Hi everyone, this is my first try at something like this. Any advice would be appreciated. I hope it's good!
4/13/07 - This story is now complete!
Jump to: Ch2, Ch3, Ch4, Ch5, Ch6, Ch7, Ch8, Ch9, Ch10, Ch11, Ch12, Ch13, Ch14, Ch15, Ch16, Ch17, or the Final Chapter
Lucki - Chapter One
Lucki Middling dragged a silver brush rapidly through her chest-length aquamarine hair, her greenish-gold hazel eyes watching her progress in taming her hair in the tall mirror against the wall. When she was satisfied she'd managed to remove most of the snarls and gotten it to lie smoothly, she dropped the brush onto the polished wooden top of her cherry wood bureau with a clatter. She pushed her slightly curly hair back over her shoulders to keep it out of her face, turning around as she did so to look over her room, seeing the same light green bedspread, her stuffed pokemon Vulpix and Seel by her pillow, and a poster of a rearing Rapidash on the wall facing the foot of her bed. She'd be packing it all up soon, she thought, turning to the mahogany door and twisting the bronze doorknob to open it.
Stepping out Lucki was immediately struck by another girl. "SorrygottagohurryupLucki!" garbled her assailant, bouncing off her and continuing with barely a pause. Lucki watched the crimson hair weave around the other, saner students at a breakneck pace and then disappear down the stairs. Rane was always like that. She was the most impatient person Lucki had ever met, and that, coupled with an inability to plan well enough to arrive places in advance, led to mad dashes to be among the first. The fact that the redhead seemed to consider student-dodging a worthy sport by itself didn't help matters. She'd race to get places she didn't even care about – like class.
Not that Lucki was sedate herself. Pushing her slightly curly hair back again with fingers tipped in emerald nailpolish, she broke into a jog and followed her friend. It was hard to walk when today was the day pokemon would be distributed among the graduates.
*
"We're too late," Rane announced mournfully, the bright green eyed girl sounding truly disappointed. Lucki craned her neck, catching tantalizing glimpses of caged pokemon where the heavy red stage curtain didn't quite meet the wood paneled walls. "What'd you see, Vi?"
"They kicked me out about as soon as I got up there," the lavender-haired girl reported, sounding an even mix of disappointed, thwarted and scheming. She sent another glance behind her, her lilac eyes speculative, but then, turning back and regarding the growing crowd coming in, sighed in defeat. "I just got a quick look, but they've got a bunch of Eevee, common pokemon like Taillow and Sandshrew, some of the ordinary starters-"
"Ugh," the two other thirteen year old girls interrupted simultaneously. There was nothing exactly wrong with the ordinary starters, except that they were ordinary, the kind anyone could start with.
"-at least one Elekid and Magby, a Tauros and I think I saw a Dratini over in the other corner. Oh, and some of them were unusual colors, like a gold Rattata and green Zubat," Violet finished.
"Cool," breathed Lucki.
"Special-colors are for collectors, not real trainers," Rane stated. "They're not as tough as normal ones. And that's the last thing you want for your starting pokemon of all things."
That was true. Pokemon with different colors had usually been bred for a long time for contests or pets, and pokemon sports were often less healthy than others. This wasn't true for all of them, but it was a risk. For a starting pokemon, Lucki knew she needed a dependable, versatile pokemon, one that could handle whatever came up while she was catching her first pokemon and traveling around. Any pokemon could be raised to be strong, but for the first pokemon she got, it was important it be able to handle things from the start. She should probably take her teacher's advice and pick something like a Machop or a Mareep.
"Please line up," called one of the teachers. "Stop loitering and blocking the doors." The trio of graduates began walking slowly across the dark mottled red carpet of the floor towards the forming line, where a set of wooden stairs led up onto the stage.
"Think anyone will pick the Rattata?" wondered Violet.
"No," Rane commented, "not unless they're not serious at all."
"Not everybody is," Violet remarked.
"Oh no, don't tell – come on, like we're going to listen!" Lucki wailed, watching the principal, Prof. Hawthorn, walk up to the podium.
"Attention please," the older blonde-haired woman clad in a grey suit began. "Today is a momentous occasion…"
"So what kind of pokemon are you going to pick?" asked Violet.
"I don't know…" Lucki answered. "Do you know, Rane?"
"A Normal-type. Maybe one of the Eevee. Or one of the others they have. I heard they might have a Teddiursa. But of course you can't just decide," the ruby-haired girl stated. The other two aspiring trainers nodded in agreement. "You have to pick a pokemon based on which seems right for you."
