Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any of the Pokémon Franchise

Author's Note: "Heya everyone! Hope you all thought the first chapter of Heroes was good because... heh..."

"Harper: AAAAAAAH WHYYY WAS THAT SO CRINGY-?! Can we not just skip to when I'm older and get to meet my-"

"Now now.. let's not get ahead of ourselves! You know we have some interesting things to still talk about you from when you were younger. And I promise this'll be time- skipped eventually waaaay into the future so we can get to the uh... more extraordinary parts of your life up until this point."

"PLEASE AND THANK YOU-! I must get to retell the story of when I met you-know-who-"

"Right...! Ok. Let's just get this started!"

The sun shone down on the dark-haired girl, as she walked out from the shadow of a tree and into the view of the sun's beaming light. She sighed and smiled, finding lots of enjoyment from traveling down this route. She looked to where her starter Pokémon, the Torchic Spitfire, was nuzzled up gently against her, clinging to her shoulder. She lifted her arm up to pet the fuzzy little chick's cheek, to which he cooed and let out a delightful chirp. Harper couldn't help but giggle at how happy he seemed to be by her side.. well until the two suddenly tumbled over a large pebble in their way. XD

Harper fell face-first, while Torchic went flying off into the tall brush not far ahead. The girl grunted as she pulled her face back up, shaking her head before hearing some very panicked chirping from further up the path. Her eyes landed on some movement in the bushes heading right towards her, and she gasped as she quickly stood back up. As she dusted off her pants, Spitfire burst out from the grass in the fluffing panic, followed by a group of angry.. little pink caterpillars. Harper quirked an eyebrow down at Torchic and the caterpillars, pulling out her Pokédex to identify. It read:
"Wurmple, the Worm Pokémon. Bug Type. Wurmple is targeted by Swellow as prey. This Pokémon will try to resist by pointing the spikes on its rear at the attacking predator. It will weaken the foe by leaking poison from its spikes."

"Well that's mildly inter-HEY wait a second! These are bug types, they wouldn't stand a chance against your fire, Spitfire!" Harper said eagerly, perhaps too confidently to the Torchic cowering by her feet.

He perked his head up, still shaking a little with fear. "Tor..?"

"Uh- yeah! You can do it!" She called to him eagerly. "You're the coolest!"

This suddenly filled up Spitfire's courage. His chest feathers puffed out, and he stood up in front of his trainer, loyal and ready to fight. As soon as he would do this, however, many of the Wurmple began shooting strings of webbing at the small chick Pokémon from their spikes- rather than poison. He frantically ran to dodge the flying strings, but a few stuck to his face. In his panic, he began shooting embers like crazy. Harper yelped and jumped back as Spitfire spun around and accidentally shot one near her foot. The other embers landed in all different directions, and it caught some of the grass on fire as well. The Wurmple, a few of whom did get hit by the Ember attacks, scurried in terror, so when Spitfire did fully regain his vision, he noticed this with a proud chirp.

"Aa-ah well.. that was efficient I guess.. nice job, Spitfire." Harper grinned with a little, anxious smile smeared across her face. "Close call", She thought, "Hopefully in the future.. he can control his attacks."

"Tor! Tor!" He bounced around and chirped, taking this reaction as one of sheer surprise, which filled him with pride. However, Harper took this as her chance to pick the little guy up, then laying him down on her shoulder. "For safety's sake though, let's keep you up here, and if anything attacks.. you can pounce right on top of them!"

He tilted his head in confusion of her logic, but chirped and nodded. With a sigh of relief, Harper continued down the path, before another Pokémon popped out; a Poochyena, in fact. With a shrill chirp, Spitfire's feathers ruffled and he, in a leap of courage/and stupidity/, found himself crashing in right on top of the dog Pokémon, doing his best to karate kick the Poochyena in the face with his tiny, pathetic chicken claws. However, his agility was still poor, and the tiny nugget fell onto his back after the surprise launch attack.

