Outcast by Appearance (13+) - Based on Pokemon Emerald
Title: Outcast by Appearance
Main Shipping: HoennChampionShipping
Words: 14,153
Genre(s): Action/Adventure/Romance
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Her whole life, she had been ostracized from the dangerous world of Pokemon, instead brought up to be a "lady". Now, she decides to take her life into her own hands and go off on her own Pokemon adventure. Her adventure begins now, but not without any obstacles in the way. (Based on Pokemon Emerald)
However, the Pokemon franchise has caught my heart (it did back in 1998, and has done so again recently), and I'm once again willing to give it a try. I struggled for myself these past few weeks whether to write this fanfiction or not, and in the end, I decided to give it a go (thanks to some... encouraging people). I already have everything planned out & structured, so hopefully this one story can go on longer than my other unfinished fanfics (like I said, I rarely write fanfictions – unless I'm really motivated). I did a lot of background research, especially in the storyline & NPCs, because I just can not stand characters being out of character.
I will write a short author's note for each chapter to introduce mostly my inspiration for the chapter itself, give a quick run-through, etc etc... but for the most part, they'll be short.
This first A/N will be pretty longer than most, though (actually, it'll be hella long). Mostly because there's so much to talk about! So please keep up with me before we proceed to the important part: the fanfiction itself. HOWEVER, there are many things you have to understand before moving on, so please, just hold on for a while and read this A/N! Thanks much!
First of all, let me start off by saying that this fanfiction is based on the game, Pokemon Emerald. While I'm a huge fan of all Pokemon games (and the manga! tho' the anime sucks, it can die), Emerald is by far my favourite one of all (If it weren't for the fact that Platinum has Wifi & whatnot, I'd play Emerald more). Yes, IMO, it IS better than Ruby & Sapphire (reason being... more Steven Stone! <3) I played the Pokemon games a bit later than most people (this game came out in 2005, and it's 2009...) frankly because I lost interest in Pokemon back in 2003/2004 (the last time I played Pokemon Crystal). However, one bored rainy day I picked up Emerald... and well, my former Pokemon addiction came rushing back like mad. ^_^ I went on to play a total of 185 hours between Platinum & Emerald the next 4 weeks, that's how addicted I was, haha.
Now, about the plot itself...
This fanfic follows my favourite shipping of HoennChampionShipping (Steven Stone x Female Playable Character). Understanding the Female Playable Character part of that shipping is CRUCIAL (but I'll talk about it later). Now... I don't plan to make this fanfic into some mushy fluffy romance that's just 99% romance + 1% everything else. No, I wanna make an actual fanfic that's more than just that. Here's what's gonna go on...
The story of this fanfic, Outcast by Appearance, will follow the Pokemon Emerald plotline. It'll start off in Littleroot Town in Hoenn, just like the game. If anyone's played any of the Gen III GBA games, you'll know the storyline. However, unlike Ruby & Sapphire, where the nemesis is either Team Aqua or Team Magma depending on the game, Emerald deals with both. Which is fun, cause I'm a huge fan of both Maxie & Archie (go Archie!<3).
The story will follow the ENTIRE Emerald plotline – from gym leader to gym leader, trying to collect 8 badges to compete in the Pokemon League at Evergrande City and become the true Pokemon Master & Champion of Hoenn. However, things don't go so smoothly because at the same time, you have to deal with icky Team Magma's & Team Aqua's stupid plans. I'm actually going to be playing the game (for the 500th time) simultaneously to writing this, so that way, I can keep VERY close to the plot and not miss any important details.
Now, who are the characters?
As I said, the romance behind this fanfic is for the shipping, HoennChampionShipping. This shipping is made up of Steven Stone and the Female Playable Character.
Let me talk about the Female Playable Character, as I mentioned earlier.
This girl is NOT May from the anime, or the games when you select Brendan (male playable character), and she's Birch's daughter. Do not think of this as a StevenxMay shipping, because it's not! The Female Playable Character, although identical to May from the anime, is not her! It would be wrong to assume so!
May from the anime is simply based on this girl (not the other way around), just like Ash from the anime is based on Red from the first Gen games (Pokemon Red/Blue/Green/Yellow). Thinking Ash is Red, or Red is Ash, is wrong, because the characters are not the same. It is the same case with this Female Playable Character.
She is the female playable character of the Hoenn Region Gen III games, and that only. She is not Sapphire from the Pokemon Special manga, nor May from the anime. They are all totally different people.
Now, let's talk about the girl herself... she has the personality I picked for her, the background I decided (except I stick to the game's canon background, like her being Norman's daughter, from Littleroot, etc), and I basically let my imagination flow, mostly because I can have as much fun imagining her up, unlike the other NPCs. She is not based on me, no. I don't write about myself or let my fictional characters mirror my personality, as it does not help me improve as a writer. The only thing that she shares with me is her first name. You'll find out more about her name as you read the fanfiction itself.
Her name is not May. I did not name her after the anime character, or the game character (well, in the games, she's called May when you pick the Male Playable Character). I named her like I named my character when I played the game, as like I said, I'm following the Emerald storyline VERY closely (or well, MY game's storyline). Oh, and in case you're wondering, yes, my character's appearance will mirror off May's / Female Playable Character's, so I'm not gonna switch it around and make her... say, a blonde. No, she's May in appearance, just like in the game, and yes, with Emerald's clothing (which is altered a bit from Ruby & Sapphire). The only thing to her appearance I'm changing around is the hair, which I refuse to have hideous like May's – I'm just going to say those are pigtails, and naturally don't stick out hideously like that. But otherwise, yes, her official artwork is how she looks like in this game.
The Pokemon that appear in this fanfiction (specifically the main character's party) mirror the ones I have in the game. Any changes to the party you see here will reflect identically to the changes I have made while playing the game – as I said, I will be playing the game simultaneously to writing this (to be more exact, I'll be sitting at my computer with my DS in front of me). So yes, I will be basing it off how I played the game.
That being said...
Let's talk about Steven! If any of you have ever played Pokemon Emerald, you will know Steven is no longer the Pokemon League Champion as he was in Ruby & Sapphire, but now a powerful wandering Trainer that seems to have some horrible stone fetish and prefers going around collecting stones than fighting other trainers. He is the fictional love of my life, and my favourite Pokemon character ever (and the motivation for writing this fanfic, rofl).
In Emerald, as many of you know, he appears various times throughout the game, helping the player mostly against Team Magma & Team Aqua. The same case will be here, his appearances in this fanfiction will mirror his appearances in the game (except, of course, I'll extend them out to be longer than in the game's ;D). I might toss in some random appearances of his that do not happen in the game just for the sake of including him in this fanfiction more, but I haven't decided on that yet, so don't count too much on it.
Steven will not be making an appearance in this chapter, due to the fact that in the games he doesn't appear till a bit later. I'll try to see to him making an appearance in the second chapter, maybe get to his part in the game by then, but we'll see, can't guarantee it. : P Depends on how profound & detailed I am while writing, but bleh. >_>;
You might be wondering right now like "STEVEN'S NOT IN IT RIGHT AWAY?! WHAT KIND OF HOENNCHAMPIONSHIPPING FANFIC IS THIS?!" As I mentioned earlier, this is actually a NON-FLUFF fanfiction (I know, shocking), and actually has a plot and whatnot that doesn't 100% focus on romance. So yes, there will be chapters that he doesn't even make a lone appearance in (though like I said, I'll try to include him as much as possible because I love him so much). Just like in Pokemon Emerald, the story focuses on the player, NOT on Steven. In Emerald, does Steven tag along with you? No, I didn't think so. The story focuses on you, the player, trying to become a Pokemon Master. Not on Steven. So likewise, same here in as in the game. You can consider the romance a side element, I suppose.
