The sun was high in the sky, and Geoff Bates was darn happy to be alive. Today's the day I get a Pokemon! This is going to be AWESOME. He took a deep breath as he headed towards Littleroot Town, through Route 1, and exhaled. The fresh smell of the trees and the grass was heavenly, and much different from the salty, smoky air of Slateport City, so near the sea, and many ships leaving and entering port. He came up to a ledge, where he could see down the route, towards Littleroot. HOP! He jumped down. Even closer. I can TASTE that Pokemon! ...Okay, that sounded weird. Geoff came up to another ledge. HOP! So close!

Geoff arrived in Littleroot Town, and headed towards the largest, most sterile looking building. That must be the lab! He walked inside, quivering with excitement. The journey from Slateport was long, but it was finally coming to fruition!

Geoff gratefully accepted his Slugma, Pokedex, and pokeballs from Professor Birch. "Thank you so much! I'll take good care of her, I promise!" The Slugma blew flames from her mouth, excited at having a partner. "Let's go, Slugma!" The Lava Pokemon smiled and followed Geoff out of the lab, back to Route 101.

Looking down at his new partner, Geoff snapped his fingers. "Scarlett. Your name can be Scarlett! Do you like it?" "Slugma slug." she replied with a grin. "Well, I guess I'll take that as a yes. It's great to meet you, Scarlett! I'm Geoff. We're going to be good friends, I already know it!" Scarlett just smiled and continued blobbing along. "Quiet type, eh? That's alright!"

The first Pokemon Geoff saw on Route 101, he was nearly jumping up and down with joy and excitement--a Poochyena was sniffing at a wrinkled Oran berry, and wasn't showing any sign that it noticed Geoff or Scarlett. "Scarlett, this is it! Our first battle! Use Ember on that Poochyena!"

When Scarlett saw the other Pokemon, her eyes grew wide and fearful, and she darted behind Geoff's leg, which immediately set aflame from the Slugma's Flame Body. "OW! OW OW OW OW OW! NO, GET BACK! OW! YOU'RE BURNING ME!" Geoff frantically slapped at the leg of his pants, trying to smother the flames.

The Poochyena perked up, growled, and darted for the pair. "No, no, no, no!!" A sharp set of teeth closed around Geoff's other leg in a bite attack. "ARRRRRRGHHH!!" Geoff yelled out, and was now trying to combat threats to both of his legs. His Slugma watched quietly as he smothered the flames on his singed pantleg, and tried to shake the Poochyena off of the other.

Eventually, the Poochyena was shaken off, and landed on its feet, a meter back. "Scarlett, before he bites me again, use Ember!" The Slugma hurried over to Geoff, and blew a gout of flame towards the wild Pokemon, resulting in a pained yelp. "Good job, S--Look out, he's coming back!"

The Poochyena leapt at Scarlett, and bit down on the Lava Pokemon--resulting in more pained yelping, from both Pokemon. The Poochyena ran in circles, flapping its tongue all over its face, trying to ease the pain of its burn. Geoff hastily pulled an empty pokeball out of his bag, and threw it at Poochyena. "You're mine, now!"

Forrest arrived in Littleroot Town and looked around. Not a big place...or a modern place. He looked around some more and saw a building that looked some what like a laboratory. There had to be something good there. He pulled out the letter he had received in the mail and looked it over. This must be the place. He walked in and observed the room and saw multiple whirring machines and men in white lab coats. Forrest saw a large man in a lab coat and approached him. He didn't want to bother, but he had to know what was going on. "Excuse me sir, what do you do here?"

The professor spun around and barely noticed the slim, muscular boy. "Pardon me?"

"What are you studying?"

"We study Pokemon here. We are also looking for trainers whom I mailed letters too"

Forrest silently gasped, then quickly said,"I have one of those!"

The professor laughed even more. "Ah yes, Mr. Topp. You seem to be a likeable fellow. What would you consider your personality be?"

Forrest stuttered a little. "I guess I'm a bit of a ninja...people have told me that before."