"I'm going to pick something hard to find," Violet declared. "The pokemon I meet as a trainer are going to be common ones at first, and it'll be a long time before I'll be able to go out into wilder areas. Maybe even a month."
The three young women stood silently, contemplating that.
The first students were called up. Lucki's name wasn't among them, but she still didn't know what she wanted and didn't mind delaying the decision a moment longer. There were all sorts of stories about kids who picked wrong and wound up with a disobedient pokemon that hated them. Her classmates picked rarer pokemon, some popular, like two stately black and white Absol, and some less so, like an enthusiastic Elekid, which let out a cheery cry, electricity sparking between the black and yellow electric-plug-like growths on its head. The Eevee were picked steadily, with a girl named Nari picking the white one. Lucki knew Nari didn't have to worry about her choice being frail, she would be getting another from her family.
Before long, Lucki's name was called. She said a quick goodbye to her friends and walked up to the stage.
Up there, Lucki turned slowly in a semicircle, looking over the different pokemon. There were around a hundred left. Here and there one of the stainless steel cages was empty, but most were still occupied. The cages ranged in size, and the pokemon within them varied even more, from the two white Ponyta tossing their fiery manes and flicking their flaming tails in the biggest cages to a tiny brown Diglett sitting in a cage at the bottom of a stack of three. The golden Rattata Violet mentioned was there too, its fur shining in the light and clear cerulean eyes staring at her boldly. And there were still others, like the peanutbutter-colored Teddiursa standing with one paw in its mouth looking at her with an adorably curious expression, and a yellow Charmander with black eyes and claws. After a moment she focused on looking for the pokemon she'd been advised to take, Machop, Skarmory, Growlithe, Barboach. She noticed a Machop just left of the center. But before she could decide to pick it, her eyes caught on the pokemon next to it, a small silvery Squirtle. The tiny turtle didn't have the same assertive, self-confident look in its eyes as some of the others, but somehow, Lucki was sure it was the right one.
"That Squirtle," she decided, and her teacher – former teacher, she thought with a burst of glee – handed her one of the white school pokeballs. Pressing the button, a red beam shot out, striking the Squirtle and turning it to the same shade. The red then sucked back into the pokeball and she was ushered off the stage into the next room.
There, assembled parents were waiting at tables to meet up with their children before the principal's next speech, this time to them, and the next event, where Lucki and the others would officially be graduating. She headed over to her mother and father, who were sitting at a table on the leftmost row.
"I just can't believe it," Lucki's mother, a slim woman with reddish-blonde hair, stated happily. "My daughter, about to become a great trainer.
Her father, who had almost black green hair, smiled. "So what pokemon did you pick?"
"A Squirtle," Lucki told the middle-aged man. She reached for the white school pokeball, but thought better of it. There were a lot of people around. It didn't seem the best place for introductions. "She's pretty, silver-colored."
"I thought you Pokemon School kids thought the regular starters weren't unique enough," her mother teased.
Lucki wondered what Rane and Violet, or the other graduates would think. Probably nothing. It was her choice. "Actually, I didn't intend to, but when I saw the Squirtle, I knew."
"Well, that's how it should be," declared her brown-eyed father firmly. "Your starter is the pokemon that's with you from the very beginning. The most important thing is for you to feel comfortable with it."
"Yeah." Lucki smiled.
"And now…" With a flourish, her father pulled out three boxes from under the table, all covered in bright, shiny wrapping paper with a ribbon and bow on them. "You didn't think we forgot in all of the excitement," he asked jokingly, seeing her golden green eyes light up. "Go on, open them. The one on the top is from your grandparents."
Lucki reached for the first box. It was covered in soaring Wingull on a blue background with a white ribbon around it. She pushed off the ribbon and tore through the paper, then lifted the lid off, revealing a white leather wallet. The young girl picked it up and opened it to see a sheaf of bills, 150,000 in all. "Alright!" Lucki chirped. "Tell them thanks for me."
The next present was covered in wrapping paper covered in starts. Inside was a sleek blue gadget Lucki didn't recognize. "What's this?" she wondered, picking it up.
"It's a new device we've been made a work," her father explained. "It combines the functions of several newer devices with the standard trainer gear, giving item-storage, adjustable maps, an improved radio and phone, as well as the compressed contents of basic trainer guides. It'll be a few years before this'll be publicly available."
"Thanks!" Lucki voiced delightedly.
The third package contained a necklace. It had a brilliant green stone encased in thin gold wire, handing from a fine gold chain. "Oh," Lucki whispered, "it's beautiful." She slipped it over her neck so that the stone lay on her chest over the white and black school uniform. It sparkled a moment as it caught on a ray of light.
So...what do you think? Good? Bad? Horrible? (I hope not...)