I'm not a fan of love at first sight, because I don't believe in it, so this fanfic will not be a love-at-first-sight type of romance. I plan to have it develop over time, because that's my favourite type of romance, and the most realistic type there is.
Whoo, I think that's all I've got to say for today. : D Let's get on, shall we? Oh no, wait, one more thing...
IMPORTANT NOTE
This chapter is hella long, so it's been split into 2 parts. See second post for second part of this chapter~
This chapter is hella long, so it's been split into 2 parts. See second post for second part of this chapter~
Title: Outcast by Appearance
Main Shipping: HoennChampionShipping
Words: 14,153
Genre(s): Action/Adventure/Romance
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Her whole life, she had been ostracized from the dangerous world of Pokemon, instead brought up to be a "lady". Now, she decides to take her life into her own hands and go off on her own Pokemon adventure. Her adventure begins now, but not without any obstacles in the way. (Based on Pokemon Emerald)
Author's Note: Hello! Thanks for being interested in reading my fanfiction. : ) My name is Valikinz (Val for short), I am, as you guessed, the author of this fanfiction. Let me start by saying: I don't write fanfics often. I struggle with them because I'm not good at keeping characters in character, and being a perfectionist, I have to rewrite a chapter an average 3 to 5 times before being satisfied with it. Needless to say, I tend to not... finish what I start writing (for the record, I rewrote this chapter a total of 3 times before I was satisfied – actually, I'm not even totally satisfied to be completely honest).
However, the Pokemon franchise has caught my heart (it did back in 1998, and has done so again recently), and I'm once again willing to give it a try. I struggled for myself these past few weeks whether to write this fanfiction or not, and in the end, I decided to give it a go (thanks to some... encouraging people). I already have everything planned out & structured, so hopefully this one story can go on longer than my other unfinished fanfics (like I said, I rarely write fanfictions – unless I'm really motivated). I did a lot of background research, especially in the storyline & NPCs, because I just can not stand characters being out of character.
I will write a short author's note for each chapter to introduce mostly my inspiration for the chapter itself, give a quick run-through, etc etc... but for the most part, they'll be short.
This first A/N will be pretty longer than most, though (actually, it'll be hella long). Mostly because there's so much to talk about! So please keep up with me before we proceed to the important part: the fanfiction itself. HOWEVER, there are many things you have to understand before moving on, so please, just hold on for a while and read this A/N! Thanks much!
First of all, let me start off by saying that this fanfiction is based on the game, Pokemon Emerald. While I'm a huge fan of all Pokemon games (and the manga! tho' the anime sucks, it can die), Emerald is by far my favourite one of all (If it weren't for the fact that Platinum has Wifi & whatnot, I'd play Emerald more). Yes, IMO, it IS better than Ruby & Sapphire (reason being... more Steven Stone! <3) I played the Pokemon games a bit later than most people (this game came out in 2005, and it's 2009...) frankly because I lost interest in Pokemon back in 2003/2004 (the last time I played Pokemon Crystal). However, one bored rainy day I picked up Emerald... and well, my former Pokemon addiction came rushing back like mad. ^_^ I went on to play a total of 185 hours between Platinum & Emerald the next 4 weeks, that's how addicted I was, haha.
Now, about the plot itself...
This fanfic follows my favourite shipping of HoennChampionShipping (Steven Stone x Female Playable Character). Understanding the Female Playable Character part of that shipping is CRUCIAL (but I'll talk about it later). Now... I don't plan to make this fanfic into some mushy fluffy romance that's just 99% romance + 1% everything else. No, I wanna make an actual fanfic that's more than just that. Here's what's gonna go on...
The story of this fanfic, Outcast by Appearance, will follow the Pokemon Emerald plotline. It'll start off in Littleroot Town in Hoenn, just like the game. If anyone's played any of the Gen III GBA games, you'll know the storyline. However, unlike Ruby & Sapphire, where the nemesis is either Team Aqua or Team Magma depending on the game, Emerald deals with both. Which is fun, cause I'm a huge fan of both Maxie & Archie (go Archie!<3).
The story will follow the ENTIRE Emerald plotline – from gym leader to gym leader, trying to collect 8 badges to compete in the Pokemon League at Evergrande City and become the true Pokemon Master & Champion of Hoenn. However, things don't go so smoothly because at the same time, you have to deal with icky Team Magma's & Team Aqua's stupid plans. I'm actually going to be playing the game (for the 500th time) simultaneously to writing this, so that way, I can keep VERY close to the plot and not miss any important details.
Now, who are the characters?
As I said, the romance behind this fanfic is for the shipping, HoennChampionShipping. This shipping is made up of Steven Stone and the Female Playable Character.
Let me talk about the Female Playable Character, as I mentioned earlier.
This girl is NOT May from the anime, or the games when you select Brendan (male playable character), and she's Birch's daughter. Do not think of this as a StevenxMay shipping, because it's not! The Female Playable Character, although identical to May from the anime, is not her! It would be wrong to assume so!
May from the anime is simply based on this girl (not the other way around), just like Ash from the anime is based on Red from the first Gen games (Pokemon Red/Blue/Green/Yellow). Thinking Ash is Red, or Red is Ash, is wrong, because the characters are not the same. It is the same case with this Female Playable Character.
She is the female playable character of the Hoenn Region Gen III games, and that only. She is not Sapphire from the Pokemon Special manga, nor May from the anime. They are all totally different people.
Now, let's talk about the girl herself... she has the personality I picked for her, the background I decided (except I stick to the game's canon background, like her being Norman's daughter, from Littleroot, etc), and I basically let my imagination flow, mostly because I can have as much fun imagining her up, unlike the other NPCs. She is not based on me, no. I don't write about myself or let my fictional characters mirror my personality, as it does not help me improve as a writer. The only thing that she shares with me is her first name. You'll find out more about her name as you read the fanfiction itself.
Her name is not May. I did not name her after the anime character, or the game character (well, in the games, she's called May when you pick the Male Playable Character). I named her like I named my character when I played the game, as like I said, I'm following the Emerald storyline VERY closely (or well, MY game's storyline). Oh, and in case you're wondering, yes, my character's appearance will mirror off May's / Female Playable Character's, so I'm not gonna switch it around and make her... say, a blonde. No, she's May in appearance, just like in the game, and yes, with Emerald's clothing (which is altered a bit from Ruby & Sapphire). The only thing to her appearance I'm changing around is the hair, which I refuse to have hideous like May's – I'm just going to say those are pigtails, and naturally don't stick out hideously like that. But otherwise, yes, her official artwork is how she looks like in this game.
The Pokemon that appear in this fanfiction (specifically the main character's party) mirror the ones I have in the game. Any changes to the party you see here will reflect identically to the changes I have made while playing the game – as I said, I will be playing the game simultaneously to writing this (to be more exact, I'll be sitting at my computer with my DS in front of me). So yes, I will be basing it off how I played the game.
That being said...
