It is the morning you have long been waiting for. Today is the day that you receive your first Pokémon and Pokédex from Professor Juniper. You have been studying at the Trainer's School in Aspertia City for a long time now... and it's finally time to put all you have learned to the test! It promises to be a long and engaging journey... but a good adventure is never without its trials. This is not to say that you are going to be wandering around with no destination, however.

Professor Juniper has given you the task of heading to Nacrene City. It is there that the museum curator and Gym Leader, Lenora, has claimed to have uncovered something that could change the history of all we know about Pokémon! She has been very vague about the details, but it was more than enough to perk Juniper's curiosity. Besides, it is not like you cannot pursue your own dreams and goals while running this errand...

But perhaps we are getting ahead of ourselves. Before you can reach Nacrene City, you will have to travel along Route 19. It is not that long of a route, but it is lush with hills, groves, and trees. There are several kinds of wild Pokémon to catch... and several rookie trainers looking for a catch and a battle! Most of these trainers are kids and bug catchers. Lying at the end of Route 19 to the east is Floccesy Town. There is a Pokémon Center in the town, which houses traveling trainers for the night. The average trip across Route 19 generally takes a full day, so you should be able to arrive by sundown.




You can choose between the events listed below. Take note that each event will only happen once. In other words, if you and someone else picks the same event it highly suggested that you both work together and collaborate in the event. Please try and pick the events so things end up a bit evenly. It's not always fun for one person to be the odd man out and be left alone.



1) A young girl by the name of Sally is wandering around Route 19 trying to locate her lost Purrloin. She is vastly attached to this Pokémon and is desperate to find her best friend once more. She has been saving her money and is more than willing to share a Great Ball with each trainer who lends a hand in finding her Purrloin.

2) Alfred the Bug Catcher has caught sight of a wild Beedrill and will do anything he can to capture it. The problem? A Caterpie is not exactly the best Pokémon to succeed in this hunt with. Alfred has saved up a lot of money, and may be willing to pay the trainers who aid him in capturing this fully evolved Pokémon. If multiple trainers take this event, share the cash reward. There is plenty to give everyone their fair share.

3) In this chapter, you can also choose to not do any special event and just capture Pokémon or meet your rival or a random trainer or another player. No Great Ball or money should you choose this option, however.
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It was still very early in the day, but Valerie had been up for a while by now. Her goodbyes with her mother had been swift, so as to not drag out any uneccesary emotional moments. They'd had a delicious dinner the night before, cooked by her mother, to celebrate her little girl's growing up, which Valerie had enjoyed.

Now, however, she was standing at a bench on the outskirts of town, staring out along the dirt road leading out. The wind tugged a little at her skirt as she looked down at the Pokéball in her hand; the Oshawott, chosen among Juniper's Pokémon. It had been a hard choice, but she had a good feeling about her choice. It was hard to describe, but there was a feeling in her gut, when she had looked at the picture of the Oshawott, back in the lab.

Taking a deep breath, it was finally time. Before she could start on her own journey to strength and power, she had to make sure that he was ready as well.

Clicking the button on the front of the ball, she released the Oshawott onto the ground, which left the small otter blinking in the bright sunlight. Valerie noticed that unlike the picture, this Oshawott had a tuft of hair curving down over his forehead, like a really stylish hairdo.

Bending down, Valerie placed her hands on the sides of the Oshawott, gently lifting him up without a word, much to the Pokémon's confusion. She placed him on the bench to make it easier for him to be at eye-height with her, when she crouched down. For a few seconds, she simply stared at him, her expression unwavering.

"My name is Valerie." She began, which startled the Oshawott briefly. "I just graduated as a trainer, and Juniper has sent me on a mission. She gave me you, to protect myself, to help me get safely to my destination, though I am sure that is not the only reason."

She paused to brush a strand of curly hair out of her face, maintaining eye contact with the small Pokémon. "I have decided to name you Lance. Is that alright?"

The Oshawott lifted a paw to scratch the side of his head a little before giving a light nod, smiling up at her curiously. Valerie nodded.

