A New Beginning

Prologue

"Stop you brat!"

"Give it back!"

It was almost midnight. Two men were running through the pristine and dark Viridian Forest. Both wore torn jeans and t-shirt, faded to the point their color couldn't be recognized anymore. They were running...in particularly, chasing after a young, little girl. She was wearing a once clean, pink frock which now had dirt everywhere on it. She got out of the forest and then, ran across route 2, which unfortunately for her, was desolated at this hour. There was only one aim in her mind and it was to reach Viridian City for further help.

"Beedrill, go after her," one of the men called out as he released the Kanto bug type from its pokeball. It made a buzzing sound and quickly blocked the girl's path quite easily. The poor girl screamed a little as she backed away, completely trapped like a caged Pidgey.

"Now, we are gonna ask nicely," the other guy who was panting said, as he released an Arbok from his pokeball. It materialised and hissed intimidatingly.

"Give us back that pokemon," he said in a threatening tone.

"N-no! You two were hurting the poor thing," the girl said as she clutched the injured Growlithe tightly against her chest. The Puppy pokemon could barely keep its eyes open due to pain and exhaustion. Apparently, it was being abused by those two men who were forcing it to evolve. The girl happened to pass by. She followed the cries and it led her to them. She cleverly distracted them before and ran as fast as she could with the Growlithe, but was surrounded completely right then.

"This brat doesn't seem to understand a thing," the Beedrill trainer grunted angrily.

"This is such a waste of time. Arbok, attack," he ordered.

"You too Beedrill."

The two pokemon cried and approached the girl with their respective vicious attacks. The girl closed her eyes in fear, still protecting Growlithe as she waited for the pain.

A few moments had past, but surprisingly, it never came.

Everyone looked on as they were shocked to see Arbok and Beedrill, hovering in mid-air with a visible blue outline around their body.

"Use Night Shade."

A ghostly figure slowly materialised before them. Its menacing red eyes were more frightening in the dark along with a sinister grin glued to its face. Gengar's eyes glowed as two dark beams of energy shot out and directly hit the pokemons. The impact from the explosion sent them back to their trainers as they rolled by their feet, knocked out.

"W-w-what?!"

"W-who's there?"

The girl heard footsteps behind her. She turned around and saw a tall figure approaching them, casually. It was definitely a male person, judging by the dark hoodie, blue jeans and the voice that commanded before, which presumably belonged to him. Although, his face was concealed in the darkness, making it hard for them to see him.

"Who the hell are you?!"

"How dare you tried to-!"

"Hypnosis," said the calm voice of the unknown silhouette.

Gengar's eyes glowed again as it concentrated on the two men in front of it. Before they could do or say anything, the men started to sway around and feel extremely drowsy. Soon enough, both collapsed on the ground at the same time, sound asleep.

The girl just looked at him with awe and wondered who this person was.She saw as he returned the ghost type to its pokeball and turned around to see her. Now that it was just the two of them, the young girl started to feel a bit nervous and afraid, but was soon gone when his hand reached down to her in a friendly manner. She reluctantly grabbed it and pulled herself up, before dusting her off.

"Are you okay?" asked the person in gentle tone. She felt a bit relaxed from his voice.

"Y-yes. Thank you mister," she politely replied.

"No need to thank me. What's your name?" he asked.

"Oh, i-its.....Luna," she replied.

It was then the boy noticed the injured pokemon in her arms. He looked back at the sleeping men and their fainted pokemon behind him with a frown, before deducing the situation in his mind.

"It needs help. Come on," he said quickly and whistled two times with his fingers looking upward. Luna was a bit confused, but soon realised when a large bird like pokemon descended from the sky and gracefully landed beside them. The boy sat on top of it and gestured her to come with him as well.

"Wow!" she exclaimed after getting comfortable on the magnificent Pidgeot. The boy smiled, which went unnoticed by her.

"Let's go," he ordered, as the Bird Pokemon ascended to the sky by fluttering its wings with a huge gust of air. After travelling a few meters, he decided to interrogate the youngster.

"What were you doing here all alone?" he asked. Luna fidgeted from the question.

"Umm.... I really wanted to see some pokemon from the forest. So, I sneaked away from my mom and dad to come here. That's when I saw those ugly men hurting this pokemon," she explained the situation briefly and petted the Growlithe affectionately.

She could hear a sigh from the mysterious person sitting in front of her, as he spoke.

"It's good to see you care so much about pokemon. But promise me you'll never go anywhere without telling your parents first. They must be really worried for you by now," he said calmly, but still in a bit strict manner.

"I-I promise mister, I won't," she said, looking down with guilt in her voice.

"Hm. Good," he said with a smile.

They arrived in the Viridian City Pokemon Center within a few minutes. Pidgeot landed safely as both the passengers got off.

The girl immediately started running towards the Pokemon Center entrance, but stopped as soon as she realised the stranger with her wasn't coming along.

"Aren't you coming mister?" she asked after turning around. The said person just shook his head. The lights from the gates were falling upon them as the girl could finally see the face of her savior. He had black, messy raven hair that were coming down upon his face. His skin was a bit tan, with two lightning bolt marks under his big, auburn eyes. Those eyes had such soft gaze and something very peculiar, like it was trying its best to conceal something. The boy was clearly in his teens and arguably, quite handsome.

"This is as far as I can come with you. Go inside and hand Growlithe to Nurse Joy. There is a phone inside so, you can call either one of your parents to pick you up. Meanwhile, I will call the cops to deal with those men," he explained quickly and proceeded to climb on the bird, indicating his departure. Luna wanted to ask so much, but there was only one question she could ask in that moment.

"Mister? Who are you?" she asked with curiosity.

The boy was already in mid-air, as he looked down at the girl. He couldn't possibly say his name to this girl, who might tell everyone else about his act tonight. The last thing he needed was unwanted attention from others. But still, there was one answer prepared in his mind with which he could satisfy her curiosity, and he wasn't hesitant to say it.

"...Champion."

And with a blur, the trainer and his pokemon disappeared from the sight, as Luna could only stare blankly at the black night sky, her eyes filling with stunning admiration.

***

[A.N: Greetings. Never thought I would publish another book, but here I go again. My college is starting next year, so I can't promise regular updates. But I do promise this book will be worthwhile. You can also suggest your fav animes for me to write new fics. And thank you for the support you’ve shown me so far. I really appreciate it]