Chapter 1: The Beginning

Jacen Stryka slowly woke up, but refrained from opening his eyes immediately.  He could hear birds chirping nearby, and could see the glow of sunlight through his eyelids, and feel the warmth of the sun on his face.  He opened his brandy-colored eyes and sat up quickly when he realized he was outside of his house near his favorite spot to sit.  Getting up, he wiped off the dew that had collected on him during the night and then looked towards the sunrise.  He had gone outside at about ten the night before to watch the stars, and he must have fallen asleep.  He got up, almost forgetting to duck so that he did not hit his head on the branches of the tree that he was under.  He had once been able to stand easily under it, but he was now almost five-foot-ten and still growing, so the short branches almost always hit him now.

  Jacen slowly walked back to his house, looking out at the quite streets of Aldervale, thinking about the day ahead.  He had recently turned 16 and this meant that he was able to start on a Pokémon journey.  A few months ago he had taken the tests and applied for a trainer’s license which had just arrived in the mail yesterday.

Most other regions, like Kanto, Hoenn, Johto, and Sinnoh, had changed their laws years ago so that a person got their trainer’s license when they turned 14 years old, mainly because of many incidents involving immature and inexperienced trainers, in one case, resulting in the death of a Pokémon.  The laws also were changed to require that all potential trainers go to a training academy during those extra years. 

The Quitan government made the decision to extend the age up to 15 ½  before a person could apply for a trainer license in the region of Quito – which happened to be where Jacen was now – and it had recently paid off: two trainers had just this year won first place in leagues in other regions.  Most trainers put off school until they were 10, wanting to be able to run free for a few more years, but Jacen had started when he turned 8. 

Training school in Quito took at least four years – more than that if the kids didn’t take it seriously, and Jacen had gone for those four years and then become an intern at Professor Quintal’s laboratory: the very laboratory to which he would soon be going.  He had started out as a simple intern, but the Professor soon took a liking to his dedication to the work, and he was now one of his chief assistants, and helped the Professor with his research and with caring for the many Pokémon at the laboratory.

The night before, Jacen had packed most of his things and now as he entered his room, he went over his mental checklist.  He had his extra clothes including a jacket, a black sleeping bag, a set of utensils and a plate and bowl to eat with while camping out, all of his needed toiletries, and several of his books about Pokémon including a guide book to the gyms of Quito and a book about the behavior of many Pokémon, all packed within several StorageSpheres that now rested within his backpack

Technology had come a long way in recent years – almost five years ago, a company named  Creighton Corp, a relatively small company, had blazed onto the technology market when they discovered a working, reliable way to use the technology in Pokéballs, which converted the living Pokémon into a pure energy form, on inanimate and inorganic items.  Their invention, the StorageSphere went onto the market a few years ago, and it skyrocketed their company to the leading technology firm in Quito, and on par with Devon Corporation and Silph Co. worldwide.

StorageSpheres didn’t have quite the capacity of Pokéballs, which could hold a Pokémon as enormous as a Wailord.  They could only hold a set mass, and then you had to use another.  The great thing about them, was they weighed as much as a Pokéball, and were about the size, so it could pack easily into a backpack, and allow trainers to carry many times what they could previously.

The Spheres typically required a palm-sized computer to be hooked up to them – the computer maintained an inventory of each item in each Sphere, and one could merely select the items they wanted removed, and they would be converted back to their original form – this allowed the user to select the items they needed without opening up the Sphere and releasing every item stored inside, although that was an option as well. 

Jacen set his backpack to the side, and went into the bathroom and took a shower.  After he got out and dried off, he pulled on a dark blue T-shirt, a pair of black jeans, and his favorite pair of hiking boots.  He brushed his light brown hair a little, but he knew his hat would soon mess it up.

He put on what was called a Pokébelt, which was almost identical to a regular waist belt, except for the front being much thicker, and having six semi-spherical depressions.  Each of the depressions contained a magnetic lock that was used to hold Pokéballs firmly in place without fear of them falling off. 

Finally he put on his hat.  The hat had a ball-cap design, and was half red and half white with a black bill and a large black L on the front with a Pokéball inside of the L.  The hat had belonged to his grandfather who had been a Pokémon trainer years before, but who had died when Jacen was 6, only a half a year after he gifted the hat to him.  He had known how Jacen loved Pokémon and had given the hat to him, and Jacen had worn it every day since then. 

