He was standing at the docks of Snow point city, waiting to get on the ship headed for the Hoenn Region. It was his first adventure away from home. In the distance he could see a classy looking ship in the horizon coming into the dock. As it got closer, the inscription on its side became more and more visible: 'The Royal Unova'.

'The Royal Unova?' he muttered to himself thinking back, wondering if he knew it from somewhere. He couldn't recall hearing it anywhere. He continued to watch it intently as it slowly began docking. He wondered if this was the ship he was to be taking to Hoenn.

The ship let down its gang plank and off it stood a young girl with Brownish red hair in a blue midriff and short shorts; he couldn't help but stare at her, something about her felt odd, It was a feeling as though they would meet again soon. Then he noticed the man standing next to her, he felt uneasy as he watched him walk beside her. He shook his head and turned back to watch the ship take on a new set of crew and more passengers and then sailed away, fading into the distance as fast as it had come into view.

Hours passed before a smaller boat, travelling faster than the Royal Unova arrived in the horizon, it came to the dock quickly and stopped at a halt alongside the dock, it's gang way was let down and an announcement was then made to all passengers travelling to the Hoenn region to board the ship in front of them, The people surrounding him quickly shuffled towards the boat, some shivering violently. He felt sorry for them feeling cold, he was standing warm in his long skinny jeans and worn leather jacket; his black hair covered his ears. He had decided to wear red fingerless gloves for the weather, and he stood in his high ankle basketball sneakers. After another 10 minutes he was finally on the gangway to boarding his ship. He kept thinking back to that girl and the guy standing next to him. He shook the thought from his head and began thinking back to all the research he had done on the Hoenn region, all about the terrain, the known Pokémon, the professor for that region, even the local folklore about the legendary Pokémon Rayquaza.

'All passengers please report to the upper most deck for the mandatory muster. I repeat, please report to the upper most deck for you mandatory muster. That is all' The announcement ended with a loud click. He had decided he would go there first and then visit his cabin, as he was walking up the stairs, he noticed a girl behind him with long flowing blonde hair just past her waist, she had it parted so her whole face was in view, she was wearing a long white dress with a small fleece jacket. A Squirtle stood at her ankles blowing bubbles from its mouth at her ankle.

'Karen please stop that you're making a mess of me and the boat' she said, looking down at the small Pokémon with a flare of anger in her voice. Corey turned towards the young lady and just chuckled to himself.

'You got that Squirtle in a trade didn't you?' the small Pokémon continuing to blow dust at her feet.

'Urgh, yeah, I guess you could say that.' She said looking up with a hint of sadness in her voice this time.

'I can help you if you like, I have a Pokémon myself.' He said stepping down from the stairs and pulling out his poke ball, which had been hanging at his waist, hidden by his Jacket. He held it out and faced it in her direction. A bolt of red lighting shot out striking the ground with little force. It disappeared and out of it appeared a Young Riolu, it stood in a cute little stance ready to fight, seeing the small Squirtle it thought it was to be battling and quickly let out a Force Palm hitting the small Squirtle square in the forehead. It stood there paralysed for a few moments

'RIOLU! Stop!' He shouted quickly. He began sweating. He was feeling like a fool right now. The Riolu turned to its trainer with a puzzled look 'Rio?' it asked. Suddenly the small riolu was attacked from behind by the Squirtle's tackle attack. Corey quickly whipped out his poke ball and withdrew the Riolu. The Squirtle who was lining up another attack ran at the Riolu who, as the move was about to connect, was withdrawn, the gible continued running till it connected with Corey's ankles

'Ah Shi- damn it!' He yelled cussing as he pounced up and down on one foot

'Oh my god! I'm so sorry about that... Squirtle, Return!' She motioned the poke ball at its direction and with a flash of red it was gone, returned to its little red and white ball. Corey still stood, hopping on one foot and clutching his ankle muttering the words 'damn it!' over and over again. The woman ran over to him, and quickly told him to take a seat. She checked his ankle.

'Well, I can tell you now, you're gonna have a nasty bruise but other than that it will be fine.' She smiled as she continued to check his ankle. She realised what she was doing and blushed. She then stood up and began apologising.

'Nnggnn, sorry, I'm sorry I shouldn't have...' she said as her sentences became more and more muddled.

'Stop. Talking. Now. Please.' He said still clutching his ankle. The girl stopped talking, but stood there quietly blushing.

'Now tell me,' He paused. 'What is your name?' he asked her, staring into her eyes with no visible expression on his face, it was as though he was staring into her Soul.

'My name? My name is.. urgh, what was it again... oh yeah! It's Catherine, Catherine Banks.' She replied, her cheeks ruby red by now.

'Catherine Banks, aye? Cute. Mine's Corey Varady. I'm from Canalave City, what about you, where are you from?' He replied, breaking the trancelike stare he had on her, by looking out the door to his right. He slowly stood up and bounced on his ankle a little bit, after he was sure he could walk without pain, he began walking up the stairs

'Come on we've wasted enough time, we must hurry to the muster, otherwise the boat is unable to leave.' He hurried Catherine up the stairs. They finally arrived at the top deck in a pant, he noticed the crowd of people standing around two staff members. One was demonstrating how to put the life jacket on, The Captain narrating the display from his area on the navigation deck. After this was done Corey told Catherine he was going to head back down to his Cabin for a while, they exchanged cabin numbers then parted ways without another word or glance back.

