Chapter Text
The Girl from Fortree City
“Hey, hey you! Girl!”
Upon hearing the voice of a young boy just about in my ear, I braced myself for what I knew he would say next. Boys always wanted the same thing from me. I didn’t want to wait for him to speak, but he didn’t give me much of a chance to refuse him.
“Let’s battle!”
I sighed. Somehow I’d gained a reputation around here as a trainer who didn’t back down from a challenge. I honestly wanted everyone to go away at this point. But in a small town where everyone knew everyone, escaping seemed impossible.
“Fine. One-on-one.”
“That’s okay with me, as long as I get to see your rare Pokemon!”
Though I should have known his intention, I still managed to be surprised, flinching openly at his words.
“I—I have others, too, you know,” I stammered, unable to bring myself together quickly enough.
“But I wanna see the rare one everyone’s talking about!”
My starter Pokemon, one I received from my father years ago, has been the talk of the town ever since. In a town like Fortree, where there’s not much else to do other than shoot the breeze, word gets around real fast.
“I don’t agree to your terms. Now scram, kid!”
The young boy looked disappointed, but whatever. That isn’t my responsibility. He trudged off back towards the Secret Base Guild, also known as where everyone goes to hang out as there’s literally nothing to do in Fortree City. You only live here if you work at the gym, if you’re a Secret Base aficionado, or if you have some kind of weird dream of living in a tree house. Sadly, at age 13, I am not any of these things.
My name is Astrid Ichinomiya. I am 13 as mentioned previously and I became a Pokemon trainer at the age of 10. At the local gym leader Winona’s suggestion, I tried a Pokemon Contest and fell in love, so my new goal is to become a Top Coordinator. I’ve won two ribbons out of four contests so far since my debut. Unfortunately, contests don’t come to these parts all too often, and my parents won’t let me leave the city alone. It sucks when all of your peers have already gone on their sabbatical – that’s what we call a year away from school to travel the world with Pokemon – and you get to hear all about their adventures.
“Astie,” my friend Naomi said to me the other day, “which do you prefer, the mall in Lilycove City or the outdoor stalls at Slateport City?”
“Haven’t been to either,” I replied.
My friend stared at me in shock, then walked away to talk with other friends. Some friend she is. Well, Naomi was once my best friend – but since I can’t talk to her about the world, she no longer spends any time with me. Whatever.
And then, there was also the incident of four years ago…
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July, four years past
My father is an archaeologist. Though there isn’t a fossil lab here in Hoenn, many fossil researchers have come together and created their own sort of facility. Just before my tenth birthday, my father and some of his colleagues headed to another land called Kalos. Every call he made back home, he thrummed with excitement.
“Astrid, Victoria, look!” he exclaimed over the videophone one day. “Look at these fossils!” Dad held up two rocks, one curved upwards like a tiny bow; the other, long, flat, and otherwise unremarkable except that it seemed to catch the bits of sunlight shining in his office. “This one is the jaw of a Pokemon we’re calling Tyrunt,” he said, indicating the bow-like rock. “And the other is a scale from a Pokemon we’ve named Amaura.”
He shoved the rocks closer towards the camera, smiling from ear to ear, the excitement of having discovered two new – well, old – Pokemon plain on his face. My mother smiled too.
“Akira, that’s great,” she replied.
“Do you like them, Astrid?” Dad asked.
I stared at him, and then at the fossils for a moment, before finally replying, “The scale one is kind of cool. It looks pretty shiny.”
Dad nodded in response, then added quickly, “Hey, could you leave the room for a sec? I have something I need to discuss with your mother.”
I remember feeling annoyed. Why did I have to leave the room? I was almost 10 years old for crying out loud! I could handle it! But I did as he said and left.
A few weeks later, Dad returned and after a quick greeting he launched, “Astie, I know that you didn’t like when I asked you to leave the room the other day. But I have a surprise for you, to apologize for missing your big day. Happy belated birthday!”
He handed me the long, flat rock he’d shown us a few days ago. Now, under the natural sun, the rock practically glowed in the colors of the rainbow. How could a rock even do that?
“What do I do with this, Dad?” I had asked after the novelty of the shimmer wore off.
Instead of responding, he motioned for me to come outside with him. He called out his Skarmory, and we flew to another city! Fallarbor Town, the sign said. We met with one of Dad’s colleagues who glanced at the fossil and said, “Yes, I can bring this back to life for sure!”