"I have the perfect Pokemon for you." He disappeared for a minute, but came back with a pokeball. "Here try it out." The boy accepted the pokeball then tossed it out to the ground. A red light came out of the ball, and when it cleared away, a green gecko type thing appeared. "It's a Treeko. It's also a bit of a ninja." he chuckled softly.

Forrest needed to test this out...he leapt up into the rafters, and the impressed Treeko leapt up with him. "I love it! Thank you so much professor..."

"Birch."

"Thank you so much Professor Birch!"

"No problem. Just one thing...travel the world and record data on this." He tossed a Pokedex up to the boy, and he caught it. He nodded happily. He saw a sunlight, then clambered up to it. He pushed the window open and climbed out onto the roof. The Treeko followed him."You need a name...Sasuke!" the Treeko nodded furiously at the idea. "Well,let's go Sasuke!" they began to leap across the rooftops to Route 101.

"WooooooHOOOOOO!" Geoff cried out triumphantly. "SluuuuuugMAAAAAAA!" Scarlett mimicked, punctuating her call with a skyward gout of flame. Grinning ear to ear, Geoff clipped the filled pokeball to his belt, and continued on towards the other end of Route 101. They trudged through some tall grass, and a flock of Pidgey scattered, taking flight. Something caught Geoff's eye as he admired the bird Pokemon--a little purple glimmer. He turned right, past a tree stump, and a perfectly good Potion was just laying in the dirt. "Huh! That's weird. But it has a darn good application right now..."

Geoff released his newly captured Poochyena, who immediately ran to Geoff and gave him a good nip on the shin. "OW! Hahaha, naughty little guy, aren't you?" The Poochyena whined a bit, as its mouth was still burning. "Still hurting, isn't it? Well, guess that teaches you to go biting a Fire Pokemon. Open your mouth, please." The Poochyena shot Geoff a look, but complied, opening its burnt mouth. With a light squeeze, Geoff applied the potion to his new Pokemon. "I think I'll call you Bandit." Geoff said with a chuckle.

Bandit coughed and sneezed when sprayed in the mouth with the Potion. Geoff chuckled and gave him a good scratch behind the ears. "We'll get that burn treated when we get to the next town." The trainer, with his two Pokemon in tow, continued along Route 101.

Forrest leapt off the roof and landed smoothly at the entrance of Route 101 with Sasuke in tow. The pair looked at each other and nodded simultaneously. They began to walk side by side until something leapt out at them. A Lotad attached itself to Sasuke's face, forcing it to the ground. Before he could clearly think, Forrest grabbed the pokemon and flung it away. "This is our first battle, Sasuke." He remembered the attacks the professor told him. "Use Absorb!" The Treeko leapt forward and shot a vine at the Lotad. It wrapped around it's body and began to drain it's energy. It started to move forward, but was going incredibly slow due to the vines wrapped around it. It was right next to Sasuke when Forrest called out, "Alright, fall back." The Treeko complied and drew it's vines back. Forrest tossed one of the pokeballs the professor had given him at the Lotad, and it disappeared with a red flash into the metal capsule, and it began to shake.

Geoff heard some ruckus from around the corner, but shrugged, and continued walking down Route 101. Scarlett and Bandit were walking alongside him. He took a deep breath, and exhaled. "I love this place! All these trees, and Pokemon...Can't wait to see the REST of Hoenn!" As he walked along, he heard a panicked cry; "Wuurrrrrmple!" A Wurmple had seen him, and was running away as fast as he could. "You're going to be my next Pokemon, buddy! --Scarlet, use Ember!"

The Slugma sprayed flames across the grass, and they struck the Wurmple. The Pokemon tumbled, and landed flat on its back, defeated. A few more Wurmple hurried into the clearing, and dragged their fallen friend away to nurse it back to health. "Woops..." Geoff scratched his head, embarrassed. "You're too strong, Scarlett! Hahah."