"Bon. Now, there is one more thing I need to tell you before we can begin our journey. I have a goal in mind. I am going to become the champion of zis region, the strongest trainer here, bar none. I would like you to assist me, in that."

Lance smiled brightly and was just about to nod, when Valerie lifted a finger, holding it up in front of him, her brow furrowing somewhat. "Non, do not accept so quickly. Zis journey is going to be both dangerous and hard. For me to reach my goal, I will need you to be my strength, my sword. My... Lance, if you will. But strength like that does not come easily. We are going to be training alot, we are going to be fighting others, and it is going to be tough. I am telling you zis, because I will not force you to do it, if you do not wish. If that is the case, I will only need your help to find a replacement, and then I will have you sent back to Juniper, safely."

She lowered her finger again, her words having definitely affected the Oshawott. The small otter crossed his arms over his chest, returning her stare. After several moments, Lance nodded his head and smiled again, unfolding his arms to throw them up into the air with a happy, squeak-like sound.

Valerie simply nodded, her expression not changing in the slightest, except maybe for softening a little bit as she stood up. "Bon. It is decided then. We will both become stronger than either of us on our own, then."

Without wasting any time, she turned around, her skirt flaring a little dramatically, along with the bottom of her jacket as she began striding down the path leading out of town. Quickly scampering down the bench, Lance speed-waddled up to her side, puffing out his chest and putting on a determined expression.

The pair walked for about an hour, without much happening, Lance's determined nature having replaced with him running over to check out some flowers, looking into a hole at the side of the road, and generally getting a little distracted, before catching up to Valerie.

However, it wasn't long before a voice called out to the two.

"Hey! Lady, wait up! WAIT!"

Frowning at being shouted at like that, Valerie came to a stop and turned, glancing into the forested area on her left. A small boy in a summer hat, a white tank top, shorts and sandals came running out to her. He must've been around... twelve years old, give or take. On his shoulder sat a Caterpie, and he had a small pouch strapped to his side.

Once he reached the two, he bent over and breathed a little heavily before standing up straight again, smiling brightly. "Hey there! Nice to meet ya!"

Valerie simply stared at him, whereas Lance gave the Caterpie a quick wave, which the bug responded to by waving its tail.

The boy blinked a little up at the girl. "Not good at talking? That's okay! Listen, I need your help! I was in the forest, where I found this Beedrill! It doesn't have a flock, and I think that with the right pokémon to battle it, I could capture it!"

He lifted a hand to nuzzle his Caterpie's chin, smiling at it. "My Caterpie's really cute, but she's not gonna be able to stand up to a Beedrill. So do you wanna help us out?" he asked, returning a smile up at the blue-haired girl.

Valerie glanced at the Caterpie, then down at Lance, who was nodding up at her quickly, eager to prove himself. Finally, she looked back at the kid.

"Non."

The boy blinked a few times, his smile fading. "Uhm. What?"

Taking a deep breath, Valerie's lips pressed together briefly, as if to restrain herself.

"I said -non-."

The boy was now frowning, folding his arms across his chest. Lance looked a little surprised at her reaction to some perfectly good training. Valerie placed a hand on her hip, pointing her other hand's finger at the Caterpie.

"That is your highest evolved Pokémon, non?"

"Uh, yeah, but wh-"

"A Beedrill is the final in a three-stage evolution line, starting with Weedle. It is very strong, as it evolves early, but also -very- dangerous. If someone like you got their small hands on a wild Pokémon that strong, without having experienced it yourself first, then you are not only endangering yourself, but others as well. It is a reckless and foolish idea, and I would suggest you simply train your Caterpie until she is ready to evolve."

With that said and done, she turned to leave the shocked boy and his Caterpie, sighing quietly through her nose as she continued along the path, brushing a strand of loosehair behind her ear. "I detest shortcuts when it comes to training Pokémon." She explained to Lance, who was still looking up at her in confusion, while waddling along besides her.

