It's been 18 years...
The sun shone brightly on an early spring morning. Herds of Wingulls flapped their wings as they flew across the deep-blue waters on the outskirts of Sootopolis city. A city built from the crater of a meteorite that crash-landed there all those years ago. Pokémon deep in the sea stretched their bodies and enjoyed the nice warm feeling of the sun.
In the outskirts of the city, a small remote island stood close. Filled with grassy plains, trees with fruits or berries waiting to be harvested; it was a perfect place for life to thrive. A herd of Tauros ran across the grassy plains with Taillows flying alongside them and then passing by a fence where other Pokémon were also enjoying the early morning. As they ran by the long fence, they passed by a big sign saying:
"Pokélife Sanctuary."
~~~~
"Zzzzz..Hmnm..."
In a dark room, a familiar girl was sleeping soundly, tired from whatever work she had last night.
*Jingle... jiggle... click!*
The door of her room opened, revealing a Corviknight and the girl's partner pokemon, Lucario, who has a Torchic on his head. "Craw, Coraaw." The Corvinight quietly cawed as she pointed towards the girl, as if saying to Lucario and Torchic to wake her up. The Lucario obliged and walked towards the girl.
"Raa, roa ra..." The fighting type Pokémon shook his trainer to try and wake her up but to no avail, the girl was in a very deep sleep.
The steel bird then walked towards the window which was right in front of the girl and used its wings to open the curtains, letting the bright light enter the room. The girl groaned in annoyance to the light suddenly hitting her face, she instantly covered herself with her blanket.
"Chi!" The Torchic leaped off of Lucario's head and then used her beak to peck the girl...
*PCK!*
...hard.
"AGH! I'm up! I'm up!!"
The girl wailed in pain as the Torchic continues to peck her, showing no signs of stopping. The girl scrambled off of her bed and hit the carpeted floor. She struggled to sit up straight due to the blanket entangling her and after 30 seconds later, she managed to sit up straight and took off the blanket on top of her, revealing her messy black hair and tired blue eyes.
She had to shield herself from the bright light in front her, it took her a moment to get used of it. She looked around her and saw her partner Pokémon, Lucario, and her late mom's Corviknight. Both Pokémon seemed a bit distressed seeing the girl fell on the floor.
Seeing the Pokémon who are dear to her in her room while she was asleep, she assumed that she must've overslept or she didn't lock her door last night. But seeing how her curtains are already opened and that they had to hit her hard to wake her up, it seemed that she has in fact overslept. "Ahaha... I overslept, didn't I? Sorry 'bout that." Lynelle rubbed her neck sheepishly at the two Pokémon.
"Tor chi!"
She looked down on her lap to see a Torchic with sparkling eyes, happy to see her awake. Lynelle couldn't help but smile at the little chick Pokémon because... how can one not? It's adorable!
Then again, this happens to her all the time at the Pokélife sanctuary.
"Thanks for waking me up, you little rascal." Lynelle laughs a she pets the Torchic, which it happily leaned on her hand for more. "Thank you as well, Corvi, Lucario. Also, sorry for missing out our daily run." The Steel bird Pokémon nodded happily as a response while her partner Pokémon just waved her off, letting her know that he's okay with it. Lynelle smiled happily at the three Pokémon in front of her, she stood up from the floor and felt the warm light hit her.
"Right, let's go to work!"
~~~~
"GROAAR!"
"WOROAARR!"
"Don't let 'em have it Gyarados! Aqua tail!"
"WRAROOAR!" The Gyarados roared at his trainer's command and landed the hit right on the head of the opposing Tyranitar, knocking it out. "Tyranitar!" The opposing trainer cried out loud to his Pokémon.
