Chapter Text
“Hmpf, not even a nibble.”
Growing more impatient by the second, the lone, young redhead contemplated her situation. She had been sitting at the edge of this rocky bank, fishing rod in hand, for what seemed like ages, and had nothing to show for it.
Back in Viridian City, while having her Pokémon checked at the Pokémon Center, she had overheard rumors of a mysterious Water-type Pokémon that lived in a nameless lake on Route 1, just south of the city. Excited by the story and determined to find and capture the cryptic creature, she raced down as quickly as she could on her bike, wind at her back.
That was three days ago.
Days of camping out by the lake, sleeping by night and casting her fishing line by day, had yielded paltry results—nothing rarer than schools of Magikarp.
The girl sighed, placing three fingers against her forehead and rubbing gently. The odds of finding something notable, let alone the mysterious rumored Pokémon itself, seemed to be getting slimmer and slimmer as time passed. In fact, she started to think it was more likely than not that the Pokémon in question didn’t even exist—maybe the originator of the rumor had mistook some other Pokémon for it; or perhaps, as word-of-mouth carried the rumor from curious ear to ear, subsequent trainers had embellished details until the version of the story she’d heard barely resembled the original tale.
Nevertheless, despite the lack of results making her feel a bit cranky, she didn’t even consider the thought of giving up—while she knew she might not catch anything rare even if she kept her fishing line cast forever, she also knew the one way to guarantee that she wouldn’t catch anything was to reel her empty line in and quit.
And whether it was myth or fact, she knew that half the fun of pursuing mysterious rumors was discovering the truth yourself, no matter how long it took.
And so, she continued fishing, deep into the afternoon, with nothing but the sounds of the running water itself, as well as the breeze blowing around her, to keep her company.
Hours passed with still no luck, and as the sun seemed to be setting, the girl thought it was finally time to start packing up for the day.
Oh well, she thought to herself. Maybe tomorrow.
Just then, she felt a tug on her fishing line. Eyes quickly shifting, she locked her sight on the end of the line, which began to bob up and down.
“Hm? Oh. Oh! Hey, I got a bite!” the girl said to no one in particular, a sudden burst of energy surging through her body. “Could this be it? The big one?”
A confident grin stretching across her face, she chuckled to herself, timing her reeling to be just right, all while making sure to keep her eyes locked on target. Fishing was all about timing, she knew all too well, and if timed right, even a petite girl such as herself could pull in a mammoth catch many times her own size.
It wasn’t like she was an amateur. Back home in Cerulean City, in the northern part of the Kanto region, she had been a dominant presence in youth fishing contests for years, capturing the sought-after first-place blue ribbon at the last three annual competitions in her age group. Of course, growing up surrounded by Water-type Pokémon 24/7, being raised in Cerulean City’s Water-type Pokémon Gym—which doubled as an aquarium and water sports arena—and being the youngest of four sisters who all specialized in Water-type Pokémon and served as their hometown’s co-Gym Leaders certainly didn’t hurt.
She froze.
My sisters…
In an instant, her wide grin was replaced by a frown, complemented by her now-furrowed brow and clenched teeth.
“Bah!” She shook her head and continued reeling her line in.
Why did her thoughts always return to them? She left them behind, promising she would never return until she proved herself on a journey to become the world’s greatest Water-type Pokémon Trainer!
Until then, she was on her own.
Sensational Sisters…
She rolled her eyes. The day she returned to the Cerulean Gym, she knew she would prove to those airheaded divas what she was really made of.
The being on the other side of the fishing line began to pull back.
The girl snapped back to attention. “Oh, no you don’t!”
With that, she chose her timing to land the catch, and then pulled with all her might. “Now!” she shouted.
Then, with a massive splash of water, a large, scaly serpentine Pokémon emerged and roared its terrifying, earth-shattering roar, echoing throughout the valley.
The moment she laid eyes on the creature, her blood turned cold.
“G-Gyarados?!” she blurted out.
Time itself seemed to stop as she froze in place.
Gyarados?!
The Pokémon from the rumor was a Gyarados?!
She shivered.
Why did it have to be a Gyarados?
Involuntarily, her thoughts raced back to a scene from her childhood, always lurking in the back of her mind—the day a Gyarados at the Cerulean Gym almost ate her alive. Ever since that day, her fear of the vicious-looking Pokémon had been unconquerable.
“Gyaaaaaarrrrrr! ”
The earth itself seemed to quake.
Instantly, the girl snapped out of her thoughts, finding herself still staring down the creature’s furious eyes from her childhood nightmares. Then, without thinking further, the girl dropped her fishing rod, turned around, and sprinted full-speed toward her bike, screaming as loud as she could, flailing her arms wildly in the air.
But unbeknownst to her, the Gyarados was one step ahead.
Before she could reach her bike, the girl found herself forcefully blown back and onto the ground by a powerful burst, blinded by its awesome energy.
Ears ringing, the girl slowly opened her eyes, which then widened upon the sight before her.
Her bike was no more, completely incinerated by the beast’s Hyper Beam attack, nothing more than a blackened crater where it once was.
“M-my bike!”
Gripped by total fear and panic, the girl took off running, leaving some of her belongings behind—rod; campsite; everything but her bag, containing the Poké Balls which she found herself too deathly afraid to use to go on offense. Where she was running, she didn’t care; as long as it was far, far away from that Gyarados.