Jacen still remembered that day quite clearly, especially the veritable fit his older brother, Julius, had pitched at the time.  Julius had just turned ten and was in the process of getting his Trainer’s License to leave on a journey – in fact merely a year before the training laws were changed to raise the age requirement - and he had felt his grandfather should have given the hat to him because of that. 

Their grandfather appeased him by giving him his case of badges he had won over the years, something that he had been planning on giving to Julius the day he left on his journey – leading to a quite a bit of embarrassment on Julius’ part over the entire episode.

Jacen visibly started when he realized he hadn’t seen Julius in well over two years, and now going on a journey of his own, it would likely be much longer.  Julius had completed his journey through Quito in a little over a year-and-a-half, and had entered the Championship tournament and managed come out in the Top-16.  After that he had returned home for a month, but soon was champing at the bit to travel to other Leagues.  He’d taken close to three years in Kanto, then done a short stint in the Orange Islands and, last Jacen had heard, was currently somewhere in Sinnoh – had been for over two years.

            Jacen shook his head of those thoughts – he’d eventually see Julius again, and they had never really had the greatest relationship in the first place, with Julius constantly being jealous of the attention that Jacen, as the youngest, received from everyone.  Their four-and-a-half year age difference didn’t help them relate to each other either, and basically just made their already strained relationship even worse.

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Jacen went downstairs to eat breakfast.  He made himself some toast while he watched the holovision set: a device which had replaced the television completely several years ago. They were the size of a small folded up laptop with a projector lens that provided an extremely clear 3-D picture. 

He had it on Channel 1, which played a continuous stream of footage from recorded battles, both those from the past and those occurring every day, with very few commercial interruptions.  Jacen had watched these trainers battle for years, studying their strategies, coming up with alternate ways they could have won, and getting new ideas from them. 

            As he was filling up the canteen that he was taking with him, Jacen’s mother, Amanda Stryka, came downstairs, holding a bag.  Amanda Stryka was a tall and slender woman with long chestnut-colored hair and blue-green eyes.  She was dressed in her work clothes.  She worked at the town’s hospital as a doctor, specializing in orthopedic surgery 

“How did you sleep, Jacen?” She asked him.

“I slept fine, except I had a hard time actually getting to sleep thinking about today,” he answered.

            Amanda smiled as she reached out and stroked his cheek affectionately.  “I know how excited you are, Jacen, and I know you’ll be a great trainer.  I have some things to give you for your journey,” she told him and then reached into the bag she had taken.  She took out a large book titled Pokémon Tracker.  “I saw it at the store and thought you might like it.  It has a lot of photographs of Pokémon footprints and other things, like pictures of what markings made by the antlers of a Stantler on a tree look like.  I know you’re always watching those documentaries on Pokémon Planet, so I thought this would be helpful.”

“Thanks mom, I love it,” he said with a smile.

            Amanda then reached in and pulled something else out, and Jacen’s eyes lit up when he saw it.  “A PokéPilot Version 2!? But how did you get it? It just came out last week and it has been sold out since then.”

            “Well, since I’m good friends with Professor Quintal’s wife, and you’re his favorite assistant,  I got him to pre-order it because professors get first selection of new products,” she told him.

The PokéPilot Version 2 was the about the size of the palm of Jacen’s hand, and could be worn like a watch.  It told the time, had an AM/FM tuner, digital music storage, wireless E-mail and Internet access, a videophone, and very detailed maps of most locations in Quito which worked alongside the built-in GPS so your exact location could be shown on said maps.  “Thanks so much, mom!” he said, and after he put it on his wrist, he hugged her firmly. 

            “Bye honey, good luck on your journey, I know you’ll do well.  I’ll miss you,” she mumbled into his shoulder, blinking back tears and hugging him tighter. “Now you keep in touch, and be careful.  Oh, I made a lunch for you,” she said, releasing him from the hug and grabbing a bag she had taken from the refrigerator.

            “Thanks, mom, I’ll miss you too.  I’ll call you when I get to Ruskbyte City,” Jacen said.

            Jacen grabbed his backpack, not managing to evade a kiss on the forehead from Amanda, and headed out the door.  Once outside he said goodbye to the family pet, a Growlithe named Sprint.  Jacen’s father, Jacob, had left before he woke up to go to his job as the manager of the local Pokémart.

