CHAPTER 1 - Sore Shoulders, Sunny Shores and Sociable Strangers
There are people who always think five steps ahead of the current situation, people who always consider the consequences of their actions thoroughly before doing anything serious. These people would, for instance, consider the hardships that they would inevitably face by embarking on a solitary journey into the unknown, armed with a tent and a creature that has probably been captured against its will. Zane was, unfortunately, not one of these people.

There are also people who have lived hard lives, those who have been forced to be independent for the majority of their life, whether due to parental neglect, childish rebellion or otherwise. People like this could compensate for their lack of forward thinking, by simply having a certain degree of common sense, basic survival skills and other such useful attributes. Zane was, much to his distaste, not one of these people either.

And there are others who have lived the majority in a state of reasonable comfort, often barred from the hardships of life by safety blanket of education and family. This comfort creates a truly artificial world, in which consequences of one's actions matter... but not greatly, a world where survival skills are replaced by education in questionably useful schools of thought. The realities of living independently within a hostile environment often hit such people rather hard. Zane, the poor bastard, was one of these people.

It's not that Zane had been spoiled as a child, though. As a matter of fact, his parent's weren't high earners in any sense of the phrase. He had just been unfortunate enough to have a high enough degree of intelligence to cruise through a comfortable existence without putting much effort in. This lifestyle bred lethargy and general laziness, to the extent that he lacked the motivation to really do much. Whilst some were making their first steps as independence by seeking small part time jobs, Zane was busy engaging in rather trivial acts of entertainment. Becoming a trainer wasn't so much a choice but a necessity for him, as it had gotten to the point that he had but three options: get a job, study hard or set off on an adventure. In his mind, the first two required far more effort than the last...and let's face it; such a prospect certainly sounded the most exciting.

He went to his parents to talk about this new idea, and thanks to his innate skill at spouting bullshit, Zane managed to give off the impression that this was something that he had been dreaming of doing since he was twelve; yet was too dependent on his parents to admit it. Much to Zane's surprise, , the two accepted the idea instantly, even going as far as allowing him to choose the Pokémon that he would take along with him. Hell, they even bought him the ferry tickets to the Unova region... which was a little bit hurtful, as it showed just how much they wanted him out of their hair.

But really...he couldn't have chosen a worse creature to accompany him on this grand misadventure. Standing at around three feet tall, the midnight blue creature had many attributes that Zane had originally deemed as "cool", but after spending a day with the malicious thing he'd swiftly changed his opinion on these attributes to "dangerous". Perhaps the most intimidating characteristic was the two slender blades that rested on either arm of the Pokémon, replacing its hands. Not having been inclined to take a closer look at the rather...sharp looking blades, Zane could only guess that they were bone or a similar substance. On its left eye of its sleek face rested a slender feather of a vibrant violet hue, and around the corners were markings that could easily be mistaken for eyelashes.

In short, it looked like a ninja. This, Zane had perceived to be awesome, and a good enough reason to choose this out of all the Pokémon available to him. Sure, in hindsight, this may not have been the best reason to choose a Pokémon... but at the time, it seemed like a good enough reason.

Currently, Zane was sitting down on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea, taking in the landscape and resting his aching back. His general look matched his personality: not particularly bothered. He'd let his auburn hair grow freely to the extent that it now flopped rather annoyingly over his eyes and cascaded over his shoulders. His clothes were similarly scruffy, wearing a rough black hiking shirt and a pair of baggy maroon hiking trousers.

He was staring out at the ocean, completely blown away by its sheer size. After all, he'd lived in Violet City for the entirety of his sixteen years, and barely seen the need to go on holiday when he had everything he wanted within his own house. Naturally, he'd studied the sea in quite a lot of detail during his time at school, but reading about it and seeing it was an entirely different matter. The way it just carried on past the horizon... it was insane.

"Wow..." he couldn't help but mutter as he turned away, stretching his already aching back. The freaking Piloswine of a rucksack on his back felt like it weighed a ton and all the damn thing had inside it was a crappy little tent, a sleeping bag and a few snacks! Sighing, Zane pulled himself to his feet and wearily continued along the coastal path, the gleaming white of Olivine City already in sight. The journey so far had been surprisingly (or thankfully, in Zane's view) uneventful, with only a few of the rabid trainers challenging him to a competition. Fortunately, Zane was going to receive his identification as a fully fledged Pokémon Trainer when he reached Unova, so he hadn't been forced into a crazy battle as of yet.