2-3hours later

Corey lay on his bed, his shoes on the floor and his jacket hung over his cabin door knob. He had gone to his cabin to sleep, for he had always been lazy like that and after a day like today he was ready for it. He laid in bed just staring at the ceiling thinking about the day gone by. After a while, he checked his watch. It was already 6:30PM, and his stomach was growling. He figured he should get some dinner before doing anything else. He pulled his shoes on, sprayed some deodorant, grabbed his jacket and began the walk up to the dining room. The seas must have been rough because the ship was like a leaf in the wind being taken where it was pushed

He arrived at the dining room just as Catherine was walking up.

'Catherine!' He shouted, waving his hand up in the air and doing an awkward jog that looked more like a running duck, due to the ship's rocking and rolling. She chuckled sheepishly at his awkward jog but stopped when he started to glare at her. She felt bad for a second before he began laughing himself, and they walked into the dining room side by side.

As they ordered their meals for the night they let their Pokémon out and eat something themselves.

'So... Tell me about your squirtle and how she got her name.' He asked while slicing up his Prime Rib Steak.

'Well it goes like this...'

'Hahaha this is so fun isn't it, Karen?' Catherine shouted out to her friend as they were playing in the playground.

'Teehee, yes it is. Quick, let's go play in the forest, I wanna show you something.' She replied playfully.

The two girls were both 13 at the time; they had been friends since they could remember. Karen was leading her friend through a forest, every step taking them deeper and deeper, as they kept going things became more and more creepy. Catherine started slowing her pace while Karen continued to run ahead.

'Karen! Please wait up, I'm scared!' She replied with a hint of fear and began clutching herself and hunching her back keeping her head low. Karen began running back to her frightened friend in need of assistance.

'Come on I'm here and I'll protect you with my squirtle.' She replied holding up the Pokéball shooting a reassuring smile towards her friend.

'OK but at least let it out with us now,' she replied, the fear still obvious in her voice. Catherine knew this was a bad idea, but why should she believe her friend would betray her? She felt guilty for having that moment of doubt, but she still couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't quite right about the forest. The duo continued through the forest. Karen slowed her pace.

'It's not far now, come on keep up!' She shouted behind herself.

What does she want to show me that is so important? She thought to herself, still unsure of what was going on. Minutes passed and finally it came into view. Karen's face lit up like a Christmas tree as she ran ahead; she had found it, The Old Chateau.

'This, This is what I wanted to show you.' She announced with a smile going from ear to ear.

'Come on, let's go inside!' she shouted to her friend as she ran into the building bursting through the door. Catherine felt reluctant and decided to wait outside. She waited and waited with no sign of Karen returning.

'HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-' a blood curdling scream for help suddenly came from inside the house but it was cut short for some mystifying reason. Catherine ran into the Old Chateau without a second thought. She burst through the door way and began looking around. She couldn't see anything. She checked the room on her right, nothing. She ran out of the room and tried the one on the other side of the room, again nothing. She ran up the stairs and began checking in all the rooms... Nothing. She finally came to one last room. And there it lay. On the floor was a severed arm with a Pokéball in hand and blood splashed against the wall.

Catherine screamed. She picked up the Squirtle, which had been Karen's, and ran. She just ran until she came to a city she had never been before. She ran to the Pokémon centre with tears streaming down her face. She asked for Nurse Joy to call Officer Jenny. Officer Jenny investigated the scene and had concluded it to be the work of a known Pokémon: Gengar. Why it did this was not known nor how to find or catch it but the arm definitely been removed by the move shadow claw. Catherine cried for months, she had decided to keep the Squirtle and she had it nicknamed Karen in memory of her close friend...

Catherine finished her tale tears starting to stream down her face.

'That's basically what happened... they never have found that Gengar.' She replied, trying to hold back more tears.

'Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, are you alright now?' he replied, feeling bad about asking her now.

'No, I'm fine. I'll live, but this is why I'm going to Hoenn. To get away from Sinnoh and start a new life.' She had stopped the tears now, and wiped her face with her napkin.

'Well I'm on my way to Hoenn to start my new adventure. I've travelled all around Sinnoh; I know all that can be known. Now I'm going to do the same for Hoenn.' He said and stared out the window, watching the sea spray past him. He felt sorry for Catherine.

'Is there anything I can do to help?' He asked while looking out the window.

'No there isn't really unless you know a place to stay in Hoenn, I was so rushed in moving here I forgot to find somewhere to stay' She asked feeling ashamed, not really making her feel any better

'Well, not really no. I was just gonna stay where ever I could you know cause I'm taking on the league here this time, I didn't back in Sinnoh.' He seemed to be entranced while looking through the window.

'Oh.' She just said sounding disappointed. 'Well if it's ok with you can I travel with you?' She asked looking up at Corey with a hint of hope. Corey was stunned and shocked he hadn't expected this in any of his planning for this trip.

'Sure why not.' He said with a grin on his face. He continued to look down at his steak as he finished off the last slice of meat.

'Really?' Catherine asked 'Oh my god this is great, her tears had completely stopped now and she was smiling happily

'Hey Catherine, look at that!' He said pointing out through the window of the ship. He was just beginning to see land on the horizon. This was it; this was his new adventure...