            Jacob was somewhat neutral over the idea of Jacen going out on a journey like his brother – he had hoped that at least one of his sons would follow him in the Pokémart business, but he had been somewhat encouraged when Jacen had told them he really wasn’t sure what he wanted to do, and he was going on the journey to see what all was out there for him, which meant there was still a chance Jacen might decide to take over the business from him in the future. 

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Jacen pulled out his new book and looked through it on the way to the laboratory, barely glancing up because he had gone this way so many times over the years that he knew it by heart. 

            Jacen put the book away when he got to the lab. Professor Quintal’s laboratory was a large and imposing three-story building made of brick and stucco.  He entered the large red doors and headed towards the main lab room.

            He passed several other interns that had started several months ago, and greeted them, receiving brief nods of acknowledgement before they turned back to their work. 

            As Jacen entered the main lab room, he saw Professor Quintal seated at a table, poring over several graphs.  Professor Quintal was a middle-aged man, with brown hair that had begun to gray around the temples.  He was reasonably fit, mainly due to the many trips in the field that he went on to study Pokémon. 

            Quintal looked up from his work as he heard Jacen enter the room, and removed his reading glasses before standing up to greet Jacen.  “Jacen!  I was wondering when you would turn up.  Let me get this mess cleared up and then I’ll get you everything you need.”  Quintal turned back to the table, shuffling the graphs together and placing them in a folder.  He carried the folder over to his desk and set it down on top of a pile of old Pokémon Researcher journals, and then went to one of the other tables and cleared up the clutter of paper there as well.

            As he cleaned things up, he began to talk to Jacen.  “So, you’ve got your trainer’s license, and now you’re all fired up to get started on a journey, huh?”  He said.  “You know, I’m really going to miss having your help here – I could really use you for some of the research coming up, but I guess it’d be pointless to try to tie you down,” the professor said with a smile, “I remember how I was when I got my license, all prepare to get out there.”

            “Yeah, I’m really excited to finally start going – working here has been really great, but I want to get out in the world and see what else there is: if there is something better than just staying around this little town.  I am interested in possibly becoming a Professor like you, but I need to see if there are other things that I’m better suited for.”

            Quintal finished clearing everything up, and stopped to clasp Jacen’s shoulder.  “I think you would be an excellent Professor, Jacen, but I understand you wanting to find out if there is something greater ahead for you – I know that you’ll do great in whatever you end up doing, be it a Professor, a Pokémon Master, a Breeder, a Ranger, or even a Coordinator.  You’re a great kid.”

            “Thanks, Professor.”  Jacen said, looking somewhat embarrassed.  “Um, so, can I get my Pokémon now?” he asked, his expression changing to one of excitement.

            The Professor laughed at his obvious anticipation, and nodded, leading Jacen over to the edge of the large room where there were several shelves of Pokéballs against the wall.   One shelf contained numerous Pokéballs that Quintal used as the “starters” for those that came to get their beginning Pokémon. 

Jacen already knew each species from his time at the lab, helping care for the many Pokémon.  There was Adewek, the water starter which looked like a small, blue puppy; Conblazea, the water starter which was a small orange fish Pokémon that had flames for fins and was usually found swimming in active lava flows; and Purrseed, a catlike grass Pokémon that eventually evolved into one of the fastest known Pokémon.

            Jacen had already been leaning toward a Purrseed, but he hadn’t completely decided.  “Well, Jacen, as you know, there are three starter Pokémon that you can choose from.  However…”  The professor paused deliberately, smiling when Jacen looked at him expectantly.  “However, I do have another Pokémon that you could take.  I usually only give this option to my interns who show a great love for their work, and have good character, so that is why I am offering it to you.”

            Jacen looked very interested.  “What Pokémon is it?”

            The Professor gave him an almost impish grin.  “I’m afraid I can’t tell you that.  That’s sort of my tradition – give you the choice to go with something you are sure of, or take a chance: it’s quite a lot like how life will be for you during your travels.  I can tell you, however, that this Pokémon isn’t altogether very rare, like an Eevee or anything, in fact it can be quite common in many parts of Quito.  It is not any more powerful than the other starters, but I do believe that with your guidance, it could one day become a very powerful Pokémon, possibly more powerful than any of the others you might choose.”

            Jacen frowned in thought.  He was still not sure what starter he was going to pick from the original three, and now he was offered a “mystery starter”.  After thinking for several minutes in silence, he made up his mind – he knew the Professor wouldn’t give him anything horrible to start out with, and this would relieve any indecision over the other starters.

