Colton turned to look at me from his piloting position on his flygon. "Hey, Avery!" He yelled over the wind. "You know what day it is?"

"My birthday?"

"Yup! You can get your own pokemon today!"

"Where?"

"I betcha Xavier has the details. Hey, once you get your pokemon, let's battle!"

"No. You've had yours for seven months."

Colton grinned. "Ooh, caught." As the only other kid born to two high-ranking Team Rocket members, he was the only human interaction I had on days like these. I was forbidden to talk to the Grunts unless I was giving them orders and forbidden to talk to higher-ranking members unless I was responding to their orders, so I spent most of my days with Colton. He was seven months older than me, so he got to steal his pokemon first. He started going on missions after he got his pokemon at thirteen, so we saw each other even less.

"I'll be off," I said as we touched down in front of the Celadon Game Corner—closed today, in celebration of the day a ranked child officially joins Team Rocket. "Curious about where I get my first pokemon from."

"See you later!"

I waved without turning back as I unlocked the door and headed downstairs.

I ran into Xavier, my guardian, outside of my suite.

"I was about to ask you if you wanted your birthday present," the older man said.

"Yes." I held out my hand.

Xavier laughed. "Heavens, no. I hope you didn't think I had your first pokemon. No, you're going to earn it yourself. I have the details in my office..."

"Why am I here again?" I grumbled.

I stood in front of the smallest pokemon lab I'd ever seen, in a tiny, inconsequential place named Pallet Town. Wasn't there somewhere more dignified I could steal from?

Couldn't help it now. I scaled the short wall and glanced inside from a high window. The only person inside was a short kid with spiky orange hair. He seemed impatient, like he was waiting for something. Easy. I dropped my hold on the wall and hit the grass with a thud. I opened the door to the lab.

The orange-haired kid looked up. "Finally-"

I tossed an empty pokeball at him, which he swatted away. It hit the ceiling and flew to the back of the lab, knocking over three other pokeballs carefully positioned on a table. All of them fell to the floor. "Sorry, I'm not a trainer yet," he said. "Come back in an hour and I will be."

"That's fine," I said to him. "Can I have my pokeball back?"

"Whatever. Come and get it."

I walked past him and picked up the four pokeballs on the floor. I put three back on the table and pocketed one.

"I'll be on my way, then..." I headed out, almost bumping into an old man who had just opened the door. "Oh, sorry."

"Who are you?" The man said.

"My name is Elizabeth, and I'm from Saffron," I lied. "My mother wanted to give you these. She's an employee of Silph Co. and wanted to say thanks for on behalf of the company for helping them develop something. I was just on my way out, since I thought you weren't here today." I handed the man a small box.

The man's face lit up. "Oh, Silph Co.! Tell her I said thanks, and ask if the prototype of the ball is finished."

"No problem. I'll be on my way now." I glanced back at the orange-haired kid. He didn't look suspicious. Instead, he yelled, "Gramps! What took so long? I've been waiting here forever!"

"Sorry, sorry," the old man said. A boy with a red hat, hidden behind the old man's larger frame, looked at me and glanced away. I slipped past them and walked out of the lab into the tall grass, where Xavier and his Golbat were waiting.

"I hope you weren't in there cutting holes in glass and disabling burglar alarms," Xavier said. "Nothing attracts unwanted attention more than kids acting like trained thieves."

"Don't worry," I reassured him. "I acted like a kid who wanted a battle."

Xavier turned to frown at me as his Golbat flew into the air, taking us in the direction of Celadon. "Would a kid who wanted a battle barge into a laboratory?"

"Well, a kid in the lab thought I was a trainer, so I went with it. Then some old man came in and I thought he was the professor, so I gave him the box you told me to. What was in that, anyway?"

"Just some homemade food. I heard he liked rice balls."

I raised my eyebrows at him, though his back was to me. Soon, we arrived at Celadon and headed back into the casino. Xavier turned and winked at me.

"Closed in honor of your thirteenth birthday, as the daughter of Stella and Adrian."

We headed downstairs into the Rocket hideout. I left Xavier and went to my room. Colton was sitting there—how he got inside, I don't know. I was about to ask, but he interrupted me impatiently.

"Well?" Colton demanded. "What kind of pokemon did you get?"

I remembered the three pokemon in their balls rolling around the floor, but not which one I'd taken. I took out the pokeball in my pocket and tossed it towards the ceiling. A small green thing with a bulb on its back popped out.

"What is that?" Colton asked. "Never seen it before."

"I got it from a pokemon lab. It's probably a rare one, but it looks really timid." I peered down at the green thing, which was about knee-height. It swatted a paw at my face so close up, then padded around the room. Colton chuckled, then picked up the pokeball.

"It's labeled 'Bulbasaur' on the bottom," Colton said, reading off the pokeball. "Must be a grass type. It looks like it has an unsprouted flower on its back."

"Aw, come on," I said. "I like Dark and Psychic types better. But I guess I can always get new pokemon."

"Yeah." Colton grinned at me. "Wanna train?"

"We're going to get in trouble," I warned, though I didn't mind the thought of seeing what my pokemon could do.

"Who cares? It's your birthday, and you're a Team Rocket member now!" I laughed and followed him out.

Xavier chuckled, shaking his head as he watched the two Rocketeer children head off to train. "Must be nice to be young."