"SPITFIRE THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT-" Harper gasped and picked up the chick right as the Poochyena tried to grab it up in his mouth. Panic filled her as the dog growled viciously and gave chase, and the two were forced to run for their lives. XD

{~~~~~Timeskip~~~~~}

It was about an hour later... or maybe a half. Either amount of time felt like forever, and the time wore on the intrepid pair of go-getters. Harper's fully frazzled hair stuck up slightly, and in her arms an exhausted Torchic rested. He was covered in tiny little scratches, torn feathers, and various blemishes all over him. He had definitely fought one too many wild Pokémon, and really the both of them needed a break. Exhaustedly, Harper trudged on, nearly dragging her feet behind her with each step. Where are we even anymore.. She questioned while scanning the area around her. Just seemed like there was an endless sea of trees and grass.. with one sad, dirt path in front of her.. and a building- wait a building?!

Hallelujah! There was a Pokémon Center ahead. And better yet, what look liked and entire little town. She rushed ahead, the bouncing simultaneously re-energizing herself and waking up the baby nugget in her arms. Spitfire easily got ruffled in confusion, fearing they were running from a wild Pokémon again. But when Harper skidded to a stop at the automatic doors of the red and white painted building, the two of them sighed collectively in a relaxed manner.

"Here.. oh phew finally.. I could use somewhere cool to crash." The dark-haired youngster smiled lazily as she stepped forward and- bummed head first straight into a sheet of glass. Expressionlessly, Harper stepped back, her forehead red and thumping from the impact. She groaned and waited another few seconds for the slow, two-sides glass panes to slid aside for her to make her entry. Once they did, her feet skidded against the tiles in her hurried rush to the front desk, where a familiar clone of a lady stood- the local Nurse Joy. Along her behind the countertop was a lovely Chansey in a nurse's hat.

"Hello dear, welcome to the Pokémon Center! Would you-"

"YES just- my little chicken here and fix him up while I go take a nap.. please?" Harper begged with an exhausted voice-crack at her last word. Upon the table, she plopped down her little, pooped Torchic and his mat of feathers that stuck out in each direction. He grumbled and flopped onto his little belly.

While it took the Nurse Joy and the Chansey a moment to regain themselves from that surprising interruption, she observed the obviously poor mental and physical states of these two and frowned in displeasure and empathy. "Oh.. you and your Pokémon look exhausted. Hm.. yes, I'll take care of him. You go lay down over there while I get you a Uh- complimentary blanket. And I could get you some water too, if you're thirsty?" She waved her hand out to her questioningly as she placed Spitfire in the Chansey's arms, as he was then carried off to the back to be healed.

"That'd great- be great, thanks.." She stuttered after slipping past a word in her speech. In her exhaustion, she barely could correct herself, or care to. Nothing mattered at the moment other than getting some sleep, some water, and.. maybe some therapy.

It was a rough first start to her journey.. but even when exhausted, Harper was a tough soul. She just could really use the nap-

{~~~~~Timeskip~~~~~}

Harper woke to first her brain feeling fuzzy and somewhat euphoric, like waking up and getting a migraine. Everything seemed a bit blurry and blotchy for a few moments. But once her vision was able to refocus on the ceiling, she seemed to be able to recall her reasoning for being at this seemingly random location.

Where was I again.. wait oh it's the Pokémon Center, that's right! Hm.. crap HOW LONG WAS I ASLEEP?! The girl shot up from the lounge chair at this thought. In a stir-crazy manner, she spun herself around to try and land eyes on a clock of any sort. Luckily there was one just behind her, reading 2:43. Of course, that meant nothing since she actually couldn't recall what time she was at the Pokémon Center at all. With her mannerisms still sluggish from her post-unconscious state, she waddled back to the front desk. It was clear to note now that there were other people wandering the establishment. And a surprisingly amount of the small crowd were youngling trainers, some who looked barely old enough to throw a pokeball properly. When she finally could get the Nurse's attention, she smiled back to the tired girl and immediately brought her back a warm, happy, and fuzzy little chicken nugget in her hands.