His gaze eventually wandered to the surrounding countryside, and an unconscious smile crept across his lips as he saw the various indigenous Pokémon scuttling through the taller grass and trees. As unmotivated as he was by all things related to school and occupations, he had always been fascinated by the sheer insanity of such magnificent beings and namely the freedom in which they lived. One of the few things that biology had taught him was respect for them, so genetically varied as a species...Pokémon truly were a wonder to behold. A law had actually been passed to protect the habitat of these Pokémon some time ago, what with human expansion becoming more noticeable, if legislation hadn't been past the majority of this would have been farmland. Zane's grin increased, for once those bastard politicians up in Goldenrod had gotten something right.

Zane turned his attention to his own Pokémon that currently resided inside the Pokéball on his belt, on account of it being illegal and everything to let a virtually wild Pokémon roam free on a usually busy footpath. Also...he was more than little nervous about letting the thing out of its ball for the first time; considering how bad he was around people Zane couldn't help but worry how he'd be around a completely untamed creature. On second thought...perhaps it would have been wiser to choose that harmless looking Torchic than the admittedly menacing one that he'd chosen. Shrugging his aching shoulders, he let that idea slide; they wouldn't give out Pokémon that were untested and dangerous... hopefully.

As he leisurely strode into Olivine city, Zane was initially taken aback by the sheer number of people present in the relatively small coastal town. Not that this was inherently a bad thing...Zane was just one of those guys that preferred peace and quiet over sweaty, out of breath and overworked people bustling around in a concentrated area like a hive of Beedrill.

Weaving through the crowd in the general direction of the harbour, sights of Pokémon working alongside their human masters brought up several of the ethical dilemmas that were a key part of his school syllabus. Whilst there were unquestionably benefits for both parties...the relationship always had seemed more parasitic than symbiotic. He liked to think that this possible "injustice" wouldn't apply to catching Pokémon on his journey through Unova, because as far as he knew Pokémon enjoyed the experience as much as the humans did...

Soon enough he had made it to the dock he saw the boat that he was schedule to take. Well...boat really didn't do the thing justice, it was a colossal piece of engineering that looked as if it could hold thousands of people. Windows dotted its gleaming white walls like water droplets on a damp window, silently glistening in the bright light of the sun. Whilst it was a truly a beautiful thing...it wasn't also a few hundred metres out to sea, possibly due to its size. For a second thought of swimming popped into his mind, but since that didn't seem too logical he tapped the nearest sailor-looking person on the shoulder.

"Uh...excuse me, is that the boat to Unova?" Zane asked. Either the gruff looking sailor didn't like him or was just busy staring out at the sea, as he simply nodded his head curtly. Hesitantly, Zane added, "...and...err...HOW exactly do I get over there?". The sailor-looking person motioned generally to the dockside, where several over sailor-looking people were motioning people into boats. "Right...thanks then...sir," he muttered, jogging away from the mute sailor who had started to give him a rather eerily cold stare.

Zane quickly joined the throng of people trying to cram onto the small boat, which presumably linked up with the bigger one. Thanks to some deft movements and not-so-deft elbowing, Zane managed to slip into the first boat, which set off as soon as he was seated on the crowded. As ridiculous as this might sound, this was his first time on a motorised vehicle...and the speed at which is moved was almost frightening. He probably looked rather odd as he stared intently at the jet stream the boat left in its wake, being completely taken in by the rapid rippling of the otherwise clear ocean and the spray softly petering against his face.

Being a relatively self-conscious person, Zane quickly wiped the stupefied grin off of his face and quickly settled down amongst the other passengers, cradling the crimson and white Pokéball in anticipation.

"Is that you're first Pokémon?" a rather nosy female trainer sitting next to him asked excitedly, causing him to almost drop the thing into the ocean; not expecting someone to actually talk to him.

"...Yeah," Zane answered, shifting his gaze to the voice's origin. As a first guess, he would have thought her to be about fifteen, maybe sixteen...although these days it was pretty hard to tell; what with all of them appearing to wear the same make-up and clothes. Her sapphire eyes instantly lit up upon hearing this, causing Zane to inwardly groan, he could tell that she was going to be one of those really talkative types of people.

"Wow you must be so excited! I remember when I first met Lance - oh, I mean my Treecko... although I guess it's kinda completely different because he wasn't in a Pokéball at the time... but all the same it was awesome! Do you know what it isb yet?" she asked, moving between sentences so fast that it took Zane a minute or two to unravel what she had just said.

"Yeah...I think it's called a... Sneasel?" he ventured, having only seen the name a few times. The girl's expression suddenly went from excited to disapproving; now shaking her head back and forth. Crap! Had he made the wrong choice?!

"First up, never call a Pokémon "it"! HE or SHE's going to be your companion for the entirety of your journey, and you don't want to insult him/her right from the start right?" her tone had also changed to an almost frightening level of seriousness, and not trusting himself to interject Zane settled with simply nodding his head. In a split-second her face had remodelled itself with a beaming smile, "Good! Also, are Sneasel's the ones with the blades for arms? I've heard they're pretty hard to raise - especially for a starting trainer, they've got a bit of a reputation for being...troublesome."