Let's talk about Steven! If any of you have ever played Pokemon Emerald, you will know Steven is no longer the Pokemon League Champion as he was in Ruby & Sapphire, but now a powerful wandering Trainer that seems to have some horrible stone fetish and prefers going around collecting stones than fighting other trainers. He is the fictional love of my life, and my favourite Pokemon character ever (and the motivation for writing this fanfic, rofl).
In Emerald, as many of you know, he appears various times throughout the game, helping the player mostly against Team Magma & Team Aqua. The same case will be here, his appearances in this fanfiction will mirror his appearances in the game (except, of course, I'll extend them out to be longer than in the game's ;D). I might toss in some random appearances of his that do not happen in the game just for the sake of including him in this fanfiction more, but I haven't decided on that yet, so don't count too much on it.
Steven will not be making an appearance in this chapter, due to the fact that in the games he doesn't appear till a bit later. I'll try to see to him making an appearance in the second chapter, maybe get to his part in the game by then, but we'll see, can't guarantee it. : P Depends on how profound & detailed I am while writing, but bleh. >_>;
You might be wondering right now like "STEVEN'S NOT IN IT RIGHT AWAY?! WHAT KIND OF HOENNCHAMPIONSHIPPING FANFIC IS THIS?!" As I mentioned earlier, this is actually a NON-FLUFF fanfiction (I know, shocking), and actually has a plot and whatnot that doesn't 100% focus on romance. So yes, there will be chapters that he doesn't even make a lone appearance in (though like I said, I'll try to include him as much as possible because I love him so much). Just like in Pokemon Emerald, the story focuses on the player, NOT on Steven. In Emerald, does Steven tag along with you? No, I didn't think so. The story focuses on you, the player, trying to become a Pokemon Master. Not on Steven. So likewise, same here in as in the game. You can consider the romance a side element, I suppose.
I'm not a fan of love at first sight, because I don't believe in it, so this fanfic will not be a love-at-first-sight type of romance. I plan to have it develop over time, because that's my favourite type of romance, and the most realistic type there is.
Whoo, I think that's all I've got to say for today. : D Let's get on, shall we? Oh no, wait, one more thing...
I dedicate this fanfiction to anyone who thinks Steven Stone is the hottest & most gorgeous Pokemon character EVER!!!!!!
---
---
Chapter 1
Fire
Her whole life, Eddie's life had been dominated by her controlling mother. Her mother ached for her only daughter to be as ladylike as possible, a passion that Eddie did not share with her. She had other things she wished she could have.
She wished to experience the world like it was meant to be experienced, the wide world she had been cut off from as a child. There was so much to see and to explore, and though many would consider Eddie the epitome of good fortune, she certainly didn't. She wasn't allowed to live her life the way she wanted.
Her family was composed of four members: her father, Norman, her mother, Caroline, her older brother (she had not seen much of this member in awhile), and her, Eddie. Her mother always craved for Eddie to follow after her own footsteps, similar to how her son followed after his father's. From birth, it had been decided how Eddie would live her life.
Well, okay, maybe it wasn't typical for someone who was brought up to be as ladylike as possible to have such a contrasting un-ladylike name. "Eddie" wasn't actually her real name. It was her self-imposed nickname. Her legal name was Edna. Edna. She flinched at the name. Her mother had named her so (what a surprise) because she considered the name to be fancy and very intelligent. When she was young, she hadn't minded it much, just like little kids don't seem to mind anything much at that age.
However, at age 5, upon being enrolled at school, one of her classmates had called her up on it, stating that his grandmother was named Edna and that it was a horrid name to have. The thought stuck with her, and the same day, she burst into her house, screaming that she would bite anyone who dared continue to call her Edna. She decided herself that she would much rather be called "Eddie". As much as a boy's name it might be, it was better than being called Edna. At least this name would not be one her classmate's grandmother shared.
Her father, Norman, had roared with laughter at his young daughter's outburst. He agreed almost immediately to his daughter's request, and has called her Eddie since. Her mother, naturally, had been against calling her baby girl Eddie. It was so manly, and definitely did not suit her. She pursed her lips together and refused to. However, over the years, the fact that everyone else called her Eddie seemed to rub off on her (and that Eddie didn't miss a chance to correct her whenever she called her by her awful given name), and eventually she also started referring to her daughter as Eddie. It had taken years, but the achievement still stood out as the sole thing Eddie had managed to convince her mother to do.
However, all those memories lay in the past, behind and forgotten in her old town. Norman, one of the many Pokemon Trainers in the nation, had been offered the position as Gym Leader of Petalburg City's Gym. The catch? Petalburg was located in the Hoenn Region. Naturally, he had accepted the offer – it was his lifelong dream. They packed their bags and left Johto, and moved to Littleroot Town in Hoenn. Eddie wasn't much pleased with the move. As always, it was another decision being made for her that she had no say over whatsoever.
Currently, Eddie was in her new room, getting dressed. Most people seem to take mere minutes changing, but to Eddie, getting dressed was a daily feat that took hours. Like everything else in her life, she wasn't one to make the decision of what she wore. She was asked for her input, but she was vaguely aware that they only asked her to be polite; they never seemed to take her real opinion in consideration.
Today, as always, she wasn't alone: she was being assisted by two other women. It was shocking, they had only been in town for a few hours and her mother had already made friends. The feat of clothes-picking today was taking longer than usual. The reason behind that was that they were preparing for Dad's inauguration party as Gym Leader, something that was to be held later that day. Of course, being Norman's daughter, her mother expected Eddie to be well-dressed and pretty, and she fussed over her much more than usual.
"How would you like your hair to be done, Edna?" one of the women asked cheerfully, reaching over and grabbing a part of Eddie's long hair, letting the strands slip through her fingers. "Your hair's so pretty, we could style it any way you want."
"It's Eddie," she corrected sharply. Of course, it was typical of her mother to introduce her daughter to people by her given name – it was the only type of occasion that she did do that recently.
"What first impression would it give people to think I was foolish enough to have named you Eddie?" her mother had explained once when Eddie had inquired about it. Of course, just as much as it was about preserving Eddie's "lady" image, it was also about making herself look better. Her mother was the type of lady who seemed to not do things unless it benefited her personally in some way.
"Right, sorry, Eddie," the woman answered promptly. Eddie could have sworn she felt part of hair tugged harder than usual. "Well, do you have any preferences to how you'd liked your hair to be done?"
"I don't care, just do it whichever." She answered automatically. She was used to being asked these sort of the questions, and didn't bother to give her opinion anymore because they never seemed to go by it. Before, she used to think people were serious in asking for her opinion. She used to reply "A T-shirt and shorts", but after it became obvious she wouldn't be allowed to wear that, she stopped bothering.
"I think if we let it down lose and added a barrette or two in it would look nice." The other woman suggested. The other one nodded her approval, and they set to work to styling Eddie's hair.
She was used to people tugging and pulling at her hair while they styled it, something she didn't seem to mind much anymore. Instead, she sat there, staring straight ahead at the wall while the women behind her attempted to make conversation out of her. Most of her "personal stylists", as she called them, tried to do this when they were in their early stages. Later on, when it became apparent that Eddie was not interested in conversation, they stopped trying.
"So Eddie, what would you like your dress colour to be?"
"I don't care whichever is fine."
"What about this dress? Or do you like this one better?"
"Either works."
"Your eyes are such a pretty colour! I think these shoes would bring out the colour of them, don't you?"
"Yea, sure, whatever you want."