"T—Tyranitar is unable to battle, Ms. Lynelle and her team wins the match!" The opponent's friend, as referee, announced. The Tyranitar's trainer grabbed its Pokéball and let his Pokémon retreat into the ball, mumbling some reassuring words. Lynelle was about to do the same but her Gyarados was too stubborn and too prideful to admit that he was tired. She sighed in defeat, already seen through her Gyarados' act of looking cool and proud of his victory.
Before the battle, Lynelle was cleaning a water-type enclosure in the sanctuary when a trainer approached her and asked to battle her. She did expect this to happen as she gets constantly asked for a Pokémon battle from different trainers ever since it was public information that she had almost beaten the Champion of Hoenn, Steven Stone.
But truthfully, she did defeat him but she didn't take the title and she asked him to not let anyone know that she won against him, apart from her family.
Apparently, the Champion, Steven Stone, would always advice trainers who are going to challenge the Elite four, and soon him, to challenge a woman named Lynelle in a Pokélife Sanctuary in Sootopolis city, to see if they are strong enough to face the Elite four. It wasn't a requirement, but it was nice of him to let new people know about the sanctuary, but it would be annoying for her sometimes considering trainers would ask her for a battle while she was in a middle of something, that was her only complaint.
"You did great bud." Lynelle reached out to pet her Gyarados which was happy to receive pets from his trainer. She then noticed her opponent walking towards her, his friend tagging along. "You're really strong! No wonder the Champion himself speaks highly of you." The trainer smiled.
"You were strong as well, my team had a tough time with you." Lynelle smiled back. She wasn't being overly nice, some of her strategies didn't work out and she did have a rough time battling her opponent to the point where only her Lucario and Gyarados remain standing. "But you were able to keep calm and create new strategies in a pinch! You were incredible!" The trainer praised her and now had starry eyes of admiration and awe.
"Next time, I'm gonna beat you and then beat the elite and then beat the Champion!" The trainer pumped his fist into air with determination. Lynelle sweatdropped at how energetic he was. "You don't really have to battle me to battle the Elite four, it's not a requirement, Y'know." She reminded him.
"I know. but you won against my ace team. That means that I still have a long way to go if I'm ever going to beat the Champion. So..." He pumped his fist right in front of the woman and showing her his unwavering determination. "I'll make myself and my team stronger than before to defeat you! That way, I'll be able to prove myself that I'm worthy to battle the Elite four and then the Champion himself! You'll see!"
Lynelle widened her eyes, amazed to see how determined this trainer was to become the strongest. She envied him. She remembered the time where she was a young girl with the dream to become the next Champion of Hoenn. But that all changed when her parents died.
She shook her head, not wanting to remember that day and everything before that. She happily smiled at the ace trainer in front of her, pretending like nothing happened. "I'll be waiting." She shot him a confident smile, which he happily smiled back.
~~~~
The trainer and his friend bid farewell to the woman. The said woman waved backed at them and then stretched her arms the moment they were out of sight. When she turned around, she saw a water bottle waiting to be received by her.
"Hard working as always, Lyn'." The woman smiled to see her brother, the founder of P.S. and his partner Pokémon, Noivern.
Yes, a Noivern.
He was once a Pokémon trainer like her when he was younger, went on his journey along with Steven Stone. But he gave it up when he lost to the Champion back then and decided to be a Pokémon researcher.
But when their parents died, he worked in Devon Corporation, learned the ropes of tech engineering and became an Engineer. Helping Pokémon and human in need, creating gadgets and devices for people and Pokémon who have medical disabilities. It would be an understatement to say that she was proud of him, she was very, very, very proud of him to have come so far.
Instead of his spiky, wild hair, he now has a smooth and well-kept hairstyle, a lab coat and he was now wearing glasses due to his all-nighters.
"That was hardly work-related." Lynelle grabbed the water from her brother and gulped down a chunk of it. "Congrats on winning, tho." He congratulates her, feeling very proud of his little sister being a seasoned trainer. "Hehe, thanks." Lynelle puts the lid back on the bottle and handed it to her brother.
