Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, Pokémon Adventures, Soul Silver/Heart Gold and their characters and plots. Just using them as a guide for this story, so it won't follow the plots exactly. (I do have a copy of both Soul Silver and Heart Gold, though XD)

I want to give a special thanks and shout out to KaiserNight for talking through ideas with me, giving me the ideas for some of the names and the title, and for reading through the chapter as I wrote it :)

"So, do you think we have enough members now?" a tall, red-haired woman huffed. "We've been recruiting for months."

"Yeah," said one man who was lounging on a couch. He had teal hair and was wearing a black beret. "I'm getting anxious."

"Yes," the leader of the group said. "You're right. We've been recruiting, and now it's time to get the word out there. Once they know of us, more will flock to us. Team Rocket will soon be returning."

The woman took out her Pokégear and clicked a few buttons. "Better let him know we're starting sooner than expected."

It was a bright, sunny morning and a middle-aged, brown-haired woman with kind, auburn eyes was preparing breakfast for her two children. Her eldest, age eighteen, Petrel, was home for a while before he had to leave for another school related project. Her youngest, age ten, Krisa, had to be up soon. Their neighbor, Professor Elm, had asked a favor of her which involved the girl running off on her own. Lyra wasn't thrilled with the idea of Krisa leaving home, but the truth was that all children her age needed to take this step. Besides, she would have Pokémon with her. She wouldn't be alone.

Looking at the clock, it was nearly ten in the morning, and both Petrel and Krisa were still in bed. Lyra knew her children liked to sleep in. Maybe once they were both on their journeys, they'd be broken from their bad habits. "Oh that girl," Lyra said in a chipper voice. She looked to the Pidgey standing next to her and smiled. "Flappy, will you go get Krisa? She only seems to get up when you wake her."

Flappy flew to Krisa's room and pulled the covers from over Krisa's head. The girl in the bed was still sound asleep. She had bright blue hair that that stuck out from all sides and extremely pale skin. Her soft snores filled the room and Flappy decided to jump on her and nudge her gently with his beak. Krisa shifted, turning over and yawning, before opening one of her big, brown eyes surrounded by blue, fluttering lashes. She smiled when she saw her flying friend. "Good morning, Flappy," she chimed sleepily as she sat up in bed. "Mm, I wonder what time it is."

The girl checked the clock on her nightstand which read ten-thirty. "Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed. "I'm late!"

Krisa quickly got out of bed, getting into her blue sweat suit and T-shirt and throwing on an orange cap to hide her bedhead. Checking her appearance out in the mirror, she smiled and then ran out of her room. She paused by her brother's room, seeing and hearing that Petrel was still asleep. Krisa tiptoed by his room so that she wouldn't wake him and then raced down the stairs with Flappy flapping behind her.

Lyra smiled when she heard her daughter running down the stairs. As Krisa entered the kitchen, she grabbed an apple and sat down at the table. "Well, look who's finally up," Lyra teased.

"Sorry mom," Krisa said meekly. "I'm so used to setting my Pokégear alarm."

"Oh, that reminds me!" Lyra said. "Your Pokégear came back from the shop this morning."

"Really?" Krisa asked happily.

"Uh-huh," her mom replied. "It's over there with your bag."

Krisa finished her apple and threw her core into the compost bag. She went into the living room and found her Pokégear and bag. Gathering the two items, Krisa stood at the door and waved goodbye to her mom. "I'll see you later," she called.

"Alright Krisa," Lyra called back. When she heard the door shut, she sighed and looked upstairs. "Now how to get Petrel up…"

Krisa gathered her bag on her shoulder, her pink Pokégear on her wrist, and Flappy's Pokéball in her bag's pocket before smiling at her flying friend. "Let's go, Flappy," she said grinning. "Professor Elm needs us." The two sped off to the lab together. It took them mere minutes to get there.

Outside the lab, Krisa saw a boy who looked to be around her age. He was wearing a black sweat suit and had long, red hair. Curious, Krisa walked over to him to ask him if he needed anything. "Hi," she greeted him.

The boy seemed startled by being seen by her and shot her a firm glare, his dark brown eyes hardened with anger. "What are you looking at?" he snapped before he pushed past her and left the scene. Krisa and Flappy looked to each other and shrugged and then entered Elm's laboratory. If the boy needed anything, he'd be back.

Professor Elm was waiting for Krisa in the back of his lab by his computer. When she came in, his aide brought her to him. Elm's face lit us as he greeted the young girl. "Krisa!" he exclaimed. "I've been waiting for you!" He started discussing he research, which the young girl kind of shrugged off for the moment. She had heard his spiel many times before, so she already knew what he was saying. "So, I need you to go pick something up for me from Mr. Pokémon. He's a colleague and friend and said he had something for my research. Would you mind picking it up for me?"

