As the sun rose in Maloni, a very subtle winter breeze blew through Litoire Town. In Professor Waratah's laboratory, she awoke with the realisation that the three starter Pokémon would be taken by three kids—a boy named Jay, another boy named Matthew and a girl named Jaiden. Jaiden was known for being the daughter of Vincent, the founder of the Foundation for the Protection of Pokémon Outside of Battle.

This organisation was founded on the principle of Pokémon protection and conservation, and most of Jaiden's family supported this principle. But one person disagreed with this—Pat, Vincent's younger brother. Instead, he was more into the mistreatment of Pokémon, especially the Ice types. This was because Ice type Pokémon seemed to be rare in Maloni. Two of these were the legendary Pokémon Exitimu and Prasidimu. Both were related somehow, and according to Maloni myth both were created by an unknown Pokémon. Pat's daughter, who people referred to as simply 'the interesting one', or Tio, shared the same opinion as him. She had grown so used to that name that she adopted that as her actual name.

Jaiden and her mother had moved to Litorie Town some weeks before. Originally, they had lived in Ningrey City, a city in southeastern Maloni. However, they were required to move because Vincent had caught a dangerous disease, which required him to stay in with doctors. It was unknown how and why he got this illness, but he could not head the foundation because of it. Instead, he made the worst decision in his entire life. He let Pat lead the foundation. "I'm gonna regret this," sighed Vincent. "But Jaiden's too young and I'm too ill."

"You won't," Pat snarled. "I'm gonna make you proud."

Meanwhile, Jay was awoken by a shout. "Jay, time to get up!" shouted his mum. "You know today is the day when your journey starts!" Jay walked down the stairs and yawned. Being not much of a talker, he simply nodded. "Also, you'll need to get changed," she added. "I'll get your bag from the kitchen, but you'll need to get everything else. Your flask and all the other things you need are in your bag."

Jay ran into his room and changed into a lilac shirt and grey trousers. He ran his comb through his hair, then brushed his teeth. He was not hungry, as he had had a large meal the night before. Once he'd got out of the bathroom and received his bag, there was a knock at the door. "Hello!" said a girl, once the door was opened. "I'm Jaiden."

"Hi," said Mum. "Jay, this is Jaiden." Jay waved, though he wasn't paying attention because he couldn't find his phone.

Next, Matthew left his house, en route to Ecinca Town, a little town just across from his home. "Oh! Hello!" exclaimed Matthew, noticing Jaiden at Jay's door. "I know you from somewhere."

"What?" said Jaiden.

"Oh! I'm not trying to be creepy," he said. "I just know you 'cause—"

"My dad? I get that a lot," she replied.

Professor Waratah arrived at the house at that moment. "Hello," she greeted. "Are Jay, Jaiden and Matthew in here?"

"Yep!" shouted Matthew. "I was wondering where you were!"

"Well, I'm here now," she said. "All of you are starting your Pokémon journey today, correct?" Jay nodded.

"You'll need to come to my laboratory, then," Waratah added. "You'll make the important decision in your life there."

Five minutes later, all three kids had gathered in the lab. Professor Waratah pointed to three Poké Balls that were on a counter. "Each Pokémon contains one Pokémon," she stated. "Punicin, the Grass type, is in the one on the left. Slithurn, the Fire type, is in the one in the middle. Splashalf, the Water type, is in the one on the right. Choose wisely."

Jay was the first to go up. After some thought, he chose Punicin. "Good choice! The Flower Penguin Pokémon." Jaiden went up next. She chose Slithurn. "Nice, the Burning Adder Pokémon." Finally, Matthew chose his Pokémon, Splashalf. "Cool! The Baby Water Elephant Pokémon."

Once everyone had obtained their starters, the professor handed them all a small device. "The Pokédex, right?" asked Matthew.

"Yes," she replied. "This may look small, but it is very important. Every time you catch a Pokémon, it automatically records their data. Every Pokémon has a Pokédex entry, too. I want you to fill this up with as much information as possible."

"Okay," said Jaiden.

"Try it out!"

The three sent their Pokémon out of their Poké Balls, then Jay touched the screen and the Pokédex turned on. He put the Pokédex in front of Punicin and it scanned it immediately. '#001. Punicin, the Flower Penguin Pokémon.' it read, 'The first Punicin was created after a Piplup accidentally travelled from the Antarctic regions south of Maloni to the lush pomegranate forests nearby. It ate one and transformed into Punicin as it wasn't used to it.' Jaiden went next, scanning her Slithurn. It read, '#004. Slithurn, the Burning Adder Pokémon. Slithurn is very clumsy and will often accidentally set other Pokémon on fire using hypnosis. It will often refuse to hypnotise Pokémon when told to, though.' "I'll train it very well, though!" she cried. Matthew scanned Splashalf. '#007. Splashalf, the Baby Water Elephant Pokémon. Splashalf is very lightweight for an elephant. It is also the only one in its evolutionary line that can breathe and swim underwater.'

"Nice! I wanna go outside and train immediately!"

"Do you know the basics of Pokémon training and catching, yet?" asked the professor.

"Well, not exactly."