"Strength is not everything, Lance. You need to have the wits to use it as well." She looked down at the little otter to see him looking a little sad that they didn't help the boy. He suddenly felt a pat on his head, but when he looked up to see where it had come from, Valerie was still just striding along, as if nothing had happened.

They only managed to walk for a few minutes, however, until they heard a small girl's voice nearby, on the verge of tears.

"M-Mimi, where are you...? Co-come out Mimi...!"​

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Lexandar Obalt
Route 19

Lexandar Obalt
Route 19

After a brief search, Valerie and Lance rounded a bush a slight ways off the main road. A small girl with brown hair in pigtails was sitting by a very pretty-looking lake, the trees around them stretching all the way to the other side of it. The small girl was sobbing quietly, sitting on her knees.

Lance quickly ran over and patted her side as if to say it'd all be okay, the girl jumping a little, staring down at Lance with wide eyes.

"Who were you calling for? Are you lost?" The blue-haired girl asked, placing her hands by her hips, looking down at the girl with the same, neutral expression as always.

The little girl sniffed, wiping a few tears from her eyes as she stood up.

"I... I lost Mimi. We... we were playing and sh-she... I lost her! N-now I can't find her, and I miss her really really much!"

The cries had attracted another wayward trainer as well. Hector pushed his way through a patch of foliage after missing the gap in the bushes and trees to see a young girl sobbing next to an Oshawott. He made his way towards the girl and knelt down to her level before he even noticed the trainer much closer to his own age. "Awww, what's wrong sweetie? Lose someone?"

It was only then he realized what he'd missed, turning to see a pair of legs before looking up at the face of their owner. "Oh, hello there."

He was greeted by Valerie by her quirking her brow at his sudden appearance. Lance seemed to like him, though, as he gave the boy a quick wave. Finally, Valerie gave a nod. "Hello."

"Hello," another voice said in reply, completely different from that of Hector. The voice came from behind Valerie, and was more sluggish in its pronunciation. The young trainer, Rick, popped from behind Valerie, with his Charmander lurking around and a Pokeball in his hand, the one containing the stubborn Polliwag. "I heard from cries from this direction. I'm guessing one of two things. Either you guys are bothering her, or she needs help finding her mom or dad. I'm hoping its the latter, since I would hate to fend off two people, because that's a lot of work, but either way, it looks like she needs help so I'm helping."

Valerie stared with her dead-pan expression at the new arrival before finally shaking her head at his assumptions, turning back to the girl and the boy currently crouching besides her.

"I'm glad to say neither of us are bullying her, two teenagers picking on a young girl would be pretty pathetic." Hector piped up, then focused once again on the little girl. "Did I overhear you say you'd lost someone on my way over here? M-Mi...Mimi wasn't it?"

"Y-yeah!" The girl piped up, looking overwhelmed to see so many trainers coming to help her. She wiped her eyes again, looking a little sad. "Mimi's my family's Purrloin. We're really good friends, but she just... I-I found her a little earlier, but she didn't seem to remember me and ran away!"

Nodding her head, the blue girl lowered down to gently place a hand on the pigtailed girl's head. "I will help you locate your Mimi." Glancing between the two guys, she stood up again. "And I assume you will be doing the same, non? It makes it easier to search with more people."

"Of course!" Hector stood the rest of the way up and patted his chest with a fist. "I can't just ignore someone having lost a family member. Now where might a Purrloin scamper off to? And why would it run away..." He continued to mutter to himself for a few more seconds, then stopped and looked up at Valerie, and then Rick. "It would probably help if we had introductions, my name's Hector, how about you two?"

The blue-haired girl turned to look at Hector with a small flip of her hair. "Valerie Guillory. Thank you for deciding to help, otherwise, it might have taken us alot longer." She replied, expression neutral, as always. She also gestured to the Oshawott, who had gone over to meet with Rick's Charmander, giving an excited wave and a smile.

"Right, right. Name's Rick," he said with a half wave. "And this here is Arthur," he pointed towards the Charmander who turned away from Rick and the Oshawott, not having it at the moment. "He's not very happy right now. Anyway, we better going before I forget why I decided to help," he continued, mostly focusing on why Valerie's accent was so familiar.

