Chapter One
“Cyon Goes on a Wild Pidgey Chase”

Morning light shone through the thick forest canopy, dappling the forest floor with bright spots. A lone Pidgey fluttered through the branches, alighting on the deck of a cabin nestled deep in the woods. Inside the cabin, there was a small, bare room, where Cyon lay, snoring loudly. 

The silence was broken by an alarm clock blaring, and Cyon groaned in response. Today was not a day she was prepared for emotionally. She blindly reached for the clock, eventually grabbing it and shutting it off. She then tried to doze off again, but fate would not allow her to sleep in.

BAM! She was startled fully awake by a loud SLAM against her door. She fell off the bed with a loud THUD! 

"CYOOON! WAAAKE UUPP!" A familiar voice yelled from the other side. Cyon jumped to her feet, yelping an "ETHAN! WHAT'S GOT YOU SO WORKED UP!?" In response.

She heard Ethan kick the door again, followed by an "Ow! We get our Pokédexes and Pokémon from Professor Aspin today, remember?"

Cyon perked up. How could I forget?  I’ve been waiting for this day since I was six!  “Oh! You’re right! Give me a moment, and I’ll get dressed!”

“Hurry up! Otherwise, I’m getting there first!” Ethan called from outside. She called back in response. "Oh, we'll see who gets there first!" 

She then quickly got ready and donned her usual outfit - A black overcoat, crimson shirt and pants, and large clunky boots. She adjusted her bandana, which she never took off in front of others.

She heard Ethan call from the front yard. “Race ya there, Cyon!” 

Cyon rushed out onto the deck, grinning. “I’ll get there first!” She then leaped over the railing, landing on the ground lightly. She then rushed forward, quickly catching up to Ethan. 

He looked at Cyon, grinning. "Now this is a challenge!" The two raced to the lab, neck and neck. As the two ran, Cyon's mind was already looking ahead. 

So… today’s the day. The day I officially get my Pokémon. The day I can prove that I’m not the weak, small coward they call me. I’ll prove to them that I’m stronger than anyone in Johto. They’ll regret underestimating me, I’m sure of it!

Cyon was broken from her thoughts by Ethan’s playful shove. “Hey, hey!” She shouted, rushing into the lab. As she skidded to a halt beside him, she said, “Hey, that was cheating, y’know!”

Laughing, he replied, “Was not! It’s all fair game!”

Cyon gave him a playful nudge. “Hey, if I did it, you’d say I cheated!”

“Are you two finished?” 

Cyon looked up at Professor Aspin, surprised at his sudden appearance. “Hwuh…?” She shook her head to clear it, and immediately straightened up, trying to look formal. 

Professor Aspin looked down at the two and said, “You two are the ones I asked for, correct?”

Cyon glanced over at Ethan and replied. “Yes, I believe so!”

The Professor motioned to a table behind him. The table had three Pokéballs on it, arranged in a line. “These are the Pokémon available to choose from,” he started to say. Before he could finish, Ethan rushed past him and grabbed the last one in the row, exclaiming, “I’m naming you Ali!”

Cyon stood still for a moment, startled by how fast Ethan had chosen. After the surprise had passed, she walked up to the table herself to look the remaining Pokémon over. Well, there is a Cynda-

“Ahem.”

Cyon looked back at Aspin. Did I do something wrong? “Hm?”

Aspin produced a Pokeball from his pocket and placed it in Cyon’s gloved hand. “I had a Pokemon reserved for you, Cyon.” He smiled as he did so, and Cyon’s worries about having made him mad vanished.

Cyon gazed through the semi-transparent top. Inside, there was a Growlithe, whose face brightened at the sight of Cyon. "Alpha!"

Aspin smiled. "I thought you would appreciate that. I saw you two hanging out a lot and decided to make him your partner!"

"Well, I'm grateful! Thank you so much!" Was Cyon’s reply as she let the Growlithe out of its Pokeball to give it a tight embrace.

Ethan, too, was happy to be with his new Totodile. “Man! I love this! Thanks so much!”

Aspin nodded, handing the two strange-looking devices. “Well, you may want to fill out these.” 

The two took the devices and started to look them over, trying to figure out how they worked. As the two examined the devices, Professor Aspin continued. “That is a Pokedex. It captures and records data on Pokemon you’ve seen or caught. Try it on your Growlithe, Cyon!” 

Cyon pointed the device at Alpha and read the text that showed up on the device’s screen. “Extremely loyal, it will fearlessly bark at any opponent to keep its trainer safe from harm.”

Aspin continued. “You will find that it has many uses, aside from just providing information. It can pinpoint Pokemon nearby, as well as hone in on specific ones.”

Cyon nodded. “This will definitely be useful!” It’ll be a good backup if I blank on a Pokemon’s type. Otherwise, I could use it to glean bits of information if I get bored. 

Ethan grinned, his eyes sparkling. “Well, Cyon, shall we get going?”

Cyon shrugged. “I don’t see why not. But, don’t you wanna battle first?”

Ethan responded with a grin, saying, “This will be one-sided! I’m confident we can win!”

Both of their Pokémon stepped forward. Alpha looked confident, but Ali, on the other hand, sighed as he stepped into position. /Do we have to do this…?/ 

Alpha shrugged in response. /Well, Cyon’s pretty determined to fight like usual…/ Despite his confident stride just moments earlier, he didn’t seem willing to battle. Their trainers were friends, and he didn’t want to make an enemy of his Pokémon. 