"This little guy is.. quite feisty! But we got him fixed up eventually. Glad to see you've slept so long, you ought to have all your energy back!" Joy chirped and smiled in such a sweet manner, though her face obviously hid some still recent memories of struggles.

"How.. long would that be?" Harper would ask, again sluggishly due to her eyes adjusting the lighting in the Center.

"Oh, at least an hour. But you two must've been on the road for so long, I can imagine it was well needed." Joy replied with an upbeat tone.

The two of them, girl and her Pokémon, looked at each other with anxious smiles. Harper laughs a bit with a twinge of embarrassment, but was caught off guard by a rather aggressive child shoving her away from the desk. His eyes were frantic and filled with tears, as he held a limp but likely alive brown and white stripped rodent Pokémon. "Miss Joy, Miss Joy! There's a Pokémon out in the forest and it keeps using a move th-that makes my Zigzagoon fall asleep! Can you wake her up or something?! B-because she won't wake up for me!" The little boy cried desperately. He likely only was so forceful to Harper due to how worried he was.

"Oh dear, yes I have some remedies for sleeping- status attacks, let me take your Pokémon dear." Joy followed only with the most empathetic of looks, so that the boy would feel safe giving her his Pokémon. With that apprehensive, child-like pout, he held up his unconscious Zigzagoon, who was taken in Nurse Joy's arms and rushed to the back.

Harper merely observed this play out but once her gaze was averted from Joy disappearing into her room, she stared back down at the sniffling little boy. "Um- I'm sure your Pokémon will be ok! It's just sleeping, so not a biggie, right?"

"I guess not.. b-but that Pokémon was so cute and ugh! I wish I had gotten it before Apricorn did.." The boy wiped his face with his elbow, sniffing again but calming down.

"Apricorn..? Now wait- where did you see this Pokémon? And what did it look like?" Harper began to inquire with a bounce in her voice. Maybe she could find this Pokémon and make it her first catch?

"W-well it was.. back on route past town.. and the Pokémon was this cute little green thing with a bud on its head! And it was able to use this pretty tune that put my Pokémon to sleep!" He exclaimed as simply and quickly as he could.

"Route ahead of town, little green bud and pretty- tune. Ooook got it! I'm gonna go find it!" Harper dashed off fast towards the exit, her pet chicken nugget wrapped in her arms still as she sprinted.

"Wait, Apricorn's there and you don't wanna-! Oh she's gone.. she's gotta have some guts to go after a Pokémon he wants.." The little boy shuddered in fear of.. whoever the heck Apricorn was. He could only hope that nice girl would stand a chance to him..

{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

Harper's shoes skidded against the dirt underneath her feet. Ahead of her was a kind of open field area bordered by trees, with many youngster trainers scattered throughout the tall grasses. It took her a moment to single out a small gathering of young trainers gaining up in one spot, as they seemed to have surrounded something. She approached this gathering with caution, beginning to hear the children shouting in dysfunctional unison, "Catch the mon! Catch the mon!"

This further confused the brunette before she gasped at the tear jerking sight. The kids were surrounding one chubby youngster with an ugly hat as he seemed to keep grabbing the head of a small, bulb shaped Pokémon. It cried and vigorously kept trying to pull away, but the grubby boy refused and almost yelled and said, "Stop it! You're my Pokémon now! You listen to me!"

In pure shock and horror, her voice echoed out, "Wuh-I- WHAT IN ARCEUS'S NAME ARE YOU DOING?!"

All the kids froze up horribly, with the youngster at the center letting go of the Bud Pokémon's head. It frantically whimpered and trampled away a bit, but lost its footing and fell over to face the now angry little rat. "Why did you yell? You made me let my Pokémon go!"

"That was the point! Don't you know how to handle a Pokémon properly? Well I can tell you, and it's not by the head!" She huffed, trying to step over to this clearly traumatized little seedling, but the boy stomped his feet out to stop her hand from reaching down.