"So we better get to searching then. Which direction do you plan to start in Valerie? I'd hate to step on your toes." Hector asked, smiling down at Valerie's Oshawott. Severan poked his head up eyeing Valerie curiously.

Valerie raised a hand to brush a length of hair behind her ear, as Lance shuffled over towards his trainer, head lowered in defeat from the Charmander not wanting to talk. the Kalos girl raised a hand to point across the lake. "Lance and I will go across to the other shore. You," she began, addressing Hector. "Should go to the right of the lake, and you," she continued, turning to face Rick. "Should go left. If it is not too much trouble?" She asked with a slightly raised brow, almost challengingly after his carefree answer.

"Why are you handing out orders like you are running the place?" Rick answered. "I mean, last I checked, it is a free country, right?" Rick gestured towards Hector.

Hector smiled, glad to have an answer. "Sounds more like a helpful suggestion to me, besides, regardless of where you want to go it's useful to know where everyone else is. At least that way we know we're not covering the same ground before it's necessary. Thanks for letting me know Valerie." He strode in the direction Valerie had indicated and waved to her and Rick before he was out of sight. "Good luck!"

Valerie gave the departing Hector a brief nod before turning to Rick, her arms slowly folding across her chest. "Because, if we all wander around with no purpose or direction, zis would take hours." She took another moment to look at him before shaking her head, striding past him, on her way around the lake. "Feel free to give up, however. I will simply have to do your work for you, if you are unable to cope with responsibility."

Rick cocked his head to the side: "You know if you stopped with 'this would take hours,' I would have been okay with it, since it makes sense and everything. But, my brother abided by one simple fact that I rather agree with: Only listen to people who earn your respect and lady, you don't have it at all," Rick replied flatly. "So I'm going to go the other side of the shore to help out instead, just to annoy you while you go left where apparently I was supposed to go." Without waiting for a reply, Rick started to head in the direction that Valerie she intended to go, knowing that helping out is something he should do, but loathing Valerie's approach of handling the whole situation. His Charmander followed suit, seemingly approving of Rick's rather aggressive disobedience.

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"You know, Arthur. I gotta say, I really do dislike people who try to put words in my mouth, and man that Valerie chick puts a whole new spin on it. 'Feel free to give up, however,'" Rick began, mocking the trainer's accent as he did in the privacy of his aimless wandering. "'I will simply have to do your work for you.' I mean, really. I get I am not all spirited all the time, but I know when to do stuff and not to do stuff," Rick sighed, kicking the sand of the lakeshore as he moved at a slow pace. Arthur, looking up to face his trainer, seemed to agree with the sentiment, but did not visibly show signs of agreement, still angry at Rick's poor choices in sending him out to battle at a disadvantage.

So far, this journey was not starting off on the right foot and Rick had no clear idea of how to right the ship. He lacked any of the qualities Vincent had, who was able to stand up for himself, battle with confidence and remain focused all at the same time. Rick was smarter than his brother, since Vincent would be the first to admit that, but he lacked the same fiery disposition to make things happen. He was not necessarily lazy, though that was everyone's assumption, but more he didn't want to bother with things unless he needed to. He wanted to enjoy the freedom of travel. It helped spark something in the rest of his family, and that is what he wanted as well. But now, here, well, he was facing tribulations he couldn't fathom a smart way out of, and the effort was draining his soul.

Taking his search away from the shore bit by bit, Rick was losing hope in finding the Purrolin. It was not exactly a large Pokemon, so it would be liking hiding in the tall grass. Having Arthur burn down the grass would make things simple, but that opened up a can of worms he didn't want to bother looking at in the first place. Instead, Rick observed the ground bit by bit, with Arthur joining in with a bit more apathy. Finally, in his peripheral vision, Rick saw some rustling in the grass. "Well that's got to be something," he observed. "Let's take it slow."