"Sure," Krisa replied. She always wanted to be of some help.

"Great!" Elm said in excitement. "Oh, I know you have your Pidgey, but I think you should have another Pokémon, just in case. I'm working with three now: the grass Pokémon, Chikorita; the fire Pokémon, Cyndaquil; and the water Pokémon, Totodile. I'd like you to pick one."

"Really?" Krisa asked, her eyes widening in awe. "Well okay."

She walked over to Elm's machine and looked inquiringly at the Pokémons' pictures and data. Being partial to fire types, she instantly settled on Cyndaquil.

"So, you've chosen Cyndaquil, huh?" Elm questioned. "That's the fire mouse Pokémon. Excellent choice."

The two of them then walked out of the lab, not noticing the shadow near the building. Krisa was ready to leave once Professor Elm had given her the directions. "Mr. Pokémon's house is just north of Cherrygrove," Elm told her. "Krisa, be careful."

"Don't worry, Professor Elm," she said with a determined smile. "I'll be careful."

Krisa made her way to Mr. Pokémon's house with little trouble. The day was beautiful, and it felt great to be out and about. The house, also, was not difficult to find. She politely knocked on the door and an elderly man dressed in a brown suit answered the door. "Oh!" he exclaimed. "You must be Krisa. Professor Elm told me you'd be coming." Krisa smiled and followed him inside the house. When she entered, she noticed another elderly man with graying hair sipping tea as Mr. Pokémon went into the other room. He came back into the room holding a large egg. Krisa tilted her head in curiosity, wondering what it was. "This is what I need you to take back to Professor Elm, Krisa," Mr. Pokémon told her. The other man simply stopped drinking his tea at that moment.

"What is it?" Krisa asked. "An egg?"

"Yes," Mr. Pokémon said with a grin. "A Pokémon egg to be exact. A friend gave this to me and I figured it would help Professor Elm with his research. Think you can get it to him safely?"

Krisa nodded and motioned to her two Pokémon. "Sure," she answered with certainty. "With Flappy and Flare with me, we'll be able to take care of that egg."

Krisa turned to leave and nearly crashed into the other man. "Oh, Krisa," Mr. Pokémon spoke up, "this is Professor Oak, a friend of mine and a colleague to Professor Elm."

Krisa stared at Professor Oak for a moment before he decided to talk to her. "You're helping him with his research?" Oak asked. He then grinned at the young girl when she nodded. "Your Cyndaquil and Pidgey seem to be very close to you," he observed. "Tell me, would you consider helping me out with my research too?"

"W-What is it?" Krisa asked.

"I'm glad you asked," Oak said as he took out a red machine that almost looked like a larger version of her Pokégear. "This is a Pokédex. It records information about the Pokémon you catch and then stores it in a larger database that I have access to. Actually, a Pokédex was stolen from me earlier today by some pickpocket, and I was hoping to meet a trainer I could trust. Think you're up to the challenge?"

"Sure!" Krisa exclaimed. "I'd love to help!"

"Excellent!" Oak joined in. "Also, I'd like to give you my number to keep you up to date on everything including upgrades, alright?"

"Okay," Krisa replied sweetly handing her Pokégear to the professor.

After she and Oak exchanged numbers, Mr. Pokémon suggested that Krisa return home before nightfall. Krisa agreed, storing the egg safely in her bag before heading back to New Bark Town. Once she hit Cherrygrove, though, the boy from Elm's lab ran into her since he was looking back towards New Bark Town and not paying attention. Just then, her Pokégear went off and she answered it.

"Krisa!" Elm exclaimed on the other line. "Get back here quick! Something terrible has happened!"

He hung up quickly as the red-haired boy chuckled darkly. "Why he would call you for this, I have no idea," he teased bitterly. "You look like a weakling."

Krisa glared at the boy and said, "My name is Krisa, you jerk."

This only served to amuse him more. That's when Krisa saw a Sneasel and a Totodile. "Hey, that's…" she started to say before realization overcame her features. "Did you steal that from Professor Elm?"

"Pretty smart, kid," he replied. "Now if you'll get out of my way-"

"No!" Krisa shouted narrowing her eyes at the boy before blocking his path with help from Flappy and Flare. The red-haired boy just stared at her blankly and looked over to his Pokémon. He nudged his head in her direction, signaling for them to attack. Both Pokémon charged towards her.

