Rolling waves and beautiful beaches, the Sun beaming across my face with the delicious sea breeze blowing through my hair. I can feel the sand inbetween my toes as the gentle waves wash across my bare feet. I watch as some Krabby fight over something in the sand a few yards away. This is the life I have always wanted. If only every day was like... OUCH!

I open my eyes in shock to see a little brown fur ball nibbling on my big toe with a excited expression on her face while waving her tail back and forth wildly.

"Ow, Damn it Rin! What did I tell you about those rude morning wake-up calls." I yelled with a furrowed brow. "What if I bit your tail, how would you feel?!"

I watch as the young Eevee squeaks loudly and jumps under my blanket while giving a light whine. I start to feel a little ashamed that I just yelled at my only friend I have in this little apartment. I slowly picked Rin up and start petting her head and I can start to feel her relax.

"Shhhh, I'm sorry little one, I didn't mean to yell like that." I whisper as I watch the sadden look leave her face and her tail starts to wag slowly."That's a good girl, well lets eat breakfast."

I get up and walk through my small apartment. I see a few pictures of my family on the table as I walk over towards the kitchen. My family lives in Shalour City which is on the west side of the Kalos region. I left when I was 17 to get a job in construction out in Lavender Town which is a small town on the most western side of Kanto. My apartments not all that bad but this town is boring as Hell! Nothing but small residential area and Lavender Tower which is the only real sight for anyone to see. Not to mention that this "sight" is just one giant grave for Poke'mon who have passed on in the Kanto Region. Talk about doom and gloom, right? I look over towards Rin whose prancing around my small living room.

Rin is my only Poke'mon. She doesn't live in a Poke'ball or anything as I picked her up on my travels about a year ago. She was hurt on the side of the road as I was traveling to Cerealian Town on the way here. She had a cut on her head and bruises everywhere. I realized she was just a pup who must have been abandoned by her parents. I never wanted to be any kind of Poke'mon trainer or anything but I couldn't just leave her there. I'm not heartless. So I picked her up and took her to a Poke'mon Center where they gave her treatment for free( Oh thank God, I'm too poor for medical bills) and she has been following me ever since.

I turn to look at Rin with a large grin across my face.

"Hey Rin, it's Sunday and you know what that means." Rin eyes gleam at me with excitment," WAFFLES!"

Afterour delicious breakfast, me and Rin sit on the couch and turn on my little TV to watch the upcoming Kanto Elite four challenge that happens twice a year. We watch as an Charizard and a Gengar go at it. Maybe someone might actually make it to the Champion this year. No one has seen Red battle in ages. I might not be a trainer but I love watching battles since I was young but never had the chance due to our family always being low on money.

While I was lost in thought my PokePad gets an Email.

"What now, if its Bob about the stupid report..."My voice trails off as I look at the mail, no way,"No way, no way, NO WAY!" Rin jumps off my lap startled and frantic due to my loud outburst then stares at me before squeaking as I pick her up and start jumping around the apartment.

"You wouldn't believe it Rin! The famous researcher Prof. Oak is coming to Town and asked the mayor Mr. Pokemon to pick two people who he believes will be able to help with his research projects for other Countries like Hoenn and Johto and... wait for it... I'M ONE OF THEM!" And the best part is that its a Government run project so they pay us for traveling expensives and supplies."SCREW THIS CRAPPY JOB, WOOOOOOOOTTTTT! I'm free!"

Without realizing it I was violently shaking Rin in my excitment for the possibility of an upcoming adventure. I finnaly get to make something of my life. Took too damn long though. I start to slow my crazy shaking when I hear Rin's vioce start to trail off. I look at the fluffball in my hands and realized what I was doing.

"Oops sorry Rin. Maybe I need to be careful before I'm forced to go to that sight. What was it again, ' ' or something?"

I put Rin down and she starts dizzily stumble around the room. I finish reading the email to see that I need to be at the Poke'mon Center at 9 o'clock on Tuesday. Well I guess I'm going to have to talk to Big Boss Bob about me quiting at Poke'Builders. Why does everything have fucking "Poke'" in it nowadays, hm?

I look at Rin who was just giving me that loving stare she always does.

"Well you wanna go play outside" I said to the little Poke'mon with a smile.

She gives me a cry of joy as we walk out of our home.

"Maybe we can find Corey and brag about to this to his face" I exclaim with a huge grin across my face and a little bark in return from Rin.