Practically tip toeing towards the rustling grass, Rick knelt down as he grew closer, nearly crawling on the ground by the time he got there. As he peered through the strands of grass, there was a small clearing, resembling more of a patch where the grass did not grow to the same impressive height. In the clearing of sorts, two Purrolins were playing together, prancing around in a circle and occasionally wrestling the other. One of the two near identical Pokemon wore a fairly distinct pink collar, and a lightbulb flashed in the young man's mind. Must be the missing Pokemon,he thought. If only I remembered it's name...

"Here kitty, kitty, kitty," Rick began as he crawled into the clearing, trying to get the Purrolin's attention. "I'm here to help you out...come on...." The two jerked back, but did not explicitly flee. Rick could see a mix of emotions on their faces but whatever he was doing was not working. "Damn cats," Rick muttered, as he cursed under his breath. He was out of ideas and knew that trying to chase them with a direct approach would probably fail miserably and place more work on his shoulders. He needed help, but needed a quiet way to not stir the Purrolin's too much. A distraction may work. Snapping a Pokeball off his belt, he released the yet to be named Poliwag into the clearing.

"Um, go play with them with a huge splash!" He ordered and the collection of Pokemon awkwardly began to bond. "Now, then!" Rick crawled out of the clearing with Arthur. "Oi! Guys! I found them!" He yelled out, with Arthur the Charmander sputtering small embers into the sky.

Only a few minutes passed, before Valerie arrived at the scene, Lance hurriedly running up alongside her. After spotting Rick and Arthur, she stepped closer, about to ask where the missing Pokémon was. As she stepped up to him, she noticed the three 'mon in the clearing ahead.

"Mmh, the collar. Well done, Rick." Looking down at Lance, Valerie took a step forward and raised a hand, pointing at the Purrloin without the collar. "Lance, Water Gun."

The Oshawott didn't waste any time. He ran up in front of Valerie, taking in a deep breath before shooting out a beam of water, which slammed square into the non-collared Purrloin. Mimi let out a shriek and jumped back, startled, while the other Purrloin slowly got up, shaking itself off, while looking rather angry.

Rick stepped up, noticing Mimi and Poliwag leap back as the Oshawatt fired off a Water Gun at the wild Purrloin. "Um, is that really necessary? It's not like the Purrloin is doing anything wrong."

"Water Gun again. Do not let it get close." Valerie ordered Lance, before replying to Rick, without even looking back at him, her eyes focused on the battle ahead. "Mimi ran away to play with her new 'friend'. If we bring back Mimi, she would just run away again. I am removing the reason she would run away."

Shortly after Valerie's appearance Hector arrived as well, covered in twigs and bits of grass, and a few scratches. He had continually been sidetracked by basically every slightly interesting thing he encountered, and in the end even though he'd never forgotten about finding Mimi, Severan had done most of the searching. "Hey guys! Oh you found the Purrloin! That's great!" His expression blanked at the sight of the battle and what he'd overheard became clear. "I don't see what this could accomplish, family-pet pokémon aren't exactly in the habit of willingly becoming wild, either that Purrloin would have come home when it was done hanging out out here anyways, or it's just gonna run away again to play with a different wild 'mon.

"It may not 'become' wild, but it would still run to its friend at every chance it would get." Valerie replied, giving a brief glance over her shoulder at the two boys, while the Oshawott continually slammed the Purrloin with his Water Gun, causing the poor cat to flail around on the ground.

"... Besides, we are here to bring back Mimi, non? I would happily debate you on this, but we should bring back the missing Pokémon first." She glanced over at the collared Purrloin, staring at the goings-on with wide eyes, inclining her head towards it before glancing at the two boys again. "So, if you would, s'il vous plait?"

Hector nodded. "Definitely, Mimi comes first." With the decision made he knelt down and held his hand out, palm up to the Mimi, who's back was arched at the sight of her friend being attacked. Her fur wasn't too ruffled though, perhaps she thought they were still playing, since the Poliwag they had fun with had been splashing about. She slowly relaxed a bit and took a few uncertain steps towards Hector. "Atta girl, no rush, take a sniff, make sure I'm not too suspicious. We're gonna bring you home to your family."