After a few attempts, the women seem to give up trying to get small talk out of her, and instead just followed her advice and did everything the way they wanted to. They sat in silence the rest of the time as they continued to pull and style her hair.
After an hour or two, the women seemed to be done, and Eddie was ready to go. She went downstairs dressed in a yellow cocktail dress, and her mom nodded in approval of Eddie's attire. She herself was dressed in a way-too-formal outfit. Her mother didn't seem to care that it just a simple 30-minute inauguration in Petalburg, and nothing more, as it didn't stop her from making a huge deal out of it.
Once their ride arrived, it didn't take long for them to arrive in Petalburg – it wasn't that far away from Littleroot. They parked in front of the Gym, where a huge crowd was gathered. Her mother tightly grasped onto her daughter's shoulder, and led her through the crowd, puffing out her chest in importance. Eddie wasn't really trying to stand out as much as her mother, and instead kept her eyes on her feet as she half-ran to keep up with her mother's long strides. Upon coming closer to the front of the crowd, Eddie noticed her father standing at a podium, beaming down at his approaching wife and daughter. Eddie couldn't help but give a tiny smile in return.
"Hi, Dad," Eddie greeted him cheerfully. She knew it wasn't fair to her mother, but Eddie felt she had a stronger connection with her father. Though they scarcely spent time together, as her father's time was mostly taken up by training his Pokemon, she still felt closer to her father. Today, she was proud and happy for him, as her dad had finally achieved her life-long dream.
After awhile, the ceremony started. Norman did a small speech, which included an introduction of his family. "My daughter, Edna," Eddie flinched at the name, which earned her a death glare from her mother, "and my wife, Caroline, have just moved here to Hoenn with me. My oldest son, a Pokemon Trainer himself, stayed back in Johto, unfortunately, and could not be here today." That was all that was mentioned of the rest of the family. The rest of Norman's speech was drowned out by Eddie's thoughts. My oldest son, a Pokemon Trainer... Why is it that her brother was a trainer, but she wasn't? She knew what her mother expected of her kids. Her son was to follow after his father, and her daughter was to follow after her. Which meant: No Pokemon.
The unfairness of it all. She didn't even get to make her own decisions. She knew her brother had no complaints with their mother's decision, because he had been quite happy to oblige. He had left the family years earlier to go off on his own Pokemon journey. Eddie had rarely seen him since, as he only sent letters occasionally to inform his family of his well-being. She couldn't even remember the last time they heard from him.
Eddie had always been jealous of her brother. From a young age, he was allowed to interact with Pokemon. How could she be treated like that, and discriminated in such a way? She had a right to make her own decisions, right? Back in Johto, her life was dominated by her mother. Everyone knew her as the Knell's pretty daughter, who seemed to enjoy taking after her mother more than her father. How foolish they were to assume such things from looking at her... she was more than that, and she certainly didn't enjoy "taking after her mother." How could people even begin think that?
"... I heard about you from Norman. Pretty little thing, aren't you Eddie?" Eddie looked up at the sound of her name. A woman had called her name, sporting two boys beside her, most likely her sons. Eddie raised her eyebrows at her. The woman had referred her as "Eddie", not "Edna", which must've meant she must have some familiarity with her personally, or her family.
"I'm sorry, I don't...?" she asked, in a confused tone. The woman noticed, and smiled at her.
"Sorry, forgot to introduce myself. I'm Mrs. Birch, my husband, Professor Birch, is a friend of your father's. We've heard so much about you! It's nice to finally meet you." The woman was beaming at Eddie.
"I've heard so much about your family too, from my father." Eddie replied, smiling back at her, "It's nice to finally meet you too." How strange. Even if her thoughts weren't as cheery as her voice, she still managed to pull off a patronizing first impression. She had to grudgingly admit her mother had trained her well.
The woman gestured to the two boys beside her. "These are my sons. The oldest is Brendan, I'd say you both are around the same age. Unfortunately, my husband couldn't arrive today, he was busy in his lab..." she sighed and shook her head in disapproval. "Anyway, no matter. I'll leave you and Brendan to talk. He was looking forward to meeting you." She smiled once more, spun around and left with her youngest son, leaving Brendan and Eddie behind.
"Hello." Eddie greeted nervously. Brendan was dressed in casual attire, unlike her. He was wearing a silly-looking hat with an orange and black collared shirt, and a pair of black shorts over a pair of black pants. She felt foolish next to him in her semi-formal clothing. To her surprise, he didn't seem to take notice of this as much as she did. He smiled at her, which shocked Eddie, as he didn't seem to be one to be intimidated or shy around others.
"So you're Norman's kid? I didn't know you were a girl. Dad said Norman had a kid, so I assumed you'd be a guy."
"I have a brother, but he stayed in Johto." She explained, scowling. Why did people seem to always be surprised to find someone like her be Norman's kid? She wasn't sure she liked this guy much.
"Oh, well, whatever." He said, shrugging, apparently not finding the matter interesting enough to delve in. "My name's Brendan, nice to meet you." He stuck out his gloved hand in greeting. Eddie carefully reached out and took it, more out of habit than anything else, still glaring at him. Brendan must've noticed her evil glare, because he briefly let go of her hand.
"Hey, Eddie, don't you have a Pokemon?" he asked, cocking his head to one side and looking around, as if expecting to see her Pokemon surrounding her. Eddie scowled once more, and Brendan took her angry scowl as a reply. "Do you want me to go catch you one?" he offered, smiling kindly.
"I'm not allowed, Mom says Pokemon are for boys," she blurted out. She gasped, and covered her mouth. She'd let out the most revolting thing, especially in front of this stranger. Brendan raised his eyebrows, and stayed quiet for a moment, inspecting her face carefully, as if trying to see if she was joking. Finally, he burst out laughing. Eddie had been expecting that.
"Pokemon, for boys? Wow, what era does your Mom live in?" he asked, laughing. Eddie's face turned red, but she grinned anyway. Maybe this guy wasn't so bad.
"My mom is pretty old fashioned," she agreed, nodding. Brendan continued to laugh for awhile, and Eddie just waited until his laughs died out. Eddie heard him mutter "for boys... ha!" before he looked up at her once more, his face sporting a huge grin.
"I assume your mother is the reason behind the look too?" he said, gesturing towards her clothes. Eddie smiled, finding that she liked this guy much more now. She nodded briefly, sighing dramatically as she looked down at her own clothing. This guy seemed to be one of the few who understood her and didn't judge her straight away.
"I'm supposed to go help my Dad catch some wild Pokemon later today, but I think you can go with me. He might be able to give you a Pokemon," he offered. Obviously he thought he was being kind in his offer, yet Eddie grinned despite herself, knowing well her mother would disapprove.
"Yea, maybe..." she replied, trying to keep her voice neutral. She was actually very willing to take the offer. Getting a Pokemon... her mother would hate her, but she didn't mind being a rebel for once in her life. Brendan was starting to be a bad influence on her.
"I'm gonna go now, I guess I'll talk to you later. Let me know if you wanna come." He smiled once more at her, and spun around, ready to walk away in a different direction. However...
"Wait!" Eddie yelled out, taking a reluctant step forward. Brendan spun back around, his face breaking into the biggest grin yet. He laughed, and reached over to pat Eddie's shoulder.