Flappy crossed in front of Krisa, going after the Totodile, while Flare tackled Sneasel. Sneasel dodged easily and quickly, evidence that it was a well-trained Pokémon. Totodile attempted to bite Flappy, but the ambitious Pidgey avoided it and hit the Totodile with its beak. The red-haired trainer glared over to Krisa, making her inwardly cringe. She got ahold of herself when Sneasel scratched Flare. That's when her trainer instinct kicked in.

"Flare, use smokescreen!" she called out loud enough for her Pokémon to hear. Her opponents were instantly surrounded by a cloud of thick, black smoke, making it more difficult for them to see. "Flappy, peck!"

As a Pidgey, Flappy was able to see, even in conditions with poor visibility. Due to losing his ability to see, the red-haired trainer couldn't counter her attack. Both his Pokémon landed near him, and he knew he had lost the battle. He called them back into their Pokéballs and chuckled again.

"You're good, for a weakling," the boy told her. "But I have more important things to do. I'm out of here."

"Wait!" Krisa yelled before grabbing onto his jacket causing his trainer card to fall out of his pocket.

He snatched it back from her quickly before running off. The glare he sent her spoke volumes. He knew she had seen his name. Silver.

When Krisa returned to the lab, she entered and was accosted by an officer. "So she's the thief, I see!" he assumed. "They always return to the scene of the crime."

"No, no, no!" Elm exclaimed. "This is Krisa. She's my neighbor who I sent out on an errand."

"Oh, well in that case," the officer said in an overdramatic fashion as he directed attention to the lab aide. "This man said that he saw the back of the thief's head and said it was a boy with red hair."

Krisa's face fell when she heard this, but more because she knew who the thief was. Still, to cover that up, she had to argue with the officer's logic. "But I'm a GIRL with BLUE hair," she stated. "How could you mistake that?"

"Anyway," the officer said, not even listening, "did you see this boy?"

"Well, I battled a boy, and he had Totodile," Krisa admitted.

"Oh, did you see his face, or catch his name?" the officer asked.

Krisa didn't know why, but for some reason she felt the need to protect the boy's identity. He had been cruel to her, but Totodile was already listening to him like he was its trainer. "I couldn't see his face," she lied. "He was wearing a black scarf. Also, I did see his trainer card. His name was, uh…Metal."

The officer took down all of the information and then tipped his hat. "That's all I need. Have a great day!"

He raced off quickly, leaving Krisa to feel somewhat torn about her lie. Before she could hone in on her guilt, Professor Elm spoke up. "So…with that out of the way, what did Mr. Pokémon have for me?"

Krisa smiled shyly before taking the egg out of her pack. If she felt bad for anyone getting hurt by her lie, it was Professor Elm. He had been like a father to her since hers and Petrel's passed away years before. Professor Elm, unaware of the girl's guilt, took the egg and started talking excitedly about the implications.

"This is great," he praised Krisa. "Thank you for picking it up for me."

"Not a problem," Krisa replied meekly. "I also met Professor Oak, and he gave me a Pokédex."

"Really?" Elm exclaimed. "That's great! Krisa, you know what that means? You should take the Pokémon League Challenge. The first gym is in Violet City."

Krisa thought about it for a moment before nodding. "That sounds challenging," she told him. "I better get home to tell mom." Professor Elm agreed as the girl was already out the door.

She jumped the fence into her yard and ran to into her home. "Mom, guess what?" she asked in excitement.

"What?" Lyra asked, although she was sure she already knew the answer.

"Well, Professor Elm gave me a new Pokémon and then I met Professor Oak, and to help him with his research, I'm going to take the Pokémon League Challenge. Elm thinks I should do it."

"That sounds like fun," Lyra said enthusiastically. "And I've already called in some camping and food supplies to the Cherrygrove mart for such an occasion. By the way, I'll start saving money for you."

Krisa ran over to hug her mother. "You're the best, mom," she whispered. Then she pulled away and smiled. "I need to go tell Petrel."

Lyra didn't get the chance to respond before Krisa fled to the stairs. She chuckled silently and shook her head. Her daughter spent so much energy during the day that knocked her out for the night. Maybe this journey would teach her to pace herself.

The young girl entered her brother's room only to find it empty. She walked around the room looking at all of his posters and then heard his Pokégear go off. It was lying on his desk, and she saw the name "Adriana." That's when she noticed all the papers on his desk. Her eyes widened in both shock and fear at what she read. All the papers were for the formerly disbanded Team Rocket, a group of Pokémon thieves that had been disbanded three years ago by a boy named Red. Krisa gasped, but then heard the footsteps of her brother returning to his room. She quickly threw herself into his closet.

