The story continues:

Our first battle was uneventful. A wurmple. Simple enough to get rid of. Unfortunate I didn’t have any pokeballs. I would have loved a beautifly, they were powerful creatures. It took two solid hits and it was laid out flat. I moved it off the path and into a secluded tree where it could rest and recover, patting its head softly. “Sorry little guy. Come on, Kito. We need to find a pokemart. I want some pokeballs so I can catch you some friends.” I grinned and Kito scampered in a happy circle.
“Kii-kip, Mud-kii!”
This was nice. It wasn’t horrible weather, and I was walking around… healthy. This was amazing, at least to me.
I meandered down the path, a bright smile on my face, nodding to the kids who came out here daily, I assumed, just to wander around aimlessly. About thirty minutes of walking lead me to Oldale, and I was stopped by one of the Pokemart clerks. “Hey, you’re a new trainer, right?”
“Um… yes, I am, sir…” Kito hid behind me, peering out at the man. The guy just grinned at the mudkip and leaned down, offering a pokeblock. Kito, of course, rushed forward, almost barreling the poor man over to get at the candy.
“AH! Ah, ahahaha… okay! No licking, AH!” He flailed, trying to defend himself from the overly friendly pokemon, and I pulled the mudkip off him, grinning broadly and giggling. “Ah, okay then. Um..” he stood, dusting off, obviously flustered, blushing, and he pointed down the way to a familiar blue-roofed building. “Well… my shop is right over there, and the Pokecenter’s just a little over here… f-figured someone should show you around.” He motioned, and I followed, accepting the potions he offered me with a small nod.
“Thanks… these will be handy, I know it.”
“You’re welcome, it’s just a bit of a promotional item, since every new trainer passes through Oldale at some point. We like to make sure you guys have every fighting chance to win. One of these days a kid like you might even be champion.” He stopped dead as I started to laugh.
“Oh, oh god no! HAHAHA! There’s not a snowball’s chance in a Magmar’s mouth that I’d manage to become champion. I have a higher chance of my cancer coming back!”
He stared at me for a moment, before reaching over and patting my shoulder. “Hey… you already beat one impossible odd apparently. Why not go for another?”
It was my turn to stop, and I looked at him for a long moment. You know… he was right. Fine… I’d try my best, and if I was good enough, then I’d become the champion. If I wasn’t… well.. I always had Kito. “I’ll… I’ll stop by for some Pokeballs in a bit… I’m going to head into the Pokecenter to register on the terminals and make sure Kito’s okay…”
“Hehe… sure kid, and I’ll give you a discount when you get there…” With that… he was gone, heading back to his shop, and I went into the pokemon center.

A few minutes of fiddling with the terminal, and Nurse Joy telling me that Kito was fine and I shouldn’t worry so much over small scratches, and I was back outside, making my way to the shop. Imagine my surprise when I walk in through the automatic doors and hear, “What do you mean you’re out of pokeballs?!” And I turned right back around and walked out. No sense in dealing with THAT drama.