"Didn't take long to make your decision, did you?" he commented in a teasing tone. Eddie shrugged and grinned back. Brendan had gotten her motivated, and adrenaline was suddenly running through her system. Not thinking twice, she took hold of Brendan's hand and ran for it. She wanted to get out of her mother's sight as soon as possible.
Brendan had to hold onto his hat to stop the wind rushing in his face from knocking it off. He didn't complain to being pulled along by Eddie, obediently running along with her. However, she soon came to a stop, and though Brendan was nowhere near being tired from that short run, Eddie was on her knees and panting. Brendan was amused, and laughed at the sight. Eddie glanced up at him, and glared, but he continued to laugh.
"Shut up, I'm not used to running," she snapped.
Brendan smirked. "Yea, I could tell. But those shoes you're wearing..." he glanced down at her feet, where she was wearing a pair of golden low-heels. "They're not very comfortable to run in, are they?"
Eddie followed his gaze, and looked down at her own shoes. She tsked in disapproval, and bent down low to remove them from her feet. She held the pair in her left hand, glancing at them in disgust. Without a second thought, she tossed them into the nearest bush. Brendan stared at her in shock.
"After today, I highly doubt it'll matter where those shoes go," she said in reply to his expression, simply shrugging it off. Brendan stared at where the shoes had landed for a few seconds, and then turned to stare at Eddie's feet.
"But your feet, will you be okay like that?"
Eddie shrugged. "I don't really care much, to be honest."
"Will your mom get mad at you for running off like this?"
"Most likely, but I'll be too far away from her to care."
Brendan frowned. "Too far away?" he repeated, confused, "What do you mean, too far away? Do you have any other plans you're not telling m-"
Brendan cut off midspeech, as a horrible, drawn out scream went over them. Eddie and Brendan spun around at the source of the sound. Brendan ran ahead, jumping over a ledge (it took Eddie twice as long to get over the same ledge), running to the source of the sound.
"Dad!" he groaned upon turning the corner. He picked up his speed and ran out of sight. Eddie tried to run ahead to catch up with him, but it wasn't really easy to do – her dress got caught on a branch. The branch cut through her dress, and she was left with a huge gash across her leg. She groaned in pain, and tugged her dress free from the branch. She heard a loud ripping noise, but didn't stop to look back, still trying to keep up with Brendan. She turned around at the same corner had Brendan had, and saw him on his knees, rummaging quickly through his bag.
"Brendan, quickly!" squealed a man on the ground a few feet away, cowering against a tree with a horrified look on his face. Eddie thought it looked funny, since he seemed to be cowering for no reason whatsoever. However, after a closer inspection, she found that a weird-looking brown thing in front of him was growling at him through its bare teeth.
Eddie was totally fascinated at the sight. Was this a Pokemon? It was the first, apart from a few others, she had seen! Yet this was a wild Pokemon, and all the others she had met had been trained. She knew the man was in danger of being attacked, but she didn't really care, she was more interested in the Pokemon. Should she get nearer? Was it dangerous?
"Aw, Dad, I can't find my Pokemon! I think I left it at home!" Brendan groaned, snapping his bag shut. He stood up and slung his back over his shoulder. He turned to face Eddie, who was still staring intently at the brown creature.
"Stay here," he told her, "I'll be back in a few minutes, Littleroot should only be 5 minutes away if I run fast." Eddie didn't really pay him any attention, cocking her head to the side to examine the Pokemon more carefully. It looked angry, but at the same time, it still looked cute. Would it be okay, maybe, if she petted it?
"Brendan, no, wait, you don't have to go!" the man bawled, reaching a helpless arm towards Brendan. It was already too late, as Brendan had already taken off full-speed, his bag swinging behind him. The man let out a low groan, followed by a shriek as the brown Pokemon crawled onto his leg, growling louder than ever.
"You there!" he snapped, turning to face Eddie for the first time. She was taken aback, and her gaze snapped off the brown Pokemon, falling onto the man's face for the first time. He seemed oddly familiar to her. He was wearing a white lab coat over a blue shirt and some short, and sported a silly brown hairstyle and short beard. "Girl, in my bag, there should be 3 pokeballs! Pick any of them, and take care of this Zigzagoon for me!"
Eddie scanned the area around her, her eyes landing on a brown bag a few feet away from her. She walked over to it, and kneeled down beside it. "This one?" she asked, staring intently at it. The man nodded his head quickly, and Eddie reached inside the bag, feeling around it. She didn't know what a Pokeball felt like, but she had seen one before, so she figured they must be round and spherical, like a bottle of perfume she had at home.
"Aha, found one," she muttered, wrapping her hand around the first round thing she felt. She took it out, and immediately she wanted to examine it. It was red and round and her hand cupped perfectly around it. She rolled it around her hand, fascinated by it.
"Throw it and summon the Pokemon out!" screamed the man. He sounded exasperated at having to tell this girl everything to do. Eddie snapped her eyes back up, and noticed the Pokemon, a Zigzagoon as he called it, crawling further up his leg. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and flung the ball in front of her, praying for it to work.
At first, she heard no sound except a small "thump!" as the ball made contact with the ground. She waited with bated breath, but heard no sound. Had the Pokeball not worked? Maybe she hadn't thrown it right... She slowly opened her eyes, her heart beating fast against her chest.
"Torchic!" squeaked a small red baby bird. It was enthusiastic, because it was running around in circles, chasing its own stubby tail. It soon tripped over a small branch, collapsing on the ground, but picked itself up a second later, and continued running around in circles, chirping non-stop. Eddie watched it, totally engrossed into it. It was fascinating, she had never seen a Pokemon so small before - her father's had always been big and bulky, twice her own size.
"Order it to do something!" the man yelled. Eddie snapped his eyes back onto him, and back to Torchic, still chasing itself.
"Oh, right..." she muttered. She racked her brains for an attack, one she had heard her father use before, but her memory wasn't in a cooperating move, as she couldn't remember any. She smiled sheepishly at the man. "I er - what does this Pokemon know?"
"Tell it to use Scratch!" he snapped impatiently. Eddie nodded, and turned back to Torchic. The Torchic saw her staring at her, stopped dead in its track, and observed Eddie for a second. Apparently pleased enough with her, it ran forward, chirping happily, and started to hop on the spot in front of her. Eddie was flabbergasted.
"Er - can you use scratch on that Pokemon?" she asked it, pointing to the Zigzagoon. Torchic flipped around, eyed the Zigzagoon, and chirped in reply. Eddie took that as a yes. "So then, can you go, like, attack it or something? Scratch it?" she suggested, feeling pretty lame.
Torchic didn't need to hear another word, because it ran forward, almost tripping, and scratched the Zigzagoon's back. The Zigzagoon spun around at once, and noticing Torchic, howled in protest. It ran forwards and tackled Torchic to the ground (Eddie emitted a loud gasp), but it quickly stood back up just as earlier, and emitted an angry chirp. It ran forwards and once again scratched Zigzagoon. This continued on for awhile, until eventually, the Zigzagoon seemed to weaken down. With a last scratch, the Zigzagoon collapsed. Once Torchic realized what it had done, its eyes gleamed up and it started to chirp happily, running around the Zigzagoon.
The man, realizing the danger was over, stood up and brushed himself off. He grinned at Eddie, seemingly no longer annoyed at her. "Thanks so much!" he said, "That was really close; I thought I was a goner." He glanced around at their surrounding area, and shuddered. "Come back to my lab in Littleroot, we can talk more then, this isn't the safest place to be."