"Errr..." Feeling his self-confidence be instantaneously demolished by the bomb this stranger had dropped on him, his speech failed him more than it did usually. He knew that Pokémon was going to be trouble...it just looked so freaking cool! And as everyone knows, aesthetics trump logic... especially when you take most things at face-value.

"Not to worry about it though, you sure look competent enough, with that neat little grizzled look that you're going for - Oh! I nearly forgot, my name's Rose, nice to meet you!" Arceus, is this girl bipolar or what? Zane thought as the strange girl stopped speaking, and as usually happened in situations where he was placed with someone unusual, he remain awkwardly silent. "Hmm...you don't talk much do you? I've probably just scared ya a little, people DO say that I can come on a little too strong when I'm talking to new friends..." she added, looking down at her feet thoughtfully. Right...at least that put Zane's mind at ease somewhat, as she said, this annoying amount of speaking was probably just due to nerves. Strange, the opposite thing happened (was happening) to him.

"So...have you been training long?" Zane ventured, deciding that this girl...Rose, was relatively harmless...that and making a friend who actually new about travelling could prove useful. Plus, she was bizarrely likeable... maybe it was just that she was reasonably attractive, or the effort she was putting into getting to know a complete stranger. At any rate, the initial nerves appeared to have died down, as she casually slung one leg across the others knee and settled into a generally more relaxed stance. Again, the sudden change was rather disconcerting...but hell, all people had their quirks, and some people were quirkier than others...

"Long enough to learn the ropes of being a trainer and all, and long enough to make a few friends," she said, motioning towards the six Pokéballs that hung from her trousers. "But I haven't seen everything I want to yet...part of the reason I'm heading out to the Unova region...that and more personal reasons,"

"...You have family all the way over in Unova?" Zane asked with a surprised tone, possibly misinterpreting what she meant by the word "personal". A distinctive red hue coloured her otherwise pale cheeks, and she scratched the back of her head in an embarrassed manner.

"...I...sure... do? I mean, yeah! I've got a cousin or two who travelled down there to settle a while back!" Shrugging, Zane took this rather blatant lie as the truth, both because he wasn't great at reading people and because even if she way covering something up, who could blame her? It's not like they were close friends or anything.

The boat's pace began to slow, turning Zane's surprisingly avid attention away from Rose and to his surroundings.

"Awesome, we're here!" Rose exclaimed, fighting to be heard against the now waxing noise of the passengers. The much smaller boat had arrived at the side of the cruise liner...the damn thing was far bigger the colossi he'd assumed it to be earlier! From here, the gleaming white of the ship's curved hull appeared to extend to the sky. He could just about make out the insect like outlines of the people on the top decks. "Arceus I love boats like this. All my favourite things in one! Bright sun, crystal clear water and most importantly great food...I hope they'll have good vegetarian dishes..."

The tiny boat moved ever closer to the artificial colossi, a section of the hull slide effortlessly to the side, revealing the docking station for the passenger vessel. The boat lurched forward slightly as it connected with the docking station and a wide plank of wood was swiftly passed to the boat by the crew, to separate the metre or so gap between the water and ground.

Rose's eyes gleamed in anticipation as she exited the small boat, looking in wonder at the cavernous size of the hanger, swiftly running off towards the exit at the other side of the room. Albeit surprised by her sudden abandonment of him, he wasn't really surprised... her attention span seemed to last five seconds. He shrugged, and followed the crowd through the entrance to the reception desk directly outside the hangar. Now all Zane needed to do was find his cabin, which really couldn't be too hard...

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An hour later, and he had FINALLY found the damn room. Seriously, finding a single cabin was like picking a needle out of a haystack... actually, reverse that - the sheer tedium was certainly as painful. All the same, it was a relief that he had found it... hopefully what transpired within would be worth the effort.

Sliding the key card in the appropriate slot, he slipped the bastard bag off of his probably scarred shoulders, actually having to take a moment to regain his balance. The room was nice enough, at the back of the room was a bunk bed cloaked with créme quilts and soft, plump pillows, a tiny shower cubicle was kept tucked away in the far corner of the room and a small cupboard to dump his bags in...but the floor seemed good enough for that at the moment. Sitting on the side of the lower bunk, he unhooked the Pokéball.

"Please...dear Arceus let this thing like me..." he muttered, before wearily pressing the release button on the middle of the spherical prison...Chapter End Notes:Haven't really had a chance to proof-read/ re-write this yet, I wanted to submit it before I go on a week-long expedition. I know my writing's pretty rusty, so constructive criticism will be welcomed. And if you notice any really glaring errors, please let me know! Anywho, hope you guys enjoy