"Are you freakin' kidding me? I wake up at 6am, somehow drag my butt across half of Hoenn to get here, and you tell me the Professor is out?"

Well, this definitely wasn't a good start to my journey as a Pokémon trainer.

Flipping my coal-coloured hair over my shoulder, I sent the lab assistant my best glare. Slightly flustered, the man tried to explain exactly why the slacker - I mean, renowned professor - wasn't here. Apparently, he was doing field work (pfft, more like playing with some fluffy Pokémon) somewhere along Route 102, which, if I may add, I had just come through.

Sighing, I turned around and headed for the exit, planning on finding Birch myself so I could (finally) get my first Pokémon.

"So, Natsuki, have you decided which Pokémon to choose?" Professor Birch asked with a slightly guilty smile. I'd been right, the guy had completely forgotten about me and had left his lab to "bond" with some wild Poochyena. I'd shove a stick of pocky down his throat if I wasn't so addicted to it myself.

Staring intently at one of the three creatures before me, I slowly nodded my head before pointing to the water-type. "I'd like Mudkip, please."

At the mention of its name, said Pokémon lifted its head and blinked, before giving me (what I assumed to be) a smile.

Ooh, Saru was gonna throw a fit. My childhood friend – and according to her, my Number One Rival – had always loved fire types, and was overjoyed to find out she was going to live in Lavaridge Town, right by Hoenn's only active volcano. You can bet your ass she'll have gotten a fire-type starter. And you can bet that I'll kick her ass when I next see her. Hooray for water-types!

Leaving the lab with Mudkip's Pokeball clutched in my hand, I looked up at the sky and grinned to myself... and almost crashed into another Trainer (at least, she looked like one). Quickly twisting to the left, I avoided her, yet somehow managed to walk into the only sign in Littleroot Town. Hearing a snicker from behind me, I turned and glared at the girl as she smirked at me.

"Smooth," she scoffed, and entered the Lab, leaving me to rub my sore nose as I fought back tears. The stick of pocky I'd shoved in my mouth before was now lying in pieces on the path. This was so not my day.

Deciding it was probably a better idea to do something productive, i.e. not sitting on the ground all day, I got up and headed north. I think.

Several hours later saw Mudkip and myself wandering blindly through a thick, dark forest. To be honest, I had no idea there was such thick vegetation between Littleroot and Oldale... I knew there was forest to the east and west of Littleroot Town, but I went a different way!

Or did I? Heh, I really should have paid attention during those Geography classes. But they were so boring! I don't care about the alternating currents near Pacifidlog Town! Still, I was starting to regret not bringing a town map along with me. I should've probably packed a compass too... or borrowed a Nosepass from the day-care (although I doubt one could fit in my bag).

Panting heavily, I collapsed under a tree and tossed my bag to one side. Perhaps a little too far to the side, because it continued rolling and tumbled down the side of the hill. This was kind of strange, as I didn't recall climbing uphill at all. Hm, suspicious. Or maybe I was just too tired to notice. "Why me?" I sighed, before practically crawling in the same general direction my bag had gone, with Mudkip trailing after.

"Hah! Found you, ya bitch!" Clinging to my bag, I let out a rather loud exclamation, resulting in Mudkip looking at me like I was an idiot. "May the legendary Pokémon spit on you from the clouds, if you ever escape again!" Okay, maybe I was an idiot.

After a surprisingly long trek downhill (I still denied climbing it in the first place), I'd located the runaway bag wedged between a couple of trees. Eventually yanking it free, I glanced at the sky.

"Holy Shiftry! When did it get so dark?" All that pointless walking sure made time fly. Doing some mental calculations in my head, I realised we'd entered this forest over five hours ago. And we hadn't eaten in that time, either! How could I have forgotten something so impor-

Both mine and Mudkip's growling stomachs interrupted my thoughts. 'Heh, right on cue...' I thought, opening my already-dirty bag and removing some Pokémon food and a box of pocky (I told you before, I'm addicted to it). Pouring some of the former's contents into my hand, I stuck my arm out to Mudkip. "I know it's not much, but I have no idea how long we'll be in here for..."

Sniffing it cautiously – we'd only just met, really, and you shouldn't accept food from strangers, right? – the small Pokémon prodded my hand with its nose. After deciding neither the food nor my hand would bite it, he took a piece, chewing slowly. His joyful cry told me it was indeed edible and enjoyable too, so I began crunching my pocky as he devoured the remaining pellets.

It was only a few minutes later when we heard a high-pitched screech, and I sprung to my feet, with Mudkip somehow balancing on my head. Turning a full 360°, I relaxed slightly, seeing nothing.

Letting out a breath I didn't realise I'd been holding, I reached up to Mudkip, only to be hit in the back by something and knocked off-balance. My thoughts were something along the lines of 'What the hell was that?' as I swivelled to the side, looking for both my Pokémon and whatever it was that had attacked us. Luckily, I located my partner first, so I grabbed him fled through the trees, which was stupid due to several reasons. First of all, whatever was chasing us could fly frustratingly fast, so I'd never be able to outrun it. Second, the only light I had was the moon and stars, so I pretty much ran head-first into every tree this forest had to offer. And finally, I'd left my bag behind. I was really starting to hate that thing.

Still running in what I hoped was a straight line, I told Mudkip my ingenious plan: "When I turn around, you attack them with Water Gun! Then, we go and get my bag (again), and get outta this place!" What did I tell ya? Pretty damn clever, huh? No? Mudkip didn't think so, either. But it's difficult coming up with an idea while running for your life, and I could feel my head throbbing from the numerous lumps the bloody trees had given me.

Wheezing, (sure, I could sprint, but running for long periods of time in an over-grown forest at night was exhausting) I skidded to a stop, and turned around to stand by Mudkip's side. We stood there silently – well, my partner did, I was practically hyper-ventilating – awaiting our pursuer like the fools brave warriors we were.

Neither of us heard them coming. We only saw the gaping mouths between the bushes and trees, with the moonlight reflecting of their razor-sharp teeth.

Maybe I should've kept running. Maybe I should have trained with Mudkip more.

Maybe I should've brought a map.