Jump to Chapter Two
4/13/07 - This story is now complete!
Jump to: Ch2, Ch3, Ch4, Ch5, Ch6, Ch7, Ch8, Ch9, Ch10, Ch11, Ch12, Ch13, Ch14, Ch15, Ch16, Ch17, or the Final Chapter
Lucki - Chapter One
Lucki Middling dragged a silver brush rapidly through her chest-length aquamarine hair, her greenish-gold hazel eyes watching her progress in taming her hair in the tall mirror against the wall. When she was satisfied she'd managed to remove most of the snarls and gotten it to lie smoothly, she dropped the brush onto the polished wooden top of her cherry wood bureau with a clatter. She pushed her slightly curly hair back over her shoulders to keep it out of her face, turning around as she did so to look over her room, seeing the same light green bedspread, her stuffed pokemon Vulpix and Seel by her pillow, and a poster of a rearing Rapidash on the wall facing the foot of her bed. She'd be packing it all up soon, she thought, turning to the mahogany door and twisting the bronze doorknob to open it.
Stepping out Lucki was immediately struck by another girl. "SorrygottagohurryupLucki!" garbled her assailant, bouncing off her and continuing with barely a pause. Lucki watched the crimson hair weave around the other, saner students at a breakneck pace and then disappear down the stairs. Rane was always like that. She was the most impatient person Lucki had ever met, and that, coupled with an inability to plan well enough to arrive places in advance, led to mad dashes to be among the first. The fact that the redhead seemed to consider student-dodging a worthy sport by itself didn't help matters. She'd race to get places she didn't even care about – like class.
Not that Lucki was sedate herself. Pushing her slightly curly hair back again with fingers tipped in emerald nailpolish, she broke into a jog and followed her friend. It was hard to walk when today was the day pokemon would be distributed among the graduates.
*
"We're too late," Rane announced mournfully, the bright green eyed girl sounding truly disappointed. Lucki craned her neck, catching tantalizing glimpses of caged pokemon where the heavy red stage curtain didn't quite meet the wood paneled walls. "What'd you see, Vi?"
"They kicked me out about as soon as I got up there," the lavender-haired girl reported, sounding an even mix of disappointed, thwarted and scheming. She sent another glance behind her, her lilac eyes speculative, but then, turning back and regarding the growing crowd coming in, sighed in defeat. "I just got a quick look, but they've got a bunch of Eevee, common pokemon like Taillow and Sandshrew, some of the ordinary starters-"
"Ugh," the two other thirteen year old girls interrupted simultaneously. There was nothing exactly wrong with the ordinary starters, except that they were ordinary, the kind anyone could start with.
"-at least one Elekid and Magby, a Tauros and I think I saw a Dratini over in the other corner. Oh, and some of them were unusual colors, like a gold Rattata and green Zubat," Violet finished.
"Cool," breathed Lucki.
"Special-colors are for collectors, not real trainers," Rane stated. "They're not as tough as normal ones. And that's the last thing you want for your starting pokemon of all things."
That was true. Pokemon with different colors had usually been bred for a long time for contests or pets, and pokemon sports were often less healthy than others. This wasn't true for all of them, but it was a risk. For a starting pokemon, Lucki knew she needed a dependable, versatile pokemon, one that could handle whatever came up while she was catching her first pokemon and traveling around. Any pokemon could be raised to be strong, but for the first pokemon she got, it was important it be able to handle things from the start. She should probably take her teacher's advice and pick something like a Machop or a Mareep.
"Please line up," called one of the teachers. "Stop loitering and blocking the doors." The trio of graduates began walking slowly across the dark mottled red carpet of the floor towards the forming line, where a set of wooden stairs led up onto the stage.
"Think anyone will pick the Rattata?" wondered Violet.
"No," Rane commented, "not unless they're not serious at all."
"Not everybody is," Violet remarked.
"Oh no, don't tell – come on, like we're going to listen!" Lucki wailed, watching the principal, Prof. Hawthorn, walk up to the podium.
"Attention please," the older blonde-haired woman clad in a grey suit began. "Today is a momentous occasion…"
"So what kind of pokemon are you going to pick?" asked Violet.
"I don't know…" Lucki answered. "Do you know, Rane?"
"A Normal-type. Maybe one of the Eevee. Or one of the others they have. I heard they might have a Teddiursa. But of course you can't just decide," the ruby-haired girl stated. The other two aspiring trainers nodded in agreement. "You have to pick a pokemon based on which seems right for you."
"I'm going to pick something hard to find," Violet declared. "The pokemon I meet as a trainer are going to be common ones at first, and it'll be a long time before I'll be able to go out into wilder areas. Maybe even a month."