"Alright, alright, I'm comin'," Petrel said as he entered his room. He went to his desk and picked up the Pokégear. "Whatda ya want, Adriana?" he asked. There was silence for a moment before Krisa saw her brother grin from her hiding spot. His eyes were dancing in mirth, his already small black pupils dilating with anticipation. "That soon, huh? Great, glad we finally got enough recruits for the new and improved Team Rocket…Nah, my family doesn't know anything. I'd like to keep it that way…Okay, see you in Violet City."

Petrel hung up his gear before leaving the room to tell his mother he'd be leaving earlier than planned. He wanted to say goodbye to his sister, but Krisa escaped with Flappy's help from the window in her room before he could have seen her. Krisa couldn't believe what she had overheard, but she couldn't face her brother after that. All she knew was that he was getting himself into trouble. Still, there was nothing she could do. She knew he was already in so deep from the papers she found, so if she wanted to save her brother, she would have to get stronger and stop him herself.

"Flappy, Flare?" she called to her Pokémon. "Think we can help Petrel?"

Both Pokémon replied with energetic calls, and Krisa felt empowered after that. If her Pokémon thought they could get her brother out of trouble, then they would. This time when she took her steps out of town, it was the first step to her newest mission.

Silver finally settled at a Pokémon center. His Sneasel and new Totodile were being checked out by the nurse. He sat back and thought about the battle he had with the blue-haired girl, Krisa he believed she told him. Unfortunately for him, she knew his name now too. He took out his trainer card and glared at it. No doubt that nosy girl would turn him in.

Just then, an officer entered the center. Silver kept his cool as he posted the wanted poster. The officer then walked over to where he was and asked to see his trainer card. Silver wondered if he had been caught, but when the officer handed him back his card and bid him a good day. Silver was slightly shocked, but didn't let it show as he moved to check the wanted poster.

It seemed that the aide he ran into only remembered his long, red hair. The facial features were covered up by a scarf he did not own. Not even his eyes were shown. He didn't understand where the idea of the scarf came from until he saw that the name of the person they were looking for was "Metal." For some reason he did not understand, Krisa lied for him.

Before he could think of the significance, the light to the examination room went off signaling that his Pokémon were healed. He didn't have time to think about this now as he checked his location on his jet black Pokégear. His next stop was Violet City, and he had a mission to complete.

Krisa was walking again on the route to Cherrygrove City. Before she had gotten too far, a boy with a Marill stopped her. She looked the boy up and down and saw that he had short, black hair covered by a black and yellow cap. Only a piece of his seemingly spiked hair peeked out. He had large, brown eyes and a cocky smile to match their determination. "Hey!" he called to her. "You a new trainer?" Krisa nodded in response before the boy ran to her. "Great! I'll show you how to catch Pokémon."

"But I already-"

"I insist," the boy said with a grin. "My name's Ethan." He offered her his hand to shake.

"Krisa," she replied, accepting the gesture.

"Anyways, let's head into the grass and I'll catch you a nice Pokémon."

He didn't notice Krisa's sad smile as she followed behind him. Flappy nudged her and quietly cried sadly knowing what the girl was thinking. Why, Petrel? she thought as her and the boy ran into a wild Rattata.

"Alright," Ethan said. "Now watch what I do."

Krisa smiled and rolled her brown orbs in both amusement and a hint of irritation. Ethan was a little too excited about teaching her to catch a Pokémon even though she already could, but she let him and watched his Marill battle. He caught the Rattata fairly quickly which did impress Krisa. After it was caught, he handed her the Pokéball.

"I think I'm going to name it Feisty," Krisa told him.

Ethan laughed at her and then smiled. "And that's how it's done, Krisa," he said kindly. "Now, um, where are you headed?"

"Cherrygrove," she replied. "I want to get there to stock up on camping supplies and then head to Violet City."

"Why are you headed to Violet City?" Ethan asked causing Krisa to mentally freeze.

"Okay, see you in Violet City."

"You should take the Pokémon League Challenge. The first gym is in Violet City."

"I'm taking on the Pokémon League Challenge," Krisa answered telling Ethan a half-truth. "Professor Elm said I should consider it since Professor Oak gave me a Pokédex."

"You know both Professor Elm AND Oak?" Ethan exclaimed in shock. "They're the best in the field of Pokémon research! Krisa, I know this is weird, but can I please, please have your number? I want to hear about your journey and research."

"Sure," Krisa chimed. "It's the least I can do for you after you caught Feisty."

The two exchanged numbers in their Pokégears and, before they realized, made it to Cherrygrove. There they parted ways as Ethan pressed on to Goldenrod and Krisa stopped at the Pokémart to pick up the supplies her mother had ordered. Once she picked up her tent, some non-perishables, Pokéballs, and medicine for her Pokémon, Krisa set off for Violet City. With Flappy, Flare, and now Feisty with her, she knew she'd be okay.