Chapter Text
"Alright! We're finally here!" Leaf Green said to herself as she jumped off of the SS Staryu and onto the docks of Nuvema Town, Unova. The two-day-long voyage that'd begun when she'd left the shores of Vermillion City had been horribly boring and uneventful. Unlike the SS Anne, the SS Staryu was very small and unfortunately, not as fancy. Due to the size of the boat, Pokemon battles were rent allowed on board. Not that her starter Pokemon, who was a young, energetic Charizard, would have wanted to battle, anyways. Charizard hated being on the water. Even though he was well over five and a half feet tall and had two enormous wings, he was terrified of standing in a rocking boat.
By the looks of it, Nuvema wasn't very big. In fact, it looked just like Pallet Town: a small town, comprised of small houses, and not much else. Weird, thought Leaf. Professor Oak had told her that Unova was home to many big cities, such as Castelia, Opelucid, Nimbasa, and Driftveil. It looked like a nice place, however. Maybe he had just wanted her to start off in an area that seemed familiar?
Once she was a fair distance away from the dock, she reached into the duffel bag that always hung from her shoulder. Grabbing one of the pokeballs from a side pocket, Leaf said, "Alright, Charizard, we're on land, now. You should be just fine." She tapped the white button in the center and her Charizard popped out. He lawned and stretched his wings before looking around. He appeared to be a bit confused.
"Hey, Charizard! We're in Unova, now! Looks like a nice place, doesn't it?" Leaf asked. Charizard glanced at her and grunted in response, giving his trainer a small smile. "Come on, I can see the professor's lab from here." Professor Oak had told Leaf about Professor Juniper's lab before she had left. "If you want to see what kind of Pokemon the Unova region will have to offer, you should stop by and say hello," he had said.
It was a sunny summer day, so plenty of people were outside with their pokemon. As she headed towards the professor's lab, Leaf caught sight of two Pokemon she'd never even seen before: a fluffy white ball that floated in midair using its two leaf-like wings, and a rodent with buck teeth and huge, red eyes. Those Pokemon looked pretty weird. She'd probably have to battle them someday.
Once she got to the lab, she returned Charizard to his pokeball and knocked on the door. A lab assistant answered.
"Oh, are you Leaf Green?" the assistant asked.
"Yeah."
"Ah, Professor Juniper was waiting for you! Come in!"
Juniper's lab was very similar to Professor Oak's: it was full of books, PCs, and strange machines. A young woman in a lab coat, probably Professor Juniper, was on her knees, playing with a furry gray Pokemon. The assistant said to her, "Professor! Leaf has arrived!"
"Oh!"
Returning the Pokemon to its pokeball, the professor stood up and gave her an odd smile.
"Professor Oak didn't tell me you were a girl," she said. Leaf wrinkled her eyebrows in confusion and tucked a few strands of long, brown hair behind her ears.
"Uh...he didn't?" she asked.
"You'll have to excuse me," said Juniper. "But I thought you'd be a boy because he told me your name was Leif."
"It's not L-E-I-F, it's Leaf. Like leaves on trees," Leaf explained. "It's okay, this kind of stuff happens to me sometimes."
"Well, anyways, it's nice to meet you, Leaf!" the professor said cheerfully. "How was your trip?"
"It was alright," said the young trainer. "I'm okay with smaller boats, but my Charizard doesn't like it much. He's only okay with big boats like cruise ships, because they don't rock as easy and he can move around."
"Oh, that's not good..."
"Yeah, but he was able to tough it out for a long time just now. He was good as soon as I let him out on land."
"Wonderful! Now, Oak told me that you'd be interested in taking a look at some of the Pokemon that are native to this region. Correct?" asked Juniper.
"Oh! Yeah, of course!"
"I have three starter Pokemon, plus one other that belongs to me that I can show you. I'll have to get the starters from another room, though. If you'll excuse me..."
"It's okay, I can wait," Leaf said as the professor rushed into another room. She liked Juniper, so far. Even though she'd thought she was a boy because of her name.
Suddenly, someone opened the door behind her. Leaf turned around. Standing in the doorway was a boy her age with dirty blond hair that reached his shoulders and an orange jacket. He looked over at her and asked, "Is Professor Juniper available?"
"She's in another room, getting some starter Pokemon for me to take a look at," Leaf explained. The boy seemed to perk up a bit at her answer.
"Oh, so are you just starting your journey?" he asked.
"Yeah! Well...uh, actually, this isn't the first journey I've been on, I already have Pokemon, I just wanted to take a look at whatever Pokemon are here, in Unova."
The blonde boy continued questioning Leaf.
"So you're from a different region?"
"Yup!"
"And you have Pokemon from that region?"
"Sure, you wanna see them?"
The boy gave her a small smile and said, "I should battle you, later."
Just then, Juniper walked in on their conversation.
"There we are- Hello, Trip!" she said to the blond boy. "I see you've met Leaf. She's a trainer who's come all the way from Kanto to challenge the Unova Pokemon League!"
Trip suddenly frowned.
"...Oh."
"So your name's Trip, huh?" said Leaf. "I'm Leaf. It's nice to meet you!" She offered him her hand.
"I already knew that." For whatever reason, he didn't sound too happy anymore. Leaf drew her hand away from him, wondering, what the hell is this guy's problem?
"So, Leaf, these are the starter Pokemon that you can receive here, in Nuvema Town." Out off the three different pokeballs came a strange green Pokemon with big, slotted eyes and a leaf on the tip of its tail, an orange and black Pokemon with a big snout and a curly tail, and a blue rodent Pokemon with a shell on its belly.
"Well, hey there, little guys." Leaf crouched down and took her Pokedex out of her bag.
The green creature was called Snivy, the orange one was called Tepig, and the blue one was called Oshawott.
"So, what types are they?" Leaf asked the professor. Trip answered her question.
"Snivy's a grass type, Tepig's a fire type, and Oshawott's a water type," he said. "It's pretty basic information."
Leaf glared up at him. God, what a snot he turned out to be...
"Well, MAYBE I've never heard of these Pokemon before," she said. "Unova's pretty far from home."
"Well, I thought you would've at least learned the basics about other regions in Trainer School."
Leaf ignored the irritating little snob of a trainer and said to the professor, "These Pokemon are all really cute!" as she scratched Tepig behind its ears.
"If you'd like, you can take one with you," the professor said.
"Eh, sorry, but I can't," Leaf said. "I already have a full party that I plan on keeping with me the whole way though." She poked Oshawott in the little shell on its belly. "Hey, this shell's a real shell! Where'd you find that, Oshawott?"
"It's called a scalchop." There was Trip, running his mouth again. "They're born with them."
Leaf had just about had enough of him. She stood up.
"Hey, you know how you wanted to fight me earlier?" she snapped. "Let's go. One on one, outside."
"You're leaving already?" the professor asked.
"W-we'll be back in a few minutes," said Trip hesitantly. "This shouldn't take long, we promise."
"Damn right, we promise," Leaf grumbled as she stormed towards the lab's entrance.
She went outside, took off her bag, and set it on the ground. Ok, so I have no idea what he has on his team...
"Hey, don't you want to see what I'm going to use?" she heard Trip ask.
Leaf went straight for Charizard's pokeball.
"What the hell is your problem?" she yelled as she stood back up, pokeball in hand. "What did I ever do to you, you stupid snot!"
"You barely know anything about this region, yet you decided to dive in head first and challenge its league?" Trip said. "That's a pretty dumb decision, even for someone from Kanto."
"...What does Kanto have to do with anything?!" Leaf asked. "Actually, you know what? I don't care. Let's fight! Go, Charizard!"
Charizard roared and unfurled his wings when Leaf sent him out. Trip's eyes widened.
"I've seen pictures of Charizards, before, but never in real life," she heard him murmur. Suddenly, he pulled a small camera out of his pocket and snapped a picture of it.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
"Just taking a picture," he said, and put his camera away. "Charizard isn't native to this region. Anyways..." He plucked a pokeball from his belt and tossed it. "Serperior, I choose you!"
Serperior was a large green serpent with a leaf on it's tail and big, red eyes.
"Finally!" Leaf growled.
"Serperior is a grass type, just so you know," said Trip. "So you have the advantage."
"Cool, you move first." Leaf smiled to herself. Charizard had plenty of fire and flying moves. That Serperior would go down easily.
"Serperior! Energy Ball!"
"Fly!"
Charizard barely dodged Trip's attack before soaring into the sky.
"Not shabby," said Trip. He and Serperior waited patiently as Charizard soared back down at blistering speed, until...
"Dragon Tail! Now!"
Serperior's tail glowed blue and it smacked Charizard square in the face. His attack was effectively blocked.
"Stay focused, Charizard! Fire Blast!"
"Use Wrap, Serperior!"
Serperior sprang into the air and coiled itself around Charizard before he had time to attack. Charizard could barely move. Leaf's hands grew sweaty.
"Get out of there!" she said. Charizard struggled in vain as Trip yelled, "Use Dragon Tail!"
Serperior bashed Charizard over the head with its glowing tail.
"Keep attacking!" its trainer commanded. Leaf gulped. She couldn't let Charizard lose to a Pokemon with such a severe type disadvantage! But she didn't know what to do. Unless...
"Bite its tail with Fire Fang!" she blurted. Her Pokemon opened his eyes and snapped at Serperior's tail with flaming jaws until he latched on. His trainer grinned. "Alright, dig in! Make it burn!" she yelled.
"No! Hang in there, Serperior!" Trip was just as invested in this battle as Leaf, but his Pokemon wasn't able to tough out Charizard's attack. It loosened its grip and fell off soon after. "Try another Energy Ball-"
"Fire Blast it!"
Serperior was engulfed in flames.
"Serperior!" she heard Trip scream!
When the smoke from the attack cleared, Serperior was sprawled across the ground, out cold.
"Yeah! That's how we roll!" Leaf patted her Charizard on the back before returning him to his Pokeball. "Way to be tough out there."
"Return, Serperior."
Leaf smirked at her opponent.
"So! Should we head back in, knowing that I'm actually good?" she asked. Trip shrugged. He wasn't happy, but he didn't look too disappointed, either.
"I went easy on you," he said. "To be honest, you were tougher than I'd expect someone from the boonies to be."
Leaf's smile disappeared.
"I'm going back to the lab," she muttered. Arrogant prick. If I ever run into him again, I will fight him in a full battle and destroy him!