And that’s how I got my starter Pokemon. Amaura, my father called it. A small, powder blue quadruped with a long neck and two sails glimmering rainbow at its eyes. I remember the day that we met, it walked forth on unsteady legs, made eye contact with me, and stumbled right into my arms. I knew from that moment that Amaura would be my number one partner.
Such a rare Pokemon, though, drew me unwanted attention. And as I learned, it drew attention Amaura didn’t want as well.
Since most of my classmates had also just turned 10, many were preparing for their journeys but hadn’t set out yet. As a result, everyone wanted to battle and get practice. Amaura and I worked tirelessly to fight against every opponent, and since we hadn’t learned about its species in school, we were able to best most every challenger.
But, then, came the battle that I couldn’t win. That we couldn’t win.
On that day, I had entered the fifth grade classroom to an older boy’s booming voice. “Hey girl, I hear that you’re undefeated. Let’s battle!”
That was Takeo, known for being the school bully. 15 years old and not allowed to leave on his adventure, Takeo responded by violently taking on any challengers he could. And he was a big boy – very tall, very wide, and very loud.
“Get ‘em, Absol!”
He didn’t even give me a choice!, I thought. But I couldn’t back down from a challenge.
“Give it your all, Amaura!”
Amaura spun out of its Pokeball, landing on all fours. Though the air felt chilly already, Amaura’s natural coldness caused steam to form around it. A natural performer – but that wasn’t something I’d realized at the time.
“Swords Dance, Absol!”
“Use Thunder Wave!”
Though Amaura crippled the disaster Pokemon, it still managed to strengthen itself.
“Now, Double Team!”
“Amaura, use Powder Snow!”
As Absol’s shadow copies surrounded us, my fear began to grow. Somehow, I think Amaura was able to sense my fear as well, and stumbled slightly. When I finally realized that Amaura hadn’t unleashed its attack, I managed to spurt, “What are you waiting for!?”
“Ama!” it exclaimed, realizing its mistake and firing the delicate powder towards each of the copies. But Takeo snickered.
“Too slow! Absol, Superpower!”
“Amaura, get out of the—!”
But it was already too late. The nimble white creature glided through the air, striking Amaura down. Superpower, one of the most physically powerful moves, I realized—there was no way that Amaura could stand up to that.
I watched my partner struggle to stand, and I cried, “You don’t have to do this! You can rest now.”
“Absol, use Dark Pulse!” Takeo sneered, unwilling to stop his onslaught.
Somehow, Amaura found its second wind, and without command charged directly at any of the copies of Absol it could find. It rampaged forth, clearly angry and embarrassed at how one-sided the battle had been.
“Amaura, please, stop!” I cried, running towards it. But what could a 10-year-old girl do against a creature close to her own size?
We had gained a crowd, and people watched in horror as everything continued to unfold. A teacher came out of the pack, screaming, “Astrid, call it back! Call your Pokemon back!”
I was too stunned to do anything, and apparently Takeo felt the same way. The boy stammered, “Uh, Absol, we’re out of here!”
“Sol!” it exclaimed, running away with its trainer.
“Amaura, it’s gone! Please stop!”
Amaura had made its way to the locker room, destroying everything around. All the girls screamed as the Pokemon drew nearer—
“Please, Medicham, use Force Palm.”
I turned to meet the eyes of the principal, Mr. Graves. I always wondered how anyone could have a face to match their name, but our principal always looked the way his name sounded.
The bipedal Pokemon nimbly made its way towards Amaura, and knocked it out with a well-placed Force Palm attack. As its body slumped to the ground, I ran over to cradle it in my arms. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't be able to stand hugging the fossil Pokemon, as Amaura always stays freezing cold. But I didn’t know what else to do in the moment. My precious Pokemon…
Mr. Graves walked up to me, his gray hair and harshly lined face seeming even graver than usual. I worried that I would be in trouble: “Please don’t give me detention, Mr. Graves!” I think I’d even said.
He shook his head. “Miss Ichinomiya,” he began, “You aren’t in trouble. But make sure you know what your limits are. This is an important lesson in life.”
“But—!” I wanted to tell him about how Takeo didn’t give me a chance to say no, about how he was five years older and that much stronger, about how none of this was my fault!
“Just consider what I’ve said.”
He walked away. I felt even worse than if he had given me detention.
After that incident, most of the girls in my school seemed threatened by me and most of the boys just wanted to battle to see my Amaura’s rampage. That was all I was good for after that day.