He walked towards Eddie, and bent down to pick up his bag. He picked up Torchic's discarded Pokeball, and stuffed it in the front pocket of his bag. He turned to face Eddie. "Pick up that Torchic, and let's go to my lab. It's not too far from here."
Eddie did as she was told, rushing over to Torchic's side, who was still happily chirping, gloating over its earlier victory. Eddie bent over, hesitating over how to pick it up. She didn't need to ponder on that much longer, because after realizing what she was trying to do, Torchic jumped straight into her arms.
The man looked pleased, and started walking back to the main road, gesturing for Eddie to follow him. Eddie so, carrying the small Torchic in her arms.
"What's your name, girlie?" the man asked, walking beside her.
"I'm Eddie Knell," she replied nervously. The man frowned at the name, and turned to face her.
"Eddie Knell? As in Norman's daughter?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. Eddie nodded. Did this man perhaps know her father?
"Ah, so you're Norman's daughter, I've heard so much about you from your father," he said, smiling kindly at her. Eddie stared puzzled at him, still confused as to who this man exactly was. The man must've realized this, because he proceeded to introduce himself. "Oh, how rude of me, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Professor Birch."
She wished to experience the world like it was meant to be experienced, the wide world she had been cut off from as a child. There was so much to see and to explore, and though many would consider Eddie the epitome of good fortune, she certainly didn't. She wasn't allowed to live her life the way she wanted.
Her family was composed of four members: her father, Norman, her mother, Caroline, her older brother (she had not seen much of this member in awhile), and her, Eddie. Her mother always craved for Eddie to follow after her own footsteps, similar to how her son followed after his father's. From birth, it had been decided how Eddie would live her life.
Well, okay, maybe it wasn't typical for someone who was brought up to be as ladylike as possible to have such a contrasting un-ladylike name. "Eddie" wasn't actually her real name. It was her self-imposed nickname. Her legal name was Edna. Edna. She flinched at the name. Her mother had named her so (what a surprise) because she considered the name to be fancy and very intelligent. When she was young, she hadn't minded it much, just like little kids don't seem to mind anything much at that age.
However, at age 5, upon being enrolled at school, one of her classmates had called her up on it, stating that his grandmother was named Edna and that it was a horrid name to have. The thought stuck with her, and the same day, she burst into her house, screaming that she would bite anyone who dared continue to call her Edna. She decided herself that she would much rather be called "Eddie". As much as a boy's name it might be, it was better than being called Edna. At least this name would not be one her classmate's grandmother shared.
Her father, Norman, had roared with laughter at his young daughter's outburst. He agreed almost immediately to his daughter's request, and has called her Eddie since. Her mother, naturally, had been against calling her baby girl Eddie. It was so manly, and definitely did not suit her. She pursed her lips together and refused to. However, over the years, the fact that everyone else called her Eddie seemed to rub off on her (and that Eddie didn't miss a chance to correct her whenever she called her by her awful given name), and eventually she also started referring to her daughter as Eddie. It had taken years, but the achievement still stood out as the sole thing Eddie had managed to convince her mother to do.
However, all those memories lay in the past, behind and forgotten in her old town. Norman, one of the many Pokemon Trainers in the nation, had been offered the position as Gym Leader of Petalburg City's Gym. The catch? Petalburg was located in the Hoenn Region. Naturally, he had accepted the offer – it was his lifelong dream. They packed their bags and left Johto, and moved to Littleroot Town in Hoenn. Eddie wasn't much pleased with the move. As always, it was another decision being made for her that she had no say over whatsoever.
Currently, Eddie was in her new room, getting dressed. Most people seem to take mere minutes changing, but to Eddie, getting dressed was a daily feat that took hours. Like everything else in her life, she wasn't one to make the decision of what she wore. She was asked for her input, but she was vaguely aware that they only asked her to be polite; they never seemed to take her real opinion in consideration.
Today, as always, she wasn't alone: she was being assisted by two other women. It was shocking, they had only been in town for a few hours and her mother had already made friends. The feat of clothes-picking today was taking longer than usual. The reason behind that was that they were preparing for Dad's inauguration party as Gym Leader, something that was to be held later that day. Of course, being Norman's daughter, her mother expected Eddie to be well-dressed and pretty, and she fussed over her much more than usual.
"How would you like your hair to be done, Edna?" one of the women asked cheerfully, reaching over and grabbing a part of Eddie's long hair, letting the strands slip through her fingers. "Your hair's so pretty, we could style it any way you want."
"It's Eddie," she corrected sharply. Of course, it was typical of her mother to introduce her daughter to people by her given name – it was the only type of occasion that she did do that recently.
"What first impression would it give people to think I was foolish enough to have named you Eddie?" her mother had explained once when Eddie had inquired about it. Of course, just as much as it was about preserving Eddie's "lady" image, it was also about making herself look better. Her mother was the type of lady who seemed to not do things unless it benefited her personally in some way.
"Right, sorry, Eddie," the woman answered promptly. Eddie could have sworn she felt part of hair tugged harder than usual. "Well, do you have any preferences to how you'd liked your hair to be done?"
"I don't care, just do it whichever." She answered automatically. She was used to being asked these sort of the questions, and didn't bother to give her opinion anymore because they never seemed to go by it. Before, she used to think people were serious in asking for her opinion. She used to reply "A T-shirt and shorts", but after it became obvious she wouldn't be allowed to wear that, she stopped bothering.
"I think if we let it down lose and added a barrette or two in it would look nice." The other woman suggested. The other one nodded her approval, and they set to work to styling Eddie's hair.
She was used to people tugging and pulling at her hair while they styled it, something she didn't seem to mind much anymore. Instead, she sat there, staring straight ahead at the wall while the women behind her attempted to make conversation out of her. Most of her "personal stylists", as she called them, tried to do this when they were in their early stages. Later on, when it became apparent that Eddie was not interested in conversation, they stopped trying.
"So Eddie, what would you like your dress colour to be?"
"I don't care whichever is fine."
"What about this dress? Or do you like this one better?"
"Either works."
"Your eyes are such a pretty colour! I think these shoes would bring out the colour of them, don't you?"
"Yea, sure, whatever you want."
After a few attempts, the women seem to give up trying to get small talk out of her, and instead just followed her advice and did everything the way they wanted to. They sat in silence the rest of the time as they continued to pull and style her hair.
After an hour or two, the women seemed to be done, and Eddie was ready to go. She went downstairs dressed in a yellow cocktail dress, and her mom nodded in approval of Eddie's attire. She herself was dressed in a way-too-formal outfit. Her mother didn't seem to care that it just a simple 30-minute inauguration in Petalburg, and nothing more, as it didn't stop her from making a huge deal out of it.
Once their ride arrived, it didn't take long for them to arrive in Petalburg – it wasn't that far away from Littleroot. They parked in front of the Gym, where a huge crowd was gathered. Her mother tightly grasped onto her daughter's shoulder, and led her through the crowd, puffing out her chest in importance. Eddie wasn't really trying to stand out as much as her mother, and instead kept her eyes on her feet as she half-ran to keep up with her mother's long strides. Upon coming closer to the front of the crowd, Eddie noticed her father standing at a podium, beaming down at his approaching wife and daughter. Eddie couldn't help but give a tiny smile in return.
