Chapter 1 - Vermilion Sunset

“Vermilion City, the port of exquisite sunsets,” Celeste read the sign out loud while looking at the metropolis extending from the pier.

Tall buildings dotted the horizon, rising from beyond the piles of containers and warehouses that sat nearby. There was some smoke in the air and the smell of fried food mixed in with the salt scented ocean breeze. A Machoke and a Gurdurr passed by, carrying construction materials to a truck that was honking just behind a badly parked bus.

She watched as a large woman—the bus driver—left her post ticketing people to argue with the truck driver. There was a little Pichu on her shoulders and it looked absolutely terrified at the two Fighting-Types still loading the materials inside.

“I don’t know about that,” Celeste muttered, bringing her index finger to her chin. “This place doesn’t seem all that exquisite from where I’m standing.”

To the side of the bus, a queue was forming, and she started to think she should actually walk to town.

“What do you say, Aria? Wanna explore?” she asked, eyes trailing down to the Eevee yawning by her side. With a quiet chuckle, she continued, “Shouldn’t you be more excited?”

Aria twitched her ears and barked at her trainer, not particularly thrilled about signs or sunsets. Her lush brown fur, a little darker than the usual Eevee, shone with the bright late-summer sun and the cream-coloured fur collar around her neck rattled as she looked around for something more interesting.

“You are right,” Celeste said with a sigh. “This marina is pretty boring, but this guy back on our ship told me there are tons of fun things we can do here. Restaurants and even a nice beach towards… was it Route Six or Seven that he said…?”

A flock of Pidgey flew overhead as a small spark shot up. The bus driver’s Pichu was nervously shaking while its trainer shoved a finger right at the truck guy. She was yelling something about the virtues of patience and not honking while people did their jobs.

Ironic, considering she didn’t seem all that patient herself.

“So… walk and explore?” Celeste grinned at her Pokémon, trying to back her case by gesturing at the growing queue.

At that, Aria rolled her eyes and let out a long, sarcastic “Ve”.

“Okay, okay,” Celeste lifted a hand in a sign of peace. “We can walk straight to the Pokémon Centre.”

Another skeptic bark.

“What happened to enjoying the journey and all that?”

Aria smirked, affectionately tackling her trainer’s leg. When Celeste looked, however, her Pokémon was already sprinting away.

“Hey wait up,” she yelled. “You don’t even know where the Centre is and—”

She puffed, noticing Aria was not stopping, but wasted no time in sprinting after her best friend.

“You are not beating me to it,” she yelled, as she darted between the still arguing drivers. They shot her a confused look and the bus driver gasped, finally noticing the queue she’d left behind.

Celeste was not taking the bus, though.

With every step, her heart beat a little faster.

This was it. She was running toward her destiny.

This was the beginning of their journey. Once she got to the Centre, her life was going to change forever.

Once she got to the Centre, Celeste was going to be a real, proper Pokémon trainer.

—*——*—

“You are not a trainer…” Nurse Joy said, her voice accompanied by the quick clicking sounds of the keyboard she was typing in. Her face, pale with the blue light from the computer, looked amused.

Celeste looked at her feet and felt small.

In the large lobby of the Pokémon Centre, trainers of all ages and from all walks of life were going about their business. A girl was clutching a Rattata to her chest and crying to a Chansey. An older boy was excitedly showing what looked like a gym badge to a group of friends. Two men were sitting close together on a sofa as they watched their Nidoran nuzzle one another.

“Of course I’m a trainer,” Celeste muttered, bringing her eyes up to the nurse’s. She suddenly missed her parents sorting things out for her…

She shook her head.

No, she didn’t miss her parents. She didn’t need them. Celeste wasn’t a small kid anymore. She could be independent and sort things out by herself.

Determined, she picked up the Eevee by her feet and lifted her up towards the nurse. “Look, I have a Pokémon,” she said, also gesturing to the small plastic document that she had placed on the table. “And I’m allowed to train Pokémon. It says so on my license.”

The nurse, glancing over to Celeste again, let out a tired breath. “I can see you have a Pokémon,” Joy replied, turning to the computer again. “But your records say ownership and travelling rights. No training or catching… That means no Pokémon Centre benefits.”

The nurse’s gaze lingered a little too long on Celeste, making her feel uncomfortable.

“I didn’t have problems in Alola…” she said sheepishly.

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“I doubt that.” The nurse kept staring at her.

“It's true! I even captured a Pokémon there… sort of,” Celeste tried again, picking up a Premier Ball from her pocket.

“Travelling is not training,” the nurse insisted, now glaring. “And in your previous… occupation… I don’t think you stayed in Centres often, did you?”

Celeste felt her face burn. She was hoping no one in Kanto would recognise her… She fumbled around with her premier ball, trying to figure out what to say next. She felt her stomach somersault and her heart accelerate.

“Hey, don’t worry about that,” the nurse said in a reassuring tone. “It says here your license was first issued in Galar, by a Professor Magnolia. I don’t have permission to change your records from here since it’s international, but it’s easy enough. This professor can do it. Once you have that, you can get Pokéballs of your own and use the facilities here for free.”

“… P-professor Magnolia can help?” Celeste trailed off to one of the video-phones on the side.

“It shouldn’t be a problem for her…” Joy dragged her words. “If she has access to your records, and believe you are fit to be a trainer, that is.”

Celeste bit her lip.

It was day one, and she already needed to call a friend of her parents and ask for favours.

So much for independence.

—*——*—

The dark screen blinked, revealing an elderly woman. Her greying hair, which Celeste was told, had once been orange as a carrot, was tucked into a net, while her spotless white lab coat hung over her shoulders without a wrinkle.

“Hey Professor,” Celeste greeted in a small voice that was muffled by the Eevee happily barking a greeting of her own.

“Celeste?” professor Magnolia answered, her sharp eyes half concealed by the pair of glasses delicately placed on the edge of her nose turning soft. “And little Aria too. What a pleasant surprise.”

“Sorry to disturb you… ah… I hope it is not too early there…”

“Not at all, my dear,” the Professor took off the glasses and gently cleaned the lenses. “Where have you and that crazy family of yours ended up this time?”

Celeste shifted in her seat, much to Aria’s displeasure. “They were in Alola when I… left…”

Her cheeks were getting redder than a Slugma’s.

Magnolia finished cleaning her glasses and put them back on, though her eyes, now more analytical, did not face Celeste directly, but her surroundings instead.

“… you left?” she asked, the lines on her face deepening. “To where?”

“Kanto…” Celeste made her voice small again.

“You are in a Pokémon Centre,” Magnolia stated.

“Yeah, in Vermillion City.”

There was a pause, and Celeste let her fingers sink around Aria’s fur collar. She wondered if the professor would help her or say that going to Kanto was a ridiculous idea. Instead of ruminating on that thought, she decided to fix her gaze at the Polteageist floating in the background of the video instead. She remembered they made great tea—that one in particular loved oolong.

The ghost looked at the screen with curiosity, but vanished with a giggle as soon as it noticed he was being looked at.

Perfect.

Not sure what else to say, but not dealing well with the silence that she felt had been going on for too long, Celeste put her Premier Ball on the table.

“We… left to go on a journey,” she finally declared. “Me, Aria and…” She gestured to the ball and repeated, more steadily. “Me, Aria, and Powder left on a journey to become stronger. I’ll be a Pokémon Trainer.”

In the Professor eyes, Celeste looked for some understanding.

“I see…” Magnolia hesitated. “I have to ask… did you…”

“Run away from my parents?” Celeste smiled, feeling more confident. “Don’t worry, they actually bought me a ticket here. I guess you could even say I left with their blessing…”

“You guess…?”

“Mom thinks I’ll give up in a day,” she said. “Dad said he hopes I can have my fun for a week before coming back to my senses…”

Magnolia frowned and then sighed. “Didn’t you enjoy travelling the world with them?”

“I did… I mean, I do. I enjoy travelling,” Celeste answered while scratching Aria below the ear. “It’s just… That’s their life, you know? Not mine.”

The professor gave out a small smile as she looked at the Eevee. “How long has it been since you two have been together? A year?”

Aria barked, making Celeste chuckle. “A little more than that. It was spring when we first met.”

Magnolia leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. “That is right… I remember I being quite surprised. When you turned twelve, you didn’t want me to give you a Pokémon, but a few months later, you showed up with that mischievous little Eevee of yours.”

Trainer and Pokémon exchanged a meaningful look before turning back to the Professor. “I needed to find the right partner for me.”

Magnolia nodded. “I suppose everything has its time and place…” Her eyes briefly rested on Celeste's Premier Ball before she continued. “Have you thought this through?”

“Yeah,” Celeste lied. She knew she felt strongly about going on this journey. Her brain, however, had its doubts. “I can’t find my path if I’m following someone else’s dream.”

There was a glint of pride in the Professor's voice when she spoke again. “I suppose you didn’t call me just to relay the latest news, did you?”

Celeste exhaled, fiddly. “I… I need my training licence to be updated…”

Magnolia nodded once more. “I’ll update it for you, but I want you to go visit Professor Oak in Pallet town before you do anything else.”

“Professor Oak?”

“A good colleague of mine,” she explained, “It will be good for you to meet him. Kanto is very far away, and you don’t know anyone in there. It’s important to have some support.”

Celeste beamed up at the positive response. “Don’t worry, I’ll go find him right away. Absolutely nothing will distract me from that!”

—*——*—

Celeste’s legs swung back and forth as she sat on the edge Vermilion Wharf, with Aria curled up in her lap. She watched a herd of Lapras in the distance and smiled, taking it as a lucky sign. Lapras, after all, are hardly ever seen so close to big cities.

“It would be cool to travel the seas in a Lapras,” she thought to herself. They were strong and yet gentle, and most of all, helpful. If she had one, she wouldn’t need to wait three days for a boat.

Yeah. Three whole days.

Apparently, this Professor Oak lived in the middle of nowhere, and the quickest way to get to his town was by taking a ferry.

A ferry that only left once a week.

Looking at the skies, Celeste considered her options. She had already gone shopping for supplies for her journey, so she figured they could either go sightseeing, checking out the beach or the restaurants. Yet, the cloudy, greyish sunset made her feel like this city was going to be… lacklustre?

She sighed and peered at the three big paper bags by her side. Celeste had bought some food, both for her and her Pokémon, as well as potions, antidotes and all that stuff that proper trainers buy, including Pokéballs. She also had a map now, and a sightseeing guide of the region, as well as some state-of-the-art overly priced camping gear and more suitable travel clothes.

“Do you think I overdid it?” Celeste asked Aria, who simply snickered at her.

She definitely overdid it.

Celeste carefully ran her fingers through her Eevee’s fur, deciding that was a problem for later. The point of going on a journey was learning and growing. She’d figure it out, eventually.

“Hey Aria,” Celeste whispered after some time. “We survived our first day.”

The Eevee tilted her head and nuzzled her arm. For a moment, the (now properly registered) trainer looked at her pokémon with her pride swelling.

In response, Aria… opened her mouth wide and stuck her tongue out.

Celeste rolled her eyes. “Here am I, wanting to have a heartfelt conversation, but all you want to do is eat.”

Her Eevee complained, but the trainer simply giggled. Aria liked her treats, and this was a good moment for one. In one of her bags, there were some rice cakes the two could share before getting back to the Centre.

Without a care in the world, Celeste extended her arm towards the bag closest to her. Before she could reach it, there was a loud thumping sound.

“Chop!” she heard something yell. She reacted instinctively by grabbing the bag. There was another thump, this time accompanied by a searing pain in her hand.

Celeste folded her arm closer and her eyes immediately darted to the creature that had used a Karate Chop on her. It was small, grey and running away with her stuff.

“Hey!” She jumped up, feeling a shock run from her hand all the way up her arm. She shook her head, trying to ignore it as she looked around for help. “Someone stop that Machop!”