I made my way up the next path, and, of all things, I ran into some brat who claimed to have lived next door to me for years. “... Nope, not a clue.” I shrugged and grinned at him, sorry dude. I mean… he was the right age, but that meant he must have been traveling a bunch by now.
“My dad’s the pokemon professor, I help him out all the time. I’m training one of his pokemon now.” Oh… so that was his thing… okay, that’s fine… I just crossed my arms, tilting my head at him, and he grinned. “Hey! Wanna battle?”
“Um… no… not really… I’ve barely even gotten Kit-”
“Well that’s too bad. When you meet eyes with another trainer, you HAVE to battle them.”
“That seems like a really piss poor rule, dude… Can I just say no and cont-”
“Not how it works.”
I heaved a sigh and looked down at Kito, who looked up at me. He looked about as convinced as I felt. “I guess we have to, Kito. So we may as well beat him into the dirt.” I grinned, and Kito let out a happy “Kii-kip!” and we backed up.
The kid sent out a Treecko… oh… of freaking course he’d have that one. Why wouldn’t he. I immediately knew I’d hate this kid… just for existing. Even Kito seemed aggravated. The fight began with me, and I grinned, “Okay, Kito! Let’s Bowl him over and get on with our day! Use tackle!”
Kito charged forward, lowering his cranial fin and barreling into the treecko. It slid back, gripping his head, and twisted to throw him back, slapping him across the head with it’s tails as it did. Okay… that was going to annoy me… especially when the next move somehow became HIS, and he sent his Treecko flipping to slam it’s tails into Kito’s head. Poor Kito stumbled, and I gritted my teeth. Kito growled low in his throat, and the treecko flinched back. A moment later, and Kito had the lizard pinned under him, and the obnoxious guy was trying to pull them apart. “Kito… down.”
The mudkip looked back at me, and with a wagging tail, bounded over, butting his head against my legs softly, and I grinned. “Atta boy.”
“Wow… you’re… uh… pretty good… for a girl…” The dude muttered, and I just rolled my eyes.
“Look… I appreciate you want to help out, okay? But seriously, challenging me, when I’ve only just got my pokemon and dont even know all his moves yet is kinda dickish, dont you think? Next time, think about that…” I mutter, glaring at him. “You owe Kito an apology.”
The kid looked between me, and my pokemon, and sighed, “You’re right. I’m sorry. Here… I’ll patch him up for you, since it’s kinda my fault he got battered…” He pulled out a small spray bottle, and started to clean the dirt and small amounts of blood from the mudkip’s face. I knew Kito didn’t mind he damage, but it was nice of the guy to offer.
“Hey…. thanks… sorry for being a bit of a bitch…”
“Eh, it’s okay. I heard you just got out of the hospital and stuff… six years away from anyone but doctors and people who want to stick you with needles all day would probably make anyone grouchy.”
“Hehe… true enough.” I grinned at him, and he looked up at me, blushing slightly, before stashing his potion.
“Er… h-here… a gift from dad.” He shoved a loop of compressed pokeballs at me, and then ran off.
I watched him go in mild confusion, tilting my head, and just shrugged, stashing the pokeballs in my pocket for later examination. “... was he acting weird, or was that just me?” I muttered, looking at Kito. the mudkip just stared up at me, before tilting his head, and I snorted. “Yeaaa… I dunno either.”


It took me a moment to realize the kid had dropped his… weird electronic thing… it looked like an old school slide phone… I picked it up and slid it open. It buzzed to life and scanned Kito, before an entry on mudkips appeared on the wide screen. A dull, monotone female voice chirped, “Mudkip, the water pokemon.” And I groaned. Crap… it was a pokedex… well, guess I had to return it…
I turned back down the road. I hated backtracking more than anything…

Another thirty minutes later, I grumbling, stamped into the Pokemon lab, and up to the kid who was just telling the professor he’d accidentally dropped his Dex. I shoved it to him. “Be more freaking careful with tech like this, dude. These things are EXPENSIVE.”

“Indeed they are. Thank you for returning it.” The professor exclaimed, smiling at me. He held out another, to me, and I blinked.
“Eh-whut?”
“Here… you should have it. Another little gift… You’ll be traveling a bit, so you may as well, and I’m getting too old to be running off on my own.”
“Oh… uh… okay, I guess…” I took the dex, staring at it for a moment, before hooking it onto my back-pack’s arm strap with the camera facing out. It would scan anything I came across that way, and I wouldn’t have to pull it out ALL THE TIME. “Well.. uh… see ya…” I said, waving awkwardly as I headed out of the room. I… was so not social… it made me cringe…

I looked up. Eh, it was around noon… maybe I’d have lunch at home since I was here. I stepped into the house, greeting mom with a cheery smile, and she frowned. “Back so soon? Dont tell me you got hurt?”

“No, the Prof’s kid just dropped something while he was being stupid. I brought it back.” I slipped of my shoes, walking over to the fridge and peering into it. I pulled out a bag of roast beef, popping it open and tossing Kito a chunk before moving over to the microwave. “Figured I’d stop by and have lunch… tell you about my first amaaaazing hour out in the world.” I waggled my hands in the air, rolling my eyes.

“Oh really? And you’re not just here for left-over roast?”
“Well… maybe that too.” I grinned and sat down with my plate, and started telling mom… about the wurmple… about the shopping center, and about royally trouncing the kid next door because he wanted to “Show me how pokemon worked”. By the end of it she was snorting with laughter and shaking her head.
“I always knew Brendon was a little bit of a pinhead, but I didn’t think he was that bad. You’re not exaggerating, are you?”

“Well, I AM, a teenaged girl. I might be.” I grinned and my mother rolled her eyes. “But nah, he legit said that stuff. It was weird… I’m not sure I’d be okay just being randomly attacked by people who thought I looked at them funny…”

“Well, dear, he’s not lying when he says it’s what happens. All you can do is keep your pokemon healthy… and keep some pepperspray on you.”

“... Pepperspray?”
“Some people get creepy, dear.”
“... Point made.”

Once I was finished with lunch, and I said goodbye to mom again, I headed off, back up the road. Now I could at least catch Kito a buddy… maybe I’d get lucky and that Wurmple would show up again.