Okay people, this is something Mist and I have decided to try. We will be co-writing this fic in the sense that we write alternating chapters. I will write the odd chapters and Mist will be writing the even chapters. As for what this fic is about, read the first chapter! You'll figure it out! Basically, it's a fic about us in a fantasy world of our own creation!


Chapter 1 - Watercress

“Yeeeeehaaaaaaa!”
She rocks.
“Cool man!”
Her hair whipped in the air like it had a mind of its own. Her eyes were so alive it almost hurt to look into them. Her teeth gleaming like arctic glaciers.
“This rocks!”
She is one of the greatest things in this world. But don’t let her know that.
“Wild!”
She’s my sister.
“C’mon bro, live it up!”
“You little beauty!”
Rollercoasters never thrilled me much. They seemed so simple really. It’s the visual contortion that induces the fear in the riders. It’s an illusion really. A combination of speed and heights. But hell, I always put up a pretense for Tara. Actually it’s not a pretense. She brings the feelings of exhilaration out of me. Feelings I otherwise wouldn’t feel or admit to.
The ride was finally over. Nearly all that descended from the carriages were as disoriented as newborn babies. Only Tara and I seemed to have any grip on reality.
“That was sick! Totally awesome!”
“You said it, sis! Bloody unreal!”
Tara giggled then ruffled my sweaty black hair playfully. “This fair is turning out to be pretty damn good. Beats a day home in front of the box hands down!”
I brushed her hand off lightly and met her face. “Right on. That milk bottle stall was pretty addictive!”
“You could’ve stopped before five plushies though!” jeered Tara, flicking me on the arm.
“Well you’re certainly not complaining!” I teased, nudging into her. “You haven’t stopped hugging that Totodile plushy from the moment I won it for you!”
Tara giggled again. It was a trademark reaction from the skater chick. “Yeah, well I love water Pokemon! They’re so cool!”
“But not as cool as you, right?” I replied, gesturing with my hands.
Tara flashed her pearly whites briefly. “You got it, bro!”
She was only fourteen but in many ways Tara was already an adult. She was way past the typical teen girl trademarks of endless shopping, gossiping and dressing for the boys. She dressed like Avril Lavigne with the jeans and T-shirt look, possessing the long hair and fiery spirit to match. She was into skateboarding and heavy music. But most of all, she had a love of Pokemon unparalleled, except maybe by me. She loved water Pokemon most of all and she spent many nights dreaming of having a Totodile. She just loved the look of its toothy grin, its scaly back and its fidgety little feet.
“You’re still itching to get that Totodile today, aren’t you?” I smirked, half-heartedly attempting to wind Tara up.
“Yeah, yeah, Ryan,” groaned Tara, rolling her eyes and flicking her hair back. “Bet you’re still as keen as mustard to get your hands on that Chikorita, aren’t you?”
I blushed slightly. “Grass Pokemon are my favourite type. Plus I’ve always had a thing for Chikorita.”
Tara giggled yet again. “Yeah, I can tell by the way you’re clutching your Chikorita plushy! Put in it you bag before you sweat so much that you ruin it within a day.”
“Can it, Tara!” I spluttered before taking her advice. “Pity that we couldn’t make a dig for the Cyndaquil either. Then we’d have all of the Johto starters.”
“Yeah it sucks, bro, but that’s the way it is. We’ll find some cool Pokemon once we finally get to go on our Pokemon journey.”
“Indeed! We’ll be the envy of the entire continent once our journey is over!”
“That’s a promise, dude!”

