Within the Kanto Region lies a secluded village near one of the very few explored forests. Dustgrove Village is a village cut off from the rest of the world. There is no pokelab or center here. There is no place to get a pokedex or pokeballs. It's a village with very little protection from the pokemon that roam the forest depths.
The villagers only know the forest next to the village is called the Primordial Forest. Legends of old that have been passed down within the village tell a story of ancient pokemon taking up residents inside the forest. It is also because of those ancient pokemon that many stay away from this place. Leaving the village to fend for itself. It has no roads leading anywhere outside the village. The total population alone was only a mere one hundred residents, all of which had been born and grown up here over the years.
It is within this village that a young woman of sixteen years of age lives. In her small little cabin, made from logs harvested from the forest itself, she lives alone. Her parents had passed away during a pokemon stampede. She has been living in this cabin alone, with the help of her parents' family and villagers, while also slowly fending for herself since the age of ten. Now in her late teens she has been getting pestered by the mothers of sons who were of age to settle down to get married. But this was not the life this young woman wanted for herself. She wanted to live free. She wanted to become a pokemon warrior, just like the one who had stopped the stampede six years ago.
The world the girl lived in was not a kind place. Pokemon roamed the lands, and their deceiving outer appearance made them look cute but would turn into a vicious beast within seconds. This was something that the girl had long learned and witnessed firsthand during the stampede. The problem that all villagers had was they still had to risk going into the forest to forage for food and try to capture some weaker pokemon to put meat on the table.
The problem that the girl had when facing a dream she wished to make true was that in order to even start her journey to becoming a pokemon trainer, she first needed a pokeball and pokedex. One could not become a pokemon warrior without these two things, and that is because the same monsters she feared would become her companions and fight at her side. Only by capturing pokemon could you fight against them. Pokemons wielded the power of the elements and had other strange abilities that made it hard to fight them without the assistance of other pokemon.
"Ivy heading out again?" A middle-aged woman carrying a basket on her back asked. She had her greying brown hair tied up so that it did not get caught on anything while she was out foraging in the forest.
"Yeah, but the lack of resources is starting to make me nervous." Ivy had noticed that the edible plants in the forest had been a lot less this year, unlike the previous years.
"You should stop being stubborn and just settle down, girl. You are one of the prettiest girls in the village. There are many boys lining up to be your husband." The woman replied with a smile. She also had a son who would love to marry a girl like Ivy.
"Sorry, but you know my stance. I don't wish to marry. I want to one day maybe leave the village and find my way to a bigger village or town so I can become a pokemon warrior." Ivy's dream was something she couldn't give up on. She had been slowly making plans and learning what she could from the materials the village had about the pokemon around this area. She planned to wait one more year and risk it all to go to a bigger village with a place she could get her first pokeball and pokedex.
"As stubborn as always. Well..." the woman trailed off before sighing. "We are all basically family here, so just ask if you need help. Do not go too deep into the forest. You know the boundary lines. Make sure you stay within them. If you need food, just come to my house.
"Thank's Auntie May." Ivy beamed the woman a smile before waving goodbye and making her way towards the forest. Her shoulder-length green hair, the color of ivy itself, bounced up and down ever so slightly with each of her steps. Her golden eyes scanned the area in front of her ever so vigilantly. She had long learned it was best to be as careful as possible even before you reached the tree line.
"It's hot..." Ivy wiped the sweat from her forehead as she checked her supplies once more. Besides the basket on her back, she had to make sure she had her short sword on her hip. It might not be the best weapon to fight against pokemon, but it was still better than nothing.
The forest had thick, dense trees and abundant overgrowth. The only problem was most of the plants in this forest were poisonous to humans. Luckily, this was only if consumed and not through contact. Even if you had an open bleeding wound, the plants wouldn't cause any harm to someone. This was because you had to actually get the plant juices into your wound before you could come close to being poisoned.