AN: Hey there, FanFiction community. Been a while since I've written anything, but I've just recently played through Pokémon Black again for the umpteenth time, and I really gotta get this out of my head and into words

I really loved the storyline of Black/White, but the characters have so much potential that's never really fleshed out in the anime or the manga. So, this is my (slightly) different take on the main story. Also, FerrisWheelShipping. That's all.

Some dialogue is original, a lot is from the game, so I obviously claim no rights to that. There are also some minor deviations from canon, but I'll wrap up any loose ends by the time we make it to the end

Enjoy! Please leave a review!

Chapter 1: Beginnings

White set the blue box carefully on her side table, making sure to not disturb the immaculately curled green ribbons. She clenched her fists together in excitement, bouncing up and down slightly. Raised on her mother's never-ending stories of her own adventures as a Trainer, White had always dreamed of the day she would get her first Pokémon, a dear friend and partner of her own. Today, on her eighteenth birthday, she would finally get that chance.

She heard the door clicking carefully shut downstairs, and Cheren's voice as her mother warmly greeted White's childhood friend. Pounding footsteps signaled his arrival to her room, as he excitedly pushed up his glasses, which were slipping crookedly down his face. "White! I heard from Professor Juniper. We can have a Pokémon? What's keeping Bianca?"

White smiled. "Slow down, Cheren. She's probably caught up in something with her dad, as usual." Cheren tapped his foot impatiently. At that moment, another set of footsteps echoed up the stairwell, and Bianca entered the room, her trademark green hat sitting just a little bit crookedly on her head

"Am I a little late again? Soooorry…."

Cheren sighed. "Bianca…I've known for ten years that you've got no sense of time, but seriously? Today's the day we can get a Pokémon from the Professor!"

"I know, I know. Sorry, White, Cheren," Bianca muttered. "So, where are they? They were delivered to White's house, so I think White should get to pick first."

"Naturally," Cheren said, as if it had been his idea all along. "The Pokémon are waiting for us inside that gift box. Ok, White, you go first and take a peek. I want to meet the Pokémon right now!"

"Okay," White grinned and stepped up to the box eagerly, pulling at the green ribbon. It slid smoothly off, and the lid slid to the side. There was a letter from Professor Juniper, which she quickly glanced over, then tossed to the side. Inside the box, there were three red-and-white translucent spheres, with three small shapes resting inside them. At the opening of the box, light streamed in, and the small creatures stirred, blinking at the sudden light. There was a small orange pig, which twitched its nose sleepily, and a little blue otter-like Pokémon, which had its paws eagerly pressed against the walls of the pokéball. In the third ball, a small green Pokémon was coiled up, but just stretching itself out, wiggling out its little legs one at a time. It blinked up at White with large, oval, red eyes, and she smiled. "Hello," she said, reaching out and scooping it out of the box. "I'll take this one," she said to her friends.

"Snivy," Cheren nodded approvingly. "Good choice."

"Well, I choose Oshawott!" Bianca said, scurrying up and claiming the otter Pokémon. "And you get this one, Cheren!" She handed him Tepig, who was now wide awake, and wriggling in excitement like its companions.

"And why are YOU choosing my Pokémon?" Cheren grumbled. He took the pokéball from Bianca's outstretched hand. "Oh well. It's not like I didn't want Tepig from the start, anyway."

"So we've all chosen a Pokémon! That's that!" Bianca chirped, holding her pokéball up to her cheek and grinning at the little guy inside.

White cradled Snivy's pokéball in her hands like he was something very precious and fragile. He stared back at her intently, red eyes blinking slowly. A small smile appeared on his face, and he made a little nod.

"Hey, I know! We should have a battle!"

Cheren sighed heavily. "Honestly, Bianca… Do you want to trash White's house?"

"I do," White piped up. "Let's do it!"

She tossed the pokéball lightly up into the air, and Snivy appeared in a flash of red light, turning slowly to take in his surroundings. He twitched his nose, sniffing at her carpet, and wandered around towards her bed. "Hey!" White called, laughing. "Come back here!"

"Go, Oshawott!" Bianca said excitedly, releasing her own Pokémon.

"Tackle!" The little otter eagerly bounced forwards, slamming into White's Pokémon.

"You too, Snivy, Tackle!"

"Leer, Oshawott!"

"Trying to get clever, are you?" White grinned, seeing her chance. "Snivy, go!" With one final Tackle, Snivy bonked Oshawott on the head and the little otter slumped to the ground in a faint.

"Eek!" Bianca squealed, quickly recalling him. "Well…the Pokémon on both sides did their best!"

Cheren sighed again. "Would you take a look around?"

White stifled a snort as she looked at the tipped over desks and footprints on the walls and even ceiling. "Woooooooow!" Bianca exclaimed. "Pokémon are a-ma-zing! So little, but so strong! Sorry about your room, White. Hey, Cheren, since its already a mess, why don't you have a go?"

White easily beat Cheren as well, with Snivy neatly dodging Tepig's stumbling advances and retaliating each miss with a head-on blow.

"Ah," Cheren said, pushing his glasses up. "So that's a Pokémon battle. Well done, White."

"Yeah, White! I think you've got the marks to be an a-ma-zing Trainer someday."

"We'd better go apologize to your mom for this messed-up room…" Cheren muttered.

"You guys head down," White said, "I'll be right there." As her friends descended the stairs, she stooped down and held a hand out to Snivy. "C'mere, you," she said softly. Snivy scuttled up to her, limping slightly. She scooped him up into her arms, rubbing his little yellow belly. "Great job out there," she said.

"Snii!" Snivy cried out, a happy expression on his face.

"Go rest up, okay?" White said, holding out the pokéball and pressing the button, returning her friend. She smiled and grabbed her cap, a birthday present from her mom, and slipped it onto her head, pulling her long brown hair through the back ponytail hole, grabbed her bag, and clipped Snivy's pokéball to her belt. She gave herself a small, secret smile, and headed downstairs.