Ali nodded. /Should we just botch the fight?/ 

Alpha nodded in turn. /I don’t see why not. Sorry about this./ 

Ali shrugged. /It’s fine. I would honestly win if I wanted to. Just try to-/

“Hold up!”

Ethan was the one to interrupt the conversation, making a “T” motion with his hands. Cyon tilted her head confusedly, but told him to keep going with a “Yeah?”

Ethan paused a moment before replying. “I don’t think Ali is up for a fight.”

Cyon nodded, hiding the slight disappointment tugging at her inside. “That’s fine. I understand if you don’t want to.” I guess he just couldn’t handle the Neutron style. 

Ethan seemed to want to comment on something, but picked up Ali instead. “Maybe we could try this later. I would prefer them to battle at their best.” 

Ali tried to protest. /You don’t want to crush her dreams, do you!?/ 

Alpha seemed to chuckle a little to himself. /Her dreams were made stronger every time someone tried to crush them. She won’t let something like this get her./ 

As if to prove his point, Cyon replied, "Heh. I'm up for that! Having him at his best will make the battle even more exciting!"

As Ethan replied with a “Noted,” Ali tilted his head back in annoyance. /CAN WE GO N-/ He was interrupted by Cyon, who gave a playful “Well, we should head out!”

Before Ethan or Aspin could reply, she rushed out of the laboratory, but was distracted by the sight of a nearby trash can. Unlike most people who avoid these gross containers, Cyon ran towards it, tossed the lid off to the side, and dug through it. 

She quickly fished out a bag containing vaguely chip-shaped clumps of mold, exclaiming “JACKPOT!” 

Ethan caught up to her, clearly excited as to what she had found. Cyon held up the bag of “chips,” which were clearly many years past their expiration date. Ethan chuckled. “Outdated chips don’t exist! Those things live forever!”

Despite the fact the contents of the bag most likely hadn’t been chips for a long time, Ethan grabbed at the bag, “Come on! Let’s share!”

Cyon didn’t let Ethan touch the bag. “Alright, alright!” She opened the bag, and the stench released was indescribably putrid. Who could even think of eating those? Is it even possible to eat them?

As Ethan coughed and waved a hand in front of his face, Cyon took a “chip” out of the bag. Much to any sane person’s horror, she proceeded to place it in her mouth, chew it, and swallow without so much as flinching.

Ethan had only a slight concern for Cyon’s health. “Does it taste good?” 

Cyon grinned, not affected in the slightest by these chunks of illness. “Yeah! Ya want one?”

Ethan smiled and reached into the bag, following Cyon’s terrible example of eating a clump of mold. He was unaffected by the indescribable horror of these possible new life forms, and simply asked, “Can I have more?”

Cyon nodded, starting to walk back to the main road. “Sure. We’ll eat as we go. ‘Cause I’ve got the snacks, could you handle the map?” 

“Sure!”

. . .

Ethan was holding the map upside down.

As the two walked with their incorrect directions, they soon found themselves lost deep in the woods surrounding Route 29. The sun was dimmed by the tangled branches and the thick leafy canopy; the path was obscured by gnarled roots and thorns. The two could still see, but there seemed to be no way out of the woodland they had strayed into. 

Cyon watched as Ethan skimmed over the map again, hoping he could give some details as to where they were. Ethan gave her an apologetic smile, and gave the response that dashed her hopes. “I think we’re lost.”

Cyon sighed, gazing around the seemingly endless woods. “Well, we’ve gotta find a way. I think we came from over th-“

Her sentence was cut off by an avian blur swooping in, snatching the map from Ethan’s hands.

Cyon leapt up on a nearby low-hanging branch, with Alpha following suit. I won’t let you get away, whatever you are! Following the sound of the map flapping in the air as it stayed clutched in the thief’s talons, she leaped from branch to branch. Alpha kept pace, matching her jump for jump. 

Cyon could feel the wind blowing in her hair, and the forest seemed to blur around her. Amid the cracks of the branches beneath her and Alpha’s feet, she could faintly hear Ethan call for her, but she knew that slowing down would cost her the pursuit. 

Cyon was soon able to identify the culprit- a wild Pidgey. She snatched the map from the thief’s talons, who protested with a loud, almost screaming /NO!/

Alpha took this as his cue, firing off an Ember at the thieving Pidgey. It was a direct hit, and the Pidgey fell to the ground with a shriek. Yes! I’ve got the map, and maybe I can get this Pidgey too!

Cyon quickly grabbed a Pokéball from her pocket and wound up her throw. She had practiced this for a long time, but could never quite master it. Maybe now would be her time…

Cyon threw the Pokéball with all the force she could muster. Her eyes squeezed shut, leaving her to depend on sound to determine her success. 

CRACK.

She opened her eyes to see the Pidgey flying off, and a Pokéball laying beside where the Pidgey had been. The Pokéball was split in two, with shards of the red-and-white shell on the forest floor. 

She had missed. She took a deep breath to steady herself. It was just this one time. I’ll get it next time. I have to.

As she turned to return to her companion, she spotted the edge of the woods, leading outright to Cherrygrove. 

“Ethan! I found the way out!”

A/N: I had a description written out for the story, but it wouldn't fit in the description box, so I'm putting it here.

"The Region of Johto is rich in cultural history. Myths and legends abound, told as children's tales. Said to be primitive explanations for natural processes like storms, the stories are told simply to keep traditional values alive. 
However, this Region has been scourged by Team Rocket, and they seem helpless against their growing power. 
In the midst of it all, a young Trainer named Cyon starts her journey, discovering a side to the legends she never knew existed - one that the masses were never meant to know of."