The three young women stood silently, contemplating that.
The first students were called up. Lucki's name wasn't among them, but she still didn't know what she wanted and didn't mind delaying the decision a moment longer. There were all sorts of stories about kids who picked wrong and wound up with a disobedient pokemon that hated them. Her classmates picked rarer pokemon, some popular, like two stately black and white Absol, and some less so, like an enthusiastic Elekid, which let out a cheery cry, electricity sparking between the black and yellow electric-plug-like growths on its head. The Eevee were picked steadily, with a girl named Nari picking the white one. Lucki knew Nari didn't have to worry about her choice being frail, she would be getting another from her family.
Before long, Lucki's name was called. She said a quick goodbye to her friends and walked up to the stage.
Up there, Lucki turned slowly in a semicircle, looking over the different pokemon. There were around a hundred left. Here and there one of the stainless steel cages was empty, but most were still occupied. The cages ranged in size, and the pokemon within them varied even more, from the two white Ponyta tossing their fiery manes and flicking their flaming tails in the biggest cages to a tiny brown Diglett sitting in a cage at the bottom of a stack of three. The golden Rattata Violet mentioned was there too, its fur shining in the light and clear cerulean eyes staring at her boldly. And there were still others, like the peanutbutter-colored Teddiursa standing with one paw in its mouth looking at her with an adorably curious expression, and a yellow Charmander with black eyes and claws. After a moment she focused on looking for the pokemon she'd been advised to take, Machop, Skarmory, Growlithe, Barboach. She noticed a Machop just left of the center. But before she could decide to pick it, her eyes caught on the pokemon next to it, a small silvery Squirtle. The tiny turtle didn't have the same assertive, self-confident look in its eyes as some of the others, but somehow, Lucki was sure it was the right one.
"That Squirtle," she decided, and her teacher – former teacher, she thought with a burst of glee – handed her one of the white school pokeballs. Pressing the button, a red beam shot out, striking the Squirtle and turning it to the same shade. The red then sucked back into the pokeball and she was ushered off the stage into the next room.
There, assembled parents were waiting at tables to meet up with their children before the principal's next speech, this time to them, and the next event, where Lucki and the others would officially be graduating. She headed over to her mother and father, who were sitting at a table on the leftmost row.
"I just can't believe it," Lucki's mother, a slim woman with reddish-blonde hair, stated happily. "My daughter, about to become a great trainer.
Her father, who had almost black green hair, smiled. "So what pokemon did you pick?"
"A Squirtle," Lucki told the middle-aged man. She reached for the white school pokeball, but thought better of it. There were a lot of people around. It didn't seem the best place for introductions. "She's pretty, silver-colored."
"I thought you Pokemon School kids thought the regular starters weren't unique enough," her mother teased.
Lucki wondered what Rane and Violet, or the other graduates would think. Probably nothing. It was her choice. "Actually, I didn't intend to, but when I saw the Squirtle, I knew."
"Well, that's how it should be," declared her brown-eyed father firmly. "Your starter is the pokemon that's with you from the very beginning. The most important thing is for you to feel comfortable with it."
"Yeah." Lucki smiled.
"And now…" With a flourish, her father pulled out three boxes from under the table, all covered in bright, shiny wrapping paper with a ribbon and bow on them. "You didn't think we forgot in all of the excitement," he asked jokingly, seeing her golden green eyes light up. "Go on, open them. The one on the top is from your grandparents."
Lucki reached for the first box. It was covered in soaring Wingull on a blue background with a white ribbon around it. She pushed off the ribbon and tore through the paper, then lifted the lid off, revealing a white leather wallet. The young girl picked it up and opened it to see a sheaf of bills, 150,000 in all. "Alright!" Lucki chirped. "Tell them thanks for me."
The next present was covered in wrapping paper covered in starts. Inside was a sleek blue gadget Lucki didn't recognize. "What's this?" she wondered, picking it up.
"It's a new device we've been made a work," her father explained. "It combines the functions of several newer devices with the standard trainer gear, giving item-storage, adjustable maps, an improved radio and phone, as well as the compressed contents of basic trainer guides. It'll be a few years before this'll be publicly available."
"Thanks!" Lucki voiced delightedly.
The third package contained a necklace. It had a brilliant green stone encased in thin gold wire, handing from a fine gold chain. "Oh," Lucki whispered, "it's beautiful." She slipped it over her neck so that the stone lay on her chest over the white and black school uniform. It sparkled a moment as it caught on a ray of light.
So...what do you think? Good? Bad? Horrible? (I hope not...)
Jump to Chapter Two
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