Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon characters, or pokemon... I own Nicole.

A/N: Basically... after writing an entire huge story in 6th grade, and after working very hard on a rewrite of it now, I have decided that I had better just type out the entirety of this character's backstory. It's rather interesting anyway. For more information on this character... read my fic Message of Mewtwo. This story is something of a prequel to it.

This story is a sort of basic 'Pokemon Journey' story, though with some rules and such that I have made to alter things a bit. They should be explained as the story gets longer and more detailed...

Finally, there will be two parts and a collection of sidestories for this. The first half will consist of the character's adventures in Kanto, the second half almost three years later. The sidestories will be more things that are relatively unimportant to the main storyline, but help explain more things that happen. These will probably be in another fic, to be started once this one is really underway.

Okay... this chapter is short, and I'm probably doing more writing in this introduction than in the actual story. Enjoy though!

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Her Story

Where it Began

Professor Oak folded the paper, leaning back in his desk and thinking about how certain pokémon were amazing creatures. It took only one glance around the room to realize just how – he could see various pokémon interacting with each other (and one was even painting), each with their own personality traits and individual characteristics.

What concerned him at the moment was some news that had been mailed to him recently regarding one of the pokémon reserves – it was one of the places where from he received excited Charmanders that wanted to go on journeys with fledgling pokémon trainers and become stronger. Apparently, there had been poachers there...

Quietly, he unfolded the paper again and began rereading the message, his brow furrowing as he continued down the page.

Professor Oak –

I hope everything with you and the lab is going all right. You have a new grandson now, right? It has been a little while since I contacted you. Give your family my regards. Say hello to Delia Ketchum as well. She’s expecting any time soon now, isn’t she?

I actually have some bad news regarding the reserve. A few days ago during the night, we had what seemed to be poachers sneak into the grounds and try to capture many of the young pokémon. We did manage to stop them, but not before they made off with some of the pokémon. We also lost two families – a Charizard family and a Scyther one. It truly is a tragedy... it seemed the pokémon were fighting their hardest to protect their young, but they lost their lives in the process.

We are not sure what happened to these family’s young though. As far as we know, the Charizard family had two young Charmanders, and the Scyther family one young bug, from our previous observations and interactions with the families. Right now, we are assuming that the young pokémon were captured by the poachers. We have many police forces working on the case right now and trying to search out these criminals for what they have done.

I also want to bring to attention something strange that I was told by one of the rangers, Raymond. While trying to stop the poachers, he ran into a little girl lost in the in the reserve. He tried to pick her up and take her to safety so that he might be able to find her parents as well, but a Charmander and a tiny Scyther defended her, before all three ran off. Raymond was unable to find them afterwards, and he spent the rest of the night looking for them and leading off the poachers that were apparently after the trio as well. Also, it started raining later in the night.

He says that the girl couldn’t have been more than three years old... she had black hair, a heart shaped face, and was wearing pink overalls. None of us know what happened to her.

Raymond also mentioned that the Charmander and Scyther may have been the offspring of the two families we lost. If it was the case, we still don’t know what happened to the other Charmander.

Right now, I’m looking for any information on any lost children, or any children in the area around the reserve that might have suddenly gained a Charmander and a Scyther as companions. It would have been horrible if the poachers caught that girl or the pokémon with her...

I’m sorry for this melancholy letter, but the bottom line is that our reserve is a bit devastated right now. If I can, I would like for you to come help me investigate and give any advice for helping restore everything. It may be hard to get any Charmander to volunteer as starting pokémon this year.

Anyway, good luck in everything else, and I hope you have time to help. I know you’re busy, but I and the rest of the rangers in the reserve team would be very grateful.

Ranger Greg Hansley

Professor Oak immediately reached for the button to activate the video phone. There was no way he would say no to the ranger’s request – what had happened was disastrous and he was ready to help in any way he could.

He still wondered what had happened to the girl though, and worried about everything... it seemed that the poacher attacks were getting worse, and now if even normal civilians were involved, things could be out of control now.

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“Nicole dear, they can’t stay.”

“No! They stay! They will! They took care of me! I have to take care of them!” the little girl stamped her foot and glared at her parents.

As if to state her point even more clearly, Charmander and Scyther stood next to her and glared as well.

“Nicole...” her father began sternly, before sighing and turning to her mother. “She has been taking care of them well for the past few days since they showed up with her.”

Her mother crossed her arms in frustration. “I still don’t know if I can believe Nicole’s ridiculous story about how she met them! Seriously, a ‘shining hole in the air’ that led to a place with lots of trees and back home?”

“But where did these... things come from then? I’ve never seen anything like them in my life... and they guard her so protectively too. She keeps going on about all these ‘scary people’ with guns though... that worries me actually...”

“Well, she refuses to make them leave...”

“Does this mean you’ll let her keep them?”

“Do we have much of a choice? They at least seem relatively well trained and intelligent... moreso than if we had a dog.”

“Good point.”

The two parents looked at Nicole, who hugged the two creatures close to her. After a few long moments, they both sighed.

“All right Nicole... you can keep these... pok-ey-mon?” her father said unsurely, recalling what his daughter had called them.

“YAY!”

Charmander and Scyther cheered too.

The adults realized they had a long chaotic time ahead of them.