ミハラ Ariel
"Airi! Breakfast!" Ariel is snapped out of her daze by her mother's call, she placed the doll back where it belongs before going down to eat. The doll bounced at the pillows and landed on its hunches facing the door with its red beady eyes aimed at the door, whoever tries to enter the room will see the doll first, standing guard like an ever faithful sentinel.
Her mother, who just finished setting aside her apron is waiting for her at the table with two sets of tableware, rice, fish, and two bowls of soup. After a soft chorus of "Itadakimasu" they proceeded to eat, occasionally making small talk.
As Ariel and her mother talked, she discovered that her mother seemed to have the memories of her father, though had the body of her mother. Ugh. Is this how other people feel when Kyouko or Imu is the dominant personality? It is creepy. Way, waaaay creepy. Especially how her 'mother' gushed about her 'father.' She briefly entertained the thought of her faux-father and real father holding hands and skipping through the fields. She barely held her meal in before she squashed that thought.
She also learned that her family is friends with the moving company and that her faux-father hand-raised the Vigoroth they had. Also, that her faux-father is a Gym Leader. Now, if she translates that right, it's either a Physical Workout Gym, A Pokemon Gym, a Sports Gym, or the leader of a company named 'Gym' Probably the second one, but the last one isn't to far out there to be disregarded.
"I went into your room earlier to check up on you." Her mother said after they finished. Really, of all the things her 'mother' has to manifest on her faux-mother, she has to inherit her bad habit of sneaking into her room. "I know it's hard to all of a suddenly move into another region, especially since you look really close to your friends there, but I think this will be a good experience for you. We can move back, if you want, but please give your father a chance. You might even like it here."
"Here." Ariel's mother handed her a sheet of paper showing directions to the PetalBurg Gym. The instructions are pretty straight forward. Head north past route 101 to reach the next town, then head East. It'll probably be only an hour or two's walk away.[1] "You should meet Norman first before anything else. I'm sure he doesn't expect us to get settled in this quickly. In fact, I don't think he expected us to move here at all.
A weak urge to make a snarky comment about why they even moved there was quickly buried as Ariel gave thanks for the meal, bid her mother bye, and left the house. For some reason, her usual pairs of boots are missing, so she wore her loafers instead. ...Shouldn't this be in her school locker?
~ ~ ~
The path Ariel is to take is well worn, going through the town and out into the forest. As the girl followed it, she paused a few times to see a girl hopping out of a moving truck, a man running into the forest, and a boy entering a house. She doesn't know why, but for some reason they really stood out from the other townsfolk. It must be their clothes.
Thinking that the man that ran into the forest knows the way to the next town, she decided to trail him. However, as she is about to step into the deep, dark, creepy forest, a
wolf,
villain,
bandit, boy with the most peculiar hairstyle jumped out from behind a tree, in front of
little red riding hood,
heroine,
princess, girl. "Hey kid, where are you going?"
Ariel took one look at the boy and immediately decided that he isn't trustworthy. Only untrustworthy people jump out of hiding in a forest to block another person's way. Besides, he doesn't have a hat. Hats are important, especially to hide that hair.
She side-stepped him and tried to pass him, only to feel him grab her wrist. "I'm talking to you."
Ariel turned to him, then grimaced. She wrenched her arme free then rummaged her bag for something. As soon as she found what she was looking for, she handed it to him.
The corner of the girl's lip twitched into a smile as she watched the boy, fifteen maybe?, place the Alchemist's Hat to cover the white with streaks of yellow hair the boy has. If he's going to talk to her, the least he could do is to wear a cap.
"Petalburg Gym" Hey, he's trustworthy now. He has a cap after all. It's a good cap. Only people with bad caps are bad. He has a good cap, so he's good. But she did give him that cap... Oh, wait! He gave him that cap, and it's a good cap. So now, the boy has a good cap, which makes him a good person. In other words, Ariel made him a better person (By giving him a cap)
"PetalBurg Gym." The boy echoed, a silver brow rising. "Why? Do you have some kind of urgent business there? Leaving without a Pokemon?"
"Tousan." Ariel mumbled, looking at the ground. "Kaasan wants me to see Tousan."
It took a moment, but comprehension lit up the boy's face. "Ah! You mean your father! So you're his daughter? I was sent here to pick you up. I heard you don't have a Pokemon yet. Strange... I swore he said 'son...s' yeah, 'sons'"
"I don't have any brothers" '
Not that I know of, at least. But Kaasan has been very vague about me having sisters...'
The boy shrugged, then proceeded to introduce himself. "Yui Narukami, from both PetalBurg and LittleRoot. My mom lives in PetalBurg and dad makes a living doing something in LittleRoot." he said as he held out his hand for a shake.