Ever since she was old enough to remember, Tara wanted more than anything else to be a Pokemon trainer. But our parents had been completely against her going. I could understand both sides of the argument. In this crazy world were terrorists were blowing places up at random, more people than ever were being murdered and assaults were almost expected, it wasn’t exactly safe to let a young girl to wander the planet by herself. But I sympathised more with Tara though, because our parents had done the same thing to me. I’d wanted so much to be able to go out on my journey, but my pleas always fell on deaf ears. They would never put me in such jeopardy in an unpredictable environment. And due to the conservative views that people still held about the female gender, if they wouldn’t let me go, they sure as hell wouldn’t let Tara go.
I understood their point. But they didn’t see it from Tara’s perspective at all. They didn’t ever see the way she cried at night every time they rejected her. Cried so hard she barely got to sleep at night. I lost count of the times she suddenly climbed into my bed, her face so wet with salty discharge that I had to hug her for what seemed like an eternity. Each time it happened it felt like my heart was being ripped out. It was bad enough that my dream was continually being reduced to ashes, but it was like rubbing salt into the festering wound every time they rejected Tara. It stung like hell and each time it hurt even more.
On the night of Tara’s fourteenth birthday, just after I turned nineteen, the final straw occurred. It had been coming for so long. After a gigantic party, presents galore, she made one final desperate plea. Not only did they knock her down, our mother cracked her across her arms and then our father shoved her over. They then told her to grow up, stop dressing like a skater girl and to get a life.
It was enough to push one over the edge. With bruised wrists and cut cheeks, she made a customary run to my room. She tore the door open and jumped right on top of me while I was lying on my bed reading the third Harry Potter book. I instantly dropped the novel and cradled her. She was a strong girl but all people have their limits. She had just reached hers.
“Did they do this to you?”
Tara nodded gingerly, her face showing nothing but desolation.
I then reached for her face, traced the cut on her left cheek and sucked the blood that accumulated on my finger.
“I swear to you now that they will never hurt you again.”
Tara held me a little tighter and looked me in the face. “But how? They’ll never let me leave. I’m too young to be out on my own.”
“But not too young to live with your brother.”
Hope returned to her face in the form of colour. Her face returned from a ghostly white to a silky cream.
“You’d do that?”
“You’re my sister, Tara,” I replied with a smile. “It’s my responsibility to look out for you.”
For the first time in ages, Tara smiled a true smile. Not the forced raising of lips, but the natural reflex.
With Tara at my side, I entered the living room and faced my parents. “You’ve gone too far this time. Tara isn’t staying here anymore. She’s coming with me.”
“No she’s not!” screamed my mother. “You may be an adult, Ryan, but she’s still our daughter!”
“Once I tell the police what you did to her tonight and all those other nights, that’s the last thing you’ll be!” I roared, my eyes like wildfire.
“Don’t threaten us!” barked Dad, making an instinctive move for his left pocket. Only I knew what that meant. I knew right then I had to do anything to protect Tara and whipped out an object from my right pocket.
“No, you listen right now!” I grunted, bearing a revolver in my hands, pointing it at my gutless, abusive parents, who were now fearful for the first time in lives. For once, they weren’t in control.
“Are you out of your mind, Ryan?” shrieked Mum. “If you did take Tara, how would you look after her?!”
“Professor Oak granted me a research grant five days ago! He’s giving me three million dollars a year for an indefinite period. I can easily take care of Tara and then some! I’ll be damned before I let you two destroy Tara’s life! So tomorrow morning, you are going to release her from parental custody and assign sole guardianship to me!”
“And why would we do that?!” roared Dad, itching to reach for his gun.
“Because if you don’t, I’ll make sure you guys go to jail and will never be able to save face when you walk in public!”
They kept to their promise. The next day, sole guardianship of Tara was shifted to me. She was free of their tyranny at last, as was I. With the research grant, we now had free reign. As part of the grant, Professor Oak wanted me to have hands-on experience. I had a vast scientific knowledge of the Pokemon world but no personal experience. Although I thought it was overstepping the bounds of the grant and his generosity, the professor insisted I go on a Pokemon journey. That gave me the one opportunity to finally give me a shot at my dream and for Tara to have hers.