"Hi, Dad," Eddie greeted him cheerfully. She knew it wasn't fair to her mother, but Eddie felt she had a stronger connection with her father. Though they scarcely spent time together, as her father's time was mostly taken up by training his Pokemon, she still felt closer to her father. Today, she was proud and happy for him, as her dad had finally achieved her life-long dream.
After awhile, the ceremony started. Norman did a small speech, which included an introduction of his family. "My daughter, Edna," Eddie flinched at the name, which earned her a death glare from her mother, "and my wife, Caroline, have just moved here to Hoenn with me. My oldest son, a Pokemon Trainer himself, stayed back in Johto, unfortunately, and could not be here today." That was all that was mentioned of the rest of the family. The rest of Norman's speech was drowned out by Eddie's thoughts. My oldest son, a Pokemon Trainer... Why is it that her brother was a trainer, but she wasn't? She knew what her mother expected of her kids. Her son was to follow after his father, and her daughter was to follow after her. Which meant: No Pokemon.
The unfairness of it all. She didn't even get to make her own decisions. She knew her brother had no complaints with their mother's decision, because he had been quite happy to oblige. He had left the family years earlier to go off on his own Pokemon journey. Eddie had rarely seen him since, as he only sent letters occasionally to inform his family of his well-being. She couldn't even remember the last time they heard from him.
Eddie had always been jealous of her brother. From a young age, he was allowed to interact with Pokemon. How could she be treated like that, and discriminated in such a way? She had a right to make her own decisions, right? Back in Johto, her life was dominated by her mother. Everyone knew her as the Knell's pretty daughter, who seemed to enjoy taking after her mother more than her father. How foolish they were to assume such things from looking at her... she was more than that, and she certainly didn't enjoy "taking after her mother." How could people even begin think that?
"... I heard about you from Norman. Pretty little thing, aren't you Eddie?" Eddie looked up at the sound of her name. A woman had called her name, sporting two boys beside her, most likely her sons. Eddie raised her eyebrows at her. The woman had referred her as "Eddie", not "Edna", which must've meant she must have some familiarity with her personally, or her family.
"I'm sorry, I don't...?" she asked, in a confused tone. The woman noticed, and smiled at her.
"Sorry, forgot to introduce myself. I'm Mrs. Birch, my husband, Professor Birch, is a friend of your father's. We've heard so much about you! It's nice to finally meet you." The woman was beaming at Eddie.
"I've heard so much about your family too, from my father." Eddie replied, smiling back at her, "It's nice to finally meet you too." How strange. Even if her thoughts weren't as cheery as her voice, she still managed to pull off a patronizing first impression. She had to grudgingly admit her mother had trained her well.
The woman gestured to the two boys beside her. "These are my sons. The oldest is Brendan, I'd say you both are around the same age. Unfortunately, my husband couldn't arrive today, he was busy in his lab..." she sighed and shook her head in disapproval. "Anyway, no matter. I'll leave you and Brendan to talk. He was looking forward to meeting you." She smiled once more, spun around and left with her youngest son, leaving Brendan and Eddie behind.
"Hello." Eddie greeted nervously. Brendan was dressed in casual attire, unlike her. He was wearing a silly-looking hat with an orange and black collared shirt, and a pair of black shorts over a pair of black pants. She felt foolish next to him in her semi-formal clothing. To her surprise, he didn't seem to take notice of this as much as she did. He smiled at her, which shocked Eddie, as he didn't seem to be one to be intimidated or shy around others.
"So you're Norman's kid? I didn't know you were a girl. Dad said Norman had a kid, so I assumed you'd be a guy."
"I have a brother, but he stayed in Johto." She explained, scowling. Why did people seem to always be surprised to find someone like her be Norman's kid? She wasn't sure she liked this guy much.
"Oh, well, whatever." He said, shrugging, apparently not finding the matter interesting enough to delve in. "My name's Brendan, nice to meet you." He stuck out his gloved hand in greeting. Eddie carefully reached out and took it, more out of habit than anything else, still glaring at him. Brendan must've noticed her evil glare, because he briefly let go of her hand.
"Hey, Eddie, don't you have a Pokemon?" he asked, cocking his head to one side and looking around, as if expecting to see her Pokemon surrounding her. Eddie scowled once more, and Brendan took her angry scowl as a reply. "Do you want me to go catch you one?" he offered, smiling kindly.
"I'm not allowed, Mom says Pokemon are for boys," she blurted out. She gasped, and covered her mouth. She'd let out the most revolting thing, especially in front of this stranger. Brendan raised his eyebrows, and stayed quiet for a moment, inspecting her face carefully, as if trying to see if she was joking. Finally, he burst out laughing. Eddie had been expecting that.
"Pokemon, for boys? Wow, what era does your Mom live in?" he asked, laughing. Eddie's face turned red, but she grinned anyway. Maybe this guy wasn't so bad.
"My mom is pretty old fashioned," she agreed, nodding. Brendan continued to laugh for awhile, and Eddie just waited until his laughs died out. Eddie heard him mutter "for boys... ha!" before he looked up at her once more, his face sporting a huge grin.
"I assume your mother is the reason behind the look too?" he said, gesturing towards her clothes. Eddie smiled, finding that she liked this guy much more now. She nodded briefly, sighing dramatically as she looked down at her own clothing. This guy seemed to be one of the few who understood her and didn't judge her straight away.
"I'm supposed to go help my Dad catch some wild Pokemon later today, but I think you can go with me. He might be able to give you a Pokemon," he offered. Obviously he thought he was being kind in his offer, yet Eddie grinned despite herself, knowing well her mother would disapprove.
"Yea, maybe..." she replied, trying to keep her voice neutral. She was actually very willing to take the offer. Getting a Pokemon... her mother would hate her, but she didn't mind being a rebel for once in her life. Brendan was starting to be a bad influence on her.
"I'm gonna go now, I guess I'll talk to you later. Let me know if you wanna come." He smiled once more at her, and spun around, ready to walk away in a different direction. However...
"Wait!" Eddie yelled out, taking a reluctant step forward. Brendan spun back around, his face breaking into the biggest grin yet. He laughed, and reached over to pat Eddie's shoulder.
"Didn't take long to make your decision, did you?" he commented in a teasing tone. Eddie shrugged and grinned back. Brendan had gotten her motivated, and adrenaline was suddenly running through her system. Not thinking twice, she took hold of Brendan's hand and ran for it. She wanted to get out of her mother's sight as soon as possible.
Brendan had to hold onto his hat to stop the wind rushing in his face from knocking it off. He didn't complain to being pulled along by Eddie, obediently running along with her. However, she soon came to a stop, and though Brendan was nowhere near being tired from that short run, Eddie was on her knees and panting. Brendan was amused, and laughed at the sight. Eddie glanced up at him, and glared, but he continued to laugh.
"Shut up, I'm not used to running," she snapped.
Brendan smirked. "Yea, I could tell. But those shoes you're wearing..." he glanced down at her feet, where she was wearing a pair of golden low-heels. "They're not very comfortable to run in, are they?"
Eddie followed his gaze, and looked down at her own shoes. She tsked in disapproval, and bent down low to remove them from her feet. She held the pair in her left hand, glancing at them in disgust. Without a second thought, she tossed them into the nearest bush. Brendan stared at her in shock.
"After today, I highly doubt it'll matter where those shoes go," she said in reply to his expression, simply shrugging it off. Brendan stared at where the shoes had landed for a few seconds, and then turned to stare at Eddie's feet.
