Disclaimer: I do not own pokémon or any of its related enterprises. They are the property of their respective owners.
Author's Note: Initial chapter beta'd by Farla. Thank you very much, hun!

The soft sound of footsteps made its way across the path, voices following suit. Two figures moved under the scorching sun, both talking avidly and obviously disagreeing over something. One was male, tall and lean, the other female, much younger and a lot shorter. They were closely followed by a rattata, the thing currently trying to grab on to the hem of the male's coat. The man, looking about twenty, glanced down at it, laughing at the critter's attempts. Reaching down, he allowed the rattata to climb onto his shoulder.

The argument continued, comments thrown back and forth but not particularly informative. The rattata tried paying attention to what its owner was doing, but soon sleep seemed just as interesting and it closed its eyes, snoring quietly.

Their surroundings consisted of trees and bushes, with some rocks littering the path, but nothing special. It wouldn't keep the pokémon awake. The dusty road twisted through the trees, never in a straight line, curling around everything in its path. It was probably created by the movement of pokémon, but one couldn't be sure.

The two paid no attention to this, however, as they had been in the forest quite a lot and knew everything by heart. The forest, lying on the edge of Sunbark Town, was their training ground. Its rocky patches and long, endless roads made it ideal for practicing moves. They didn't have to worry about accidentally hurting somewhere, for the forest was vast and Sunbark Town very small.

So every day they went there to train the young man's pokémon, with the little girl watching and learning, and the pokémon growing stronger. It was a good thing, as it would be for any future pokémon trainer, that she was able to have such a wonderful role-model, and this girl could completely trust in her brother's knowledge and strength.

But instead of appreciating this, the girl was restless, eager – too eager – to show her worth and do what her brother did. Which to her was training pokémon, battling others, and showing the world how great she was.

Of course that was not reality, but a ten year old girl has a romantic sight on things. Everything was for valour and might. Her brother had allowed her to use his pokémon now and then, for fun and because he could hardly refuse her anything, but still the urge to manage her own life caused her to practically force him to talk to their parents.

Their parents were not particularly interested in pokémon. They owned a growlithe for protection, but that was about it. They were proud of their son, of course, but they didn't understand the connection he had with his pokémon, nor the wish to travel that their daughter had. So they didn't understand that the girl wished to travel to New Bark Town and receive her starter pokémon, but then again she hadn't mentioned it either.

For with all those wishes, she was also remarkably shy. Afraid her parents would not let her go she had asked her older brother, Derek, to ask in her stead. Unfortunately, her big brother wasn't happy with the request; he was all for acting on your own initiative and reaching goals by your own doing. But, as big brothers are supposed to, he eventually agreed and right now the girl was trying her to best to get him to ask ahead of schedule. His schedule, that is.

"Amy, I am not going to visit Mum and Dad anytime soon."

"It's a ten minute walk!"

"You know that's not the problem. They'll ask me to stay longer and I always have trouble refusing them. I have to train this rattata before his owner returns, I don't have the time to go visit our parents and risk having to stay there for another two weeks."

"But, Derek!"

"Don't but me Amy; you will have to wait till Mum's birthday."

"But that's another three weeks!"

The young man sighed; mentally cursing his parent's wish to have another baby ten years after they had conceived him. He loved his baby sister, of course he did, but she was the epitome of little girls; annoying, whiny and possessing the most innocent eyes he had ever seen. He had to make sure that he didn't look into those eyes right now, or he'd be sold, he knew it. She was giving him stiff competition, though, for he was hearing soft sniffling next to him.

"Don't start Amy, I'm serious. For once you'll have to wait or do it yourself."

He knew that comment would have effect on her, after all she wasn't known for her outgoing personality, especially when it came to their parents. Why she wanted to go on a pokémon journey was beyond him, for she never fared well alone and she had the amazing ability to give up the moment something went wrong. He gave her two days before she'd call him to come get her.

No doubt she had a vision of heroic deeds, catching legendary pokémon and winning every battle, as opposed to the reality of days of traveling, seeing more Weedle than you want to, and losing constantly. Perhaps this would be a good lesson for her, to make sure she started seeing things in perspective and learned to appreciate the life she had with her parents. It might not include pokémon much, but they were certainly loving and would no doubt welcome her starter pokémon with open arms.

"Alright," came the soft answer.

She was pouting, he knew it. He would not take the risk of looking at her, but he knew she was pouting. How he managed to deal with her, he'd never know, but then she was his sister so giving up on her was unthinkable.

"Come on sis, you can carry rattata for a bit."

Knowing it would cheer her up, he handed the sleeping form to her, seeing rattata's paws tangle in her dark hair to steady itself. A yawn left it as eyes opened a bit to see what this change was. Assured that it could do no harm, it closed them again, continuing a favourite activity.

-

Quietly removing the chocolate bits from her dress, Amy made no attempt to be social. She was just waiting for Derek to ask her to leave the room. She knew that if he really planned to talk to them, then he wouldn't want to have her there. It was a special talk after all and special talks were always done without the person being discussed present. Perhaps they would even agree on a present for her, something to give her when she left. A great ball, maybe, or even an ultra ball. She knew Derek owned a few, so perhaps she'd receive one of those.

So there she was, waiting patiently for the wonderful events that would no doubt change her life. After all, she knew these things tended to do just that.

"Father, mother, if I can interrupt for a moment?" Derek said, taking his spot next to Amy on the couch. Knowing that some chocolate bits would no doubt now adorn his backside, Amy quickly looked the other way. She waited for Derek to request she leave, but it didn't happen like that.

Her parents, in happy conversation over the latest batch of magazines they'd received, looked at them and smiled.

"Of course, what's the matter?" her mother asked, curious.

"Well, mother, Amy came to me with a request. She wanted me to ask you if she could start her own pokémon journey."

Amy stared at her brother with huge eyes. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. She wasn't supposed to be there and he shouldn't mention that she had asked him to do so. It was all wrong! His request was wrong too! He should have asked nicely, with a flourish, charming her parents with the wonderful way of pokémon and the adventures she'd embark on. But he hadn't, now what should…

"Of course, we expected she would want to." Mother interrupted her chain of thought.

"I see no problems with that, unless you do, Derek?" Father this time.

"Not particularly, Father. Every ten year old mildly interested in pokémon goes through this; it's a vital part of their growth."

That was what Derek should have said during his request, but apparently it wasn't even necessary to roll out those kinds of guns. Unlike the way she had imagined it, her parents had agreed to it far sooner than expected.

She was dumbfounded. If she'd known it would be this easy, she might have asked herself. The daunting part of the whole wish to become a pokémon trainer had always been convincing her parents, but obviously they didn't seem to mind. Perhaps those conversations they'd had with the neighbours had changed them a bit? Or maybe they chose to live without pokémon for another reason than hatred for the creatures. It made sense, otherwise they wouldn't own Growlithe.

It was all too confusing, but at least she was allowed to go on her pokémon journey. Scratching her head in confusion she smiled at her parents, appreciating their trust in her.

"Well then, I'm going to New Bark Town in two days, seeing as I have to deliver that Rattata to its owner, so that would be the perfect opportunity to take you there," Derek commented, smiling at the eager look on his sister's face.

"As long as you come back to stay with us for a while, son, we haven't seen you in months," Mother responded, as they had predicted.

Catching the roll of the eyes her brother sent her, Amy could do nothing but think of the journey ahead. What adventures lay before her?