Recently many new trainers had set off on their Pokemon journeys, so there weren’t any left for Tara and I. Professor Oak then alerted us to the local fair and that there were contests that had the three Johto starting Pokemon as prizes. It was a match made in heaven. I could go for Chikorita and Tara could try for Totodile.
“So what does your contest require, Tara?”
“Some general knowledge quizes. Tie-breakers involve water obstacle courses. How about you?”
“Looks like I’m in for a bit of a treasure hunt. I have to be the first to track down the Chikorita.”
“With your nature love you should handle that just fine,” she joked.
I smirked. “Considering your brains, your skating skills and your natural agility you should win your contest on a walk!”
Tara blushed. “Yeah, right! Just kick some butt for me and I’ll kick some butt for you, deal?!”
“Cool, sis.”
Giving each other the thumbs up, we headed off to my contest area first. The grass contest was on at two in the afternoon, which was just five minutes away. Tara’s contest was at three.

“So here are the rules. You may use no kind of Pokeballs to catch the Chikorita and you may not use any Pokemon against it! The first person Chikorita comes to naturally and likes is the one who becomes its trainer. There is no time limit and you may use your surroundings to help find the Chikorita. But remember, your actions may affect how the Chikorita regards you. Good luck to you all. The contest begins now!”
About twenty people, including myself, made a run into the fern-covered forest. For some reason I just love ferns. Their simple and fragile form filled with greens and earthly browns. So soft and so shady. The way water drips off them after a rain shower is just so alluring. I saw countless examples of this as I sped through the forest, not able to soak in the wonders of this sight but still able to avoid harming plant life.
I scanned the ground beneath me for clues. By pure chance, I came across a set of footprints. Small and oval-shaped, just like a Chikorita’s. They were fresh, because water had barely seeped into the imprints. Chikorita was nearby and I had a lead on the rest of the contestants. Adrenaline surged in my veins and my heart was thumping harder than it had in my entire life. As if I finally knew what living really was. I let my feet carry me as fast as they could down the moss-laden path, hearing twigs snap under my sneakers. I knew I was close to finding my dream. I could feel it.
“Chika!”
I almost thought I was hallucinating. I heard a sharp cry from what sounded like the Chikorita everyone was looking for. My brain felt like it was being drawn to the Chikorita like a magnet and my body felt like it was almost being voluntarily being drawn to the Pokemon’s cry. For a few moments I felt like I was in a dream and I couldn’t even tell what was going on.
When I finally entered the scene of the source, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was the Chikorita, but it was being attacked by a male kid of about thirteen years. He throwing stones at it and poking it with a stick, making the Chikorita squeal in pain over and over. Each scream ripped at my brain and tore it apart. I couldn’t take one more second of this injustice.
“Stop that right now!” I yelled, jumping in front of the Chikorita and taking the blow of the three stones that were hurled in Chikorita’s direction. Chikorita made a funny sound while the male teen grunted.
“**** off, wise guy,” he retorted.
“Scram, you little insignificant, gutter-crawling, egg-sucking piece of ****!”
“And who’s going to make me?!”
“Chikorita. Take a look at my feet.”
The teen brat stared downwards. Chikorita was nuzzling against my foot, clutching to me like a little child seeing solace in its parent.
“It looks like Chikorita has made its decision. So get lost, you loser.”
The teen grunted like a caveman and clenched his fists. “Fine. Just be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.”
And with that he stalked off. I then cradled Chikorita in my arms and sheltered its shivering body.
“It’ll be okay,” I whispered. “It’ll be okay.”

“You got it!” Tara ran to me and gave me an enthusiastic high five. “Way to go, man!”
“Sensational indeed!” I grinned.
“Looks like one of us got what we wanted,” she smirked. “I guess the two of you are going to be a great couple now!”
“Tara!” I groaned.
“I guess the two of you are going to get married now!”
“Tara!”
“Can I be the bridesmaid?!”
“Tara!”
“Chill, dude, chill!” She then gave me a warm hug. “I’m thrilled you finally got the Pokemon you wanted.”
I smiled at her as the sun broke through the clouds and lit us up. “In half an hour that’ll be both of us. So let’s go see your victory.”
Tara smirked again then led us on to the beginning of something great.