"But your feet, will you be okay like that?"
Eddie shrugged. "I don't really care much, to be honest."
"Will your mom get mad at you for running off like this?"
"Most likely, but I'll be too far away from her to care."
Brendan frowned. "Too far away?" he repeated, confused, "What do you mean, too far away? Do you have any other plans you're not telling m-"
Brendan cut off midspeech, as a horrible, drawn out scream went over them. Eddie and Brendan spun around at the source of the sound. Brendan ran ahead, jumping over a ledge (it took Eddie twice as long to get over the same ledge), running to the source of the sound.
"Dad!" he groaned upon turning the corner. He picked up his speed and ran out of sight. Eddie tried to run ahead to catch up with him, but it wasn't really easy to do – her dress got caught on a branch. The branch cut through her dress, and she was left with a huge gash across her leg. She groaned in pain, and tugged her dress free from the branch. She heard a loud ripping noise, but didn't stop to look back, still trying to keep up with Brendan. She turned around at the same corner had Brendan had, and saw him on his knees, rummaging quickly through his bag.
"Brendan, quickly!" squealed a man on the ground a few feet away, cowering against a tree with a horrified look on his face. Eddie thought it looked funny, since he seemed to be cowering for no reason whatsoever. However, after a closer inspection, she found that a weird-looking brown thing in front of him was growling at him through its bare teeth.
Eddie was totally fascinated at the sight. Was this a Pokemon? It was the first, apart from a few others, she had seen! Yet this was a wild Pokemon, and all the others she had met had been trained. She knew the man was in danger of being attacked, but she didn't really care, she was more interested in the Pokemon. Should she get nearer? Was it dangerous?
"Aw, Dad, I can't find my Pokemon! I think I left it at home!" Brendan groaned, snapping his bag shut. He stood up and slung his back over his shoulder. He turned to face Eddie, who was still staring intently at the brown creature.
"Stay here," he told her, "I'll be back in a few minutes, Littleroot should only be 5 minutes away if I run fast." Eddie didn't really pay him any attention, cocking her head to the side to examine the Pokemon more carefully. It looked angry, but at the same time, it still looked cute. Would it be okay, maybe, if she petted it?
"Brendan, no, wait, you don't have to go!" the man bawled, reaching a helpless arm towards Brendan. It was already too late, as Brendan had already taken off full-speed, his bag swinging behind him. The man let out a low groan, followed by a shriek as the brown Pokemon crawled onto his leg, growling louder than ever.
"You there!" he snapped, turning to face Eddie for the first time. She was taken aback, and her gaze snapped off the brown Pokemon, falling onto the man's face for the first time. He seemed oddly familiar to her. He was wearing a white lab coat over a blue shirt and some short, and sported a silly brown hairstyle and short beard. "Girl, in my bag, there should be 3 pokeballs! Pick any of them, and take care of this Zigzagoon for me!"
Eddie scanned the area around her, her eyes landing on a brown bag a few feet away from her. She walked over to it, and kneeled down beside it. "This one?" she asked, staring intently at it. The man nodded his head quickly, and Eddie reached inside the bag, feeling around it. She didn't know what a Pokeball felt like, but she had seen one before, so she figured they must be round and spherical, like a bottle of perfume she had at home.
"Aha, found one," she muttered, wrapping her hand around the first round thing she felt. She took it out, and immediately she wanted to examine it. It was red and round and her hand cupped perfectly around it. She rolled it around her hand, fascinated by it.
"Throw it and summon the Pokemon out!" screamed the man. He sounded exasperated at having to tell this girl everything to do. Eddie snapped her eyes back up, and noticed the Pokemon, a Zigzagoon as he called it, crawling further up his leg. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and flung the ball in front of her, praying for it to work.
At first, she heard no sound except a small "thump!" as the ball made contact with the ground. She waited with bated breath, but heard no sound. Had the Pokeball not worked? Maybe she hadn't thrown it right... She slowly opened her eyes, her heart beating fast against her chest.
"Torchic!" squeaked a small red baby bird. It was enthusiastic, because it was running around in circles, chasing its own stubby tail. It soon tripped over a small branch, collapsing on the ground, but picked itself up a second later, and continued running around in circles, chirping non-stop. Eddie watched it, totally engrossed into it. It was fascinating, she had never seen a Pokemon so small before - her father's had always been big and bulky, twice her own size.
"Order it to do something!" the man yelled. Eddie snapped his eyes back onto him, and back to Torchic, still chasing itself.
"Oh, right..." she muttered. She racked her brains for an attack, one she had heard her father use before, but her memory wasn't in a cooperating move, as she couldn't remember any. She smiled sheepishly at the man. "I er - what does this Pokemon know?"
"Tell it to use Scratch!" he snapped impatiently. Eddie nodded, and turned back to Torchic. The Torchic saw her staring at her, stopped dead in its track, and observed Eddie for a second. Apparently pleased enough with her, it ran forward, chirping happily, and started to hop on the spot in front of her. Eddie was flabbergasted.
"Er - can you use scratch on that Pokemon?" she asked it, pointing to the Zigzagoon. Torchic flipped around, eyed the Zigzagoon, and chirped in reply. Eddie took that as a yes. "So then, can you go, like, attack it or something? Scratch it?" she suggested, feeling pretty lame.
Torchic didn't need to hear another word, because it ran forward, almost tripping, and scratched the Zigzagoon's back. The Zigzagoon spun around at once, and noticing Torchic, howled in protest. It ran forwards and tackled Torchic to the ground (Eddie emitted a loud gasp), but it quickly stood back up just as earlier, and emitted an angry chirp. It ran forwards and once again scratched Zigzagoon. This continued on for awhile, until eventually, the Zigzagoon seemed to weaken down. With a last scratch, the Zigzagoon collapsed. Once Torchic realized what it had done, its eyes gleamed up and it started to chirp happily, running around the Zigzagoon.
The man, realizing the danger was over, stood up and brushed himself off. He grinned at Eddie, seemingly no longer annoyed at her. "Thanks so much!" he said, "That was really close; I thought I was a goner." He glanced around at their surrounding area, and shuddered. "Come back to my lab in Littleroot, we can talk more then, this isn't the safest place to be."
He walked towards Eddie, and bent down to pick up his bag. He picked up Torchic's discarded Pokeball, and stuffed it in the front pocket of his bag. He turned to face Eddie. "Pick up that Torchic, and let's go to my lab. It's not too far from here."
Eddie did as she was told, rushing over to Torchic's side, who was still happily chirping, gloating over its earlier victory. Eddie bent over, hesitating over how to pick it up. She didn't need to ponder on that much longer, because after realizing what she was trying to do, Torchic jumped straight into her arms.
The man looked pleased, and started walking back to the main road, gesturing for Eddie to follow him. Eddie so, carrying the small Torchic in her arms.
"What's your name, girlie?" the man asked, walking beside her.
"I'm Eddie Knell," she replied nervously. The man frowned at the name, and turned to face her.
"Eddie Knell? As in Norman's daughter?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. Eddie nodded. Did this man perhaps know her father?
"Ah, so you're Norman's daughter, I've heard so much about you from your father," he said, smiling kindly at her. Eddie stared puzzled at him, still confused as to who this man exactly was. The man must've realized this, because he proceeded to introduce himself. "Oh, how rude of me, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Professor Birch."
Last edited: