Lilycove Girl

CHAPTER ONE: Krabby and Kingler

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| TORCHIC no. 004
| type: Fire
| HT: 1' 4''
| WT: 5.5 lbs
| Evolution: TORCHIC --> COMBUSKEN --> BLAZIKEN
|______________________________________________

Dayrin woke to the soft golden sunlight streaming through her open window. The morning sounds of the waking city flooded into her consciousness and she rubbed her eyes and slid out of bed. Padding across the sky blue painted floorboards she stopped to stand on the creamy white woven rug by the window and placed both arms on the sill, resting her head in the cradle they created. Before her sparkled the clear sapphire waters of Lilycove bay.
Down at the harbour her dark brown eyes made out the fishing boat Clamperl that belonged to her friend Sarah's father, the early morning catch currently being unloaded from the little ship into a waiting van by three Machoke. The Pokèmon worked happily together under the watch of their kind fisherman master and his Gyarados, talking together in their low rumbling voices as they passed crates of fish up the line and into the van. Mr. Briney would have been helping his Machoke in their task, but a recent injury stopped him from doing so. The super power Pokèmon didn't seem to mind, in fact, they seemed even more willing to help their trainer now that he was hurt.

In the distance Wailmer sent spurts of foam high into the air as they swam across the horizon, Wingull sailed the currents above fishing boats in the hope of grabbing a free meal. Suddenly one of them pulled its wings back and dove deep into the foamy sea, resurfacing seconds later with a squirming yellow and blue fish Pokèmon that it carried high into the sky. Dayrin flinched, that Pokèmon was one of the weak Feebas, the small fish that eventually evolved into Milotic, one of her favourite creatures. Both basic and evolved forms were quite rare, so rare that the surrounding fishermen were banned from catching them at all. But you couldn't ban wild Pokèmon from doing anything...
Suddenly a brown haired head poked out of the window beside Dayrin's and cupped her hands around her mouth.

"Aquamarine! Drop that Feebas right now!" Sarah yelled, grinning at her next door neighbour as her voice carried across the bay to the bird.

Rin grinned back as Aquamarine swept low and dipped the Feebas back into the safe surf. "See you after breakfast, okay?"

"Like always." Her energetic friend replied and ducked back inside.

Stepping back from the window and drawing the curtain Rin quickly changed into khaki cargo pants, pulling the cords up the side to shorten them to just below the knee, and pulled on her sky blue top and dark blue zip-across sweater, leaving it open to flap in the wind. She yanked a brush through her silky golden locks and brushed her teeth, pulling her hair into a ponytail as she rushed downstairs and out the door, grabbing an apple as she did so.

"Bye mom!" She yelled to the redhead weeding the front flowerbed.

"Going to the harbour again Day?" Her mother inquired, sliding a dirty gardening glove off her hand and brushing a stray strand of wavy hair out of her eyes.

Her daughter nodded.

"Okay then, but be back before 2 o'clock and take Bolt with you."

"Alright." Dayrin put her hand to her mouth and blew hard, the resulting whistle echoing around the block. "BOLT! Here girl!"

There was a flash of green and yellow fur and an Electrike was standing at her feet, powerful jaw hanging slack as she looked up adoringly at her owner. Smiling, the thirteen yr old reached down and scratched the electric Pokèmon's head.

"Let's go."

They set off down the street, Dayrin leaning back a little so she wouldn't fall down the slope as she'd done way too many times before. As they walked she talked to the family Pokèmon, who watched her through golden eyes as if absorbing every word. Sometimes Rin was sure Bolt was absorbing every word.

"It's going to be great! Professor Birch is coming here today to study the sea Pokèmon down by the bay, you know the Clamperl and Krabby you like playing with? Sarah and I are gonna impress him with all the stuff we know about all the water Pokèmon around and maybe he'll give us Pokèdexes and starter Pokèmon! That would be so cool, we'd get to travel around the world and maybe become the League champs! Who knows, Mossdeep has two gym leaders, why can't there be two league champions?" She stopped and crouched in front of Bolt, scratching the Pokèmon affectionately behind the ears, "I'll miss you though. I would take you with me but mum says you're pretty strong, right? I want to raise my own Pokèmon, perhaps it can be your friend and you can play when I come home? That'd be cool!"

She kept talking all the way down to the bay where she could see Sarah and Aquamarine fooling about down in the shallows. The dark haired girl was giving her bird Pokèmon orders which she was happily obeying, sweeping high and low in an elegant dance above the sea. By the time Dayrin and Bolt had joined the pair Aquamarine was perched on Sarah's arm as she fed her a smooth liteblue Pokèblock which the Wingull accepted gratefully.
Once she was done eating Aquamarine landed in the sand beside Bolt and they started a game of chase up and down the beach while the girls wandered towards the rocky area most of the seashell and crab Pokèmon lived. They split up in search of the one Pokèmon on their list they hadn't found yet; Cloyster.

"Heeere Cloysterycloysterycloyster!" Dayrin called after half an hour's search.

"Hey, Rin! Feast your peepers on this!" Sarah exclaimed from a small cave nearby.

As she approached her friend Rin saw a tiny baby Krabby in Sarah's hands, trying (and failing) to pinch her finger so she dropped it. The crab Pokèmon was blue.

"Wow!" She gasped, "Different coloured Pokèmon are really rare!"

"Hmm." Sarah nodded, "Don't you wish the prof. was here now to see this?"

"Yeah."

Dayrin looked closer at the tiny Pokèmon and say that it had stopped trying to pinch her friend's thumb and was now standing still, its little legs wobbling with fear.

"Hey, I think you should put it down now, it looks scared." She suggested.

"I think you're right." The brown haired girl lowered her hands to the ground and let the baby crab crawl away, "Cute though."

She stood up and turned around just as a large shadow loomed over them from the exit. Sarah squinted to see what it was, then saw the signature bone-snapping claw of Kingler. The huge crab took a few steps forward so that the light from a crack in the cave roof shone down on it. Kingler was a shiny red crab Pokèmon, the evolved form of Krabby, and had a pale brown underbelly. Its signature move? Guillotine.

"D-d-Dayrin?" She stuttered, "Look..."

Dayrin looked over her shoulder, only to see the same sight her friend had. The Kingler moved even further forward.

"What do we do now?" Sarah wondered.

Rin looked around frantically, that Kingler was giving off the bad vibes. They must have upset it somehow.... But then she saw it; the little blue Krabby Sarah had been holding. As fast as she could she reached down and lifted it into her hands before moving slowly towards Kingler.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Her brown haired friend hissed, "It can kill you!"

The blonde girl just moved closer, what else could she do? Bolt and Aquamarine were outside the cave and they probably weren't strong enough to defeat a full grown Kingler. She was now five feet away from the monster. Reaching out she opened her cupped hands to show the Krabby to Kingler.

"See? Look, Krabby's all right." She held her arms out further, "We weren't going to hurt it."

With the smaller of its two claws Kingler reached out and carefully took Krabby from the human's outstretched palms. A deep rumble emitted from deep inside it and the huge Pokèmon backed away, out of the cave and into the sea.

"Woah, that was close." Sarah gasped once the last bubble had disappeared from the surface of the water.

"Yeah."

Together they went outside, just in time to hear a familiar voice say, "Yes Professor, I found this Kingler down the beach and tamed it, that's why it came out of the cave when I was talking about Kingler."

Prof. Birch smiled, "That must have been very difficult to do Thomas."

"Well, of course it was, but that Kingler just seemed to like me."

"Like you?!" Sarah protested, her face bright red with rage, "You didn't tame that Kingler, it only left us alone in the cave because Rin gave it Krabby back!"

"Hmm? Where did you two come from?" Birch wanted to know.

"You see professor," Rin started, stepping forwards with Bolt beside her, the electric Pokèmon's fur standing out with furious static, "We came down here looking for any Cloyster that might have washed up and my friend Sarah found a blue Krabby hiding in that cave. Kingler are a rare species to be found around populated areas so we didn't expect one to find us, but it did anyway and we got away unharmed."

Thomas glared at her and Sarah beamed, they had been studying all the different sea Pokèmon they might see just so they could talk smart like that when the professor arrived.

"So Kingler are rare around here...." Birch murmured.

"We have plenty of other water Pokèmon around though, professor." Sarah piped up, whispering something to Aquamarine before she continued, "There are Shellder and Cloyster in the sea bed around these regions which sometimes wash up on shore, as well as Magikarp, Wailmer, Corsola, Feebas, Tentacool, Krabby, Staryu and..." She held out a hand as Aquamarine landed on her shoulder, a slimy Barboach held carefully in her beak, "Barboach."

"They can survive for some time without water." Tom put in.

"And evolve into the Pokèmon Whiscash." Tom's friend Lewis, who had been standing to the side, added.

Birch chuckled, "You know more about the sea than I do! But tell me, what Pokèmon live up there?" He pointed a little to the west from Lilycove, to route 121 that connected the city by land to Fortree and eventually to Mauville.

"Duskelle and Gloom." All four replied in unison, daggers glared between girl and boy.

"The safari zone is also up there and it contains Pokèmon like Pikachu and Rhyhorn." Sarah added, giving Lewis an icy stare.

"You all seem to know a lot about the Pokèmon around here," Birch noticed, "And I think I can see the trainer in all of you. Here," He pulled a thick brown bag from his back and opened it, placing ten shining Pokèballs in the sand. "Take one each. This is one of the reasons I came here for anyway, to find promising young trainers."

Tom gaped. "Them? You're going to give two little weakling girls Pokèmon?"

"Girls aren't weak!" Sarah protested, "And, even if we were, all that matters is heart and we can beat you in that respect easily!"

"If you're so strong fight me and my dad's Wailmer!" He challenged, whistling to the huge water Pokèmon that lived inside the bay.

Dayrin watched the giant beast rise out of the water and held back Bolt with an arm. "I'm not going to hurt your dad's Wailmer just to make you look worse than you are." She told Tom coolly, "It doesn't matter what you think, as long as I'm with my Pokèmon I'm fine."

She was crouched in the sand beside the Pokèballs, wondering what creatures were inside.

"The Pokèmon are Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Chicorita, Cyndaquil, Totodile, Treecko, Torchic, Mudkip and Pikachu. Take your pick." Birch told them, pointing to each Pokèball in turn.

"Ha! This is easy!" Tom said arrogantly, "I'll have Charmander 'cause it becomes Charizard."

Sarah chewed on her lip, her brow furrowed in thought, "Hmm..." She muttered, "I just love water Pokèmon, and Aquamarine isn't trained to fight... So is it Squirtle or Totodile?"

Lewis just stared for a second before picking up a random Pokèball. "It doesn't matter which Pokèmon I get, they all suit me fine."

Rin had little questioning to do in her mind. Ever since she saw a talented trainer fight against her mum on the beach she had dreamed to own that Pokèmon and here it was! Right within her reach.

"I want Torchic as my partner." She said with a nod and lifted the Pokèball from the ground, brushing the sand carefully from the sides.

"Then I'll take Squirtle." Sarah decided and quickly took it.

"Here." Professor Birch handed each new trainer a Pokèdex. "These are Pokèdex. In return for giving you a Pokèmon partner I want you to fill these up with Pokèmon knowledge you gain as you go along to help me with my research. Good luck!"

"Woah! Thanks!" Tom yelled over his shoulder, already running up the beach to get things from home to prepare him for his journey.

"Your Pokèdex'll be filled all right." Lewis assured Birch before turning and running after his friend.

"Yeah, thanks. This has always been my dream..." Sarah said, "Let's go, Da..."

Dayrin had released Torchic from its Pokèball and was currently holding out her hand to the shy little creature. Reaching into her pocket she pulled out an ARAN berry she had found just in case this had really happened and placed it in her palm. The fire bird hopped forward a few paces and very carefully started to nibble on the berry. When it was sure it was safe it moved even closer and wolfed the food down, allowing its new trainer to pet its soft feathers.

"Hey Torchic," She murmured, "What should I call you?"

"That Torchic is female." Birch told her, "Make sure you give it the right name."

"I think I'll call you... Pyra."