"Hajishimashte, watashi wa Mihara Arieru." Ariel bowed, slipping into her native tongue. She was speaking in English, but she doesn't feel comfortable unless she's doing her greetings in Japanese. It seems like she confused the other girl though, judging by how her face is distorting. "Please call me Ai-chan, Airi-chan, or Rie-chan if you like."
"Gomenasai, but... Are you a boy, or a girl?"
Indeed, now that Ariel is taking a closer look, it seems like Yui has a feminine build, and even a fairly feminine name. His/her long hair is tied into a ponytail, looking like a dead animal's tail now that he/she is wearing the hat Ariel gave him/her. He/she wore a white shirt, black pants, and has a blazer tied around his/her waist. He/she has a bandoleer tied around one of his/her thighs with his/her all important (2) Pokeballs on it.
"I'm a girl." Yui deadpanned.
Ariel nodded. A lot of people must have mistaken her for a guy. After all, he's tall, very handsome with her feminine features, a pettanko-
"I'm a what?" Ariel blinked. Did she say that out loud? Uh-oh. Better steer away the conversation.
"What's he doing?" She said while pointing in a random direction. It would have been more convincing if she looked at where she pointed, but Yui glanced anyway.
"I'm not sure. Let's take a look." Yui said as she walked away. Huh, so sh- wait, did she actually point at something interesting?
"Professor, what are you doing?"
Oh, it seems like it was the man from earlier. The man seems to be surprised, since he was doing something in the shade of the trees. Does Yui make it a habit to get the jump on people?
"Oh, Yui. I didn't notice you there. I'm doing Field work." He said, but he seemed to be hiding something at his back.
"What are you hiding" Ariel asked, trying to get a glimpse of whatever's behind the man.
"This? It's noth-" He started, but as he moved to show it the ball slipped from his hand and hit the ground. As it made impact, the red and white ball opened up to reveal a brown and cream colored raccoon with zigzagging fur.
An awkward pause settled in as Yui stared at the man, the man sweating under her glare, and Ariel gazing dreamily at the Pokemon with half-lidded eyes.
"... Professor Birch. Is that the very same Zigzagoon I keep on hearing that's been harassing you every time you do field work? Coincidentally enough for a person who doesn't have a Pokemon to save you with one of your Starter Pokemon?"
"Ahahaha... No?" Birch said, scratching the back of his head, looking quite sheepish.
Her fingers twitched to reach down her bandoleer, but after a second she sighed in resignation. She waved a hand before Ariel's face to snap her out of her daydream. "Rie-chan. This is Professor Birch, a Pokemon Professor"
"Hajishimashte, watashi wa Mihara Arieru." She bowed again. "Ano, Birch-san, what do you do in a 'Field Work'?"
"He stages attacks so that it seems like he's in need of rescuing. I'm guessing other people know, judging how it's only the new trainers that seems to find him and save him with his own Starter giveaways. They get to keep whatever they choose afterwards." Yui answered for him.
Ariel nodded. "It's like a psychological check on how someone will react while on a controlled environment? I see, so it's also a test to see if someone is worthy of the Starters, and a partial lesson on the consequences and rewards of an impulse choice."
Yui looked at Ariel like she just saw a Shiny Mew, unbelieving on what the younger girl just said and how she said it monotonously. "Can you run that by me again? I only understood half of what you said."
Professor Birch on the other hand just guffawed and slung his arms around the short girl. "I like you, Ariel. I'm sure you'll make it far if you choose to be a trainer."
He picked up his satchel bag, showing her several Pokeballs. "Pick one, You'll need it when you visit Norman."
Ariel's eyes hovered over her choices, trying to decide which is best for her. She stopped at one particular ball, and nodded to herself. "This one."
"Ah, Treecko. He's a well-balanced Grass-type. They don't have much support attacks as most Grass Pokemon are concerned, but he is among the fastest." The Professor said, describing as much as he could from the top of his head.
"Do you want him?" He asked.
Ariel nodded, not once tearing her eyes away from the ball in her hands.
"Okay then. Ariel, you're from Unova right?" He asked, earning another nod, albeit hesitantly, from the girl.
"I'd like to borrow your Pokedex if you have one." The words seems late to register, but Ariel searched her bag for her Pokedex. She doesn't know if she does have a Pokedex, but it wouldn't hurt to check.
"Ah that's the one." Birch said as the girl opened one of the many pockets her bag has. Huh. It seems like her school books have been replaced by other things. There's a violet Vial, a cellphone-like device that seemed to be the Pokedex, and some empty cases. He gave the professor the device, who then proceeded to operate it.
"Um, Professor. Why did you press the 'Data Reset' button?" Yui asked from over his shoulder.
"Data Reset bu- Oh no!" The professor tried (and failed) to save the precious research data, Ariel watching passively, only to lose all but one. Everything past the one Snivy data has been deleted, and even then only the name was saved.