She had to be honest, she's doesn't think she's some big-shot trainer like how the Champion describes her, she's just like any experienced trainer who knows how to plan out strategies before or during a battle. Being careful on whatever you do is the best way to ensure that no one on her team gets too hurt. Most of the time it works but other times, it doesn't. Just like the recent battle or whenever her friend from Sinnoh would ask for a battle with her.
But in that latter situation, she would always lose to her friend even after hours of planning strategies. No matter how well-prepared she was, she would always lose to the person who is the now the current Champion of Sinnoh.
"You know... you defeated that trainer like it was nothing. Like how Ninetales charred-as-hard when he flamethrowered that Trevenant." The the ravenette deadpanned at her brother at what he just said. "I...heard that, that was terrible, Lance." Her brother pretended to act hurt by her words. "What?! But that was a good Combee-nation of words!" This time, Lawrence started to feel proud as he managed to get a tiny smile from his sister. "Okay, you can stop now. That was still as bad as the last one, if not, worse." Lynelle tried holding back her giggle.
"How rude! I have the infinite ability to say whatever I want, whether el-liligant-ly, or rockruff-ly." Her brother puffed his chest proudly but his Noivern looked disappointed at him.
"Pfft... HAHAHA-HAHA!" Lynelle held her stomach as she laughs at her brother's terrible puns. "That was terrible, Lance!" She said in between her laughter. Lawrence smiled seeing her smiling and laughing.
But everyday, he wished that she'd be this happy all the time. Seeing her laughing and smiling, he always remembered how his sister used to be so bubbly and smiling at everything. Now, he sees Lynelle as a young and mature woman who always think before she acts, considerate and kind to both Pokémon and Human alike, and sometimes reckless and stubborn.
Because of that, she became quiet and reserved, never letting her guard down for anything, even in a safe location. She became highly observant to her surroundings and to others to the point where it became second nature to her and it also made her slightly paranoid.
Though, that happened because their parents died. Their death was very painful for both of them but mostly Lynelle. She couldn't even bear to talk to anyone for almost a month. She couldn't even think about the moments where they were still alive because it hurts her to be reminded that they won't ever come back.
Lawrence always frowned at the thought that only his terrible jokes and the silly moments of the Pokémon in the sanctuary are the only ones that can make her laugh and smile as much as this, to make her let down her guard and enjoy those special moments.
"Ahh... as usual, your terrible puns saved the day." The man smiled as he turned around to see his beautiful wife walking towards him. "Terrible? That was my best one." He jokingly retorted to which his wife just crossed her arms and gave him a knowing look. "Okay, I get it! I'm still working on it." He raised his hands in a defensively as he gave in to his wife's unintentionally intense gaze.
Lynelle wiped a tear from her eye as she finally stopped laughing. "S-sorry, it's just... those puns are just terrible!" She exclaimed, her brother weakly smiled at his sister's unintentional hurtful comment. He swore that he felt a jab on his head.
Lynelle smiled when she saw her sister-in-law, Alicia. "Ali. When did you get here? You just missed it." Lynelle hugged the older woman in front of her. "Haha, I know, I know. Got a bit of trouble back there with that Zangoose and Seviper but don't worry, got it all worked out." The brunette smiled.
Alicia had Brown hair tied in a ponytail, green eyes and peach skin with freckles on her face and shoulders. She was wearing a blue tan top, gray pants and brown calf boots. Not to mention her shining engagement ring on her right ring finger that she always brag about.
Lynelle had always looked up to Alicia as her big sister. Funny, kind, caring, considerate, experienced and knowledgeable with all kinds of things, able to put up with her brother's terrible jokes and loves him dearly, it's no wonder why she accepted her so easily. The brunette has very good judgement on things and Lynelle always ask her for advice on pretty much everything and most of them were very useful throughout her life.
Though, she always gets embarrassed when the brunette tease her about anything that is within the range of... romantic attraction or just romance in general.
