"Birthright" A Reborn Fan Story Chapter 1

[ThyMajicConch]

Hi there! Conch here, it’s taken some time to get into the proper headspace to start typing up this story (Writer's block is a pain lol). This one will follow the main story of Pokémon Reborn, the main character of this story is one of the avatars you can pick as your protagonist but to add a bit to the story, I decided to give her a bit of backstory and personality! Anyways, that’s enough from me, hope you enjoy the story!

 

Chapter 1: Arrival

 

 

Even now, Alice still had doubts, was she was even up for this, was this a good idea, and is she probably overreacting a bit like gram said? She looked down at the two pokeballs at her hip, “No.” she said to herself, she is up for this challenge, jury is still out on the last two questions lingering in her head, she may have jumped the gun a little bit, she began to realize this when she came to the station 2 hours before it even opened. Slowly, more people filtered into the station overtime, sitting on the benches to find some way to kill time before their trains arrived at the station. Unsurprisingly, she was first in line. “Station master here. We’ve got your boarding passes.” The voice over the intercom snapped Alice out of her sleep deprived trance. Burying her second thoughts, Alice stepped forward toward the newly staffed ticket booth where a clearly bored and equally sleep deprived employee stood behind.

“One boarding pass to Reborn City, please?” Alice asked. The employee somewhat perked up at the mention of Reborn. “Another one for Reborn City, huh? They sure have been pushing that new League. Let’s see… Which one of these was it?” The guy in the booth said, amused sounding as he dug out the correct pass, he must be new here. Alice slipped him her ID before he could even ask for it, catching him somewhat off guard, to his credit, he recovered and examined the photo on it closely. Fair skinned, long blonde hair, and grayish blue eyes, people often told her how she’s the spitting image of her sister, something she hated hearing. “This is you, huh?” The booth guy asked. Alice nodded in affirmation. “Certainly looks like it. And what was your name again?” Alice winced a bit, he obviously means her full name. “It’s Alice… Alice Warthrop.” She braced as she prepared for the guy to suddenly light up and ask the question she always dreads whenever she introduces herself. The employee paused for a moment before asking “You said Warthrop, right?” Alice nodded, less enthusiastic than the first time. Yet to her surprise, that was all he asked, with a quick “Got it.” He went straight back to typing at the keyboard in his booth. “Then just to be sure, for ‘Gender’ I should put…?” He asked, hoping for Alice to finish the sentence. “Oh, just put female, that’s all.” She said, relieved that the guy isn’t asking anymore name related questions. “Right. One sec. I’ll handle the rest of this.”Ticket man said, as he typed away at his keyboard. After a brief moment he finished his typing and handed back her ID and a freshly typed boarding pass. “There, all set.” Alice nodded in appreciation as she tucked away the ID and pass into her satchel. “Thank you so much, I appreciate this.” She said as she slipped him a tip across the counter. “Just between you, me, and the ol’ battered fence post, I hear Reborn City’s kind of a dump. Why anyone would wanna go there is beyond me. And yet, buncha you ambitious Trainer-type folk have been headin’ out in droves. But off you go now. Train’s leaving any minute.” The guy was right, she had heard some pretty depressing stuff about how much of a dump Reborn City is, a little bad weather and a city that’s seen better days isn’t gonna dissuade her though. “True, but they’ve got the toughest league around, beating it is the best way to prove yourself!” She said to the guy as she sprinted off to the train. She would strategize for the league later, now she must reserve a good seat and sleep for the whole trip, shouldn’t be so bad.

 

Alice wasn’t entirely sure how long she was asleep for but when she woke, a woman that was sitting in the section next to her got up after thanking one of the other passengers and suddenly decided to sit in her section in the seat across from her. What stuck out to Alice was her silver hair and her professional yet polite looking demeanor. “All right, hello there! Your turn now; sorry for the wait.” The woman said, with an equally polite voice that reminded Alice of the telemarketer that tried to sell her an “insanely rare” Magikarp last month. “Uhh… sorry who are you?” Alice asked, still a bit half asleep, though her brain was awake enough to notice an Absol just out the window as the train passed by it. “My name’s Ame. I’m the manager of the Reborn League. You were also looking to sign up for it right?”

Alice breathed a sigh of relief. Good, she wasn’t about to get scammed before she even made it to Reborn City. “It would be great if so! We’re finally just getting things off the ground again. Truth is, after the incident a few years ago, the whole region was almost completely abandoned… even by the Pokémon.” This was another warning Alice kept hearing. A couple years ago, the lake along Reborn City’s coast became extremely polluted to the point where it could actually eat through the hulls of boats crossing the surface, this also made it unlivable for the Pokémon that used to live in the lake. Ame must’ve caught on to what Alice was thinking about because she suddenly added in “…Uh but! Don’t let that worry you! It may not be an ideal place, but our Gym Leaders are like nothing you’ve ever seen before, and I think you’ll find Reborn to be a region like no other too! I’m coming back from some business out of town, so I figured I might as well introduce myself early and get a head start on everyone’s registration. Could I see your boarding ticket, please?” Alice sat up from her sleeping position, fished her ticket out of her bag and handed it to Ame. A moment of silence went by as Ame examined her ticket until a look of realization dawned on her and Alice’s faces. “Hmm… Alice Warthrop. Like the Champion of Sinnoh, Cynthia Warthrop?” Alice sighed and nodded, “Yeah, she’s my older sister, surprise huh?” She was blushing, of course the manager of the League would recognize her last name, it wasn’t hard to put her appearance and name together to figure out who she’s related to. Yet to her surprise, Ame chuckled, “I can assure you, our League could give Sinnoh’s a run for their money.” Alice couldn’t help but laugh at the comment, she certainly hoped that was the case, she wanted only to take on the best they had. “Well, okay, I’ve got you down. All set then! We’re almost to Grandview Station, so after we disembark, just follow me to the Grand Hall. There, I’ll give you a starter Pokémon to really kick off your adventure in Reborn. Sound good?” Ame asked. “Wait a starter? I’m not a new trainer though, I already have two Pokémon with me, Gabite and Murkrow. Aren’t starters usually reserved for newbie trainers?” Alice asked, sounding confused. Many regions like her home, Sinnoh only gave away free starter Pokémon to freshly minted trainers. Do they do things differently here? Ame nodded “Yes that’s true but since a majority of the trainers on board that are taking on the league are already pretty experienced, we’ve decided to let each trainer, old and new pick one starter of their choosing! Sort of as a welcome to Reborn City present.” Alice liked the sound of that, starters were usually pretty rare and many notable trainers had at least one on their team, having one with her could be a massive help to her. “Actually, yeah that sounds good, it could certainly help take some weight off my Pokemon’s shoulders, sign me up!” Alice clapped her hands excitedly. Ame nodded and continued “Then if you’ll-…” Until she trailed off, as if she was distracted by something behind her but when Alice turned around, there was nothing there. Ame’s demeanor changed as she suddenly became tense “Something’s not right… shouldn’t we be decelerating already?” Immediately after asking, Ame’s face went white and quickly she moved towards her “Oh no- move!” She yelled as she grabbed Alice leapt through the window, an explosion echoing in Alice’s ears until everything went black…

 

To be continued

 

Howdy! Thanks for reaching the end of Chapter 1! I really hope you enjoyed it and I want to thank you, dear reader for taking the time out of your day to read this humble amtateur writer’s story written on caffeine and lack of sleep, and I also wanna thank the devs of Pokémon Reborn for making such a damn good fan game! Anyways, gonna *probably* sleep and cya later!