We start to walk down the stairs of our place which is on the fifth floor of the twenty floor apartment complex called Lavender Heights. As we reached the bottom of the stairs I notice some kids coming back . I notice the they are the Angelucci kids from nextdoor. Two of them run up towards Rin while skipping.

"Hi Rin! You wanna play?" Said Sara, the middle aged girl of the three. She was about 10 Years old and always full of spirit, " We even bought a new ball with our allowance at the Poke'Mart for you to play with!"She then turns to the youngest sibling Laura who was only about 7 years of age."Right Laura?"

Laura looks at Rin with a smile rivaling her sister's, " Ya, lets play!"

"Alright you two, calm yourselves, you don't want to bug George do ya?" I look to the side to see Tony, the oldest of the three and the only boy, walk up. He looks at me and asks," Do you mind if the girls play with Rin for a little while? They really do love your Eevee."

"No prob man", I look over at Tony with an excited smile on my face,"I feel bad if they don't get to play before I leave."

Tony suddenly looks at me in surprise,"Your leaving? Why?"

The smile I had only gets bigger as if its going to fall of my face," I was chosen by the mayor to represent the Prof. Oak as one of his researchers. I'm gonna be sytarting my Poke'mon journey like in all those books you guys read nowadays."

Tony gives me a smile right back,"Well don't worry Bro, I'll be right behind you. Mom says I can start traveling with Poke'mon when I turn 16 in a few months."

"I won't wait too long you know. Hopefully we will get in a few good battles when we meet." I exclaim loudly before turning to see the girls playing fetch with Rin. Soon I will leave this place and even though I have only been here for a year now, Im going to miss this boring old place.

After about thirty minutes of small talk with Tony, I call out to Rin. "Hey Rin, we got to get going, we need to do a little test run to see if your ready for Poke'mon battles."

Rin stops and looks at the Sara and Laura with a pout and runs to my side. We start to walk away before I hear Tony yell something, "Don't you get too far ahead you hear!"

We head to one of the open parks on the outside of town while looking at the foliage and scenery of the mountain range close by when we suddenly smell smoke on a draft of wind. Not the fire kind of smoke but the smell of sweet and savory Barbeque. I look over at Rin who was slightly drooling, and like on instinct, we simultaniously bolted towards the smell's source with free food on our minds. We travel through a forest pass and end up next to the nearby river, we then notice what seemed to be a large Magikarp roasting on a Barbeque Pit. When I realized that it was someone cooking I looked around for the cook but Rin, ohhh but Rin, she bolted and started to chew on the still cooking fish with her usual happy-go-lucky-not-a-care-in-the-world face. I start to think of the consequences of our actions and decide it might not be the best idea to steal someones food. I would be pissed if someone took my hard earned food but thats only because I'm poor as hell.

I walk up and try to pull Rin off the half roasted fish but she wouldn't budge. After a few unsuccesful tries I procceded to just give up. Maybe she learned the move Bite or something. I start to chuckle a little from the thought of how hunger can help a Poke'mon learn a new move so quickly.

As I attempt to tear the little rascal off one more time I hear a familiar voice.

"Hey man, Its not cool to eat others well earned food you know? It took us forever to catch that Magikarp without any kind of Rod."

I turn to see a usual face from work show up. His name is Corey. Dirty blond hair and a black beany witha red flame symbol on the side. He is in his usual nonworking attire which consist of a crimson shirt with a black strip running down the right side and a pair of blue denim jeans. He also wearing his favorite brand of shoes, Good'ol Chucks.

Next i see a red blur rush past his feet towards the roasting karp knocking Rin right off. I turn in quickly to see it was Corey's Growlithe apparently defending its dinner. In defeat Rin slowly trudges to my side and gives me a puppy-eyed look that she only uses to get something she wants.

I look at her,"No, that wasn't even your food to begin with so maybe you will learn your lesson about proper manners," I then turn to Corey," so what the Hell you doin all the way out here for man?"

"Im just training Growlithe like I always do every weekend, ecspecially now that I have been chosen to be one of Prof. Oaks assistants. A few of his retired and he needs new travelers, It's like a free paid ticket to travel the world as a Poke'mon trainer."

Wait, did I hear him correctly? Did he say he was also one of the chosen candidate?Then the realization of the situation hit me.

"NO FUCKING WAY!"I end up blurting out loud while startling Rin and Corey while Growlithe just continues to chew on a Magikarp bone without a care in the world.