She's also the one who manages the 'rehabilitation part' of the sanctuary. Helping traumatized and scared Pokémon to get back on their feet so that they can live happily back in the wild, Lynelle also helps her out whenever she's free.
Lawrence's part is to create prosthetics to Pokémon that are physically disabled and create devices that helps Pokémon that are mentally disabled.
Lynelle is a Ranger, rescuing the Pokémon captured by Pokémon hunters, abusive trainers, dying Pokémon in the wild, and occasionally some grunts of some of the notorious bad organizations, i.e. Team rocket, Team Flare, Team Magma, Team Aqua, Team galactic, and her most unforgettable enemies, Team plasma. But most of said organizations have already disbanded.
"Well what are you doing? Shouldn't you be at the healing center right now?" The brunette looked at her sister-in-law and laughed when she saw her blush in embarrassment. "Oh right! Sorry! Gyarados, time to get inside." The blue-eyed girl pulled out the Pokémon's Pokéball and let the blue serpent go inside. "I'll be off then." Lynelle was going to run until she felt her shoulder being grabbed by her brother.
"Where are you going?"
"To the Pokémon center?"
"What about here?"
"You know I don't want to waste our equipment here."
The older male sighed in defeat, knowing he can't convince his sister to be a little selfish with their equipment. "Well, alright. be safe." he smiled. "I'll be quick!" Lynelle smiled back and then ran off.
Lawrence sighed again.
"She's so stubborn sometimes."
~~~~
"Thank you for waiting! Your Pokémon are all better." Nurse Joy informs the ravenette as her Blissey stopped by her side holding a tray containing Lynelle's team. "Thank you so much." Lynelle smiled at both of them and then managed to grab and hold all 6 Pokéballs. "Come out you guys!" As soon as she said that, beams of light came out of each Pokéball and then manifested into her team: A Gyarados, a Ninetales, a Mightyena, a Sceptile, an Altaria, and her partner Pokémon Lucario.
All of them were healthy and ecstatic to see their trainer. They rushed to her and then hugged her, almost making the ravenette lose her balance. "Hahaha! Okay! Okay! I'm glad all of you are be-oomphf!" She got cut off when her Altaria landed on her head, its cloud-like feathers covering her entire head. He stayed for a few seconds until the girl had to pat the cloud bird Pokémon to remind him that she needs to breathe.
"Ha-Hahhh. I'm glad you're better too, Altaria." Lynelle took deep breaths after she talked. Her Pokémon just chirped happily, he didn't seemed to notice that he almost made his trainer faint Lynelle just shook her head and then faced the rest of her team. "Sorry that I wasn't able to prevent you guys from fainting." She apologized but it was deemed unnecessary when all of her Pokémon just shook her off, letting her know that they didn't blame her for it.
"Are you Lynelle Celestine?"
A young boy's voice caught her and her Pokémon's attention. The person was perhaps around sixteen-years-old. He had blonde, slick back hair, beige skin and gray eyes. He was wearing a blue suit, and black dress shoes. He also had a golden wristwatch that seemed expensive. Basically a rich kid.
"So, that's your team?" The boy scowled and Lynelle already didn't feel like talking to him. "I don't get it, your team looks like garbage! I bet the trainers that faced you were also garbage to get defeated by a team as ridiculous as this!" He raised his voice, making the people around the Pokémon center looked at them. The gazes of the crowd made Lynelle uncomfortable and her Pokémon sensed that, so they huddled around their trainer, protecting her and slightly growling angerly at the blonde teen.
Lynelle appreciated her Pokémon's protective instincts but she gestured her Pokémon to stand aside and let her deal with it herself. She was also mad that the teen has the audacity to insult her Pokémon and the strong trainers who had the courage to battle her head on.
"Trainers who faced me are quite as strong as the strongest gym leader or as strong as an Elite Four member. If you're here to just talk trash to me, my Pokémon or the trainers I've battled, then you're not that strong as you think, assuming you're a trainer of course." The boy clicked his tongue as Lynelle stood her ground. "Tch, that's big talk. Name's Oliver. Tell you what, how about we settle this in a Pokémon battle." The teen smirked and waited for her reply.
'He seems desperate. This arrogant brat just wants a Pokémon battle with me huh?' Lynelle sighed, already knew what the teens plans are. "Oliver right? Pokémon battles aren't the only way to settle things. I don't have any sort of problem or grudge with you and seeing how you're acting, I will not accept." Lynelle crossed her arms, a sign saying that was her final decision.
"W-what?! why not?! you're a trainer aren't you?! and yet you can't even follow the first and most basic rule of a Pokémon battle!" Oliver yelled like a spoiled kid would. "Yes, but there's also the option to accept or refuse a battle, hence, I refuse, for your sake." Lynelle said calmly, slightly baffled of how Oliver is acting. "For my sake? What does that even mean?" Oliver scowled.
Seeing how clueless he was, Lynelle sighed in annoyance. Even the people around them knows who Lynelle was and what's going to happen but they let the girl do the final blow. "I'm saving you from humiliation, kid. It's going to be a one-sided battle and I don't want to hurt your confidence. I can't battle someone who I know is going to lose to me." Lynelle said in a calm voice so that only Oliver can hear it. But that broke the teen.
"Hah! You're quite pathetic! Saying those things and not proving it in a battle! You're just a scaredy-cat that doesn't want to battle me because you know that you'll lose!" Oliver angrily points at the girl, practically humiliated at this point.
The people around them gasped, surprised on what he said. Lynelle looked back at her Pokémon to see that their being calm, heck smiling even. She smiled at them, proud of how calm they're acting. Even her Gyarados and Mightyena, who she knows would lash out if someone or some Pokémon would try to hurt her, were being calm and docile.
"Battle me right now or just admit that you're weak and pathetic!" The boy screamed, proving everyone's guess that he is indeed a spoiled brat.
"Who's weak and pathetic?"
'Oh boy...'
Two very familiar figures walked into the scene. the familiar blue, spiky hair and Teal, smooth, and well-kept hair with a white beret came into everyone's view.
"AHH! It's the Champion: Steven Stone, and the Sootopolis gym leader: Wallace!" The crowd screamed in awe and excitement.
Steven Stone, the current Champion of Hoenn, her brother's best friend and best man. He had his signature black suit with purple zigzag stripes on the sides, black dress shoes and silver rings on his on various fingers on both hands.
Wallace, The strongest water-type Gym Leader in Hoenn, a performer and a good friend of the Bortz siblings. Instead of his long-sleeved jacket, he was wearing long white pants that connects to his teal upper shirt that has the sides of his stomach exposed. He also has a green, transparent cloth that flows down from his shoulders and a white beret. To this day, Lynelle is still confused about his fashion choice.
Both of them smiled at the girl to which she just waved 'hello' at them. "What seems to be the problem, dear?" Wallace approached the girl while Steven approached the blonde teen. Lynelle smiled at Wallace and then gestured her Pokémon to return to their respective Pokéballs. The Pokémon hesitated but trusted their trainer that she can handle it. So, each returned to their Pokéballs. After that Lynelle faced the tall man in front of her. "Well..."
~~~~
Lynelle told him what happened and after she finished, Wallace's expression darkened. "I see... Shall I make him know his place?" Lynelle shuddered at his sudden change of mood along with a murderous aura. She had witnessed many times the wrath of this flamboyant man when he's angry and so she immediately stopped him from doing whatever he was going to do.
"From what I've heard, he's not the type to give up until he gets what he wants." Steven chimed in as he got near the two and then ruffled Lynelle's hair as a greeting. The girl groaned and tried to fix her hair. "Ahh... It's nice to see you too, Mr. Stone." She retorted and then smirked when she saw the blue-haired male grimaced at what the girl called him. Wallace stepped beside him and whispered Lynelle's side of the problem. Now, it was Steven's turn to have a look like he's going to kill someone.
"Perhaps I should show him how strong the Champion is."
"My thoughts exactly."
*SMACK!!*
"Both of you, stop it."
"S-sorry."
Everything, went silent when the girl smacked both the Sootopolis gym leader AND the Champion of Hoenn at the back of their heads and then made them apologize. In the eyes of strangers, it was both disrespectful and brave of her to hit two big-shots at the same time. But to those who are close-friends or family, knows what kind of relationship the three had.
Despite being close in age, Both Steven and Wallace took it upon themselves to be the "Overprotective Uncles" of Lynelle throughout her life. She always receive their love and attention and it also means she also gotten used to their over-protectiveness.
For example, when someone tries to flirt with her or when someone makes fun of her, one of them - sometimes both - would show up out of nowhere and gives them the look of "You're going to die if you continue". She loves them both dearly but she really wished that they would leave her alone sometimes.
Thankfully, That only happened when she was a teen. Now as an adult, they saw that she can handle difficult situations all by herself and that she doesn't need their protection as much as she used to. They were proud of how she has grown into a strong woman, they trust and respect her decisions in life.
Since they happened to get themselves involved, they might as well just help her out in diffusing the situation.
"Back to the problem at hand, the blonde won't give up until I accept his battle?" Lynelle questioned. "Yes, and he won't stop pestering you until you accept. Even if it's tomorrow or the day after that and so on, and by the looks of it, other people may get accidentally involved in this and possibly get hurt." Steven said as he rubbed the spot on his head where the ravenette had hit him, same goes for the Teal-haired male.
Lynelle flinched at the fact that people might get hurt if she doesn't accept the teen's battle. She doesn't like it when other people gets hurt because of her, but she also doesn't want to battle the teen since she knows that if she wins, the teen will have that frustration and humiliation stuck on his mind as he grows up.
Even if she tries to be discrete on holding back, the teen might notice and force her to go all out, letting her take the win easily and getting the same result from her former assumption. 'Ahhh, such conflicting decisions...' She rubbed her head in annoyance.
"If she accepts the battle, we all know what's going to be the outcome." The water-type gym leader stated and both hummed in agreement. "I really don't want to battle him. I don't want to be the cause if his confidence disappears. But at the same time, I want to show him that while having confidence is a good thing, being overconfident and prideful to the point where you'll step down on others just form looking at their team is not what a trainer should... act like..." Lynelle paused, realzing something. "Is there something wrong, Lyn'?" Wallace and Steven looked at her worriedly. "If...if he really wants to battle me then... he wants to get stronger. If he defeats me, it would mean that he hit a milestone of his pursuit of getting stronger."
"...That is a great insight but what if he just wants to beat you and then brag about it if he wins, making his ego bigger." Lynelle faltered at the blue-haired male's take. She completely understand his reasoning but for some reason, she decided to stick with hers. "That's on me if that happens but I want to choose the former and believe that he actually wants to get stronger and beating me will be proof of his strength. But he has to defeat me for that to happen." Lynelle showed both males her determination and confidence on her decision.
Both men looked at each other for a moment and then smiled back at the ravenette, feeling proud that she stood up for herself and sticking to her decisions. "Well, if that's how you feel, then we have no complaints." Wallace smiled. "But, it would mean that you are going to battle him." Steven added.
"...That's true."
'...and from the beginning, I didn't even want to battle him.' She awkwardly laughed at herself.
"Hey!" Everyone turned at the blue-eyed girl.
"I retract my decision, I will accept your battle." Lynelle announced and the blonde teen became happy, almost too happy. "I'll be the referee, if you'd like." Steven smiled when the ravenette nodded in acknowledgement.
"Good! Then we'll hold the battle outside!"