            He looked up and met the Professor’s gaze firmly.  “I’ll take it.”

            The Professor smiled at him.  “I thought you would.  I promise you won’t be disappointed.  I only ask one thing of you,” he said, taking a certain Pokéball off the shelf, “wait until you are on the road until you release the Pokémon – I think it is much more special to meet your Pokémon out in the wild, rather than in a sterile old place like this.  And I definitely know that from experience – the Professor I once interned with gave me the same option, and the same stipulation, and of course you’ve met my Arcanine – he’s the one I got that day, and he’s been my best friend for years.”   

            He handed the Pokéball to Jacen, who took it and hooked it reverently onto the magnetic lock on his Pokébelt.  Quintal then went over to another shelf and removed five empty Pokéballs, and handed them to Jacen.  “These should help you get started with your travels.”  Quintal said, as Jacen clipped them onto his belt as well.

            Finally Quintal led Jacen over to his desk where he picked up an obsidian green colored device, which Jacen assumed was a Pokédex of some sort – he had worked with them in school and here at the lab, but they were usually older, well-used models.  “This is for you, Jacen,” Quintal said, “This is the newest model Pokédex, a PDX-145.  It was just issued recently, so you’re sort of a guinea pig.  You might find some problems that haven’t been found by the testers, so if you do, let me know and I’ll get them fixed.”

            Quintal showed Jacen some of the main features. “It has the capability of projecting a 3-D hologram of the Pokémon you look up when the cover is flipped outwards, which is something that none of the previous models have had.  It has a holographic recording lens just in case you come into contact with a new Pokémon, so that you can record it.  It also gets upgraded wirelessly by the laboratory, so if there are any problems, I’ll fix it and send the update or the patch from here.”  Quintal then flipped down another screen. “Last but not least, you can use this screen to look up all of the official League battle rules for every recognized League.”

            “Thanks Professor.  I’ll make sure I let you know if I have any problems with it.”

            “Okay, Jacen, that’s all I have for you, and I’m sure you’re eager to get out of here and on the road, so all I have to say is good luck.” Quintal said.

            Jacen nodded, made sure he had everything he needed, and said goodbye to the professor.  “Thanks for letting me be an intern here, and letting me experience all of this.  Good luck on that research you were talking about.”

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Jacen left the lab with a spring in his step. ‘My first Pokémon’. He thought to himself in wonder.

            Outside of the lab, he took the path that led out of town.  Throughout most of Quito, the dominant roads were dirt paths that were reserved for trainers to get around either on foot or by bicycle, although they were also used for the electric motorbikes ridden by law enforcement officers.  There were a few major highways through each city that were reserved for motor vehicles, but most in Quito preferred the way that caused the least harm to the environment, and the way that caused the least disturbance to the indigenous Pokémon.  This meant that the majority of the land throughout Quito remained in its natural state, be it forest, desert, mountain or marsh.

            The entire area surrounding the modest-sized town of Aldervale was completely forested, and full of wild Pokémon.  That was one of the reasons for the location of Professor Quintal’s lab and research center. So, as Jacen passed the last few houses on the outskirts of town, the dirt path was soon surrounded on either side by dense forest growth.  On either side of the path, about twenty or thirty feet of forest had been cleared away years before when highways were considered, and now the area was not kept clear of growth, so while no large older trees grew in that zone, many smaller, fast-growing trees and shrubs filled the space.  As a result of the gap between large trees, the trail was lit by the sun for a large portion of the day.

            Jacen eventually came to a relatively open meadow along the side of the path, and went off the trail to take a rest and finally see what Pokémon he had received.  He sat in the grass, slipping off his pack and then detaching the occupied Pokéball from his belt.

            He tossed the Pokéball a few feet away, and it opened up partially, shooting out a red light that slowly materialized into a figure.  The Pokémon was short – it couldn’t be much more than a foot tall.  It was humanoid, almost child-like in its appearance.  As it neared fully solid form, he could see two semi-circular horns on its head, one in the front, one in the back, oriented like someone who had a Mohawk haircut.  It finished materializing and he could see the breeze rustling its green hair that covered most of its face in what looked like a bowl-cut.

            It squeaked in shock when it noticed him there, bringing its small hand to its mouth in a very humanlike gesture of surprise, while at the same time shuffling backwards on two legs that were obscured by a thin flap of silver-white rubbery skin that made the Pokémon appear to be wearing a dress of some sort.  He realized that all of its skin was the same white color, only its green hair and red horns giving a contrast.  It shrunk back, obviously rather afraid at its new surroundings, and the person in front of it.

            ‘A Ralts,’ he thought to himself, recognizing the small creature from his years of viewing nature programs on the holovision.  One had been about sexual dimorphism in Pokémon, also something he studied during his time at Quintal’s laboratory, and from what he had learned he recognized that this was a female Ralts.  Males, he knew, often had larger, more darkly colored red horns, and much paler green hair.  This Ralts had small horns with a pinkish-red color, and vibrant green hair, both clear signs that it was a female.

            “Hello there, little one,” Jacen said quietly, not wanting to frighten the Pokémon any more than it already was, “I’m a Pokémon trainer.  You were given to me today as my first Pokémon, and I wanted to get to know you better.”

            The Ralts relaxed somewhat as he was talking, and he knew it could sense by his emotions that he meant no harm.  Ralts shuffled forward once again until it reached his knees, and then looked up at him curiously.  As it looked up, some of the hair covering most of its face fell back, revealing reddish-pink colored eyes that were filled with curiosity.  This confirmed for him his belief that she was a female, as all males had dark red eyes, almost scarlet in color.

            “Hey, my name is Jacen.” He said to the curious Ralts, extending his hand as he would to someone he had just met.  Ralts obviously had seen the gesture before or understood what it meant, because she grasped two of his fingers in her tiny hands and shook them.  “Would you like to travel around with me?” He asked, not wanting to force the small creature to be his Pokémon.

            Ralts was silent for a moment, likely sensing his feelings or thinking about his question, before she nodded her head in agreement. 

            He smiled down at the adorable creature, knowing that he had made the right choice in Quintal’s lab – he was already feeling a strangely strong attachment to her, one that he wasn’t sure he would have been able to have with the other starters.  His stomach suddenly grumbled, reminding him that it was around lunchtime.  He turned to the side and rummaged through his pack until he grabbed the bag his mother had given him for lunch.

            He opened it up and smiled when he saw she had made him a peanut butter and honey sandwich – his favorite.  He saw Ralts looking on in interest.  “Would you like something to eat, Ralts?” He asked her.  She squeaked softly and nodded her head.  Jacen pulled out his pocketknife and sliced about a quarter of the sandwich off, and offered it to Ralts.  She grabbed it with a happy squeak, and then scrambled up his knees to plop down in his lap and begin eating her part of the sandwich.

            As he ate, he felt his attachment to her grow, and he now realized that it was the psychic bond that Ralts were known for forging with their trainer – a lifelong bond that strengthened with each evolution.  Right now the bond was weak, but he already could feel a sense of contentment that he could tell was coming from Ralts over the bond, so he knew that the first links of the bond had been made.

            He finished his part of the sandwich at the same time Ralts finished hers.  He looked down at the little Pokémon in his lap, and laughed when he saw she was making a face, trying to get some sticky honey off of her hands that had dripped on them as she ate. 

“Hey, let me help you with that, Ralts,” he said.  He lifted her easily off his lap – she couldn’t be much more than fifteen pounds – and set her down in front of him.  He pulled out the canteen he had taken along, cupped one of his hands and poured some water into it, and let her wash her sticky little hands in the water.

            When she was done, he offered her some water to drink, and tilted the canteen – which was over half as big as she was – and let her drink her fill.  He took a few sips after she was finished, and then put the canteen away. 

            Reaching into his jeans pocket, he pulled out his dark-green Pokédex and flipped it open.  He pressed the scanning button and pointed the optical receiver at Ralts.  The Pokédex beeped, and then began talking in a low feminine voice while projecting a small holographic image of Ralts into the air.  {Ralts, the Feeling Pokémon.  Ralts is a Psychic-type Pokémon who senses the emotions of others using the horns on its head.  It rarely approaches trainers with negative dispositions – wild Ralts typically hide if they sense hostility – but thrive if they have a trainer that is generally cheerful.  Ralts usually begin to form a psychic bond with a trainer that they like and admire, and this bond strengthens as they spend more time together and as Ralts becomes a Kirlia and eventually a Gardevoir.}

            Jacen looked down at the lower panel of the Pokédex which showed the current moves known by his Ralts.  His eyebrows rose when he saw she knew several attacks besides the typical Growl and Confusion that were common to most young Ralts – she must have inherited several moves from her parents.

