Child of Thorns - A Pokemon Sinnoh Reimagining

"I have, regrettably, almost brought about the end of the world."

-First line of the first page of the Nameless Diary - Section forty-eight, row F, slot 325 of the Sunken Library.

Eterna Forest - 6 A.M

The fugitive girl got tired of running, which always spelled bad news for whoever was chasing her.

She'd been giving them the slip until now, little more than a blur in their eyes, a dark shadow only briefly illuminated by stray rays of sunlight filtering through the leaves above. Thick pine trees and majestic oaks had served well as cover whenever she needed to catch her breath, and the rime frost covering the ground did well to muffle the sound of her own footsteps, preventing the crunch of the leaves underneath from being heard, the last breath of a cold autumn that was being slowly suffocated by the worst winter Sinnoh would see for a while. All in all, the girl would've been happy to keep hiding from her pursuers, were it not for the fact they'd called their Pokemon out already.

The purr of the Luxio reached her ears, as well as the sound of batting wings from the small horde of Zubat flying around. She was surrounded. Even if she had the energy to keep running, which she didn't she wasn't sure if she could make it to a town before they caught her.

"Agh! Damn it!"

The sharp, golden eyes of one of the Luxio fell upon her, and she hit the ground running once more, unearthing handfuls of snow with every step. She veered right and threw herself behind a fallen tree trunk that rested between a broad, moss covered rock and a small mound of earth and grass. Steps echoed behind her, eight pairs of feet tapping against the soft ground of the forest. She tried her best to control her breathing. It wasn't easy; she'd been smoking before the group of jackasses fell on top of her, forcing her to drop her last cigarette and run for her life. She wasn't sure which one of two she found more offensive.

Relax, she told herself. Breathe in and breathe out, ignore the burning pain in your lungs and focus on finding a way out.

She wasn't sure if the voice was hers or not, but it was good advice nonetheless. Thinking was good, thinking distracted her from the 'Everything around me sucks' and focused her on the 'Okay, we can make it out of this.'

Problem was, plans and ideas were hard to come by recently. She'd lost her backpack, lost everything she'd managed to scavenge the past few weeks and was now left with only an empty cigarette pack and a heavy steel lighter, old enough to have been made in war times.

"Let me take control."

She couldn't help but wince at the feeling of someone else speaking inside her mind. That certainly wasn't her voice, which coupled with the warmth sparking behind her eyes could mean only one thing.

"I can handle this," she whispered, her voice being drowned by the incesssant steps around her. "I just need an opening to escape."

"That will not be possible without risking our lives to a degree that I find unacceptable. I will eliminate them."

A painful, cold shiver ran down her spine. Great, she was more scared of her partner than the actual goons trying to kill her.

"There has to be another way," she pleaded.

"I admire your valor, but you're letting your emotions get the better of you. They saw us. They will report us to one of Galactic's Commanders. We can't let them go."

She closed her eyes and swallowed down all the anger and fear building up inside her. She pushed them to the furthest part of her mind, where they wouldn't interfere with her mission. To think she'd have to do this again...

She let her body fall against the cold grass. "Fine, but take over completely. I don't want to see it... And please, try to go easy on th-"

Before her consciousness was taken over, the girl saw one of her pursuers appear from behind a nearby tree. A tall, scraggly boy, no older than eighteen, dressed in that gray and black uniform she was so familiar with. She knew his name. And in that short moment before she blacked out, she tried her best to erase it from her memory, pain flashing across her eyes.

"Here she is!" the boy yelled for the entire forest to hear. "You! Give us back what you stole! Give us back Az...!"

The girl's hand moved on its own, covered in a powerful golden glow, and she fell into a silent darkness.

Waking came with a painful jolt, followed by enough dizziness to almost send her face-first to the ground. Thick bangs of pink hair obscured her vision, and after a few moments of standing still she realized nothing in her body hurt, which was good. She closed and opened her hands, trying to get back the sensation of touch, and then looked around.

A big mistake. Her four pursuers -all wearing the same uniform- as well as at least half a dozen Pokemon were laying on the cold ground, their limbs motionless and their eyes closed. She was pretty sure one of them wasn't breathing.

She stared wordlessly for what felt like an eternity. A boundless fury grew from her stomach outward, coating her skin completely. The grass and dirt rustled beneath her feet.

"Y-you... I told you to..." she stammered, the words not quite coming to her. "I didn't want to..."

"That was all the time I could keep your consciousness at bay, and for what is worth, I tried to hold back. Only one of them died."

She choked down on the vulgar variations of I don't believe you forming in her head and simply closed her eyes, forcing herself to take deep breaths. It was done, and there was nothing she could do about it. Just another name to add to the list of people who'd ended up dead because of her.

She spoke in as firm a voice as she could manage. "Let's go. I don't want to stay here any longer."