Meanwhile, the wild Purrloin was starting to have trouble getting up. No matter which way it tried to dodge, Lance's Water Gun quickly beat it down again. Now, it was only half-risen, panting and staring at its opponent with one eye closed. Lance was about to fire again, but Valerie stepped forwards.

"Enough, Lance. You did well."

The Oshawott blinked up at his trainer, his mouth hanging slightly open in surprise at -actual praise-. The blue-haired girl collected a ball from the bag hanging by her hip, which she promptly threw at the Purrloin. After the Pokémon had been sucked into the ball, it barely even wriggled, before letting out a satisfying click.

Nodding her head in acceptance of the situation, the girl stepped over and gracefully bent down to pick up the Pokéball, which she attached to the strap from her bag. She turned back to the two boys and the remaining Purrloin, watching quietly as she let Hector work.

Meanwhile Mimi had been far too distracted by the ear and chin scratches she'd been getting ever since she finished sniffing Hector's hand to even notice her friend's defeat. It was no wonder such an easily distracted pokémon had wandered off. Hector was wary of picking Mimi up so he left her rubbing against his leg to smile at Valerie and Rick. "Good work guys! Now even if something else happens we could at least use the Purrloin Valerie caught to lure Mimi back home!"

Hector made his way over to a thicker patch of foliage and grabbed the longest slightly thick stick he could find, with a few tiny branches on it for extra snatch-factor and waved it at the rest. "This should do the trick." He dragged the end of the stick along the ground, watching Mimi's eyes follow it more and more intensely before she wiggled her hindquarters and leapt at it, scrabbling along the ground to grip her new prey.

Rick silently clapped his hands after Valerie caught the Purrloin and Hector found a way to keep Mimi's attention. He contributed very little to the whole display, but that was fine. With an ego as commanding as Valerie's, it was perhaps best he just went with the flow and accepted things as they are. "I take we are done here then?" He asked with a tinge of apathy. "Lead the way then, boss. Unless you want to beat some other innocent Pokemon on the way too."

"Please." Valerie replied, turning to Rick with the usual thin line of her lips turning into a very light frown. "Do not try to make this a moral issue. Shall I return once you have captured several Pokémon yourself? Zis is how it is, and has always been done. Trying to take the high ground here, is just making you look that much more ridiculous."

Her words weren't unkind, but very... matter-of-factly, as if what she said was simply... logical. And with that done, she turned and started off towards the other side of the lake, glancing back at Hector and the rather playful Purrloin. "You can keep its attention until we get back, non?"

"Pretty confident I can, long as I don't forget to stop moving it." Hector nodded as he answered and took his first few steps back towards town, dragging and shaking the stick for emphasis as Mimi pounced on it. "I'm ready if you guys are."

The Purrloin in tow, it took the group roughly fifteen minutes to get around the lake again, as they had to ensure that Mimi's attention was on the stick. As they rounded a bush, the little girl looked up. Her eyes widened as she saw them coming back. The obvious question was on her lips, until Hector and Mimi came into view.

She squealed with joy and ran over to them, which at first startled Mimi. But as she recognized her owner, the cat eagerly jumped into her arms, purring and rubbing herself against the little girl.

"Oh, you found her! T-thank you so much, all of you! I'm so happy!" She was almost crying as she said this, hugging the cat close to her chest, who seemed to enjoy the affection. "Mimi, why'd you run off...?"

Before anyone could say anything, Valerie replied. "She had gotten distracted by some berries. We found her in a bush."

Oh, so now we are lying too? Aren't you just the model of dignity?Rick silently thought to himself, crossing his arms and leering at Valerie.

"I don't care why you ran away! I'm just so happy that you're back!" The girl replied, pressing a kiss to the cat's cheek, who mewed happily. "Oh! I have something for you!"

She stuck her tongue out as she held the cat in place with one arm, her other arm reaching down to a small belt-pouch around her waist. After fiddling around, she pulled out three blue and white balls, holding them up towards the trainers with a bright smile.