            He rested for a few more minutes, talking to Ralts who had climbed back onto his lap, before he knew he had to get going to make any sort of time toward Ruskbyte City.  Setting Ralts on the ground in front of him, he pulled out her Pokéball, and was about to point it at her when she gave a squeak, and he felt… disappointment? … flood over their fragile mental link.

            “What is it Ralts?  Do you not like to be in Pokéballs?”  he asked, feeling concerned about her reaction.

            She gave a non-committal shrug, and squeaked something that, surprisingly, he could get the basic idea of.  “You like being out here with me more?”  He asked.

            He nearly laughed when Ralts nodded vigorously, and then looked up at him with pleading eyes that were barely visible behind her hair.  She looked so cute and sad at the same time, he didn’t even think of saying no.

            “Alright, girl.  You can stay out here with me, but you’ll have to sit on my shoulders.  Do you think you’ll be able to stay on?”  Jacen asked, patting her hair, which was surprisingly soft.

            She nodded, leaning into his hand and squeaking happily, before scrambling onto his lap and then clambering up to sit on his right shoulder.  He had already put on his pack, so now he stood slowly so as to not knock her off his shoulder.

            He started walking slowly along the path, but soon became used to her extra weight on his shoulder, and found that she balanced herself quite well, so he was able to pick up speed without fear of her falling off.

            Ralts gripped the back of his neck slightly to maintain her balance, and as they started walking, she squeaked questioningly to him, prodding his hat with her other hand.  Through their frail bond, and by her actions, he realized she was asking him what his hat was.

            He grinned and turned his head slightly to get a better look at Ralts.  He reached up and touched his hat.  “This?  This is called a “hat”.  It helps keep the sun out of my eyes.”

            He began slowing down a bit, and he pulled the hat from his head and gently set it onto Ralts’ head.  It was much too large for her, and she pushed it up awkwardly, so she could still look at him.  “See?  It sort of does for me what your hair covering your eyes a bit does for you.”

            Ralts nodded shyly, and then removed the hat from her head and held it in front of her and examined at it for a few minutes, running a hand over the embroidered L and Pokéball on the front.  She looked up, a smile on her face, and squeaked happily before she turned to plop the hat back on Jacen’s head.

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Jacen soon found that he quite enjoyed having her out and traveling with him.  She had a huge sense of wonder and curiosity about the world, and he found himself smiling every time she would coo into his ear in amazement at simple things like a flower-filled meadow, or a gurgling stream that ran under the trail.

One thing that he was becoming disappointed by was the lack of Pokémon.  In fact, as he thought about it, he hadn’t seen a single wild Pokémon, and they had been walking for well over half the day.

It wasn’t until the sun was getting low in the sky, that Jacen finally heard some rustling in the trees next to the trail.  He stopped walking, and stood completely still.  The noise was coming from a tree off to the right.  Ralts, wondering why they had stopped, began to squeak questioningly at Jacen.  He quickly reached up and put a finger to her lips, and she seemed to understand the meaning of the gesture, as she stopped, and looked at the tree her master was staring at.

Jacen turned his head slightly so his mouth was right next to one of Ralts’ ears which were hidden under her hair.  “Ralts, do you feel up for a battle?  There’s a Pokémon in that tree over there, and I’d like to try to catch it.”  Jacen whispered into her ear.  Ralts nodded quickly, wanting to both please and impress her master.

Jacen whispered one again.  “Okay, I’m going to set you down, and I want you to use your Confusion attack to scare the Pokémon into the open, and then use Mean Look so it will be hard for it to run away.  Got it?”

At Ralts’ firm nod, he lifted her from his shoulder and set her on the ground.  She immediately shuffled forward, and the air around her body began to glow a blue color.  A narrow beam of blue psychic energy shot out from her head, and into the tree, knocking out a startled bird Pokémon that had long, sharp talons, and a large curved, raptor’s beak.

A Gyrestrel, he recognized.  That would be a great addition to his team – Gyrestrel were brown- and gold-feathered Flying Pokémon that were known for their speed.  They were even better known for their evolution into Faulkon – arguably the fastest Pokémon alive when it went into a full dive.

Ralts followed up her attack with her Mean Look.  In front of her, huge ghostly red eyes appeared and flashed at the Gyrestrel, intimidating it enough that it couldn’t decide whether or not to flee.