"Hey you can't take that! I found it first so it's MINE! And I want it real bad so that makes it double mine!" He cried in anguish in a bratty little voice, scowling still as he swiped his hand down at the tiny bud. Ironically, it jumped back and hid behind Harper's leg, only angering the child more. "I said it's mine!"

"Not every Pokémon you want should belong to you! The Pokémon has a say, too... haven't your parents taught you anything about respect??" Harper asked though in her mind this likely wasn't the case. Kids are brats for a reason and a lot of the times it's just a result of bad parenting.

"Well they've always said I could have what I deserve! And I've been done such a great job training with the Pokémon I already have, I reckon that Pokémon is my reward!" 'Apricorn' replied proudly, still glaring down this much taller girl. The tiny bud Pokémon scampered off then in fear of her own safety, finally.

Harper sighed. Of course they did, and the idea went right to his head. However, something about how he said this made her realize something. "Hm.. wait. Did you- you haven't actually caught this Pokémon yet, have you?"

"N-no because I need to bring it home and get a Pokéball from my parents!" He replied with a pouty huff.

"Aha, well then maybe.." She reaches behind her to her pack, pulling out one of her shiny new red and white Pokéballs from the Professor. "Maybe I can strike a deal with you. If you can beat me in a battle, then I'll give you this Pokéball and that little.. fella will be all yours. BUT if I win, you promise to leave this Pokémon alone.. and no Pokéball from me!"

The boy didn't hesitate on this deal, as he didn't foresee any consequences. He had an annihilation plan that's won every battle he's been in. How could this go wrong? "Hah! You got it- oh but if you lose you gotta give some of ya money too!"

The brunette blinked innocently in confusion. "What?"

"That's how you usually pay for losing! You fight and whoever loses has to give up their money!" The boy cackled a bit, smirking at her incompetence.

"Oh- I see.. fine. But keep in mind that'll apply the other way around as well." Harper commented with the simplest of smirks back at him, looking back at the fire chick who had nuzzled onto his trainer's shoulder and under her hair. While the boy readied his one, occupied pokeball, Harper had Spitfire at the ready.

"Alright, you think you're tough stuff now? I'll show you who's tough- go Seedot!" The youngling exclaimed while releasing his exclaimed Pokémon. Quickly, Harper could recognize the little forest dweller; what with his dotty eyes and stubby legs, the Acorn Pokémon was simple but distinguishable. "Ok little buddy! We got this, use Bide!" In result, the Seedot waited but seemed to be charging up.. something. Not sure what.

"...Ok then." Harper blankly stared. Honestly, she didn't really know what this move did, but she knew it took more than one turn to work. "Go in with Ember!" She exclaimed, having finally found a feature on her Pokédex that let her read the moves her Pokémon knew. About time. Spitfire breathed in, then puffed out his attack in a little cloud. The cloud quickly flew into the acorn's face and made it stumble back, with it losing balance on its tiny feet. Seedot scrambled to get back up.. and in the meanwhile all the boy did was smirk and wait. He seemed to have this all planned out in his head.

Harper scowled while noticing his lack of initiative at the moment and exclaimed, "Throw another Ember at him! Take that Seedot down!" She exclaimed, but her Torchic seemed apprehensive. The Seedot glared rather suspiciously towards the chicken. Instead, he only shot off some smoke his way, merely glazing over the battlefield with a slight haze. Harper growled in confusion, that was until the boy stepped up.

"Now unleash that energy!" Seedot began to shake at this, and very suddenly the Acorn Pokémon shot forward with vengeance, hitting little Spitfire beak on. The chick nearly flew backwards onto his bum, but chirped responsively while standing again. He wasn't finished yet!

Harper had a moment to ponder this now. 'Ok so.. Bide seems to absorb energy from the opponent's attacks and then hits back.. is that why Spitfire ignored me?! Well- we gotta finish this, before he can pull that crap again.' Her expression grew firm again as she exclaimed aloud, "C'mon give it your best shot, use Ember!"

"Torrrrrchic!" With this loud cry, Spitfire sucked in his gut and bellowed out another blast of heated ashes, this time building up enough to fire at a rapid speed with even more power behind it. Critical hit!