"I'll meet you on Route 1 and I'll introduce you to it. You can battle, but I'm unsure if you know how," stated Professor Waratah.

"We'll play it on the safe side," said Jaiden. "I don't want my Pokémon hurt this early in the journey." The boys agreed and left the lab. Jaiden left after.

"Walnaby, get ready," muttered the professor. "We're catching a Pokémon." She grabbed a Poké Ball from her desk and ran outside.

Meanwhile, all three novice Trainers went back to their house. "That's a nice Pokémon you've got there," said Jay's mum, who was looking at his Pokédex while Jay packed the Poké Ball in his bag. "Punicin." At Jaiden's house, her mum was surprised.

"You're one of those people who like to be safe," she murmured. "I wouldn't think you'd choose such a rough Pokémon."

"I'll train it well, don't worry," exclaimed Jaiden. Matthew's dad was pleased.

"Splashalf! I had one of these when I was your age. Best part of my team, let me say!" he chortled. "Its evolution is very strong."

"Dad, I know. That's why I chose it."

"Ready?" Professor Waratah questioned once everyone was on the route.

"Yep!" they shouted (except for Jay, who made an OK sign with his right hand). She walked into the grass and a Pokémon jumped out of it almost immediately. "Punctunny!" noted Matthew.

"Yes!" she replied. "Anyway, the first thing you need to do is weaken the Pokémon. Go, Walnaby! Use Tackle!" It weakened Punctunny, however it was not enough to catch it. The Punctunny used Growl. "Now, use Bite!" Punctunny's HP was lowered. "Now throw a Poké Ball!" A Poké Ball was thrown at Punctunny. The ball vibrated twice, then the Poké Ball closed. Punctunny had been caught.

"Wow! That's amazing!" cried Matthew.

"Now I want you to do the same. There's more than a hundred Pokémon in this region alone," said Professor Waratah. "There's another town across this route—Ecinca Town. If you need to heal, there's a Pokémon Centre in the town. And before I forget, here are five Poké Balls. Use these to catch your own Pokémon."

"Okay!" said Jaiden. "Hey, do you guys wanna battle?"

"Sure!" Matthew agreed. Jay nodded.

"I'm gonna battle Jay first!" shouted Jaiden.

The two sent out their starter Pokémon. "Use Tackle!" shouted Jaiden. Punicin received five HP of damage, however this was not enough t0 hurt it much. Jay used his Pokédex to tell Punicin to use Vine Whip. It wasn't very effective, however it somehow damaged it more than Slithurn's Tackle. On the next turn, Punicin outsped Jaiden's Slithurn and it used Vine Whip again; strangely, it almost KO'd Slithurn. On the next turn, both trainers told their Pokémon to hit at the exact same time, and whichever Pokémon would respond faster would win. However, both Pokémon used their move in unison. Had Punicin been slower, Slithurn would have won. Punicin noticed this and dodged out of the way of the opposing Pokémon's attack, then hit a Tackle at Slithurn. Jay had won.

"It is a custom for Trainers to hand out money to the winner of the battle if they have lost, so here," said Jaiden. She handed Jay one hundred Pokémon Dollars.

"Woah!" cried Professor Waratah, who was about to go back to her laboratory before the battle commenced. "You knocked out a Fire type with a Grass type! Grass is weak to Fire!"

"Can I heal your Pokémon?" asked Matthew. They nodded and Matthew sprayed a Potion on Punicin, then walked over to Slithurn and used a Revive and a Potion on it.

"Thank you," said Jaiden.

"I don't want to fight you," sighed Matthew. "I don't want to put anymore pressure on Punicin." Jay mouthed 'that's fine'.

"We need to get every Gym Badge in Maloni. The nearest one to Litoire Town is in Bilbemu City," said Jaiden.

"Isn't the leader Pierre?" questioned Matthew.

"Yeah. He specialises in Rock types. If you wanna defeat him or any of the Gym's trainers, a Steel, Fighting or Ground type is a good choice," explained Jaiden. "Grass and Water are also super effective, but you'll probably need to train your starters until they're at least level 10."

"There's also quite a few Seedlinos in Route 1 and 2. I'd say get one and evolve it into Saplino. It levels up quite fast," said Professor Waratah. "Also, there's not really any point of being in the town anymore."

"Okay, let's go our separate ways. I'm going to get a few more Pokémon for my team, but you can do whatever you like," said Jaiden.

"Ditto," said Matthew.

The three walked away from each other. Though they went to different places, the first place they went was Route 1—Jaiden walked into the grass, Matthew searched for items and Jay dashed through the grass as quick as he could. He very quickly ran into a Pokémon; a female Punctunny. Punicin used a Vine Whip, then Jay threw a Poké Ball at it. It caught it and the Pokédex scanned it. '#010. Punctunny, the Dark Rabbit Pokémon. Punctunny may look cute, but don't be fooled. Its teeth are unusually pointy and it will use this to pierce the skin of the unwary.' Jay picked up the Poké Ball and put it in his bag. He then quickly glanced at the calm ocean water, and a person fishing. He smiled very slightly, then ran to Ecinca Town.