Chapter 1: Adorable New Friend
He stood up against the wall, not wanting to sit in one of the office chairs. Doing that reminded him of all the instances he had been called in there when he knew he was in trouble, so he didn't sit. It was settling to know that he hadn't been asked to sit in a chair. That's how he knew he really was in trouble. Which was funny, because he himself was trouble.
His eyes were drawn to the door, which had opened due to a young red-haired woman his age. She was quite beautiful, although her personality was a bit haughty and arrogant. Well, he was arrogant himself, but that was beside the point. "I apologize for being late. I got caught up in something important."
He turned his attention to the man sitting at the front desk. The mustached man smiled. "Now that you're both here, we can begin."
He listened patiently to what his father had to say. "Our agents have recently spotted a Snubbull near the forests of Ekoda Town. From what they say, this particular Snubbull is very intelligent, using new innovations to protect its food and home, which is why it was so hard to find."
Kaito nodded. "So you think that this Snubbull might be of some use to us?"
"It's not only that, but while our scouts were looking for it, one of them accidently dropped a drive that contained important files. That Snubbull ran off with it and hid it somewhere."
Akako intervened. "And how are we supposed to find a single specific Snubbull out of all the others living there?"
"We were told that this particular Snubbull had gotten itself hurt, and can be identified by a large bruise on its head."
Kaito sighed. "So why does this concern us, Oyaji?"
His father smiled at this. "I want you two to work together and catch this Snubbull."
It was clear by the way both of them flinched, that the two of them thought it was a terrible idea. "B-But, Oyaji, I don't wanna work with her! And besides, I work alone!"
Akako nodded. "I'm afraid I must agree. I cannot for the life of me support working with him."
Of course, Toichi knew this was going to happen. "Now, now, you two. I know you may not want to do this, but I promise it's only for a short time. And besides, I already signed you up for it, so there really is nothing you could have done."
Kaito sighed, not at all surprised. "Okay fine."
Akako did the same. "I suppose we can work together, since it's only for a short time anyway."
Toichi smiled. "Good. I expect your full cooperation."
Even though Kaito had excepted the job, he was not happy about it. He knew his father would do something like that. It was always how he got him to do the things he really didn't want to. Working with Akako wouldn't be easy in the slightest. However, it had to be done. At least this job would require a visit to Ekoda town, where he was born and raised.
He smiled. "Who knows? Maybe I'll be able to see her again."
It was definitely strange indeed. Aoko could have sworn that she had five apples with her. Now she only had four. Oh well, maybe she had miscounted. Unassumingly, she ate one of the apples, resulting in there being three left.
Aoko had decided to eat her lunch outside today, because it was such a beautiful day. She had lived in Ekoda Town, and was coming of age to become a Pokémon Trainer. The thought excited her. Traveling across Japan, going on adventures, meeting new people, catching new Pokémon. It was just too exciting to think about.
Although, the problem lied in whether or not she would get to go. There were a lot of kids in her village, but only three starter Pokémon. So really, only three people would be leaving for a journey. If she couldn't get one, then she would be getting her hopes up for nothing.
Sighing, Aoko reached for another apple. The strange thing was, however, that there were only two. This was getting weird. She looked around for any little creature that might have been eating her food. Standing up, she peaked behind a tree to find a little pink blob, hungrily eating her apples. She watched it for some time, until it finished eating.
Turning around, it noticed her. The two didn't do anything, other than stare at each other in silence. Aoko didn't know every Pokémon there was to know, but she clearly recognized this one. "A-A Snubbull?"
Not only that, but this one seemed to have a big bruise on it's head. The little pink bulldog-like Pokémon, while having a face that looked angry, was absolutely adorable. Slowly, the little Snubbull started walking towards her. Aoko watched in curiosity. Once the Snubbull made it to her, it looked to her food basket and looked back up at her. Aoko blinked. "Are you hungry?"
The Snubbull nodded, and Aoko smiled. "Alright then. I brought too much for me, anyway."
Aoko and the Snubbull sat down, eating lunch together. Aoko enjoyed having the extra company. She hadn't interacted with very many Pokémon, so this was good practice.
Lunch was soon nearing it's end, so when Aoko wasn't looking, the Snubbull snuck into her lunch basket. "Do you want so-"
She looked around to find the Pokémon that had disappeared. "Oh, well I guess it left."
Getting up, Aoko picked the basket up off the ground. "Was it this heavy when I came here?"
Shortly after, she shrugged it off. Inside the basket, the little Snubbull waited patiently for them to reach their destination. It absentmindedly munched on some crackers nearby.
Just as well, it pulled out a little rectangular object that it had been hiding. Upon closer inspection, it looked to be a flash drive of some sort. The little Snubbull held the drive tightly in it's hands, not wanting to let it slip away.
