Aggie Gardner
Prologue - Goodbye, Johto!
"Now, are you sure about this?"
"Yes, Mum."
"Because it's not too late to change your mind, you know that?"
"
Yes, Mum."
Aggie held back an exasperated sigh as her mother fussed around her, straightening her collar and tweaking the straps of her backpack. Of course, she
meant well, but Aggie couldn't help but feel molly-coddled. At nineteen, most kids around here had been on the road for a few years already, and she'd bet her license that half of their mothers didn't fret as much as hers did.
"For Arceus' sake, Karen, let the kid be." Aggie's father responded irritably from the doorway. "It's only Kanto. She'll practically be around the corner."
"Yes, but it may as well be Unova!" Her mother cried hysterically, before dropping her voice to a whisper, as if Aggie couldn't hear. "You know she's not as…
worldly as Gena, Martin."
And, there it is. It always seems to come down to
Gena, Aggie's eternally successful elder sister. Some people get everything at the drop of a hat, and that was Gena. Some people work relentlessly all their lives and get pennies. That was Aggie. She wasn't even that bitter about it, really. That's just the hand she was dealt, and she had to accept that.
"Well, I've got to get to work, so if she wants a lift to Olivine you'd better wrap it up." Aggie's father was a lot less diplomatic when dealing with his wife's hysterics than Aggie was, but this time she was grateful for it. The sooner they got out, the better.
Aggie's mother took her by the shoulders and held her at arm's length, looking her up and down. "This will be the making of you." She whispered, her eyes glassy with tears. Aggie caught her father rolling his eyes over his wife's shoulder. Aggie's mother seemed to sense this, and steeled herself.
"Go, have fun!" She beamed. "Love you, Chickpea."
"Love you, mum."
Aggie climbed into the passenger seat of the beat-up transit van sitting outside the house. The famous "MooMoo Farm" logo was plastered on the side, and peeling at the edges. Her father, wearing a baseball cap donning the same logo, turned the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life. Heading west, the battered van thundered down Route 38.
The two had been sitting in silence for a few minutes, before Aggie's father spoke.
"You know kid, if it does get too much for you-"
"Oh Dad, not you as well…" Aggie groaned. Did
nobody think she was capable of looking after herself?
"Let me finish. Don't feel like you need to impress us. We're not expecting you to come back champion. We just want you to do your best. Don't feel like you've got to-"
"Live up to Gena's lofty heights?"
Neither spoke for a few seconds, and only the rattling of the old engine could be heard.
"Just, do your best, kid. That's all."
Nothing more was said. The van screeched to a halt under the colourful flags framing the docks in Olivine City, and Aggie breathed in the salty air.
"Love you, sweetheart."
"Love you too, dad."
Aggie opened the van door and, even through her boots, felt the cobbles in the stone beneath her feet. She waved half-heartedly to the MooMoo van, which squealed back to life and made its way back to Route 39.
Aggie wandered over to the water's edge. Her boat wasn't due for another few minutes. Her reflection peered back at her, bearing the same bewildered look that Aggie could never seem to shake from her face. Her milky, freckled face sat under a mass of frizzy blonde hair, bloated and pitiful. Her body, shimmering in the water's surface, wasn't one of a champion. Not even curvy, just thickset and shapeless.
Of course, her parents were right. She wasn't going to get far. Maybe the whole thing was pointless, and she was just kidding herself. She could just go back now, and-
"Diiiile!"
With a burst of white light and a splash of water, Aggie's Totodile let himself free from its ball and dived over the edge, shattering Aggie's reflection. Startled and soaked, Aggie burst into loud and unrelenting laughter, as her partner splashed merrily beyond the dock. Before she'd even caught her breath, the luxury cruise liner that would take her to Vermillion glided into the bay.
Shaking her head and smiling, Aggie bent down to pick up her Totodile from the water.
"Come on, Brathu. We might as well give it a shot."