Forrest sighed...it got away. He looked at Sasuke, who in turn was slightly appalled at it's first failure. The pair started to walk again, ashamed and low. Oh well, time to climb some trees. Forrest leapt up into the first tree he saw with the Treeko close behind. He noticed a Zigzagoon on the forest floor and silently thanked Arceus. He wasn't going to fail this time! He looked over to Sasuke, who had also noticed the unaware pokemon. He whispered to it, "Jump down there and surprise it with Absorb." The gecko nodded and leapt down silently and approached it from behind, then wrapped the vines around it, draining it's energy. The Zigzagoon quickly broke free and used a powerful tackle on Sasuke. "Zig!" It began to repeatedly tackle the Treeko before Forrest shouted out, "Use Endeavor!" Sasuke slapped the Zigzagoon, knocking it down to a lower power level. He used Absorb again, wrapping the vines around it. He grew stronger, and pinned the Zigzagoon on the ground by leaping on top of it. "I have you now!" Forrest threw his fourth pokeball down. He watched the Zigzagoon disappear with a red flash and crossed his fingers.

Isla V.T.
Littleroot Town

Isla stumbled out of the pokemon lab in Littleroot Town, still somewhat poised, though it was obvious she was still in a daze from being star-stuck. In her arms was her shiny new pokedex, a handful of pokeballs (one of which contained her very own pokemon), and the copy of her favorite textbook now sporting a signature of its author. Isla let out a quick shrill of excitement and placed her things into her small shoulder bag as she raced out towards Route 1. Upon arrival it was almost to much to look at all at once, there were pokemon rustling in the grass, sunning in the branches of trees, and splashing in small puddles left from the rain the night before. It was as if the book she revered almost as her bible was coming to life right in front of her eyes. Isla reached into her bag and scanned anything that moved with her pokedex, loading it with information she planned to compile into a journal of sorts to catalog her journey. She wandered through the grass and into a few small clearing chasing every pokemon as if she was a little girl running through her fathers museum again asking questions about each and every exhibit. She sat down near a small pool of water and released her prized pokemon from its pokeball for a quick swim to cool off.

Feebasbas.

"My very own pokemon. I still can't believe it! I almost want to kiss you!"

Fee? replied the fish with an inquisitive tone.

"I said almost. At least buy me dinner first."

Isla sat with her feet dipped in the cool water, the pool was only a few feet deep, just a run-off spot for all of the rain that washed down the road. Feebas splashed about enjoying its freedom. Isla layed back and sighed deep with happiness, if this is what it meant to be a trainer and get to encounter pokemon all over Hoenn then she was in for the time of her life. She felt a tickle at her toes and giggled, "Stop it Feebas that tickles" she looked down to smile at her pokemon, only feebas was swimming in a circle around a small lilypad that Isla was sure wasn't there a second ago...the tickle happened again, only this time she pulled her feet out of the water and the lilypad looked up at her. "Ack! what are you little fella?" Isla scanned the pokemon and learned it was a lotad. "Seems you needed a swim just as much as feebas huh?" she smiled at the pokemon. "Hey feebas, wanna get some practice in with this guy? You could probably use it." she said in a joking tone. The lotad flipped back into the water with a grin on his face and floated out into the center of the pool. Feebas lept out of the water with a battle cry and the battle was on!


The lotad was much more agile in the water and it made the first move, a rushing tackle attack. "Lotad are slow on land but are at home in the water like you feebas, double-team, GO!" Feebas darted back and forth under the water quicker than the eye could follow, and suddenly it looked like there were 3 or 4 of the fish swimming around. The lotad plowed into them one after another, but the tackle went right through the copies. "Keep it up feebas, you're doing great." The lotad slowly sank to the bottom of the pool and raised its head. "Wonder what its doing...keep your guard up!" Isla called out. Lotad had used absorb and the water shifted towards the center of the pool where it was resting. Feebas took the hit pretty hard due to its weakness but it wasn't out of the fight yet. "Let's show him what we can do, use Brine!" Feebas reared back and let loose a rush of water at the center of the pool hitting the lotad and sending him barrel rolling through the water. "Again, brine!" Another jet of water pounded the lotad, knocking it against the bank of the small pool. Isla plucked a pokeball from her belt clip and smiled, she was actually doing all the things she had only ever read about growing up. "Ok pokeball, lets go!" She tossed the ball at the lotad and it bounced off of its big leafy head before grabbing it with a red beam, the ball hit the surface of the pool with a sploosh and rolled underwater, the small red light still visable as the ball began to shake. Feebas swam in circles around the pokeball in anticipation, ready to continue the fight if need be.