“Okay, Ralts, lets use Confusion again,” Jacen said. 

Ralts brought her hands to her temples and a larger beam of psychic energy flew toward the Gyrestrel, who flapped its wings and managed to avoid the brunt of the attack, but was knocked off balance when it clipped its tail feathers.

It regained its balance, and flapped toward Ralts in a fury, intent on getting revenge for the attack. 

“Look out Ralts!  Stop it with Growl.”  Jacen ordered hurriedly.

Ralts tilted her head toward the incoming Pokémon, and looked at it with innocent eyes and growled cutely at the Gyrestrel.  The Gyrestrel slowed somewhat, its anger dissipating at the cute creature in front of it, but still carried on with the attack, albeit at a much slower speed.

This allowed Ralts the opportunity to dive out of the way, causing the Gyrestrel to speed past, and struggle to flap its wings to pull up and turn around.

“Confusion again, Ralts!”

Ralts once again concentrated her powers, and a smaller beam than before shot toward the struggling Gyrestrel.  It hit the Pokémon’s back, shoving it forward.  Jacen glanced at Ralts and saw her panting heavily, and realized the last attack had been weaker because she was tiring quickly.

He was about to give another order, attempting to tie up the battle quickly, when he saw the tumbling Gyrestrel right itself in midair, and frantically flap off into the forest, having realized it had met its match.

Jacen futilely tossed a Pokéball toward it, but it fell short by at least ten feet, and the Pokémon was soon lost to the forest.  Jacen glumly walked over and picked up the ball, replacing it on his belt.

As he walked back toward Ralts, he was surprised to see her with her head down, and became worried when she shrank back when he squatted down next to her.  His worry grew even more when he reached out to pat her head, and she flinched away.

“Hey, hey, Ralts.  What’s wrong?”  He asked, gently pulling her toward him.  He felt her tremble once, and slowly look at him, her hair falling back to reveal tear-filled eyes, and wet cheeks where tears had already fallen.

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Ralts panted hard as she watched her master throw the Pokéball at the fleeing Gyrestrel.  As he walked over to pick it up, she began to feel a sense of extreme disappointment coming from him over their bond.

She looked down in shame, thinking that the disappointment was over her battling skills.  ‘I should have battled harder.  All I wanted was to make him proud, and now look at how useless I was – I couldn’t even help him catch another Pokémon.’ She thought to herself, ‘Papa  was right – I’ll never be useful – I’ll just hold everyone back.’

She felt tears come to her eyes as she remembered her time with her family after her mother had died.  She had always been the runt of the family, the smallest and weakest.  Most of her siblings had already evolved into Kirlia when she had decided to run away to get away from her father and his harsh criticisms of her. 

That had led to her being captured, and just hours ago she had begun to think things would be different – the only one she’d have to prove herself to was this kind trainer who she had found it very easy to Bond with.

 ‘Now I’ve already messed that up too,’ she thought, shrinking back when her master squatted next to her, and then flinching back when his hand moved toward her – she had been expecting a swat from her master like her father was known for every time she misbehaved or disappointed him, but she relaxed a bit when he merely pulled her toward him and asked her what was wrong.

She looked up at him with her tear-streaked face, and saw that he didn’t seem to be angry with her.  In fact, he looked worried and confused.  She watched his eyes widen, and felt a hint of realization come over the bond.

He pulled her closer into a gentle hug, and looked back down at her.  “Oh, Ralts, I’m not disappointed at you, I’m just disappointed that the Gyrestrel managed to get away.”

Ralts felt her tears slow, realizing that she had assumed the wrong thing, and that her master was not really disappointed with her.

“I’m very proud of the way you battled, Ralts – you were amazing.  Don’t feel bad about him getting way – that’ll happen all the time when we try to catch other Pokémon.”

Ralts felt his emotions come over the link as he was talking, and her heart swelled when she felt his pride at her battling, and heard him say that he was proud of her – that she was amazing, in fact.  She hadn’t heard anyone say something even close to that since her mother had been alive.  She swiped at her remaining tears with her hands, and a genuine smile came to her face as she looked up at her master.

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            When Jacen saw her finally wipe away her tears and smile up at him, he couldn’t help but to smile back, and feel relieved.  He had realized she must have felt his disappointment over their bond, and had thought it had been directed at her. 