"Woah man, just chill out. What are you screaming about?" Corey says in retort.

"Dude,"I look at Corey with a serious stare,"I'm the other candidate!"

"Heh," Corey chuckles at the thought,"so why did Mr. Poke'mon choose you I wonder. Your not a bad person but you seem harmless and obviously not the trainer type unlike me. Maybe he needs some pansey with a weak Poke'mon like Eevee to travel. Me and growlithe have been ready for this for years with only hard work and sweat to keep us going. All you do to train your only Poke'mon is probably make waffles or something."

At the sound of Corey's rude remark, Rin's ears perk when I procede to argue back,"What the Hell was that Dick comeback for dude, I thought we were buds. You didn't have to go and insult Rin like that."The anger is prominent in my voice. Rin is like family to me and no one insults my family.

"Whatever you say. I was just looking out for my friend is all. Some places we are to investigate can be extremily dangerous but if your so adamant about it, lets have a battle." Corey says with a serious look across his face. I never realized it before but he looks angry whenever we talk about someday battling each other during our lunch breaks.

Rin's ears perk again with a slight growl leaving her mouth while I feel the need to stand firm at Corey's resolve with my own,"Fine, We'll show you what were made of."

Me and Rin are standing side by side on an open field while staring down our first opponents on the other side. I might look prepared on the outside but truly, on the inside, I feel nervous. The Butterfrees flying around in my stomach are driving me nuts. I have studied somewhat on what moves Rin might know online and from a few battle guides but never really put it into practice. We have seen many battles on the TV though hopefully we can pull through. All I know is that I have to keep a strong front for Rin so she can stay srtong. I might be making the choices but she is the one doing the fighting.

"Lets do this as cool as possible," Corey says to me while patting Growlithe's head,"I will flip this coin and when it hits the ground we start, K?" I then can hear a low pitch growl from both Rin and Corey's Growlithe. It seems Rin has more confidence than I do apparently.

The field sounds so quiet and the atmosphere feels so intense.

"So this is what a Poke'mon battle feels like?" I whisper under my breath while a keep the stare-down going from my Rival.

"Lets start!"Corey yells loudly as he flips the coin into the air. It felt so slow on its way down until a small ringing noise echos out from the coin hitting a rock.

In that precise instant, it started.

"Growlithe use Bite!" Corey starts off before I even get the chance. Growlithe charges straight for Rin and an impressivly fast speed.

"Dodge it using Quick Attack!" The words escape my mouth without a second thought as Rin sprints to the side dodging Growlithe's fangs by a hair.

I did it! I can't believe we might actually win. I feel my confidence growing with each of Rin's succesful dodges but I can't stop this unease in my chest. Why is Corey so calm even though we seem to have the upper hand?

I shake off my worries for hesitation could screw us,"Now counter his attacks with Quick attack one more time and finish it with Bite!"

"Flamewheel." Is all I hear from Corey in his normal laid back voice and in that moment his growlithe starts to roll at an increased speed while using fire from his mouth to spin himself even faster.

"Wait Rin sto..."I yell out in vain as Rin crashes headlong into the flames and gets blasted back towards me with force."Rin!"

I look at Rin to see shes been burned pretty badly from the fire and seems barely consious let alone ready to keep fighting. I look over to see Corey witha smirk while Growlithe is waiting for my next move.

As I run towards Rin to pick her up I hear a loud bark come from her as she attempts to stand on her feet. When I reach for her she gives me a growl as if she is telling to keep going. I realized that her resolve was strong as well as Corey's. Am I the only one here with a weak resolve, do I even knpow what I'm really getting into?

"Fine." I look over towards Rin, "I'll trust you so lets kick their asses!" I look towards Corey with determination in my eyes."Time for a comeback, Rin use Sand Attack!"

Rin's tail starts to fling wildly at the dirt and kicks up a large dust cloud around the battlefield.

"Starting to use some strategy I see." Corey grins, "this might actually be fun."

Growlithe is searching the field in vain unable to see where his opponent might have gotten to.

Corey yells out with a sense of underlying calm in his voice" Calm down, remember what you can do. Keep your head up and concentrate. Use Oder Slueth to track his Eevee's position!" Growlithe start to sniff at the air in a attempt to trace Rin's movements outside the cloud.

