around, me pulling my hand out of Barry's grasp. The boy ran into some woods, using a hand to keep his hat on. His scarf trailed behind him a little bit.

"What's up with that?" Barry wondered aloud. "C'mon! Let's go check it out!"

"No way! We don't know where that leads!" I exclaimed.

"You don't, but I do," he smirked. "That's Lake Verity. Legend has it that a Mythical Pokemon resides there!"

I furrowed my eyebrows and frowned, placing my hands on my hips. "Well, that's just a legend, right?"

"Well yeah, but when it comes to Pokemon, many legends are real!" Barry exclaimed. "There's probably a cool, rare Pokemon there!"

I shook my head and crossed my arms. "No way! There's probably a bunch of Starly and Bidoof there!"

"Well, only one way to find out, right?" Barry ran ahead of me a little and smirked.

I sighed. "Just so you know, if anything happens, I'm blaming you."

Barry grinned. "Neat!"

My reaction exactly.

We raced to the woods. Of course, he beat me by a landslide. I'm an awful runner. "Woohoo! I wi--huh?"

My gaze traveled in front of us to where he was looking. There, the same boy from before and an old man in a lab coat were doing some sort of research. I think one of them had a sample of the lake water for some reason. The man in the lab coat placed the vial with the sample in his lab coat pocket and walked off, right toward us. Barry and I panicked and hid before he could see us. The boy walked past us. I think he saw me, but he didn't say a word. When they left, Barry and I left from the bushes where we hid and walked over to the area where they were. They totally forgot their briefcase!

Barry and I walked over to it. Somehow, nothing came after us when we were in the tall grass. I picked up the briefcase. "We should return it to him," I told Barry.

"Are you kidding?! And not check what's inside? Where's the fun in that?!"

I glared at him. "This doesn't belong to us! We don't have a right to snoop around in it!"

"Yeah, but who cares about all that? Let's just open this baby up and--"

"Grow up, Barry! Would you like it if other people poked around in your things?!"

Barry paled. "Uh, S-Sylv?"

"Not now! We need to return this briefcase to the man and the kid with him!"

"Sylv..."

"Barry, I have no time for your nonsense! Let's just--" I turned around to the faces of a whole TON of Starly. And they all looked angry at US.

Barry and I backed to the edge of the lake. "N-now do you have time?!"

I paled. "W-what now?!"

Barry turned to the briefcase. "Open it up! See if there's anything we can use!"

I whirled to face him. "Are you crazy!? What if there are some important documents that we damage by accident?!"

"JUST DO IT WE'RE GONNA DIE OTHERWISE!"

Can't argue with that. I quickly opened up the briefcase and spilled out its contents. Three Poke Balls! What luck!

"Grab one!" I exclaimed to Barry. We both were about to grab a single one, but then I quickly shifted my hand to another ball.

"Okay," he said, standing up. "What now?!"

"I saw this on TV," I told him. "We just toss the ball and say a phrase or something involving the name of the Pokemon inside. Maybe we just toss them?"

"Here goes nothing," Barry muttered. He tossed his Poke Ball into the air. It emitted a light that formed into a Turtwig. "Wow! A Turtwig!"

I creased my brows, swiftly tossing my ball up into the air, just like in tennis. Unfortunately, just like in tennis, the ball ended up landing behind me.

Into the water.

Oh joy.

The ball opened up and I prayed that the Pokemon in that Poke Ball was a Water-type.

Fortunately, it was! A Piplup emerged from the ball. "All right!" I exclaimed. "You're not weak to water!"

Piplup looked very unamused that I accidentally tossed his ball into the water.

I heard a ton of high-pitched screeches of Starly and suddenly, my back began to burn while I was shoved into the water. Wow. That was painful.

What's worse is that lakes are made of saltwater, so my wounds hurt even more. My eyes burned, so I closed them and frantically swam to the top. I was a much better swimmer than a runner, so fortunately just as I was running out of air, I made it to the top. Barry was valiantly fighting the Starly. He and his Turtwig seemed to be in perfect sync right away, but the PIplup was still swimming beside me, doing nothing.

"Piplup, do something!" I screamed at him.

He huffed and turned his head in refusal.

I gasped and glared at Pip. "Look! Just do this one thing, alright?! I might not even choose you when I become a fully-fledged Trainer, but please! Those Starly are going to hurt Barry and if I'm unable to do anything because of YOU, I'll blame it on myself!"

Piplup gave me a sideways glare and launched himself out of the water, rapidly attacking the Starly with Pound and Bubble attacks while Turtwig tried to Absorb energy (which he looked like he was pretty low on).