The silence was painful to the Professor. He doesn't know how Ariel will react now that he deleted her PokeDex's data.
"Kawaii~" Ariel said, looking away. Birch almost facefaulted, slightly glad that she isn't too angry about what he did. He's wondering what she's looking at and cringed when he saw a pack of Poochyena all snarling at them with fangs bared.
"Rie-chan. What's Kawaii?" Yui asked, grabbing a ball.
"Cute."
"Right. I thought it was something like, Scary, or ugly."
"Girls. I'm pretty sure that this time I'll really need your help." Birch told them
"Yeah, I thought as much." Yui said. "Go! Charmander!"
Yui released an orange-looking Salamander with a flaming tail. Ariel thought they looked very much like Kenru[2] and Flame from Zero no Tsukaima. Must be a Fire type, Ariel nodded to herself.
Ariel mimicked what they did, and from it appeared a bi-pedal, puppy-sized gecko. It dusted off its hands before crossing its arms. It then swiveled its head to take a look at who summoned it, before turning back at the pack of puppies.
"Well, this is your first real battle. Let's go Zigzagoon!" Birch pointed.
With a growl, the pack attacked.
~ ~ ~
"Charmander, use Ember!" Yui called out. The salamander let out a breath that took form into small balls of fire, stopping the charge of half the pack and herded them away with a sweep of its mouth.
The wild Pokemon charged the Charmander, but two are headed directly at Ariel's Treecko. Not wanting to be out-done, Treecko asked its trainer on what she wants it to do from the corner of its eye. Imagining this to be like the Pokemon she always seen on shows and games, she decided to order an attack.
"Pound." she said it when the pair of Poochyena are right on top of Treecko. Moving as fast as it could, Treecko avoided the collision with the lead Pokemon by using its head as a springboard, then it blindsided the following Dark-type by using its Pound attacking tail.
As it landed, Treecko tried to use another Pound attack, this time with its arms, on the Pokemon behind him, but as he turned the Dark-type let out a guttural Growl that threw Treecko out of balance.
"Pound again." Ariel tried, thinking of a way to quickly get the battle over. Even if the puppies are cute, they can't hurt her first Pokemon. She might catch one later, but that's a thought for another time.
But Ariel's command it too slow, and already the Poochyena is about to hit Treecko with a Tackle. Thankfully, Birch's Zigzagoon sideswiped the poor puppy allowing Treecko to escape unharmed.
"Behind you!" Treecko pivoted to the side, narrowly avoiding the Tackle. Treecko, seeing its chance, attacked with a tail Pound. Before it could hit, the Poochyena opened its mouth, allowing it to bite down into Treecko's tail.
Treecko yelped in pain and tried to pull its tail free. The Poochyena, like any other puppy Ariel saw, decided to play a tug-of-war. The struggle between the two continued until Ariel heard a concerned call from Birch.
"Zigzagoon!"
Birch's Pokemon was taken down by the other Poochyena, which now switched its targets to Treecko.
Thinking quickly, Ariel decided to copy something that happened to her in P.E. Class back at school.
"Use Leer!" As Treecko's eyes narrowed, the Poochyena stiffened as eyes that say 'If you don't release my tail now, I'll make you regret it.' stared.
"Now, Pound!" Treecko seemed to understand what its trainer is thinking, as he lifted its tail for a pound attack, the scolded puppy brought along for the ride and smashed them into the oncoming hostile.
The two Poochyenas tumbled into a heap, dust and grass kicked up as they yelped to retreat.
"Whew, that was a close one." Birch said, referring to their battle. Yui beat back the rest of the pack with her Charmander, who seemed smug at being able to beat several Pokemon at once. Ariel noted that Yui also seemed to have a small smile on her face. It seems like she is the kind of person who enjoys kicking puppies, of course here she uses a Pokemon, but same concept.
"You can hold out quite well Rie-chan. I'm impressed." Yui said.
"It's nothing" Ariel dismissed her praise. Is she enjoying this that much?
"Ah, well. I guess that's enough excitement for me." Yui said, looking back at the direction of the town. "Besides, I have to check if what Norman said is right."
"Are you leaving?" Ariel asked, her Treecko standing beside her with its arms crossed.
"Yeah, I don't think you need a guide anyway, as you have Treecko here." Treecko didn't move, but Yui could still see the slight glow of its eyes at the praise. "I was going to catch you a Pokemon, but what fun would that be? See you around."
After both Birch and Ariel watched Yui leave, Ariel said that she was going to head to PetalBurg to see her father. Birch used a potion to heal Treecko and Zigzagoon before saying his own goodbye.
As she turned to leave, offered her to swap the Unova PokeDex for the Hoenn one to try if he can restore the data. She accepted, but knew that Birch will not be able to fix it.
"Well Treecko, let's get going."