She took two steps before the voice interrupted her again.

"You should take whatever they had on them. We need supplies, and they won't be using theirs anymore."

Her feet stopped. She stood still for a few heartbeats, and turned toward the corpses.

"I hate you so much," she whispered, voice devoid of all strength.

Twinleaf Town - 9 A.M

Waking up came to Inyssa with a jolt, like the feeling of almost falling backwards off a chair. It was sharp and unpleasant, but not unexpected. As she gormlessly stared up at the hazy ceiling above her, consciousness slowly returning, a part of her tried to remember the dream world she'd just been taken out from, but as usual her brain had retained very little of it. There were a few details, though. An empty, expansive white room, an odd clump of shadows, a pale hand approaching her face, fingers closing around the edges of her vision...

She shook her head and brought herself to reality, as dim as the prospect sounded to her. Something was wrong. What had woken her so abruptly? It hadn't been the nightmares this time. Judging by the exhaustion she felt and the position of the sunlight filtering into her room, she hadn't even made it to four hours of sleep this time. That was low, even for her.

Then she heard it: steps. Distant and slow at first, they resounded more strongly as the person went up the stairs. Inyssa waited, wrapped up in blankets like a human burrito, wondering if she'd need to get up or not. She was technically awake, but all cozy and bundled up like this it'd normally take her at least half an hour to rise from the bed.

Three consecutive knocks resounded through her room, and pale whispers of vulgarity left her mouth. She pushed herself to her feet and searched for the blackout curtains in the darkness of the room, making sure she didn't trip on any of the boxes, books and articles of clothing littering the room. Finally she reached them and pulled them open, grimacing like a vampire at the burst of sunlight. Her room was big, yet outside of the mess on the floor it contained little more than a bed, a computer desk, a wardrobe and a couple of anime posters, as well as one of each of Hoenn and Sinnoh's Battle Frontiers next to each other, which she'd gotten as a birthday gift when she was twelve. She was grateful for the one featuring Anabel, yet had always found it a little weird that Palmer had gifted them to her, considering he was front and center in the other one. But that's just how the man was.

"You can come in, Sarah," she said out loud, then turned around to the solitary chair where she'd hung her clothes.

An older woman entered the room. She was short and stocky with dark hair that fell to her shoulders, and she wore a three-piece blue suit with a distinct logo emblazoned on the left side of her chest. There was an air of professionalism to her, a mask which the woman dropped immediately upon seeing her, replaced by a warm, apologetic smile.

"How did you know it was me?"

"Well, you didn't topple anything while coming up to my room so you're not Barry." Inyssa threw the blankets to the floor and started changing into her usual outfit; a black and pink dress with white jeans. "And it's still morning so you couldn't have been mom."

The woman let out a short, tired laugh. Her breath smelled of mint. "Right, Johanna's pills make her sleep like an Ursaring in winter. Anyway, sorry for waking you up so early. And for coming in unannounced."

"It's fine. Barry's woken me up plenty of times too. That's why you two have those spare keys, anyway." She tried to sound courteous, even if deep down it kind of pissed her off. Still, it was an expected security measure, and Sarah didn't deserve her scorn. Inyssa's family and Barry's had been close long before either of them were born, but even then, it was Inyssa's fault that the two were so protective of her. "So... can I help you with anything?"

"I know it's really early and it's not your responsibility, but could you please go find him?" The worry lines on the woman's face were as clear as if they were sculpted in marble. "I need to be in Jubilife by ten and I can't go looking for him right now."

Inyssa closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Barry. Of course it was Barry.

"I know he's not the most careful, but I doubt he's in trouble. He's probably just climbing trees or crashing into things."

The woman took a piece of paper out of her pocket. "Normally I would agree, but he gave me this before he left. I think he wanted me to give it to you."

Inyssa grabbed the paper and unfolded it, revealing a short and very clumsily written letter. All the words were wobbly, as if someone had written them as fast as humanly possible:

Hey Niss! Did you see the thing in the TV!? The interview, they were talking about professor Rowan! Looks like he came back from his journey to wherever and now he's back on Sandgem Town!

He's like a super smart dude and he's full of Pokemon to give and we want Pokemon! Come on, we can't let this opportunity pass, I'm going crazy waiting for my eighteenth birthday and when he sees what great trainers we are he'll give us a Pokemon for sure and we can go on our travels!

I'll wait for you on Route 201, we'll figure something out to get to Sandgem, maybe we can hitch a ride or something! I'll wait as long as I can, if you're late I'm fining you a million bucks!

Barry

She lowered the letter, an indescribable look on her face. "Dear Synn... I don't... how does he get these ideas?"

"I don't know," Sarah sighed, "but he mentioned Route 201, the one that goes straight through the wilderness. 'm really worried that he'll be impatient and run through the tall grass without a Pokemon. I don't want him to get hurt."