I sighed in relief and retrieved the Piplup's ball and climbed out of the lake (with effort and help from Barry). I was soaking wet, but I didn't care. Most of the Starly were taken out, but while Turtwig and Piplup were focused on four in front of them, one swerved behind behind Piplup. I don't think Barry noticed it either, but before I knew what I was doing, I ran to Piplup's back and deflected Starly's incoming beak with the Poke Ball.

Bad move. The ball broke and now Piplup was a wild Pokemon. I think Piplup heard the failing of the Poke Ball. I dropped it before it began to shock me. Thankfully, it did shock the Starly, making it fall.

Piplup and Turtwig finished off the remainder of the flock of Starly, but I held a piece of the now-broken Poke Ball in my hands, kneeled on the ground and still soaking wet. "I-I can't believe..." I muttered, shocked at what I'd done.

Barry knelt down to look at the Poke Ball and winced. "There's no way to fix that!"

I nodded. "I know. But now what?"

Just as I said that, the same boy from earlier ran back inside, probably to get the briefcase back. He gasped at the sight before him.

Several (it looked like hundreds) Starly surrounded us, all fainted and lying on the ground. I was kneeling, soaking wet, the briefcase was open and Barry had two Poke Balls in his hands while I was right in front of a broken one, next to Piplup, while Turtwig was next to Barry.

Yeah, that looks kinda bad.

Very bad.

He ran over to us, stunned. "Y... y-you USED the Pokemon?! Oh, the Professor's going to be so angry! W-what happened to you?" he asked, glancing at me.

My eyes still burned, so I was pretty sure he glanced at me? I wasn't sure, but I answered anyway. "These Starly attacked us out of nowhere. Barry and I frantically grabbed the Poke Balls in a hurry. I grabbed Piplup's and accidentally tossed it into the water. While I was distracted, the Starly attacked and shoved me into the water--and hurt my back a whole lot. Anyway, Piplup was released and stuff, we fought, but then one Starly was going to attack Piplup, and I accidentally used the Poke Ball to deflect its attack..." I glanced down at the ruined Poke Ball in shame. "I'm really sorry. We shouldn't have snooped. We shouldn't have gone here without Pokemon. I didn't know. I'm sorry."

Before the boy could say anything, I heard Barry spoke up in front of me. "She's new in town! I'm the one who led her to do this! I'm the one who made her walk into the tall grass with me! Please forgive her, she didn't know! I did and I wasn't mature enough to see that when she told me not to go into the tall grass, she was right..."

The boy spoke up. "W-well, that's great and all, but now what do I tell the professor!?"

"Tell me what, boy?"

"P-Professor!"

I still couldn't see quite well. My eyes began to water, trying to get the salt out of my eyes. My back still burned from all those Starly attacking it at once and the saltwater getting into my skin.

"Hrm... You there. You saved Piplup, didn't you?"

I couldn't see him, so I blindly nodded.

"You're Sylvia, aren't you? Your mother warned me of your arrival. I'm surprised at you. You wouldn't go into the tall grass all willy-nilly. That isn't like you."

"Sir, forgive her! It was my idea! I pushed her into entering the tall grass!" Barry backed me up.

It was sweet of him to try to help me, but I still blamed myself. I could've easily stopped Barry but I didn't.

"If anything, she's had some tough stuff going on! She needs to become a Trainer more than ever! If you choose anyone not to give a Pokemon to, it's me. Just please don't let Sylvia come all this way for nothing! She can't even turn back and go to Snowpoint City anymore and--"

"I am well aware of her situation. Both of your situations."

Both? Barry was in a situation?

"I will give you both Pokemon. But at my lab. Lucas, help Sylvia up. I understand that she's wet, but such is the price of saving Pokemon over herself."

A pair of arms helped me stand up. They were actually pretty strong, but I didn't want to leave myself entirely to him, so I helped as well.

"I shall re-catch Piplup soon. For now, boy--" I think he was referring to Barry, "--I want you to pack the Poke Balls and give me the briefcase. You will also return the Turtwig you used for battle."

I heard him sigh. "Yes, sir..."

A kind of laser noise sounded in my ears when I assumed he returned Turtwig and put it back in the briefcase. After a pause, the Professor made a weird "Hrm" noise. "Very good.

"Now. Let's get you all to my lab."

(Sorry this is kinda lengthy. I think this is a very cool thing, though. Let me know if you like it or not. And see where I can improve! I'd LOVE some constructive criticism! My goal is to grow! Anyway, I'll be gone for about a full week or more, so I won't upload then, but I'll try to squeeze something in tomorrow.)