The Seedot's pupils shrank and he hunkered down.. which likely wasn't a wise choice because the attack hit his face straight on. The Ember's heat even blew off on Apricorn a bit, making him cough hysterically. In an exaggerated manner he looked down and gasped in horror of his Pokémon rolled on his side with swirls on its face. The boy just... stared in shock. "WUH?!"

"AHA! Tough luck kid but.. clearly, type advantage was not in your favor today." She smirked the tiniest bit while making her smug reply. Meanwhile, Spitfire was dancing on his toes happily, kicking up the dirt underneath him.

But not three feet away, an exact opposite reaction was occurring. The little brat was stomping and flailing his arms over his head, before chucking them down against his sides. "THAT'S MY POKEMON- IT'S MINE, MINE, MINE! YOU'RE A REAL MEANIE! AND- AND I'M GONNA GET MY PARENTS!" He whined, clearly trying to make his pathetic self threatening before running away. While not intentionally dropping some of his money on the ground. XD

"..Gee. Kids these days." She scoffed, before laughing a little at her own words. Eh- she was a pre-teen, not really a kid... not technically. "Alright Spitfire- another good win!" She bent down to the fire chick's level, reaching up her hand in front of him. "Up top!"

Spitfire chirped with delight, but noted he.. didn't have hands like Harper. He looked around a bit before kicking his foot into the air, hitting her palm with that.

"Yeah!.. ow." She cheered, only to feel small a small burn form on her hand. Oh well, just a little sting. "Now... wait, where'd the little plant guy go?"

Spitfire spun around at this, wondering the same thing. He scanned the ground before his beak pointed towards some rustling grass, where said plant emerged. The little bud waddled shyly towards Harper, looking up with its big dot eyes. Was she.. not afraid of her?

"Huh... hey there." She smiled while pulling up her Pokédex. Scanning down the Pokémon, her dex read aloud-

"Budew, the Bud Pokémon. Grass and Poison Type. Over the winter, it closes its bud and endures the cold. In spring, the bud opens and releases pollen."

"Uh- these aren't exactly filled with a lot of useful information huh... whatever! You're free to go, little Budew guy!" Harper simply waved her hand towards the tiny bud Pokémon.

However, this didn't signal the right reaction. In fact, Budew didn't want to move at all. She stared and blinked, smiling innocently up at Harper before finally stepping- closer. Again?

"I...uh- I told you to skedaddle didn't I? Why.. you don't wanna come with me, do you?" Harper had to question aloud.

"..Dew!" The pretty little bud bonked her head against the young girl's foot, in a friendly manner of course.

"Awww shucks- I'm flattered. Well, second Pokémon of the team, here we!.. oh wait. I don't have a ball." Harper laughed sheepishly, turning around to take her time digging through the bag.

"Tor, Tor." Spitfire clucked with disappointment, his little foot tapping unhappily.

"Aaaaaand go!" In a rush of excitement, she chucked the plain Pokéball over her head right at the Budew. This unceremoniously landed a foot away, making the Budew stare hopelessly.

"Whoops! Uh hehe- I'll work on my aim, don't worry." Innocently running back to grab the ball, the girl picked up her mistakenly thrown ball, offering it finally to Budew.

"Dew-!" In unison with her cheer, the button clicked against her head, sweeping the small grass type to the ball and clicking shut almost immediately.

"Oooook! Look Spitfire, second team member and I didn't have to fight for it!.. I mean not tech-"

"TOR!"

"Geez. Alright. Let's get to the next town already.. with.. Sage." Harper barely paused, as she had just the name in her head for a grass type. There were her second favorite flowers, after all.

And so lil' Harper and her huffy little chicken have their first winning battle, and as a prize, Sage the Budew has decided to tag along for the ride! Who knows what advantage she could bring to the team? Find out as.. her journey continues!

(And that would be the end of this chapter! New Pokémon, new town coming up.. uh- actually, I will be posting something in my Trash Diary real soon here about the uh.. future of all this. You'll see.)