"I saved up my allowance and I bought these! But you can have them for finding Mimi. Just make sure to make good friends with whoever you catch with them!" The girl beamed as she held out the balls on offer.

Rick hesitated and took a ball, before stuffing in his bag. "This wasn't necessary, but thanks. Keep a closer eye on your Pokemon alright? We don't want to have to come back to help again," he said with a smile. "See ya guys later... maybe," Rick said to the other two before leaving rather quickly, not wanting to deal with Valerie's attitude any longer.

Valerie glanced after Rick as he left with a mumbled goodbye, shaking her head lightly. Looking back to the girl offering the balls, she bent down to gently take one of the two remaining balls, nodding softly. "Thank you. Take good care of Mimi, and she will not run away again." With that said, she stood up and took a step back, allowing Hector to take his 'prize'.

Hector couldn't stop smiling the entire time after Mimi was reunited with his owner, completely content while he watched their affectionate interactions. It didn't take long, however, for him to be distracted by a bird pokémon of some kind flying by at an angle that put the sun in his eyes. He failed to tell what it was through the glare and it was too far away by the time he finished rubbing his eyelids. By then Rick was already strolling off with his reward. "Oh, well, good luck on your journey!" Hector called after him, waving all the while.

It was only after Rick's departure that Hector regarded coolly the great-balls the girl held up.
He reached out to grasp one and look at it a bit, and when he did Severan slithered along his arm to poke it with his nose and get a look himself. "I can't, in good conscience accept this for something anyone should have done, but I tell you what, how about a trade?" He pulled one of the normal pokéballs off of his belt and held it out to the girl, lightly tapping the button and expanding it to it's full size. "I know this one looks boring and plain, but it was given to me by Professor Juniper for starting my journey, so I bet it's good luck! Why don't we trade? That way if you ever decide to find a pokémon friend of your own it'll be like I'm helping you out?"

The little girl's mouth opened wide as she stared at the red and white Pokéball offered to her. "You got that from miss Juniper...? And you're letting me have it?" She gently placed down Mimi besides her to get another hand free, very carefully taking the ball in her hand while replacing it with the great ball. A wide, bright smile spread on her lips as she held the ball close, beaming up at Hector and Valerie.

"You guys are the best! I wanna be a trainer just like you when I grow up! Thank you!"

She quickly stepped forwards and wrapped her arms around Hector's waist, giving him a hug, which she proceeded to do to Valerie as well (Who simply looked down at the girl as she did this, without reacting at all). She proceeded to pat each of the Pokémon before taking off, back down the road they came from, while waving back at the two trainers. "Thanks again! Come on, Mimi!" The Purrloin meowed loudly and ran after its owner.

Valerie let out a small breath of air, folding her arms across her chest, for some reason looking a little uncomfortable as she watched the girl run off.

A warm fuzzy feeling of pride and contentment filled Hector's chest as he watched the girl and her pokémon run off, but it was disrupted at the sight of Valerie. "What's the matter? Not comfortable being hugged?"

The blue-haired girl glanced over at Hector, her lips pressing a little together. "... I just am not good viz... how you say, physical affection." She shook her head lightly, lifting a hand to brush it through her curly hair, moving it across her shoulder, which incidentally revealed a tiny tinge of red along her cheeks, turning away from Hector again. "What is important, is that we helped her, and were rewarded for it in the end, non?"

"Of course you're right, I'm glad we could help out. And that other stuff is none of my business anyways. It's not like I don't have my own troubles...in fact...one of them beat me here probably with the express intent of showing me up and screwing with me." Hector looked at the ground while contemplating his 'rival' before shaking it off. "Anyway, it was nice working with you, I hope your journey goes well!" He offered Valerie a kindly smile, trying not to think about the fact that they'd be at odds at some point if they both made it far enough.

Turning back to the boy, Valerie gave him an almost curious look before nodding her head gently. "It was a pleasure. Au revoir 'Ector."

The girl turned back towards the treeline surrounding the lake, striding purposefully into the undergrowth, with the small Oshawott quickly waddling after her.
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