Pokémon AU: Dimensional Travelers

Chapter 1: The Start of a New Adventure

"Hmmmph~ Where is everyone?" a little black-haired girl hummed. She was alone in a small grove of trees, and she was sure she had been right behind a small group of other kids at her summer camp. She held onto her straw hat and Eevee plushie as she dashed through the grove. The dappled light sparkled against a blue moonstone hung on a silver chain around her neck. "Hellooo~ Anybody here?"

Silence.

She tripped on a tree root and injured her wrist. "Oww~!" she whined, "why did I come here?"

Something rustled the bushes in front of her. Whatever it was startled the little girl, causing her blue-green eyes to well up with tears. It seemed to be coming closer.

"Eeek~!!!" she squeaked, "Now I really wish I didn't come to camp!" She covered her head with her injured arm while sitting on the ground and was about to scream for Mother.

She heard the bush rustle again. A young voice asked, "Hey, are you okay?"

"Huh?" she wondered aloud. Turning toward the speaker she discovered it was a young blond boy: no more than a year her senior. The breeze ruffled his choppy fringe and little red bowtie as it blew through the trees.

"Are you with the Summer Camp?"

"Y-yes..."

"Everybody's looking for you!" he exclaimed, before noticing the bloody and scraped wrist. "Oh... I'm so sorry, where are my manners?" He took his handkerchief from a pocket in his gray waistcoat and gingerly wrapped her wrist in it. "Come on, we'd better get you back to the group!" he said, leaning over to help her to her feet.

She stared, mystified by his serenely beautiful light green eyes, for a few moments before taking the hint to take his hand. He pulled her up hard enough to knock her off balance when she reached her full height. She fell forward into him, but he caught her with the grace of a true gentleman, even at his very tender age. She clutched her Eevee plushie as he gingerly led her out of the grove and into the blinding sunlight of the meadow beyond.

Mitsuki sat up as the blinding morning sunshine woke her from her dream. She looked out the windows from her lower bunk and yawned. "That dream again..." she said, rubbing sleep from her eyes. Her bunk-mate Leah rolled over in her upper bunk as the curtains blew open. Mitsuki got up and stretched. The bunk creaked beneath her as she stood up and looked outside into the orphanage courtyard. The hazy mist rolled over the hills and bay beyond like a babbling brook as she stared out the clouded glass.

"Nnnhhh..." Leah groaned as she rolled over again, the bunk creaking twice as loud.

"Come on, Leah. We've got to go to school..." Mitsuki said as she turned back toward the room. It was very plain aside from Leah's artwork and Mitsuki's knitting. The beds stood against the opposite wall to the window and faced east. A wooden wardrobe stood perpendicular to the beds and window, opposite a pair of wooden desks. The door led out into a long hallway and was on the same wall as the bed.

"I don't want to go to school..." Leah complained, sitting up in her plain and tattered pajamas. Everything the girls owned was ripped, too small, and tattered after years of use and life in an underfunded orphanage. At least the food was good.

"Tough luck, I don't either but it's our job right now. It's the first day of school, and unfortunately if we don't want the headmistress on our behinds we have to go to school."

"Alright, alright... I'm up."

"Good," Mitsuki replied, pulling her ripped and stained turquoise tee-shirt over her head. Her hair was very long and unkempt, but by no means dirty. Underfunding caused showers and baths to be taken once a week, and new clothes only occurred perhaps once a year if the older children were lucky. Foster Care in the area was destroying the Orphanage system. Both girls brushed their hair till all the built up oil and dirt was combed out, and they headed downstairs for breakfast.