He was still a little worried about her reactions – it had seemed at one point she thought he was going to hit her – and he thought perhaps it had to do with something in her past, maybe a bad experience in battle, or perhaps an abusive trainer – he’d seen several similar cases while working at the Lab, but they were usually very evident – which was possible, although the Professor had not mentioned anything about her being abused in the past.

Right now, there was really not much he could do – they couldn’t communicate that well, and it was unlikely that they could actually have a full conversation about that.  He decided to watch her closely over the next weeks, and see if she had any other similar signs, and then try to bring it up – besides, she’d probably be more open about when they had gotten to know one another for a longer period of time.

He hugged Ralts once more, and felt happiness over their bond, and knew she was all right, at least for the moment.  He released her, allowing her to sit on his lap.  “Well, Ralts, the sun is going to set pretty soon, so we should find a nice place to set up for the night.”

Ralts squeaked in agreement, and he got up and lifted her back onto his shoulder, and walked a fair distance further down the trail until he found a small area that was relatively clear of vegetation, and looked like it had been camped on in the past – someone had even dug a fire pit surrounded by a ring of stones, which would make it even easier to set up.

He took Ralts from his shoulder, and set her down.  “Okay, I think we’ll stop here for the night.  Can you go over by those trees and get some sticks so we can get a fire going while I set up everything else?”

Ralts nodded vigorously, joyful that he was entrusting her with tasks to do to help him out.  She scurried energetically over to the edge of the clearing and began picking up every dead stick and branch she could find.

Jacen chuckled quietly at her antics as he removed a StorageSphere, and the palm-sized computer that was needed to operate it.  He extended the built-in cable of the computer, and hooked it into the StorageSphere.  Immediately the screen came to life, and displayed an array of camping items.  He scrolled down until he reached his sleeping bag, and selected it.  A flash of red light emerged from the StorageSphere, and his rolled-up sleeping bag materialized in front of him.  He then selected a sleeping pad, which he would use below his sleeping bag.

He had a small, one-person tent also stored in the Sphere, but he had decided before he started his journey that he would save that for the colder nights that would not be coming until fall arrived in four months, or for nights when he though it was going to rain, mainly because he didn’t want to go to the trouble of setting it up every night, and taking it down every morning.

He rolled out his sleeping pad, setting it up where he planned to sleep, and then rolled out his sleeping bag on top of it.  He shut down the computer, and put away the storage sphere, and set his backpack at the head of his sleeping bag.

By the time he turned around, he saw Ralts staggering toward him with an enormous armload of sticks – he was pretty sure that the sticks together would probably be bigger than her, if bundled together and stood on end.

She saw him look over at her, which caused her to hurry up.  Right as she reached him, she managed to trip over something and tumble, sticks and all, right at his feet.

He laughed kindly, and helped her up.  “Thank you, Ralts, that’ll help a lot – great job.  That’s a lot of sticks – I’m sure we can get a nice big fire going with these.”

Ralts blushed, a cute pinkish colour coming to her cheeks, when her master praised her.

“All right, Ralts.  Let’s make a fire.”

Jacen broke off small twigs, and mixed them with some grass, and placed the whole bunch in the center of the fire pit.  He pulled out a silver zipper lighter that he had bought just for this purpose.  He lit the tinder, and slowly added more tinder, and then got Ralts to hand him some smaller sticks, which he added – kindling.  Finally, a large fire had been made, and he put the larger sticks on in a crisscross pattern, and set the remaining sticks to the side to put on the fire later when the current fuel ran out.

Jacen sat on his sleeping bag, satisfied with the fire, and removed a second peanut-butter and honey sandwich that his mom had packed, giving him enough food for the entire first day.  He again split it with Ralts, who munched on it happily and once again ended up with sticky hands.

It was soon completely dark, and Jacen decided to get to sleep.  He pulled off his boots and socks, and unzipped his sleeping bag and climbed into it.  Ralts looked at him longingly from where she was sitting near the fire, and he patted alongside himself with a hand.  “Come on, you can sleep here next to me if you want.” Jacen said. 

Ralts squeaked happily, and scurried over onto the bag next to him, cuddling up to his left arm.  He draped the top of the sleeping bag over both of them, and laid back, going over the events of the day in his mind, and he listened to Ralts as her breathing slowed and she fell to sleep, before his mind tired itself out and he too drifted off next to the flickering fire.