Why couldn’t it have been another harmless Magikarp?
Or something cute, like a Goldeen?
Above her, dark clouds assembled in the sky, promptly unleashing a torrent of fierce rain which obscured the tears pouring down her own face. Before long, the sudden, heavy downpour was joined by the deafening sound of booming thunderclaps.
Even catching a dumb kid, swimming in the way of my line, would’ve been better than this…
A few months later.
Cerulean City—the beautiful aquatic metropolis, glowing with its cool blue aura. Laid back and easygoing, its city dwellers busied themselves, merrily traipsing up and down cobblestone pathways, gawking at assorted wares in the marketplace or making their way from one landmark or low-rent tourist trap to the next.
But amidst the tranquil atmosphere and happy faces, there walked a lone, dour figure, shoulders slumped low, carrying herself as if a metaphorical storm cloud stalked her in perpetuity. Her orange hair unkempt, her yellow top ratty, and her body emitting a funky, pungent smell, the girl walked forward, eyes to the ground, ignoring any and all eye contact, uncaring if anyone recognized her.
Months before, she left this city, pledging never to return until she was the number one Water-type Pokémon Trainer in the entire world, a Water-type Pokémon Master—a lofty goal, she knew, but one she had been determined to strive for.
But she never seemed to be able to catch a break, she thought, as if the universe had conspired to crush her dreams at every opportunity.
Alone, she wandered the Kanto region, legs and feet in a seemingly permanent state of aching due to the lack of her bike, in search for Water-type Pokémon to catch and train into her team of future champions. But luck averted her at every turn, and without her trusty fishing rod—also lost to that horrible beast from that nameless lake—the girl’s team of Pokémon partners remained completely unchanged from the day she left home. Arrogant trainers picked on her for her petite frame and always seemed to beat her on the battlefield, as one rotten “off day” seemed to stretch on for weeks, then months, without any give.
And now, here she was again—walking the streets of the home she left, and with nothing but failure to show for her journeying.
Her mind immediately drifted to her sisters, and the things she knew they would say to her when she walked back into that gym.
“Looks like the runt’s back.”
“Hey, Misty, I thought you weren’t, like, going to come back until you became a great Pokémon Trainer, ’cause you couldn’t compare with us!”
“Yeah, little sister, that’s what you said. Did you decide to quit already?”
“I mean, like, I guess it’s true that you’re not only not as talented or beautiful as us, but you’re also not as good a Pokémon Trainer as any of us!”
The girl scowled deeply, grinding her teeth as the mocking voices in her head played on a loop, the sound of their jeering giving her a splitting headache.
“Toge! Togeprrrrrrrri!”
In an instant, the gloomy girl snapped out of her grating thoughts, and turned her head to the strange cry.
There, standing before her, was a tanned, brown-haired boy with a small, rounded Pokémon, its head sticking out of its eggshell casing, sitting in his arms.
Misty cocked an eyebrow at the little creature—she had never seen a Pokémon like it in her travels.
“What is it, Togepi?” the boy said, his brow arched. “You hungry?”
The spike ball Pokémon continued to chirp with glee, seemingly indifferent to its trainer’s inquiry.
“Togepi?” Misty said to herself, her inner thoughts unintentionally blurting out loud.
As the Pokémon turned and locked eyes with the onlooking girl, its voice suddenly ceased, and time itself seemed to slow to a halt. A tingling feeling rippled through Misty’s body, and an outbreak of goosebumps coated her bare arms and legs, though she didn’t know why.
For what felt like forever, the girl and the Pokémon stared wordlessly into each other’s eyes. She felt a warm, familiar aura coming off the wholly unfamiliar Pokémon.
“Uh, excuse me? Can I help you, miss?”
Misty felt a jolt as she snapped her head away and met eyes with the source of the new voice—the Togepi’s trainer.
“Huh?” Misty shook her head. “Oh, no, it’s nothing,” she finally replied. “That’s a really cute Pokémon you’ve got there. I guess I was just lost in thought.” She giggled. “I wish I had a cutie like that.”
“Um, thanks, I guess,” the boy said, gripping his Pokémon tighter, eyes locked on the disheveled girl.
“So, where’d you get it?”
“Huh? Um, well, I found its egg in a canyon while I was digging for fossils, and, uh, well…”
Largely ignoring the boy’s words, Misty couldn’t help but notice the curious expression from before had not yet left the Pokémon’s face. “Can I hold it?” she asked.
The boy took a step backward. “Well, uh, actually, Togepi and I gotta get going, miss. So, uh, see ya.”
As if by instinct, Misty found herself stretching her arm out longingly after the boy turned and started walking—a bit faster than others in the street were—away from her.
But though the distance between the two grew, Misty couldn’t help but hear the boy mutter under his breath, “What a weirdo, huh, Togepi?”
Her blood started boiling, and she readied herself to shout “What did you say, kid?! ” in her harshest voice, but before she could get the words out, she noticed a handful of covert glances aimed in her direction and sheepishly averted her eyes, sighed, and then started walking in the opposite direction, tears starting to well in her eyes as she caught a glimpse of Cerulean Gym looming in the distance.