Geoff was shuffling around in the tall grass, when he noticed Elizabeth. Hey, I saw him already. He was the one who rushed ahead of me in the lab, and rushed out before I could even talk to Professor Birch. ...He looks cute. "Hi there!" he called to Eli as he waved and smiled.

A large object fell out of the tree above him and cracked him on the back of the head. His vision swam with lights and shapes. "OW!! WHY THE HELL IS ALL OF THIS HAPPENING TO ME TODAY?!?" He looked down, at the Seedot that had fallen on his head. The Acorn Pokemon glared at him, and stiffened as it used Harden. "You want to battle, then? Alright! Scarlett, use Ember!" The Slugma blew flames at the Seedot, which jumped up and down in pain, but it held its ground. The Seedot stiffened again, though it looked like it was building strength, using Bide.

"That's not a very smart move, buddy...Scarlett, hit 'im again!" Another Ember attack sent the Seedot spinning away, stars in its eyes. "Woo! Nice work, hon'!" The Slugma bobbed up and down happily.

Sasuke picked up the pokeball the Zigzagoon was contained in, jumped into the bushes, then handed it to Forrest. "Good job buddy!" He held up his hand for a high five, but recieved a tail five instead. It almost knocked him off his precarious perch, but he caught himself.

He didn't have any potions to heal the Zigzagoon, so he would have to grin and bear it until he reached the nearest Pokemon Center. He swifty clambered to the ground and released his new found partner. "Hi there." The Zigzagoon blinked once, then tackled Forrest's legs, making him fall to the ground. "Ow! Your new name is Benedict!" He shouted. The Zigzagoon seemed to like the name, as it grinned and it's tail wagged. "Yeah, that's a good name..."He grimaced. This was going to be a handful...He returned Benedict to it's pokeball then jumped back into the trees with Sasuke. Might as well move on. He started to make his way to the end of Route 1.

Revenge of the Wurmple!

Geoff was going to walk over to Eli to talk to him/her, when something wrapped around his ankles, and he tripped. Fortunately, he broke his fall with his arms, which were now a bit bruised. "What the?! Ow!" He looked down at his legs, and they were tied up with string. A string shot. The two Wurmples who helped their fallen comrade earlier swung down from the trees to battle, anger burning in their beady little eyes. Geoff tore the string off of his legs, and stood up, ready to fight.

"Scarlett, use Ember on one of them! Bandit, Bite the other!" Geoff ordered his Pokemon. The pair leapt into action. Bandit dashed towards the Wurmples, easily covering the distance, and bit down hard on one of the Wurmples--he cried out in pain, though, because of his burn. The other prepared to Tackle Bandit, but Scarlett blew flames upon him, and the attacking Wurmple fell, defeated.

The second Wurmple shook itself free of Bandit's Bite, and proceeded to Tackle.

"Bandit, look out!" The Poochyena was struck by the Tackle, but remained on his feet. "Tackle it back!" Bandit struck the Wurmple, and it was sent hurtling back into the woods. A string shot came out of the trees, and the other defeated Wurmple was taken home. The battle was over.

"Great job, guys!" Bandit puffed out his chest and grinned. Scarlett shot flames into the air triumphantly.

"Be careful around Scarlett, she might burn you!" Geoff warned Albion. He showed Elizabeth his burnt pantleg, and the burns on the back of his leg. He was looking a bit ragged. The bottom of his pantlegs were torn, burnt, and blackened, and there was a swollen lump on the back of his head.

Geoff blushed a bit at Eli's comment. "Aww, that was nothing, man. So, hi! I saw you at Birch's lab. He gave you a Pokemon, too?" He bent down to look at Albion. "Cute little guy!" He looked back to Eli. "You saw that, eh? Yeah, I fought a Wurmple earlier...I guess those were its buddies."

He extended his hand to Eli for a handshake. "I'm Geoff! What's your name?"