Inyssa crumpled the paper furiously in her hands, swallowing her frustration down. That dumbass, what was he thinking? She didn't want to believe he'd be stupid enough to cross the path reserved for trainers by himself, but she knew how much he hated not being able to do something. The last month had been a nightmare: after having graduated from the trainer academy and with their eighteenth birthdays so close, Barry had been twice as energetic as usual, only talking about how much he wanted a Pokemon. Not that she minded, she was quite similar in that regard, but it became a problem when it affected someone other than her.

Poor Sarah. Taking care of someone like Barry must've been the equivalent of having a full time job, on top of her actual full time job.

"I'll go get him," she sighed. "I'll bring him back, even if I have to drag him by the ear."

"Oh, thank you so much." Sarah stepped forward, about to grab Inyssa's hand in thanks, but she stopped herself at the sight of the girl freezing up, a sudden breath hitching in her throat. "A-anyway... I'll be sure to order something delicious for both of you when I get back."

Inyssa breathed in slow, trying to get her sudden panic under control. Once she did, she shone Sarah a tired, tight-lipped smile. She didn't have anything to do for the day, like usual. She could waste some time looking for her idiot of a friend.

"I'll... be on my way then. And I'll make sure to punch him for worrying you so much."

Inyssa was half dead by the time she arrived at Route 201. She reached the sign marking the start of the trainer-only path and had to stop to breathe, leaning against it. Her legs felt like jelly, her lungs burned and her mouth was as dry as a desert. Which was unusual, considering how close this place was to her home. But then again, her stupid body never ceased to disappoint her, no matter how much time passed.

Thankfully, Barry seemed to have held his Ponyta for once in his life and was waiting for her not far from the sign. It was impossible to miss him, what with that blond hair combed back into a disheveled mess. He stood there with his arms crossed and his back to her, impatiently tapping his foot on the dirt. Ahead of him lay a long patch of tall grass, which he looked like he was going to cross any second now.

"B... Barry, hey Barry!" She made her way toward him, panting between words. "Whatever you're... thinking of doing, just... don't. Please."

He looked over his shoulder so fast she was shocked his neck didn't click, and the lines that formed around his big brown eyes indicated he was smiling, even if the collar of his jacket hid his lips from view.

"Well, look who's late again," he clicked his tongue teasingly. "Jeez, what's with that face, Niss? It looks like you ran for an hour."

"I ran for twenty minutes," she admitted. "Well, half-walked, half ran. Still, that's like... pretty impressive."

Barry scrunched his nose, like he was about to say something about how even twenty minutes of running wasn't that impressive, especially for someone their age, but he decided to change the subject s soon as he saw the danger in Niss' eyes. It was a touchy subject for her.

"Are we really that far from town? You must be as excited as I am for my super plan!"

"I'm not, I was just... worried," she said, feeling a bit of heat in her face . "It's cold, I didn't want to freeze coming here. And by the way..."

Inyssa drove her fist into Barry's arm with as much force as she could manage.

"Agh! The heck was that for?"

"For worrying Sarah," she replied, suddenly feeling a lot better. "And your plan is stupid. Why on earth should we go through the tall grass when there's a perfectly safe path through the other side of town!?"

Barry's eyes gleamed at her words, like they did whenever he was about to explain any of his dubious plans.

"Alright, hear me out." His expression changed, already forgetting about the punch inflicted on him. "You know how wild Pokemon appear when you cross the grass? Well; if we manage to get through it without Pokemon, the Professor will be so impressed that he'll make us trainers on the spot! All we gotta do is run through as fast as we can and no Pokemon will catch up to us!"

Inyssa looked at him, mesmerized by his ability to warp logic into such a strange thing.

"That's the stupidest plan I've ever heard. And I'm counting the time we tried to get honey from that Combee nest."

"Oh come on Niss, I'm really really sure about this one! Come on, let me show you!" He put his hands together, doing those puppy eyes that had stopped working on her years ago.

"I..."

Without waiting for her response Barry turned around as fast as the wind. He lowered his knees and put one hand on the ground, ready to start sprinting at any second.

"Here we go!"

"Barry, wait! Don't...!"

A booming voice shook the route, almost making them jump out of their skin.

"What do you think you're doing!? Stop right there, young man!"

Both kids froze in their tracks. Barry's body stood still for the first time since Inyssa arrived, and the girl herself felt chills up her spine. That voice...

They both turned at the same time, hearts in their throats. Behind them stood an unreasonably tall man with ashen white hair and a thick mustache. He wore a dusty brown suit with a blue vest underneath. His eyes were cold and stern, and Inyssa felt like they were looking right through her. She recognized him instantly.

Professor Rowan had discovered them doing something stupid and dangerous, Inyssa realized. She opened her mouth without thinking and said the first thing that came to mind.

"Oh fuck me."