The Outskirts

A Begining

"Remember this. If you find this Pokemon to be too powerful to overcome, run. We have no desire for you two to lose yours lives in your bravery." A short man, with a bald head told them. Ash and Gary, and Dawn and Iris were both stood in front of the Lead Outskirter. Ash nodded, and Gary shrugged. Nothing more to say, he stepped aside, allowing the four trainers to advance into the trees. Gary looked around as the already bleak light which weakly shone through the thick cloud cover lessened further, as the towering trees began to block it. He looked over to Ash who was peering ahead of them.

"So, what do you girls do?" Gary asked, focusing on the pair of outskirters beside him. Ash glanced back at Gary, and allowed a faint grin.

"Well, we explore the outskirts." Dawn, the blue haired girl responded. "This was my fifth  assignment, Iris' seventh. Before this, we explored a deep sea cave on the other side of Sinnoh."

"Cool. So, how did you come to do the whole outskirter thing?" Gary asked. Again, it was Dawn who responded.

"Well, it really started with Iris and Misty." Dawn began. Noticing Gary's confusion, she clarified. "Misty is another team member, along with May and Serena.

"Okay." Gary said.

"Well, Iris and Misty saw each other at a gym leader conference."

"You and Misty were both gym leaders?" Ash asked, interjecting. Iris nodded.

"Wait a second." Ash looked at Gary. "Misty. The water type gym leader! We battled her. And you lost because you were too busy drooling!" Ash said, laughing. Gary's eyes widened, then turned back to Dawn.

"So Misty is part of your team. Cool." Gary said.

"Well, anyway," Iris said, taking over from Dawn, "Misty and I left the conference together. Now, it was in Hoenn, and we were about to have a battle. We were with May, who was the daughter of one of the Hoenn gym leaders. But then we heard a loud cry from the bushes, and we stumbled across a wild pokemon.

"What was it?" Gary interjected.

"We never found out." Iris said gravely. "In hindsight, I assume it was a trap, but I can't be sure. We looked for the crying pokemon, but before we found it, the ground fell out from beneath us. We fell into a large cave system below the ground. In fact, we were lucky to escape without injury. Thats when we came across the Outskirters, who had a camp set up. They tended to our scrapes and bruises, then invited us to accompany them. I'm glad we did, because then were walked into a huge cavern, with crystal cuttings out all over the place. Afterwards, they told us more about what they did, and the three of us decided to join. Misty, May and I initially operated as a trio. It stayed like that until our third mission, where we met Serena and Dawn. They were out in the forest, practising for some kind of event, and we found them lost. In fact, they were so far into the forest that we just took them with us on our expedition." Dawn coughed here, and raised an eyebrow. Iris groaned. "Fine. I insisted. But anyway, they came along, and once we got back to civilisation, they'd had a taste of something they'd enjoyed, and they ended up accompanying us.

"Cool." Gary said. As Ash processed this, a question suddenly came to him.

"We were told that you guys were considered an elite team, one of the best. How'd you get there?"

"Well seven missions doesn't seem to be much, and for some veteran Outskirters, it isn't. But the Outskirters isn't a super well known organisation, even though they have been responsible for the discovery of settlement of three of the regions we have today. It so happens that a lot of people who join only stick around for a mission, and sometimes two, they join as adventurous young adults, and lose interest, or decide against it. Misty and I were both extremely young gym leaders, and many challengers weren't quite ready to accept the fact that twelve year olds were adept trainers." Iris allowed herself a faint grin. "We showed them. But anyway, as I was saying, young gym leaders. And we were twelve still when we fell into that hole. Joined at twelve as well. And now, being sixteen, we've been doing this for four years. Serena and Dawn joined us when we were all 14, so not quite as long, but still a while. Seeing as most Outskirters stick around for a few months, our time makes us elites. But, also because we wield some of the strongest Pokemon that the Outskirters have. With six each, we have thirty Pokemon to fight of threats should it come to it." It was at this last statement that Ash and Gary slowed, and the two girls stopped and regarded them anxiously.