"Quick Rin, use Quick Attack while he is distracted!" I watch Rin as a blur as she zooms into the smoke. Next thing I know I see Growlithe flown out from the cloud and into a tree.

He lands on his feet despite the crash with only a slight stuble while of towards the dissapating cloud I see Rin in an exsuasted state. She's Trying incredibly hard but I think the difference in experience and training is just too great but if she won't give up, why should I.

"Rin, use Sand Attack again!" I need to buy us some time!

As a new dust cloud ingulfs the area yet again I hear something I didn't expect.

"Thats not gonna work a second time sorry, Growlithe already has you Poke'mon's scent. Growlithe finish it with Flamewheel!"

I watch as Growlithe blast into the smoke as a ball of fire and see Rin fly out of the cloud straight up into the air.

"No!" I run towards my falling Poke'mon and I do a running slide to catch her before she hits the ground."Damn." is all I can say under my breath while I look at Corey.

"Don't take it too hard man," Corey says in his naturally laid back tone," you did way better than I was expecting. I hope you get stronger. See you on the road my friend." He turns and starts to walk away," Come on Growlithe." Growlithe ears perk and starts to walk alongside his trainer. Growlithe seems to be barely winded after that battle, so just how far behind am I to Corey already? I look down at the defeated Rin in my arms," I need to get you to the Poke'mon Center ASAP.I get up and run towards town with hope that the battle didn't hurt her too seriously.

I make it to the Poke'mon center with almost no time to spare. I enter through the automatic sliding glass doors practicaly out of breath from running all the way here. I quickly walk up to the Nurse at the counter.

"Excuse me, my Eevee has been knocked out in a battle. I believe she needs medical attention." I hold out Rin with an pained expression unsure how badly hurt she was.

" Well let me see.. wow, what happened and why is it not in a Poke'ball." The nurse looks at me with some irritation in her eyes," And another question, this little thing is relativly young so why would you battle with it. She could have been in worse shape if you didn't get here quick enough."

I look at her with a glare,"It is because she wanted to fight, nothing more and nothing less so please just take care of her." The nurse starts to walk towards the back with Rin in her arms when she turns her head slightly to look back at me,"you say its nothing but you don't even have the appropiate permit yet, this medical work isn't cheap, this is your last freeby. Ok?" I then could see a slight smile grace her lips." Just sit in the waiting room and read this over."

She then passes me a pamphlet with the title," How to be a Trainer." I sit down to read it over. I find out that a trainer gets a battle permit from the Poke'mon accociation to allow free use of Poke'mon centers and the like. It also includes that the Poke'mon must be in registered Poke'balls as to keep them under control and in case of serious injury they can be transported easily and safely. Hopefully Prof. Oak has already thought this through and has prepared a permit for me already. I suck at paperwork.

I turn my head to see a young boy around the age of twelve who seemed to be a trainer due to the three Poke'balls on his hip. He was wearing a red and white ballcap, a white jacket, and a pair of blue jeans. He held on to two Poke'balls in his left hand and stared at them like he was deep in thought. He must be a big fan of Kanto's Regional Champion Red since the red and white cap is Red's trademark.

Before I get a chance to speak to him the backroom doors open and I get tackled by my favorite furball.

"Woah!" Is all I can say before getting licked on the cheek," Calm down there! Should you be jumping around already after you just got better."

All I get is a little yelp from her before she starts jump on me again. After a few minutes of her furball attack, I hear the nurse's voice from the door," She is a lively one huh?"

I get up to face her and give her a bow while Rin lowers her head as well," Thank you for helping her. I hope she wasn't too much trouble?" I thank her with a smile.

"No problem, it's my job but here," she tosses a small Poke'ball at me and smiles back," If your going to be a trainer put her in a Poke'ball. You know, for safety reasons. It also allows us to easily examine them through our equipment."

I pick Rin up and walk towards the door,"Its getting dark so we'll be going now. Thanks again." I wave with my free hand as I walk out the sliding doors.

As I walk down the path I look at Rin with excitement apparent in my eyes," We meet the Prof. in the morning Rin so be on your best behavior. We also gotta get packed for our trip tonight 'cause I got this feeling its gonna be a long journey." I get a little bark from Rin in response. The thought sits in my mind though. I guess my time has come to get out there and make something of myself. New places, new people, new friends, and new eneimies. Ok, hopefully no new eneimies. I don't have any and I kind of want to keep it that way.

I stare at the sky with anticipation and shout with energy," Look out world, here I come!"